Sadie let out a good-natured laugh and bopped Hunter upside the head. “I can't cook, but I do have a mean dialing finger for ordering takeout.”
Olivia smiled at the rapport between the siblings. She'd always wanted a brother or sister. It had never come to pass. Although her parents had doted on her, it had been pretty lonely being the only child living in the stately Renault mansion. At times she'd been filled with a loneliness and longing that could only have been satisfied by a sibling. She had settled for five of the best girlfriends any girl would feel fortunate to have in their lives.
“Let me show you in to the library,” Olivia suggested as she led them down the hall, past a host of family photos hanging on the walls, a grand spiral staircase, a dazzling chandelier and toward a set of alabaster French doors. “Daddy's waiting for y'all in here. No doubt drinking his favorite bourbon and up to his elbows in paperwork.”
As she opened the set of French doors her father jumped up from his desk, a look of joy lighting up his face as he laid eyes on Mae. At almost sixty years old, Jack Renault was still an impressively handsome man, despite the fact he was sporting an extra spare tire around his midsection and a smattering of wrinkles on his face. The silver streaks threading his dark hair added a distinguished air to his appearance. His skin, the color of a pistachio shell, was the result of his multiracial background – a white Irish father and a black Caribbean mother. She watched her father rush towards Hunter and extend his hand in a heartfelt handshake.
“It's great to see you back home where you belong,” Jack said in a loud baritone voice.
Hunter moved in to shake Jack’s hand. His expression appeared a bit guarded. “It's good to be back home, Mr. Renault.”
Jack threw his head back and laughed uproariously. “Mr. Renault? What's with all this Mr. Renault stuff? Call me Jack. I'm fixing to marry your Mama, after all. That'll make me your Step Papa.”
An uneasy look settled over Hunter's face and he seemed almost startled by the words coming out of her father's mouth. Olivia studied him for a moment, trying to gauge his emotions. Was this wedding between their folks an unwelcome event for him? Did it bother him that his mother would soon become Mrs. Jack Renault?
For a moment she searched her memory for any incidents in the past between her father and Hunter. The only event that stuck out in her mind was the night they'd stumbled across him stealing the ham outside in the yard. Although she knew Hunter had been humbled that night, she also knew that her father had shown compassion toward him. And mercy. She had no idea if Hunter had viewed it as a significant moment in his life, but in her youthful world it had been a watershed moment. It had been one of the first times she'd seen her father show his humanity. The event had changed Daddy. She knew it with a deep certainty. After coming face to face with Hunter and the stolen ham, Jack had become kinder and gentler, less focused on his next dollar and more focused on the world around him. After that night he'd become a better father, a better husband, and ultimately, a better human being.
She would always be eternally grateful to Hunter for giving her father his soul back.
**
While Olivia had been putting the finishing touches on dinner, Hunter hung out in the drawing room with Mama, Sadie and Jack. Since the moment he'd arrived at the Renault mansion he'd been treated to down home southern hospitality. He'd been transfixed by the sight of his mother and Jack sitting together on the sofa and holding hands as if they were teenagers. To tell the truth, it had freaked him out a little. The only man he'd ever seen his mother hold hands with had been his own father, who'd been her high school sweetheart and the love of her life. She'd love him passionately until the day he died. And she had grieved his death fiercely.
When had Jack and Mama fallen in love anyway? The romance between the pair puzzled him. What did they have in common? Was it friendship that had brought them together? Were they two widowed people who'd come together in loneliness and grief?
Whatever the circumstance, he couldn’t deny that it didn’t sit well with him that his mother was marrying Olivia’s father.
Amid chatter from Mama and Sadie about Jax and Callie’s wedding and Jack praising Hunter for his latest acquisition, Olivia returned to the library and announced that dinner was being served. He couldn’t take his eyes off Olivia as she led them into the dining room and invited everyone to sit down at the beautifully set table.
Why couldn’t he get his mind off the idea of pressing a romantic kiss against her lips? He let out a low groan of frustration. What was it about Olivia that always made him feel so out of control? He was a businessman who had carved out an empire for himself utilizing his mental prowess and discipline. Yet having Olivia so near to him was driving him crazy.
There was just something about Olivia Renault herself that inspired these feelings, he acknowledged. She'd always done this to him, mesmerizing him as no other woman ever could. She made him feel as if he was a flame on its way to becoming an inferno. It felt as if his chest could burst with all these suppressed emotions. Clearly, time hadn't changed a thing between them. His feelings for her ran as deep as the Savannah River.
True to her word, Olivia had cooked up a storm, filling the table and his plate with an array of southern delights. The aroma wafting around the room was heavenly.
“Let’s hold hands and give thanks,” Olivia said, darting a quick look in his direction. He was seated at her left. He reached out and clasped hands with her.
“Hunter?” she asked questioningly.
He bowed his head, wondering for a half second if Olivia was testing him. Perhaps she wondered if he still knew how to say grace.
“Lord, thank you for this food that we are about to receive. And bless the hands that so lovingly prepared this feast for us. I thank you for being so graciously received in this home tonight and for the blessing of being home with my family. Amen.”
He noticed his mother wiping away a tear. Sadie smiled at him from across the table while Olivia shot him a glance full of approval. As they all dug in to the food, a companionable silence settled over the table. They made light conversation about goings-on in Savannah and mundane topics like the weather.
Once he’d finished his meal, Hunter felt compelled to compliment the chef. “That was fantastic! I haven't had a meal like that since -.” Hunter darted a glance in the direction of his Mama and grinned. “Not since Mama cooked me her chicken and dumplings a few years ago when she came to visit me in New York.”
“You've really outdone yourself,” Mae said, a look of appreciation evident on her face. “It was delicious.”
Sadie wiped her mouth with her handkerchief and said, “One of these days, you're going to have to give me a crash course in southern cooking. Mama tried, but she’s given up on me. I’m pretty hopeless.”
Hunter winked at Olivia. “Her future husband will be indebted to you.”
“That's incredibly sexist! Maybe my future husband will be cooking my meals. Ever consider that possibility?” Sadie asked.
“I hear that!” Olivia said as she high-fived Sadie.
“Olivia was the one who planned the entire menu. Not to mention the fact that she cooked it all herself. She’s quite a fine hostess if I do say so myself,” Jack said in a voice filled with pride for his only child.
Hunter turned towards Olivia with a broad grin, his brown eyes dancing with mischief. “Is that right, Olivia,” he asked in an affected southern drawl. “Are you the hostess with the mostest?”
“Hunter, mind your manners,” Mae said as she flashed her eldest son a look of reproach.
Olivia gave Hunter a frosty look, her lush, full lips upturned in a half smile that didn't make its way to her eyes. “Why yes. From the time I get up in the morning, till the time I lay my head down at night I dedicate myself to the art of being a hostess. Why just the other night we entertained half of Savannah at Riverbend. And it was little ole me who did the cooking.” Olivia’s voice dripped wi
th sarcasm.
Jack let out a huge belly laugh. “My girl has a real sense of humor. She’s pulling your leg, though. We haven’t entertained on that scale, not for years anyway. Not since my Gigi became ill,” he said with visible sadness in his voice. “Those were the days.”
“So, Olivia, other than giving Martha Stewart a run for her money, what else are you up to these days? Do you work at Renault?”
“No, I don't work at Renault. I volunteer down at the Youth Center working with kids in crisis. I have a pretty busy schedule there, working thirty hours a week plus overtime if there’s a need for my services. Sometimes a crisis arises or a child becomes displaced from his home and needs immediate intervention.”
“Volunteer? As in paid volunteer?” Hunter asked with a raised eyebrow.
Olivia bristled. “No, I don’t get paid. Hence the word volunteer,” Olivia said with an edge to her voice. “The youth center desperately needs volunteers to support the center.”
Hunter let out a snort. He couldn't believe the nerve of people taking advantage of Olivia's kindness. “You volunteer thirty hours a week for free?”
“Yes, I do,” she said in a tight, small voice. Her cheeks began to redden with embarrassment and she began to squirm in her chair.
“Thirty hours a week is not volunteer work. That's a full-time job for some people. I have employees who work that many hours a week and receive a full salary.” Hunter let out a low whistle, then shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. “They should be giving you a paycheck.”
Olivia let out a sigh. “Not everything in life can be reduced to the almighty dollar. I enjoy working with the children and helping to make a difference in their young lives. It may be hard for someone like you to imagine, but they need me. That’s nothing to sneer at.”
“I'm not sneering. It's just that...you’re a bright girl,” Hunter said. “You should be running that place. If you went back to college and finished up your degree then got your masters, you -.”
Olivia shot him a look to slay the devil. Her nostrils flared like an angry dragon as she said, “Don’t you dare come waltzing back into town and try to tell me how to live my life!”
He held up his hand in a feeble attempt to ward off her anger. “I wasn’t trying to tell you how to live your life. I was trying to figure out what your goals are, where you’re going,” Hunter said in a calm voice.
Her lips curled upwards into a snarl as she spit out, “Right. Because everyone has to go somewhere to be complete, is that it? Well, let’s see. At this very moment my number one goal is to get as far away from you as is humanly possible!” Olivia stood up so quickly that the heavy, mahogany-colored chair turned over and landed with a loud bang on the hardwood floor. Olivia threw her napkin down on the floor and stormed out of the dining room as if her feet were on fire.
The silence that followed Olivia’s departure was thick with tension. Sadie sent a pointed gaze in Hunter’s direction and quipped, “I guess it’s safe to say that you never got your diploma from charm school.”
Hunter tried unsuccessfully to stop a grin from breaking out on his face at his baby sister’s words. Sadie always had a way of making him laugh, even at inappropriate moments such as this one. Wiping the grin off his face, he stood up from the table and pushed his chair back from the table, pausing to place his napkin beside his dinner plate. He might not have had charm school, Hunter mused, but he had certainly been schooled on proper dining etiquette. He knew how to mind his manners.
“That’s one degree I don’t have, sis. But I do have a master’s degree in putting my foot in my mouth,” he said in a humble voice. “If everyone will excuse me, I’ll go make my apologies to Olivia.” He leaned down and pulled Olivia’s chair to an upright position.
“Hunter! I think there have been enough fireworks for tonight,” his mother said in a warning tone, her eyes filled with concern.
Hunter winked at his mother then leaned down and planted a kiss on her pecan colored cheek. “I’m going to make nice, Mama. You know us Rawlings men know how to turn on the charm when we need to.”
“That’s what she’s worried about,” Sadie said with an impish smile.
“Let him go and make up with Olivia. He didn’t mean to offend her. After all,” Jack said with a chuckle, “someday soon they’ll be brother and sister, Mae.”
“Heaven help us,” Hunter muttered to himself as he exited the dining room. He could never think of sweet, beautiful Olivia as his sister. The feelings she stirred up inside in him were way more romantic than sisterly.
Hunter exited the house by the side door near the library, taking a moment to breathe in the scent of magnolias. The cool, floral scented air reminded him of a thousand lazy nights like this from his childhood. Although his upbringing had been far from idyllic, Hunter remembered the love and warmth of his childhood home. Despite their being poor, Mae and Sam Rawlings had never let their children doubt that they were deeply loved. And, if nothing else, they'd been rich in affection and had unselfishly shared that love amongst each other. He looked down at the steps and saw a pair of silvery shoes sitting there, glistening like a star in the night sky.
With the aid of the luminescent full moon, he caught sight of Olivia sitting on a swing that had seen better days. The swing hung by a gnarled rope that looked as if it might snap in two at the slightest strain. He thought it was a small leap of faith that Olivia was even sitting on it. But then again, she always had been full of hope.
He began to softly whistle as he watched her pump her shapely legs in the air to make the swing fly higher and higher in the sky. She sat there with her long dark hair blowing gently in the breeze, barefoot as the day she was born and acting as if she didn't have a care in the world. She didn't flinch as he came up behind her and gently pushed the swing higher. Her graceful fingers were wrapped tightly around the rope.
“How many pushes will it take to earn forgiveness?” he asked in a low voice.
He was greeted by silence. The only sound he could hear was the creaking of the swing and the chirp of a few insects.
“C'mon, Liv,” he said, sweetening the pot by throwing in her old nickname. “You can't stay mad at me forever.”
“You're unbelievable!” she fumed. She jumped off the swing, landing gracefully in the grass. She whirled around to face him. “You leave town for a decade and then you come back a stuck-up snob.”
“Whoa! Are you seriously calling me stuck-up?” he asked, shock evident in his voice.
“Yeah, I am. And judgmental too,” Olivia said with a fierce nod of her head. “Back in the day you were many things—proud, defiant, impulsive. But the one thing you most definitely were not was a snob! Success has changed you, Hunter Rawlings. And not for the better!”
“Opening up your heart to someone can be scary, but it can also be the most rewarding experience of your life.” Gigi Renault
Chapter Five
Olivia muttered under her breath as she felt moisture welling up in her eyes. She felt a burst of anger at Hunter for bringing her to tears! Her work with the less fortunate children of Savannah meant so much to her; It hurt to have Hunter talk about her volunteer work in such a disdainful manner. It stung to have him judging her and the way she lived her life.
At one point she had been tempted to tell him about the inheritance of Savannah House, but she’d held back that information. She didn’t need to justify her existence to him. Or prove her worth. Her volunteer work was just as valid as owning Savannah House!
Hunter shook his head in disbelief, then said, “I’m not the one who was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I’m not the one who had a houseful of servants and led a life of privilege.”
“Well, you’re certainly making up for it now, aren’t you? Mae tells us all about your fancy vacation homes and that penthouse apartment in Manhattan, not to mention the top-of-the-line cars you ride around in or the luxury hotels you stay in when you je
t around the world. Speaking of jetting around the world,” she continued, “don't you own a private jet?”
“Enough!” Hunter said as Olivia began to rattle off a litany of his properties and holdings. “I refuse to feel badly about those things. Every single one of those things I earned through hard work, sweat and tears. And I’m not some spoiled brat. Every penny I’ve ever earned was a result of sacrifice, sheer will and self-determination. If you or anyone else in Savannah has a problem with it – too bad! No one has a clue what I went through in order to become the man I am today.”
Olivia felt a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach as she watched his jaw tremble. Without even meaning to, she had hit a nerve with him. And even though she was furious with him for being snotty at the dinner table, she had no right to challenge his accomplishments. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I-I shouldn’t have said those things. I know you’ve worked very hard.”
He bristled with anger. His brown eyes flashed like firelight. “Bet you never thought ole Hunter would be living large like that, huh? You probably thought I was going to fall on my face the minute I left the city limits.”
Hunter spit his words out like a challenge, almost daring her to say anything different. Within seconds she felt an explosion building up inside her. How dare he suggest such a thing. With her hands firmly perched on her hips she took a few steps toward him, quickly filling up the distance between them. “I did believe in you! I defended you against all the haters. You have no idea how many people were predicting your downfall after you left town. Because let me tell you, there were too many to count. They said that you weren’t going to amount to anything. But I never let them get away with saying it if I was around. Never!”
She inhaled a deep, shaky breath. It felt as a heavy weight was lodged against her chest, right on top of her heart.
**
Joy surged through him as the truth came tumbling out of her mouth. She'd believed in him! Hearing her words felt like a knockout blow. Pride sliced through him as he imagined feisty Olivia defending him against all the naysayers. He couldn't believe she'd done it, particularly after she'd vowed to never forgive him for leaving town.
A Moment in the Moonlight (Secrets of Savannah Book 2) Page 5
