Raina

The silver Mercedes Benz breezed through Fairfield, Connecticut and Raina Thorpe wondered if the driver was maybe driving too fast. But she knew that he wasn't: her heart was probably beating too fast. She closed her eyes and told herself that she was sophisticated and elegant and beautiful and stylish and educated. Raina had graduated high school early and was at the top of her class at Princeton. She was worldly. She had a great deal more to recommend her than many other girls that she knew.

She could see that the car was approaching a gateway with a security guard reading a newspaper in a lily-white guard booth.

Raina's boyfriend wound down the window and flashed his perfect, winning smile in the direction of the guard.

"Mr. Baizen?" asked the guard, closing his paper shut, his jaw dropped.

"Hey, Larry," said Raina's perfect boyfriend, Carter. He put his hand out and Larry took it, pumping it vigorously. "We're here for Sunday brunch."

"Of course," said Larry, who pressed a button that caused the solid, steel gate to open in front of the car. "I'll see you later."

The car zoomed up the never-ending driveway that led all the way to the massive, grey-and-white house that Carter had grown up in. The house only had two stories but the length of it was mind-boggling: there were endless windows on each floor of the house. There were also long, white pillars descending from the second-floor terrace and ending on the wraparound porch, which was fully furnished with modern pieces of furniture.

Carter had informed her that the house had been in his family for generations: his family owned one of the oldest law firms in New York, Baizen Law, which now had offices all over the world, catapulting the Baizens to even more wealth. They had offices in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Australia, São Paulo, and Paris. He had commuted from Fairfield to St. Jude's School for Boys for his entire academic career until he had decided not to go to college and had been unceremoniously disinherited by his family.

He said he had always felt like he was a cut above a lot of his friends at St. Jude's because he had a proper house of his own growing up while they'd grown accustomed to much smaller spaces in the City. Even though a lot of them had country houses of their own but which they only visited a few times a year.

The car stopped behind a string of Range Rovers, BMWs and Audis and the driver came out and opened the door. Carter got out first and then extended his hand for Raina to take.

She took a deep breath and got out.

"Do I look good?" she asked, knowing that she sounded ridiculous.

She had gone to great pains to put an outfit together, running to Barneys the day before and just getting a new…everything. The dress was probably a misstep, she realized, but Carter had told her to be herself. So she had opted for an electric blue, open back dress with cupped sleeves by Alexis that clung to her curvaceous figure. It cut a few inches above her knees. She wondered if she should have worn something a little less revealing, but she was already in front of the house. She had coupled the dress with a pair of blue, open toe sling backs by L.A.M.B and had gone for a minimalist look for her jewellery: just some diamond studs in her ears. Her hair was parted at the center and fell down her back, ending by her waist. She had her black-white-and-blue Marc by Marc Jacobs satchel slung across her body.

Raina dipped back into the car quickly and pulled out the coffee cake that she had actually baked herself for Mrs. Bouvier-Baizen's brunch.

"Perfect," said Carter, putting his hand on the small of her back and kissing her tenderly on her cheek. She felt shivers running through her body at his touch. "But I can't promise that she'll love you, though. I always will."

"You look just perfect," said Raina, taking Carter's hand.

She had picked out a light blue Hugo Boss suit that did wonders for his navy blue eyes. She'd even brushed his light brown hair herself so that it was parted at the side and perfectly coiffed. He was wearing the silver Rolex that she had gotten him as a gift just for this occasion and a pair of shiny, black, Gucci loafers. She wanted them to make a good impression on his family: like they gave a damn about their appearance; and that they were successful.

They walked up to the door and Carter rang the bell.

A maid opened the door. She looked about fifty-five and was short and stocky. And she was wearing a typical maid's uniform.

"Mr. Carter?" asked the maid.

"Hello, Helen," he said, winking. "How are you?"

Helen wrapped Carter in her arms and Raina could see that Helen actually wanted to cry.

"Oh, Mr. Carter!" she exclaimed, wiping a tear from her cheek. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see Mom and Dad," he told her. "And to introduce her to my…"

"Girlfriend," finished Raina.

She knew Carter wanted to say 'fiancé' but she had made a big deal about telling him that, as much as she wanted to accept his proposal, she couldn't say yes without at least trying to reach out to his family. She had no family other than her dad, who she never intended to talk to again, and who she hoped would die in Sing Sing all by himself.

Raina and Carter had met three and a half years earlier at some charity event in New York that she had accompanied Serena to. He had been on the arm of some fading socialite who just wanted a nice young man to keep. Carter, who had no money of his own, had been accompanying this matron for some time. Serena, who knew everybody, had introduced Raina to him. She had long forgiven Carter for his lies and schemes because she was just content with her life in general and holding malice against anyone was not her style.

Before Raina knew it, she had stolen Carter from the aging socialite and he had been living with her in her penthouse at 994 Fifth Avenue.

The rest was history.

Helen took the cake from Raina and led them into the house: the inside was more opulent than the outside with its perfect furniture and expensive chandelier and grand staircase and hardwood floors. She led them into the oversized drawing room—which obviously had been cleared of most of its furniture—which was full of people laughing at people less fortunate than they were and chatting about stocks and bonds and drinking mimosas.

"Carter?" asked a young woman, waltzing over to Raina and Carter.

"Catrina!" exclaimed Carter, letting go of Raina and pulling the girl into him. He lifted her up off the ground and spun her around, getting the attention of some of the other attendees. "Catrina, look at you! You're all grown up."

After he put her down, she flattened the front of her white lace dress, which had capped sleeves like Raina's and had been accented with a silver belt. She was wearing red Christian Louboutins. Her shoulder-length, auburn hair was parted at the center and she was wearing silver Chanel earrings that were in the iconic shape of the interlocking C's.

"Catrina, this is my girlfriend, Raina," said Carter, by way of introduction. "Raina, this is my little sister, Catrina."

Catrina shook hands with Raina. "Of course! Raina Thorpe! I read your article in Vogue every month. And aren't you on the cover of the latest issue of New York Magazine? I died when I saw that dress you wore on the cover. It was everything."

"Thank you," said Raina, who was glad that she didn't have to do much to win over Catrina. "So where are your parents?"

"Oh, Dad's out of the country," said Catrina. "But Mom is somewhere."

"I'm right here."

Approaching Raina, Carter and Catrina was a middle aged woman of below-average height, flanked by two young men who were obviously Carter's brothers because they looked almost exactly like him but with varying lengths of hair. Mrs. Bouvier-Baizen was wearing a tan, sleeveless tee with a boat neckline and a white, vintage Hermes scarf was wrapped around her little neck. She had on navy blue, straight-fitting pants that cut just above her ankles and some light blue, Tory Burch flats.

Her light-brown hair was done up in a bouffant and her eyes—Carter's eyes—were accusingly trained on Raina. Her face was unnaturally smooth and her lips and cheeks a bit too plump, prompting Raina to think that Botox and fillers were particular friends of Mrs. Bouvier-Baizen's.

"Mom," said Carter. "I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Raina Thorpe. Raina, this is my mother, Muffy Bouvier-Beale."

"Nice to meet you," said Raina, shaking Muffy's hand.

"I never thought I'd see you here again," said the older man on Muffy's right. This had to be Cartier Baizen IV, Carter's older brother. "But I can't say I'm angry to see you." He leaned over and hugged Carter, patting his back.

"Carson!" said Carter, after he was done with Cartier. "Look at how big you've grown."

The younger one, who was on Muffy's right, blushed uncontrollably and hugged Carter.

"You must be done with school by now," said Carter. "What are you up to?"

"In my second year pre-law at Yale," said Carson. "I'm heading back up to campus after brunch."

"We both are," said Catrina. "Heading back to school, that is. He's going to Yale. But I'm going to Columbia Law School. First year."

"You always said you wanted to go to Columbia," said Carter.

"When everybody else went to Yale," said Cartier, with a withering look in his sister's direction.

"I know the Baizens have been going to Yale Law School since time immemorial," said Catrina, rolling her eyes, "but that's exactly why I decided to go to Columbia."

"Either way," said Muffy, "the end will probably be the same. You'll be working at Baizen Law when you graduate. Just like Cartier." She brushed her fingers against her eldest son's hair. "And just like Carter should have."

"Mom, would you mind if I spoke to you privately?" asked Carter, taking Raina's hand.

"Of course," said Carter's mother, leading the whole clan into a lounge on the other side of the house.

Raina sat down next to Carter on a loveseat, all the while holding on tight to her boyfriend.

"Carter, you're lucky your father isn't here," said Muffy, sitting down on a chaise longue and putting her legs up. She propped up her head with her hand. "You know how he gets upset."

"And so do you," said Carter, rolling his eyes and crossing and uncrossing his legs uncomfortably.

"To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?" asked Muffy, matter-of-factly.

"Raina wanted to meet you," said Carter. "Family's very important to her. I've asked her to marry me and she wants to be a part of my family, not just my wife. She wants to be a daughter-in-law, a sister-in-law."

"An aunt," said Cartier. "You weren't around. But I got married. Two kids."

Muffy looked Raina up and down. "Ms. Thorpe, do you work?"

"Not particularly," she said. "I had a leadership position in my father's company. But…we parted ways. And not amicably."

"So what do you do now?"

"I'm mostly a philanthropist and a socialite at the moment," said Raina. "I write an article for Vogue every month. And I chair a few boards in the City."

"Very busy," said Muffy. "You sound a lot like me. But my son isn't anything like my husband, Raina. What makes you think that he's husband material? Not even a college education. Carter, I don't mean to be blunt, but I'd like to know how you live. Does Raina pay for everything?"

Carter got up in a rage but Raina pulled him back down.

"Carter actually has a good job," said Raina, answering Muffy. "My friend, Serena van der Woodsen, owns a PR company. Mostly fashion PR. He worked very closely with Serena but they're trying to diversify into all kinds of events. He's heading their new division into party planning outside of fashion. It's a lot of responsibility. And she tells me that he could probably make partner very soon."

Raina leant over and kissed him on the cheek. She was so proud of Carter. After they had met and he had just descended on her apartment, she made it clear that he had to find something to do because she did not intend to keep him, the way he had been kept by that older socialite. She asked him what he was good at and he told her he only knew about parties.

This got her mental juices flowing because one of her closest friends, Serena, was just about to open her fashion PR company and was in need of some Public Relations Representatives in different specialties. Carter had a very large social network that would have definitely come in handy for the job, so when Raina suggested Carter, Serena took him up.

Now he was going to head their new division, expanding from just fashion and into pretty much anything. Carter was basically going to get his own staff and a corner office of his very own as well. So Raina was excited for him.

But it didn't seem to have the same effect on Muffy.

She laughed heartily. "My son is a party planner? A perfectly respectable job, I suppose. But not for a grown man."

"I think it is," said Raina. "And I'm proud of him."

"Ms. Thorpe, Carter could have been a lawyer like the rest of his family," said Muffy, shaking her head. "My father was a lawyer and so is Carter's father. He had a bright future. And I think Cartier and I wouldn't mind bringing him back into the family if he just forgot all of that and went to college. It's never too late. And there'll always be a place for him at Baizen Law."

"That's what you never understood," said Carter, shaking his head. "I never wanted to be a lawyer. I never got a chance to decide what I wanted to be. You just decided for me."

"Cartier here turned out just fine," responded Muffy. "A nice house in Paris and summers here with me. A nice wife. Children. What more can you want?"

Carter got up and pulled Raina up with him.

"This is what you wanted to see?" asked Carter. "This is my family. If they can't accept me, they won't accept you."

"Oh, I accept Raina," said Muffy. "I'm actually very familiar with her. I read an article about her in Town and Country a few issues ago. She's a very good girl. But I think she could do a lot better than a party planner."

Raina felt like enough was enough. Muffy had insulted her boyfriend and now her taste in men. And she wasn't going to stand for it anymore. Carter was a lot of things but Raina didn't think that he was any worse than anybody else in her circle. Nobody was a saint.

"Muffy, it was really nice to meet you but I think this was a mistake," said Raina. "I think you should go back to your party and we should make our way back into the City. I hope you enjoy the coffee cake I made for you."

"I'm sure I will," said Muffy, admiring her manicure.

As Raina and Carter got back into the car, Raina said, "The answer is yes."

"To what?"

"I'll marry you," said Raina. "But on one condition."

Carter chuckled as he dipped down in his pocket and pulled out the box. He opened it, pulled out the ring and shoved it on her finger.

Raina looked down at it: it was perfect. It was a big, beautiful ring made of white gold, diamonds and blue topaz.

It was so her and she had fallen in love with it from the moment he had taken it out and proposed at Serena's pink party last week, in front of all of their friends. In the moment, she had said yes because she was a girly girl and liked diamonds. But when she'd gotten back to her Hamptons home, she gave him the ultimatum: either they go see his family and at least attempt to reunite them; or they wouldn't get married.

"You haven't heard my condition," she said.

"What?"

"If I'm ever like that with my kids, you have my permission to commit me," she said.

Carter laughed and they made out all the way from Connecticut to Manhattan.