Family Ties

by Danielle Steel

  At six o’clock they were still working when Jean-Louis dropped by. Liz was looking tense, still shaken by the calamities of the morning, but it was going well.

  “Almost done?” he whispered as he came up behind her, and she turned with a start and then smiled.

  “About another hour.” She was frozen to the bone but didn’t care. The weather had been awful, but the shoot had been great.

  “What did you do about the jewelry you didn’t get?”

  “An angel fell out of the sky, carrying a briefcase, and gave me even better stuff.” She grinned at him, still in awe of her good luck.

  “What does that mean?” Jean-Louis looked baffled, and he knew what a genius Liz was at problem solving, but that was too much for even her to pull off.

  “Just what I said. One of the jewelers we used happened to be in Paris, and walked by. He was taking a briefcase full of incredible pieces to a big Arab client and gave me five of them for the shoot. It’s the best jewelry I’ve ever seen, better than what we had. And bigger.”

  “You’re a magician,” he said, giving her a hug, “and you lead a charmed life.” She definitely felt blessed that day. “I’m meeting a friend at the Ritz for a drink,” he told her. “Come in when you’re finished, and we’ll go home.” He disappeared then into the Ritz, and Lizzie went back to work.

  As it turned out, it was another two hours before she was finished, and they had shot all the di Giorgio pieces. She returned them to the armed guard who’d been with her all afternoon and wrote a hasty note to Alessandro di Giorgio, thanking him again. She promised to send him tear sheets of the shoot. And then she met Jean-Louis in the bar. He was happily drinking Kir Royale with an old friend. They had gone to school together, and he looked as disreputable and unkempt as Jean-Louis. They almost looked like twins. Jean-Louis explained that he was an artist and had a studio in Montmartre that once belonged to Toulouse-Lautrec. And she had to admit to herself that for once she looked as disheveled as they did. She couldn’t wait to go home, get warm, and take a long hot bath.

  They got back to his place at ten o’clock, and Lizzie had to be up at five again for the second day of the shoot. They were using the Place de la Concorde as their location this time, and the Arc de Triomphe the following day. She had a heavy week. Jean-Louis had the following day off and was planning to spend it with friends.

  As Liz sank into the tub and closed her eyes, she thought back over the shots they had done, the jewelry they’d used, the models and their clothes. As she ran the film of the day through her head, she was satisfied with the work. And she was still thinking about it, and already worrying about the next day, as she fell asleep in Jean-Louis’s bed. He glanced over at her and smiled as he turned off the light. He had never known anyone who worked as hard as Liz, and he certainly didn’t want that for himself. Few people did.

  Annie’s first days back to work after the holidays weren’t much smoother than Liz’s. It seemed like there was chaos at all her construction sites, her most important contractor had quit, and there were delays on all her projects. After the first of the year, all hell had broken loose. She was so stressed that she didn’t have time to stop for lunch all week. It was Thursday afternoon when she got back to her office at a decent hour. She had some plans she needed to change, and she wanted to get her files in order. And she had dozens of calls to return and e-mails to answer. She asked her assistant for a cup of black coffee and got to work. She decided to open the mail on her desk first. The second letter she opened was from Kate’s school, and she suddenly panicked, thinking she had forgotten to pay her tuition. Her accountant usually handled it, but the check could have gotten lost in the mail. Instead, her heart stopped when she saw what the letter said. It confirmed the fact that Kate had dropped out of school for a semester. And Annie’s week had been so stressful so far that she was furious the minute she read it. What the hell was Kate doing? Annie forgot everything else she had to do as she dialed Katie’s cell phone in a fury.

  “I want to see you at the apartment tonight,” she barked into the phone, which was unlike her. She rarely lost her temper with her nieces and nephew. She preferred to explain things and be reasonable. But what Kate had done was not reasonable. Annie was not willing to let her drop out of school, and she hadn’t asked Annie’s permission. But at twenty-one, she didn’t have to.

  “What’s wrong?” Katie asked, sounding stunned.

  “I’ll discuss it with you when I see you,” Annie said tersely. “Not over the phone. I’ll be home by eight o’clock. Be there.” And with that she hung up, without waiting for Katie to answer. Annie was so mad, she was shaking. She hadn’t raised them for sixteen years, and taught them everything she could, and given them all the opportunities their parents would have wanted, in order for them to become dropouts. Katie was a talented artist, and Annie wanted her to go to school and get the degree she’d started.

  Annie finished everything on her desk in record time and took the plans she had to change with her when she went home. She’d been so distracted for the rest of the afternoon that she couldn’t think straight. The lights were on when she got home, and Katie was in her room listening to music. She walked out the minute she heard the front door close and stood looking at her aunt. Annie was obviously livid. She took her coat off, hung it up, and walked into the living room, and Katie followed. Annie sat down and looked at her, with a mixture of disappointment and anger. It was the disappointment that shook Katie, more than the anger.

  “What the hell are you thinking?” were Annie’s opening words to her. “I got the notice from your school. You didn’t even ask me. How disrespectful is that? And what are you planning to do now, without a degree? Work at McDonald’s?”

  Katie fought to keep her voice calm. She wanted to prove to Annie that she was an adult, not a child. She had a right to make her own decisions. “I got offered a job that I want to do for one semester. I thought maybe I could do it as an art project or an internship, but they wouldn’t let me. So I took a semester off to do it. It’s not such a big deal. I’ll go back to school next term.”

  “What kind of job is it?” Annie said, still upset by the way Katie had done it. She had said nothing to her aunt over the holidays about wanting to drop out of school, or do an internship. She could at least have discussed it with her.

  “It’s a good job,” Katie said, balking at the question. “I want to do it.”

  “What is it?” Annie was fierce as she asked her, as only Annie could be when she was angry, which was infinitely rare. And all she wanted was what was best for Katie.

  “I’m going to be doing designs at a tattoo parlor,” Katie said quietly, and Annie stared at her in horror.

  “Are you crazy? You’re giving up a term at Pratt, one of the best design schools in the country, to work in a tattoo parlor? Please tell me you’re kidding.”

  “I’m not kidding. They do some great art. I know I can do some really creative things there. There are some major emerging artists who have gotten their start in tattoo parlors.”

  “If I didn’t love you so much, I’d kill you. Katie, you can’t do this. Is it too late to sign up at school for this term?”

  “I don’t know. I won’t do it. I’m going to work at the tattoo parlor. I started on Tuesday, and I love it. I’ve already given up my room at the dorm, as of this weekend.”

  “Then I expect you to live at home.” Annie’s tone was icy. She was so angry and upset, she could hardly speak.

  “I was planning to do that anyway,” Katie said politely. “I told you, I’ll go back to school next semester. I want to do this for a while. It’s very creative.”

  “Will you please tell me what you think is creative about tattooing anchors and eagles on people’s asses? This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.” Katie had always been different from the others. She was more independent, more artistic, more of an individual, braver, and was never afraid to try out new ideas. But this one was one of the worst
she’d ever had, in Annie’s opinion. She had always been supportive of her niece’s creativity, but this time she had gone too far.

  “Did Paul have anything to do with this?” Annie asked suspiciously, and Katie shook her head with tears in her eyes.

  “No. He’s mad at me too. He thinks it’s stupid, and undignified, and not right for a woman.”

  “He got that right.” Annie couldn’t even imagine saying that her niece was a tattoo artist, or what her parents would have thought of it. It didn’t bear thinking. “I’m very disappointed in you, Katie,” Annie said, calming down a little. “I expect you to finish school. Not for me, but for you. You need the degree to do something important with your art, or even to get a good job.”

  “I know I do,” she said reasonably, as tears slid down her cheeks. She hated to disappoint the aunt she loved so much and whose respect was so important to her. “I just wanted to do something different and more creative, and I’ve always loved tattoos.”

  “I know,” Annie said, as she leaned over and put an arm around her. “But I just want you to finish school, and a tattoo parlor is such an unsavory place to be. The people are awful.”

  “You don’t know that, and I don’t care anyway. I just want to do the art. Someone else can do the tattoos.” She didn’t tell her aunt that they were teaching her to do that too.

  “Do Ted and Lizzie know about this?” Annie asked, wondering if it was a conspiracy or just one of Kate’s crazy ideas. But Katie shook her head. “They’re not going to be happy either.” And as Annie said it, Katie stuck out her chin in defiance, just as she had when she was five years old. She had always been the toughest of the kids to manage, never afraid to back up her own ideas or take the consequences for it when she did.

  “I have to do what makes me happy, and what’s right for me, not just what works for all of you. I want to learn how to do beautiful tattoos. It’s a form of graphic art, even if you don’t like it. And after that, I’ll go back to school.” She sounded stubborn and defiant as she said it.

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” Annie said sternly, and then wiped the tears from Katie’s cheeks, and spoke more softly. “I wish you weren’t so damn independent and listened to me once in a while.”

  “I do. But I have to do what I think is right too. I’m twenty-one years old. I’m not a baby.”

  “You’ll always be a baby to me,” Annie said honestly. It was the conversation she’d had with Whitney a month before, about letting them go, make their own mistakes, and have their own lives. She couldn’t protect them forever.

  “Where is this place?” Annie asked, and Katie told her. It was in a horrible neighborhood, and just the idea of her being there filled Annie with terror. What if something happened to her? Or she got AIDS from one of the needles? “I wish you’d give up this idea,” Annie pleaded with her. “It really is one of your worst.”

  “I’m not going to,” Katie said fiercely. “I’m an adult, and I have a right to make this decision.”

  “I guess you do,” Annie said sadly. “But not all the decisions we make are good.”

  “We’ll see,” Katie said quietly, prepared to defend her independence with whatever it took. She didn’t share with her aunt then that she also wanted to do some traveling, and she wanted to go to Tehran with Paul for a visit to his family in the spring. She figured that right now that news could wait. And after they talked quietly for a few more minutes, Kate went back to her room. She was planning to bring home all her things from the dorm that weekend.

  In her own room, Annie took two aspirins for the headache she’d had since that afternoon and lay down on her bed. She would have called Lizzie, but she didn’t want to bother her in Paris. And it was three in the morning for her by then. Instead she called Ted. He didn’t answer, and it went straight to voice mail. Annie left him a message to call her as soon as he could. She couldn’t believe that Katie was going to be working in a tattoo parlor. The idea of it made her sick. And all she could hope now was that Katie would come to her senses and do what she had promised and go back to school. And the worst of it was knowing that no matter how much she loved her, there was nothing Annie could do. Overnight she had become obsolete.

  Chapter 12

  The following day was even more stressful for Annie. She had an argument with two contractors, and a very difficult meeting with one of her more challenging clients. The weather was terrible, which was slowing everything down, and the fact that Katie had dropped out of school, without even discussing it with her first or asking her advice, had Annie on edge all day. The idea of Katie working in a tattoo parlor seemed even worse the more she thought about it. And she hadn’t heard from Ted yet. She at least wanted a shoulder to cry on, and maybe he could influence his younger sister, or Liz could when she got back. But for now, Liz was in Paris up to her ears in her own work, and Ted hadn’t called.

  By the end of the afternoon, Annie couldn’t stand it any longer, and after visiting a job site where everything was going wrong, she hailed a cab and gave the driver the address of the tattoo parlor Katie had mentioned the night before. It was on Ninth Avenue, in what had once been called Hell’s Kitchen but in recent years had been cleaned up. But it still wasn’t where Annie wanted her niece to hang out, let alone go to work every day instead of school. She groaned out loud when they got to the address. The tattoo parlor was lit up in neon, and a cluster of unsavory-looking people were standing around smoking outside. Annie had never seen uglier people in her life.

  “Wrong address?” the driver asked her when he heard the sound of despair from the backseat.

  “No, unfortunately the right one,” she said as she paid him, with a good tip.

  “You getting a tattoo?” He seemed surprised. She didn’t look the type. She was wearing a black wool coat with black slacks and a black cashmere sweater, and she looked impeccably groomed.

  “No, I’m not. Just looking.” She didn’t want to admit to him that her niece was working there. It was too embarrassing and depressing.

  “I wouldn’t do it if I were you,” he advised her. “You can get AIDS from the needles,” he warned.

  “I know.” She thanked him again and slid out of the cab, and she pushed open the door to the tattoo parlor and looked around. The people working there all had pierces and tattoos, and most of them had full sleeves of colorful tattoos. She didn’t care what Katie said, Annie still did not consider it art.

  A woman came over to ask if she could help her, and Annie said she was there to see Kate Marshall. Annie looked like a visitor from another planet with her sleek blond hair, fashionable high-heeled boots, and new black coat. She wanted to run right out the door, but she stood her ground as she waited for Kate, and a few minutes later her niece came through a back door where the private rooms were. She was wearing a miniskirt, red turtleneck sweater, and combat boots with her short blue-black dyed hair. But even dressed like that, Annie thought she looked much too good for this place.

  “What are you doing here?” Katie asked her in a whisper. She looked nervous that Annie had come.

  “I wanted to see where you work.” The two women looked deep into each other’s eyes, and finally Katie looked away first. She knew she couldn’t convince Annie that this was acceptable instead of school, but she thought she shouldn’t have to defend it either. She had made a decision that felt right to her. “Are you okay?” Annie asked her gently, and Katie nodded, and then she smiled, and looked happier than she did a minute before.

  “I’m having fun. They’re teaching me a lot. I want to learn how to do tattoos, just so I know what it takes and how the designs work on skin.” Annie refrained from saying “Why?”

  Annie only stayed for a few minutes, and Katie didn’t tell her co-workers who she was. It made her feel like a child to have her aunt check up on her, and she was no longer a child as far as she was concerned. She was an adult. She looked visibly embarrassed to have Annie there, so once she had looked around, Annie left.r />
  Annie wanted to cry as she drove away in a cab. She couldn’t get the image of those people out of her head. They had bolts and pierces everywhere. They looked like a scary lot to her. She had one more job site to visit before she went back to her office, and then home at the end of the day.

  The construction site was another one of her trouble spots right now, and she was fiercely upset when she saw that one of the workmen had left a hose on earlier in the day, and in the freezing weather, the water had turned to ice on the ground. It was an invitation to accidents and another headache she didn’t need. She pointed it out to the foreman, and the contractor who was there too, and then, still thinking about Katie and her new job, Annie stepped over the construction debris and hurried out of the site and back toward the street. It was getting late. Her mind was so full of Katie that she didn’t see the last patch of ice she had complained about, and suddenly her high-heeled boots flew into the air, and she came down hard on one foot with a sharp yelp. One of the construction workers had seen her fall and rushed to help her. He picked her up, dusted her off, and steadied her on her feet. But the moment he did, she winced, her stomach flipped over, and she thought she was going to faint from the pain. Someone got her a folding chair, and the pain in her ankle was excruciating.

  “Are you okay?” the foreman asked her with a worried look. It was exactly what she had just warned them about. What she hadn’t expected was that the accident waiting to happen was her. She had been totally distracted and distraught since her visit to Katie at the tattoo parlor, and she hadn’t looked where she was going in her rush to leave and get back to the office. And it was one of the very rare times she had worn high heels to a construction site. She hadn’t planned to visit any of them that day and changed her mind once she got to work.