The party planner was a delightfully gay man named Tanner. We met with him in Mother’s sitting room, and his enthusiasm about the party was infectious. He gushed over my wedding rings and my dark red hair in such an over the top way that I was oddly at ease with him from the beginning. I had my list of ideas for the party, and Mother had suggestions about what had worked well in the past. Tanner hadn't been in charge of last year's party, which was a relief to me. At least I didn't have to hear his thoughts on the perfect Savannah, and the choices she had made in previous years.

The three of us put our heads together and came up with a great plan. My legal pad was almost full of my messy notes about what we decided.

Tanner leaned back in his chair, and clapped his hands together once, loudly.

"So, we agree we want lots of flameless candles in the maze, and some twinkle lights as well. Hanging life-size skeletons and pumpkins lit with real candles to line the driveway. We can string up a lot of overhead lighting to make everything bright and easy to see. Maybe even bring in some small spotlights."

I was so excited to be a part of this planning. Working on the creative details was fun!

"Maybe we should mix up the skeletons with another feature. Or, I know. Let's create little scenes with the skeletons so that each setting will give our guests something new to view.” I bounced in my seat a little, as excited as a child. “Like, at one point in the drive, we could have a skeleton wearing a top hat, and walking a skeleton dog. We could put a "Beware of Dog" sign nearby, with a bite taken out of the sign."

"That's a great idea, Darby." Tanner shared my enthusiasm. "We could put a skeleton in a cap and gown as a subtle nod to your recent college graduation. And we could have a skeleton in a clown outfit, complete with wig. That would be scary."

"Maybe a couple of skeletons in tattered fancy clothing could be waltzing together." Mother jumped in on the planning. "How about a skeleton bride and groom? The guests will like a reference to your wedding since you are newlyweds."

I turned to Mother. “I’m impressed with your imagination, and I’m kind of surprised that we have such similar tastes and ideas.”

Mother nodded. “We have to be aware of the concept of a formal ball and all that entails. We have to keep everything in line with the history of the estate, but I encourage you to contribute your ideas, too. We need to make this ball fresh and new.” She smiled at me. “I certainly don’t want this ball to feel stuffy.”

Maybe we could learn to be friends one day, after all.

"What about a skeleton gardener, raking leaves in a pile?" I threw out this idea to the group, and tapped my pen against my chin, still thinking.

Tanner wrote these ideas down, his pen flying across the paper as we all called them out.

"How about a skeleton in a raincoat and boots, carrying an umbrella? That would make people laugh since we've had no rain in forever." Mother contributed this one.

We continued to bounce ideas off each other for over three hours. By the time the meeting was over, I was tired, but feeling very proud of our accomplishments. We had agreed to use a rich purple as our primary color scheme. We had come up with creative decorations for every part of the house that would be open to guests, with the focus being the ballroom, of course.

Tanner made lists of items we had on hand already, and what he needed to order.

"What about tables and chairs? Do we need to order those?" I addressed my question to Mother.

"No. The estate already has numerous extra tables and chairs in storage to accommodate our guests, but we do need purple tablecloths with silver draping for each setting. I suggest we add the silver to match your costume. Having a secondary color will keep the purple from being overbearing."

I was learning a lot from Mother.

"Ooh, what is your costume?" Tanner leaned forward eager to hear my response.

Mother spoke before I could reply. "Darby's costume is a secret, Tanner. You will get to see it the night of the ball."

She winked at me, and I felt like her partner in crime. It was a good feeling.

I would have been happy to tell Tanner all about my flapper costume. He seemed like a safe person to confide in since he was the primary party organizer, but I would follow Mother's lead.

Tanner was also going to coordinate with the caterer to finalize the menu, but we came up with clever, Halloween-themed selections for drinks, appetizers, the main course, and dessert. For example, we all agreed deviled eggs would be an excellent choice for one of the appetizers, and we wanted a blood-red sangria as the featured beverage.

"How about little ghosts to hold names for the seating arrangements at each table, ladies?"

"That sounds perfect. And while we are on the subject of our guests and their names, I've already compiled an invitation list for you." Mother was all business. She even had a flash drive that she handed to Tanner, along with a printed list.

Tanner took the list and drive. He agreed to hand address and mail the invitations that same week, and use the names for the seating arrangements.

That led to a lively discussion about the design of the invitations. We selected a matte purple card with silver script as the perfect touch. Mother said to keep it understated, with no overt connections to Halloween, and I agreed.

Finally, we had most of the details decided, down to the orchestra that would play classical arrangements, as well as popular Halloween tunes.

Nathan chose that moment to enter the room with Maxwell. He smiled at my flushed cheeks and giddy excitement, and walked straight to my side.

"I was worried, Darby, that you might be too shy to enjoy this party." He leaned down and kissed me, just a soft touch of his lips to mine. "I'm delighted to see that you are already enjoying yourself, and getting into the spirit of the occasion."

"It's going to be great. I cannot wait for you to see! That reminds me, what kind of costume do you want to wear? We need to get working on it right away."

He laughed. "Oh, no. The greatest part of being the host of the event is that I don't have to wear a costume. I'll leave that to you. I'll just wear a nice suit, and let all the eyes be on my knockout wife. What are you going to wear, baby?"

Mother looked up at once, and stared right at me.

"It's a surprise. You will have to wait and see the night of the party." I was very smug, hardly able to keep my secret because of my excitement. I tapped my toes against the hardwood floor about to burst with my suppressed joy.

"All right. Keep your secrets, if you must." He smiled down at me as he moved to another chair.

He sat down and Maxwell joined him.

"Now Max and I need to talk to Tanner about security at the party. We want to make sure we don't have any uninvited guests showing up unexpectedly and ruining all your fun."

Mother frowned. My face echoed hers. I had started all of this party talk today to forget about Lawson Jackson, and now he was on my mind once again.