A Mother Daughter Shopping Trip Part One

Fair warning: If you hate this chapter, blame Mona. She instigated it and was very insistent on its being written. Second fair warning: this chapter turned out to be 12,000 words, so I split it into two parts (according to the word count, Part One is 5,401 words.) I still can't believe I thought this whole story would be around 10,000 words when I started it. Silly, silly me.

The rest of February disappeared, and along with it Tony and Angela. They flew out of February Connecticut weather to enjoy their second honeymoon on Hawaii's sultry and moon-glistened beaches. Although the scenery did not disappoint; if asked, Tony would say his favorite sight in Hawaii was seeing Angela perform the hula. Her long graceful arms were well suited to the genre and he was besotted by the joy he saw on her face when she danced. Between the moonlight, the tropics and Angela in a bikini top with a grass skirt, it could be said that their marriage was very well consummated in Hawaii. If that grass skirt and bikini top made occasional appearances after their return to Connecticut, who was to know other than Tony and Angela? And they weren't sharing that information.

A weekend in Boston during March ticked another location off their "Honeymoon in Every State" list. This was as much a contrast weather-wise to Hawaii as they could possibly get; fortunately they did not go to Boston for the weather. The soft signs of spring started to wend their way through the remnants of winter's harshness. As the newlyweds wandered hand in hand through the Public Garden they saw crocuses and robins heralding the new season. Angela was a little sad that they were there too early in the season for a ride on a Swan Boat, but Tony consoled her admirably, and even promised that someday they would come back when the Swans were in season. Although Tony and Angela wandered along the Freedom Trail and had some food in the North End which rivaled Tony's own feasts; Boston's charms were secondary to their honeymoon activities.

Tony and Angela returned from their second, or third; even they couldn't keep track anymore, honeymoon and set to the business of finding a contractor to renovate their master suite. They found the contractor in a most unusual fashion. Sam kept pestering her dad, telling him that the father of one of her friends at school was a contractor. Tony finally relented and met the man. They clashed a little, but settled on a date in June to begin demolition. Angela made a mental note that she was going to have a tough couple of months, but she did have an excellent technique for distracting Tony from...anything else that could possibly vie for his attention. Mona noticed that spring was affecting Sam as well, it did not escape her that Sam's voice sighed every time she said the name, "Hank." She also noticed that Sam's spring fever was not perceived through the honeymoon haze her daughter and son-in-law were still in. She considered the situation and chose to ignore it, after all this was Sam, and it was spring, her behavior was just par for the course.

The only person in the household not affected by spring fever was Jonathan, who was throwing himself into his studies even more than usual in an effort to ignore all the romance around him.

Although Mona's libido never went into hibernation, spring was enhancing her desire to embrace all that life had to offer as well. One dreary rainy day she was sitting at her desk bored out of her mind. She'd reached her limit in responding to the way people forced themselves to be cheerful in the rain. If one more person came through that door and said, "well, it's better than snow," in reference to the weather, she was going to take their umbrella and... It is probably for the best to not think about what Mona would do with the umbrella. As she sat at her desk impatiently tapping a pencil and longingly looking out the window wishing the rain would go away and not come back some other day, a brilliant idea occurred to her. An idea so brilliant a passer-by would almost be able to see the light bulb appear on top of her head.

Pleased with herself, Mona twirled around in her office chair, jumped up and briskly knocked on Angela's office door.

"Come in," Angela answered.

Mona opened the door to see her daughter bent over a desk full of paperwork.

"Angela, what are we doing cooped up in here today?"

Cooped up? Why would her mother use that phrase on a day like today, it was no hardship to be inside with the lousy weather outside. Angela was wary, and did her best to nip whatever plan her mother had in mind in the bud, "it's called working, Mother." It was obvious her mother was up to something, skipping out of work seemed the most likely option. Angela was confused, usually her mother wanted to leave on good weather days, not on a day which consisted of one of those cold, relentless New York rains. Angela concluded her mother probably had a date.

Mona smirked, "funny, Angela. How about we do some lunch time shopping?"

This was unexpected. Angela actually straightened up and looked at her mother, "shopping?" Business Angela was not going to be swayed, however, "mother, I don't have time to go shopping, I have a business to run."

"Delegate," Mona shrugged.

"Mother." Angela took the drastic step of actually putting down her pen. Then she crossed her arms, "fine, I delegate you to go back to your desk and do some work."

Mona was not going to let her daughter's tactics stop her. She sauntered over to her daughter's desk and put her palms on the edge. She leaned toward her and said, "Angela, stop being such a fuddy-duddy. I had hoped that once you and Tony finally took the plunge that you would be less, shall we say, uptight."

If Angela could have crossed her arms ever harder she would have, instead she rolled her eyes and answered, "I am not being a fuddy-duddy or uptight," she uncrossed her arms and mimed two separate imaginary boxes on her desk as she continued, "I am delineating between work time and play time."

"Angela, even as a child you never colored outside the lines. Mess with the lines." Mona was bold enough to mess up the papers on Angela's desk, to which Angela stood up and protested, "Mother!" Mona had Angela where she wanted her, she sat on Angela's desk. It was time to reveal her plan, "now that it won't be wasted I want to take you shopping at my favorite lingerie boutique."

Angela's sense of foreboding was in direct contradiction to the glint in her mother's eyes, "no; oh no. Absolutely not," Angela sat down as a maneuver to end this conversation, "I can do my own lingerie shopping, thank you very much," but even as she protested, Angela was intrigued. What better resource was she going to find now that she had the reason?

"Don't worry, I won't hover, you can have your privacy."

Angela didn't believe that for one millisecond, and raised her eyebrows in response to her mother's blatant lie. Mona affected her most innocent, "who, me?" face. Every rational thought in Angela's head told her that this was a very bad idea. A very, very bad idea. One of the worst ideas to ever have been voiced probably, but there was a wisp of curiosity drifting through her head, urging her to explore new worlds. After all, she did want some new lingerie, Tony had already seen her full wardrobe, most of it more than once. Yes, Tony; she'd go shopping for Tony's sake, even though the last sensible thought she had managed to scream, "but Tony has never complained about repeats! In fact you rarely wear anything long enough for him to even remember what you're wearing," before she snuffed it out.

Mona saw the change in her daughter's features as the decision was made; she grinned.

"Let's go," Angela said as she picked up the phone to call Jack to let him know that he was in charge for the rest of the day and that someone was going to have to cover the reception desk.

Giddy, Mona slipped off the desk and clasped her hands together, "goody, goody, goody!" she sing-songed as she almost jumped up and down.

Angela finished her phone call, grabbed her purse, shook her head and said, "come on, Mother; let's go." Mona crooked her arm around her daughter's and laughed, "we are going to have so much fun!" Angela was still dubious concerning that prospect; but she really, really wanted some new lingerie and would put up with whatever she had to put up with to get it.

Sooner than Angela would have expected, a taxi dropped them off on the corner of 5th Avenue and 13th Street. The rain had let up a little and Mona rushed out of the taxi, leaving Angela behind to pay, of course. Angela completed the transaction and extricated herself from the cab. She paused to look at the building, she had to admit to herself that she was surprised. She didn't know what she was expecting this building to look like, but it definitely exceeded whatever expectations she'd had. This looked more like a Parisian townhouse than a store. Angela noticed that the name discreetly placed above the revolving door was Rhapsody. On subsequent visits Angela would find out that the original owner had been an admirer of George Gershwin in general and of Rhapsody in Blue in particular. The owner also chose the name for its meaning of bliss. He hoped the merchandise contained within would inspire lovers to heights of rhapsodic bliss.

The four story structure was unique, the stone front slightly bowed out over the sidewalk. Three long windows, complete with wrought iron railings, graced the middle two floors of the front of the building. They were heavily curtained, so no one could see the interior. On the street level a picture window was situated on either side of the revolving door. Angela admired the discretion of the windows as well. They were boxed in so passers-by could not see into the store, but they would be enticed by the displays. Several layers of sheer curtains were draped in each window. White sheer valances backed by pink sheer valances ran across the top. Voluminous pink sheers gathered with pink satin tiebacks framed the window. Behind the pink were several layers of white sheers. The only prop in one window was a specially made mannequin, centered in the window. As a tribute to their best customer, the mannequin was named Mona. Mannequin Mona peeked through the layers of chiffon-like material, one finger was brought up to her lips in a "shhh" motion. The rest of her body was hidden behind the filmy white fabric save for the front of one foot which had a pink marabou mule slipped on it. What was she wearing behind the curtains? Was she wearing anything at all? The effect was mysterious and enticing, just like lingerie.

The second window contained the same window treatments, but just as there was only one Mona in life; there was only one Mannequin Mona in the store. This window contained only two items: a pink satin chaise lounge placed in front of the white sheers, and delicately arranged on the lounge, as though its owner no longer had need of it, a long white silk bathrobe. Although far more likely that the robe would have been strewn on the chaise if its owner no longer needed it, the staff did take pride in their merchandise and gave the robe the respect it deserved.

Mannequin Mona only resembled real life Mona in hair color, but Mona had been thrilled by the tribute just the same. Mona did not mention this bit of trivia to Angela as she grabbed her daughter's hand to pull her into the store, "c'mon slow poke, before the rain starts again!"

Mona let go long enough so that they each had their own separate portion of the door. Mona beamed as she stood in the store, surveying her home. Ironically, considering her status as a frequent customer, it had actually been a few months since her last visit. Between wedding planning and actually spending time with the kids when Tony and Angela were out collecting honeymoon destinations, she hadn't been able to visit in a while. Her personal shopper, Kent, had been in touch with her just to make sure she was all right, she confirmed that she was and promised she'd be in when she could. Not wanting to break her promise to Kent, she grabbed the opportunity to shop when it presented itself.

As Angela whisked through the revolving door, she was literally transported to a world she had no idea existed. She stood next to her mother, unable to move; fortunately there was no one behind them trying to enter the store.

Angela had been impressed by the exterior of the store; she had not counted on the interior being just as beautiful. She expected utilitarian, instead she was greeted with an Art Deco masterpiece. Mona and Angela stood on a patterned marble floor, three steps led down to the sales floor. Inlaid geometric patterns of wood lined the wall on her left. At the back of the store a staircase which grew wider at the bottom served as one way to access the next floor. A mural was painted on the wall at the top of the staircase, Angela couldn't see what the painting consisted of and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. A swooping bannister followed the shape of the staircase, curling around at the bottom. At the top of the staircase the bannister opened out, each side transitioning into a railing which trimmed the edges of this level as each side curved inward, creating a mezzanine. Silver toned pillars on the ground floor held up this level.

There were other floors above, as Angela would find out later, but they were normal floors, still well-decorated, but without the dramatic impact of the mezzanine.

The ground floor was filled with glass cases showcasing bustiers, garter belts, hosiery and various other items Angela could not discern from her vantage point. On Angela's right, the entire section was devoted to shoes, everything from satin slippers to black leather boots.

In the back of the shoe department two elevators carried customers to other shopping pleasures. The doors of the elevators were patterned with more inlaid wood, of intricate and exquisite beauty. A column ran the center length of the doors, fanning out on top, looking like the capital from an Egyptian temple, with different colors of wood making up the plumes. Three thin arcs of silver separated the sections below the capital, with more ornate wood between them. Silver stylized budding lotuses curved in from the outer edges of the doors, three on each side. The combination of the many tones of wood with the silver accenting them created an effect similar to stained glass.

In the center of the ground floor a pianist played soothing music to spend money by. When he was on break a soundtrack of nothing but Gershwin songs played.

A small gasp finally drew Angela's attention away from admiring the decorating. She looked in the direction of the gasp to see a young lady greeting them.

"Hello, Betsy," Mona said.

"Hello, Mona," Betsy answered. Although the staff was usually required to use honorifics, Mona insisted on being called by her first name. "Welcome back, it's so good to see you."

"Thank you, it's good to be home," Mona smiled.

As though a telepathic game of "Operator" was going on, other salespeople turned their attention to the redhead at the door. They were trained to be discreet, so none acknowledged her presence with anything more that a slight grin and nod. Mona, however, was under no such vow. "Hello everyone!" she waved as she walked down the stairs. It was almost like a scene out of Hello, Dolly.

Angela followed her down the steps completely mortified and wishing she could hide. Instead she whispered, "you're a kid in your own personal candy store," to her mother.

Mona just smiled even more brightly and waved a little more.

"One. Hour." Angela warned; she knew this was ridiculous even as she said it, it could take one hour just to reach the staircase at the back of the store.

"Of course, Dear," Mona answered, just as ridiculously.

Angela started to get a very bad feeling about this.

One observant employee had picked up the house phone to call Kent in the break room the second Mona walked through the door. He was rushing (as discreetly and with as much decorum as one could when rushing) to greet Mona, timing his appearance perfectly to hold out his hand and guide her off the bottom step.

"Hello, Kent, it's good to see you," Mona greeted.

"Hello, Mona; it's good to see you too, you have been missed," he responded.

"Thank you, I've missed being here. Kent, Betsy; I'd like you to meet my daughter. She needs some new lingerie, desperately, I am sure."

This time the gasps were more audible. Kent couldn't catch himself fast enough to keep from covering his mouth in shock. Betsy was able to keep her gasp to a minimum, but couldn't help gushing, "finally? Oh, I am so happy for you!"

Angela was close to turning around and waltzing out that revolving door. She wondered how long her mother had been discussing things that she had no business discussing. Angela crossed her arms and delivered a warning, "Mother?"

"What?" Mona feigned innocence.

Angela smiled at the shocked shop-keepers and gently pulled her mother away from them. "You've been talking about my personal life with strangers?" she demanded, albeit quietly.

"No one here is a stranger to me, Dear."

"You know what I mean, Mother."

Mona shrugged, "why not? They could use a good laugh." Mona's maternal pride started to take over, before Angela knew what was happening, her mother had picked up her left hand and was practically shoving it in Kent and Betsy's faces. "Call her "Mrs. Micelli," Betsy, she loves that."

"You're married!" Kent and Betsy exclaimed in shocked unison. Mona had been giving them updates on the Tony and Angela "romance" for years. When Angela finally walked through the door, they knew there had been a change in the relationship, but they had not expected a wedding; or two.

The ring on Angela's finger did not lie. Angela was extremely uncomfortable, she considered it gauche to flaunt her diamonds like this. She pulled her hand away from her mother and rolled her eyes, "I can leave, Mother."

"Have a sense of humor, will you?"

Angela put her hand behind her back, "this isn't show and tell, and if you don't want me to walk out that door right now, never to return; then we'd better get down to business."

"Fine," Mona pouted, then out of the side of her mouth whispered, "party pooper." She'd waited so long for this day; so very, very long. All she wanted to do was share her inner joy with friends; and embarrass her daughter, of course. Was that so much to ask for? Mona didn't think so, but apparently Angela did.

"What did you say, Mother?"

"Nothing, Dear; but after all this time you might allow your Mother to bask in the glow of newlywed love just a little."

Angela crossed her arms.

With an, "it's nice to meet you, Mrs. Micelli," Betsy excused herself, silently thanking whatever Deities that be that more customers entered the store and rescued her from this tense situation. She'd had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at Mona's "party pooper" aside; knowing that an inappropriate response would not retain Mrs. Micelli as a customer and possibly cost her her job were powerful enough catalysts for her to control her mirth. Betsy tended to the new customers and the next item on her agenda was to tell her fellow employees of Mona's new status as a mother-in-law. News such as this did not break the rule of secrecy, at least in her mind. In only a few minutes, everyone working in the store knew of the major change in Angela's love life.

Being called "Mrs. Micelli" affected Angela in its usual way; she was appeased and softened her attitude regarding her mother's previous indiscretions. When she reflected on the situation, she acknowledged that she really shouldn't have been surprised that her mother discussed topics that even she and Tony didn't discuss. She also shouldn't have been surprised that her mother discussed these topics in a place like this; but as she was still coming to terms that a place like this even existed; it was taking some time to reconcile everything in her thoughts.

Kent switched into Discreet Rhapsody Employee mode; after ten years of working at the store, he knew when to keep his mouth shut and become as invisible as possible. Kent had been working at the store from the time he arrived in New York City from California, when he was 19. He'd grown up on the surf and definitely fulfilled the beach boy stereotype, blond hair, blue eyes, well-built; but he'd grown bored with the lifestyle and wanted to be part of the excitement of the Big Apple. He'd done some swimsuit modeling, but loved his job at Rhapsody.

Kent escorted Mona and Angela to the elevators, silently hoping that the sudden chill he felt between daughter and mother would disappear soon. A shopping trip in which the principals were not speaking to each other was not fun. On an even less fun topic, he had no idea what Angela would like in the way of lingerie. In all the times Mona had discussed her daughter and Tony (and that had been quite often) she never once mentioned what Angela would like if she and Tony ever did manage to get together. Kent was not comfortable in broaching the topic with Angela right now, so in desperation he decided to take them to Mona's favorite floor, the third floor.

Safely in the elevator, Kent was able to pretend to be fascinated by the numbers on the buttons. He heard whispers behind him, but not actual words and by the time the doors opened on the third floor, both mother and daughter seemed much happier.

Mona stepped out of the elevator and into The Promised Land. Angela stepped out of the elevator and it was her turn to gasp. She wasn't gasping at the décor, nice though it was, she was gasping at the selection. The third floor was devoted to fantasy. Any costume a client wanted, Rhapsody made it their mission to provide. Cheerleaders, princesses, angels, devils, police women, flappers, nurses; anything. The two things every costume on this floor had in common? The hemlines were high and the necklines were low.

"Where shall we start?" Kent asked.

Mona knew, and took off to her left. Angela's bad feeling was turning into foreboding very quickly, but she followed her mother's lead.

Mona arrived at her destination, and was quickly joined by Angela and Kent. She pulled a dress off the rack and turned to show her daughter, "oh look, Angela, a cute blue pin-striped baseball outfit, very short skirt. Perfect for hitting a home run." It was a cute outfit, but had little in common with an actual baseball uniform. Of course its purpose was for a very different field of play. This was a very short dress. The top resembled a baseball shirt, with a v-neck and buttons down the front. It had short sleeves, and a blue pleated skirt which was skimpy enough to show off Angela's legs to their full effect. Tony would love it.

Unfortunately, Angela had other ideas, she ignored her mother's bad double entendre and simply answered with an emphatic, "no." Being a practical woman, she then added, "and even I know that pin stripes belong to the Yankees, so it wouldn't even be appropriate from a team standpoint."

Mona wouldn't let a little detail like that derail this plan, she asked Kent, "do you have this in red?" It wouldn't be likely that a Manhattan store would carry a St. Louis color, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Alas, no," was Kent's regretful answer.

"Can your seamstress make one?" Mona asked, before Kent could continue, still not letting the details suffocate this idea.

"You have a seamstress here?" came Angela's bewildered voice.

"We strive to make all fantasies come true," was Kent's diplomatic answer.

"My mother must be your best customer."

Mona let Angela's comment pass, for once (if for no other reason than that she was impressed with Angela's sarcasm), and pressed on with her plan, "just think of it Angela, you in a cute red baseball uniform."

Angela was thinking of it as she stared at the uniform with contempt. She was not taken with this idea at all, it brought back too many memories of St. Louis and that was a weekend she did not wish to revisit. "No," she reiterated.

Mona heard the finality in her voice and decided to move on. Her attention was drawn by an outfit on a mannequin. A devious smile appeared on her face, one which terrified Angela. She followed her mother's line of sight and what she saw at the end proved to Angela that her fears were well-founded.

"No. Mother, don't even think it," but she knew her cause was hopeless even as she said the words.

"Too late, it's already thought." Mona pushed by her daughter.

"Excellent choice, Mona," Ken approved.

Angela rolled her eyes, "Mother. Stop."

"Lighten up, Angela, you would look great in it."

Angela knew this shopping trip was a bad idea from the start, she should have listened to her first instinct. She turned to Kent, "do you have anything that's a little more tasteful, on another floor, perhaps?"

"Of course, Mrs. Micelli," Kent answered, refraining from comment regarding the tastefulness of the outfit in question.

"Angela, this is in perfect taste," Mona commented.

The "you must be joking" look Angela gave her mother was one for the record books.

"Go ahead, Dear; I'm going to buy this for you anyway. Whether you wear it or not is up to you, I'll never know."

Defeated, Angela slumped down into a plush chair and dropped her head into her hand.

"Now, we need a companion piece for Tony."

Angela whimpered. Visions of what her mother might buy for Tony raced through her head; a leopard print Speedo was not something she wanted to see on her husband. Angela raised her head and put her foot down, "you are not buying anything for Tony."

"A smoking jacket I think, Kent."

That was certainly a much more modest choice that anything Angela had in mind, still she had to protest. She stood up and crossed over to Mona, "are you listening to me, Mother?"

"Say something worth listening to and I might, Dear," she barreled on, loving every second of agitating Angela, "and a pipe," she threw in as an after thought.

"He doesn't smoke," Angela protested wanly.

"It's a prop, honey, have some fun."

The exasperated sigh coming from Angela only made her mother laugh.

"Kent, I'd like to see the tasteful clothes now, please." This floor wasn't her style. It was time to leave her mother to her own shopping devices.

"Of course, Mrs. Micelli, please come with me."

"Yes, Kent; bring Angela down to the boring section," Mona waved them off as she spotted an outfit she'd like for herself.

"I'll send Carolina to help you, Mona," Kent assured her.

"Thanks, Kent, you're a doll." She threw him a couple of air kisses, which he returned. They were off and Mona barely even registered their disappearance. Mona didn't need any help shopping, she just needed someone to carry all her purchases to the register, and to gossip with about Tony and Angela. Carolina was a good listener and lot of fun to shop with. Kent was fun to shop with too, but Angela's needs today were far, far greater than her own, so she did her maternal duty and made a sacrifice for her daughter. She hoped Angela appreciated the trouble she went to for her. Whether she did or not, Mona was going to reward herself for this sacrifice by purchasing the outfits for Angela and Tony that Angela most definitely did not want her to buy; and several for herself as well. She would continue rewarding herself by charging them all to Angela.

Angela followed Kent down to the mezzanine level, wondering how much of her money her mother was going to spend for her today. The mezzanine was much more suited to her style. This level was a boudoir from a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movie come to life. One wall was covered in white moiré taffeta, the opposite wall six alternating panels. Three of the panels were gray wallpaper accented with silver Art Deco stylized swirls. The other three were beveled edged mirrors.

From this vantage point, Angela had a much better view of the mural she had seen from the doorway. To her surprise, it was tasteful. A white Pegasus in flight was painted on the dove-gray wall. Ribbons trailed after the Pegasus, contributing to the effect of flight. On either side of the Pegasus, a lyre was painted, both of the lyres were also surrounded by ribbons which gave balance to the artwork and paid tribute to the romance inducing qualities of music. What the Pegasus had to do with music or romance, she had no idea, but it did look good.

Above Angela, swaths of satin gathered across the ceiling, meeting in the middle surrounding a more long than wide, almost tubular crystal chandelier. Sheer curtains in sky blue and pale violet framed some of the displays. Mannequins on this level wore long gowns, peignoir sets and tasteful short gowns. Silk, satin, and chiffon ruled the fabric kingdom here. Angela sighed in happiness as she saw several items she could no longer live without.

Kent saw the change in Angela's demeanor, and was relieved. He didn't want to disappoint his best customer by disappointing her daughter. "Where shall we begin, Mrs. Micelli?"

Angela spied a bias cut satin nightgown and smiled, "right over there, Kent." He followed her gaze, then followed her as she walked over to the display mannequin. Mrs. Micelli had taste, of that he was certain. The gown was ivory satin, and since the diamond-shaped pieces which made up the garment were cut on the bias, the fabric would conform to the wearer's every curve, showcasing her femininity in a most delightful fashion. That gown opened the floodgate to a shopping spree. Angela easily doubled her lingerie wardrobe, making the trip to Rhapsody a success. In the future, Angela would make several more visits to the store; without her mother. Kent was discreet enough to not betray those visits to Mona, no matter how hard she tried to wrangle the information out of him.