Eye of the Storm

Chapter

Nine

“THANK YOU.” KERRY accepted the two glasses and turned, pausing a moment to survey the crowd before she made her way back to Dar.

Her lover was against the far wall, making polite conversation with two or three of what Kerry assumed to be uncles and aunts. Certainly, they were of her mother’s generation and had a similar set of features.

“Excuse me.” A voice to Kerry’s right caught her ear and she turned to find the short woman with silvered chestnut hair at her elbow, smiling politely. Kerry smiled politely back at her.

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry. Forgive me for asking, but are you a friend of Paladar’s?”

Kerry briefly toyed with the notion of flatly denying it, then decided she should be nice. “Yes, I am. Why?”

“It’s just been so long since any of us have seen her.” The woman disregarded Kerry’s question. “I’m Elli. Elli Bainister. I’m a good friend of her mother’s, you see. We’re so glad Paladar decided to join us here.”

“That’s nice to hear,” Kerry responded. “It’s too bad it had to be such a sad occasion.”

“Yes. Isn’t it? We’ve been wondering how she’s doing.”

Kerry blinked mildly. “Why don’t you ask her?” She glanced at her partner.

“Oh. I don’t want to bother her. She’s talking with her uncles. I was just wondering…are you in the computer business, too?”

Kerry caught the clue that had been wandering aimlessly around.

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I am.” She put down one of the drinks and held a hand out. “Kerry Stuart.” She waited for the woman to return her grip hesitantly then smiled.

“Really. Well, my husband works for Ethrington Consulting. Have you heard of them?” Elli edged a little closer. “They do work for the government.”

“Sure.” Kerry nodded. “We’ve done some co bids with them, in fact, I’m the operations director of ILS.”

Elli’s eyes widened. “Oh. Then you work with Paladar?”

“I work for her,” Kerry replied, with a kind smile. “She’s my boss at ILS.”

“Ahh.” The woman smiled, evidently figuring out whatever it is she Eye of the Storm 77

was fishing for. “And what part are you director of? My husband special-izes in retail.”

“All of it,” came the prompt, amiable reply. “I’m the Executive Operations Director.”

There was a long pause as the woman’s head tilted to one side. “And you…work for…”

“The Chief Information Officer for ILS, mmhmm,” Kerry agreed cheerfully, pointing across the room. “That’s her, my boss. She’s great.”

Elli put a hand on her arm. “Excuse me a minute.” She turned and scurried away, as Kerry lifted her hand and waggled her fingers at her retreating back.

“Bye.” She scooped up the other drink and resumed her aborted trek across the room, arriving just as Dar was nodding a farewell to her latest group of questioners. “Here.” She handed the taller woman her glass.

“Is there alcohol in here?”

“Yes.”

Dar drank the entire thing down in a draft. She lowered the glass, then licked her lips. “Got another one around?”

Kerry handed her the glass she’d gotten for herself without a word and took the empty one from her lover. So far, at least, her mother seemed to be steering clear of them, letting the various family members come up and renew their acquaintance with what Kerry realized was their version of the black sheep of the family.

Who turned up, shockingly, with a snowy white fleece and golden hooves, and now no one knew quite what to do with her. It would have been funny, if it had been anyone other than Dar who was very obviously hating every moment of the affair. “Hey, Dar?”

Dar had been busy chewing on a piece of ice, and now she finished crunching and leaned back against her chosen wall. “Yeah?”

“This rebellious phase. Just how rebellious are we talking about?”

“Mmm. I wasn’t too bad at work. But off hours,” Dar chewed her lip a little, “I tended to leather and spiked collars.” Her eyes darted to Kerry’s face, which went slack with shock. “Yeah…and clothes with strategically placed rips.” She paused. “I almost had a tattoo.”

“Almost?” Kerry croaked, her mind still busy constructing a picture of her lover in leather and chains. “What stopped you?”

“Dad. He said, ‘Dardar, you kin do what you want, but so kin I, and if you put any damn pictures on any part of that body of yours, I’m gonna take steel wool and scrub ’em off.’”

Kerry covered her face with one hand and stifled a giggle. “That would have stopped me,” she admitted, glancing up as more people closed in on them. “Whoops. Next shift.”

“Paladar. It’s been so long. You look marvelous. What have you been doing with yourself?” A tall, willow thin woman with uniformly yellow hair wafted up, followed by a heavyset man that reminded Kerry of Duks.

“Hello, Aunt Seleine. Uncle Rob,” Dar replied quietly. “I haven’t 78 Melissa Good been up to much. Um…this is my friend Kerry.”

Kerry returned the greetings with a warm cordiality that made it seem like she’d been performing onerous social duties all her life. Which, of course, she had. “Shake ’em and bake ’em” had been a part of her normal existence since she’d been old enough to stand and she had a lot less problem dealing with the sea of faces than Dar did, who was used to mostly small, closed meetings and faceless conferences. A large event where everyone knew her personally and where she was the focus of some not always friendly curiosity was getting on the taller woman’s nerves, and Kerry felt a pang of sympathy as she watched Dar muster her energy for yet another assault.

“Paladar.” The low voice was enough like her partner’s to make her jerk and Kerry turned to see Dar’s mother standing at her elbow, her diminutive height inches shy of Kerry’s own. “Excuse me.” Her eyes flicked to Kerry’s face, then away, dismissing her.

Dar hadn’t noticed as she turned and backed away a little in wari-ness as she regarded her mother. “Yes?”

“Are you set with a place to stay tonight?”

One of Dar’s dark eyebrows curved up a little. “We have a room, yes,” she answered guardedly. “We have an early flight back home.”

Cecilia digested that. “If you could change your plans, I’d like a few minutes with you tomorrow.”

Dar slowly folded her arms over her chest. “What did you have in mind?”

“Stop by the house. Midmorning,” her mother directed. “Can I expect you?”

For a long minute, Kerry thought Dar was going to turn her down flat. But she finally inclined her head slightly in assent, her face a mask.

“All right.”

“Good.” Cecilia turned and started to walk away almost slamming into Kerry. For a moment she was forced to look into a pair of very intense green eyes, as Kerry held her ground, then sidestepped with a polite smile.

“Sorry.”

The older woman paused uncertainly. “No. It was my fault,” she replied. “I should have watched where I was going.” She paused again, slightly expectant, her eyes flicking up to Dar’s face.

“This is Kerry Stuart,” Dar supplied quietly, “my partner.”

Kerry held out an obliging hand. “Pleasure to meet you.” She returned Cecilia’s grip with her own strong one, then released her. “That was a beautiful service.”

Dar’s mother nodded absently. “Thank you. It’s nice to meet you, too,” she remarked, then turned and threaded her way through the crowd gracefully.

Kerry turned and met the pale blue eyes peering down at her. “You know something, Dar? I didn’t think I’d ever meet someone with more nerve wracking relatives than me.” She reflected on that and shook her Eye of the Storm 79

head. “Wow.”

“Sorry.” The taller woman sighed. “It’s not exactly fun for me either.” She rubbed her temple lightly. “What time is it?”

“Ten,” Kerry answered.

“Let’s get out of here.” Dar set her glass down and straightened, running impatient fingers through her hair to settle its waves, then twitching her suit jacket straight. She turned and almost bumped into a distinguished looking man who had just come up. “Hello, Richard.” It was close to a relief to see a face that wasn’t family. “Kerry, this is Richard Edgerton. Something of a family lawyer.”

Kerry smiled at the tall man. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Edgerton.”

She extended a hand and found it clasped firmly, then released.

“Pleasure to meet you, too, Ms. Stuart,” the lawyer replied courteously. “It’s nice knowing someone whom Dar speaks so highly of.”

Ah. Kerry’s ears perked up. He was the first person that night not to call her lover by her highly disliked full name and, on top of it, he knew who she was. Two points for him. “Hmm.” She released a gentle laugh.

“I’m not sure I want to know what tales she’s telling about me, but…”

The man laughed as well. “Nothing to scare the children with, Ms.

Stuart, trust me.” He turned to Dar. “It’s unfortunate why you’re here, Dar. But since you are, can I get you to take a moment out and swing by the office? I’ve got some forms I need you to sign. May’s trust fund comes up next month and it needs to be transferred over to you.”

“I’d forgotten completely about that,” Dar admitted. “Yeah. I promised my mother I’d stop by her place tomorrow morning. I can make it by your office by lunch, if that’s all right with you.”

“Perfect. See you then.” Richard gave her a friendly pat on the arm.

“Good to see you, Dar. You’re looking great. Ms. Stuart, a pleasure.” He smiled at both of them, then sauntered off, heading in an oblique line towards the bar.

They managed to get outside the room without being stopped again and handed the valet the ticket for their rental car. They waited quietly for it to be brought around, then Dar hesitated. “Do you mind driving?”

Kerry shook her head. “No. I think I remember where the airport guy said to go. It can’t be that hard.” She tipped the valet, then rested a hand on the doorframe. “Excuse me. There’s a Hilton near here?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The boy nodded. “Get on that road there, go north for about ten minutes, it’s on your right. Can’t miss it.”

“Thanks.” Kerry got in the car and almost laughed at the distance between her and the steering wheel. She adjusted the seat forward and put the car in gear, then pulled out of the parking lot. “Well.”

“Mmm.” Dar had slid down in her seat and had her eyes closed.

“Glad that’s over.”

“Oh god, yes,” her lover muttered. “That was worse than I’d imagined.”

Kerry reached over and patted her knee, then left her hand there just because she could. “I know it was rough on you. Did you even get any-80 Melissa Good thing to eat?”

“Nu uh.”

“The hotel has room service.”

“Oh yeah.”

“I bet they have ice cream.”

“They’d better the hell and damnation have some goddamned ice cream,” Dar replied testily.

Kerry peered at her, since she had to stop at a light, and noticed the lines of tension around her lover’s eyes. “You okay?”

Dar rested her head against the doorframe. “Headache.”

“I think I’ve got something for that,” came the sympathetic response.

“Soon as we get to the room, okay?”

Dar wrapped her fingers around Kerry’s, still resting on her leg, and exhaled. “I’ve got something for it right here.” She half opened her eyes and peered over. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” The blonde woman smiled. “But what have you been telling your family lawyer about me?” She turned into the well marked entrance to the hotel. “Hmm?”

“I had to explain to him who this person was that I was making my heir,” came the quiet reply. “When I had my will and the papers for all the accounts and stuff changed.”

Kerry pulled the car up to the valet stand and turned. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Dar shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you were taken care of, just in case.”

Kerry had perhaps a moment before the valet came. A moment in which to try and relate a truth so deeply ingrained, it came to her lips like second nature. “Dar.” She took a breath. “If anything ever happened to you, there wouldn’t be enough money in the world to patch the hole it would leave in me.”

A stillness filled with only two sets of breathing lengthened, then broke as the door was opened, and a bright eyed young girl smiled at them. “You checking in?”

Dar got out and snagged both overnight bags from the back seat then joined Kerry as she walked around and they headed for the steps. “You mean that.” The taller woman pulled the hotel door open and courteously motioned her forward.

“I mean it,” Kerry replied peacefully, heading for the front desk.

Dar followed her, absorbed in thought.

WHY, KERRY WONDERED, did all hotel rooms smell the same? She pushed the door open and held it as Dar entered, headed past her, and dropped their overnight bags on the large king sized bed. Was it some weird air freshener they all used, Eau de Plastique, or something? Dar paused a moment to rub the back of her neck, then stripped off her jacket. She laid it over the back of the comfortable looking chair and sighed as she took Eye of the Storm 81

her shoes off.

Kerry did the same, glad to shed her gray wool jacket, the silk shirt, and the matching wool knee length skirt and hose. She tugged her favorite Tweety Bird T-shirt from her bag and wriggled into it, enjoying the freshly laundered scent. Dar changed next to her in silence, then stretched out her arms, and cracked her back and shoulders, making a small sound of discomfort as she did.

“Long day.” Dar sat down on the edge of the bed and rested her elbows on her knees.

Kerry picked up the room service menu and stretched out next to her, pulling a pillow out as a prop. “Considering it started with an eight a.m. meeting…yeah.” She touched Dar’s arm, then patted her stomach.

“Want a pillow?”

Dar accepted, laying back and resting her head on her lover and folding her hands. “Ungh. That feels good.” She wriggled a little to get more comfortable and turned her head to watch Kerry study her choices. It was much more relaxing to do that, than to think about her evening, and she decided to keep it that way, carefully locking the tense memories away for later.

Much later.

One more hopefully short meeting and they were outta there. She tried to engage her interest in the sideways written food items, but the headache that now worked its way across her skull was so intense, it made her sick to her stomach. She closed her eyes and recalled the last time she’d felt this lousy.

A hand on her shoulder brought her lashes fluttering open to see Kerry’s concerned green eyes watching her. “You look really washed out.

How’s your head?”

“Reminds me of a certain day during a certain storm.” Dar managed a wry smile.

“That bad?” Kerry put the menu down. “Why didn’t you say something? I’ve got some stuff in my bag. Hang on.” She gently slid out from under Dar’s head and padded over to the chair, rummaged in her bag and returned with a pill bottle. “Shoot. You’ve got to eat something before you take this, Dar, or you’ll get sick.”

“I am sick.”

“Sicker.” Kerry grabbed the phone and glanced at the menu. “Hello.

Yes, room 322. I need a bowl of the chicken soup.” A dark eyebrow lifted at her. “Two of the club sandwiches, and...” The blue eyes gazed at her sadly. Kerry sighed. “And a bowl of chocolate ice cream.” She put the phone down and set the menu aside. “Have some soup and you can take this stuff. I figured that was fastest.”

“Okay.” Dar rolled over and rested her head on her folded arms, feeling completely drained. “Mind turning that light down?”

Kerry turned off the light closest to the bed. “Sure.” She rubbed Dar’s back lightly with her fingertips, eliciting an incoherent sound from her friend. “Want me to see if I can loosen those up a little?”

82 Melissa Good

“Uh.”

Kerry slid over and sat cross-legged in front of Dar, flexing her hands before carefully kneading the painfully tense muscles. “Ooo.” She winced, touching the back of Dar’s neck. “This must be driving you nuts.”

It was easier just to grunt, so Dar did, curling her body up a little and trying to concentrate on not throwing up. It was too much for one day, she decided. Three meetings, two of them fairly adversarial, then the flight which usually gave her a headache anyway, then the funeral. Add to that the knowledge she was going to have to deal with an inquisitive Ankow next week, and what she really felt like doing was taking off to the Keys and disappearing.

She thought about that for a bit.

C’mon, Dar. You never backed down from anything. Don’t go starting now, just because a few bad apples hit you on the head in the same day. A slight grin tugged at her lips at the sound of her father’s voice echoing in her head and turned, letting her eyes crack open and observe the attractive kneecap inches from her face.

Experimentally, she licked it.

“Yeow!” Kerry almost levitated off the bed. “Dar! What are you trying to do, scare me to death?”

“With a single measly lick?” Dar opened one blue eye fully and raised its brow. “You flatter me.”

Kerry turned an appealing shade of crimson, which made her fair hair and eyebrows stand out vividly. “You must be feeling better,” she accused, leaning over to continue her work.

Dar rocked a hand back and forth. “A little.” She exhaled, warming Kerry’s knee. “Just the peace and quiet’s helping,” her finger touched Kerry’s calf, “and having you here.”

“Thanks.”

“Mmm.” Dar closed her eyes again.

“Tell me something. I mean, I’ve met people like your mother’s family before.”

“Ungh.”

“How on earth did she and your father hook up? I’m trying to figure out where they could have met. Did they crash into each other on the highway or something?” Privately, Kerry had been imagining a combination sushi bar/shooting range.

“Ah. Well, that’s a tale,” her lover acknowledged. “I wondered, myself, after I got old enough to realize just how different they really were.” She tilted her head. “Like us.”

Kerry burst out laughing. “Not. Dar. We are not anywhere near that different. C’mon now.”

“No, we are.” The blue eye regarded her. “You grew up with a silver spoon, didncha?”

She thought about that. “I guess. Yeah. If you mean my family always had money, sure. But you’re worth a heck of a lot more than I Eye of the Storm 83

am.”

“I’d firmly disagree. But in dollars, right now, okay,” Dar acknowledged. “That’s only been in the last few years, though. Growing up, we were living on my dad’s military pay. It’s why I started working so young.”

“Mmm.” It was Kerry’s turn to be thoughtful.

“I have this,” Dar’s brow creased, “outer veneer of…I mean, I learned how to buy the right clothes and all that, but underneath I’m still a scruffy military brat, who’s more comfortable barefoot on the beach than dressed in the boardroom.” She paused. “I think that’s why I’m so…why my mother’s family gets to me so much. They know that and they’ve all got that old money thing going. I always felt...”

“Like they were looking down on you?”

Dar nodded.

“You kicked their attitude right up through their nostrils today, you do realize that, right?” Kerry pronounced, with an understanding grin. “I remember the first time I saw you, and let me tell you something, Dar, you knocked my socks off and I am old money. I can smell a bourgeoisie at twenty paces.”

“It was the power suit,” Dar mumbled, faintly embarrassed. “And the first time you saw me, I was going to fire you. That doesn’t count.”

A soft knock at the door caused Kerry to roll up to her feet and answer it, allowing the room service waiter to enter and put the tray down on the small table. “Thanks.” She signed the bill and closed the door after him, then went to the tray and examined its contents. “I don’t know, Dar. There’s something very appealing about the thought of you sitting in that kazillion dollar condo munching on a bowl of Frosted Flakes and milk. I like that about you.” She uncovered the soup bowl and brought it over to the bed, sitting down carefully so she wouldn’t spill anything. “C’mon. Roll over.”

With a sigh, Dar complied, sitting up and pulling her body closer to accept a spoonful of the broth. It was tasty and she readily took the bowl from her lover and discarded the spoon, sipping it directly from the side as Kerry shook her head and chuckled. “You got a problem with me drinking from this here utensil, young lady?” Dar produced a reasonable facsimile of her father’s growly tones.

Kerry laughed.

“In a bus station.” Dar glanced at her.

“Huh?”

“You asked where they met.” Dar swallowed the pill Kerry now offered her, chasing it down with a little more soup. “It was in a bus station. My mother had…I don’t know, I guess she was in a rebellious stage herself. She’d decided to run away from home and ended up in the local Greyhound stop.”

Kerry leaned her chin on her fist. “Really?”

“Mmm. Dad had gotten caught between transports and decided to switch to the bus because it was going to take half of forever for him to 84 Melissa Good get back to Atlanta otherwise.” Dar smiled. “He just had enough cash for the ticket and he was sitting in there with his gear, in his uniform when she came in.”

“Uh huh. Then what?” Kerry got up, retrieved the sandwiches and put the plates down on the bed.

“Depends on which one you ask,” Dar responded. “Dad says ‘musta been the damn uniform, all them shiny things blinded her butt.’”

Kerry giggled. “And your mother said?”

“She said she looked into those eyes and was lost.” Dar’s lips tightened slightly. “She asked where his ticket was for and that’s where she went.” She took a breath. “She never looked back.”

They regarded each other quietly for a moment.

“Wow.” Kerry finally sighed, gaining an unexpected understanding of someone she barely knew. “That sounds really intense.”

A slow nod. “It was. Her family tried everything to get her home.

Finally they just gave up.”

“And accepted it?”

Dar shook her head. “They never did. He was always an outsider to them.”

Kerry pulled a bit of turkey out of her sandwich and chewed it slowly and thoughtfully. Dar took a bite of her own, and they ate in silence. “Wow,” the blonde woman finally said, as she studied the angular face opposite her. Even given their different genders and age, and Andrew’s scarring, she could see the uncanny similarities, from the dark hair, and pale eyes, even to the shape of her friend’s jaw. “She must miss him a lot.”

A serious nod.

What would it be like, Kerry wondered, to have that kind of ache, and be reminded of it every time you looked into someone’s eyes? “Are you going to tell her, Dar?” The question neither of them had brought up all week surfaced unexpectedly from her lips.

The blue eyes lowered. “I gave him my word I wouldn’t.” She could ask the same vow of Kerry, she knew.

But she didn’t.

Dar raised her head to find Kerry looking back at her with quiet intelligence. “Can I come with you tomorrow?” the blonde woman asked, with just a hint of a smile. “I think I have more in common with your mother than she realizes.”

“Could be,” Dar agreed softly, glad of the offer. She eyed Kerry and produced a smile. “Wanna share some ice cream?”

Kerry chuckled and retrieved the bowl.