flash bulbs was blinding even inside the car where Marianne huddled in the hope that Luke would forget she was there and not make her get out.
Luke stood by the car for a very long minute accepting the ovation. In his younger days, he always appeared in public with several beautiful women in tow. After he married Lisa, Hollywood got used to him showing up at the Hollywood functions alone, because Lisa hated being in the spotlight. It was obvious from the crowd's reaction they thought he was alone this time, as he stood there smiling and waving. He hesitated long enough to be sure everyone thought he was alone.
Then he stepped aside and turned to draw Marianne out of the car.
As she alighted from the car, she looked up into his eyes and smiled; her eyes were full of love. He would not dare kiss her and risk messing up the makeup, but he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it in a courtly gesture. She grinned. He grinned back.
In that moment, for the two of them the crowd, and indeed the rest of the world, disappeared. The stared at each other with naked adoration. When looking at the pictures later, Marianne referred to it the 'Nancy Reagan gaze' which made the family laugh, even though they all acknowledged that Marianne and Luke did look at each other with the same kind of expression Nancy Reagan reserved for her beloved Ronnie.
The crowd went crazy. Flashbulbs exploded. Luke and Marianne were the focus of attention from everyone on the runway and in the reviewing stands. Luke put his arm around her waist and turned her in one direction and then another. They waved. Then they walked hand in hand toward the entrance of the auditorium.
One of the TV interviewers stopped them. She gushed and flirted with Luke for a few minutes and then she turned to Marianne and asked what designer made her clothes. Luke answered for her, "Dior Paris." The interviewer asked Marianne about the origin of her necklace. Luke answered, "That was a gift from me." He started to move on.
The interviewer stepped in front of Marianne and said, "You're not on my list. What is your name?"
Luke started to push her ahead without answering. Marianne looked at the interviewer and smiled, "My name is Marianne." She started to walk away.
The interviewer elbowed her way back in front of Marianne and said, "Do you have a last name?"
Marianne smiled sweetly and said, "Yes." Then, pushed by the crowd from behind and with the added help of Luke's elbow pushing the reporter out of the way, Marianne swept forward toward the door. Luke put his mouth next to her ear and yelled above the din, "That was freaking fabulous." She smiled and winked.
When they approached the VIP viewing area, the entire family, plus Chantal and Diane, were applauding and cheering. Lucas was jumping up and down in the front row behind the barrier. Luke asked the security people to let his family through. The entire group entered the building and walked down the center aisle, together. They were among the last to arrive. There was a closed circuit TV showing the telecast of the arrivals out front. The people who were already seated knew Luke's family was coming and the audience gave them a standing ovation as they entered. Marianne whispered, "Oh, God, I hope we're not in the front row!"
Luke whispered, "Not to worry. That's Jack's row. We're about three rows back on the side, near an exit, in case Lucas gets antsy or anybody needs to go to the bathroom."
She smiled at him and said, "You have thought of everything, haven't you?"
"Not at all. Thinking of everything is Diane's job ....." His voice broke and turned away from her, focusing on the sea of beaming faces turning toward them. He stopped here and there along the aisle shaking hands and hugging people. Marianne knew most of those people were world famous in the movie business. She recognized only a few of them. Once they were in their seats, Lucas decided he wanted to sit on Luke's lap. That ended up to be a very photogenic little scene and the TV cameras kept turning to them throughout the evening. Luke muttered, "This is worse than being in the front row."
Marianne said, "Well, it is almost over."
"Ya think? How many Academy Awards shows have you ever watched?"
She looked sheepish and said, "Um. None."
Luke laughed so hard he got the hiccups and had to go outside for a drink of water. He returned during a commercial break, and Marianne grumped, "It wasn't that funny."
Luke started to break up again and said, "Oh, yes it was."
They didn't realize it but the cameras were on them again as they were talking and laughing like a couple of teen-agers misbehaving in the movies. The MC ad libbed, "Mr. Payne, I'm wondering if you and your lady friend would mind either piping down or taking it outside."
Marianne blushed about eighty six different shades of red and put her hands over her face. Luke grinned and made the lip-zipping motion. A ripple went through the room. Nobody missed the glitter of Marianne's diamond wedding band sparkling in front of her face. The MC paused for a long pregnant moment, more or less inviting Luke to say something else. Luke merely chuckled and zipped his lip again. The MC introduced the next presenter.
Marianne whispered to Luke, "Did I do something wrong?"
Luke took her hand between both of his, lacing his fingers with hers, and said, "Not at all."
The program droned on endlessly, it seemed to Marianne. A steady stream of people whom Marianne had never heard of took the podium and introduced more actors whom she had never heard of and talked about movies she had not seen. She was bored. She looked around at her family. Richard looked as bored as she was. All the rest of them, to varying degrees, were paying close attention. Christiane, Georges and Paul were all typing furiously on their smart phones throughout the evening. She knew they were hard at work. Christa seemed fascinated. Madeleine and Lucas were both so excited they were having trouble sitting still.
Marianne glanced at Luke. Holding his hand, she could feel his nerves building as the time drew near for him to receive his award. His hand trembled ever so slightly and was just the tiniest bit clammy. His face and posture were calm, and attentive to the proceedings. She took his hand between both of hers and smiled at him. He looked into her eyes and smiled back, holding her gaze for a long time. She could feel his heart slow as he somehow found his center of calm. For the umpteenth time that evening she had a feeling he was up to something, but she did not know what it could be.
Finally it was time for the Life Achievement Award. Braddock Austin took the stage to gave a brief summary of Luke's career. He quipped, "Luke's a lot older and has made more movies than most of the life-time recipients, so they had to give us extra time for this part." He finished with a litany of a few of the many, many acting awards Luke had won, and ended with the statement, "Luke Payne is one of the five or six giants of his generation. I am happy to call him my friend. I am proud to call him my colleague. I am privileged to call him to the stage now to receive this recognition of his fifty-plus years of total devotion to his craft."
Luke reached around and touched each of his children. He tousled Lucas's hair. He embraced and kissed Marianne, and wiped his mouth to make sure he hadn't picked up too much lipstick. Then he turned and walked down the aisle and up the stairs to the stage, with the posture and stride of a man half his age.
Braddock greeted him with a bear hug and motioned him toward the microphone. Luke accepted the statuette, looked at it for a long, lingering moment, and then set it on the podium.
He looked around the room with his trademark lopsided grin, making eye contact with various friends, colleagues, rivals and ex-girlfriends. He smiled and nodded, acknowledging each of them.
He quipped, "As Braddock pointed out, I'm very old and have made a lot of movies. I have many people to thank." He looked at the MC and said, "I hope nobody has any ideas about giving me the hook." Everybody laughed at the very thought of anyone trying to rein in a star of Luke Payne's magnitude and reputation.
He said, "One of my earliest memories was my dad sneaking me onto the set of the motion picture Gone With The Wind. They were filming the railroad yard scene and my dad believed (righ
tly, it turned out) that they were making movie history that day. He wanted me to see it. My mom was a wardrobe mistress who ended up in the scene because they ran out of extras, so, after she and the other wardrobe ladies had dressed all the extras, she put on a Confederate Uniform and joined the line of writhing bodies lying on the ground. My dad was a mechanic who helped build the ramp they used to pull back the camera in order to pan back far enough for the shot of the entire scene. I fell in love with movies that day. I planned to be a mechanic like my dad, or, maybe, a set designer.
"A few years later, I was hanging out with my surfer buddies strutting our stuff on Venice Beach when a casting director invited us to be extras in a movie. The movie was Gidget with Sandra Dee." He chuckled and looked around the room, "Is Sandra Dee here?" She was in the back.
He bowed to her and blew her a kiss, "You were my very first love even though you never even noticed me."
When the laughter and applause died down, he continued, "After about eight hours of work, they paid me about what I typically made in an entire week of working on the crew. I decided that day that walking around in a bathing suit showing off and flirting with pretty actresses was a whole lot easier, not to mention more profitable, than knocking myself out building sets and lugging heavy equipment