Eye of the Beholder

"Always knew you'd recognize the right man when he came along."
    "That's what I tried to tell Dr. Ormiston ."
    "So how come you wanted me to come over early tonight?"
    "So that I could ask you if you'd walk me down the aisle."
    Lloyd paused, the beer halfway to his mouth. A slow smile curved on his face. Warmth gleamed in his eyes. "I would be proud to walk you down the aisle, Alexa. Nothing would make me happier."
    "Thanks." She blinked away some moisture that was causing the twilight scene to shimmer a bit in front of her eyes. "Thank you very much, Lloyd."
    They were both quiet for a while.
    "Tell me something," Lloyd said eventually. "How'd you know Trask was the right man?"
    "I think it was because, in some very important ways, he reminded me of you."

EPILOGUE

    Two months later . . .

    Harriet handed her engagement gift to Alexa with a flourish. "You'll want to open this one first, dear."
    Alexa took the silver and white present from her. "I'll put it with the others."
    "I think you should open it now," Trask said.
    Alexa waved a hand at the huge crowd gathered on the grounds of the Avalon Resort & Spa. "What about our guests? Most of the town is here today, in case you haven't noticed."
    "I've noticed," Trask said. "We'll get back to them. Open Harriet's gift."
    "But everyone's waiting for us to do the first waltz bit."
    "Go ahead," Vivien urged. "Open Harriet's present."
    Lloyd smiled at Alexa. "Our guests can wait five minutes."
    Edward Vale hoisted his champagne glass. "To Harriet's gift."
    Alexa ignored him. Edward had been drinking champagne all afternoon. Luckily he was staying at the hotel, she thought. He would not be fit to drive by the time the reception ended.
    She looked at the circle of faces gathered around her. This was one of the happiest days of her life, she thought. She was officially engaged to the man she loved and she was surrounded by good friends and family. It probably didn't get much better than this.
    She could afford to be flexible.
    "Okay, okay, I'll open Harriet's gift."
    She ripped into the gorgeously wrapped package and uncovered a white box. She raised the lid, tossed aside the tissue, and saw a copy of Twentieth-Century Artifact. A very new copy.
    Alexa stilled.
    "Hot off the presses," Harriet said. "Won't be on the stands until next week. I prevailed on an acquaintance to get it for me. Page twenty-three."
    Alexa fumbled with the cover. It was not easy to get to page twenty-three, she discovered. Her fingers were trembling.
    "I'll do it for you." Trask took the glossy magazine from her and flipped through it quickly. "Here we are."
    Alexa took back the magazine and looked at the Insider's Notes column.

    CORPORATE COLLECTION STUNS DECO COLLECTORS

    Insiders were enthralled by the glittering collection of Art Deco housed in the sumptuous new Avalon Resort & Spa in Avalon, Arizona . "I wanted the best," Edward Vale, the corporate art consultant who supervised the project told TCA. "Naturally I went to the expert who exposed the McClelland forgeries, Alexa Chambers. She has an incredible eye for early-twentieth-century art and antiques. The client was delighted with the result."
    Avalon's collection is the envy of several major museums and galleries. Its breadth and depth is remarkable. Indeed, it stands comparison with the finest collections in the country.
    Never has the notion of the "modern" been so well defined as it was by the artists and craftsmen of the Art Deco period. Ms. Chambers has done a magnificent job of capturing that sensibility.
    Of interest to insiders is the fact that the original catalog of the collection listed an Icarus Ives sculpture, Dancing Satyr. That piece, we are told, although purchased for the Avalon resort, was later sold to an anonymous collector before the hotel opened. "It was a personal decision," said JL Trask, president and CEO of Avalon Resort, Inc. "I was never a great fan of Ives's work."
    Trask went on to say that, although the hotel's collection will be limited to the very finest examples of the Deco period, he himself has begun a unique private collection. It will be limited to the infamous, quite brilliant forgeries created by the anonymous sculptor whose work brought down the McClelland Gallery over a year ago.
    Collecting rare and interesting forgeries has long been in vogue in the art world among a certain eccentric type of collector...
    "Eccentric?" Trask snatched the magazine out of Alexa's fingers. "Let me see that. Damn it,