Mystique (10 page)

"Surely you don't mean to go through
with this charade," Misty protested.

His face grew taut. "We are getting
married."

"Today?" Misty asked weakly.

Luc rose from the bed. The towel had
slipped, and she averted her gaze. "As much as I would like to dally with
you in this bed, I think we'd better get dressed. You'll find clean underwear
in the left cupboard in the dressing room. I indulged myself one day in Saks. I
enjoy shopping for you. See if you like my choices. I'll use the other bathroom
on this floor." He padded out of the bedroom, leaving Misty still
sputtering.

Without thinking, she went automatically
into the dressing room and pulled open the door he had indicated. "Buy me
underthings," she fumed, fingering the silky, peach-colored briefs and
bra, as she slipped into them. She pulled on her velvet jeans and now wrinkled
blouse and ran a comb through her long curly red hair, then ran out of the
bedroom and down the curving staircase to the foyer, looking for Luc.

"Out here, darling," he called
to her from under the stairs. "Come and sit down."

'"We have to hurry," she
whispered, smiling politely at a heavy-set woman whose plump face was wreathed
in smiles. She glanced warily at the Doberman, who cocked his head at her.

At once, Luc was at her side, leading her
past the dog to a chair in the dining room, where he seated her. "I know,
love. I just want you to have some freshly squeezed orange juice and—here you
are. A vitamin pill and one toasted English muffin. Mrs. Wheaton makes them
herself."

"How do you do, Mrs. Wheaton?"
Misty could feel her smile trembling as the dog rose and ambled over to her
side.

"How do you do, miss?" Mrs.
Wheaton greeted her. "May I offer you my best wishes?"

"Ah, thank you." Misty turned
to glare at Luc as he picked up her vitamin pill and gestured for her to open
her mouth. Snatching it out of his hand, she popped it into her mouth and swallowed.
His kiss of approval emboldened her to risk patting Bruno's sleek brown head.

After they had finished eating breakfast,
Misty urged Luc down the stairs to the garage. In the car he glanced at her
pinched face and, loosening her clenched fingers, clasped his right hand around
her left one. "Stop worrying," he scolded. "Everything will be
fine. You're not to worry ever again."

"But I want my sisters to be all
right."

"I will personally see to it that
everything is just the way you want it, darling," he promised. "But
nothing is going to interfere with our marriage at four o'clock today."

Misty didn't respond. Images of impending
doom sprung up in her mind. By the time Luc parked the car in front of her
brownstone, she was trembling, and her teeth were chattering.

Luc helped her out of the car, his arm
tight around her, her carrier slung over his other shoulder. "Take it
easy, love," he soothed.

As they walked up the stoop, the front
door was flung open, and Mary stood bright-eyed on the threshold. "They're
in our house, and I'm going to take Betsy skating, and Marcy wants to see the
New York Public Library, and Celia is pretty," she exclaimed all in one
breath, beaming at Luc and Misty. "Oh, and another lady is here, and she's
nice, too." Mary chattered nonstop all the way down the hall to the door
of her apartment.

As Misty walked in, her eyes alighted
immediately on her sisters. She opened her arms, and the three young women ran
into them.

Celia, Betsy, and Marcy cried. Misty felt
raw pain, but her eyes remained dry.

"We made up our minds to come a long
time ago, Misty," said chestnut-haired Celia, wiping her tears away.
"But we couldn't leave Betsy behind, so we waited until she was eighteen.
It wasn't as bad for us, but Father was getting worse, especially with Marcy
when she said she wanted to go to college."

"I'm so glad you came to me,"
Misty said, her voice husky. "I've missed you." All at once she felt
guilty. Why had she always assumed that her sisters would be spared the
parental coldness and censure she had suffered once she began to mature? She
had always been so certain that some flaw in herself had caused the gap between
her and her parents. Despite the progress she'd made in therapy, she had never
quite shaken that feeling.

"I was afraid you might not want
us," Betsy said, her voice trembling.

"Of course we want you," Luc
said, stepping forward and introducing himself. "You will always have a
home with Mystique and me."

Misty heard Aileen gasp, but her
attention was diverted as an unfamiliar woman came forward, her hand outstretched.
"Hello, Mystique, I'm Luc's sister Alice Hemings. Luc has told me all
about you. I'm so pleased to hear you're getting married today." Aileen,
Mark, and Mary all gasped at this piece of information. "I would so love
to have your sisters come and stay with me until you and Luc return from your
honeymoon."

After that, pandemonium broke loose. The
babble of voices filled the room as everybody but Misty spoke at once, firing
questions, shouting congratulations, expressing surprise. Misty felt cut
loose, disoriented, unable to respond.

Finally Luc succeeded in getting across
the message that he and Misty wouldn't be going on a honeymoon right away and
that they would be back in a few days.

"Well, not too soon, I
hope," said Alice. "I want the girls to have some fun—go riding,
shopping, sight-seeing." She ticked off the activities on her fingers.

Mark stared open-mouthed as Alice explained to him that her family owned horses and that he was welcome to come out to
Heath Farms at any time to ride. Both he and Mary gazed at Alice with
saucer-eyed delight.

After a while Misty and her sisters
excused themselves and went upstairs to Misty's apartment for some private
conversation. "We couldn't stay any longer," Celia said. "We
thought about it a long time. He was so smothering, so critical."

"He wasn't always like that,"
Misty interjected softly, knowing that it was true, also fully aware that she
couldn't have made such a statement a few months ago. "When I was small,
they were both good to me."

"But they changed as we grew
older," Marcy mused. "One by one we all felt the change."

Her sisters nodded.

"Why did they even have
children?" Betsy asked, her voice anguished.

"I don't know, Bets, but I do know
you'll be happy here," Misty promised, her heart aching for her sisters.
Why had she never suspected that the girls were going through the same painful
experience she had endured?

"Don't look like that, Misty,"
Marcy pleaded. "We didn't have it as bad as you did. Honest." Marcy's
glasses glinted in the light coming through the wall of windows. "He was
never after us like he was after you. But he was getting worse, and Mom never
seemed to care about anything as long as she could do as she liked."

"They hated watching us become independent,"
Betsy said with sudden insight.

Awhile later Luc knocked and entered the
room. "Darling, I hate to rush you, but it's time for you to get dressed.
Alice wants to take your sisters to Saks to do a little shopping before
driving to Long Island." He chuckled as Misty's sisters whooped with joy.

Imagine us shopping in Saks," Betsy
said dreamily after Luc had left. "By the way, Misty, I think Luc is
terrific. I hope I find a husband just like him."

"Me, too." Marcy pushed her
glasses back up her nose and grinned at Misty. "It's so good to be
here."

"I should stay with you," Misty
said, feeling as though she were caught in a whirlwind. Both pain and joy
assailed her at the thought of becoming Luc's wife. She realized she wanted to
marry him! The mere thought was like sliding off the top of a mountain into
wonderland! "No, don't stay with us," the girls chorused. "Marry
Luc. It will make us happy to see you happy," Marcy added. "I think
you should have a nice quiet ceremony with just the two of you—even though I
would like to be there."

"We can have a party when you come
back," Celia suggested.

"You don't mind staying with Luc's
sister?" Misty asked, aware that she had accepted the idea of marrying Luc
that day. Still, she couldn't seem to get off the emotional roller coaster
she'd been riding since she'd met him at Christmastime.

"Alice is nice," Marcy went on.
"As soon as she arrived, she told us she would be delighted to have us
come and stay with her." Marcy smiled. "Besides, you'll be back
soon."

Celia and Betsy added their agreement. .
Later, her sisters returned downstairs while Misty went through her closet,
trying to decide what to wear. She wanted to talk herself out of marrying Luc,
but she couldn't summon the will to do so. Gradually she was fully accepting
that she would be his wife. "Damn the consequences," she muttered.
"I'll handle them as they come." She was staring into her closet when
someone knocked on the door. "Come in," she called. She turned in
surprise as Morey and Zena walked in.

"Get away from those mundane clothes
and look at what you're going to wear," Morey told her.

"Whoever would have
thought you'd get married before me," Zena said. "And he's so
nice."

“How do you know?" Misty
had one eye on her friend and one eye on the cream-colored silk suit Morey was
pulling from a garment bag.

"He called and offered
to let us use your apartment," Zena explained, biting her lip. "I
realize now we should have asked you first."

"Oh, no," Misty said, hugging
first Zena, then Morey. "You'd make me so happy by moving in here. Can you
imagine how good it would be for Aileen, David, and the children? Oh, please,
please, live here."

"We will. Now never mind that
business," Morey said, separating the two women and urging Misty out of
her clothes so she could try on the suit. "Let's hope Superman doesn't
come through the door when you're standing in your undies. He's liable to
blacken my eyes."

"Don't be silly," Misty
scoffed.

"That's all right, Morey. I'm here
to protect you," Zena assured him.

"I may blacken his eyes
anyway," Luc said from the doorway. Misty whirled around. Luc's eyes
pinned her to the spot, heating her flesh with their burning intensity.

Zena jumped up and hurried over to Luc,
reaching up to cover his eyes. "You can't see her in her wedding outfit.
It would be bad luck." She ushered him out the door.

It didn't take Morey long to complete the
small adjustments needed. Misty pulled out of her closet a pair of cream satin
pumps that went perfectly with the suit.

When she finally descended the stairs on
Morey's arm, she wore an ivory comb in her hair and carried a tussie-mussie, an
old-fashioned bouquet of cream-colored tea roses that Luc had bought her.

He was waiting at the foot of the stairs.
As she reached the final step, he came forward to take her hand and stood
silent while her friends and sisters all talked at once.

"I don't think even Saks could
upstage this moment," Alice said as she kissed Misty's cheek. "How
beautiful you are. Thanks for letting me take care of your sisters. My house is
just crying for them." She lowered her voice. "Be happy. I think
you're just what the doctor ordered. Luc's cynicism had begun to run too deep.
Love will change that."

Misty looked blankly at Alice. "I
don't understand."

"Never mind. You'll find out."
Luc gave his sister an irritated glance, but Alice just grinned.

"Come on, darling,"
he told Misty. "We have to hurry. Good-bye everyone." He placed a fox
fur jacket around her shoulders, and she felt his strong arm propel her out of
the house.

"But I don't wear furs," she
protested. "I don't believe in killing animals." Despite her words,
she couldn't help noticing how warm the coat was as she stepped into the cold
wind whistling down the street.

"I should have known." Luc
chuckled and kissed her cheek as he held open the car door before walking
around to climb under the wheel. He tooted the horn and they both waved to the
people huddled on the stoop as he pulled the car into traffic. "I won't
make that mistake again, love," he promised. "But indulge me this
time, won't you? I don't want you to catch cold."

"Thank you," Misty said.
"It really is lovely. I don't want to sound ungrateful."

"You don't. You sound like a woman
who doesn't like to see animals killed for their skins. You're sweet."

Misty drew in a deep breath. "I
can't believe we're really going to get married. It's crazy."

"Maybe, but we're going to do
it."

"Luc, will you admit that we don't
have much in common, that all things that should be in a good marriage—
knowing one another well, love—"

"Forget it, Misty. We're getting
married at four o'clock today, and our marriage will be a good one." Misty
let her head fall back against the cushioned seat. Neither one of them spoke
for several long moments. Finally Luc said, "Don't worry about your
sisters. Alice is the kindest person I know, and her husband is an old softie.
I intend to make sure your sisters have happy lives from now on."