Tess's Tale (The Chanel Series Book 3)

by Donna Joy Usher

  I felt trapped and bullied, but as much as I hated to admit it, I enjoyed the attention as well. Jolly Jim caught wind of Liss and my plans to go dress shopping and sent a limousine to pick us up. Champagne on ice waited in a bucket with two crystal glasses, and for once Liss said nothing about my being underage.

  The unfamiliar flow of the alcohol through my veins bolstered my mood, and when the chauffeur opened the door and told us that the manager in Prada was waiting for us, I didn’t say a thing. If Jim wanted to butter me up by buying Liss and me dresses, then I might as well let him.

  But as beautiful as the silky material of the evening gowns felt on my skin, as stunning as the cut of the dresses were, I couldn’t totally squash a feeling that was growing in the pit of my stomach. As we carried our glossy Prada bags with their tissue-paper-wrapped garments back to the limousine I finally identified the feeling.

  I felt like I had sold out.

  The champagne helped and by the time we had been taken shopping for make-up, shoes and were dropped at the day spa to get our hair and nails done, I had managed to convince myself I was only doing it for Harry.

  ‘What do you think?’ I stared at Liss in the mirror. My hairdresser, Sebastian, was holding a swathe of dyed hair next to my face. It was fiery red.

  Liss tilted her head to the side while she examined my reflection. ‘It makes your eyes pop.’

  ‘And it brings out the sun-kissed hue of her skin.’ Sebastian was a gusher.

  I resisted the urge to giggle. Sun-kissed hue? With my current lifestyle I was practically a vampire.

  ‘Liss?’ I wasn’t sure if the desire to make such a dramatic change to my hair was purely my own, or mostly the alcohol’s.

  ‘You’ll look fabulous. And that green dress you bought will look amazing.’

  I met Sebastian’s eyes in the mirror. ‘Let’s do it.’ I just wished I felt as confident about it as I sounded.

  He snipped and he coloured and a couple of hours later he blow-dried my new style. Then he smoothed my shiny new bob into place with his fingers, stepped back and with a, ‘Tadaa,’ whipped off my apron and spun me around to face the mirror.

  Liss was right. The colour was fabulous, and even though I was married and working, for the first time I felt all grown up. My hair had been shoulder length, mousy brown and, compared to how it looked now, scraggly. Now I looked like a woman who belonged in Prada. With my new hair and my polished nails I looked expensive. Which, I was guessing, was exactly what Jolly Jim had been after.

  If he was going to present me as family to all his friends and business partners I had to look the part. Especially, with how things currently stood within the Mob. Weakness of any kind would not be tolerated.

  I hadn’t wanted to be a part of that life, but it seemed I was not going to be able to pry Harry totally away from his father. If I was to keep Harry safe I had to play my part.

  So I stood up, turned to Sebastian and kissed him on both cheeks. ‘It’s wonderful,’ I said. ‘When should I come back in for a trim?’ A haircut there would cost me my weekly wage. I was going to have to rely on my father-in-law. That grated more than I was willing to admit.

  ***

  I was a little nervous the eve of the party. All right – so it was more than just a little. I had to redo my make-up twice because just when I had it perfect I found myself curled over the toilet bowl heaving up my stomach contents.

  ‘We don’t have to do this.’ Harry, despite my protests – I mean what new wife wants her husband to see her doing that – was holding my hair back from my face.

  ‘Yes we do.’ I stood up and rinsed out my mouth in the bathroom sink. I didn’t even want to think about what Jolly Jim would do if we didn’t show up. The face he would lose would be intolerable. It could possibly be the spark that started a full-blown gang war. Nope, we were going, no matter how many times I had to redo my make-up.

  I slipped into my dark-green evening gown, shimmering the silky material down my body and turning so that Harry could zip me up. With the stilettos, my clutch and my bundle of nerves I was ready to go.

  ‘You look stunning,’ Harry whispered. He bent and grazed the side of my neck with his lips.

  I found myself calculating if I had time to redo my face one more time. I didn’t. So instead of turning into him and redirecting his lips to mine, I stepped away and adjusted his bow tie. Then, while I regained control of my libido, I dusted invisible dust off the arms of his jacket.

  ‘Come on handsome.’ I took his hand in mine. ‘Don’t want to be late.’

  ‘You mean later,’ Liss said from the doorway. She looked beautiful in her new midnight-blue gown. It clung to her bosom and her hips in all the right ways. ‘The car’s been here for ten minutes.’

  We followed her down to the foyer. Brittney and Helene were running the club that night. Brittney eyed me up and down and said, ‘You don’t scrub up too bad considering you’re yet to fill out.’ My relationship with her had progressed to what I imagined having a big sister might be like. A big sister, that was, that didn’t hate me.

  I stuck my tongue out at her and she grinned. ‘Have fun.’

  Liss, Thor and Harry chatted during the drive. I heard snatches of their conversation about works they were planning to complete on the club that week, but mostly I stared out the window and concentrated on keeping my breathing even. The nausea was back and I couldn’t afford to disgrace myself.

  Way too soon we were pulling up in front of the Pink Flamingo. I placed my arm on Harry’s and concentrated on getting into the foyer without tripping. An elevator ride later, we were stepping into a room overlooking the night lights of Las Vegas. I call it a room, but the ceiling soared high above us and easily two hundred people mingled within it without being squashed.

  ‘Here they are, the happy couple.’ Jolly Jim swooped upon us like an eagle onto its prey. He wore a smile, but the crazy look was back in his eyes.

  The room fell into silence and every person turned towards us. My stomach asked my tonsils if it could pass by. My tonsils denied it access.

  Jim’s smile hardened till it looked like his mouth was stuck like that. It was show time.

  ‘Father.’ I smiled broadly as I clasped his hands. Then I leaned in and kissed his cheeks. ‘Everything looks wonderful.’

  Harry clasped Jim and slapped him on the back and people started to lose interest, turning back to their previous conversations.

  ‘Felicity,’ Jim said. ‘That gown becomes you. I hope you’ll save me a dance later on.’

  ‘It would be my pleasure.’

  The look on Thor’s face said it wouldn’t be his.

  ‘Come.’ Jolly Jim held onto my hand. ‘We must introduce you to everybody.’

  I think I did quite well. I nodded and smiled and made all the right noises at the right time. But I could feel my anxiety mounting with every Harvey the Hand and Moe the Moose that was introduced to me.

  Liss appeared at my side and pressed a glass of champagne into my hand. ‘Drink this,’ she said out of the corner of her mouth.

  ‘What’s in it?’

  She gave me a funny look but said, ‘Alcohol.’

  ‘Oh, right.’ I was hoping she’d slipped some kind of sedative into it. It would be nice to wake up and find that the whole thing was over.

  The alcohol took enough of the edge off that when the first one was finished I excused myself and headed for the bar. I knew I could have gotten one of the staff floating around the room to get me one, but I was in need of some space.

  As I waited for my drink to be poured, a man stood beside me and said, ‘You’re hard to get alone.’

  ‘Well it is my wedding reception.’ I turned to examine his face. Had I already met him?

  ‘Funny having a wedding reception so late after the wedding. Did you plan it like that on purpose?’

  ‘I didn’t plan it at all.’

  He stared into my eyes for a moment and then said, ‘I didn’t think so.’
>
  I took a sip of my drink while I looked him up and down. ‘You’re not with them,’ I finally said.

  ‘How do you know that?’

  ‘Your suit is off the rack.’ It was a little too broad in the shoulder and a little too snug in the hip.

  The corners of his mouth curled up. ‘You’re not with them either. Are you Tess?’

  ‘How do you know that?’ I edged away from him a little. Who was he?

  ‘Your use of the word them, not us.’

  He had me there.

  ‘Tess.’ I heard Harry call my name. ‘Dad wants you to come and meet Sam the Suit.’

  ‘Ring me if you need any help.’ He murmured it quickly, pressing a card into my hand. Then he turned and disappeared into the crowd. I was guessing he hadn’t been invited.

  A quick peep at the card gave me more information than I wanted in that environment. A card with Tristan Penn the FBI agent’s number on it was a dangerous thing to be holding. I stuffed it into my clutch and pasted a smile on my face. Then I took a slug of my drink.

  Sam the Suit was a short man of impressive width. Where Jim’s eyes held crazy, his held ice. He stared up at me impassively as I was introduced, then, without saying one thing to me, he turned back to Jim and said, ‘I want an update. What are you doing about the money?’

  I sidled away from them, getting myself beyond hearing distance as fast as possible. I could hazard a guess what Tristan Penn would have preferred I do, but I wasn’t about to start complicating my life any further.

  I turned away from them and ran smack bang into Hillary. I hadn’t seen her since before Harry and I were married and she didn’t seem to have missed me.

  ‘Guess you think you’re pretty clever,’ she said. I was pleased to see her hair was still in big blonde curls. It would have been humiliating if she were also sporting a red bob.

  ‘I’ve always wondered what the correct response to that question is.’

  She sneered, and for a second I thought she might throw the contents of her glass over me. I didn’t know how my silk dress would hold up against bourbon and Coke. Probably not very well.

  ‘Calm it Hill.’ Mickey stepped up behind her and put a hand on her arm. Riley was with him.

  ‘Boys.’ I nodded my head.

  The sneer on her face turned to a simper and I felt Harry’s arm snake around my waist.

  ‘So nice of you to offer your sister your best wishes,’ Harry said. I was sure he knew that wasn’t what was going on.

  I could see the question in her eyes as she watched the two of us. Why had he chosen me? He could have had her, an identical version of me, and she would have fitted right into his life.

  It showed how little she knew Harry.

  ‘I hope the two of you are very happy.’ If she had been a small, wooden puppet her nose would have been a foot long.

  ‘Thank you.’ I could be gracious when I needed to.

  ‘Tess?’ I hadn’t seen her forever, but I would recognise my mother’s voice anywhere. What was she doing here?

  ‘Mom?’ She hovered next to Lou the Brain and I mentally head-slapped myself. Of course. Lou. He had never taken her anywhere nice before, but I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that he would bring her here. To my wedding reception. For the wedding I hadn’t invited her to.

  Tears rushed to my eyes, fighting each other to get out first. I hadn’t invited my own mother to my wedding. What sort of shitty person did that make me?

  After the obligatory and awkward introductions, Harry squeezed my hand and then said, ‘Hey Lou, gotta minute?’

  I waited till the two men were heading for the bar before I said anything. ‘I’m sorry. I should have invited you. I should have come to see you. But….’ I cut my eyes to Lou’s retreating back. If I never saw him again it would be too soon.

  Mom swivelled to look at him as well as she nodded her head. ‘I knew when you walked out the door I wouldn’t see you again. Not there anyway.’

  She had been right. There was no way I would go back to that house while he was there. It held far too many memories. None of them good.

  ‘I wasn’t a very good mother. I know that.’

  ‘Shhh. Don’t.’ It was true, but I still didn’t like those words coming out of her mouth.

  ‘I should have protected you more.’ She let out a laugh. ‘But looks like the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Look at you. Married to the very thing you ran away from.’

  I could almost smell the indignation oozing out of me as I straightened my spine. ‘Harry is nothing like Lou.’

  She snorted. ‘They’re all alike love. You’ll see.’ She wasn’t trying to be nasty, but it was the worst insult she could have given my husband.

  He wasn’t anything like the others. He wasn’t. He was good and kind and… I looked around the room at the other men. Some of them swayed on the dance floor with their wives. Another group burst into laughter at a joke. They all looked normal. None of them had horns. I shivered and looked back at Mom.

  ‘He’s not. You’ll see.’

  ‘I hope you’re right love. I really do.’ She hugged me awkwardly and then stepped back, brushing her hands over the front of my dress. ‘Don’t want to crush you.’

  ‘Here you are.’ Harry took my half-drunk glass from me and handed me a fresh one. ‘It tastes much better when it’s cold.’

  I noted that Lou hadn’t brought Mom back a fresh glass. I squashed the smug smile that was threatening to take control of my lips. See. They were nothing like each other.

  ‘You’d better keep mingling.’ Mom nodded her head at me. ‘You’ll never meet all these people as it is.’

  She was right, but I didn’t think most of the people there gave a rat’s about whether or not they met me. They’d all come for the free booze.

  I lent forwards and kissed her on the cheek then I let Harry steer me away from them.

  He led me over to the windows and stared into my face. ‘You okay?’

  ‘As good as can be expected.’ If I was honest, it wasn’t totally horrible. The food was lovely, the music was jazz and the champagne was French. Plus I had my movie-star-good-looking husband with me. I gazed up into his eyes, reaching a hand up to touch his face.

  ‘Dad gave me this.’ He held an envelope out to me. I flicked it over and stared at the back. It was from Cindy.

  ‘What’s it say?’

  ‘She’s coming to town next week. With Billy.’

  ‘I get to meet him?’

  ‘If you’d like to.’ His eyes showed his uncertainty.

  ‘Of course I’d like.’ I smiled up at him. ‘I want him to be a part of our lives.’

  ‘It will only be a small part.’ He pulled a face. ‘I don’t get to see him as much as I’d like.’

  I felt a pang for Billy. I hadn’t known my Dad. It was no way for a kid to grow up.

  ‘We’ll have to visit them as soon as we can.’

  He smiled and pulled me towards him, but before he could give me the kiss I wanted, a microphone screeched. I put my hands over my ears and winced. Someone tapped on it a few times and then Jolly Jim said, ‘Where are they? Where’s the happy couple.’

  I pulled a face at Harry but he took my hand and led me towards his father. Jim was standing on a small stage next to a five-tiered cake. A table full of gifts sat behind him. I wasn’t sure where we were going to put that many things.

  ‘There they are. Come on. Up you get.’ He held his hand out to me, helping me climb the small step onto the stage. The conversation in the room died down until it was totally quiet. Every eye was on the stage. ‘I’m not a big one for speeches,’ Jim said.

  A couple of men laughed and one yelled out, ‘Whatta ya talkin’ about? We can’t shut ya up.’

  He smiled and shushed them with one hand. It was eerie how his smile never made it to his eyes. ‘So I’m just going to say congratulations to the newlyweds.’ He turned to
look at Harry and me. ‘I always wanted a daughter. And I couldn’t have asked for a more talented or beautiful one.’ He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a key ring, holding it up so that everybody could see the key dangling there. ‘Everyone knows that the first years of marriage are the hardest. I want to take as much of that pressure off you as I can.’

  The key swung hypnotically from side-to-side. What was it for? A car? A safety deposit box?

  ‘So here.’ He thrust the key at me. ‘I hope you’ll be very happy in your new home.’

  He laughed at the stunned look on my face and said, ‘You didn’t really think I’d buy you a punch set for your wedding present?’

  ‘It was a lovely punch set.’ I could feel the noose tightening around my neck. Things had been so wonderful. We had been free of this life. Free of these people. But bit-by-bit Jim was reeling us in. Bit-by-bit he was taking control of our lives. Before, the only thing I had to worry about was hitting the correct notes, now I had FBI agents palming me business cards and giving me knowing looks.

  I had an urge to sprint for the elevator.

  Harry must have seen the wild look in my eyes. He took the key from my hand. ‘A house? You’re giving us a house?’

  ‘It’s more of a three-story terrace than a house. But you’ve got your own courtyard.’

  There were words I should have been saying. I took a deep breath and moved my lips so that the appropriate reply fell out. ‘You’re far too generous.’

  ‘Nonsense. It’s the least I could do for my only son. Of course one day this will all be his.’ He held his arms out and I looked around. Did he mean the bar?

  And then it hit me. The Pink Flamingo. One day the Pink Flamingo would be Harry’s. And I guessed mine as well.

  Now I couldn’t breathe. Now I couldn’t draw in air. I could feel the world closing in around me as an insect took up residence in my ear, its high-pitched shriek blocking out all other noise.

  ‘Tess. Tess.’ Harry shook my shoulder and the insect stopped its whine. He peered down into my face. ‘You okay?’