by Melissa Good
“Good.” The executive looked up as the door swung open, and an audio visual cart entered, pushed by a short, stocky man in his early twenties, with a pugnacious buzz cut. “Thanks, Brent.”
“No problem, ma’am,” the tech stated briskly, visibly holding back from a salute. “I’ll get this hooked right up.”
Kerry peeked at him from around Dar’s desk. “Hi, Brent.”
The man visibly blushed. “Morning, ma’am.”
“Did you set up my new system, too?” the blonde woman inquired, a tiny, playful smile crossing her lips. “If you did, thanks.”
Furtively, he looked at her. “Yeah, that was me. No problem.” He messed around with some cables, then peeked up again. “If you want the cords tied back a different way, or anything let me know, okay?”
“I sure will.” Kerry caught his eye and smiled, making him almost drop the keyboard he’d picked up. Brent had a well known crush on her, and she wasn’t above tweaking him just a little because of it. Besides, he was cute and almost painfully shy, and Kerry liked him for his accuracy and good attitude.
“Can’t plug a mouse in there, Brent.” Dar’s voice rumbled dryly from across the desk. “Try the round hole.”
Kerry decided to leave before she caused the poor man any more trouble. “I’ll get those reports to you.” She waved her fingers at Dar and slipped through the back hallway door, closing it behind her.
Dar took pity on the tech. She strolled away from her desk and ended up at the window, gazing out over the water with an air of serene patience she’d rented from somewhere and kept in her drawer for special occasions. She thought of her dancing nerd, and the glass reflected back a cheerful grin as she waited for Brent to finish.
Chapter
Eight
“UGH.” KERRY CLOSED her eyes and allowed Dar to steer her inside the condo, where a cold blast of refreshing air conditioning immediately dried the sweat on her forehead. “I feel like an airboat rolled over me.” They’d just gotten back from the island gym, and she was fiercely regretting the two weeks of slacking off while she was traveling. It had been a really long day at work as well, and with the two combined, Kerry felt like crawling into bed right that very instant and curling up into a ball of exhausted and sore muscles, both physical and mental.
Chino wriggled in Dar’s arms, and now the taller woman leaned closer, and allowed the Labrador puppy to lick Kerry’s face. “C’mon.
How about we share a shower, then relax? I’ve got my stuff all packed, so…”
Ah. Kerry forced her eyes open. That’s right. Tomorrow was Friday, and Dar’s flight up to Connecticut. She hadn’t had the chance the past few days to broach the subject of joining her, so now... She sighed. Now she’d have to find a moment and just accept whatever answer Dar gave her.
It was bothering her lover badly, she knew. Dar had been very quiet the past few days, almost withdrawn, and had taken to retreating into silent reserve, obviously deep in thought. Kerry had been caught between her anxiety and the understanding that this was one area Dar kept her barriers up about. Well, maybe after they relaxed a little, she could test the waters. And speaking of waters... “Shower. Mmm.”
Dar set Chino down then put their bags on the couch before she led Kerry into the bathroom. She turned the water on before she stripped the smaller woman’s workout gear off.
Kerry blinked wearily, sucking in a breath before she gathered some energy and did the same for her partner. “What a day.”
“Mmhmm,” Dar agreed, tugging Kerry’s sports bra off, then tickling her under her arm. “Got some bad news right before we left. Our friend David Ankow’s supposed to be here on Monday.”
“Ugh. Great. Just great.” Kerry stifled a yawn, then tugged Dar along with her as they entered the large octagonal stall shower, where warm water hit them. “Boy, that feels good.”
Dar picked up a sponge and poured some body wash on it, then scrubbed Kerry, beginning with her shoulders, then moving down her 70 Melissa Good strong back as the blonde woman simply fell against her. “Yeah, it sure does,” she teased.
“Mmm.” Kerry nuzzled her, taking a playful nip as her hands circled Dar and ran lightly over her lover’s powerful body. “Are you still mad at me for that cake?” She felt the movement as Dar laughed. “You were so cute yesterday. My god, Dar, I’ve never seen you blush like that before.”
Dar made a gurgling noise. “I can’t believe you let them do that.”
“Let them?”
Her lover sighed. “It…no, it was nice. Thank you. I appreciated it, Kerry. I was just…um…”
“Surprised?”
“Yeah.”
“That was the point.” Kerry captured the sponge and made little soapy sculptures across Dar’s belly. There were lots of little valleys and ridges there for her to explore now, and she made sure all of them were clean, hitting several ticklish spots and getting soap flying all over when Dar laughed and her abs contracted. “You’ve got a nice laugh. Have I ever told you that?”
Dar lathered up Kerry’s hair, scratching her behind the ears where she had a sensitive spot and making her utter a little moan of pleasure.
“No, you hadn’t mentioned that before,” she rumbled. “Have I ever told you you’ve got really tasty ears?” She explored one with tiny nibbles.
A mewling sound escaped the smaller woman, as the weariness of the day fell away from her, banished by a rush of energy. Her skin tingled and her touch changed from playful to seductive, getting an immediate response from Dar, as she nuzzled sensitive areas and stepped forward, pressing her body against her lover’s and reveling in the skin on skin contact.
A dilemma. Kerry was losing the ability to really decide, but she wondered if the effort of getting out of the shower would be worth the greater comfort of the waterbed. Then Dar slid a knee between hers, and she was beyond caring, wanting Dar’s touch with an intensity that was almost scary.
The water’s pressure alternated with Dar’s touch, and she forgot about the day, concentrating only on the skin under her fingertips, and the taste of Dar’s lips, and the rapidly building sensations that made it hard to breathe. Then the world tilted, and she was vaguely aware of being lifted up, and the chill of the air conditioning, and the warm, slightly rough texture of the sheets as she was put gently down, and the touch became relentless.
She surrendered to it gladly.
DAR WASN’T SLEEPING, Kerry realized, as she lay tangled in the sheets and her lover, contentedly somnolent in the low light. She tilted her head and confirmed her thoughts, seeing the half open eyes pensively regarding the ceiling. “Mmm.”
Eye of the Storm 71
Blue eyes opened wider, and Dar’s head inclined. “Thought you were asleep.”
“Almost,” Kerry admitted, tracing the thin line of very fine hairs that went down the center of Dar’s chest. “Why aren’t you?”
“I was thinking.”
Kerry nodded solemnly. “About tomorrow?”
Dar exhaled heavily. “Yeah.”
“Is it going to be a big ceremony?” Kerry probed, very gently.
Long silence, and Kerry had decided Dar wasn’t going to answer when she did.
“Probably. My mother has a fairly large family, five brothers and sisters.” Dar paused. “Lots of cousins…friends...”
“Who you haven’t seen in a while.”
“Mmm.”
“They going to be surprised?” Kerry whispered, getting a short, wry chuckle in return. “I bet they are.”
“Last time I saw most of them was at the service for my father.”
Dar’s voice spoke from the darkness, colored with a sad pain she usually didn’t exhibit. “Going back there just rakes that whole scene up again for me. I felt very alone among all of them.”
“Sounds pretty awful.”
“It was. They’re all pretty intelligent…sophisticated. I had always gotten the idea that they looked down on Dad, because he wasn’t that kind of person.
I know. My mother didn’t take him to big family gatherings a lot.” Dar spoke slowly and awkwardly. “God knows I was far from…I really wasn’t very polished back then, let’s just put it that way. I felt…pretty small, with all of them looking at me…the way I was dressed.
My world was so different than theirs.”
“Dar, you’re not the same person you were then,” Kerry murmured, hurting for her.
“I know. But that was a very bad time for me,” Dar admitted. “Brings up all kinds of nasty memories.”
Kerry rubbed Dar’s skin with tender fingers. “I’m glad you decided to talk about it. I was getting sort of worried. I know it’s hard for you.”
With her ear pressed against Dar’s chest, she could hear the irregular heartbeat and feel the increase in her lover’s breathing. “Is there anything I can to do help you?”
The heartbeat skipped, then sped up a few beats.
Kerry waited through the silence then started a soothing trace over Dar’s skin.
“No. I’ll be all right.”
“Dar.” Kerry laid her hand flat on her lover’s stomach. “You’re my best friend. If you can’t ask me, who can you ask?”
“It’s…juvenile,” Dar muttered.
“C’mon, Dar. Cough it up. Do you want to take one of my teddy bears?” Kerry asked, in a gently kidding tone.
“No.” The blue eyes were now looking at her, glints of light in the 72 Melissa Good gloom.
“Do you want me to go along with you?” Kerry felt the movement under her fingers stop for what seemed like a long time.
Dar shifted, as though her body wanted to escape, but was being pinned in place by Kerry’s weight and her own will. “I can’t ask you to do that…and it’s too late anyway,” the dark haired woman muttered. “But thank you for offering.”
“Tch tch tch.” Kerry hiked herself up and kissed Dar on the lips, then rolled over and reached into the drawer next to the bed. She pulled something out and dropped it on her lover’s naked chest.
“What’s that?” Dar asked, in a small voice.
“My tickets.”
“When did you get those?”
“Same day you did.”
Dar lifted the folder and examined it, then looked at Kerry. “Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked curiously, a look of consternation mixed with relief on her face. “Damn, Ker. I’ve been trying to find a way to ask you…”
Kerry curled her arm over Dar’s shoulder and put her head down.
“Well,” she exhaled thoughtfully, “you’re a very private person, Dar, and I know this is a very sensitive area for you.” She ran a finger down Dar’s jaw-line. “If it’s any consolation. I was trying to find a way all week to ask you if you wanted me there.” She smiled. “I’m glad you do.”
Dar let out an audible sigh of relief. “No wonder María looked at me so damn funny when I told her you were going to schedule a meeting tomorrow afternoon.” She gave her lover a wry look. “It’s not going to be pleasant, Kerry.”
“That’s all right. Coming to Michigan after me wasn’t very pleasant for you, was it?” Kerry inquired. “It makes me feel good to be able to give you something back that way.”
Dar hugged her suddenly, trading speech for physical contact.
Look down on Dar, would they? Kerry felt her protective instincts rising. Intellectual snobs? Uh huh. We’ll just see.
THE CHAPEL HAD, as chapels do, an air of reserved peace about it, a hushed stillness that came as much from the natural human instinct to defer to death than anything else. There were discrete floral arrange-ments placed around the room and a decorous bunting of midnight blue draped around the pale wood coffin.
The chapel employees were making their final adjustments, watched in silence by a slight, thin boned woman with pale, silvered blonde hair and even, delicate features. A tall, almost bald man entered, glanced around, then walked over to join the woman. “Evening, Ceci. Damn shame.”
Cecilia Roberts glanced up at him and inclined her head with studied grace. “Thanks, Allan.” Her voice was low, but vibrant. “She held on a Eye of the Storm 73
long time. I’m glad she’s finally at peace.”
The man nodded solemnly. “She was a strong woman.” His eyes flicked around the room. “They did a nice job.”
A faintly sardonic smile crossed Ceci’s lips. “If you say so,” she drawled, watching as people filtered in, most of them known to her. Most of them giving her sympathetic looks and nods. “Nice flowers.”
He grunted. “Mmm. That one there’s lovely. Are those orchids?”
“I believe they are,” the woman mused.
They were both comfortably silent as the room continued to fill.
Allan finally inhaled. “I hear your daughter’s going to show?”
A cool mask slipped down over Cecilia’s face. “She said she’d be here, yes,” she replied. “I gave my word to mama I’d ask her.” She paused. “I did.”
A short, coifed woman came over. “Ceci. I’m so sorry.” She held out hands, which the slighter woman grasped briefly, then released. “It’s been a long road, I know.”
“Yes, it has,” Cecilia answered. “I’ll miss her, though, despite how much I wanted peace for her.”
The short woman stepped closer. “Ceci. Andrea said…I’m sure she got this wrong, but she said your daughter was going to be here?”
Cecilia sighed inwardly. “Let’s not make this a side show, Elli. Yes, mama wanted Paladar here, and I asked her to attend. She said she’d be here. Enough?”
“Mmph.” Elli made a small face. “It’s just been such a long time. I hardly know what to expect.” She paused, delicately. “She was such an…individual person.”
“I’m sure she still is,” Ceci remarked dryly. “I only hope she decides not to disgrace my mother’s memory by coming in blue jeans.”
“I hardly think you’ve got to worry about that,” Allan remarked, a curious tone in his voice. “If the person who just came in the door is who you’re talking about.”
Cecilia turned her head and found her attention drawn immediately to the tall, strikingly attractive woman framed in the doorway, dressed in an impeccably cut black suit. The pale blue eyes stood out vividly against the tanned skin as they scanned the crowd, and, at last, met her own.
The sense of presence was almost overwhelming. Cecilia was almost slack-jawed in surprise at the sheer power of her daughter’s personality, which muted itself as their eyes touched and she received a single, gracious, inclination of the head.
“Goddess,” she muttered, under her breath.
“Well,” Elli’s voice vocalized her own surprise, “she certainly has grown up, Ceci. My god, she’s gorgeous.”
“Yes,” Ceci agreed absently, tearing her eyes away as a second woman appeared at her daughter’s elbow, apparently a friend of hers, and they moved to a rear pew, a little apart from the milling crowd.
“Andrew’s image,” Allan mused. “Always was.”
Cecilia didn’t answer.
74 Melissa Good
“IS THAT YOUR mother over there?” Kerry kept her voice almost sub vocal.
“Yes.” Dar folded her hands in her lap, trying to will them not to shake. She was cold and her stomach hurt, and it took an enormous amount of effort just to keep up a shell of composure around her. A very warm hand curled around hers and she drew in a breath and let it out very slowly as her nerves settled.
Okay. The hard part was over, that first eye to eye contact. She’d come out the winner in that one, at least, watching her mother’s face react in surprise and shock in that first, unguarded moment. Wasn’t what you expected, was it, Mother? “How’d you guess? Don’t tell me a family resemblance.”
“She’s watching you,” Kerry murmured, a hint of amusement in her voice. “She looks sort of stunned.”
“Figures.” Dar’s body relaxed a little, and she glanced around. Most of the attendees hadn’t noticed their entry, so she had a brief p
eriod to check things out before her family realized she was there. “Last time she saw me I…um…I was sort of still in a rebellious phase.”
“And that changed—when?” Kerry inquired mildly, getting a hint of a smile on Dar’s strained face. “Was I supposed to have noticed this streak of conservatism?” The fabric across her partner’s shoulders shifted, then relaxed a little as Dar sat back. “You going to register as a Republican next?”
“Kerrison.” The pale blue eyes flicked her way, warming with quiet affection.
“That has such a nice ring when you say it.” The skin under Kerry’s fingers lost its chill, and she looked around deliberately, eyeing the carved, polished wood. “This is a really pretty chapel.” She hesitated, then questioned. “Is this where…um…”
Dar nodded. “The service, yes.” She got lost in the memory for a moment. “Her family has a big plot here. She wanted the memorial stone close by.” She sighed. “Listen. I’ll be right back. I’m going to,” Dar inclined her head towards the front of the chapel, “pay my respects.”
“Okay.” Kerry released her hand and watched as Dar rose and walked up the center aisle. The subdued lighting in the room kept her in shadows until she reached the front rail, where she entered a soft pool of illumination. She rested her hands on the polished wood and gazed into the casket, her face quiet and composed.
More interesting was the reaction of the rest of the room. Kerry watched her neighbors’ eyes fasten on the tall, still figure, and a low murmur buzzed her ears. She listened to the some of the comments and her green eyes narrowed, her fingertips twitching as she fought the desire to butt in to some of the conversations going on around her.
Dar gazed down at a face her mind hardly recognized. Death did that, she knew, but she’d last seen her grandmother before her last illness and remembered her older, but not gaunt, weathered, or ravaged, as the sickness had left her.
Eye of the Storm 75
Her eyes closed and she took in a breath. Sorry, Gran, she silently whispered. I should have called you, at least. Dar studied the quiet form. I started to, a dozen times. But every time I did…the thought of having Mother answer stopped me. I did send cards, though. Did you get them? Dar felt the pressure of eyes boring through her back and sighed.