Red Collar

by Cartharn, Clarissa

  Leah wound her arm through hers. “If I had a choice, I’d prefer living here. But Paris isn’t bad either, you know. It’s got a different feel entirely and a complete contrast to Sitka. But it also has its perks and you fall in love with it gradually. The culture, the people- they all get to you and before you know it, you’re addicted. Besides, Armand, my husband makes it all the more worth it.”

  “How long have you been married?”

  “Became Madame Blanc ten years ago and still happily married,” Leah gleamed. “After Dumont was born, we really wanted a girl to complete the family. But then we had Leveret, which was nice. But I so wanted a daughter. So when we tried again and baby Natalie came along, we were over the moon. She’s the first girl in her generation for both Armand’s and my side of the family. Everyone else has boys. So well, now you understand the excitement.”

  She gave Kate a wide smile. “You’ll get to meet Armand in two days. He really wants to be here for his little angel. He’s already so attached to his daughter, he calls me everyday just to make sure she’s fine,” Leah sighed tiredly. “It’s cute and it’s annoying. But I know I shouldn’t be. There are fathers who wouldn’t care, right?”

  And mothers, Kate thought as she recalled the days when she was left alone without her mother. She blinked away an image of her father as she listened to Leah’s tale of her husband’s affection for his daughter. Her own father hadn’t much to give her in terms of wealth. But he had certainly showered Kate with a love she would never forget. She lifted her face in the hope it would lift up her spirits as well. She didn’t want to ruin the Reid women plans with the somber details of her life.

  “Talking about husbands, I wonder how yours is doing with my baby girl, Mom?” Leah called out to her mother.

  “Serves him right to babysit his grand-daughter,” Olivia retorted. “What was he thinking picking a fight with Clayton after we had taken so much pain preparing such a beautiful breakfast? But as assurance, your father knows how to handle a baby like he was born to do it. Baby Natalie will be just fine.” She tapped her daughter’s arm with an air of confidence. “It’s your father I’m worried about.”

  Olivia pressed onto her remote keys, rolling open a garage door- a side entrance to the store building.

  “Wayne, we’ll be doing this alone,” she said, stepping into the driver seat. “Tell Frank we’ll be late, will you?”

  They spent the entire day shopping and then headed to the beauty parlor for some rest and rejuvenation.

  Kate was surprised that even at almost ninety years of age, Grandma Connie caught up with their strength, resting only briefly in the office lounge of the store.

  They met again for dinner at an exquisite Italian restaurant that took her breath away immediately on sight.

  Designed after “The Pantheon”, it was the pillars that caught her attention. They were exquisitely carved totem poles with designs integrating both the Italian and Native Indian cultures.

  “According to Guido Orsini, the manager, each pole represents an Italian legend,” said Leah amusedly.

  “I didn’t know totems were such a huge thing in Sitka,” Kate replied. “I’ve seen so many already.”

  Leah smiled. “I’ve really enjoyed the day out with you, Kate. Never thought I would ever say this about any of Clayton’s girlfriends but I am really looking forward to you officially being part of the family.”

  Kate lowered her eyes, biting her lower lip anxiously, an encumbering nausea of guilt rising in her throat.

  “What is it, Kate?” Leah peered at her. “Every time I mention anything about the wedding, you grow all pale. Don’t you want to marry Clayton?”

  Kate lifted her gaze, her eyes brimming with tears. “I…I….” She closed her eyes and started again. “Of course, I do. I love him.”

  Leah nodded. “I didn’t doubt that. I see it each time you look at my brother. He has his weakness. He’s got a short temper and sometimes so dogmatic to the point of annoyance. But he has a good heart.” She clasped Kate’s palm. “I suppose Clayton is right. You’re just all nervous.”

  “Who is?” Olivia said as she led the way to a table.

  Leah rolled her eyes. “Kate is a little anxious about the wedding.”

  “Oh, that’s expected my dear,” Grandma Connie chirped in. “Do you know that on the day of my marriage, I snuck out of my room and stole away to Sitka. I sat at the pier until my husband came looking for me. The poor man was so stricken with distress and anxiety; he was shivering in his boots. He thought I had changed my mind.

  But all I had wanted was to think. I suppose mourn as well. I was going to be married. I was going to assume a new identity. It was going to be Mrs. Connie Reid. My life as Connie Basinski was fading away and I was terrified. I didn’t know Connie Reid. Who was she? What did she do? Would she still love this same man ten, twenty, thirty years later? How many children would she have? So many questions whirred through my mind.

  I was leaving all that I knew for eighteen years, to be with a man I knew barely eight months. Frankly, I was diving into an ocean of trust. It was a huge gamble. It could flip either way. For all I knew, my new husband could have been a monster. Or a vampire. It’s what you kids are into now, isn’t it?” She chuckled.

  “And then he found me, my Thomas. He saw me sitting at the pier, my skinny legs dangling over the side and my hair, wild as a wheat field on a windy day. I must have looked like a mad bag lady.

  It was then I realized that this man was never going to let me go. He would keep following me until I relented and became his wife.” Grandma Connie leant towards Kate. “Do you know what he said to me when he saw me?”

  Kate shook her head, taken in awe by the older woman’s tale of love.

  “Nothing. He said absolutely nothing. He took my hand in his, like this,” she demonstrated as she tenderly clasped Kate’s palm. “And we sat there at the pier in silence, his legs waving next to mine with his eyes cast over the horizon and then he simply waited until I was ready to leave.” She took a sip of her water. “He told me later that he was just as terrified of the wedding. You see, I had thought it was only I who was going through all those wedding nerves and jitters. But men, they feel it too.”

  Olivia reached over the table for Kate’s hand. “Honey, we’re here for you. If ever you need us to relieve any of your wedding woes or tension, you know where to find us. And we will never leave you. Not until you don’t want us any more.”

  Kate’s lips quivered into a smile. Inside, her heart wrenched. She wished all that was happening were all true and it hurt her even more knowing that none of it was real. She had only come to learn she had fallen in love with Clayton. And now she was falling hard in love with his family.

  *****

  They arrived back at the island, a little after nine in the evening.

  Kate marveled at the golden ball of fire yet to set in the horizon. It would be at least a couple more hours before the twilight sky would be enveloped by the darkness.

  She raced up to her room to have a quick shower and a change. It didn’t surprise her to find it empty. Nor would it surprise her if Clayton heard of their return and came looking for her there.

  She heaved a tired sigh. Clayton didn’t trust her. But then again why should he when she was already conflicted with their charade.

  She stood under the spray of water, letting it unknot the tiredness in her body. Her mind drifted to her day spent with the Reid women. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so at peace. She long wanted to be part of such a family, to be loved and accepted and to have the casual conversations like the one she just had with Grandma Connie, Olivia and Leah. But due to some twist of absurd fate, she seemed to have fulfilled that wish through Clayton’s family. Was this her karma? To be punished by the same people who gave her the one thing she dreamed of since she was a child.

  She stepped out of the shower and found the room was as bare as she had left it. The silence was unnerving, prefer
ring Clayton’s raging suspicions than the stillness that hovered within it.

  She slipped on a pretty knee-length chiffon dress, thanks again to Jesse, and headed towards the verandah that encircled the house. If he was anywhere about the house, she would be bound to see him from here.

  As she neared the kitchen, she found his dark shadow hunched over on the steps leading to the backyard. Three dogs happily lapped at his fingers, darting about him. One of them leapt up towards her, giving away her presence.

  Clayton looked up at her. His eyes adoringly skimmed her body.

  “Hi,” she said, softly.

  “Hi,” he replied and then returned his attention to the dogs.

  She sat quietly beside him. “Are you angry with me?” she asked after a while when he refused to say anything more.

  “I asked you to stay but you left anyway.”

  “You didn’t ask,” she said in a curt tone. “You commanded like you always do. Sometimes I think I am no more to you than those dogs.”

  She rose abruptly, not wanting to hear any more of what he had to say. Why had she come looking for him, when she could have simply enjoyed the privacy she had miraculously gained?

  But her heart ached just knowing that he was hurting from his father’s words. She had wanted to console him but didn’t know how. Believing that he would rather prefer it on his own, she had left with the women.

  There was certainly some tension between his father and him. It didn’t take much to decipher that. Instead, Frank Reid had openly chastised his son before him under the false belief that Clayton may have told her of their contrary opinions on business. But it wasn’t just about business, was it? There was more to their quarrel than just business.

  Of course she would never know. Clayton wouldn’t tell her about it. He never told her anything about his family. She almost snickered aloud. She was a fiancée who knew nothing. Most of anything she learnt of the family was from the Reid women, especially Leah. But even then, they never once made any mention of Clayton’s conflict with his father in the almost twelve hours they spent together.

  She felt him clutch her palm and she stopped. She looked down at him. He was still focused on the dogs that playfully frolicked about him.

  He tugged at her arm, silently pleading for her to stay. She doubted if he would ever say it out aloud though. He was the most stubborn man she had met in her life. And yet she continued to sway to his body, to his pleas.

  A heat spread through her, filling with a sudden urge to hold him. This once, she told herself, she would obey her instincts, and sat again beside him.

  He laid his head on her lap, holding onto her waist, as she combed her fingers through his hair gently. And they sat for a while without uttering a sound, watching the dogs frisk in the twilight of the setting sun.

  *****

  Lorenzo skipped into the hallway, whistling a soft tune under his breath.

  Libby sprung into his way, her arms crossed against her chest. Her eyes raged as she stepped up closer to him.

  “I’ve been waiting for you,” she uttered threateningly.

  Lorenzo sighed and leant back against the wall. “How nice,” he retorted tiredly. “You shouldn’t have. “

  “Excuse me,” Libby remarked with disbelief.

  “I mean, I really appreciate the gesture and all. But you didn’t have to.” He stepped to walk past her and then stopped, leaning into her. “Will you wait for me tomorrow too?” he whispered in her ear. “I kinda like it, you know, the waiting game.”

  Libby widened her eyes in shock. “Does it even occur to you what you are saying? I was not waiting for you in that way.”

  “In what way?”

  “In the way you’re insinuating,” Libby huffed.

  “I don’t think I insinuated anything.”

  “You know you did.”

  “I so did not.”

  She stared angrily, her eyes widened in her disbelief. They were large and blue.

  Lorenzo lazed against the wall, enjoying them. He smiled at the incredulity sweeping over her and the more he did, the angrier she got.

  “What do you think you’re playing at?” she almost shouted out. Her voice echoed in the hallway and she lowered it immediately.

  “What?” Lorenzo said over his eyebrows. “Are we playing something now? I hope we’re on the same team though.”

  She smirked. “Are you as cheeky with every one you meet or do you reserve your sordid attitude to some?”

  Lorenzo sighed again. “So many questions. Are you as inquisitive about everyone’s business or is it me you’re interested in? I don’t mind. It’s just that I could think of better places to have this interrogation, like over a cup of coffee.”

  Libby snorted. “You mean like a date? You think I’d be interested in going out on a date with you? I wouldn’t be seen dead with you in public.”

  He upturned his lips thoughtfully. “Yeah a date doesn’t sound too bad. I thought a cup of a coffee would suffice but if you think a date is better, then why not. And I do prefer my dates alive than dead so thanks for that.”

  “I thought you preferred women who were slightly older,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “Like Kate.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Women are all beautiful. I don’t like categorizing them. If I like them, I’ll take them out.”

  “So when Kate’s out of town, you don’t care if you hit on her sister instead?”

  He looked at her thoughtfully. “I didn’t hit on you. You’re the one who suggested a date. And what does Kate have to do with it?”

  She glared at him. “I knew Kate was seeing someone, wearing all those glamorous clothes whenever she went out to work and then coming back in an entirely different set. I just didn’t think she was screwing the guy two floors down our apartment.”

  He raised his eyes at her. They had turned a dark coal from his soaring anger. He put his hands in his pockets, clenching his fists to contain his spewing rage.

  He didn’t like to be falsely accused about anything. Particularly not from Libby. Not when he…

  “I don’t like where this is going,” he said in a low, warning tone. “And don’t malign your sister’s reputation when you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “She’s my sister and I’ll do whatever I want.” She tipped her chin forward, challenging him.

  “I’m going to credit your ignorance to your naivety. And until you decide to grow up, I’ll just have to keep ignoring you like this.” He moved past her and walked towards his apartment with as much cool as he could muster.

  Inside he was seething with rage with a deathly wish to slam his front door in her face. But he was determined not to give her the satisfaction.

  He relished in the second dash of disbelief clouding her face he had glimpsed as he had walked past her.

  “Go home, Libby. I’ll see you there in a few hours,” he said over his shoulders.

  “Don’t bother,” she screamed at his back. “We don’t want you there.”

  He turned to face her as he reached his door. “You want to take a vote on that? I don’t think it’s an opinion shared by the rest of the family. Oh yeah, and Bridget’s vote counts as well.”

  She opened her mouth for yet another sharp retort and then shut it again.

  Lorenzo smiled. Small victories. He supposed with such a feisty female as Libby, he would have to take joy in those for a while.

  “Go home,” he repeated. “And I expect you to behave when I do come over. If you dare as falsely accuse your sister again, I’ll be more than happy to carry your ass over my shoulder and dump you in your room like I did last night.” He paused before turning his doorknob. “You know, I’ve beginning to think you’re deliberately riling me up. You just can’t admit that you like me hauling you up against me. You know I’d do it if you ask me politely. You need not go to all this length to try and get me mad.”

  He gave another pretenseful sigh and walked into his apartment leav
ing a baffled Libby staring after him. He chuckled. She had jostled with him and he had loved it. He hadn’t had so much fun in a while.

  Chapter 14

  Lorenzo bustled about Kate’s kitchen as if it was his own. He had quickly accustomed himself to the items within it and he was quite impressed with Kate’s organisation. It was also obvious that Kate took careful measures to ensure her family was healthily fed instead of relying on frozen meals. But with her gone, there really wasn’t any choice than to have them binge on the packaged menus available in the freezer.

  He diced through some green onions rapidly, giving a small peek at Rudy who was busy beating into a bowl of eggs. He broke into a small smile. It was time Rudy learnt his way in the kitchen. Thankfully, he displayed a willingness to learn, giving Lorenzo a hand whenever he needed it. Lorenzo grinned. As a matter of fact, he was thankful that Rudy had been waiting for him to turn up at the apartment. Until then, he was unsure of how the family perceived his presence in their home. And Libby’s inappreciative welcome hadn’t eased his discomfort.

  “Where’s your sister?” he asked as casually as he could.

  “Libby?” Rudy said, shrugging his shoulders. “Who knows. She took off a while ago and hasn’t come back yet.”

  Lorenzo glanced at the clock. It was almost eight o’clock in the night. A muscle tensed in his jaw line. Had she left the apartment because he was going to come over? It was dark and the neighborhood wasn’t what people classified as the safest one at such hours. How could she put herself at risk like that? But seeing that it was Libby, he shouldn’t have been surprised that she didn’t think far beyond her proud nose.

  “It isn’t safe for her to be out at such an hour,” he voiced out, swiping a spoon into the pan.

  “Tell that to Libby,” Rudy snorted. “Libby does what Libby wants. Any one here barely has any control over her. It’s a wonder that Kate manages to keep a leash on her at all.”

  Lorenzo tried focusing on the steaming vegetables in the pan but his mind kept wandering to Libby.