"Sandra DeAndre, yes. They are unquestionably the same woman," Marika confirmed.
"Well I'll be damned!" Lee shook her head in amazement. "What are you going to do now?"
Without hesitation, Marika stated, "I want out, Lee. I don't ever want to see Cass, or Sandra, or whatever she wants to call herself, again!"
Lee's eyes widened hopefully. "Really? You mean that this time, Rika?"
"I mean it, Lee. I hate the way she makes me feel, and the other...it just isn't worth it." She hesitated and stared at the barely touched bottle of beer. "Rhi told me this morning that I didn't deserve that...what Cass did to me." Gray eyes raised and met Lee's steadily. "She's right. I don't."
Lee whooped and pushing a startled Spooky off her lap, leaned over and wrapped her friend in a bear hug. "Finally! Hot damn, woman! You have NO idea how glad I am to hear that!!"
Marika couldn't help laughing at her friend's exuberance, even as she winced at the enthusiastic hug that was crushing the wind out of her. "Lee," she managed to gasp in mild protest.
"Oops, sorry," Lee apologized with a big grin as she released the lawyer and mussed her blonde hair.
Rolling her eyes, but smiling, Marika smoothed her hair back into place and eyed her delighted friend.
"So basically you just don't call her and don't go over there, right?" Lee asked.
"Right. She only came over here that one time." Marika shuddered, remembering that night when Cass had taken her to her psychological limits and beyond. Shaking off the memory, she continued, "I always went to her place so I simply won't call her ever again. I'm sure she won't bother me, especially now that I know her little secret. She'll probably want to get a million miles away from me, not that I have any intention of telling anyone."
"Yeah, no point in stirring up the hornet's nest. Besides, it's not like she's done anything illegal, though I imagine her social circle would have a fit if they knew what she was doing on her charitable rounds," Lee agreed.
"Not to mention her husband." Marika still had problems squaring the man's obvious devotion to his wife with the predator who'd used her so cruelly, but then given how thoroughly she'd been manipulated, it really wasn't so surprising that Palmer DeAndre had fallen under Cass' influence.
Beaming, Lee leaned back into the couch cushions, regarding the lawyer with glee. "So then there's nothing stopping you from exploring this thing with Rhi."
Exasperated, Marika stated firmly, "There is no thing with Rhi! It's all in your imagination."
"Nuh unh," Lee disagreed. "Dana thinks so too. There's definitely something flickering between you two."
"Just friendship, Lee. And I'm not going to allow it to flicker into anything more, got that?" Marika said sternly.
Shrugging, Lee said, "Got it." But the wide grin told the lawyer that her friend wasn't buying it for a moment.
* * *
Rhiannon navigated carefully, steering the old Volvo into the rectory's narrow driveway, putting the car in park and turning off the ignition. Then she turned to meet David's nod of approval.
"Excellent, Rhi. You're really coming along nicely. I'd say a few more weeks of practice and you'll be ready to go for your test."
The priest was warmed by the expression on his student's face. She literally beamed at his approbation. Casually, he asked, "Feel like staying for supper? I was just going to grill some burgers if you're interested."
Equally off-hand, Rhi accepted his invitation. "Sure, sounds good if you're sure you have enough."
"Got enough," David confirmed, as he exited the car. Rhi got out on her side, locked the door and tossed the keys over the top of the roof to him. He caught them with a grin. "C'mon. I'll put you to work."
"Oh sure, you never said word one about making me work for my supper," Rhi grumbled amiably as she trailed behind him up the path.
David could barely conceal his delighted grin. There had been such a sea change in his friend that he barely recalled the angry, confrontational young woman he'd first encountered only the previous month. Their driving lessons had become a highlight of his week, as he genuinely enjoyed their time together. Rhi still challenged him at every turn, but without the former abrasive, hostile undertones. She appeared to enjoy their debates as much as he did, and while he enjoyed a considerable educational edge, he often found himself scrambling to counter her insightful arguments. He was well aware that she enjoyed taking contrary positions just to test the depth of his beliefs and suppositions.
Once inside, he listed off what they needed and left Rhi to dig things out while he started the charcoals in his cranky old barbeque in the tiny backyard. When she joined him, handing him the Cokes that had become an established part of their ritual, they sat in the shade of the old mountain ash tree waiting for the grill to heat up.
Unbidden, she began to tell him about her trip to Vancouver, and David watched her animated expression with interest. When she glossed over their cancelled plans to go to Gastown, his interest was piqued.
"It's too bad you didn't get there," he said. "It was always one of my favourite spots when I was living in Vancouver, not that I had much money to spend down there. Hannah and I used to like to go down and wander around enjoying the people on a Saturday afternoon."
"Yeah," Rhi said wistfully. "I would've liked to have seen it." Then more briskly she added, "But there's always another time."
"True," David agreed. "Any particular reason you didn't get there this time?"
He wondered if he'd stumbled onto a prickly subject when Rhi was silent for a few moments. She was much improved these days, but occasionally he still accidentally trespassed where she didn't want him to go. The priest was relieved when she began to speak again.
"Rika wasn't feeling well, so I stayed to look after her."
David mentally noted the use of the affectionate diminutive. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she was feeling better today."
"Yeah, she was." Rhi was quiet again, and then without looking at her companion, she said, "I really like her, Ichabod."
He nodded amiably. "That's good. I'm glad you're getting along with her. I'm sure it makes work much more pleasant."
She sighed, and with a slight shake of her head, turned to face him. "No, David. I mean I really like her."
The priest stared at her blankly for a moment and then his eyes widened. "Oh! Um...oh."
She looked at him wryly. "That was insightful."
David tried to shake off the surprise. While he'd been delighted that Rhiannon had made some new friends, he'd never even considered this possibility. Realizing that his first reaction was that of an appalled father confronted with a daughter's life-changing revelation, he held his tongue while he considered what to say. Rhi allowed him time to think, sipping calmly at her Coke.
"Uh, are you sure?" he ventured tentatively.
She stared off across the yard. Softly, she said, "I wasn't absolutely sure until last night."
He sat upright in alarm. "Did she do anything? I mean..."
Rhi laughed shortly. "I know what you mean, Ichabod, and no, we did sleep together, but we just slept together. She wasn't in any shape to do anything more even if we'd wanted to."
David pressed the cold can to his cheek. It wasn't the first time he'd counseled young people on exactly this issue, but this was Rhiannon and he had to step with extra care or she'd retreat so fast his head would spin.
Carefully, he asked, "How does she feel about it-about you?"
Thoughtfully, Rhi considered his question. "There are times that I see a look in her eyes that makes me think she feels the same. When we were dancing last weekend..."
"You were dancing?" David wondered if his voice had squeaked in reality or just in his head. Judging by the emerging grin on his companion's face, she'd heard his mouse imitation.
"Yes," Rhi drawled teasingly. "We went dancing at the Arc with Lee and Dana."
David was sure his eyes were bugging out of his head now. The Arc en Ciel was the biggest
and most popular lesbian bar in the city. Even he knew that. Consciously closing his mouth, he blinked in amazement. When did all this happen?
Mischief now apparent in her dark blue eyes, Rhi leaned on the arm of his lawn chair. "She is the sexiest dancer, Ichabod. I was even turning down other women just to stay in her arms all night."
Summoning every bit of his pastoral experience, David managed to keep a calm demeanour, but he downed the Coke in three quick gulps, hearing the young woman chuckle as he did.
Rhi had taken her arm off his chair and was relaxing in her own, her legs stretched out in front of her and crossed at the ankle. Taking a deep breath, David began, speaking in his steady, reassuring, counselor's voice.
"This isn't something to be taken lightly, Rhiannon. I would hate to see you rush into anything..."
He was stopped abruptly when the young woman looked at him warningly.
"I wasn't asking for advice, Ichabod. I was talking to you as a friend, telling you how I felt."
That stung, and the priest said softly, "And I'm listening as your friend, but that doesn't mean I'm not concerned about the impact of this on your life, or the suddenness with which it appears to be happening. I simply never considered that you might be...inclined that way."
She shrugged. "Neither did I. Never had any feelings for anyone either way before." Her voice softened. "But she's...special, David. She makes me feel special. I like being around her. I can't stop thinking about her. I want to...protect her."
He raised an eyebrow at the seeming incongruity, but let it pass. Carefully, he asked, "Have you considered that maybe it's just because you're around her a lot, and that you haven't really given young men your age much of a chance?"
Rhi looked at him with a half-smile. "Well, when Stuart the IT support guy was sniffing around me, I sure didn't feel anything like this for him."
"Well, maybe he just wasn't the right one."
Her voice sharpening, Rhi asked, "So what do you have against Marika being the 'right' one?"
"If she really is, then nothing. I'm only concerned that you haven't thought this all out." David felt like he was floundering. He simply couldn't summon the cool impartiality he used when counseling young people in his church. He had come to regard Rhi with a very parental affection, and he dearly didn't want her to make a mistake that had the potential to hurt her deeply.
"I really don't think this is something that you can 'think out'," Rhi responded. "You either feel it or you don't. You can't force something that isn't there, and you can't deny something that is."
"And this is?" David asked softly.
"And this is," Rhi asserted firmly.
The priest sat back, absorbing the certainty in his young friend's voice. After long moments of silence, he asked, "So what are you going to do about it?"
She gave her characteristic shrug. "For now-nothing." Nodding at where the grill was starting to smoke, she suggested, "You might want to take a look at that, Ichabod."
As David moved to the barbeque and began poking at the charcoals with the tongs, he considered his instinctive reaction to what Rhi had revealed. An image of Conor's thin face flashed through his mind, and he flinched at the comparison even as he accepted the source of the misgivings that underlay his response to Rhi's declaration.
The priest wrestled with an irrational fear that he'd fail his young friend as he felt he'd failed his long-time friend. However, the more logical part of his mind triumphed, and by the time he finally had the coals evenly distributed, he'd resolved that he would support Rhi as best he could, no matter how her involvement with Marika was resolved.
* * *
Palmer DeAndre stuck his head into his wife's den. More luxurious than most CEO's offices, she did all her foundation work from the massive mahogany desk she was currently seated behind.
"Darling, I just got a call from Sharon," he said, referring to his adult daughter from an earlier marriage. "She said something about accompanying me to the Mayor's reception next week? Aren't you able to make that?"
Sandra looked up with a touch of mild exasperation. "I did pencil that all into your engagement calendar, dear. I had prior out of town commitments that couldn't be changed, so Sharon very graciously agreed to escort you in my stead."
"Oh, all right." Palmer sighed. "You know I'd rather go with you, my love, but if you can't make it..."
"I can't," Sandra assured him firmly. "Foundation business, darling, and you know how seriously I take that."
He smiled lovingly at his spouse. "Yes, I do. You're a remarkable woman and I'm a lucky guy."
She gave him an indulgent smile. "You're just slightly biased. Now why don't you go up to bed, and I'll join you as soon as I catch up on a bit of paperwork."
Nodding, Palmer left the office, the thick, luxurious carpeting muffling the sound of his retreating footsteps. Quickly crossing the office, Cass shut the door. Then returning to her desk, she unsealed the thick manila envelope Liang has just delivered.
Rapidly scanning Gao's first report, she stopped short at the transcript of Marika's conversation with someone named Lee. Frowning, she read the print out closely. By the time she was done, Palmer wouldn't have recognized his wife in the furious woman crumpling the paper in her hand.
So Marika hadn't heeded her warning-and she wanted out of their...little arrangement. And who was this annoying chit, Rhi, who was wielding such influence over her pet lawyer? Rapidly she scanned back, finding Gao's report on Marika's arrival at the airport. Her subordinate had provided a very comprehensive report, including the conversation he'd overheard and the lawyer's demeanour in addressing her companion.
Cass scowled, the caution that had served her all these years warring with her irrational need to keep Marika in her service. Shortly after becoming involved with the lawyer, she'd had a thorough background check done on the woman. Initially she'd been interested in whether she could turn the woman to her professional interests, but all reports had indicated that the lawyer was ethical and incorruptible. She'd contented herself then with a strictly personal relationship.
Though Marika never spoke of her private life, Cass was well aware---through her sources---of the lawyer's string of failed, unsuccessful, short-lived affairs. She assumed this Rhi would be yet another in that unbroken string, and if that were the case, there'd be little to worry about.
However, if, as was apparent by Rhi's influencing Marika to sever her relationship with Cass, this unknown woman was to be more than a casual affair, then the predator had no intention of sitting still for that. A happy, contented Marika would never return to her bed, and that was unacceptable.
Narrowing her eyes, she considered her options. Deciding on stepped up surveillance for the moment, as well as a background check on her 'competition', she rang for her chauffeur as she quickly wrote out new instructions for Gao and returned the report to the envelope. When the husky, pony-tailed man entered her office, she handed him the folded sheet of paper, and the manila envelope.
"Have this sent,---file that, and tell Gao I want pictures in the next report."
Liang bowed his head and, accepting the papers, hastened from the office.
Cass strolled over to the window and gazed out of it. But she took no notice of the beautiful twilight view from the mansion's third floor or the softly lit gardens in the spacious grounds below her. Instead, a vision of gray pleading eyes filled her mind and, closing her eyes, she licked her lips slowly, almost feeling the sensation of pale blonde silk twisted around her fist.
Chapter Nineteen
RHI'S EYES FOCUSED sightlessly on the page, the novel she'd started an hour earlier lying ignored on her lap. Instead, her mind was turning over her dream-the dream that she'd nurtured since the first week of being deposited in her aunt's care-the dream that had sustained her for over ten years-and the dream that she no longer used to put herself to sleep at night, or woke to in the early light.
In place of the dream, which had been as vital a part of h
er existence as the act of breathing, new thoughts now filled her head. She fell asleep with the echo of a warm, affectionate voice in her ears and wakened to an image of gray eyes and pale blonde hair. It disturbed her.
She had never made allowances for anything or anyone disrupting her intense focus on achieving her dream. Her timeline had been set, every penny she'd need was accounted for, and she'd already acquired her passport. But for the first time, depositing her most recent pay cheque had not raised her savings bottom line by the customary amount. It had been a mild shock as she'd realized that she'd used some of her precious funds for...pleasure. Even more startling was the recognition that she didn't care, that'd she'd enjoyed every moment of going to the Stampede, to movies and dining out with her friends.
Unaware of the smile on her face, Rhi's thoughts drifted over the day she'd just spent with Marika. Rhi had taken the bus to her boss' home as per usual just before noon that Saturday, and they gone out for their customary driving lesson. After she'd successfully executed a parallel park for the third time in a row, the lawyer had suggested it was time for some highway driving practice.
They'd headed for the busy Trans-Canada and, although nervous at the volume of traffic heading west out of Calgary towards the mountains, Rhi had quickly gained confidence under Marika's calm encouragement.
"You're doing great, Rhi, just keep your speed steady at 110 and stay in the right hand lane." Marika chuckled softly. "And you might want to loosen your grip a little or your hands are going to be sore by the time we get to Banff."
Startled, Rhi shifted her gaze for a second to stare at her companion. "We're going all the way to Banff?"
"Eyes on the road," the lawyer cautioned with a small smile. "Sure, why not? It'll be great practice for you, and it's a beautiful drive. Did you have anything else planned for the day?"
"No, nothing at all." Rhi's grin grew larger as she contemplated spending a full day in her friend's company. She drove in silence, enjoying the beautiful scenery as golden fields rolled on beneath cloudless azure skies and the distant mountains extended their silent invitation to come play. Her assurance grew with every passing kilometre and by the time they'd stopped to pay their admission at the park gate, she was confident that she had a good handle on highway driving.
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