Thicker Than Water - DK5

by Melissa Good

  “All right.” Cynthia nodded. “That seems clear.”

  “We had mostly two and three lane highways. I made them forty lanes across,” Dar said. “And took out the speed limit.”

  “And made everyone buy Ferraris,” Kerry murmured.

  “Ah!” Cynthia looked pleased. “Yes, that’s very clear. I understand.”

  “Yeah, so do I,” Michael added. “Outrageous. Can you explain what a chip is next?”

  Dar looked him right in the eye. “You sure you can handle it?

  It involves a lot of silicon.”

  Michael gazed uncertainly at her, not sure if she were joking or not. “Does that hurt?”

  “Only if you get some up your wazoo,” Kerry replied dryly.

  “So, what have you been up to, Mike?” She neatly cut off a square of biscuit and collected some eggs with it on her fork. It was stressful and uncomfortable, and Kerry realized they were all putting a conspicuous gloss over a lot of things. But haven’t we always? Why should this be any different from any other time?

  “We’ve made some plans,” Cynthia murmured into the small silence that had fallen. “The service is scheduled for three tomorrow.” She paused and took a breath. “I realize it’s quite short notice, but the staff seems to feel—”

  Thicker Than Water 101

  “Mother,” Kerry put her fork down, “who cares what the staff thinks? Is that what you want to do?”

  Cynthia shifted uncomfortably. “Well, dear, it’s really not…”

  She stopped. “There are quite good reasons for it, you see—”

  “Bullshit.” Kerry found herself getting really angry. She stood up. “First they have the balls to tell me to stay away, then they tell you when you should bury daddy? Where are these assholes? I want to talk to them, right now.”

  Dar blinked in mild alarm, put out a hand, and laid it carefully on Kerry’s back. She could feel the tension vibrating through her lover. “Hey,” she murmured. “Easy.”

  “Kerrison!” Cynthia protested. “Come now, your language.

  They’re doing what they think is best for all of us; surely you understand?”

  “No.” All of a sudden it became too much for Kerry. “I don’t understand. It’s never what’s best for us, only what’s best for them. Always.” She ducked out from behind her chair and just started walking, needing space and air, an overwhelming fury buzzing around her head like a swarm of bees. She got through the dining room door and kept moving, one hand grabbing the door edge and slamming it shut behind her. The solid crash of wood against wood gave her primal satisfaction.

  THERE WAS A definite silence after she left. Dar felt all eyes turn to her and she took a breath before she looked back from the now closed door to her lover’s family. “Um…” She set her silver-ware aside.

  “Well,” Cynthia Stuart put her napkin down, “I must go speak with her.”

  “No.” Dar stood. “I’ll take care of this,” she said with quiet firmness, then put her own napkin down and followed Kerry without waiting for them to respond.

  The door closed again behind her. “This is outrageous,” Cynthia said.

  “What did you think was going to happen?” Angela asked. “I told you she’s still really ticked off, mother. Did you really think she’d just waltz back in here and everything would be peaches and cream again?”

  “She could make an effort. We are her family,” Cynthia replied.

  “Maybe it would help if she hadn’t been tossed in the looney bin last time she was here,” Mike replied bluntly. “Or if you hadn’t told her she wasn’t welcome here last night because she’s gay. That would put me in a bad mood, too.”

  102 Melissa Good

  “She wasn’t coming anyway,” Angie muttered.

  “We’ve discussed that.” Cynthia looked annoyed. “You know your father was just doing what he considered best for Kerry.”

  “Bull.” Angie slapped her cup down. “I’m so tired of hearing that. He had no interest in what was best for Kerry, and you know it. All he cared about was not letting the press find out he had a gay daughter.”

  “Angie.” Cynthia gave her an exasperated look. “Please.”

  “It’s true.” Now Angela was upset. “I’ve had to listen to two days of everyone saying what a freaking saint he was, and I’m sick of it.” She took a breath. “No one here’s grieving, mother; we all know that. He never cared about any of us, just himself.”

  Cynthia sighed. “He was a very forceful man.”

  “And Kerry was the only one of us who had the guts to stand up to him,” Mike said. “Now she’s paying for that big time, when all these freaking people should be patting her on the back and saying ‘good job.’ If they treat her like that again this afternoon, I’m going to kick their asses out of the house.”

  “Michael!” Cynthia stared at him.

  “I don’t care!” Mike stood up. “I don’t give a shit about any of them. Kerry’s the person I care about. She’s my sister, and I’ll be God damned if those two-faced, lying bastard uncles are going to give her grief. And if I can’t do it by myself, I’ll get Dar to help me. I bet she could kick their asses sound asleep.” He pushed his plate back and stepped away from the table. “I’m outta here.”

  “Me, too,” Angie said. “And if any of those weasel aides say a word, I’m going to slap them.” She followed Michael out the door, leaving her mother in pristine silence.

  Cynthia released a breath and sat back. The door opened and a tall, slim man, carrying an appointment book and a pen, entered.

  He took a seat next to her.

  “We’ve got everything scheduled, Mrs. Stuart. Here are the details.” He offered her a sheet. “Now, the press will be by later, as the more important guests arrive. We need to discuss how you want to present the family.” He gave her a little, sympathetic smile. “I know we’ve got some work to do on that.”

  Cynthia looked at the paper, then looked at him. She placed a fingertip on the page and moved it back to him. “I’m afraid you’ve got it a bit wrong. My family’s perfectly capable of presenting itself, and you would do well to remain uninvolved.”

  He looked a little surprised, but regrouped quickly. “There are certain things—”

  “No, there are not,” Cynthia said with calm finality. “If the press wishes to come and make a spectacle of itself, it may do so.

  My children are free to speak to them or not, as they please. I will Thicker Than Water 103

  not tolerate any interference with any of them.”

  “But—”

  “Henderson, have I not made myself clear?”

  “Mrs. Stuart, you know we’re only working to present a united front and a positive image of your late husband in these trying times—”

  “Nonsense,” Cynthia said. “Please let’s stop using euphemisms. You are anxious about the press asking after Kerrison, is that right?”

  He hesitated briefly. “The more sensational papers, yes. It really doesn’t conform to the image we’re trying to build, you see, and—”

  “Mr. Henderson,” Cynthia sharply tapped him on the arm,

  “my husband is dead. He no longer cares about his image. It’s difficult for Kerrison to be here, and I simply will not allow you to make it more trying for her. Is that clear?”

  “Mrs. Stuart—”

  “If you were even slightly intelligent,” Cynthia finally lost her patience, “you would realize that antagonizing my eldest daughter is an extremely stupid idea.” She paused. “Her father learned that lesson far too late.” She stood up. “If we’re finished, I must go and change. Goodbye.”

  Henderson was left alone in the large dining room, its walls still ringing with Cynthia’s last words.

  DAR PROWLED THROUGH the uneasily still house, following a logical guess as to where Kerry had run off to. Kerry’s unusual explosion of temper had surprised Dar, but she could tell the tension was ratcheting Kerry up to a point where almost anything could happen.
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  Ahead of her, she spotted daylight, and she turned into a small corridor and found herself inside a solarium. Its thick, insulated glass panes hazed the scene outside, but it provided natural light and she had a feeling if she poked around inside, she’d find what she was looking for.

  A soft creak signaled her, and Dar walked quietly between two rows of precisely trimmed flowers. Near the back of the solarium was a two person, padded swing, only half occupied. Ah.

  Kerry’s back was to her, but as Dar approached, the blond head turned in her direction.

  They regarded each other for a moment, then Dar slipped into the seat next to Kerry and simply took her hand, and laced their fingers together in silent sympathy. They sat quietly, rocking a little on the bench as they watched the snow come down outside.

  104 Melissa Good Finally, Kerry took a deep breath, pulled Dar’s hand up, and tucked it against her heart before she spoke. “If I ask you something, will you promise not to think I’m a coward?”

  “Sure,” Dar answered. “When do you want to leave?”

  Kerry leaned against Dar’s shoulder. “I don’t want to, but I think I have to, Dar. If I stay through this, it’s only going to get worse.” Dar’s fingers tightened around hers. “I can’t deal with it, and I don’t want you to have to.”

  Dar understood, possibly far more than Kerry imagined. “I remember being at Daddy’s funeral service. A service, not a burial, because they told us there wasn’t anything left to bury.”

  Kerry remained very quiet.

  “And I hated everyone.” Dar had to stop for a minute, as a vivid memory of that cold day sharpened in her mind’s eye. “All these people getting up and talking about him…they had no clue who he was, or how he’d lived his life.” She slowly shook her head. “They wouldn’t let me talk.”

  Kerry just closed her eyes.

  “So, I ran,” Dar said. “I ran out of there and kept running, all the way home.”

  “From Connecticut?” Kerry asked, very softly.

  “Yeah,” Dar replied, just as quietly. “I hitched back…walked…took a bus once in a while. Gave me time to get it out of my system.”

  “The anger?”

  Dar shook her head. “The grief.”

  Kerry regarded the frosted glass in front of her. “You know something, Dar?”

  “Mm?” Dar slipped her arm around Kerry’s back.

  “I wish I’d had a father worth that kind of feeling.” Kerry’s eyes closed as Dar encircled her arms around her and pulled her close.

  Dar rested her cheek against Kerry’s hair. “You do.”

  That’s true, Kerry acknowledged. After knowing them less than a year, she was closer to Andrew and Ceci than she had ever been to her own parents after most of her lifetime. She loved Dar’s parents deeply, just as she did their daughter, and she was grateful beyond words that she had them in her life.

  Is it even worth staying for the service tonight? “Let’s go home,”

  she whispered. “I can’t change how they feel about me, Dar. I’m going to leave them to their hatred and stupidity.”

  “All right.” Dar hugged her. “Home sounds good to me, too.”

  DAR FOLLOWED KERRY out of the solarium and across the Thicker Than Water 105

  quiet, spacious parlor. “It’s a nice place.” she glanced around.

  “Plenty of room.”

  Kerry slowed her steps and turned around. “I guess it is. I never really thought of it that way, though, because so much of the house was pretty much off limits to us as kids.” She paused, then walked to a painting on the wall and looked at it, and touched the canvas with a curious finger. “We used to get pun-ished for grabbing anything.”

  Dar had wandered next to Kerry. “Punished?”

  “Yelled at,” Kerry clarified. ‘Sent to our rooms, mostly.” She eyed the painting. “I only got hit once that I remember, and all because of this damn stupid thing.”

  “Really?” Dar examined the painting. “What’s there to this that’s worth being hit for?”

  “It’s a Renoir.” Kerry indicated the signature. “And I always thought it was way too dull and ugly, so one day I took my box of one hundred and twenty-eight Crayola crayons and changed that.”

  Dar bit the inside of her lip, but a tiny snort of laughter escaped anyway. “Oh boy.”

  “Mm. Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.” Kerry smiled faintly. “I had to drag one of those antique chairs over here and climb all over it to get all the squares filled in. Did I mention it had been raining outside, and I was covered in mud?”

  “Oh, Kerry.” Dar covered her face with one hand. “You want to know something really funny?”

  “What? Did you do the same thing when you were a kid?”

  Kerry turned and grinned at her. “Don’t tell me that.”

  “No.” Dar shook her head. “If I’d shown the least bit of interest in drawing, my mother would have thrown a party. But on the way up here, I was thinking of how much I wish we’d met sooner.” She rested a hand on Kerry’s shoulder. “I would have liked a friend like you.”

  Kerry spared a moment to remember the increasingly lonely years after her childhood, a life full of acquaintances and parties, activity and publicity, but very few real friends. She would have loved to have known Dar then, but she also knew the sad reality of the fact that her parents would have prevented their friendship.

  “I’m glad we didn’t.” She covered Dar’s hand with her own to soften the words. “I wasn’t ready to know you back then.” Dar cocked her head in mild consternation. “I still believed in my parents, and they…” Kerry glanced away, then back up at Dar’s face.

  “I’m glad I met you when I did.”

  Dar’s lips twitched into a smile. “Do you really think I’d have let your parents stand between me and a friend, even at that age?

  106 Melissa Good We would have been tabloid city: ‘Wild child corrupts senator’s daughter—film at eleven.’”

  Kerry had to smile, both at the sentiment and the mental picture.

  “Besides,” Dar pointed at the picture, “anyone with the will to color by number a Renoir would have been right up my alley.”

  She surprised Kerry with a gentle kiss. “My mother would have adopted you in the vain hope you’d rub off on me.”

  Kerry drew in a breath, then released it as a certain tension eased out of her. She put her arms around Dar and simply hugged her as hard as she could. Then she released her. “C’mon. Let me give you the ten cent tour then. I don’t know if I’ll have another chance.” She held out a hand, which Dar took, then led the way through the labyrinth of rooms.

  The first place they went was the library. Kerry pushed the door open and was hit with the inimitable smell of a critical mass of books. The room had traditionally dark paneling and a thick wool rug, with heavy leather and brass bound furniture and floor to ceiling shelves of books on all four walls.

  “This was a favorite spot,” Kerry said, as Dar roamed around the room and studied the books. “Not so much for the subject matters—I brought my own books in here—but it was always a nice, quiet place to hide in.” She walked to a chair near the corner and settled into it. “Seems a lot smaller now.”

  Dar walked to the chair and leaned on it. “I also had a spot I used to disappear with a book into. Wasn’t as cushy as this, but I know what you mean.”

  Kerry nodded. “Your dad’s a big reader. Was that really Wuthering Heights on his workbench the other day?”

  “Mmhm,” Dar murmured.

  “Incredible.” Kerry got up and tugged Dar after her. “One of the good things about all these doors is that you could always escape out one way if anyone official or anything was coming in the other way.” They walked down one hallway and turned into another. “Here’s another favorite spot.” She pushed open a swinging door and peeked into the kitchen.

  Dar poked her head in also, to see a large, well laid out room with commercial quality cooking equipment. A tall, black w
oman entered from the other side, then stopped in surprise at seeing two faces looking back at her.

  “Ms. Kerry? Is that you?” the woman asked, setting down a bundle of clothes she’d been carrying. “C’mon in here!”

  Kerry eased the door open and entered. “Hello, Betsy. Yes, it is.” She walked over and gave the woman a hug. “Been a while, huh?” A year, to be exact. “You look great.”

  Thicker Than Water 107

  Betsy smiled. “Honey, so do you.” She looked curiously at Dar. “This your friend?”

  It didn’t even feel strange, which, in and of itself, was very odd. “This is my partner, Dar.” Kerry smiled. “Dar Roberts. Dar, this is Betsy Stonewright. She’s been a part of the staff here since before I was born.”

  “Now, don’t you be revealing how old I am, Ms. Kerry.”

  Betsy shook a finger at her, then extended a hand to Dar. “You take your horns off before you come in here, Ms. Dar?” She had a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “’Cause I heard you had a nice pair of them.”

  Dar chuckled, took her hand, and returned the strong grip.

  “Yeah. I left them with the tail and the pitchfork back at the hotel.” She ruffled Kerry’s hair. “She’s got a little baby pair, too.”

  Betsy snorted. “Honey, I’ve seen hers, and they ain’t little. I could tell you some stories about how this little angel used to turn this place upside down.”

  Kerry blinked innocently. “Who, me?” She pointed at her own chest, then smiled. “I was just telling Dar about my artistic assault on Renoir.”

  “Lordy, that was some day.” Betsy shook her head, then sobered as she took Kerry’s hand. “Kerry, I’m sorry about your daddy. I know you and him didn’t get on, but still and all…”

  “Thanks.” Kerry accepted the words with quiet grace. “Well, listen, we don’t want to disrupt anything; I was just showing Dar around. Is Mary here?”

  “She’ll be back shortly. Hold on now.” Betsy ducked into the large walk-in refrigerator on one side of the kitchen, then reappeared with two small cups. “Here you go.” She handed one to Kerry and offered the other to Dar. “Unless you done decided you don’t like chocolate any more.”