I Bought The Ocean Liner

The night we sailed into New York Harbor aboard the "SS Victoria"—a luxury ocean liner cutting through the Atlantic from Marseille—I threw a black-tie gala on the promenade deck.

My husband, Charles, stood near the brass railings, surrounded by Manhattan’s high society. Clinging to his arm was Beatrice, the latest in his endless string of kept women. He looked at my French couture gown—a silk slip that dared to reveal my calves—and his jaw tightened in disgust.

"Camille, you spend three years in Europe and return looking like a cheap…