Double Trouble: Thirty Six
 by Cariad
 
 
 

Double Trouble
~Thirty Six~
Holly gave him her hand, while Philip Underwood bent to kiss it. Now she truly felt disgusting. “Pleased to meet you,” Underwood said with a gruesome smile.

“Charmed, I’m sure,” Holly said while pulling her hand out of his grasp.

“I’ll just leave you both for awhile” Julian mumbled with a smile, “I have some other things to check on.” Holly watched while her father backed away, abandoning her with a lecherous old man. But Grandfather’s wishes had to be obeyed.

“So, how are your children,” Holly asked politely. “And your grandchild?”

Underwood caught her hand and tucked it under his arm. “They are all fine, Julia,” he replied, escorting her away from the milling crowd. “Would you like a breath of fresh air?” he asked.

Holly arched an eyebrow. “Actually, I would like to watch the new arrivals,” she said with a feigned bright smile, pretending innocence at his clumsy attempt to get them alone.

“Of course, my lady,” Underwood replied. “Anything for you, dear.”

“Mr. Underwood, it is very kind of you to chaperone me while my father cannot be by my side,” Holly said with another smile.

“Chaperone isn’t the word I would have chosen, dear,” he replied raking her with his eyes.

“Really?” Holly asked with all innocence in her voice. “What word would you have chosen? Escort?”

“Actually…” Underwood started.

“I’m not fond of the word Escort. It reminds me of a small domestic family vehicle.”

Underwood grabbed two glasses of Champagne from a passing server. He tried to hand one to Holly, but she waved him off, also enabling herself to free her hand from the damp confines of Underwood’s arm. “Thank you, sir, but I must decline,” she said with bright-eyed politeness. “I am too young to drink, and I do believe I saw the Chief of Police in attendance.” Holly wondered how long she would have to be seen with Underwood. A few society matrons passed, absently noting the two of them together. That would have to do. At the next opening, she would leave.

The opening presented itself to her in the form of Noah Bennett. “But soft what light from yonder window breaks,” he quoted, falling to a knee before Holly. “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.” He gave her an incredibly wide smile Holly could not help returning.

“Look,” Underwood observed, “A trained monkey.”

Holly watched the grin fade from Noah’s face as he stood, inches taller than Underwood. Holly neatly inserted herself between the aging suitor and Julia’s friend Noah. “But trained monkeys have charm,” Holly observed. “Something you are greatly lacking, Mr. Underwood.” Holly then turned her back to the older man and faced Noah. “So tell me Mr. Bennett,” she said politely, “Does a rose by any other name smell as sweet?” she asked with a wink. Grandly, she extended her hand for Noah to escort her towards the spot where several young people had gathered.

“Doh!” he muttered. “You must think me an idiot. I have the wrong one, don’t I? I wanted to save Shakespeare for Julie.”

“I won’t tell her,” Holly promised.

“So why are you in Julie’s dress?” he asked.

“Because Jules is in mine!” Holly answered. “It’s a trick we’re playing on Jonathan. She enjoys his company whereas I do not, so she’s playing me tonight. All the world’s a stage, Noah.”
 

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Julia was in bliss. Johnny had his arm around her waist and he was bending down to plant a kiss on her neck, she knew it. It was her moment of triumph! She heard him breathe in.
“The game’s up, Julie,” he whispered in her ear.

“What?” she said, startled.

He straightened, but kept his hand around her waist for appearance’s sake. “I said, the game is up. I know you’re Julia, not Holly.”

“How!” she demanded.

Jonathan smiled a very secretive smile. “I have my ways of knowing,” he said. “I warned you not to do this.”

“Please,” Julia said, brushing his concerns away with a wave of her hand. “No one knows except you, me, and Holly.”

“How did you get her into that dress?” he asked very politely.

“She’ll do just about anything to avoid you,” Julia confessed.

“That will change soon,” Jonathan said with an air of surety about him.

Julia exhaled through her nose. The night was not going as she had planned. At least Jonathan did not move away from her as if he were disgusted. She watched the last few stragglers file in. Julia recognized Whitney, escorted by that Book Café lad, Chad. Whatever Chad had hoped to get out of Whitney was nullified by the presence of her parents entering right behind the less than happy couple. Julia did not recognize the next couple that came through, but the woman had short red hair, and she seemed almost to want to hide. But that was the shade of Noah’s hair. Could it possibly be his mother and her first husband? Julia definitely knew Charity—Kay’s evil cousin who had embarrassed her terribly that day after Aidan had choked her—and Miguel, Kay’s crush.

“I suppose,” Julia said, “that I should go get Holly and send her to you since you know.”

“That would be a good idea,” Jonathan replied pointedly.

Julia sighed and was just about to go find her sister when something caught her eye. “Dear Lord!” she said in a frantic whisper, grabbing Jonathan’s arm. “Look who Gwen came with!”

Jonathan followed Julia’s impolite point. “Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald,” he whispered. “I always knew Gwennie had balls.”

They were not holding hands like a couple, yet they were undeniably arriving together. Before Julia knew it, Jonathan had grabbed her elbow and was escorting her towards his older sister. The closer they came towards Gwen and Luis, the more Julia realized that both were a little uncomfortable at being at the party.

“Little Sister!” Jonathan said, greeting his older sister. “Good to see you here. You wouldn’t want to miss this evening. I have something very special planned.”

“I’m sure you do, GQ,” she replied. “Have you officially met Luis?” she asked politely.

“I can’t say that I have,” Jonathan replied, extending his hand. “You were Sheridan’s fiancé, correct?” he asked, noticing the wave of grief over Luis’s face.

“Yes,” he said quietly.

Gwen put a hand on her brother’s chest. “Therapy for the both of us. This is also my first event since…”

Julia gritted her teeth. Dinner was going to be quite uncomfortable, knowing, as she did, Luis’s hatred of the Cranes. At least Gwen was there to keep an eye on him. She thought back to the dining chart. Wasn’t Chief Bennett, as Ivy’s escort, going to also be nearby? Well conversation shouldn’t be too much of a problem since Diana O’Leary would be performing at times during the meal.

“Then we’ll leave you,” Jonathan was saying, grabbing Julia’s elbow once more and escorting towards a twin in a form-fitting red dress.

Luck was on Julia’s side as she caught Holly’s eye. With a pleased smile, she saw her sister quickly end her conversation with Noah Bennett and weave her way to the bathroom. Seconds later, Jonathan and Julia reached the point where Noah was standing.

“I’ll leave you two gentlemen here,” Julia said. “I thought I saw my sister dash off into the powder room.”

“That’s where she said she was going.”

Julia did not wait for Noah to finish his thought. She had already woven herself through the crowd towards the bathroom. She ducked into the renovated ladies’ room, only to find her red dress hanging over the top of one of the stalls.

“He knows,” Julia said.

“I figured when I saw that panicked look on your face,” came Holly’s muffled reply. A pair of red shoes shot out from under the stall door. “Now hurry, we can’t spare much time. As fast as she dared, Julia shucked the white dress and had donned her red one. Holly emerged from the stall in the snowy renaissance gown and slipped on the matching silver shoes.

“You left them together?” Holly asked.

“Yup,” Julia said, checking to make sure their makeup still matched. “Ok, so you’ve persuaded me, as Holly, to give up the charade.”

“This is so much fun,” Holly said. “I’ve already discussed things with Mr. Underwood. He called Noah a trained monkey. I put him in his place. He probably won’t bother you for the rest of the evening. Or me. I’m not sure who I am.”

“Why you’re Holly pretending to be Julia pretending to be Holly of course!”

“I knew that,” Holly replied.
 

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They emerged from the bathroom together, no one the wiser that they had exchanged dresses and accessories. To most eyes, the girl in the red dress was Julia and the girl in the white dress was Holly. But more importantly, to Jonathan the girl in the red dress was Holly and the girl in the white dress was Julia. As they reached Jonathan and Noah, a loud gong sounded—the cue for the guests to sit down for dinner. Noah grabbed his Juliet in the white dress and brought her to the dining area, now walled off from the main room. Holly, pretending to be Julie in the white dress, looked up and noticed the slats in the ceiling and smiled. Private rooms could be arranged on the ground floor.
Jonathan and Julia followed a little more than a step behind. Without hesitation, Jonathan led Julia to the head table, on a raised platform facing the stage at the opposite end of the room. Julia waited with a smile as Jonathan drew out the chair marked with Holly’s place card. She sat like many of the other guests. At the center of the head table, Julian’s place remained empty. To one side of him, Rebecca was already settling herself, her turban firmly affixed to her head. Next to Rebecca, were places for Gwen and her escort, Jonathan and Holly. On Julian’s other side, places stood ready for Aidan and his date, Julia, Chuck Wilson, as a concession to Julia’s age for her dining ease, Ivy, to show that it was an amicable divorce, and Ivy’s escort.

Holly, just as happily, accepted Noah’s offer and sat in Julia’s chair, waiting while Aidan escorted Theresa to the head table. Holly could tell by the flush in Theresa’s cheeks and the glitter in her eyes, that Theresa was thoroughly enjoying the event. Most of the guests had found their seats. To Holly’s disappointment, she could only see the profile of the object of her desire—Reese. She sighed heavily. She hadn’t even been able to make her way over to him to say hello. And there he was, sitting happily next to Kay, his arm around Kay’s shoulders.

“Jonathan,” her father’s voice said, interrupting Holly’s fantasy and sudden stab of jealousy. “Why are you sitting with Julia? You cannot have both my daughters,” he said in an amused tone.

Jonathan opened his mouth to protest, but before he could say a word, Julia interrupted him.

“Father doesn’t know,” she whispered into Jonathan’s ear. “I’ll find you after dinner.” Both Julia and Holly rose so that the girl in the white dress sat next to Jonathan and the girl in the red dress sat next to Chuck.

Holly gave a shrug to Jonathan as she sat down in her appointed seat. So she was closer to Jonathan, but from here, she could see Reese’s face. She fought the urge to wave to him. Instead, she caught his eye and gave a welcoming smile. Perhaps dinner would not be such a bad event.
 
 
 

Chapter 37
Chapter 35
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