Chapter 37

Finally it was the day of the pro-am tournament. The previous day, Ali had taken the girls to see Henry Hall. He just trimmed, neatened and fussed. Then turning to Ali he said, “Now I really give up! Allison McGrath, you really did it to me this time. As many beauties as you’ve brought to me, this is the very first time I’ve been unable to do a single damned thing.”

He just looked at the girls who were seated in chairs side by side with hairdressers’ sheets draped over their shoulders. With only their heads showing, they were utterly exquisite.

Then he called Penny Watts, the studio’s makeup chief and she came over. Penny put on magnifying eyeglasses and just studied the girls closely. Then to the amazement of everyone, she dropped to one knee between the two chairs, took a hand from under each sheet and lightly kissed the girls’ fingertips. After she did, she just murmured, “Your Majesties!”

“Penny Watts, whatever are you doing?” Ali demanded.

Penny was back on her feet. Looking at Ali with her face impassive she said, “I am paying homage to true nobility. In these young women one sees the very finest distillation of Western Civilization. They are truly blessed by Almighty God in every way imaginable. There cannot be two others remotely like them on the face of this earth.”

Then to Henry she said, “I’ll be right back.”

She was as good as her word. A few moments later she returned with two tubes of lipstick and a couple of tiny brushes. With the greatest of care she applied the tiniest amount to Anna’s lips and then to Maria’s. Closing the tubes, she gave one to each along with the brushes she had used. “Now you’re all set. There is absolutely nothing more I can do. Your skin is utterly perfect. Both of you!”

Then with a grin she added, “Now will you both please get the hell out of here so I can have a good cry? Please?”

When the sheets were removed, the girls kissed Henry and then Penny. After nearly passing out from the power of their very-restrained kisses, Penny murmured, “Of course! What you said in that interview was the exact truth, wasn’t it? You are truly blessed by Almighty God Himself. No wonder I can do nothing. Only God is capable of perfection, and you’re it.”

Then with a very warm smile she added, “And thank you for the kiss. I know now that you really restrained yourselves. If you had fully cut loose, I would be dead. As it is, I feel utterly filled with joy and Divine grace.”

After their morning workout, Marion and Ali worked on the two girls, first working more musk oil into their skin and then with loving massages. The two were dressed in white again, and this time were chauffeured to the club by Fred Clark.

On the way Ali filled them in on the final arrangements. “It’s really funny! We may be bankrupting Caroline Campbell. First, she had to bid over $25,000 to win her club’s bid to be in the tournament at all. Then, she had to come up with over $100,000 more to be in your foursome.

“Incidentally, your pro will be Molly Adams. She’s a real doll! Aside from being the leading money-winner on the tour last year, she also won the USGA Women’s Open, and the LPGA Championship. And unlike too many of her sisters on the tour, she’s very much a heterosexual. In fact,” Ali added with a grin, “she really pissed off some of her sisters by selling a calendar with her nude photo on it.”

Ali shook her head and continued, “There’s an additional benefit from this, though. It really looks like Bill and I will be able to unload some real money. The tournament expenses are trivial, but the matching looks like it could be real money. The fourth in your group is Kim Carson who’s the hottest thing in films. We learned that she had to go over $1 million at her club to get an invitation.”

Then with a sly glance at the two girls she continued, “But the really serious money comes from our matching the Calcutta.”

“What’s a Calcutta?” Anna asked innocently. “Aside from a big city in India, I mean.”

“It’s a form of betting on the tournament,” Ali replied. “It’s illegal, but almost everybody does it. The way it works is this: First, there are often two pools, which is the way ours is. One is for the amateurs and the other for the pros. All of the entrants’ names are put in a big jar and are then drawn out, one at a time. The people then bid for the players.

“The winners are the ones who own the top three finishers. The winner’s owner gets 60 percent of the pot, the second finisher’s owner gets 30 percent, and third place gets the last 10. But because this is a charity event, we keep 50 percent of the total of the pools; the winners only split the other 50. And then, of course, we’re matching the total of both pots ourselves, so the children will get 150 percent of the total money spent on players.”

“Do you mean to say that someone actually bought us?” Maria exclaimed.

“They certainly did, darling,” Ali replied. “The auction was held last night. Want to guess how much you two went for?”

The two girls just shook their heads; they had no idea. “Kids, play well. The bidding on you went to $3 million apiece!”

The girls were stunned.

“By the way, it’s customary for the players to buy a piece of themselves. I guess you really ought to buy about 10 percent. How does that sound?”

Utterly incredulous, Anna asked, “Do you mean to say that Maria and I would have to put up $300,000 apiece for 10 percent of ourselves?”

“Sure do,” Ali replied blandly. “But if you don’t want to, Bill and I will buy your pieces. But don’t feel badly. Molly Adams went for over $6 million. And she was so cute! She said that $600,000 was more than she made on her calendar.”

Then Ali added, “I guess the total pot ended up around $50 million. That would add about $75 million to the children’s fund. What do you think?”

“Like everyone else alive in this world, Ali, I think your generosity is utterly overwhelming,” Anna replied softly.

After exchanging looks Anna and Maria asked, and Ali agreed to contact the people who had bought them and buy at least 10 percent for each of them.

It was ten o’clock when they arrived at the club. The tournament was already underway, but as the featured players in the match, they were the last group to tee off and were not scheduled until eleven. The girls were wearing identical outfits in different colors. Both were wearing cotton-blend Bermuda shorts with lisle golf shirts. Anna’s were green in a shade that precisely matched the color of her eyes, while Maria’s gray matched her eyes, too. Their socks matched, and they were wearing leather sneaker-type golf shoes.

Leaving the clubhouse, they found Samantha and Kathy waiting for them. The sight of the two girls evoked sighs of relief from both of them. They had learned that the Conroy girls constantly teased. When they weren’t teasing Anna or Maria, they were teasing each other. The result was to keep the girls constantly giggling and relaxed.

Going over to the practice tee, they went through the warm-up ritual that Jim Conroy had taught them, then went over to the first tee. As they were coming up to the tee, the last player in the group ahead of them had just teed off. The other players in their group were already on the tee, waiting.

What followed was truly embarrassing. First Molly Adams, and then Kim Carson, made court curtsies and expressed their pleasure at being able to play with such distinguished guests.

Turning, the girls got their first look at Caroline Campbell. The woman was almost frozen to the spot. Then she finally was able to move. To Maria she curtsied and said, “Good morning, Your Grace! This is truly an honor.” With that she kissed the back of Maria’s fingers.

While she was repeating it with Anna, Maria took the opportunity to look at Caroline closely. She, too, was five feet eight inches tall, had an excellent figure, and was really quite lovely.

At that point, the announcer on the tee said, “It is with the greatest pleasure that we welcome our guests of honor today. We have with us Her Grace, Maria, la Duchesse du Bourgogne, Duchess of Norfolk, la Marquessa de Toledo, Countess Jutland. With her is her sister, Her Grace, Anna, Duchess of Suffolk, la Marquise de Flandres, Contessa di Pavia. Along with some of the oldest titles of nobility in the Western World, the sisters are also the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics.”

At that point the announcer ad-libbed. “I just don’t think it’s fair. With titles of nobility and the Nobel Prize, why should they be so beautiful, too?”

Their laughter broke the tension that the girls had already felt starting to mount. Then he announced Caroline Campbell who waved at the crowd, Kim Carson, who was cheered, and finally Molly Adams.

Molly, playing from the white tees, went off first. As the others were preparing to move forward to the women’s red tees, Anna said, “Maria and I will play from the whites, too, if no one minds?”

The others were shocked but instantly agreed.

The first hole was basically a straight hole on some rolling ground and was a 455-yard par 5. The problem was that there was a dip in the ground with the low point about 200 yards from the white tees. Unless a ball cleared about 250 yards, it would land on the rising ground and get little or no additional roll. In fact, if the course was very wet, there was a real risk of a tee shot plugging into the soft ground. On a dry January day, this was not a problem, however.

Molly Adams’ tee shot had carried about 220 yards and had stopped dead on the rising slope. Anna took her driver from Sam, winked at Maria and teed up her ball. First, she forced herself to relax and take a deep breath. Then with a swing that was both fluid and incredibly powerful, she hit the ball perfectly. Keeping her head down for an instant, she completed her follow-through and then watched the flight of the ball. She had nailed it perfectly. It landed about 270 yards out, far beyond the ground dip. With the slight draw Anna had on the ball, it just continued to run.

Molly Adams, standing behind Anna, watched the flight of the ball and murmured, “My God! What an utterly perfect golf shot!” At that instant there was a thunderous cheer from the very large gallery surrounding the tee, as well as from the spectators lining the fairway. As the featured group, theirs was the one everyone wanted to watch.

Maria’s drive was almost the duplicate of Anna’s. In fact the two girls giggled as they realized their two balls were lying only about two feet apart, but 285 yards away. Caroline and Kim started to walk forward to the women’s tee, 40 yards ahead.

As they walked, Kim turned to the other girls and with a brilliant smile said, “Why is it that I think this is going to be a long and very expensive afternoon.”

Her smile became a grin and she added, “Here’s where I have to bare my poor overworked body again to try to pay for today’s entertainment.” Shaking her head, “The things an actress won’t do for money!”

Then responding to her own rhetorical question she said, “The answer to that question is, ‘not very much’!”

The others teed off, with their balls carrying about 170 yards. But with the distance advantage of the women’s tee, they were both close to Molly’s ball.

As the fivesome walked the fairway, Molly smiled and said, “Well, the very worst is over. And congratulations! We all got off the first tee without beaning a spectator. And we’re all on the fairway, too!”

Then to Anna and Maria she said, “Where did you two ever learn to play as well as you do?”

“It’s Jim Conroy,” Anna replied. “As far as we’re concerned, he’s the best golf instructor in the world. And by the way, our caddies are his daughters.”

Molly shook the hands of both girls and said, “Looking at your tropic tans, I can only conclude that your dad is the pro at Kapalua.” When the girls eagerly nodded, Molly continued, “I absolutely adore that tournament. And I utterly adore your parents, by the way.”

Then she shook her head in confusion and murmured, “But you can’t be their children! Jim Conroy’s only about 25, and Hank can’t even be twenty. You’re really her sisters, aren’t you?”

Sam just grinned and winked.

As they walked the fairway, Anna whispered to Sam, “You utterly adore that, don’t you? Having a mother who looks like your younger sister?”

“Anna, I really can’t begin to tell you what my life has been like. All I can say is that I’ve spent my entire life in a warm cocoon of love. I have — we all have — the greatest parents in the whole world.

“And you know what else? The reason Mom is so damned beautiful is because her beauty makes Dad feel good. Every time someone meets her, he’ll ask Dad how he could be so lucky as to have the love of a woman as perfect as Mom. It makes Dad feel ten feet tall. He has the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.

“You see, Anna, it’s not for herself. It’s for Dad. Being beautiful makes him feel better.” Then she grinned and added, “With the extra added attraction of being able to probe her gorgeous wetness with his cock, of course. And waking up every day with Mom’s arm across his chest and feeling the warmth of her body against his.”

Then she looked at Anna and repeated, “It’s a warm cocoon of love. And my mommy really loves me!”

Reaching the first of the balls, Sam whispered that they were looking at tough shots. Both Caroline and Kim were on the down-hill slope of the rise. So in addition to a downhill lie looking at immediately rising ground, the green was out of sight beyond the rise. Both women hit good 6-irons that cleared the rise and left them in good position for the green. Molly was facing a different challenge. Her ball had an up-hill lie, so any club she hit would carry a shorter distance than it would on level ground. Since she still had about 220 yards to the green, after conferring with her caddy, Molly took her driver again and nailed it. Although her distance was perfect, she couldn’t avoid a big trap sitting beside the green on the left. The girl just winked at Anna and they moved on.

When they reached the girls’ balls, Molly just looked and laughed. Maria’s ball was about three inches farther from the green than Anna’s, but Anna’s ball was sitting where Maria would have taken her stance. With laughter and giggles, Maria ceded the honors to Anna.

Taking a club from Sam without even looking to see which one it was, she took her stance and hit the ball perfectly, taking exactly the right-sized divot when she did. Molly just shook her head in dismay when she realized that Anna had still been giggling when she hit the ball. Notwithstanding, her ball landed about two feet past the pin and its backspin brought it back toward the cup. There was a gasp from the crowd when they realized that Anna had been shooting for a double-eagle two! As it was, the ball stopped about two inches from the cup.

Maria’s was almost an exact duplicate, but without the giggles. Hers, too, landed on the green and came back toward the cup, but her line was off by about two inches, so the ball came to a stop exactly even with the center of the cup, but two inches to the left. As they started to walk the fairway, Molly came up between them and said, “Would you like me to give you a couple of pointers on the game?”

When both girls eagerly nodded, Molly grimaced and said, “I would love to, too. But I can’t! But you two could certainly give me a few.”

When they suggested the Conroy girls, the Conroys both demurred, pointing out that it was a rule violation for a caddy to help an opposing player.

“Good heavens! Aside from everything else, they’ve even memorized the damned rule book!”

Anna and Maria agreed that Molly was a real delight to play with.

Although they had been prepared to dislike Kim Carson, they found that they couldn’t. In spite of being the top female name in films, she turned out to be a delightful person.

But the biggest surprise of all was Caroline Campbell. They had been prepared to detest her. It had even gotten to the point where the girls were having serious discussions regarding how to handle a mother-in-law they both hated. But it turned out that she had a wonderful sense of humor, and all five women were finding they were enjoying their golf tremendously. Both Kim and Caroline hit excellent third shots that placed them solidly on the green.

After marking their balls, the girls stood back while Molly carefully set up her bunker shot. Working both feet into the sand, she settled and then hit a perfect sand wedge. Her ball flew up along with the perfect amount of sand and ended only 18 inches from the cup. After marking her ball, first Caroline and then Kim took their first putts. Both missed, but not by much. They both missed the cup high, but ended only inches from it. Molly easily sank her putt, followed by Caroline, then Kim, then the two girls.

As they walked toward the second tee, Molly commented, “That was a truly incredible hole, guys. And I’m really being serious now. Normally, one of these pro-ams is a shooting gallery with the people in the gallery as targets. It’s a very rare guy who can shoot within ten strokes of his handicap. And I mean his honest one, not the one that he may have posted.

“But what just happened? With five of us we had two pars, a birdie, and two eagles, for Heaven’s sake! And this is only the first hole. It’s notoriously the toughest hole for an amateur to play.” Then she grinned and added, “This is really fun!”

In spite of the laughing and kidding — or perhaps because it served to keep them relaxed — their excellent golf just kept getting better. Moreover, Molly was a true professional and rose to the challenge of the girls’ play. In the meantime, the two girls had a war on between themselves.

In no time, word of the quality of play attracted the largest gallery the course was able to hold. As the featured group of the day, their gallery was the largest to begin with, but it just kept growing until the course marshals had to steer new arrivals away. There was just no place for them to stand.

When they reached the par-3 7^th hole, Kathy Conroy gave Maria an iron with the comment, “Why don’t you try this one? You haven’t had a chance to screw it up yet today.”

Maria giggled, and as she thought about the girl’s remark, continued to. Since she and Anna continued to be tied, they alternated the honors on each hole. After teeing her ball very low as Jim had told her to do, she took the club in a very light grip and took her stance. Taking a deep breath, she tried to blot out of sight the mass of humanity that lined both sides of the hole, end to end, and completely ringed the green. Then taking her remembered swing, she felt her club strike the ball perfectly.

As she finished her follow-through she saw the ball still soaring skyward, reach its apogee, and then start to fall. It appeared to be on a perfect line to the cup and was. It landed about two feet past the pin, then walked backward with its spin and dropped into the center of the hole. It hadn’t even touched the pin. As the gallery let out a wild cheer, Maria was mobbed by the other women on the tee and congratulated profusely.

Then Anna stuck out her tongue, took her shot, and missed another hole-in-one by a single inch. That hole ended with two pars, two birdies — Molly had one, too — and Maria’s hole-in-one eagle. When they made the turn at after the 9^th hole, Maria was leading with a 5-under-par 31. Anna was 4-under at 32, Molly was 3-under at 33, then Caroline at 34 and Kim at 35. Incredibly, everyone was under par for the first nine holes.

The play continued in the same vein on the back nine. Molly continued to make brilliant golf shots, but was no match for the girls who were virtual perfection. Molly’s comment was to the point. “You two are no fair. Here I am making brilliant golf shots all over the place, while you never have a brilliant shot to even try! Boy! What a bitch. Anna, on 7, you didn’t even take ten minutes to line up your two-inch putt!”

The others just howled with laughter.

Then with her nose in the air Anna replied haughtily, “I thought I stroked it rather well, too.”

This time the girls were almost falling on the ground with laughter.

Finally, they reached the 18^th hole. The rankings had continued unchanged, with Maria still leading Anna by a single stroke. The 18^th was a very long par-5, the longest on the course. Maria, leading off, unloaded with all of her power and sent her ball more than 300 yards down the fairway. Molly had been studying the girls carefully every time they took a shot. This time, she was almost certain that, at the moment of impact, a whole array of powerful muscles suddenly bulged from the strain. But it was gone in an instant. All there was to see was her flawless skin looking like golden satin.

As Anna took her stance, Molly concentrated intently on the girl’s legs. Being bare, there was nothing to conceal her body. Anna’s swing was utterly perfect. And at the moment of ball contact, she was certain. There was the instantaneous bulging of extraordinarily powerful, but perfectly hidden, muscles. As usual, Anna’s drive landed only a few feet away from Maria’s.