Take a Chance (18 page)

She used the back kitchen door so Jeremy wouldn’t notice her go
ing and ducked across the patio to the marquee door. After making a final check that no one was watching she slipped inside the unlaced door flap.

Seeing all the tables
made her clasp her hands in delight. The way everything was arranged reminded her of her Uncle Eben’s sister Liana’s wedding. She knew that no one was getting married but it looked as though there was going to be a party and even a movie.  Perhaps it was supposed to be a surprise. If it was, she planned to be ready.

Daisy raced back to her bedroom where she
changed into her party dress. After zipping it most of the way up her back, she decided to show Aunty Jem. She skipped down to the guest bedroom and saw her aunt curled up on the bed.

“Hello, Aunty Jem,” Daisy said quietly.

Jem didn’t budge.

“Are you looking forward to the party tonight? I am.
I am already wearing my pretty party dress. See?”

Daisy stood up on the bed and twirled around so that her dress spun out. When she stopped she spied Jem’s cosmetic bag
, just visible on the side of the handbasin in the ensuite.

“What’s that?” Daisy asked and jumped off the edge of the bed to get it.

“Oooh! Make up!” Daisy said in delight. “I’m going to make myself look beautiful for the party.”

She put on lipstick and heavily rouged her cheeks then put on eyeshadow with a heavy hand. When she finished Daisy looked in the mirror. To her four year old eyes she looked pretty good.

She took the cosmetic bag into the bedroom and set it on the bedside table beside her aunt.

“Shall I make you look beautiful too?” Daisy asked Jem in a whisper. “Don’t say anything for yes and say no for no.”

Daisy held her breath as Jem lifted her head.

Jem turned her head then rested it back on the pillow. She continued to sleep quietly so Daisy took that to be a “yes” to make-up.

Daisy found a nice bright red lipstick and applied it to Jem’s lips. It was trickier than she thought it would be with her aunt’s mouth closed and she went over the edge of her lips in several places.

Then she applied the eyeshadow. By this time daylight was fading and the colour wasn’t really noticeable when she had finished. Daisy frowned.

“I know. I have a pretty blue upstairs. Stay right there,” she told her aunt’s sleeping form as she left the room.

She came back a few minutes later and set about colouring Jem’s eyelids and cheeks with her felt tip markers.

“That’s much better. You look beautiful now too.”

Then she put the cosmetic case back on the side of the handbasin because she knew she was supposed to put things away when she had finished with them.

Eben found her when she came down the stairs
after putting away her markers and did a double take when he saw the make up on her face. The lipstick looked like The Joker had applied it. He planned to find some way to wipe it all off without her taking offence.

“Would you like
to help me set up some snacks for before the presentation?” he asked Jeremy and Daisy.

“Yes,” said Daisy.

“No,” said Jeremy.

“There’s some treats in it for you if you help,” Eben wheedled.

“What sort of treats?” Jeremy asked.

Aidan sat up on the couch.

“I want treat,” he said.

“Party food.
Just for yourselves,” Eben offered.

“Yay!” said Jeremy, Daisy and Aidan.

Eben handed the children serving bowls and foil bags of different flavoured chips and crispbreads and told the children to fill up the bowls and put them on the breakfast bar. Upon hearing from Cherie that Mark had invited an extra undisclosed number of guests he was concerned that whatever number had been catered for was not going to be enough. Maybe this would help supplement appetites.

Jeremy helped him transfer
vegetables he’d sliced to Daisy and Aidan who arranged them on platters with dip as well as other food he’d bought from the deli. With everyone helping the job was done quickly despite Daisy and Aidan’s taste tests. He ducked outside to turn on the gas heaters in the marquee then returned to the kitchen to fill the fridge with the bottles of wine that Mark had brought over the day before.

Daisy appeared at his side with dip smeared up one cheek.

“You have a bit of food on your face. How about I wipe it off?” he asked.

Jem blinked awake at the sound of the TV in the family room being turned up.

What time is it?

She looked across to the alarm clock and saw that she had less than half an hour before people were due to arrive. She sat bolt upright and the adrenaline rush woke her completely.

Don’t panic.

First things first.

Get dressed.

Jem experienced another rush of adrenaline when she realised she hadn’t brought any clothes suitable for
an evening function from her apartment to wear.

Again, don’t panic.

Need clothes?

That’s what sisters are for.

Clutching her dressing gown closed she raced out of the room and up the stairs barely noticing Eben leaving the kitchen to answer the door. Jem flung open the doors of Jess and Jason’s wardrobe and started rifling through Jess’s dresses. Most of them were pre-children and were colourful as well on the short and sexy side.

Hasn’t Jess heard of the little black dress?

Jem went through the dresses again in the hope of finding something in a sombre shade. The best she could do was a low cut dress in a royal blue. It lacked sleeves so she would need to find something to put over it. She unhooked the dress from the hanger, flung her robe on the bed and shimmied into it. Eben was talking with someone downstairs and there was no time to lose.

Jem was a lot taller than Jess so the dress only came to mid-thigh. Luckily the dress must have been bought before Jess had ever been pregnant because the bodice fit Jem comfortably, giving her decent cleavage and she knew Jess now had a lot more to put in a dress than she did. With relief she started rummaging through Jess’s drawers looking for pantyhose and something to wear over the dress.

Several drawers later Jem slipped on a black shrug that Jess had worn as a bridesmaid then started drawing on sheer black, lace top, thigh high stockings. She had been very happy to find them because with the height difference between her and Jess she had been dreading walking around in pantyhose where the crotch was halfway down her thighs.

Suitably attired she went back to the wardrobe for a pair of shoes. She had no trouble spotting the shoes that went with the dress as they were the exact same shade of royal blue. The only problem as far as Jem could see was that she didn’t know if she would be able to walk in four inch heels.

With her dressing gown in one hand and the shoes in the other she quickly skipped down the stairs planning to go back in the guest room to do her hair and hopefully have enough time to apply makeup before someone came looking for her.

Voices coming from the front door ruined that plan. Jem threw the dressing gown on the guest room bed, shut the door and jogged towards the front door.  She paused just out of sight and squeezed her feet into her sister’s stilettos then hurriedly finger combed her hair.

Jem stepped into the
entry and nearly twisted her ankle when she lost her balance on the stiletto heels. Because of her height and her past refusal to trade fashion for comfort, two inches was as high as she had ever worn before. She recovered by putting her hand on the wall and leaned against it as though that is what she had always intended and hoped that the four inch heels wouldn’t be the death of her.

Cherie entered the door followed by Greg and Evie. Their mouths dropped open in surprise.

“What? Is it my hair?” Jem asked and tried running her fingers through in case a bit was sticking up.

In the ensuing silence they could hear Eben outside giving directions to Sam and Crash where to park Cherie’s car and the ones to come.

“Lass, your hair is fine, it’s the makeup,” said Evie.

“I ran out of time to finish getting ready before you arrived. Is it that obvious?” asked Jem.

“How do we want to answer that?” asked Greg of no one in particular.

“You may want to check a mirror, honey,” said Cherie kindly
although Jem could tell her friend was trying not to laugh.

“Okay,” said Jem
, puzzled but then she rallied “Where are my manners? Come in, come in. You’re a little early but you can inspect everything while I just see to a few things.”

She led the way
through the house to the patio, trying to unobtrusively walk with support from the wall to help her keep her balance. Jem felt like she did when she was eight and went roller skating for the first time. She hoped she had learned a few things over the years and wouldn’t end up with a sore behind like she had then.

Upon reaching the
patio she didn’t want to risk crossing the open space to the marquee. Instead, she gestured for Cherie, Evie and Greg to have a look. As soon as they had filed outside Jem stumbled back to the guest bedroom. She picked up her dressing gown and hung it on the hook on the back of the ensuite door. Then she turned around, saw herself in the mirror and screamed.

A few moments later there was a crash and Eben was in the bedroom hopping around holding one foot in the air.

“Damn. Same toe,” he muttered.

He hopped around a bit more then looked up, saw Jem and dropped on the bed.

“Holy hell,” he said.

“What am I going to do?” wailed Jem as she picked up a tube and rubbed exfoliant over her face. “It’s not coming off!”

Eben thought of someone else he had recently seen wearing makeup applied with a heavy hand.

“Daisy!”
he yelled.

Daisy came into the room carrying a bowl of chips.

“Do you want me?” she asked and took a mouthful of chips, scattering crumbs in the process.

“Would you know what is on Aunty Jem’s face?” Eben asked.

Daisy looked at her aunt who was vigorously scrubbing at her cheeks and forehead.

“Makeup?” she said.

“What else?” asked Eben.

“Just some felts,” said Daisy.

“Can you show them to me?” Eben asked.

“Okay,” said Daisy. She put the chips on the end of the bed. “Don’t let anyone touch these.”

“I think I got some of it off my cheeks,” Jem said after rinsing off the exfoliant. “But I can’t do anything about my eyelids. Cold cream and makeup remover aren’t doing anything.”

Eben took the felts out of Daisy’s hands upon her return. He looked at the small print.

“That would be because they’re permanent markers,” he said.

“Oh no.
Not now. Not tonight,” cried Jem.

She scowled at Daisy.

“You should ask permission before you put stuff on me.”

“I did,” Daisy huffed indignantly. “I said
if you want me to put makeup on you say nothing for yes and you did.”

Jem lunged at Daisy but was stopped by Eben grabbing her around the waist.

“Run for it Daze. I don’t think Aunty Jem will be taking prisoners.”

Daisy
snatched up her bowl of chips and fled the bedroom.

“Calm down,” Eben said soothingly to Jem as soon as they were alone. “Sure you are one of several being considered for a fantastic promotion and tonight may affect your chances, especially when others up for that same promotion have seen you looking like this.”

“But,” he held up his hand to stop her interrupting “you can look at this as an opportunity to show how quickly you can adapt to adverse circumstances and you can see the funny side.”

“What funny side?” Jem said and turned in his arms to face him.

“Um, well,” Eben said looking at her bright blue eyelids, reddened cheeks and the few bits of lipstick she had missed under her nose. He bit his lip and tried not to laugh “you probably won’t see the funny side for a few years but I’m looking at it now.”

Jem punched him on the arm.

“Ow.”

He pulled her in for a hug and a quick kiss.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I have a plan.”

“I hope those aren’t going to be famous last words,” Jem muttered into his shoulder.

Eben put his knuckle under her chin to lift her head.

“Have a little faith. Now go and put some makeup on while I put on my shoes. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Is there anyone else at the door?” she finally thought to ask as he started tying his shoe laces.

“No. Sonia, Sam and Crash arrived just as you went upstairs. Their friend wasn’t able to come but I think the two boys should be fine. They have a bowl of popcorn while they wait for their next customer and Sonia is in the family room.”

Jem nodded. Having nothing left to lose she headed for the ensuite while Eben slipped out the door.

He was back a few minutes later and watched as she tried concealing the bright blue marker under grey eyeshadow but it didn’t do much. Jem saw him watching her in the mirror.

“Does my foundation look too thick to you?”

“It looks a little more noticeable than usual but it’s fine,” Eben assured her. He looked her up and down, noticing the low cut dress, how the hem hugged her thighs and the long length of stockinged legs down to her toes.

“You look great. What are you wearing on your feet?”

Jem pointed over her shoulder to indicate the four inch royal blue stilettos sitting on the closed toilet seat as she selected her lipstick.

“Those,” she said.

“You look far too good to waste on a presentation,” he said.

“I look like I should be working K Road,” Jem corrected.

She applied the lipstick, a nice neutral to try and combat everything else.

“Now what is this great plan of yours?” she asked.

Eben showed her what he had been holding behind his back. He had been expecting a little resistance and thought it best to wait. It was a pretty drastic solution after all.

“No,” said Jem firmly.