Antoinette paused as she stepped out of the tunnel and into the open air of the airport central terminal and walked down the checkered path toward baggage.  She hadn’t told anyone but her sister she was arriving, and she had made sure only to let her know as she boarded her plane, so there would be no time for Bridgette to organize anything to get into Queens and show up in time to pick her up.  She rolled her neck to loosen her muscles, her padded denim laptop case hanging limply off her shoulder.

“Me sinhoris.”  She murmured, slipping to one side of the walkway and into the comfortable Greek she had learned growing up from Mrs. Brighton.  Her other debutante skills and the French she had been force fed during her childhood drifted by the wayside, but the beautiful Greek words still rolled off her tongue like a security blanket against intruders.  Her own employees even knew her to slip into the purred language when irritated.  Chase’s mother had always been a guiding force for Toni, even though her own mother would have wished it much differently.  Analise Duke Ralston could never understand the attraction that the tanned, blunt, Greek woman had over her daughter. Antoinette had fawned over the woman, listening to her speak in her soft, lilting tones, and dreaming of one day being as radiant and confident as Venetia Brighton.  Venetia had travelled the world and sampled all it had to offer, including the men, before catching the eye of Jonathan Brighton Jr., J.J. to his closest friends, and moving from the quaint villa on Kythria to Charleston, all before the age of 35, not that she would tell her real age to anyone.

Toni stepped out of the shaded terminal into the bright light from the front doors of LaGuardia Airport and raised her hand to hail a taxi cab.  She wondered vaguely if Mrs. Brighton had changed in the last year.  It had been at least 3 or 4 years since Mr. Brighton had passed away, and the last time Toni had seen the Brighton family together had been at Mrs. Brighton’s annual get-together in Charleston the year before, a few days before her own family gathering.  With all the travelling both families did on a regular basis, throughout the year, it had felt good to be back in the comfortable cradling arms of South Carolina.

As a taxi pulled near to stop, Toni hefted her bag and debated whether or not to call her sister first, or to try her step-father’s cell phone.  She could get an extra bit of luck if her step-brother, Thomas Jr. was in town, but lately she had seen him so rarely, she really couldn’t count on it.  He was probably halfway around the world again, or at the very least tending to the ranch or business her step-father had left him in charge of just outside Fort Worth.  The young driver stepped out of the car and lifted the bag from Toni, storing it in the trunk and offering to take her computer as well.  She smiled and absentmindedly laid a hand on her stomach as he held the door for her.  She gave the young man her address and leaned back into the surprisingly clean seats.  He chatted amicably as they navigated the crowded streets down Grand Central and avoiding Queens Blvd in Woodside.  Toni relaxed, glad to be in the hands of an experienced driver, who clearly knew his way around the city. In about 20 minutes, he turned into the crowded streets near Antoinette’s favorite hotel.  While her mother and sisters preferred to stay at the St. Regis or the Plaza, Toni always called the Mandarin Oriental, which had a beautiful view of Central Park.  Most mornings, she went down for a job before a shower and starting her day.  Of course, presiding over her own company helped with not having to be awake really early.  Toni never really was a morning person.  She much prefer to wake up a little later and stay up a little later.  Some foreign tune began to jingle from her pocket as she stepped out of the cab and on to the slightly raised curb.  She smiled and paid the cab driver with a little more than the bill and tipped the bell hop as he ran for her sparse luggage.  The hotel itself was inside the Time Warner Center, but there were always a few bell hops on hand to help with the guests, especially returning ones that were known for their generosity.  She glanced down at the view screen of her cell:  Kaitlyn.  She flicked on the device as she followed the bell hop into the building and to the elevator lobby.

“My wonderful little sister, to what do I owe the honor of your call?”  Antoinette waited for her sister’s sarcastic response.  When it didn’t come, she glanced down at the antennae bar of her phone to check the reception in the lobby.  She hadn’t lost the signal, so her sister was being sneaky.

“Sorry, I’m here,” came her sister’s cultured voice from the other end of the line.  “I was waiting until everyone else cleared out since I gathered that you didn’t want them to know you were in town yet.”  Toni could hear a muffled clink of metal on the other end of the phone and assumed that her half-sibling was still at the fashion show on the East End.  It would be a small show this late in the year, but Kaitlyn would still be there for moral support of their other sister until Spring when her own show would hit the runway.  Toni listed as her sister spoke to someone else about a shirt and waited for the click of heels to die away.

“You assume correctly, Kates.  I was going to surprise them this evening at dinner.  Can I assume that you are staying with Mother at the St. Regis on East 55^th street?”  Toni waited for her sister’s ascent.  Kaitlyn responded with a suite number and what time they would be finished at the Metropolitan Opera House, her mother’s favorite. “Perfect.  It’s the usual, so I’ll be there shortly after.”  Toni paused, it would give her just enough time to pick up something light for a late lunch and possibly catch something off-Broadway before stretching her legs on the half-mile walk back toward her mother’s hotel.  Some days, she completely loved this city and all there was to do in an evening.  And, on the plus side, there were always enough things to keep you distracted from your real purpose in flying thirteen hundred miles to see a woman that you barely visited for the holidays.  She spoke a few minutes longer with Kaitlyn before her sister was called off to help undress another model.

Hanging up the phone with her sister, Antoinette took a minute to check her reservations at the desk on the 35^th floor of the building.  The older woman at the desk confirmed all of her room reservations before offering a dinner menu for the evening and handing her a key, welcoming her back to the Mandarin Oriental.  She smiled and followed a different bellhop back to the elevators.  She unlocked her room on the 50^th floor and sighed, marching straight across the rooms to fling open the curtains.  

“Just leave them anywhere.”  She murmured to the young boy as she returned to his side, slipping ten dollars in his hand and shooing him out the door.  He only drug his feet a moment before she was able to push the room door firmly shut behind him.  It only took a second more for her to brace the lock and hear the tumbler slide home before kicking her high heel shoes to the bed.  The rich cream carpet blended with the beautiful gold and chocolate hues of the room, leaving Toni feeling awash in jewels as she slipped off her fashionable tan bohemian skirt and let it slide to the floor.  Her green peasant blouse followed, leaving her only in a simple camisole and string bikini of the palest of greens.  Toni’s eyes lit up as she surveyed the skyline over Central Park and debated her clothing options for the evening.  If she really wanted to thwart her mother, she could slip her sweat pants and tee shirt on – both of which were Miami day wear, but not exactly Big Apple evening attire.  She smiled, trailing her fingers along the length of the floor to ceiling windows.  This was just what she needed right now: to feel on top of the world when hours ago, her own little slice of humanity felt like it was smothering her in a mess of her own making.  She supposed she should get dressed and find food before facing her mother, since it was, after all, closer to her mother’s home territory than it would ever be hers.  Still, she couldn’t pull herself away from the amber shades of the leaves below her.  The October sky lit up down town Manhattan in rose and ochre swirls against the silver and onyx reflections of the windows.  While the city below her bustled by in their angry determined ways, the air danced like royalty, whirling the leaves in their ballet and ignoring the simple people and their simple ways.

Antoinette sighed again, well aware she was making it an ugly habit.  She forced her mind from the thought and coerced herself to turn away from the glass and head for the bathroom.  She turned the faceted knobs in the glass shower stall and examined herself in the king-sized beveled edge mirror.  Her belly had begun to swell and it wouldn’t be long before she would have to find looser fitting clothes to accommodate the stretch of her baby bump.  Remarkably, she didn’t feel fat, just full.  Another month, and there would be no more hiding her secret at all.  She counted back on her fingers and wondered why she had waited so long to take the stupid test in the first place.  It was pride she supposed – Antoinette Duke would not be stupid enough to get pregnant on a summer fling with a guy she could barely stand.  And definitely not one that she had seen twice since high school when she had jetted off to a distant college and distant countries and left him, who had clearly fawned over her then, in a cloud of dust.

It didn’t matter anyway, she supposed.  Nearly 4 months after seeing him, she would have to call him up and act casual as she announced that she would bear him a child.  She supposed her mother, and perhaps his, would be overjoyed at the prospect of them getting together, but she would have to calmly tell them, in no uncertain words or terms, that it wasn’t going to happen.  Either way, her mother would be ecstatic that she was getting a baby that would have ties to the Brightons – she would not, on the other hand, be happy about the fact that she was becoming a grandmother at what she considered such a young age, nor that it was out of wed lock as Toni’s own birth had been.  But, she suspected that she would warm more and more to that idea the closer to the date they got.  She would just have to face the fire first.

Stepping into the shower and quickly bathing, she shut off the water and toweled off, returning to the bedroom.  She spared a glance for the clock on the dresser.  Toni shook open her bags and pulled a simple teal kimono style top with tiny pearl flowers on the sleeves out and laid it on the bed.  It was joined by a pair of fitted dark jeans that wouldn’t press too much weight on her midriff. She hated putting on a big fuss to get dressed, but her mother would expect her to at least be “presentable” in case they encountered any of her sisters’ fashion friends.  Perhaps she would take Kaitlyn and Bridgette shopping tomorrow to find some better fitted clothes for the next few months.  Either way, the next few days were going to be an adventure in patience, she thought, as she laced up her roman sandals and grabbed her bag – and she would need all the fortification she could get her hands on.

Word count:  2,080    Total count:  6,112    Words to go:  43,912