by Louise Clark
Faith’s fingers curled around the bowl as Elizabeth gulped and brushed past her. She kicked the door closed and followed her sister. “But you’re here.”
Elizabeth stopped in the middle of the perfectly proportioned hall and turned to Faith. Her eyes pleaded for understanding. “Yeah. And Dad will be too. Faith, I am so sorry!”
Faith opened her mouth then closed it again without uttering a sound. This could not be happening. Not tonight. Finally she said thinly, “You invited Dad to my dinner party for Cody?”
Elizabeth nodded unhappily. “He is family.”
Only the distress in her sister’s eyes kept Faith from snapping an angry reply. Elizabeth had been their father’s favorite and he in turn had always known how to coax her into doing whatever he wanted. “You know why I’ve invited Cody tonight?”
Elizabeth nodded. Her expression said she was miserably aware that she’d gone way beyond sisterly limits this time.
“Mom’s in the kitchen,” Faith said helplessly. “They weren’t even civil to each other the last time we all got together.”
They stared at each other. “Oh, Faith! Oh, hell, I wish I hadn’t done this!” Elizabeth said again. She sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. “He called and I said I was coming over here tonight and he said, ‘I haven’t seen Faith in years—’”
“Three years,” Faith said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. “His choice, not mine.”
Elizabeth nodded miserably. “And then he said ‘We argued the last time I saw her—’”
“He told me I would never succeed in the real world because I was a Beacon. I remember that night vividly. I was starting at NIT the next day. It was a real boost to my confidence.”
Elizabeth shrugged helplessly. “He wants to make amends.”
Faith stared at her sister. She didn’t know why Daniel Hamilton wanted to come to her family dinner tonight, but she sincerely doubted that it was because he wanted to straighten out his relationship with his eldest daughter. She couldn’t say that aloud, however. She wouldn’t ruin the relationship Liz had with their father, just because it was different from hers. “Maybe he does. Look, Mom’s in the kitchen. We’d best tell her what’s up.” They headed across the hall. “Does Dad know Mom is going to be here?”
Elizabeth brightened and nodded. “I told him he had to be good or else he couldn’t come. He said he would.”
“I’ll bet,” Faith muttered. They reached the kitchen. Dressed in a crimson silk blouse, tailored white trousers, and a bibbed apron to protect her outfit, Chloe Hamilton was at the counter stirring batter in a old-fashioned stoneware mixing bowl. She looked around when her daughters entered. “Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Do you think Cody will like it, Faith?”
“Sure. Mom…” She couldn’t finish. She put the salad bowl on the table and looked at Elizabeth. “It’s your news. You tell her.”
Elizabeth said, “Ummmm, Mom.”
Chloe stopped stirring and narrowed her eyes. She looked from one daughter to the other. “Something is wrong. What is it?”
Elizabeth cleared her throat, fiddled with her hair, and finally said in a rush, “Dad’s coming tonight.”
“I see.” Chloe returned to her stirring. “Is that all? I thought something dreadful had happened.”
Elizabeth and Faith looked at each other. Faith supposed her expression was as baffled as Elizabeth’s was. “So you’re okay with seeing Dad?”
Chloe poured the batter into cake pans. “It’s a good thing this recipe serves six. With your father’s sweet tooth, he’s bound to want at least two servings.” When she finished she set the bowl down and turned to face her daughters. As she thoughtfully wiped her fingers on the apron, she said, “Your father and I have had our differences…”
That was putting it mildly, Faith thought.
“But we’re adults and we can deal with it.”
Chloe’s comment set off warning bells in Faith’s head. Though her mother was reasonable and calm away from her father, meetings between her parents tended to be filled with hostility. The sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach deepened. This was not going to work. “Liz, can you call Dad and tell him that I’ll see him another time? He can come over tomorrow. Or we can meet somewhere for dinner.”
The doorbell rang. Faith groaned.
Elizabeth moistened her lips. “I think we’re too late.”
“It might be Cody,” Faith said. She glanced at her watch. She’d invited Cody to arrive a good forty-five minutes after her family had assembled. There were still thirty minutes to go. Since Cody resisted schedules he might just be early tonight, rather than late. She could hope.
Hope fled as she opened the door to find her father standing there. There was a bottle of wine in his hands. He held it out like a peace offering. “Hi,” he said.
She stared at him. Dressed in a golf shirt and beige slacks, he looked chunkier than the last time she’d seen him. His dark hair had wings of gray at the temples and there were lines on his face she hadn’t noticed before. He was still much the same as she remembered him from her childhood, though. That narrow face and the nose with a bit of a hook to it, set off by a mouth with lips that were thin and kept tightly closed, even in repose, and a chin with a determined jut. Throughout her childhood this was the man she had wanted to please more than anyone in her world, and he was the man who had rejected her because she was different. Because she was a Beacon.
And now he was here at her house with some goofy idea of reconciliation on the same night she’d invited the new man in her life to meet her family. The night when she planned to tell him that she drew people from the past into the present. That she was a Beacon.
“Hi.” She stared at her father. Did she open the door wider to allow him to come in? Or did she turn him away? She had not invited him. She didn’t want him here, but he was her father. He was family.
Daniel Hamilton was not a man who relished losing control. He did as he had always done in Faith’s life. He took command and made the decision. He thrust the bottle of wine into Faith’s hands and stepped forward. Automatically, she retreated and before she knew it he was inside the house.
Faith looked at the wine and then at her father, who had halted his charge in the middle of the hall. “Thanks,” she said. Holding the bottle in one hand, away from her body, she closed the door behind her father.
Daniel contemplated her with that cool, assessing stare that had always made Faith squirm inwardly. Finally he said, “You look well, Faith.”
The comment, as mild as it had been, was an approval. A warmth spread through her. “Thanks, Dad. How are you?”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
With that small social ritual done, they stared at each other. The uneasy silence highlighted the enormous emotional gap that loomed between them. As the little burst of pleasure in being with her father fizzled and died, Faith realized it had been nothing more than a holdover from a teenage fantasy. Daddy loves you. Daddy thinks you’re the greatest. You can wrap Daddy around your little finger like all the other girls do. None of it was true. The reality was that this man might be her biological father, but his emotional connection to her existed only in her own mind.
“You know Mom’s here.”
He nodded. “Elizabeth warned me you’d invited her.”
Warned. Faith didn’t think there could be a better description of her troubled family dynamics. They didn’t gather together in spontaneous, joyous pleasure, they warned each other that they were coming.
“By the way, is Elizabeth here yet?”
“In the kitchen with Mom. That’s where we’re gathering, so you might as well come through.”
As she walked with her father across the hall to the kitchen she thought about the evening to come. She had invited Cody tonight because she liked him, a lot, and she was ready to move their relationship back to that hot, passionate level they’d reached the night he’d taken her to Mountain Madness.
But she couldn’t do it until she’d bared her soul. Until she’d told him she was a Beacon.
And that was the problem.
Her mother and Liz knew she was serious about Cody, that she hoped he would accept her for who she was, that she needed to take the ultimate risk and tell him that she was not just an ordinary young woman with a business degree trying to make a career. They understood that she could not live a lie, pretending she was like everyone else, keeping her ability a secret, and still commit to the kind of intense, passionate relationship she wanted to have with Cody.
They knew how much she desired to fit in, how deeply she feared rejection because of her ability. How much more intensely she wished she’d never told Andrew to stop visiting and how desperately she wanted him to ignore her demand.
They were behind her, supporting her, whatever happened. When the time came for Faith to take that risk, to tell Cody what she was, they would give her space, but they’d be there to help her if he rejected her, to cuddle her when she cried, to bitch with her about how stupid Cody was, to tear apart his character until they were all satisfied that Faith had had a miraculous escape from an arrogant male jerk. And if Cody accepted her ability, they’d be there to celebrate and welcome him into their tight little circle.
Daniel, on the other hand, saw her as a dangerous weirdo. If asked, he’d tell Cody to run away from Faith as fast as he could, without looking back.
She knew she couldn’t do it. Not tonight. She couldn’t tell Cody what she was, not with her father sitting in the same room, his disapproval a black thundercloud above them.
In the kitchen Chloe was slicing strawberries. Elizabeth was sitting at the table, looking guilty. Chloe glanced briefly at her ex-husband when he entered the room, then refocused on her preparations. “Hello, Daniel.”
“Chloe,” he said. He went over to Elizabeth and wrapped her in a bear hug. “How’s my girl?”
Elizabeth squealed and laughed, her expression miraculously changed at the sight of her father. Faith’s stomach knotted. Emotion clogged the back of her throat. “Dad, did Liz tell you why I invited everyone over tonight?”
Daniel Hamilton turned away from his favorite daughter, his normal daughter. “She mentioned something about a family get-together.”
Oh man, he didn’t know! This was getting worse and worse. She moistened her lips. “I’ve invited a friend from work—” The doorbell rang. Faith froze. This had to be Cody. She glanced at her watch. He was a full fifteen minutes early. She looked desperately at her mother and sister. “You explain to him!” and went to answer the door.
It was Cody. He was standing with his hands in the pockets of gray trousers that he’d matched with a dark blue shirt. There was an apologetic expression on his face. “I’m early,” he said, sounding quite surprised by that. “I didn’t think, that is, I hoped you wouldn’t mind.”
He’s nervous, she thought. She beamed at him. Warmth flowed through her, easing a little of the tension generated by her father’s arrival. “No, I don’t mind.” She opened the door wider. “Come on in.”
He looked relieved. She led him into the living room. There, in the middle of the room, the place where Uncle Andrew usually appeared, she stopped. Cody was frowning, reading the tension in her body language, but not understanding where it was coming from. Why would he? Helplessly, Faith raised her hands. “Cody, I’m sorry but…”
He took a step toward her. She held him off with one hand, palm forward. “Tonight is going to be a disaster.”
Standing poised, he scanned her face. He was so close that her senses took flight and she imagined how it would feel if he covered her lips with his, fantasized about the hot sex she’d planned for the hours after the Big Admission. “I don’t understand,” he said.
“My father is here!” The words came out as a wail. Horrified, she put her hand over her mouth. Staring into his concerned gaze, she told herself to get a grip. Drawing a deep, shuddering breath, she dropped her hand as she tried to do just that. “Liz mentioned she was coming over and he decided he would too. I didn’t invite him!”
Cody caught her hands and held them, his grasp warm and strong. “Your parents are divorced, aren’t they?”
Faith stared up into his wonderful blue eyes and nodded.
“And you expect them to have a spat at some point during the evening, don’t you?”
She sniffed, then nodded again.
He smiled. Gathering both of her hands together in one of his, he used his free hand to gently cup her cheek. “Okay, I’m warned.”
She leaned into his hand, like a cat rubbing against a beloved human companion. “Cody, my dad and I don’t get along.” She looked up into his eyes. They were dark with an emotion that she thought might be tenderness. That shocked her, but it warmed her too. “He doesn’t approve of me. I…I’m not sure what he’s likely to do tonight. What kinds of things he might say.”
He tugged her gently, drawing her against him. “You think he might do the heavy father bit?”
Faith shuddered. If only it was that simple. “He might. He might just be worse. I’m not sure. That’s the problem.”
Cody slipped his fingers under her chin and tipped her face up, then he kissed her. His mouth lingered over hers, teasing, tasting—taking. Faith leaned into that kiss, wanting more, knowing she wasn’t going to get it, at least not right now.
“Whatever happens, we’ll weather it,” he said.
Faith hoped so, but the cautious, doubting part of her couldn’t quite believe it.
Hostilities opened almost immediately.
Faith had created a spicy Chicken Etouffée served with rice, roasted vegetables, and a salad, knowing Cody would enjoy the exotic flavors in the main dish. Her mother and sister wouldn’t complain either—they were used to her love of hot foods. Daniel was another matter.
As the serving bowls were passed around the table Daniel frowned at the rice. “What’s this? No potatoes?”
Elizabeth laughed. “Mashed or baked, Dad?”
“Mashed,” Daniel passed the bowl of rice to Chloe whose mouth was pursed with annoyance.
“I suppose you expect gravy too,” she said, accepting the bowl and spooning rice onto her plate.
“It would be nice,” Daniel said, inspecting the Etouffée platter. After a moment, he carefully speared a small chicken breast. “I suppose this is coated in something I won’t like?” he said as he scrapped off the sauce and spices.
In the middle of pouring the wine, Faith paused to stare aghast at her father. She’d hoped they would at least have raised a glass before he began his litany of criticism.
“Gravy isn’t going to come,” Chloe announced. “Nor are potatoes. You need to join the twenty-first century, Daniel.” She looked pointedly at his plate, a portrait of a picky eater’s tastes, with its lone chicken breast and a minimalist helping of vegetables. “You need to open your mind to new experiences.”
The bottle of chardonnay in Faith’s hand began to shake.
“You want me to open up to new experiences? I just got back from China. While I was there I lived as the people lived. I ate goose feet and turtle eggs and heaven knows what else. I had rice for breakfast, along with a gruel made out of pumpkins. Now I’m home I want normal food, like potatoes and plain, roasted chicken!”
Faith managed to finish pouring the wine. “Everyone okay with white?” she said, handing out the glasses.
Deep into it, Chloe nodded, accepted a glass and plowed on. She was staring narrow-eyed at her ex, clearly intent on doing battle. “If you need normalcy so much, why don’t you stay here in America, instead of accepting postings halfway across the world?”
Daniel wasn’t about to allow his former spouse to grab the initiative in the disapproval category. “When it comes to travel, Chloe, you’ve got me beat. You log more distance than I’ll ever do.” He pointed a finger at her as he spoke, “And when you return don’t you have a little ritual you always do? What was it now? Something a
bout an expensive new outfit and a trip to the salon?”
Chloe blushed. “There’s no need to be patronizing, Daniel.”
“Dad, can’t you leave it?” Liz said, her eyes pleading.
Daniel frowned at her, as if he didn’t quite understand what was upsetting her, then he shrugged. “Of course, Elizabeth.” He looked around the table. “Cody, my daughter told me you work for the same company Faith does. What exactly do you do?”
My daughter. Elizabeth, not Faith. Maybe Daniel hadn’t intended to hurt Faith with his comment, but he had. After all this time, despite knowing that her father had always preferred Liz over her, Faith still longed for her father’s affection.
Cody stared at Daniel for a minute, then he turned to Faith and smiled that beautiful, sensual smile that warmed her heart. Her breath caught as he took her hand. It was more than a gesture, it was a symbolic and very deliberate act. When he answered Daniel a moment later his message was clear. He and Faith were linked.
A speculative look lit Daniel’s eyes, but he didn’t comment. The next half hour passed in a conversation that focused safely on computers, mathematics and NIT projects. Food was eaten and as Daniel became more interested in his discussion with Cody he absently added rice, a chicken leg and even a little of the Etouffée sauce to his plate. The bottle of wine emptied. Faith fetched another. Cody smiled his special smile at her as she poured and she enjoyed a surge of optimism that the night wouldn’t be the complete disaster she had feared.
Their talk flowed from NIT projects to Daniel’s engineering ones. Faith picked at her food, holding optimism at bay, waiting for her father to say something that would drive a wedge between her and Cody. Nothing happened.
By eight o’clock she was able to suggest they have the dessert her mother had prepared. She began to clear the table. Ominously her father offered to help her.
Her heart stopped. “Dad, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”