She’d worked with four different designers on them, one of whom had made two .  Almost all of them had waived their fees, so taken were they by Bette’s passion to get each lighting feature just right for the particular space they were to be hung in, and two had flown in from London to oversee installation of their lighting pieces, while one flew in from Paris, to make sure the installation was done right. 

Individually, they’d also each thought that, given the beauty of the entire duplex, and the careful work to restore the exterior of the mansion, they could not have chosen a better space, or partners in Bette and Tina, to showcase their custom light features for potential clients.

Bette tried to convince each to stay for the party, but one from London had to fly back for her own Valentine’s Day “special” with her partner.  The other two were excited to stay and watch the guests ooh and ahh over the various highlights of the duplex.

The one who couldn’t stay had promised she and her partner would return to New York, and “luxuriate in this fabulous, fabulous space.  By far the most fabulous I have been a part of.  Thanks so much for letting me work with you on this,” she said as she left for the airport, straight from Bette and Tina’s new house.

Each evening Bette returned, she was dragging.  Her muscles ached, and, her back was sore, and her feet “weighed a ton,” she complained to Tina.  But she was always excited, regaling Tina and the girls with stories about how a particular light that was hung that day was designed, how it came together, and how she had made special trips to the studios of the lighting designers in London, Paris, and Rome over the past months while they were being made.

Tonight was the last night, though, and the last lighting feature installed was the one that would hang over the dining room table.  It was gigantic: there were three lighting levels, cascading down from the ceiling, and the broadest one was at the top, closest to the ceiling; it spanned more than seven feet in length, and three feet in width, then a clustered row of glass drops followed, then the next narrower level, five feet in length, then another row of glass drops, then the last level, three feet in length, then a last row of glass drops.