Small Town Wives Club

I was just fifteen years old when my mother passed away.

It may as well have been the day my fathers life ended too.

***

"Daddy, I'm bored, can I take the car and head back to the villa?" I pleaded.

We had been attending another benefit for some charity that only actually benefitted the already super rich people who attended.

"I'll come with you sweetheart" replied my mother, the most beautiful and elegant woman I had ever laid my eyes upon, the kind of woman who woke up in a full face of simple makeup with perfectly voluminous waves of shiny blonde hair.

"Are my two favourite ladies really going to leave me behind? Do I really have to eat this incredible food, drink these expensive drinks AND dance alone for the rest of the evening?" my father, the jokester. He knew how much we hated these high society soirées but he still tried to make them fun for us, always the first to drag us to the dancefloor, the first to get tipsy on the vintage champagne, the last to leave the dancefloor and the best at schmoozing with the wealthy businessmen to extract every penny he could.

"Daddy please? I'm really tired and my shoes are cutting of circulation!"

"Of course pumpkin, why don't you call Eric to bring the car around?" Eric was our family driver, he was the sweetest old man and had become a huge part of my life, basically a stand in Grandfather figure.

My mother and I said our excuses to the host of the event before returning to my Father to say goodbye. My Mother kissed his cheek, and whispered in his ear "I love you to the moon and stars"

I reached up and gave him a quick hug, "See you in the morning daddy, I love you to the moon and stars"

"I love you both to the moon and stars and back again, see you in the morning my girls"

I took my mothers hand and we left in the town car, headed home.

***

From the outside looking in our lives were perfect. The perfectly tailored suits, custom made from designers mere mortals could never afford. The dresses that hung from our perfectly manicured bodies, designed for us from obscure designers in every corner of the world. Jewels upon jewels, diamonds, sapphires, rubies all adorning our arms, ears and necks like costume jewelry on children playing dress up. The penthouse apartment that takes up the top five floors of one of the many hotel chains we owned in the West. The pool, the cars, the parties every night. It looked like heaven.

We were happy. My Father loved my Mother more than life itself, she was the reason he worked so hard, he was a ruthless businessman who could charm a deal out of the devil himself, and he did it all for her.

When they met, they were just children. My Father, Edward Clarence Jr. was the only son of Marie and Edward Clarence Sr., an oil tycoon and his wife, from the West, who were too busy and too rich to bring up their own child. They hired a Nanny called Mavis, she was a tough old boot, it was her job to cook, clean and raise Edward Jr.