Chapter 23

While Kelly and Laura and Todd had been upstairs fooling around, Cara and Ami were getting used to the equipment.

"I understand a lot more of what Todd is going to be looking for," said Ami.

"What's that, Sweetheart?" asked Cara.

"Well, as unglamorous as it may sound," Ami said, "we're just bodies to show off the uniforms. I'll grant you that we are beautiful bodies but the company is not selling us, it wants to sell uniforms and even all this equipment is just props to make the uniforms look good. I think we can save Todd a lot of time and money by working on poses that show the costumes off and how they're better than what the schools and the teams are using now."

"Hey, I just realized - I don't have to pull the costume down over my cheeks as often!" Cara exclaimed.

"You know, I hadn't even realized that, I just thought it was a better fit. Anyways, what we need are positions that show off the costumes."

Cara nodded slowly. "I think I understand. Large body poses instead of tight ones."

"That's the idea, Cara."

"Like an inverted stand on the bars, maybe spread eagle on the vault. Full body flips on the mats," Cara said.

"Yeah, you got it! We should look at all of our stuff and pick the ones that would expose our bodies, or the outfits the most. Some short routines, maybe one minute max on any piece, and change as fast as we can and do it again."

"Well," said Cara. "It's not like we have to run to the change room to switch outfits," she laughed. Todd has seen us in all our glory more than once now."

"That's what I was thinking, too," said Ami. If we do six outfits in an hour, between the two of us that means neither one of us will be doing more than 3 minutes on the equipment in an hour."

"Which means we could easily do four hours in a day," said Cara nodding enthusiastically. "God, I'm glad you started learning photography! This will make it so easy, nothing like camp or tryouts or competition. We'll barely raise a sweat!"

"That's the beauty of it," said Ami. "We do what we need to get the right poses for Todd, have lunch and a shower and we should be able to do the entire thing in one day!"

"Do you think they'll send us home early if we finish it so quick?" asked Cara.

"I doubt it," said Ami, "but let's ask. I know that Kelly loves what you do for her with your magic massaging fingers, and Todd said I'm his apprentice. I doubt they'll want us to leave until we really have to."

"That's something else I've been thinking about," said Ami. "Why can't we get our remaining class room hours here? I love my folks, but not being in gymnastics any more... there's nothing left for me in Laurel Canyon except my family. You and Erin were the only friends I ever had, and Erin is moving on. She might get lucky and make it to the next Olympics. With her new routine, she'll at least go to Worlds."

"Yeah, and I don't really want to go back to sleeping by myself either, Ami. I love you too much. I want us to be together. It just wouldn't work out back home."

"Let's get to work on figuring out what moves will suit Todd the best," said Ami. "Get showered up and changed before Vanetta's boyfriend shows up and then we can talk to Kelly and Todd about it tonight."

Vanetta had been real busy on the phones since the three lovers had gone upstairs. It felt so strange. In one afternoon, her entire world had been turned upside down. All great news, and then Todd had dropped his bombshell. What if he didn't approve of Bobby? What would she do then? Part of her brain wished she could figure Todd out. It was exactly like she had told Bobby. Todd is a real deep pool. It looks inviting on the surface, but you have no idea what lies below. It had never failed to amaze her how he had taken to her mother and her brother. She knew that Todd was totally colorblind when it came to race, but she had no idea how he would take to mixed races. Vanetta realized that in all the years she had known him, she actually knew very little about him. Maybe that was what made her nervous.

But it didn't keep her from working the phones. The body lotion company was thrilled to be invited to be part of the package, and was willing to not only sponsor 16 months worth of ads, but would supply samples via any reputable magazine and their web site. This would help raise their exposure in the North American market tremendously.

And then she had rung Jorge.

"Jorge, how are you!"

"Vanetta, darling, it's wonderful to hear your voice!" he laughed. "I have been talking only to Kelly, lately! You have been on vacation, no?"

"No, Jorge, I haven't been on vacation! Kelly wanted to handle Laura herself" -'and how!' she thought - "and I have been busy doing oth..."

"Oh Vanetta!" he interrupted in a worried voice, "you're not telling that the beautiful Laura..."

"No, Jorge, no! It's all right, Jorge! No, I am calling to tell you something that nobody else knows yet, Jorge. And Jorge," she added in a confidential voice, "I'm telling you this because you are such a good friend to Kelly and Todd and the company. And Kelly doesn't know I'm telling you, so please keep it quiet until it is announced."

"Oh ho!" he chortled, "A secret! I am good at secrets, Vanetta, you know that!"

'Only when it suits you, ' Vanetta thought. "Jorge, there are two parts to this secret. First, Kelly is pregnant!"

"WONDERFUL!" he bellowed, "Wonderful news! Oh just wait until I tell... Ohhh, Vanetta, you tell me this is a secret, no?"

"Just for a little while, Jorge, until she makes the announcement, probably week after next." Vanetta was sure that Kelly would be announcing it at the company picnic.

"Very well, Vanetta, but will be hard, oh what wonderful news! And the father Vanetta, who is father of her baby?"

"Todd is the proud new Daddy, Jorge!"

"Ohhh, wonderful news, wonderful news! About time they had family!"

"They're very happy too, Jorge, but please don't tell anyone until after the announcement."

"Oh no, Vanetta, I don't tell anybody until you tell me."

"Now Jorge, the other part of the secret. Kelly is doing a photo journal of her pregnancy, and it will appear in a national or international magazine every month for at least a year, perhaps longer."

"Yes?" Jorge sounded a little baffled. How did this mean something to him?

"And she will be endorsing and be photographed with a select range of products that she already uses, and will be using during and after her pregnancy. And Jorge, you know she already loves and wears your designs."

"Aahhh!" he said, understanding.

"But Jorge, you don't have a line in maternity wear!"

"Ohhh!"

"And, Jorge, she will be getting bigger in three months or so! Not long!"

"And Todd, he will be taking the pictures?"

"Jorge, Todd will personally approve every photo released for publication. Would you expect anything less?"

"Oh dear, could be very expensive! Which magazine gets this story?"

Vanetta laughed. "Jorge, we haven't decided yet, but it will be one where we can tell them the advertisers they'll use, and I'm setting the prices. If you want to use your normal line, we can do that. If you consider a maternity line, you could use the pictures in a special maternity catalog too, and we can work that into the price."

"Ah, Vanetta, you have any other models pregnant?"

Vanetta felt like she'd been sandbagged. What an idea! TKO's models usually 'retired' while they were having babies, and with over two hundred models on their books, it was guaranteed that there were at least four or five pregnant at any one time.

"Jorge, I'm sure we have two or three ladies pregnant right now, and if you give me an hour I can tell you who. But I will have to check with them if they're willing to model."

"That's okay, you find out and tell me. We can do catalog with four models, six is better. Especially if you get me ladies different ahh... months?"

"I can do that, Jorge. So, you tell me, you are seriously considering the maternity line?"

"Oh ho yes, Vanetta, I have three ideas already! You put down into words, no, and send it to me. We see if I can make new line in two months!"

And that was the way that the next hour went. Vanetta would call agencies and companies that made products Kelly used. From her makeup to her panties to her nylons, companies that made the shampoo that Kelly favored to the vitamin company that made the bulk of her supplements. Each call started basically the same way. Vanetta would verify that the person she was talking to remembered Kelly when she was modeling and then announce that she was pregnant and putting together a complete package deal for a specialty motherhood magazine. No, she wasn't sure which one yet, but was just putting out feelers, especially to those companies that Kelly favored.

Panties, nylons, shoes, they all agreed quickly, with the vitamin company being the most enthusiastic. It was rare that a top model admitted to taking vitamins, and this would help their sales a lot. 16 months of exposure, and with a face like Kelly's, it was sure to pay off for them.

Her thoughts drifted back to Todd. What did she really know about him? He never discussed his family or where he had come from. To Vanetta, he was an enigma. She knew that he belonged to MENSA, though he never mentioned them, or attended any meetings. She knew that Todd avoided public places and people in general if he wasn't behind a camera, and that he had turned down more work for major magazines than most photographers would see in a lifetime. Then she had a thought.

Vanetta knew firsthand who made the film that Todd used, and called the president of the company. Sure, he knew who Todd Ayres was. Doing a special 16-month feature on a top model? Which photography magazine?

Vanetta almost fell off her chair. A photography magazine of course! Todd hadn't decided, she explained, but this would be a double. One magazine that Kelly would pick, and a specialty photography magazine that would have the story of the shoot itself.

Sure! They were willing to toss in 100 grand just to have the name of their film listed below his name in the credits section. Send them a contract.

Wow. Vanetta was blown away. She hadn't thought of pushing Todd's role in this but her next call was to Hasselblad's American distributor. Todd Ayres? Yep, not only did they know him, but had wanted him to be a spokesperson for them. He said he was too shy. A 16-month feature on Kelly Jennsen? How much for a "Camera by" line?

Vanetta said, "throw out a price. You realize he only uses Blads, right?"

That call ended with a promise of a brand new camera and another 100 grand.

Vanetta was so flushed with the excitement of the past hour she had completely forgotten what was waiting for her. It hit home when the doorbell rang. She hadn't even realized the time. It was 6 o'clock. With a sigh, she hung up the phone and feeling like a condemned prisoner, walked to answer the door.

Bobby waited outside the door, holding two bottles of wine. He had thought of bringing flowers, but at the last minute he remembered something Netta had said about models and cut flowers.

For a long time, Bobby had felt jealous of Todd. The way that Netta spoke about him, and that look she got in her eyes when talking about working for him and Kelly, but over time, that had changed. As he had become more and more intimate with Netta, he realized what he had mistaken for unbridled passion for Todd, was in fact a deep respectful affection. Bobby was good with computers, and though he never said anything to Vanetta, he had researched all he could on Todd Ayres. He seemed to have surfaced about 11 years ago as a photographer, but there was no prior history on him at all. The only way that this could be, based on his research, was that Todd had changed his name. His first thought was that Todd had been a convicted juvenile offender of some serious crime that had kept him in a state run institution, but as he learned more about Todd's swift rise in the fashion world, he discounted this possibility. He had to have started as a photographer in the publishing world a long time before.

Months of speculation about Todd ended with no results. It was obvious that Todd had his reasons and as he learned more about his involvement in helping Vanetta and her mother and brother obtain citizenship, he worried less and less. Over time, Netta had let it slip that Todd and Kelly paid for her schooling. Todd and Kelly had funded Delton's business, and unbeknownst to the vast majority of the people who lived in Charlotte, Todd, and Kelly sponsored many youth programs, most often not receiving any credit for the money they so freely handed out. They were quiet philanthropists.

During his research on Kelly, he had found many photographs, but they did not describe her personality. She was a beautiful woman, there was no doubt about that, but that, and what Netta had told him about her, was the extent of his knowledge. He chuckled. He knew more about Laura than he did of Todd or Kelly. He had been looking forward to this face-to-face meeting for a long time, and had been disappointed when Vanetta had turned down the invitation for dinner with them when they heard the news of Kelly's pregnancy. Vanetta had finally relented and said they would go together to the company's fifth annual picnic at Carowinds. Then out of the blue, without warning, Todd had asked Netta to invite him over for supper.

Robert was a bit nervous. His only assurance during all his time of wondering had come from Gloria, who, when asked one day when Netta wasn't home yet, had been told, "Dey be good people, Mister Todd and Kelly. Don 'ye be frettin yo self 'bout dem, or 'bout Mister Todd and my baby girl. Dey's no anky panky. You wait, you see, then evry ting be ari."

And then Vanetta dropped the bombshell that Todd had known for some time that he and Netta had been sleeping together in his studio, but had never mentioned it, not even to Kelly who they thought was the only one who knew.

Cara and Ami had heard the doorbell ring as they were drying each other off after a quick shower.

"I used to be worried about my hands and all the calluses," said Ami, but after what I saw in the pictures of us, it barely shows at all. That lotion the lady from the hair salon gave us has taken the darkness out of them, and while I wouldn't mind getting another work over with that stone they used on our feet, they aren't as bad as they were a month ago."

"I know," said Cara. "I've been watching the changes as well. In a few months it'll be hard to tell we were once contenders for the Olympic team."

Ami laughed. "You're such a dreamer, Cara," she said. "We would have made it to Worlds this year, but fate was against us. Maybe if we had won at Worlds, then you can say Olympic hopefuls, but me, I'm glad it's over."

"Must you be such a spoil sport, Ami?" Cara snapped. "I want to remember that part of my life as a nearly could have been."

"I'm sorry, Cara. Don't you see though? We got out of it lucky. No serious injuries, some medals to show off, and we look prime!" Ami yanked the towel away from Cara. "Look at you! There's not an ounce of fat on you anywhere. If we do what Kelly says, you can keep that shape all your life!"

Cara relaxed and pulled Ami's towel off. "You ain't just chopped liver yourself, lover!" she said. "But I wonder if it was all worth it. You're right, of course. We've got a head start on everything in life and getting out with the medals we have will open some doors that would never be open to ordinary kids. I sure didn't want some of those serious injuries we saw that other gymnasts had. Now come on. We've got to get dressed."

"You're not going to dry your hair?" Ami asked.

"It's dry enough. I'll just comb it back."

They slipped into their T-shirts and shorts and padded out to meet Vanetta's boyfriend.

Laura slipped on panties and a T. Thought about it for a minute and then decided to put shorts on, but she was leaving the bra off.

Kelly saw Laura putting on shorts and realized that they didn't want to scare Robert off, so she put some on as well, wondering what Cara and Ami would be wearing!

Todd was still talking as he slipped into a fresh set of scrubs. "I've got it all figured out in my head," he said, "but I need somebody to put it all together for me."

"And you figure that Robert's the one for the job?" Kelly asked.

"Yep."

"How did you come to that conclusion?"

Todd smiled. "Robert Payne. Graduated last semester. Qualified to teach business courses to high school seniors, can't land a job. He's been working part time at a realty office downtown doing their bookwork. A really smart guy. Graduated in the top 5 percent of his class, and could go on to earn his PhD. He's considered too young to be taken seriously as a teacher by students. His mother is a teacher as well, and his father is an editor for the North Carolina Nation. And," he added with a smile, "he loves Vanetta!"

Laura stopped and turned to look at Todd. "How in the hell did you know all that? Have you met him?"