Free Champagne Romance (Romance Novel) by Suellen Smith Page B

leopard border, while others
were made with individual designs of soft colorful flowers that
popped of red, magenta, yellow, and palm green.
    From the floor to ceiling hung brightly
colored vintage posters that covered the walls which were mixed-in
with original pastels from Paris, Madrid, and Rome. Some
watercolors captured the scenes from the cities and others were a
reminder of the beautiful flower gardens and vineyards that were
scattered about the European countryside. When Swan was sad, they
would always help her escape to the wonderful thoughts of eating
gelato with friends on the cobblestone streets of Rome, listening
to music on the streets of Paris, and hearing the street vendors of
Spain as they carried baskets of fish on their heads. All of the
posters and pastels held special moments and memories; especially,
the fountains and statues of Rome.
    If Swan thought about it long enough, she
could hear the rush of traffic as the citizens of Italy honked
their horns from their little Smart cars or blared off on their
motor scooters with their high heels and mini-skirts. She could
almost taste the wine and smell the aroma of Italian pizzas. It was
these little parts of Europe that were helping her cope with this
difficult time in her life and adjust to a sightless future.
    Swan turned on her sound system that played a
relaxing Mozart. She then sat down on her soft butter cream suede
couch with cheetah print pillows that had red-orange cording and
beading, which complimented the soft cushy chairs on each side of
the fireplace. She felt for a coaster on the Biedermeier end table
to set her tea upon the tortoise shell look-a-like glass coffee
table in front of her. She could only smell the multi-colored fresh
bouquet of flowers that Maria, the maid, had placed in the
center.
    As Swan snuggled her toes in a vintage
skinned zebra rug that she had found in an obscure antique shop on
the streets of New York, she found herself beginning to appreciate
her surroundings more and more by developing a keen sense of her
other senses. She could even picture the white alabaster fireplace
that set opposite her and the large gold leaf framed mirror from
Italy that hung above it. She could see the leopard chair, which
sat Cleopatra, her white Persian cat, grooming her long fluffy fur.
She began to sip her English tea and it wasn’t long before
Cleopatra joined her on the couch seeking attention from the
mistress of the house.
    Lost in thought, Swan began to plan for her
future. Money was not a problem as she had invested large hunks of
money from her modeling with a very savvy financial adviser. He had
secured her for the present and for the future with his wise
investments and retirement plan. He had insisted that she pay cash
for her fabulous apartment. He gambled that the interest rates and
housing would go up. Little did they know that property value on
the east and west coast would triple in value within the next two
years and that it would be a lucrative decision for her. She would
still be able to continue her life style and hire a housekeeper and
cook full time.
    A small apartment was at the back of Swan’s
condo. It was on the opposite side of her bedroom for her
housekeeper, Maria, who was recently widowed. This living
arrangement would allow Maria to have a rent-free dwelling of her
own and not have to worry about ever living with her children. It
was a workable arrangement for the mistress and the maid. It was a
comfort to both of them to know that someone was nearby that seemed
to care.
     

CHAPTER 22
     
    The first thing that Swan did the next
morning was make an appointment with her internist. Disregarding an
occasional headache and total blindness, she just had not been
feeling like herself for the past month. She seemed extra tired and
a little like she had a virus.
    Swan had taken a taxi to the office of
internal medicine. On their way to the medical building, the taxi
passed several tourists, locals, including a man