Broken Faith

by Lois Cloarec Hart

  Rhi felt an unexpected rush of sympathy for the old woman, and she blinked in amazement. It was the last thing she'd anticipated feeling; but awash in the bliss that was her new life with Marika, she couldn't help feeling sorry for the aunt who had made her own life as miserable as she'd made her niece's. Suddenly, she just wanted to sign the papers and leave. Hettie wouldn't change. She thrived on a diet of negativity, and Rhi was sure she always would, but her aunt was simply irrelevant to her life now.

  Returning her attention to the proceedings, Rhi heard her lover's smooth voice.

  "On the contrary, Miss Walker, Rhiannon has a valid claim against your insurance payment. She lost everything she owned, and barely escaped with her life. She then had to find a new place to live, and replace her destroyed wardrobe before she could even return to work."

  Hettie was almost sputtering. "I took her in outta the goodness of my heart and gave her a home all these years. Arsonists burn down my home, and she thinks she should get some of the insurance? What ingratitude!"

  "Actually, Rhiannon has paid you three hundred dollars a month since she left high school for the privilege of living in that one small room, which means she has contributed over ten thousand dollars to your pocket-money you would otherwise not have had, and which I doubt you declared. I've calculated her losses and the replacement costs, and arrived at a figure of $1800, which I consider extremely fair."

  Marika shot Rhi a glance, and the small woman knew her lover was still aggrieved that she wouldn't let the lawyer go after a greater sum. Rhi didn't care. She considered herself well out of her aunt's home and didn't care if all she'd salvaged was the clothes on her back.

  "Eighteen hundred dollars!" Hettie squawked in outrage. "That ungrateful little..."

  Ignoring the outburst, the lawyer continued. "Additionally, though the fire department report clearly identifies the cause as arson, they also note that the single smoke alarm had no batteries in it, which was your responsibility as the landlord, thus making you liable for the fact that Ms. Davies had no early warning and barely escaped with her life. She could, if she chose, sue you in civil court, but she has agreed that $1800 will be adequate compensation."

  Rhi wondered for a moment if her aunt was going to have apoplexy. Her complexion had flushed scarlet and her ample breast heaved with indignation.

  "That is more than fair, Miss Walker," Mr. Reynolds interjected. "I would recommend that you accept that amount, and we can sign the final papers today. I could issue both cheques before you leave."

  He pushed the papers across the desk and offered Hettie a pen. She snatched it out of his hand and angrily scrawled her signature where he indicated. Lurching to her feet, she stalked furiously out of the room.

  "Miss Walker, your cheque..." the insurance agent called after her.

  Rhi shook her head. "Don't worry. She'll be back. She's busy making a point at the moment."

  He raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her. "A point?"

  "Uh huh. That I'm a greedy, ungrateful, unfeeling wretch, who spent the past decade sponging off her largess and doesn't deserve to share the same air with her."

  "Oh." Mr. Reynolds could apparently think of now appropriate response to the dry recitation, so he shuffled the papers awkwardly. "Well, um, I'll go have the cheques cut. If you'll excuse me for a few moments..."

  He left the office, closing the door behind him. Marika left her chair to kneel in front of Rhi. Taking her hands, she asked gently, "Hey, everything all right?"

  Rhi considered that. They had gotten the money, but she really hadn't cared much one way or another about that. Hettie had been her usual unpleasant self, but that too was expected. "Yeah...yeah, I think so, love." She smiled at the lawyer. "I'm glad I came...glad I saw her one last time." Leaning forward, Rhi touched her lips to her lover's, enjoying the gentle sensations.

  The door opened abruptly. "I left my..."

  Hearing her aunt's horrified gasp, Rhi shook her head slightly and muttered, "Figures. Her timing always did suck."

  The small woman rose and turned to survey her aunt calmly, conscious of the warm presence now standing at her back. Hettie was clutching her chest and staring at her niece.

  "Well, I never!"

  Rhi couldn't help chuckling. "No, I expect you haven't." She felt Marika's hands settle on her shoulders and covered them with her own.

  "You...you're..."

  "In love? Yes, very much so," Rhi filled in amiably. "In fact I fully intend to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful woman."

  The small woman thought her aunt's eyes might bulge out of her head at the words. She could feel Marika's silent chuckles, but kept her eyes on Hettie as a look of gleeful triumph settled over the mottled features.

  "I always knew there was something wrong with you," the old woman hissed. "Knew you weren't right. You're your father's daughter through and through."

  "Why, thank you, Aunt. I take that as a great compliment," Rhi responded without rancor, surprising herself with the absence of anger. Hettie's opinion simply didn't matter to her anymore.

  Mr. Reynolds returned at that moment, two cheques in his hand. He edged by Hattie, who was still blocking the doorway, and looked around curiously, obviously wondering what had transpired in his absence.

  "Um, Ms. Davies, if you would just sign these papers too," the insurance agent said, indicating the same papers that Hettie had signed off on earlier.

  Rhi quickly added her signature and then accepted the cheque he offered. Smiling at Marika, she said, "Shall we go?"

  The lawyer nodded and picked up her briefcase. Hettie ostentatiously stepped aside, pulling her dress back so nothing would touch the duo as they exited. Rhi had just stepped by her aunt, when she heard the woman's scornful condemnation.

  "You're going to hell, Anne Davies. You're going to hell!"

  Glancing over her shoulder with a half-grin, Rhi winked. "See you there, Aunt Hettie."

  She heard the incensed exclamation, but continued walking--out of the office, and out of her aunt's life. Marika held it in until they reached the elevators, and then she broke out laughing.

  "Oh, honey! If you could've seen her face! I thought she was going to have a stroke!"

  Rhi just chuckled. As they waited for the elevator to arrive, she studied the cheque in her hand. It occurred to her that this money would put her over ten thousand dollars--the magical figure that she'd set for herself so long ago. Two months ago, this cheque would have represented the culmination of a decade of dreams.

  "Know what you're going to do with it, sweetheart?" Marika asked.

  Rhi looked up at the woman she loved. Shrugging, she folded the cheque and tucked it in her pocket. "Dunno. Can't think of anything in particular." Glancing at her watch, she said, "It's too late to go back to work. What would you say to going home a little bit early?"

  Marika chuckled as the elevator arrived. "I'd say that sounds like a wonderful idea." Teasingly she added, "Did you have any particular plans for our early return home?"

  Rhi looked at her with wide-eyed innocence, and her lover snorted. "Oh, you do that about as well as Lee does!"

  Entering the elevator, Rhi gave Marika her best leer. "Did you know that Italy recently ruled that sex in an elevator was not cause for arrest?"

  The elevator doors closed on their shared laughter.

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  THE SMALL, FURRY gray head poked under the edge of the newspaper, and Marika chuckled at her pet's bid for attention. She shifted the paper away, allowing Spooky to curl up next to her on the bed.

  "You know she's going to kick you out of that spot when she comes back," Marika cautioned the cat, even as she stroked him affectionately. She returned to her perusal of the news, folding the paper so she could read one article of particular interest. She only looked up when Rhi walked through their bedroom door, balancing two glasses of orange juice with a sheet of white paper.

  "I was starting to wonder if you were squeezing the oran
ges yourself," Marika teased as she accepted the juice.

  "Nah, just stopped to check our e-mail." Rhi set her glass on the bedside table and scooped Spooky away from Marika's thigh, resuming her favourite position-angled across the bed with her head in her lover's lap. Accustomed now to having his former spot usurped, the cat merely shifted to curl up next to the younger woman. "We got another letter from your sister."

  Marika smiled. She and Britt had been tentatively building a relationship since July when the girl had sought her out while she was in town for the Stampede. The lawyer very much enjoyed her little sister's letters, often finding herself laughing out loud at Britt's dry sense of humour. When she'd told Britt about Rhi, the girl had instantly adopted her as a sister-in-law, and now addressed her e-mails to both of them.

  "What does she have to say?"

  Rhi chuckled as she read the letter. "Well, apparently the jerk that was bothering her in chemistry class is no longer quite as jerky. He invited her to the fall dance, and she's agonizing over whether or not she should go. She wants to know what you think." The younger woman twisted so she could look up at her lover's face. "So what do you think?"

  Long, slender fingers ran through the tawny, unkempt hair spread over her bare thigh, as Marika grinned. "I think he's probably nowhere near good enough for her, and that she shouldn't even consider dating until she's at least 21."

  Laughing, Rhi captured her hand and kissed the palm. "You're going to be ruthless if we ever have kids, aren't you?"

  "Mm hmm. Our children are all attending parochial school, and there'll be no dating without chaperones," Marika bantered, bemused by the thought of actually having children one day. She had never even considered it before, but with Rhiannon in her life, all things felt possible. "Hey, there's something in the paper you'll be interested in."

  Rhi regarded her with interest. "Yeah? What?" It had become an established part of their weekend routine to have breakfast and then return to their bed to read the papers, sharing the crossword and laughing over the comics and their horoscopes.

  "It's an update on Cass' case. Her army of lawyers again moved that bail be granted, this time predicated on the fact that the Crown is predicting at least twelve more months before the case goes to trial. They argued that holding a fine, upstanding citizen such as Mrs. DeAndre on unproven charges for that length of time would be an affront to justice."

  Rhi snorted. "Don't tell me they got her out?"

  "No, they didn't," Marika replied cheerfully. "Cass is still securely locked up."

  The women smiled at each other. They had avidly followed the sensational events of Cass' arrest and the subsequent crumbling of her criminal enterprises. DeAndre's former chauffeur and right-hand man had plea-bargained down to lesser charges in exchange for testimony against his erstwhile employer. According to Lee's sources, between Liang and Gao, the Crown was wading through a mountain of incriminating evidence that had forced the delay in proceeding with the trial.

  "I hope they gave her Biker Bertha as a cellmate," Rhi snickered as she returned her attention to the classifieds she'd been perusing before she left to get them some juice.

  "They'd probably end up bosom buddies!" the lawyer snorted, turning another page.

  They both read quietly for a while until, noticing that her lover had circled several ads, Marika asked casually, "See anything interesting?"

  "Mm hmm," Rhi answered, tapping her pen against the paper. "I'm trying to decide between a '97 Civic and a '96 Cavalier at the moment."

  Ever since getting her licence earlier in the month, Rhi had been set on buying a used car for herself. Marika again ventured the same argument that had thus far proven ineffective. "You know, honey, I don't understand why you don't just save your money. You really don't need a car when you're welcome to full use of mine."

  "I know, and I do appreciate it," Rhi murmured abstractly, still focused on the classifieds. "But I have the money, and I'd really like my own car. Never even dreamed about having one before." She flashed a mischievous grin up at the lawyer. "Besides, all the other kids have one."

  Marika smiled indulgently. Sometimes she forgot how young her mate was, and that she hadn't had the experiences of a normal upbringing. Rhi had never gotten to ask her father for the car on a Friday night to cruise the teen hotspots with her friends, or scrounge for dollars to fill up the tank before she brought it home again.

  The lawyer was well aware that her partner had abandoned a dream of many years to stay with her, and while she'd never put any pressure on Rhi to do so, she was profoundly grateful that the younger woman had chosen a life with her instead. Buying a second hand car was such a small thing in comparison, that Marika decided in that moment not to put forward any further objections, but simply to support her partner in fulfilling what was obviously an important goal for her.

  "I think I'll call later about the Civic. Do you want to come with me to take a look at it?"

  "Sure, but I don't know anything about cars. You might want to take Lee or David."

  "David drives a Volvo." Rhi wrinkled her nose expressively. "He'd probably advise me to buy a safe, dull, four-door family sedan or something. And Lee will be on her honeymoon for the next two weeks."

  "Would the world end if you had to wait two more weeks to buy a car?" Marika asked lightly.

  Rhi sighed. "I suppose not; but what if this Civic is the best bargain I'd ever get, and I miss out on it because I don't move quickly enough?"

  Laughing, Marika tugged the paper out of her lover's hands and tossed it aside. "Honey, I'm pretty sure there will be lots of other once-in-a-lifetime-bargains available once Lee is back. Now come on up here and let's talk about other things."

  She watched Rhi sit up and shift to straddle her legs, noting the familiar gleam in her partner's dark blue eyes. Grinning, Marika ran her hands along the younger woman's smooth thighs and up under her long t-shirt, taking full advantage of the absence of undergarments as she enjoyed the curves and dips that had become so familiar to her.

  Rhi squirmed a little closer, resting her hands on Marika's shoulders. "So you want to talk about other things, do you? What did you have in mind?"

  Marika pretended to ponder that, but abandoned the act when small, determined hands traveled over her shoulders and slid inward to undo the tie on her short robe, folding back the silk to expose her breasts, their nipples rapidly hardening.

  "Um..." Coherent thought was rapidly vanishing as Rhi's hands began working their magic on Marika's flesh caressing and stroking the lawyer's eager flesh. "We could...uh...talk about the wedding..."

  Rhi giggled, the sound somewhat obscured as she leaned forward to suckle softly on her lover's breast. Wriggling down so that she lay between her partner's widespread legs, she teasingly danced her tongue over soft, silky skin before pausing for a moment. "We could...but we have a few hours before we have to get ready, so why don't we find another way to fill the time?"

  Marika just had time to glance at the clock and determine they had three hours until they had to be over at Lee and Dana's for their ceremony, before Rhi's tongue slipped between her wet folds and drove everything else out of her mind.

  With a deep groan she surged upwards, one hand gripping the bed sheets convulsively while the other kept her sweet tormentor's head firmly in place. Consumed by physical sensations, and the joy of loving and being loved without reservation, she could only moan.

  "Oh God! Rhi...my love, my love..."

  * * *

  Rhi sat on the edge of the now neatly made bed watching with great pleasure, as her partner finished getting dressed for the wedding. Marika slipped on her pumps and moved to the dresser to put her earrings on.

  "You look beautiful," Rhi said appreciatively. It was true. The lawyer's new peach and gray dress was very flattering, though the younger woman was proudly confident that her lover could wear a paper bag and look smashing. The younger woman was dressed more simply in deep burgundy-coloured wool trousers and a pale gray b
louse that her lover had helped her pick out.

  Marika smiled her thanks as she affixed the pearl clusters to her ears. "Thanks, honey. Given Lee's lack of instructions, I'm just hoping that I don't clash with whatever they're wearing."

  "What did she say?"

  The blonde woman laughed and shook her head. "I believe her exact words were, 'Wear something pretty, and be on time.'"

  Rhi chuckled. "Uh huh. That sounds like her. So, are there going to be a lot of people there?"

  "I'd expect so," Marika said as she sleeked the fabric down over her hips. "I know Dana invited everyone on her team, and Lee invited her staff, not to mention all their friends and family."

  "Bet Danny will look cute. I think it's great that he's standing up with his mom." A thought occurred to Rhi, and she frowned. "Did you say all her team...Does that mean that firefighter will be there?"

  Laughing, Marika turned to look at her partner, leaning back against the dresser as she shook her head in amusement. "Sweetheart, I would assume she'll be there, but why should it matter?"

  Pouting, and fully conscious that she was being childish, Rhi mumbled, "I dunno." She scuffed at the carpet with the toe of her shoe, knowing that her feelings about the firefighter were irrational, especially since she and Marika had been living together for a couple of months now.

  Marika crossed to stand in front of her. A soft voice filled her ears. "Don't you know that I'll never again have eyes for anyone but you?"

  Rhi looked up, abashed at her momentary jealousy. Seeing the profound look of love in the gray eyes that were regarding her, she was filled with a sense of security and contentment. The handsome firefighter was no rival for her lover's affections. No one was.

  Rising smoothly to her feet, Rhi gently encircled her mate's slender waist, allowing Marika's tender kiss to erase the last vestiges of doubt. When they broke apart, her lover smiled and smoothed tawny strands back over her ears.

  "We should probably get going. I want to get there a bit early in case Lee is having any pre-wedding jitters."

  Rhi nodded her agreement, but took an extra moment to enjoy the feeling of Marika in her arms before stepping aside. "Yeah, we should go. They may need help setting up or something."