Storm's End

by Sondra Stanford

  "I'm not so sure," Julie said. "After all, this is still the land of opportunity for the small businessman as well as the large corporation. As long as the company is making a reasonable profit and holding its own…"

  "That's not so," Clive said. "Big companies eventually squeeze the smaller ones out altogether. With expansion, the sky would be the limit for us, or, if we sold out, we could still retain a certain amount of stock in the company, which would leave us set for life! Why, we could all be on easy street and never have to work another day in our lives!"

  "For the Barclay family, perhaps," Julie said slowly, "but it wouldn't be that way for the employees."

  "Oh, they'd be okay," Clive said carelessly. "Most of them would be kept on by the new owners. There would only be a few, if any, who would be let go."

  "And what of those few?"

  Clive shrugged irritably. "You can't worry about every little individual when it comes to business, Julie. You have to do what's best for the whole even if it involves sacrifice for a few. In any sort of takeover, there have to be a few expendables. You obviously know nothing about business."

  "Obviously," Julie agreed dryly. She most certainly did not if it meant ruthlessly disregarding the best interests of all concerned, but she did not say so. She didn't want to get into an argument with Clive, but she was beginning to get a glimmer of light concerning Blaise's and her grandfather's objections to allowing Clive control of the company.

  Now Clive smiled winsomely at her. "I can help you learn," he told her. "Since Uncle Andy has brought you into the family fold, he's bound to give you some stock like he did for Blaise and me. Just rely on me," he added a trifle pompously, "and you can't go wrong."

  Julie merely returned the smile without replying. Clive did not know that her grandfather had already signed the papers transferring the stock to Blaise and herself, and until their marriage was announced, no one, least of all her cousin, was to know. He was clearly hoping to persuade her to vote under his advisement when the time came and she could not help wondering what he would do when he discovered that Blaise and she would have controlling interest as a marriage partnership.

  They arrived back at Magnolia Way shortly after ten and Clive said he would come in for a few minutes to visit with his uncle. But when they entered the living room, they discovered only Blaise and Rosalind.

  "Hello," Blaise said pleasantly. "Did you enjoy your evening?"

  "Very much," Julie replied as she dropped her handbag onto a lamp table. There was a forced smile set to her lips as she regarded the others. Rosalind, looking quite beautiful in white slacks and a lacy black blouse, lounged indolently on the sofa. The woman practically lived here, Julie thought, disgruntled. Blaise, in sports shirt and slacks, sat in a nearby chair, looking relaxed and content.

  "I thought I'd come in and speak to Uncle Andy a minute," Clive said. "Is he in the study?"

  Blaise shook his head. "No, he went up to bed a half-hour ago."

  "Hmm. Well, I won't stay, then." Clive turned to go, then stopped and smiled at Julie. "How would you like to go inner-tubing on Sunday?"

  Julie gave him a blank stare. "What are you talking about?"

  "There are places where you rent inner tubes and float down the Tickfaw River. It's become very popular and it's kind of fun. Want to go?"

  Julie was still debating her answer when Blaise said unexpectedly, "Why don't we all go?" He glanced down at Rosalind. "Want to go floating?" He turned back to Julie and Clive and added, "Of course we could take Bobby along as well. He'd love it."

  Rosalind shrugged rather unenthusiastically, but said, "If you want to go, darling, of course I'll go along."

  "Good!" Blaise said as though it were all settled. "We'll get Mrs. Landry to pack a lot of sandwiches and we can really make a day of it."

  Julie's own preference seemed no longer to matter. It was taken for granted that she was ready to go along. The two men discussed time and driving arrangements, to which Julie scarcely bothered to listen, and then Clive was leaving.

  Julie went out into the hall with him to say goodnight and to thank him for the dinner. Clive frowned and spoke in a low voice. "When I suggested the outing, I only meant the two of us. It won't be much fun with the rest of them tagging along, too."

  "Oh, I don't know," she said mildly. "It sounds like it'll be great for Bobby." She was not about to admit that she hated the idea of having to spend a day in the company of Rosalind and Blaise together. But after the door closed behind Clive, she could not help but reflect again that when it came to Bobby, Blaise was surprisingly thoughtful and kind. Grinning ruefully to herself as she ran up the stairs, she only wished a little of that kindness would rub off on her.

  In her bedroom, deciding it was still too early for bed, Julie sat down on the lounge chair and wrote a letter to her friend Ann back in Oklahoma. She had written her a couple of times while she had been in Houston, but since she had returned to Magnolia Way, she had not gotten around to it. Now she did, happy to report how much improved her mother was and how easily Bobby had adjusted to his new life. About herself she said little, however, and she did not mention Blaise at all. She was tempted to confide to Ann of her secret marriage, but something held her back. Perhaps it was the last sentence she penned. "Do you ever see Duane?" she had not been able to stop herself from asking. "Is he well?"

  It was only a natural curiosity on her part that had prompted the question, of course, she told herself as she sealed the envelope. She did not still care for him romantically, but occasionally she could not help but wonder how he was, and whether or not he regretted having broken off with her.

  Deep inside, Julie knew the real reason she had asked about him. Her pride had suffered a devastating blow when he had so easily ended their engagement and she supposed she was human enough to wish that he missed her. It would have helped somehow to know that, considering her present circumstances of marriage to a man who had nothing but contempt for her, a man who openly paid attention to another woman while she, Julie, was left with no one at all. She wasn't sure why it should, but that fact was the one thing that hurt the most.

  On Sunday morning when Julie stopped in to visit her mother, she found the room already filled with visitors. Her grandfather sat in his usual chair beside the bed, Bobby stood leaning his arm against the back of the chair and Blaise stood at the foot of the bed.

  "I don't know," Ruth was saying with a dubious frown marring her face, "it sounds dangerous to me."

  "Aw, Mom," Bobby protested.

  "Ruth," Blaise said with quiet confidence, "the river isn't deep except in a few spots. Many people go there, so we won't be isolated. If Bobby should get into trouble, there will always be someone nearby and besides, he tells me he's a very strong swimmer."

  "He is," Ruth agreed. "But Julie isn't. I just don't like the idea of you all out in the middle of the river. Anything could happen."

  "Nothing will," Blaise assured her. Julie was now standing beside him at the foot of the bed, and casually Blaise draped an arm across her shoulder. "I promise you I'll take good care of Julie."

  Julie stiffened beneath the weight of his arm. It was the first time he had touched her since that night in her room and she was instantly furious. He was smiling at her in such a warm way that anyone would have thought he actually did care about her, and the sham was more than she could bear.

  Immediately, she squirmed free of his arm and moved to a safe distance from him around the side of the bed. Her face was hot with resentment and she swallowed hard to keep her annoyance from showing. To shield the reason for her abrupt movement away from him, she went and took her mother's hand in hers.

  "We'll be all right, Mom, honestly. Clive says the river is shallow enough you can even stand up and walk in most spots and besides, we'll all be together. Don't worry about us. We'll be perfectly safe."

  Ruth did not appear in the least convinced, and after a moment she threw a helpless, appealing glance at Andrew Barclay. Julie
was struck by the significance of her new-found trust in his judgment. "What do you think, Andrew?" she asked.

  He smiled at her. "I don't think you need to be concerned, Ruth," he answered gently. "Blaise is a very responsible person and so is Julie. They're not likely to let anything happen to Bobby. Let him go. It'll be a nice trip for him."

  "Well…" Ruth's troubled blue eyes cleared and finally she smiled and nodded. "All right, but be careful, all of you. And, Blaise, I hold you to your word that you'll look after Julie."

  "Mother!" Julie exclaimed with exasperation. "I'm not a child who needs looking after!" It would have been embarrassing enough for her mother to make such a remark at any time, but with the present restraint between Blaise and herself, it was agonizing and unbearable.

  Her grandfather chuckled. "Don't you know that to a mother, her children never quite grow up?"

  Julie grimaced at that home truth, but she was unable to bring herself to even look toward Blaise, certain that she would see mockery in his eyes. Her shoulders tensed when he started to speak, until she realized he was addressing Bobby.

  "Why don't you call and see whether Tony can come along with us?" he suggested.

  "Do you mean it?" Bobby gave a whoop of delight and darted from the room.

  Julie glanced down at her mother once more. "Will you be all right?" she asked in concern. "Maybe I should stay home after all since it's Sarah's day off?"

  "Don't be silly," Andrew Barclay said. "I'll keep her company and Mrs. Landry is here, too. I promise to see she gets plenty of rest in between our hot games of chess and bouree."

  Ruth laughed at that. "You're the one who's going to need the rest after our next game of bouree," she declared with assurance. "Remember who got scorched on the last one?" She waved a hand in dismissal at Julie and Blaise. "Go on, you two, and have fun."

  Julie quickly made good her escape and hurried to her own room. It seemed all she ever did these days was scurry around like a frightened mouse, trying to stay out of Blaise's vicinity.

  She stripped off her clothes and from a bureau drawer pulled out a bright coral bikini which she would wear beneath a pair of jeans and a shirt for the drive to the river.

  The bedroom door swung open abruptly and Julie froze, her fingers clutching tightly the bikini bottom, as Blaise walked in and, with an angry gesture, kicked the door shut behind him.

  The air crackled with electricity as flashing black eyes clashed with thunderous gray ones like a spring storm. The dark eyes raked the naked body, missing no tiny detail, and Julie felt her flesh burning beneath the onslaught of the intense gaze.

  "Get out of my room!" she hissed. "You have no right to burst in here like this!"

  "Don't I?" Thick eyebrows lifted quizzically. "I'm your husband, remember?"

  "You're not!" she denied. "Not really, so get out!" Blaise took a menacing step toward her and Julie backed into the dresser behind her. "Get out!" she repeated shakily, "or I'll scream."

  "Go ahead," Blaise said in deadly calm. "When you do, the truth will come out, I can promise you. I won't hesitate a minute to tell Ruth we're married… or why."

  Julie licked her dry lips and sucked in a nervous breath. "Wh—what do you want?"

  "I only came to tell you that you'd better start behaving a little friendlier toward me in front of your mother. And others as well. You know our marriage has to be made public soon and it's going to look very suspicious to everyone if you can't so much as bear to have me touch you. And I don't intend to be embarrassed that way."

  "Then don't touch me!" she snapped. "I'll behave as friendly as you please in front of others so long as you just don't touch me!"

  Now the ruthless gaze traveled over her exposed body once more, slowing moving from slender throat to creamy-white breasts, down to a flat middle and on to curving thighs before returning at last to her colorless face. "What makes you so certain I'd even want to now?" he asked cruelly. "I have no use for an iceberg." He laughed and it was a grating sound that chilled Julie, a sound like the scraping of a fingernail across a blackboard. "Not only did Dad get a rotten deal by bringing you home, but I got one as well.. Poor Dad… he hoped for a warm, loving granddaughter; all he got was a hostile, barely polite parasite… yes, parasite!" he repeated as she opened her lips to object. "You've already taken plenty from him, but what have you given in return? Sure, you married me, such as it is, but do you really give a damn about Dad? Not at all! Well, I may have taken plenty from him too, but I also happen to care about him. You care about no one but yourself!"

  "It isn't true!" she gasped, horrified at this picture of herself. "It isn't true at all and I hate you for saying it. I hate you, Blaise Richard!"

  Blaise merely shrugged. "So, what else is new?" he asked. "You've told me so before and frankly, I'm not too fond of you, either. As far as I'm concerned, these three years can't go by fast enough." He swung on his heel and went toward the door.

  Parasite! Parasite! Parasite! The ugly word pulsated through Julie like a heartbeat as Clive's car sped down the interstate toward Hammond. In the car ahead of them she could see the others, Bobby and Tony in the back seat; in the front, driving, was Blaise and beside him, Rosalind York.

  Blaise had called her so many awful names in the time she had known him, Julie thought miserably as she gazed at the roadside trees flashing past. Frigid, hard-boiled, iceberg, parasite! The list seemed as endless as the highway and now, for the first time, she searched her heart deeply in an effort to determine if there was any basis of fact in his charges.

  Frigid she knew she was not. Her body's clamoring responses to Blaise himself had proved that beyond doubt, no matter what he thought or said, but "hard-boiled parasite?" That was something that needed considering. Absently, Julie chewed on a fingernail. It was true that in the beginning she had been thoroughly hostile toward her grandfather, both because of his past actions toward her parents and because of his blackmailing her into a loveless marriage, but despite all that, now that she was coming to know him as a person, she no longer hated him as she once had. Lately, she had watched the developing warmth between Andrew Barclay and her mother and had realized that he really was trying to make up to Ruth for the past. Every single morning he presented a gift to her, a bottle of perfume, a book, something silly like a package of bubble gum or a stuffed animal, and Julie could not help but feel a thawing in her own heart for these little gestures of friendship toward her mother. He was also kind and generous to Bobby and she could sense a deep and sincere affection growing between the old man and the young boy which bridged the enormous gulf between their years.

  But the most astonishing discovery of all was that even in herself Julie was finding that she rather liked Andrew Barclay on a personal level. Whenever they were together, he was always cordial and friendly and she sensed that though he would like for the two of them to draw closer, he restrained any eagerness on his part because of her own reserve. At the same time she knew that her defenses were lowering little by little each day. So did that make her out to be a parasite? She had accepted a lot from Andrew Barclay, yes, but in the past few days had she not given back even a small measure in the casual walks they had shared, the friendly conversations they had had, the genuine smiles they had exchanged?

  "You sure are quiet today," Clive said, breaking into her glum thoughts. "Is something wrong?"

  Julie shook her head and managed a smile. "It's nothing, really," she told him. "I'm sorry I've been such dull company." She had arrived at no clear-cut answer, but she decided that for the moment, at least, she would have to put the problem away.

  A half-hour later, on a winding country road, Blaise pulled his car onto the grassy shoulder near a bridge. There were a number of other cars parked along the road as well. Clive stopped just behind Blaise and told Julie to lock her door. "We'll ride with Blaise the rest of the way."

  "Rest of the way?" Julie asked, puzzled, as she glanced toward the river. "Aren't we here?"

  Clive laughed
and shook his head. "No, we've still got about a ten mile drive further up the river where we'll rent the inner tubes. We'll start out from that point on the river and the currents will eventually bring us back here."

  When they reached the place where they rented huge inner tubes, Julie was rather surprised to see so many cars and people out in the middle of a quiet countryside. A holiday atmosphere prevailed as people milled about, sipping cold drinks and carrying ice chests and black inner tubes.

  They had shed their outer clothing and wearing only bathing suits and sneakers, they headed down the bank to the water. A few minutes later Julie actually found herself laughing as she watched Blaise and Clive busily tying an ice chest filled with sandwiches and drinks onto an inner tube they had rented just for the purpose. While Clive held the rig steady, Blaise secured a rope around the contraption to hold the ice chest steady and leave a length remaining so that the whole could be pulled along.

  Unexpectedly, Blaise glanced up at Julie. "It's funny, hmm?"

  "It's ridiculous," she told him. "If you knew how silly you look…"

  "Better not poke fun," he warned, "or we'll leave you in charge of pulling the thing along behind you like your shadow."

  "Come on!" Bobby shouted impatiently as he and Tony waded out into the river and draped their arms through the circle of their floats. "Let's go!"

  "All right, Bob," Blaise said at last. "Take off, but the rule is you boys must stay in sight of any one of us at all times. If you find yourselves getting too far ahead, stop and wait for us to catch up. Agreed?"

  Both boys nodded, their heads looking like wet seals poked above the shiny black of the inner tubes as they set out. Now the others waded out into the center of the river and boarded their own transportation.

  It was a perfect day for such a trip and the river was alive with people of all shapes and sizes. There were couples, obviously young lovers, groups of teenagers, some oldsters even, and entire families and every group had their own floating ice chest tagging along.