CHAPTER 7

            Jana stood shimmering under the huge crystal chandelier.  She looked as glamorous as any model directly out of "Vogue".  She had been terrified when she found out that Martha VanHollan and she were hosting a charity ball for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and there was no way that she could get out of it.  At least she had been relieved when a beautiful gown had been delivered that morning, complements of Victoria's efficiency.  The gorgeous dress and an afternoon at Simon's Beauty Clinic had transformed Jana into Victoria.

            Now she stood in the reception line in the Ambassador Hotel ballroom dressed in the beautiful gown of emerald green silk overlaid with green chiffon.  It was conservative but elegant with intricate beading traveling across the bodice, accenting her breasts and cascading down to the hem.  Simon's girls had added more red highlights to her hair which seemed to enhance the invigorating sparkle she radiated.  She even had gained some confidence thanks to Martha.

            The unexpected incident with the fountain and Martha, when Martha had seen Victoria at her worst, had somehow caused her to open up to Jana.  Martha had confessed that she had always been afraid of getting too personal with her because Victoria had always seemed so conventionally prim and proper.  Martha said that she now realized how much alike they really were and that Victoria wasn't really prudish but just eccentric.  Martha had been thankful that they were able to break the ice so to speak and become real friends.  Jana was relieved because now she didn't have to impersonate Victoria while being with Martha and was able to somewhat be herself.

            During their appointment to finalize the arrangements for the ball, Victoria had seemed to be unusually forgetful.  The whole thing was starting to seem a little strange, odd, and peculiar to Martha.  Jana knew that she must think of something very quickly to explain her lack of knowledge about the simple questions that Martha asked her about their plans for the ball.  The only thing that Jana could devise to tell Martha was that she was feeling a little spacey due to the fall into the fountain and was having a difficult time remembering things, especially people's names.  She told Martha that she would see her personal physician that very evening to make sure she was all right.  The next morning she called Martha and explained that the fall had caused a mild concussion creating a temporary partial loss of memory but it wasn't serious and would just pass with time.  Martha was still concerned and told Jana that she would help her in any way she could.  Jana thought she would be able to perform her duties as a hostess at the ball since she had studied the scrapbook again and worked at remembering people's names and faces, she told Martha that she had done this.

            Jana's most important information came from the dossier she had found in Charles' room and yes Victoria came across as being very aloof.  It seemed as if she was a very regimented person always doing precisely the same things on the same days of the week.  Never deviating from her routine.  She was kind and giving, giving of her money and time for causes and charities but all seemed to be on a schedule.  It was almost as if her life had been planned out in advance and she was just acting it out.

            Knowing that Victoria was friendly, but aloof, made Jana's job much easier.  She had been able to breeze through the guest's hellos without even trembling once.  Glancing across the room and seeing Charles had reminded her how that aloofness had come in handy when he had tried to seduce her.  She had come back to the penthouse after her appointment at Simon's Beauty Clinic and found Charles in her room.  He was laying on her bed very scantily clad, to put it mildly.  Jana had blushed a little when she saw him but quickly gathered her wits about her.  Tossing her purse on the bed, as she traveled on to the closet, saying to Charles "You had better put something on, your going to catch your death".  He gave her a look with daggers and got up off the bed and retreated to his own room.  He hadn't said much to her since.  Even now, he was scowling as he looked at her across the room.  Jana felt no remorse and that he deserved some rejection for purposely trying to embarrass her by having deliberately allowed Martha to find her in the bathtub.  Martha told her that she had heard Charles in the background over the intercom and really didn't mean to walk in on her at such an embarrassing moment.  Anyway, that whole episode backfired on Charles and Jana had gotten the last laugh.

            "Victoria, I think now we should go in and mingle," Martha said.  "Are you going to be all right?"

"I think I'll be just fine.  I really appreciate your prompting me with the greetings, Martha, I don't think I could have gotten through it without your help.  Thank you."

"What are friends for?  I'm just glad that we have been able to become closer over the last couple days.  I guess this is a terrible thing to say but I'm almost glad that you bumped your head, especially since it isn't serious."

Charles, having seen that the reception line was breaking up, like a dutiful husband came over and asked Victoria to dance.  She took his hand and they glided onto the dance floor.  Charles was definitely a good dancer, although Jana felt he was holding her a little too close.

"Well, I must say Martha and you have sure become good friends.  I never expected to ever see her loosen up like she has.  What did you do, drug her champagne?"  Charles asked rather snidely.

"I really don't think it is necessary for you talk about a friend of mine that way."  Jana retorted. "Yes, I know, always the proper Victoria."  Charles said with a grin on his face implying that maybe she was putting on airs.  He purposefully pulled her tighter against him, to feel her body's sensuous response to the music.  At the same time he noticed her distaste.  His physical superiority gave him a sense of victory,  regardless of how badly she could defeat his sarcasm with her words.

"There is nothing wrong with being considerate when talking about other people."  She remarked, as she attempted to pull back from him with no success.  "Perhaps you would have more friends around you and you wouldn't have been standing alone, if you learned that."  As the music finished she was able to extract herself from the arms that had been holding her so unyieldingly.  "I have to visit with my friends.  See if you can find any to visit with!"  Jana said indignantly, as she left Charles on the dance floor.

Jana knew she probably shouldn't have talked to Charles that way but he had made her so angry with his arrogance.  It had seemed that ever since he had returned, almost every other word out of his mouth was critical of someone.  She also didn't trust him since she had found the dossier on Victoria.  There was something sneaky about Charles and she wanted him as far away from her as she could get him.  She was hoping that her remarks would keep him at arms length.

Jana headed over to a small group of people that she knew were only slightly acquainted with Victoria.  She felt that they would probably be safe to talk to but was stopped by a middle aged gentleman and asked to dance.  That was just the beginning because Jana danced dance after dance each with a different man through most of the evening.

She finally had to refuse a dance to freshen up in the ladies room.  On her way there, she caught a glimpse of a man as he turned the corner.  She thought he looked familiar but dismissed it because Jana couldn't possibly know anyone here at this very expensive, elegant ball.

During all the dancing, she had had nothing to eat or drink.  So, after freshening up, she headed for the room with the food.  There was an elegant buffet that had been laid out for the guests.  It had been pretty much worked over but Jana didn't have a hard time finding something appealing.

"And when I saw that J.D. Kline was here..."

Jana's ears pricked up as she overheard a conservation mentioning J.D. Kline.

"I was just about to go over to him and ask him to dance."  The young gorgeous, very elegantly and sexily dressed girl said as she giggled.  "But at that moment he went into a room with some of the other businessmen and I missed my chance."  The girl finish with an obvious pout on her face.

So J.D. Kline was here.  Jana went back into the ballroom and started looking around, maybe she could find Martha and have her point him out.

Just at that moment Jana was grabbed and whisked onto the dance floor.  He was holding her so tightly that she couldn't see who he was, but she wasn't really interested because she wanted to find Martha.

"You could at least acknowledge the fact that you're dancing with me."  Her dance partner stated with the sound of rejection in his voice.

Jana started to tremble and a sadness came over her as the voice reminded her of Michael's although it was deeper and more polished.  She looked up into the face of an obvious stranger but somehow he seemed familiar.  This was the man that Jana had seen earlier.  Maybe she was getting a little bit of Victoria's memory back.

"I'm sorry, I was looking for my friend Martha VanHollan.  I just heard that someone I've been wanting to meet is here tonight and I wanted her to introduce me to him."

"I may be able to help.  Who is this gentleman that I am already jealous of?"

"J.D. Kline.  Do you know him?"

"J.D. Kline, eh."  The stranger said as he let out a sarcastic laugh.  "So your one of those.  Don't you know that there are already dozens of women around here who have their sights set for one of the most eligible and richest bachelor's in town."

Jana was insulted by his tone of voice and his insinuation that she was just a gold digger.  She tried to pull away from him as she retorted, "Not that it's any of your business but I have a perfectly valid reason for wanting to meet J.D. Kline other than what you've just implied."

As Jana tried to pull away from the stranger he just held her tighter totally destroying what she thought was a good exit speech.  She looked up in his eyes thinking she would show him how displeased she was with the situation and was surprised to see a twinkle of humor in them, as he replied.

"When I was watching you earlier, I thought that the people who had talked about you were right and you were stuffy.  But now I see a little bit of fire in you.  Actually, I find it refreshing."

"I don't care if you find me refreshing or stuffy, let me go before I cause a scene."  Jana said as she tried once again to get away from this arrogant stranger.

"You wouldn't want to do that, you're one of the hostesses of this ball and it wouldn't look good for you to embarrass one of the more prominent guests."

"Prominent, heh.  You probably crashed the ball. I can't imagine you were actually invited."

"Oh, yes.  In fact, I have the invitation right here." As he reached into his inside pocket to retrieve his invitation, Jana was able to escape his clutch.  She very unladylike came down on his foot with her heal and then stomped away leaving him with the invitation in his hand and an extremely pained look on his face.

Walking away Jana felt a little guilty about having been so mean to the stranger, after all, she didn't even know his name.  Jana realized that she had been rude to quite a few of the people around her since she had become Victoria but then again, quite a few people had been rude to her.  Regardless, Jana didn't like being this way and decided to make a concerted effort to be kinder, even to those who weren't so kind to her.

Finally, Victoria found Martha with a small crowd of people at the far end of the ballroom.  They were discussing the new artist who had just had a showing at the famous Freeman gallery there in Beverly Hills, when Jana was able to signal Martha and get her away from the group.

"I heard that J.D. Kline is here tonight and I would like to meet him,"  Jana said then added.  "Anyway, I don't think that I have met him before."

"Oh, I'm sorry Victoria, I can't imagine why so early, but he just left.  I didn't know that you wanted to meet him and no you don't know him.  He has always given unusually generous amounts to each of our charities but he always shied away from all the functions that were given.  You have never shown an interest so I didn't even think to introduce you. Why suddenly such an interest in him?"

"It's just business."  Jana said then changed the subject quickly, so Martha wouldn't guess that it was much more than that, adding,  "The ball seems to have turned out very well."

It was the right thing to say, since Martha smiled broadly and looking out on the ballroom floor said, "Yes, I think we've outdone ourselves this time.  Everything went beautifully, I'm so pleased.  Did you know that Mr. Cranston donated ten thousand dollars tonight?  And of course J.D. Kline matched it.  There is nothing better than having one man trying to outdo another, of course that applies to situations dealing with both money and love."

Martha winked and they both laughed quietly as Martha told Victoria that they had better split up and start mingling again, since the night was about to come to a conclusion.  Jana strolled over to the double doors that lead out onto the verandah.  The night seemed strange to her, Los Angeles wasn't anything like Missouri.  There weren't hardly any stars in the sky, since there was so much light from the city.  The air was heavy with the oppression of so many bodies in one area.  The pollution of the air didn't seem so bad at night and Jana took in a deep breath and tried to fight the homesickness she was starting to feel.  Her mind wandered back to her evenings in Missouri, with the only earthly light being the shimmer of the fireflies, like little holes in the darkness dying out as though they were being mended by mother nature.  As each died out, another would take its place only to fade once more into the black hole of eternity.  Looking toward the heavens, one could lose their breath with the wonder of a sky so large and full of stars that you might expect it to come crashing down from the weight of them all.

Suddenly, Jana noticed an exquisitely beautiful woman standing a little ways away from her looking out over the edge of the verandah.  The woman stood there for a few moments and suddenly Jana got the feeling that everything was going to be all right and that she was not alone in this strange new world.  Jana glanced over the railing to see what the woman was looking at and when she looked back the woman was gone.

Jana couldn't understand why the sight of the woman had had such a profound and strange effect on her.  Maybe the woman was someone familiar to Victoria and she had stirred a memory.

"Is the air any better out here?"

Jana spun around and was relieved to see a familiar face.  "Well, hello Paul, it's really nice to see you."  The lawyer looked very handsome in his tux.

"You'll forgive me, I love Los Angeles but hate the pollution that is pumped into the air everyday.  You would think that after all these years that someone would have found a clean way to travel in this town."

Jana laughed a little at his flippant remarks about the pollution of Los Angeles but deep down, she agreed with him.  Even though Victoria seemed to have gotten their body used to the pollution, Jana still felt uncomfortable most of the time, and she had really noticed it when she first returned from Missouri.

"I expected you to show up the next day in my office to reseal the will, especially since you were so adamant the first time to have it sealed right away, but no, not this time, not a word from you."

"I'm sorry Paul, but as you can see,"  Jana said with an outward stretch of her arms,  "I have been very busy planning this ball."

"And a wonderful job you and Mrs. VanHollan have done too.  I've had a great time being swarmed by women.  I must admit, I did try on several occasions to get over to you to dance but before I could get there you were swept up by someone else.  You look absolutely ravishing tonight."  Paul said with a admiring look. "But tell me, what did J.D. do to make you stomp on his foot.  I haven't had such a good laugh in a long time.  I was surprised to see him dancing with someone, he's so stuffy, but that little dance step he did at the end was really something."

"Paul, you weren't supposed to see that.  And what do you mean J.D.?  That wasn't J.D. Kline, was it?"

"You haven't met J.D. Kline yet?  I figured, with all the money he had given to Martha and your charities, that you would know him."

"Martha has always handled him and I'd never met him. Oh dear, what have I done?"

"Don't worry, after he did his little dance step, he had a big smile on his face as he watched you stomp away."

"I hope your right.  Martha would never forgive me if I lost one of our biggest benefactors."  Jana said wistfully then returning to business.  "I'll be by your office tomorrow to seal the will, if that's all right."

"Of course it's all right, you know you're welcome to come in anytime, after all it isn't as if I have any other clients to drop in on me.  Oh, and another thing, since you yourself did bring up business, Richard Andrews called to find out if you were all right, he said you haven't been in contact with him, like you told him you would be the other day in my office.  It's not like you to ignore business."

Richard Andrews, her business manager, Jana remembered. With all that had been going on, she had totally forgotten to have Charles check on that information in the file folder Richard had given her.  "Well, I was out of town for a little bit and then we were planning this ball.  Was he really upset with me?"

"What do you think?  You know how efficient he is.  He doesn't cut any slack when it comes to business, that's why you hired him.  Really Victoria, are you Okay?  I've never known you to be so lax in your business affairs?"

Jana didn't know any way out except to tell him the same story she had told Martha about her hitting her head.

"Well, how did that happen?  You're usually so careful."

Jana started to giggle and then started to laugh when she thought of herself sitting in the fountain when Charles and Suzanne found her.  She figured he would find out anyway so she tried to tell him but couldn't get it out because she was laughing so hard.

"Let me in on the joke."  Paul stated as he caught her laughter and started to laugh too.

"I....ha, ha....fell....ha, ha....in the fountain."   Jana finally got out.

Paul laughed for a little longer then stopped suddenly. "You what?"

Jana stopped laughing also.  "I fell in the fountain."

"You mean the one in the penthouse?  How could you have fallen in that fountain?"  Paul asked totally dumbfounded.

"Suffice it to say that I did, and then Charles and Suzanne walked in at that time and saw me..."

Paul started to laugh again.  "That's wonderful, I can just see the look on Charles' face."

"Yes, it was pretty funny."

Then Paul got a serious look.  "Are you sure you're okay?  You look wonderful but head injuries are strange things."

"Yes, the doctor said it was nothing serious and that I would be fine in a few days, but in the meantime I may have to depend on you to help me with a few business matters."

"As always, I am at your command.  But this will be quite a change; you've always been so sure of what you wanted and what you were doing.  You do remember that don't you?"

"Yes, Paul."  Jana said in what she hoped was her tolerant voice.  "I guess we had better get back to the ball, after all I am one of the hostesses."

"I suppose we should.  But there's one thing I would like to say, if I may."

"Well, certainly Paul."

"The last few times I have seen you, you seem to be different, and I hope you don't mind my saying this, but it's an improvement."

"Thank you, Paul."  Jana said as she started toward the doors to return back inside, she didn't like the way the conversation was going.  "I guess I needed to loosen up a bit."

"Well, I like it and I guess that's all I have to say.  I hope I haven't spoken out of line."

"No, Paul, your still my lawyer."  Jana said as they entered the ballroom.

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Ralph had been watching the exchange between the lawyer and Victoria.  He had managed to get an invitation from one of his friends that owed him.  He didn't want to miss this ball, maybe here he could find out if this girl Jana remembered anything about Victoria.  He guessed after tonight that Victoria was still in Jana because she seemed to know most everybody and seem more relaxed than she had been over the last few days.

He'd have to admit that the exchange between Victoria and J.D. Kline was a total shock to him.  What could he had said to her to get her so mad.  Victoria hardly ever showed any emotion but this Jana girl was a real hothead.  He had been really gratified when he had seen the exchange between her and Charles, they had seemed to have a very businesslike marriage, but with his knowing the way Charles felt about Victoria he was glad Victoria was finally seeing him for what he was.

He had danced with her, he couldn't resist.  It was so wonderful to finally hold her in his arms, even if it was for just a single dance and they didn't even say much, just pleasantries.  She was so beautiful, danced so wonderfully and was so gracious.  How he wished he had known her as Jana back in Missouri, there he might have had a chance with her, but here and now as Victoria it was hopeless.  All he could do was protect her and make sure she was OK.

              The ball was finally over and Ralph watched as Victoria got into the limousine to leave.  As he watched the limousine drive away his heart jumped as he noticed that someone besides Jake was driving and Victoria was alone.  Then he saw the license plate and he realized that it wasn't even her limousine.               

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Beginning     Chapter 8

Copyright 1990 by Anita and David Mathews