Sex and Vanity(13)

“Everything’s being taken care of. Gillian’s managing an army of staffers precisely so I don’t have to stress out and can actually enjoy my own wedding. But you are very nice to offer,” Isabel replied, thinking for the hundredth time how well brought up Lucie was. She’d always had a soft spot for Lucie and felt very protective over her ever since she babysat her during the time of Lucie’s father’s death. Lucie had only been eight years old, but she was so stoic through it all, an absolute rock for her devastated mother. She didn’t cry once at the memorial service and brought the standing-room-only crowd at the church to tears when she went up to the altar and gave an a cappella rendition of Sting’s “Fields of Gold.”

Shaking off the memory of those days, Isabel continued. “You know, Dolfi and I thought that fewer people would come if we had a destination wedding, and we could do something very intimate. But we made the mistake of picking Capri. Everybody wanted to come!”

“How many guests are you having?”

“The head count as of yesterday was four hundred and eight.”

“Four hundred and eight!” Lucie squealed.

“I know, crazy, right? This is why every hotel is booked up in town. But if the wedding had been in Taipei, I would have been forced to invite over a thousand guests, easily. So I’m taking consolation in that.”

They reached a fork in the road, where Lucie noticed a small ceramic plaque affixed to the stone wall with the words DA LUIGI BEACH CLUB painted on it. Isabel steered them onto the lower road, which quickly became a steep pathway that wound all the way down the hill. Halfway down the pathway, they rounded a corner and Lucie gasped audibly, stopping dead in her tracks. Before her was the most astonishing view. Three towering rock formations jutted out of the sea, just off the island’s coast, and in front of the rocks was a private bay where the beach club was situated. The waters all around the shoreline shimmered from the lightest hint of turquoise to the most intense shade of azure blue, beckoning all to come bathe at the foot of the rocks.

“This is the most beautiful place I’ve seen in all my life!” Lucie said, as she took in the landscape. “These are the famous Faraglioni rocks, aren’t they?”

“Yes. Legend has it these were the rocks on which the sirens would meet, where they would sing their songs to bewitch sailors,” Isabel informed her.

“I believe it! The rocks look totally enchanted. I’d jump off a ship and swim straight for them!”

“You see the one that’s farthest away?”

“That’s the home of a species of blue lizardfn1 only found on that rock,” Lucie said with a smile.

Isabel laughed. “I forgot who I was with. Of course you’d already know far more about this island than I do!”

“Not really, I just read the whole Fodor’s guidebook on the plane.”

They arrived at the club and checked in with the hostess standing by the entrance to a rustic, whitewashed building where the restaurant was. Deck chairs with bright blue cushions and matching blue umbrellas were placed all along the different sections of rocks leading down to the sea. Isabel made a beeline for her friends, who were clustered around the highest point overlooking the water, sunning themselves. There were about a dozen girls from around the globe, all from different eras of Isabel’s life—some from her college years, some from her work, a few from her time in Taiwan. Isabel made sure to introduce Lucie to everyone.

“Where’s Dolfi?” Lucie asked.

“The guys chartered a boat and went fishing this morning,” Isabel announced.

“Thank God we’re rid of them for a while,” said Amelia (Taipei American School Northwestern NYU Stern), Isabel’s friend from Taipei who was also the maid of honor.

Isabel quickly removed her Missoni cover-up, while Lucie stripped off her shorts and unzipped her light cotton hoodie. Underneath was her new blue-and-white-striped plunge V-neck one-piece swimsuit. She had thought that it looked sort of retro cool when she bought it at a little boutique in Nolita, but now, standing among these older and more sophisticated women, she wondered if it looked a little childish. All of them were sporting swimsuits far more fashionable and revealing—Isabel in a lime-green-and-purple Emilio Pucci bikini, Amelia in a plunging Eres one-piece, Daniella (Gan Israel Kindergarten Wilbur Avenue Elementary Portola Taft Beverly Hills High Cal State Northridge) from Los Angeles in a black Norma Kamali with asymmetrical cutouts, Sophie (Woollahra Preschool Queenwood Brown) from Australia in a barely-there red Valentino bikini, and one of the Italian girls, Talitha (British School of Milan ICS Saint Ann’s Le Rosey / Parsons), was even topless.

Feeling suddenly self-conscious, Lucie wandered down the steps to the concrete platform at the edge of the water. At last, she was here. She loved nothing more than swimming in the sea. From where she was standing, the glacially clear water appeared like it could be freezing. How cold would it actually be? Only one way to find out, she thought. Taking a deep breath, she plunged in.

“How is it?” Isabel shouted down at her.

“Heaven!” Lucie shouted back. “It’s the perfect temperature!” This being July, the Mediterranean had been warming nicely throughout the past few months, and Lucie loved gliding through these waters. Most of her summers had been spent swimming in the frigid ocean off Long Island, and this seemed tropical by comparison. She swam out quickly to the farthest point, where a rope and buoy indicated the outer perimeter of where the current was safe, and flipped onto her back.