The Amber Stone (22 page)

The conversation stopped when Louisa returned to the table. “Sorry,” she said. “I have to keep going. Sometimes I feel like a leaky faucet.”

“Yes, well. How do you feel now?” Teresa asked.

“Great. I don’t know how to thank you. It’s such a shame we aren’t closer. We could do this more often.”

Michelle coughed; Jessie stared out the window, Teresa smiled wearily.

“You guys are so lucky. This is how I want to live. Fancy clothes, great hair, expensive restaurants.”

“We work hard,” Michelle said.

“Yes, but you both married money and don’t have to.”

“But as you can see that is not always the best route,” Michelle said. “I’m separated from my husband.”

Louisa shook her head. “But that’s because you did it all wrong.”

Michelle stiffened.

Louisa didn’t notice. “If he cheated on you, you should have just turned the other way while he signed your checks and if he was bad in bed, you just get a lover—same goes if he was boring, dumb or immature.”

“James was none of those things.”

“Then why are you separated?”

They all looked at Michelle expectantly.

“None of your business,” she said.

Louisa shrugged, unfazed. “Your problem is that you think too much. I on the other hand, have plans.”

“And what are those plans?” Jessie asked.

“I’m going to marry money like you.”

“You won’t have time right now,” Michelle said. “You’ll have to take care of the baby.”

“No I won’t. He’ll eventually take care of both of us.”

Michelle leaned forward. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”

Teresa looked at her confused. “What game?”

Michelle kept her gaze on Louisa. “He’s married, isn’t he?”

Louisa slowly blinked, bored. “What if he is?”

Michelle glanced down at Louisa’s swollen belly, then back at her face. “And you think having a baby will change that?”

“I already have another option.”

“What?”

Louisa flashed a cool smile. “None of your business.”

“It will be if you get Teresa involved.”

Louisa’s smile fell. “What does Teresa have to do with anything?”

Michelle’s gaze sharpened. “You tell me, Louisa.”

Louisa swallowed, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Michelle was sharp and she hadn’t expected that. What could she know? She couldn’t know anything. She couldn’t know that she’d been giving Thomas key information about Teresa’s business. She was just bluffing. She had to play it cool. “I don’t need another woman to catch a man. My face has always gotten me what I wanted and hasn’t stopped.” She nodded at Jessie. “I’m sure you understand about going after what you want.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Louisa rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on. Everyone knows that you set out to get Kenneth because of a bet. But I bet you only used that as a cover. What caught your interest first? His money or his looks? You’re going to have to share some of your tricks with me.”

Jessie tapped her finger on the table, trying to curb her temper. “I didn’t use any tricks.”

“Hello, ladies. Mind if we join you?” Kenneth said, approaching the table with Syrah who beamed at her two aunts.

“Well, speak of the devil,” Louisa said, looking at Kenneth with an intense there’s-a-handsome-man interest.

Kenneth shook her hand. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Jessie’s husband—”

“Kenneth Preston,” Louisa said holding both his hand and gaze longer than she needed to. “Your pictures don’t capture you. Even the bad ones.”

Jessie nearly leaped to her feet in rage at the subtle mention of the scandal, but her husband lightly touched her arm as he sat down with a smile. “Thanks,” he said simply, diffusing the tension. “This is our daughter, Syrah.”

Syrah smiled briefly.

Louisa smiled. “So Kenneth, how would you suggest a girl catch a rich man?”

Michelle choked on her drink, Jessie crumpled her breadsticks and Teresa groaned.

Kenneth kept his smile in place. “I’m not sure I follow you.”

“Well, everybody knows that Jessie went after you because of a bet. Come on, be honest, were you a little embarrassed that you fell for it?”

This time Kenneth couldn’t keep his wife seated. Jessie jumped to her feet and leaned over the table, bristling with rage. “You’re disgusting. I did not marry Kenneth because of a bet or because of his money. I married him because I loved him. But someone like you wouldn’t understand that.” She tapped the table. “Do you know why you’re here? Because we feel sorry for you. And if you weren’t family, I couldn’t care less. You have a pretty face, but you’ve got nothing else. Your mother can’t even stand to look at you and now I know why.”

“Relax, Jas,” Kenneth said, reaching for her hand.

Jessie yanked it out of reach. “Don’t touch me right now,” she warned, keeping her gaze on Louisa’s face. “You’re raw, you’re vulgar and that’s why you’re alone.” She grabbed her handbag and stormed out.

Louisa lifted her drink and took a sip. “Guess I hit a nerve.”

Kenneth and Syrah said their goodbyes and immediately followed Jessie. Michelle studied Louisa. “Well done.”

“What?” Louisa asked, looking the picture of innocence.

Michelle glanced at Teresa then shook her head. “Never mind. I think this day is over.”

***

“Louisa’s up to something,” Michelle told Jessie and Kenneth later that day as they sat in their living room. She’d stopped by their house, determined to share her concerns with her sister. “I don’t know what it is, but she’s planning something.”

“I don’t care,” Jessie said.

“You should care. If you weren’t so hot-headed you’d see she was provoking you on purpose.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Michelle said with a note of frustration. “I can’t believe Teresa’s been able to stand being with her this long.”

“Teresa is attracted to broken people. First Sean and now Louisa.”

“I trust Sean more than Louisa,” Kenneth said.

“You trust a man who has no past?” Michelle said. “At least we know Louisa’s.”

“Sean’s past is spotty,” Kenneth corrected. “But a man has a right to his secrets.”

“Not when it involves my sister.” Michelle toyed with the ring on her finger. “But I know Louisa is a bigger problem.”

“What do we do about it?”

Kenneth shrugged. “Wait for something to hit the fan.”

***

Later that night, Kenneth slipped into bed next to his wife, unable to stop replaying the scene at the cafe. “So when are you going to tell me about Sean’s reading?” he asked her as she rested her head on his chest. The light from the table lamp next to him pushed away the shadows.

Jessie grimaced with chagrin. “You saw that, did you?”

He chuckled. “I know you.”

“You’re right about the secrets, but Louisa’s more dangerous to Teresa than he is.”

“Why did you let her get to you?”

“I’m sorry,” she said, lightly trailing her fingers along one of the scars on his arm. If she’d been anyone else, the motion would have bothered him, but her touch made him feel less self-conscious about them.

“I’m not asking you to apologize, I want to know why.”

“Because I don’t want you in any way to think—”

“Do you think I doubt how much you love me?”

He felt her stiffen. “Do you?”

“Should I?”

She shook her head. “No,” she said.

But when she hesitated, he felt himself grow tense, whispers of his own worries coming to the surface as his gaze swept the large, exquisitely decorated room. He wondered if it was enough, if she was unhappy. “Do you doubt that I love you?”

She shook her head again and looked up at him. “It’s not that.”

He searched her gaze. “Then what is it?”

She sat up and folded her arms. “I hate that people can mock us, I hate what Louisa didn’t say.”

He sat up also, feeling the tension in him ebb as he tenderly brushed some hair from her cheek. “And that was…?”

“Why you married me.”

He sighed. “Jasmine, I thought we were past this. You know—”

She pressed a finger against his lip. “I know why and that makes me happy, but sometimes the fact that other people don’t makes me angry.”

He moved her hand. “If you’re happy, who cares what people think?”

“Wow, that’s amazing coming from you.”

He grinned. “When it comes to you, I don’t care what people think.”

Jessie bit her lip. “And what do you think about Louisa?”

His grin fell. “I don’t like her.”

Jessie groaned. “And that says a lot. Why doesn’t Teresa see what we do?”

“Because for some reason she sees what she needs to—someone to rescue.”

“I know and that worries me. I need to make her see the truth.”

***

“I know she’s not perfect, but she’s not that bad,” Teresa said. She, Jessie and Michelle sat in the living room of the family house having tea and biscuits. Jessie had asked Teresa to come over so that she could apologize for storming out, then revealed her real reason. Her worry about Louisa.

“We don’t want you to live there anymore,” Michelle said.

“Just a little while longer. She has nobody else and—”

“She deserves to stay that way.”

“Look, we have each other,” Teresa said, determined to make them see Louisa’s plight. “You don’t know what it’s like to have nobody.”

“You said Sean knows her, right?”

Teresa set her tea cup down. “Is that really why you brought me here? To tell me how much you hate Louisa, distrust Sean and want me to give up my store and come back and live with Michelle?”

“We didn’t say anything about your store,” Michelle said. “We’re proud of what you’re doing.”

“And Sean’s not such a bad guy,” Jessie said, ignoring Michelle’s look.

“Louisa tried to kill herself,” Teresa said, remembering the sight of her cousin floating in the water. “No one should feel that isolated in this world. If I’m her only friend, then so be it. I’ll help her any way I can.”

“Even if she hurts you? Even if she doesn’t care?”

“Yes, I’ll love her until she learns to love herself and I love Sean too.”

Jessie tucked her legs underneath her, dipping her biscuit in her tea. “Oh.”

“I hate when you do that,” Michelle said, motioning to Jessie’s tea.

“It tastes so good,” she said, putting the soggy biscuit in her mouth.

Teresa tapped the side of her cup until her sisters looked at her. “Did you two hear what I said?”

“Does it matter?” Michelle said.

“He used to be a surgeon.”

“And Stalin used to be a teacher. What does Sean do now? If we’re to believe he
was
a surgeon.”

Teresa sipped her tea. “He was and he now volunteers at a clinic and helps me at the shop.”

Michelle folded her napkin. “But you don’t know how he makes his living?”

“I’m sure it’s legal. I know you don’t trust him, but I wish you two would trust me. I know what I’m doing.”

Jessie glanced up at the ceiling, not knowing what else to say, and turned to glance out the window. She narrowed her eyes. “Who owns a blue Toyota with Pennsylvania license plates?”

The three sisters stared at each other as a horrifying realization struck them.

“Aunt Yvette,” they chorused in a scandalized whisper.

“I am out of here,” Jessie said, leaping to her feet. “She’s not catching me to tell me how to run my life.”

“Come back here,” Michelle ordered. Unfortunately, Jessie had already made it to the back door when the doorbell rang.

Michelle muttered a curse under her breath, opened the door and plastered on a smile. “Aunt Yvette, what a surprise!” She hugged her. “And you brought cousin Olivia, how lovely.” She nearly choked on the lie.

“Look, who we caught trying to sneak away.” Aunt Yvette laughed, pulling on Jessie’s sleeve.

“I was just getting something from my car,” Jessie said.

Michelle grinned wickedly. “Of course you were. Pity you didn’t make it.”

“I see you have tea all set up,” Aunt Yvette said, taking a seat. “It’s as if you knew we were coming.”

“If we knew you were coming, we wouldn’t have been here,” Jessie mumbled.

Michelle nudged her to be quiet. “Why don’t you get more hot water?” She lowered her voice. “In your case, you could just blow on it.”

Jessie headed to the kitchen.

Teresa and Michelle sat in front of their aunt; ready for the verbal attack they knew was inevitable. Aunt Yvette was their mother’s older sister and more into propriety and family values than their mother had been. Her eldest daughter had married well, so she felt it was her duty to assess everyone’s future and obligations in upholding family connections. She was a thin woman with tiny eyes, a long haughty nose and heavy eyebrows. She wore a cream dress and a grey spiral hat tilted to the side.

“So how are you doing, ladies?” Aunt Yvette asked, tugging off her driving gloves and smoothing them in her lap.

“Just fine, Auntie,” Michelle answered. “How are you doing?”