Until the End of Time (23 page)

Read Until the End of Time Online

Authors: Melanie Schuster

BOOK: Until the End of Time
9.57Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
“
My darling Renee, to hear you say those words makes me happier than you can imagine. I feel as though I have loved you my entire life. I don’t think I really began to live until the moment that I met you. You are everything to me, now and forever. I adore you and I cannot conceive of any part of my life without you.”
Renee was frozen from shock. Not that Andrew had spoken such loving words to her, but that he spoke them in perfect French. O-kay, the jig was well and truly up now. She stared at him for a long moment and he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
“
President of the French Club for four years. Guess I forgot to mention that, hunh?” he said with a guileless smile.
Renee couldn’t help it; she started laughing. She should have been furious or embarrassed or something but she wasn’t. All she felt was joy at that particular moment. She collapsed on his chest amid the giggles and felt him laughing, too. Finally, she was able to control herself long enough to roll over to his side and prop herself up on her elbow. She looked at the man she loved so dearly and sighed.
“
You should be dreadfully ashamed of yourself, you know? There’s nothing that you won’t pull on me, is there?” she inquired. She was trying to look stern, but failing miserably.
“
You’re right. I should be ashamed, but I’m not. You volunteered the information, you know. It’s not my fault if you were unaware that I could understand what you were saying. You wanted me to know that you love me, or you wouldn’t have told me,” he pointed out.
They kissed for a long time after that, until Renee’s questing hand found irrefutable proof that there was much more to be done in the way of intimacy that evening.
“
I still think there was something underhanded about it,” she murmured. “But right now there’s something else I’d rather do with my lips than waste time losing an argument with you,” she whispered.
Andrew moaned aloud as he realized just what she meant by that cryptic statement. This time it was Andrew that cried out a passionate message in French for Renee’s ears only. They spent the rest of the night speaking a different kind of French with their hands and bodies as well as their hearts and minds.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Twelve
Renee loved going home to visit her mother. She loved it so much that after a couple of hours she couldn’t wait to be gone so that she could anticipate another visit. The anticipation of seeing her mother and sisters was often the most enjoyable part of any trip home, and Renee had learned over the years to space her homecomings wisely. Kemp women were characters; strong, formidable, delightful and loveable. And when all four of her sisters were together, plus their indefatigable mother, it was indescribable. Renee had a high tolerance for high maintenance women after working in a female-dominated business for so long, but the Kemp women could wear her down fast.
Strictly speaking, they weren’t Kemps any more, with the exception of Renee and her mother, Pearlie Mae. All of Renee’s sisters were married to men that Renee barely tolerated. She didn’t hate them, she really didn’t dislike them, but she didn’t think they were good enough for her sisters and she didn’t understand the attraction her sisters had for their mates. It wasn’t her job to understand her sister’s marriages; no one had appointed her as the family marriage counselor, after all. But there were many times that she simply couldn’t understand why her sisters stayed married. Years of observing her sister’s courtships and marriages had left Renee with the feeling like a good marriage was somewhat like herding cats: theoretically possible but unproven.
Her oldest sister, Helena, a banker, was married to Sam, a quiet, docile man. Sam was so quiet and docile that Renee had at first thought the man was a mute. He found disfavor with Renee because he was such a complete and utter doormat. Helena walked over him and wiped her feet daily and Renee couldn’t see that happening in her own life. A man had to be a man in order for her to respect him and if there was no respect, there was no love. Poor Sam just seemed too weak to command respect.
Yet, Sam was preferable to Gloria’s husband Fred. Fred was loud, opinionated and bombastic. His motto seemed to be that if you can’t be right, be wrong at the top of your lungs. Fred committed the unforgivable sin of being a Republican who was proud of the fact. He would spend hours espousing his conservative politics to anyone who would listen and was a true ‘bootstrap’ brother in that he firmly believed that everyone should pull themselves up by their own. The fact that many people did not have shoes, much less boots with straps seemed to escape him totally. How Gloria, a communications executive, had put up with years of his political ramblings, Renee could not fathom, but she made it a point to avoid Fred whenever possible.
Then there was her sister LeeAnn, a teacher, who lived in New York. Renee was often glad that their paths didn’t cross more often since she and LeeAnn didn’t sit horses on a lot of issues. LeeAnn thought that Renee needed to get married and settle down. Renee thought that if LeeAnn were any more settled she would be a statute. She looked at the plump, dowdy woman that her vibrant sister had evolved into and placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of LeeAnn’s husband, Gordan. Gordan owned a talent agency and was constantly surrounded by beautiful, flashy people at beautiful, flashy events. He dressed out of Barney’s and Bloomingdale’s and places of that nature. LeeAnn looked like a frump in comparison, which Renee thought unforgivable. And then there was her youngest sister, Karen who owned a bakery.
Karen had moved out to California sometime before to get over a heartbreak and moved back home with a new husband. A big, vacuous blond surfer of a husband, thank you very much. Tim was not stupid or cruel; he was just so totally Californian that he seemed alarmingly out of place in the family. Renee had been truly alarmed by this liaison, but it showed no signs of abating. Tim was kind and sweet and very supportive of Karen. He might not have been Renee’s choice for her sister, but she had to admit that Karen seemed to be very happy and satisfied.
Renee looked at all of her sisters around the dining room table in her mother’s house and sighed with happiness. She loved each and every one of them, no matter how much they got in her business and tried to tell her and each other what to do. They were her family and she adored them. Even now while they were fighting over the assortment of hair care products she customarily brought home to them. She was hoping that the friendly bickering would deflect undesired attention from her and she was partially right. Only LeeAnn, the most perceptive of her sisters, was truly observing her, a fact of which Renee was completely aware.
I’m in for it now. She’s going to corner me before the
weekend is over
, Renee thought, and she was right.
Renee’s mother, the estimable Pearlie Mae Kennedy Kemp, made her way into the dining room from the kitchen where she had been seeing to the dinner that she customarily prepared for the first night of Renee and LeeAnn’s visits, since they were in from out of town. The rest of the time the daughters would be expected to cook, that went without saying. But tonight it was Mama’s home cooking, a fact that she was happy to hold over everyone’s head.
“
Since I’ve been up since dawn preparing a meal, I would think the least you wild mares could do is to set the table. Instead you all come in here huddled over these bottles of gunk like they’re full of Holy water,” she grumbled.
It was a mistake to take Pearlie Mae’s gruffness personally; she simply liked being the center of attention and would use whatever means necessary to maintain that position. However, Pearlie Mae had not raised any fools, either, so while Renee mollified her with her own personal shopping bag full of products, the other women cleared off the table and got the table set with a quickness. Their mother had perfected the art of keeping them off balance with her temperament and there was no point in risking a real scene.
“
Now Momma, you make sure you actually use these products and don’t just keep them for show. And don’t give them away to the girls, either, they have plenty of their own,” Renee reminded her. ‘The girls’ were her teen-aged nieces who could wrap their grandmother around their little fingers.
Pearlie Mae looked over each bottle and jar and sniffed them but made no promises about the use of the contents. She patted her thick, luxuriant hair that had just a few strands of white and sighed. “Well, since you’re so ashamed of my hair, I guess I’d better make an effort to use this stuff. I certainly wouldn’t want to embarrass you in public,” she said in a hurt voice.
Renee took a deep breath and counted to ten. This was just another variation of her mother’s mind games. To say, ‘Gee, thanks for the hair stuff!’ would be just too much like right. Instead of a simple thanks, there always had to be a mini-passion play staged to demonstrate how Renee had somehow failed her as a daughter. But not today, for a change. She was saved from comment by LeeAnn’s entry into the living room where she and Pearlie Mae were seated.
LeeAnn was also immune to her mother’s games by virtue of being the second oldest and living so far away. She had too many years of Pearlie’s theatrics under her belt to be impressed by any of her mother’s machinations. And as she often told Renee, having children of her own more or less put the cap on it for her. It gave her both a better understanding of her mother and a greater intolerance for her histrionics. She joined her mother on the sofa and watched her try to wheedle a necklace away from Renee.
“
Baby, that sure is a pretty necklace. Let Momma try it on,” she said sweetly.
Renee didn’t make a move to unfasten the necklace the way she normally would have. Past experience had taught her that her mother exercised imminent domain as over any accessory her daughters wore. If she put it on, she’d keep it forever, nine times out of ten. Renee wasn’t even going to go there with Pearlie Mae over the necklace. All she did was look at her mother with her long lashed golden eyes and say “No.”
Pearlie Mae squinted as though she had not heard her daughter correctly. Before Mt. Pearlie erupted, Renee smiled nicely and said that she never removed the necklace, as it had been a special gift from a special friend. She said this without a glimmer of regret, too. Most galling of all, she didn’t attempt to change the subject or leave the room; she just sat there as if to dare her mother to ask again.
Pearlie stared at Renee and lowered her gaze to the necklace again. It was a big teardrop shaped South Sea pearl in a rare shade of pink that was completely natural. The pearl was crowned by an 18k braided cap suspended from a thick gold chain that was long enough to just touch her cleavage. It was obviously very expensive and very rare and Renee was willing to risk her mother’s wrath to guard it. Pearlie was not to be denied, though. She was just about to get really dramatic about it when LeeAnn intervened.
“
Mom, we need a few things from the store so Renee is going to drive me over there. Be back in a few,” she said and hustled Renee out of there quick, fast and in a hurry.
Renee was full of admiration for her big sister. “That was slick,” she said gratefully. “Although I think I could have taken her. Maybe.”
LeeAnn looked at her and they burst out laughing. Renee and Karen at 5’10” were the tallest of the five sisters. LeeAnn, Gloria and Helen all hovered around the 5’8” mark. They all resembled each other with their hourglass figures and golden toffee complexions; all but the chocolate colored Renee. Their personal styles all varied, but the one thing they shared was the fact that they had all outgrown the diminutive Pearlie Mae who was a mere 5’5”. But their mother was feisty enough to beat them all until their legs ‘roped like okra’, something she would periodically point out, to the sisters’ chagrin. Today, however, marked a turning point in Renee’s relationship with her mother.
“
You know, that is the first time I ever saw you turn Mom down when she asked you for something,” LeeAnn remarked as they wheeled the cart around the grocery store. “That necklace must have come from the man who’s made such a difference in your life,” she added sagely.
Renee stopped the cart and stared at her sister. She hadn’t said a thing about Andrew so far, so how did LeeAnn presume to know that Renee was involved with anyone? LeeAnn answered her unasked question.
“
Renee, honey, it’s all over your face! You’re
happy
, for one thing. You don’t have that tense and edgy look that I’ve come to associate with you. You aren't bragging about those excursions you used to take with those geriatric gigolos. You touch that necklace about every three minutes and every third time, you smile like you just won the Megamillion jackpot and you sigh,” LeeAnn pointed out. “You’re in love, little sister.
True
love and don’t you even try and deny it! I know you, girl. I used to change your diapers. So you’d better dish, girl, or I’ll make up a really ugly story about you and tell Gloria.”
Renee laughed but looked puzzled. “You mean tell Momma, don’t you?”
“
No, child, I mean tell Gloria. You know the girl is like an old refrigerator; she can’t keep nothin’. And she’ll run to tell Mom and make it even worse. So get to talkin’.”
Renee was happy to unburden herself and talk,
really
talk about Andrew for the first time with someone other than Ceylon. While she and LeeAnn shopped she told her everything about her romance with Andrew, leaving out only a few of the more intimate details. There were, after all, some things that a sister shouldn’t know. She was happy to tell how Andrew had surprised her with the fabulous necklace, though.

Other books

Hostage by N.S. Moore
Shadows in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope
Widow Town by Joe Hart
Only Children by Rafael Yglesias
You by Austin Grossman
02 South Sea Adventure by Willard Price