The way Serenity’s lips looked darkened by the red lip color she loved donning made her appear more vixen than the wholesome angel she could be at times. Lorna’s red wasn’t the same. It made her look more vamped and shallow. There was no telling her that.
Lorna believed it made her veer towards the style of the movie stars of the 50s and 60s. Her thought was blondes with red lips were more fun than all of the others. She was fun but it was a different kind of fun. It was the kind that he feared he might grow tired of dealing with on a day-to-day basis.
Serenity exuded fun and joy. She had so much of it that people flocked around her to take part in it. When she laughed … his whole world felt right. If she smiled, he knew his day couldn’t get any better.
The day she cried, he felt like part of him died. It had in a way. She told him to go and find his match. He’d been confused because he’d believed he had. They were a synced unit until that day. Eric had felt as if something had been off. All day he’d felt like something was wrong. When she dropped that bomb on him, he’d been stunned into silence.
All he could do was nod along. In the end, he gave her what she’d wanted. It tore his heart from his chest to do so but he did it.
Lorna had been his back up girl for a time before Serenity. He’d broken it off with Lorna two days after meeting Serenity because he knew, even then, there was something different about that woman.
He didn’t see Lorna for the entire year he was with his Jewel.
Eric had always known Lorna wanted a steady relationship with him. There was always something that had him keeping her at arm’s length. When he decided to give Lorna what she’d wanted, he had the warning signs screeching above him. He rallied on and learned her feelings on having children.
Since his thoughts had been all about Reni (his nickname for Serenity, if he wasn’t referring to her by her middle name) having his babies, even picturing them, he’d willingly accepted Lorna’s terms.
The breakup he and Lorna had about four or five months ago had him seeking Reni out. He’d come back to Kissimmee from Barcelona. All he could think of was her and he’d hoped for something that he shouldn’t have.
Barcelona had been where Lorna was busy with a modeling gig that she said he’d been ruining because of his sulking. The “sulking” had been him taking time away from business for her to work the entire time. Eric’s momentary slip up had to be put behind him. He should’ve known Lorna wasn’t going away that easily and he should’ve foreseen the fear of pain that plagued him when it came to Serenity. After a few incredible moments of weakness, he went back to where he belonged.
Lorna should be the one that has all of his focus. She was the one that he was supposed to ask to spend the rest of her life with him. With that thought in mind, he made his way over to his woman. She snuggled into him and he quickly dismissed the thought that it didn’t feel right. Eric wouldn’t dwell on the fact of seeing Serenity sitting in a spot felt more like home than being in the arms of the woman he was planning to marry.
“Hey babe, I thought I was having a car pick you up from the airport this evening?” he asked and tried to ignore the reflection of hurt that was on Serenity’s face when he glanced at the window to catch a glimpse of her.
“I decided to come spend time with my guy a little early.” Lorna lowered her voice. “I figured the faster we got through your visit, the quicker we’d be heading out to meet my parents.”
Eric didn’t understand her excitement. She usually dreaded going to France because she hated her parents’ accents and the way they behaved when they were out of the states.
“I’m not planning on making this a quick trip, honey. There are things that need to be taken care of here.”
“I know. I know. I just can’t wait. Although, I do have a question for you.”
Eric’s gaze flickered to the window again and watched as Serenity tried to school her features so it didn’t appear as if she were still upset. He knew her well enough to know the face she was presenting was a façade.
He needed to stop.
Get your head right, Pierson.
“What?”
Eric tossed out in hopes that his momentary Serenity Stupor wasn’t noticed by Lorna. She didn’t seem upset or bothered by his question. Lorna simply countered his question with one of her own.
“Who are all of these women here?” she questioned while pointedly looking in Serenity’s direction.
There’s a poignant inquiry.
One of the women in the room meant more to him than she should, but that wasn’t something he could share with her. The rest were his family members.
“How long have you been here,” Eric asked Lorna as he tried to rein in his wayward thoughts.
“Um …,” Lorna flipped her wrist and pulled back her sleeve to check the time. “About two hours.”
“Okay. That’s longer than I expected you to say. You should know my mother and sisters by now. The other …”
He paused when she shook her head.
“I only met your mother. She was the one that answered the door when I came in. The others haven’t introduced themselves. I thought you said you have three sisters. By my count, one or two of these women do not belong here.”
Her tone had him doing a double take at her expression. The utter disdain that colored her features didn’t sit well with him. Eric didn’t appreciate jealousy or snobbery. If Lorna was offering up either of those, then he was going to have to rethink his plans.
“Let me get this straight. You’ve been here for almost two hours and you don’t know which of these women are my sisters?” Eric took a step back and gave Lorna a once over. He had to fight the urge to roll his eyes as it hit him what had happened. “Have you been holding court over here this entire time?”
She had the decency to be honest and look duly guilty as she answered. “Well, yes. I didn’t know what to do. You know I don’t cook or decorate. We have people to do those things. I mean, I thought your family was rich.”
Eric tossed back his head and released a full, hardy laugh as he thought about the implications of Lorna’s statement. Evelyn Pierson would have each of their heads if they even remotely suggested paying someone to put up a tree that her six capable children could put together. CEOs, doctors, business owners or not, each of the Pierson children worked damn hard to earn their money. They also understood what it meant to tackle menial projects on their own.
“Ric just tossed out the ‘you’re shitting me’ laugh. Apologies Ma, but that’s be best way to put it. I have to know what that one is in response to.”
Lorna shot Jamie a dirty look which just made his older brother topple over with laughter. His wife, Madison, hid hers behind her hand as she continued to pulse something in the food processor.
He didn’t know why, but he didn’t feel the least bit protective of this woman. Eric might have had she not given his brother a look that said she would have his head on a platter if she could.
“Honey, these are the Piersons. Mrs. Evelyn Pierson is toward the back of the kitchen. Next to her, in front of the food processer, is the newest Mrs. Pierson, Madison. She is Jamie’s—the male you were just glaring daggers at—wife. He is my eldest brother. My youngest brother is …” he paused for a beat to wait for Alex to round the corner and wave. “Is Alex and probably waiting for Jamie to return so they can finish watching the game. You know how I feel about sports.”
“After dinner and never before,” Everyone stated including Serenity, which had Ella giving her a questioning glance.
He cleared his throat and quickly continued before Lorna could catch on. “Alyssa—one half of my gorgeous twin sisters—is standing next to my mother, probably whispering her thoughts about what I’m doing right now.” Alyssa stuck her tongue out at him and he chuckled. “The ‘good’ twin, Clarissa, is … standing in the dining area waiting for me to acknowledge her. She probably has all of the kids in there for their yearly lesson on how to set the tables. I�
�m right because that smile tells me so. There are … let me see … five boys and three girls in that room helping to set the table. The diligent workers that are working on the tree are the eldest of my gorgeous sisters, Ella, and her college roommate and close friend, Serenity.”
As he’d introduced everyone, they’d either waved or smiled. Eric was pretty damn proud of himself. He’d made it through the introductions without flubbing anything or lingering too long on Serenity. When he faced Lorna again, she was giving him a look that said she was waiting on something. Taking a glance back at his family members, they all seemed to be expecting something as well. He slammed his palm into his forehead as the gears of his brain started working again.
“Pierson family and friend, this is Lorna Horner, my …”
“Lorna Horner? That’s a silly name.”
“Who named her that, Mommy? Is her family Sam?”
Clarissa’s twin boys, Nathaniel and Christian, asked in that eerie way that they have. They all believed those two were psychically linked. That was the only way to explain how they tended to finish each other’s thoughts or sentences in the uncanny way that they did at age four.
Clarissa tried and failed to hold in her laughter. Nathaniel was walking in the back door with some wood as the boys were asking their question. After a hardy laugh, he explained his son’s question while answering it for their twins.
“Whoa! Ha! Boys, Ms. Lorna isn’t related to Sam I Am. Her name just rhymes like the words in his book. Her Mommy and Daddy gave her that name.”
“Do they have rhymey names too?” the question came from Addison, Jamie and Madison’s eldest child together.
“Oh my. This could be an all-night conversation. Eric, my handsome and only culinary genius child, will you come in and rescue this chicken from your baby sister.”
Eric beamed as he made his way toward the kitchen, but not before catching Lorna’s question of, “You cook?”
Serenity’s head snapped up and she sent a confused glance his way before focusing on the equally confused Lorna.
“How long have the two of you been together if she doesn’t know that you cook? You are always in the kitchen. Hell, I stop by your place just to see if I can get in on a meal. What the hell, Ric?”
Jamie’s question was met with addendum after addendum from most of the people in the room. Lorna rescued him from responding by putting him into another pit.
“You have a place here? Or is he talking about the loft you have in New York? Do you live in New York, Jamison?”
Serenity’s mouth fell open at that question and she began to laugh, which caused quite a few others to laugh as well.
“What the ever-loving fuck, bro? How is it possible that she doesn’t know about your damn home base? I’ve got women I’ve dated for two weeks that know where the hell you live because of the eats, not any other reason.”
Eric closed his eyes and took a deep breath in response to Alex’s reaction. Even Serenity knew there was a house in Kissimmee, a place in New York, and one in France. Her fascination with Italy and France prompted that last purchase. Lorna believed he did it to be closer to her.
“Lorna, you’ve only ever been to my loft because you are usually plane hopping and land long enough to find your way to my … place.”
“Bedroom,” Alex spoke as he pretended to cough into his hand.
“Or bathroom,” Clarissa added.
“Washroom,” Madison chimed in.
“Hallway,” Jamison stated as he waggled his eyebrows.
“Patio,” Ella and Alyssa said at the same time, which had them both giggling.
“Hot tub,” Serenity mumbled and a few of the crazy people that were his family agreed.
“Garage,” Eric’s mother stated and there was an air of recollection as she said it.
Everyone turned in her direction sending looks of wonder her way because she usually never joined in when he and his siblings went off on tangents like this one.
“Mom?” Clarissa intoned from the living area side of the breakfast bar.
She was seated in one of the far end bar stools with Ellison in her lap as she looked through the opening at their mother.
“I am not some old prude. You kids are all adults now and I feel comfortable enough to say such things. Your father was a very virile man and that garage …”
“Oh fuck a damn duck no! I am not about to listen to this. Before I go, I want to know what was that initial laugh for,” Jamie asked Eric.
It took him a moment to come back to the reason for that reaction. Thinking about it again made him crack the hell up again.
“That’s the one,” Jamie confirmed before folding his arms over his broad chest mindful of the cast on his hand.
“Sorry, big bro. It was just too funny. A question was posed to me that would make Mom spit nails if ever anyone suggested it to her.”
“Now you have my attention,” his mother called from her place in front of the stove.
“The question was ‘don’t we have people that do that’ which is in reference to decorating the tree.”
Jamie, Alex, and Ella all began to laugh as Eric looked over his shoulder at Lorna who was practically beet red with embarrassment.
“For the inquiring mind, my mother hasn’t ever, ever believed we were too precious to do some heavy lifting. Each one of us had chores and earned our own money when we were younger. We had to work for everything that was purchased for us so that we would have a greater appreciation for the things we acquired.”
Clarissa’s gaze went to their mother who beamed with pride.
“You had to work. I mean you have money and a means to have people take care of things for you.”
Lorna’s outrage appeared to piss off Serenity and Nathaniel. Both began to speak at once.
“You have some nerve …”
“Not everyone is taught …”
Serenity, whose features took on the hue of her lip color, sat back and allowed Nathaniel to continue.
“Thank you, Serenity. As I began to say, not everyone has been taught to devalue money or working-class individuals in that manner. I am grateful for the way the Pierson children were brought up. Had they not been taught to see the person and not the money or title, I don’t think I could be the man that I am today. I’m thrilled to know that my wife will instill those same values in our children.”
Lorna suddenly tilted her head then exclaimed, “Oh shit! You’re Nathaniel Porter of Porter’s Delicatessen, I love your place. You have some of the most fantastic meals I have ever tasted.”
Clarissa, Jamie, and Alex each looked at Eric with shock written all over their faces.
“On that note, I’m heading into the kitchen.”
Eric made quick work of grabbing his apron, washing his hands, and diving in to helping prepare the dinner. His mother leaned in close and whispered words that had just crossed his mind.
“You sure that one is the one you want to marry?”
He glanced over his shoulder and found Lorna sitting in the same area that he’d left her as she scrolled through something on her phone.
For the rest of the evening, he was periodically tossed a snide comment about the “great catch” and “lovely girl” that Lorna was. Eric knew he just had to make it through the evening and tomorrow would be a fresh day, a new beginning. A few hours later dinner was finished, eaten, and leftovers put away. By the time he was leading Lorna away from the house, he was set for a much-needed break from his family.
Eric knew they meant well, but they didn’t know Lorna like he did. His sisters had raised valid concerns about how little she knew about him. If she didn’t know a major detail like the fact that he loved to cook, things didn’t look good for the state of their relationship.
The better part of the evening was spent with him explaining things and attempting to defend Lorna. The one glaring reason behind it all had nothing to do with Lorna and everything to do with the dark-haired beauty that did everything in
her power to stay far away from him.
Eric hadn’t realized he was at the hotel until he heard the door close behind Lorna and saw a male jogging around the front of the car to his side. Sitting up straighter, he waved the male away after acknowledging him. He climbed out of the car and stood next to the open door.
“Lorna, honey, I’m going to head back to the house. There are some things I need to take care of before we head out of town. I don’t want to be distracted when I should be focused one hundred percent on you.”
The pout that had started to form on her face was instantly destroyed when he mentioned being focused on her. He suspected it would.
Really? Was this the woman he wanted to marry?
Serenity McAdams had been around one night and his entire world shifted. She’d barely said two words to him or spent five minutes in the same room with him and still his head was full of her. There was no way he could be at the hotel with Lorna.
Lorna’s smile didn’t falter as she blew him a kiss. His plastered on smile was wholly acceptable to her. Others … namely Serenity, would have called him on it and made him clear the air. There was another nod in Serenity’s direction. She took notice of all of those types details and brought them to the forefront. Not to use them against a person, but to help her better understand them.
Eric caught the kiss and watched Lorna head into the hotel. As late as it was, he should’ve been exhausted, but he wasn’t he was wired. His brain was firing on all cylinders and all of the synapses were sending out tidbits about Serenity. He shook himself as he climbed back into his car.
One last thought.
Eric thought about the fact that every one of his family members had taken to calling Serenity, Reni. There was something he could thoroughly enjoy because he’d put that one into play and he loved hearing each time someone called her that.
“I’ll head back to the house and go to the one place where I can clearly hash things out. That’s tonight’s goal.”
Botched Proposal (Pierson Family Values #0.5) Page 4
