She had curled her hair and twisted it up to highlight her ruby earrings. They were the perfect Christmas complement to her green dress. She’d never worn anything that fancy before, and she wanted to show off Adam’s generosity. She’d learned to do her hair when she’d nannied for Claire, who had to have her hair up for dance recitals. She was pleasantly surprised at the way the style had turned out on herself. Standing in front of the full length mirror, the toes of her dark green heels peeking out from under the satin and lace dress that fit her like a glove, she barely recognized herself.
There were three quiet taps at her door. She took one last look in the mirror and walked over to open it. When she did, Adam was standing in the doorway, wearing a tuxedo. She could hardly keep her heartbeat from showing through her dress. After she’d scrambled to calm herself enough to focus on his face, she realized that he looked the same way she felt. His lips were parted as if he were going to say something, his eyes taking in the sight of her from her new shoes up to her hair, but he was silent.
Then the smile. “You look positively radiant,” he said. She’d never heard anyone call her radiant, but it came off his lips effortlessly, and she could tell he’d meant it. “Shall we head out? I’ve already got the car running.” He held out his arm, and she linked hers in his. It was the first time she’d touched him like that—with the exception of their collision in the snow—but she was so intent on not falling in her heels that she didn’t let herself get too excited over it, and she was glad, as they started down the stairs, for the support.
“You don’t have to be nervous,” Adam said, his eyes darting over to her as he drove carefully through the snow, down the winding roads that stretched out beyond the city. Now she felt like she needed to be nervous just because he’d said that. She folded her hands in her lap as a precaution in case they started to shake. “The Marleys live in a house that is so big it has its own name. It’s called the Ashford Estate. But Robert is more down to earth than anyone you’ll ever meet.”
The house was about twenty minutes’ drive out of the city. They’d passed acres of farmland—mostly horse farms and corn fields—and then, out of nowhere, sitting atop a hill, she saw it: The Ashford Estate. It was a gigantic brick home, with so many windows across the front that she was sure she’d lose count before they’d parked the car. While Adam’s home was old—probably built in the twenties—this was something completely different. It looked like it had been built well before the turn of the century, probably, she reckoned, the eighteen hundreds. It had a sprawling staircase with a half circle drive in front. The drive was full of luxury vehicles—Cadillac, Mercedes, Range Rover—more than she could mentally label. And now there was a BMW. They pulled to a stop and got out.
“They have great parties here,” he said. “They used to be on Christmas Eve every year, but since we all have kids, Allie convinced Robert to make it on a different night. Their party favors will blow you away,” he said, as he held her car door open for her and offered his hand.
Adam helped her out of the car and shut the door. Carrie lifted her dress so as not to let the hem drag on the snowy ground, but once she was around the other side of the car, she saw there was a bright red carpet that stretched from the drive all the way up the stairs and to the front door where it was anchored by a mass of poinsettias on each side. They passed tree after tree of white lights; it looked like every tree on the entire property had been decorated with them. When they got to the staircase, she noticed that the railings and the base of every one of the windows had been decorated in live greenery with red sashes intertwined. “What kind of party favors?” she asked, trying to make conversation so she’d feel like this was all normal somehow.
“Last year, we all got a two-hundred dollar bottle of wine.”
When he’d said party favors, she was thinking maybe a small bag of chocolates or a noisemaker. Not a two-hundred dollar bottle of wine! She let her eyes trace the brick all the way up to the roof and the four chimneys protruding from it. The house, with its giant wings on either side of the main building, stretching the length of the property, had to have a staff to run it. It was absolutely huge. She’d never seen a house like this before. She shivered in the cold. Carrie only owned a casual coat, and she didn’t want to wear it with the beautiful dress that Adam had bought her, so she was standing out in the freezing cold wearing only satin. Adam rang the doorbell, and it sounded like musical chimes.