by Cherry Kay
“We're through here, Christopher!” Judith interrupted Lorelle's attempts to enthuse about her day. And what did Judith mean by, 'we'? She was about to find out.
Judith sat on the sofa covered by a tartan throw and glass of sherry in a neatly poised hand. She was smiling and as far as Lorelle was concerned, that was not a good sign.
“Christopher, let me introduce Jeannie.” She outstretched her hand towards the tall pine tree. Standing there was a tall, blond woman with large hazel eyes. Thick brown lashes swept upwards from them and a light dusting of gold shadow shimmered on her eyelids. Her hair, with no apparent parting was swept over to one side and seemed to flounce around her shoulder. Her dress was all white, a close fitting, raw silk shift that came to just below the knee. She wore flesh colored hose and three inch high pumps, also white. Her sleeves reached to just above her elbow and on one wrist a delicate gold watch and on the other a fine, solid gold bangle. And then she smiled at Christopher. Her teeth were perfect, several shades lighter than her dress and made all the more attractive by the coating of shimmering coral lipstick on her perfectly formed lips.
She glided towards Christopher with one elegant arm extended. Lorelle looked from her manicured nails to the expression on Judith's face. Judith was grinning at her. Before Jeannie had completed her glide across the living room, Lorelle stepped out in front of her and gave Jeannie's hand a hearty shake between both of her hands.
“Nice to meet you, Jeannie,” she said. “I'm Christopher's girlfriend, Lorelle.”
Jeannie laughed, a series of quick breaths from her nostrils and a stifled, high pitched series of sounds from her throat. Then she offered Christopher her hand. Lorelle felt Christopher brush her to the side to accept the handshake.
“Hello, Jeannie,” he said. Lorelle eyed him sideways.
“Christopher, Christopher. Judith never stops talking about you at work. I feel like I know you. It's so nice to finally meet you, it really is.”
“And it's nice to meet you too,” he beamed.
“Judith is joining us for dinner tonight. Lorelle, you come and help me, you were brilliant yesterday.” Judith had thrown off her tartan cover and grabbed Lorelle by the hand. Squeezing it hard she dragged Lorelle to the kitchen. Lorelle looked over her shoulder and saw Jeannie link Christopher's arm and lead him to the tree by the window.
Lorelle could hear her saying, “Isn't it wonderful, it's just picture perfect. I love the holidays.”
In the kitchen Judith began to hum and start pulling out some pots and pans.
“Well done, Judith,” Lorelle said, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
“I'm sorry?” She kept her back to Lorelle and pulled some steaks out of the fridge.
“You bought Christopher a Barbie for Christmas.”
“I'm sure I don't know what you mean.”
“You know your son hasn't had a white girlfriend in a long time.”
“Yes, I know you've been together ten months but that's hardly significant. He didn't even mention you when we spoke on the phone.”
“No, I mean before me it was an Indian girl and before that a Japanese. He just seems to go darker and darker each time.”
“Well, when it comes to settling down, I know my son. He'll want to keep the bloodline pure. He's been biding his time. All he needed was the right girl.”
“And Barbie in there is right for him? Is that what you're saying?
“Did you ever see a photograph of the girl Christopher was engaged to be married to? The one who broke his heart? No? Wait there.”
Judith slipped out of the kitchen and into the dining room. She was gone for just seconds before returning with an old photograph of a very young Christopher with his arm lovingly around the shoulders of a young girl. He looked happy. His hair was longer, a little wilder but he had those kind eyes and that cheeky smile that Lorelle knew so well. She looked at the girl Christopher had his arm around, she was the image of Jeannie who had just linked arms with her boyfriend, surrounding him with the aroma of Calvin Klein.
“That tells me only one thing, Judith.”
“And that is?”
“That Christopher is off blonds. Why would he want to fall for the image of the person that broke his heart?” Lorelle crossed her arms and let her neck swivel from side to side as she pursed her lips.
“Well, my dear, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Now, are you going to help me fix this meal or am I on my own?”
“You’re on your own.”
Lorelle headed straight for the living room only to find Christopher and Jeannie alone in there. He was relaxing into the sofa and she was sitting forward, dress tucked under her legs in a neat and sophisticated way but their knees were touching. She was laughing out loud, tossing her hair around and he was blushing. Why was he blushing?
“Hey, guys, what am I missing?” she asked and sat on the sofa opposite.
“Oh my goodness, Christopher has such a good sense of humor,” Jeannie said and rested a sophisticated hand onto his thigh. Christopher looked over at Lorelle and smiled sweetly.
“What's for dinner?” he asked.
“I have no idea. I'm going upstairs to tidy up. You can call me when it's ready.” She got up abruptly and walked into a side table on her way out because she was glaring at the couple and not looking where she was going. A very expensive vase lost its balance but she was able to stop it toppling over.
“Jesus, Lorelle, the last thing you want to do is knock that over.” Christopher laughed, so did Jeannie and her hand was still on his thigh.
Lorelle found herself lying face down on the bed upstairs. She was too hot and angry to remember how her feet took her there but there she remained until Christopher poked his head around the door.
“I've been calling you, Lorelle, did you fall asleep?”
“Maybe,” she said and rolled onto her back.
“You didn't get much sleep last night. Maybe you need an early night.”
“I'll take a bath after dinner and do just that.” She got up and followed him to the dining room.
Downstairs Jeannie was laughing again. Judith had cooked the steaks.
“I didn't get to ask you how you liked yours before you left the kitchen. We all like it rare so I hope you do too, Lorelle.”
“Rare is fine.” She took a seat next to Christopher and stopped in her tracks as she looked at the plate of food Judith placed in front of her.
“This is a Portuguese recipe, Lorelle, I hope you like it.” Judith said. She sat down and lowered her head to start cutting her food.
Lorelle's steak was as she liked it, rare, but this so called Portuguese recipe meant smothering the meat with olives. She looked at the other plates, hers had about fifty olives on it while the others had a small handful each. She looked up at Judith who was sipping wine and looking her straight in the eye. It was only yesterday she'd told Judith that olives upset her stomach.
“Everything all right, Lorelle?”
“Fine,” she said, liberating the steak from the olives and cutting off an over-sized mouthful. She shoved it into her mouth and chewed in an over enthusiastic manner. “Just fine,” she mumbled through the chewing.
Judith and Jeannie took control of the conversation over dinner. Jeannie was the lead administrator for the English department at Cornell University where Judith was head of the department. While everyone ate, Lorelle constantly sipped wine and wondered why Christopher was not drinking. He smiled at her every now and then and looked puzzled when it seemed that Lorelle wasn't smiling back.
“That was wonderful, Mother.” he said, wiping his lips with the cloth napkin. “You off to take your bath now, Lorelle?”
“Yes, excuse me everyone. I didn't sleep too well so if you don't mind I'll go up, maybe read.”
“Oh, good night, Lorelle.” Jeannie and Judith said it at the same time.
Lorelle stopped at the door.
“I'll see you upstairs?” she said to Christopher.
>
“Christopher is being an angel and driving me home.” Jeannie said.
Lorelle looked at Christopher, who was blushing again.
“Fine,” Lorelle said as she left the room. “I'll see you later.”
“I'll see you tomorrow,” Jeannie called after her.
Lorelle stopped with one foot on the bottom step. What, she's back again for Christmas Eve? She continued up to the room, shaking her head.
6
Lorelle was furious with Christopher. How could he be falling for so obvious a ploy? The problem with him was that he was unaware of how incredibly good looking he was. Lorelle always caught women looking him up and down lasciviously and then glowering at her because she had taken yet another gorgeous male off the market.
She called her friend Sondra as she sat in the bath with her braids wrapped around in a large bun at the top of the head.
“You'll have to take some serious action,” Sondra said.
“What do you mean?”
“Well he's there now, right? So you've got to show him how wonderful coming home to you can feel. You pick out your most seductive underwear and pounce on him the second he walks in that bedroom.”
“I didn't bring anything seductive, this was supposed to be pleasant few days with his folks.”
“Okay. Forget the seductive clothes, butt naked it is. See if you can find some whipped cream in the cupboard.”
“I don't think this is a whipped cream kinda house somehow.”
“So improvise. You know what to do. Don't let him turn to the dark side or should I say the blonde side. Let him see there's more to this black beauty than he could ever hope to find in a stick insect with a can of peroxide.”
Lorelle laughed.
“I'll do what I can,” she said. “I'll speak to you soon, And, Sondra – have a wonderful Christmas.”
“Love you.”
She rose from the water and dried herself with the soft towel Judith had provided. One thing for sure, they were a very wealthy family and Judith was only trying to protect her own. Lorelle knew she was not a gold digger and the last thing she wanted to do was marry into Alpine's biggest Ku Klux Klan family. But what was she to do when she knew that she was in love with Christopher and there was no way Judith would ever accept her.
She heard the door open. Christopher was back. She wrapped the towel around her but let it hang low so that as much cleavage could be revealed as possible.
“Lorelle,” Christopher called softly to her and she emerged from the bathroom, hovering by the open door and extending her arm along the door frame as though she were posing for a modeling shoot.
“I thought you might have fallen asleep,” he said.
“Oh, no. I was waiting for you.”
The towel slipped to the floor. Christopher smiled and walked over to where she stood with her back against the door frame. He held her cheeks between his hands and bent to kiss her. It was a gentle kiss at first and he stepped away slightly to take in her whole body. He felt the slightly damp skin on her arms, gently gliding his hands to her breasts where he lingered to squeeze tenderly before dropping to his knees and kissing the skin above below her navel.
She sighed and stroked his hair. She grasped his hair and pulled his face up to look at her.
“Come,” she said and led him to the bed.
She crawled along the bed like a cat. When she reached the pillows she rolled over slowly onto her back. With one knee bent she stretched out her hands for Christopher to join her. He hurriedly removed his clothes and lowered himself onto her, kissing her deeply as she wrapped both legs around his.
“I want you now,” he breathed into her ear.
She opened her legs and guided him inside her. “I'm all yours,” she whispered back.
They made love all night and again when they awoke at about eight in the morning.
Christopher drifted off again into a deep sleep and she decided to make him breakfast in bed.
She put on a dressing gown and peaked out into the corridor. She could smell coffee and hoped not to find Judith in the kitchen. But, as she walked down the stairs she could hear loud female voices and then that distinctive laugh from last night. Jeannie was back in the house. Lorelle was about to turn back and run up the stairs, but Philip walked into the hallway.
“Good morning Lorelle. Sleep well?”
“Oh, you know, like a baby.”
“Breakfast?”
“Yes, I was about to make some for Christopher, surprise him.”
“He is a lucky man. Come down then, the other women are in the kitchen. We've eaten.”
Tentatively pushing open the door, she entered the kitchen to find Jeannie sitting at the table with a delicate china cup in her hands, elbows on the table and tossing her hair away from her shoulders. Her back was to Lorelle but she did not turn around.
“Good morning, Lorelle,” Judith said. She was sitting opposite Jeannie in a similar pose, minus the cascading blonde hair. “Good of you to join us.”
“Is it alright to make Christopher some breakfast in bed?”
“If you wish.”
They both wore pearl white, cashmere sweaters and they both wore a string of pearls. Jeannie had on a pair of tailored, black woolen trousers and Judith wore a black, pleated skirt. The uniform of conspirators, Lorelle thought to herself. She busied herself with frying bacon and scrambling some eggs and then placing it onto two plates. She cut some fresh bread and reached for a block of butter in a glass butter dish and put all of this onto a large tray. She poured coffee into two cups and realized that neither woman had spoken or moved from their seats in all the time she'd been in the kitchen. She turned around slowly and found them both looking directly at her and were still holding their china cups, elbows on the table. She swung her head back round to finish pouring the coffee, grabbed for the tray and exited the kitchen as fast as she could.
Upstairs Christopher was just awake and stretching. His strong arms were long and muscular and his chest was smooth and well formed. She sat down next to him and balanced the tray between them on the bed.
“Lorelle, this is great. You've never made me breakfast in bed.”
“Special treat.” She handed him a coffee.
“Thank you.” He leaned over to kiss her.
After a few moments of silence Lorelle could not hold in the thoughts that were driving her crazy. She cleared her throat.
“Um, I see Jeannie is already here,” she said.
“Not already. Still.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, Mother begged her to stay today to help with party planning and for tomorrow's dinner. Which basically means helping Mother order the catering staff around.”
“I see, so you brought her back last night?”
“Yes, she packed a few things. Well, I say a few, but the case with her party dress weighed a ton.”
“So this party that you forgot to tell me about must be really fancy, huh?”
“Oh yeah, about that. It's supposed to be black tie.”
“So you brought a suit Christopher and you didn't think to tell me?”
“I'm so sorry, I did it on auto pilot. I'm sure we can go out today and get you something.”
“Christopher, it's Christmas Eve and we're in Alpine, where am I gonna get an evening dress in time for tomorrow. I swear to God...”
“Please, Lorelle. I just forgot. The only thing on my mind was spending the holidays with you, I just forgot to mention it, that's all.”
“That's all? So how about now? Any family traditions that take place on Christmas Eve that I should know about? Skiing? Mountain climbing? Oh no, don't tell me, I should have brought a snow board because you have Christmas breakfast on the side of a mountain!”
She jumped off the bed, nearly sending the remainder of the breakfast over Christopher.
“Lorelle, please. Maybe Jeannie has something you could borrow. You're about the same size.”
“So you've b
een noticing her size?” She crossed her arms and stood at the foot of the bed.
“Oh come on. She's a friend of my mother's. Am I supposed to ignore her just because you're jealous.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Hold Up. Jealous? Jealous? What have I to be jealous of?” She screwed her face up enquiringly and held up both hands.
“Nothing. Like I say, she's my mother's friend. I mean you're acting jealous, like you think I'm interested in her.”
“Well you have to admit, she's a very good looking woman.”
“Yes, I suppose...”
“Yes, you suppose?”
She stomped off to the bathroom and turned on the shower taps with all her might. She held her hand in the fast running water, contemplating her next rant. She half expected Christopher to come after her but when she put her head around the door she found him gone, the breakfast tray too. They hadn't even finished eating.
She stood under the shower for almost twenty minutes, long enough for the water to wash away her tears and long enough for her to finally feel calm enough to face him.
7
He came to her later when she was walking by herself in the Knight's large garden. As she had admitted to herself before, this was a beautiful place, perfect for a family. Perfect for Christopher and her to live once they had established both her art and his architect careers. Perfect save for the fact that Judith lived in this part of the world.
