Bright Star

Chapter 1: The Request

1 year earlier 

Lillian Quartermaine took a sip of her English breakfast tea as she circled the gala room one last time. Her assistant Janie, a girl with flaming red hair and a personality to match, followed close behind jotting down any notes or changes Lily wanted to make in the final few hours they had before the Benefit for Children started.  

"These tables are entierly too close together, no one is going to be able to manouver around them." Lily said patting her hand on the white linens covering the table as Janie feverishly scribbled, her black rimmed glasses sliding down her button nose. Lily stopped, glancing at the vases centered in the middle of the tables. She was thoughtful for a moment, giving Janie enough time to breath.

"Also I've decided to add another six white roses to the centerpieces, it just feels too sparse." She added, looking over at her assistant to make sure she was getting everything.  Her hand was writing at feverish speed, it was a wonder it never fell off and flopped onto the floor. Lily, satisfied her demands were being adequetly recorded, continued on.

"Did you make sure that Mrs. Grimaldi is seated at the Prince's table?" Lily asked glancing down at the tiny white placement cards with names in elegant script printed on them. It had taken her ages to find a decent font when she'd ordered the placecards. This was a special event and she didn't want to overlook a thing.

"Yes," Janie nodded. "But..." 

 Lily turned around, her eyes instantly fixated on the nervous face of her assistant.

"No there's no 'buts' Janie, you either made sure she's seated at the table or you didn't." Lily snapped at her beginning to circle around the table towards the one situated directly in front of the stage. Bending down she looked at the cards as Janie followed after her. 

"Lily...I did it." She cried grabbing Mrs. Grimaldi's place card off the table. She knew exactly where it was as she was the one that put it there. 

"I said 'but' because..." Lily stood up and watched as Janie picked up the place card right next to Mrs. Grimaldi's, "You're sitting right next to her." She added giving her a nervous smile as she picked up the place card on the other side of Lily's. "And him." She added

Lily focused in on the card Janie was holding out in front of her. She could feel her breath catch in her throat. Running her fingers through her long light brown hair she tried to hold her composure. She wasn't even going to be at the event, how did her name end up on a card, and right next to his of all people.  Relax Lil, it' s just a mistake, you must have typed your name into the card list when you were ordering them...but I went over that list a dozen times to make sure it was right, my name was never on it.

"Whose idea was this?" Lily asked grabbing the cards from Janie. She placed his back in it's spot and shoved hers into the pocket of her trousers. 

"It was Mrs. Grimaldi's." Janie said giving Lily a quizical stare as the card disapeared

Of course Lily thought. Leave it to my grandmother to try and play matchmaker. 

"You're not mad are you Lily?" Janie asked, her fingers gripping her pen nervously. Lily ran her hands over her gray cardigan smoothing out the non-existent wrinkles before taking a deep breath.  

"Of course not, there's not much you can do when your grandmother orders you to do something, is there Janie?" Lily asked her with a forced smile. Inside she was beyond upset.

"Now see these last few things get done properly, I don't need any more surprises today...oh and take this please." She said giving the young girl a pat on the back and handing her the empty tea cup.