Read Until the End of Time Online
Authors: Melanie Schuster
Until the End of Time (39 page)
The women’s hands clasped tightly as Renee tried to recall what she knew of Tina’s vivacious younger sister who was now married with two children. Before she could speak, though, Faye added something even more poignant to the conversation.
“
My best friend was raped, Renee. It was a horrible experience for her, because like you, she knew and trusted the man who did it to her. She was so traumatized that she…well, it was a long time before she was able to come to grips with it. But she did. And I have to tell you, having been through it with her, I’m amazed and grateful that you’ve been able to cope as well as you have. But you don’t have to be Superwoman about this. We’re here for you whenever you need anything. Don’t feel like you have to slog through this all by yourself,” she said, with just a bit of a tremor in her voice.
My best friend was raped, Renee. It was a horrible experience for her, because like you, she knew and trusted the man who did it to her. She was so traumatized that she…well, it was a long time before she was able to come to grips with it. But she did. And I have to tell you, having been through it with her, I’m amazed and grateful that you’ve been able to cope as well as you have. But you don’t have to be Superwoman about this. We’re here for you whenever you need anything. Don’t feel like you have to slog through this all by yourself,” she said, with just a bit of a tremor in her voice.
Renee was stunned by the emotion she felt. Looking at Faye’s fair face surrounded by auburn waves she felt positively humbled. She had always liked Alan and Andre’s wives, but she had never been particularly close to them. She had precious few women friends outside of Bennie and Ceylon, and she suddenly realized what she had been missing. She said this to the two women and they all got a little teary-eyed for a moment. The ever-practical Tina pointed out that it would not be this easy when Bennie found out that this was being kept from her.
“
You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do, you know. You know how Bennie is—no matter what kind of turmoil she was in at the time with Gilbert being so ill and all, she won’t take kindly to the fact that you kept this locked up inside. Pregnant or not, she’s going to feel like she should have been there for you.”
You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do, you know. You know how Bennie is—no matter what kind of turmoil she was in at the time with Gilbert being so ill and all, she won’t take kindly to the fact that you kept this locked up inside. Pregnant or not, she’s going to feel like she should have been there for you.”
Renee’s sigh came all the way up from her toes. “That’s why I’m going to wait until she’s been up all night breast feeding a crying baby before I drop it on her. She couldn’t possibly have the strength to go upside my head then,” she said with a weak attempt at humor.
The three women laughed guiltily and when Andrew entered the room they tried to look as though nothing of importance had occurred. Their attempt met with limited success as Andrew could see that this was a momentous occurrence, but he chose to ignore it. Tina and Faye hastily took their leave so that the two of them could be alone, which is how Renee found herself sitting in Andrew’s lap at the big round breakfast table. He put one arm around her and held her tight while he fished around in his pants pocket with his free hand. Renee watched him bemusedly without saying a word. Finally he found what he was looking for and smiled triumphantly.
“
Ah-ha, there it is. I didn’t want to wait until Christmas to give you this, and now seemed as good a time as any. And remember, you already said yes, so this is a formality,” he reminded her as he slipped a ring on her engagement finger. Renee couldn’t utter a sound as she stared at the ring. It was a huge emerald cut stone with three ¼ carat diamonds on either side. The stone itself was remarkable; it caught the light and showed bronze, golden and amazing bluish highlights with every turn of her hand. Andrew spoke into the silence.
Ah-ha, there it is. I didn’t want to wait until Christmas to give you this, and now seemed as good a time as any. And remember, you already said yes, so this is a formality,” he reminded her as he slipped a ring on her engagement finger. Renee couldn’t utter a sound as she stared at the ring. It was a huge emerald cut stone with three ¼ carat diamonds on either side. The stone itself was remarkable; it caught the light and showed bronze, golden and amazing bluish highlights with every turn of her hand. Andrew spoke into the silence.
“
I wanted something as rare and beautiful as you are,” he said softly. “That’s an alexandrite, from Russia. All those colors seemed to match your eyes and it just looked like something you could stand to keep on your hand for the rest of our lives.”
I wanted something as rare and beautiful as you are,” he said softly. “That’s an alexandrite, from Russia. All those colors seemed to match your eyes and it just looked like something you could stand to keep on your hand for the rest of our lives.”
Renee still hadn’t said a word. She finally raised her tear-wet eyes from the amazing ring to her beloved’s sweet handsome face. She locked her arms around his neck and kissed him with every bit of love and passion she had. “Andy, you will never know in a million years how much I love you,” she sighed.
He looked into her eyes for a long time and smiled the smile of a very happy man. “I do know how much you love me. You love me as much as I love you now, as much as I’ll love you forever, as much as I have loved you for a lot of long and lonely years, Renee DeShawn Kemp.” Then he kissed her back, a long, sweet, wet kiss that spoke from his very soul. It had been much, much too long since they had shared the act of love, something that he planned to remedy that very night and as soon as possible. “Let’s go tell everybody and then get rid of them,” he pleaded. “I need to be alone with my future wife and I need it now.”
Renee could not have agreed more. She stood up on shaky legs and Andrew got up with her. They held each other tightly and exchanged one more hot, passionate kiss before making their way back into the living room. Just as they neared the front door, the bell rang several sharp rounds. Renee jumped out of her skin before she could collect herself to open the door. Then she froze. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she could make an intelligent utterance. Finally, she found her voice. “
Daddy
?”
Daddy
?”
Chapter Twenty –Three
Renee was curled in the corner of the huge leather sofa in Andrew’s living room with. His home had become her refuge since her parents’ unannounced visit to Detroit. For most of that time she’d walked around with an expression that the witty Valerie referred to as her “Lucy, you in big trouble look”, meaning that she looked just like Lucy Ricardo when she had done something that Ricky had forbidden. Her eyes were almost always wide open and her smile a just a bit forced these days. Andrew had nothing but sympathy for her.
“
It’s not that I’m not glad they’re here, Andy, I really am,” Renee said for about the tenth time. “It’s just that everything feels so…so
surreal
. It feels like a Fellini movie in blackface,” she said in a voice that begged for contradiction.
It’s not that I’m not glad they’re here, Andy, I really am,” Renee said for about the tenth time. “It’s just that everything feels so…so
surreal
. It feels like a Fellini movie in blackface,” she said in a voice that begged for contradiction.
Unfortunately, Andrew couldn’t offer her the denial she so desperately wanted. From the time she opened the front door to find her normally diffident father and her always-voluble mother on the front porch, her life hadn’t been her own. And it was, as she said, not because she wasn’t glad to see her father, she was thrilled. She had hugged him with the ferocity of someone welcoming a loved one back from the dead, which was in effect where he had been. She couldn’t stop hugging him, or holding his hand all night and her father, bless his heart seemed to know exactly from where all the emotion was pouring. He was too much the devoted husband and father to bear a grudge; as Pearlie Mae had often said during the early years of their marriage, John Kemp had gone back for a second helping of humble because the line was so short. Pearlie had actually been on her best behavior during the party. She was the engaging social maven who could charm the very songs from the larks when she chose, the one who could make everyone feel that they had been graced by a queen when she smiled on them. She barely raised an eyebrow when she heard her daughter being referred to as ‘Uncle’ Renee, although Renee knew that she would have some pithy comment to make later. But while their were guests in her daughter’s home she was gracious, effervescent and delightful to Renee’s everlasting relief.
But as coats began to be donned and sleepy children carried out to cars, Renee could sense her mother’s real character shining through. Sure enough, as the last guest made their way to their vehicle and Andrew was bringing in the Kemps’ luggage, the sea change began. Pearlie Mae place her hands on her hips and the look she gave Andrew made him wish for a moment that she actually had a gun instead of just her rapier tongue and her laser glare.
“
Young man, I expected better of you, I really did. Why did you allow this to happen to my daughter and why is that man not in jail or the morgue where he belongs?”
Young man, I expected better of you, I really did. Why did you allow this to happen to my daughter and why is that man not in jail or the morgue where he belongs?”
Andrew didn’t let the fact that his future mother-in-law had just impugned his manhood enrage him. He had been pretty much expecting this and was prepared to answer on his behalf when his future father-in-law spoke up.
“
Pearl, now enough is enough. From what you told me, Andrew here was as much in the dark as everyone else about this situation. Our daughter, for whatever reasons, chose to keep this to herself, something that I regret.” John Kemp’s handsome face showed that exact emotion along with a range of more subtle feeling. “Since he found out, Andrew has done exactly what he should have done to protect and take care of Renee as best he can and that’s all we can ask of him. The whole reason I’m here is to see with my own eyes that my daughter is all right and from what I can see, she looks fine. So please stop carrying on like some vigilante mother on one of those cable movies and calm down.”
Pearl, now enough is enough. From what you told me, Andrew here was as much in the dark as everyone else about this situation. Our daughter, for whatever reasons, chose to keep this to herself, something that I regret.” John Kemp’s handsome face showed that exact emotion along with a range of more subtle feeling. “Since he found out, Andrew has done exactly what he should have done to protect and take care of Renee as best he can and that’s all we can ask of him. The whole reason I’m here is to see with my own eyes that my daughter is all right and from what I can see, she looks fine. So please stop carrying on like some vigilante mother on one of those cable movies and calm down.”
There was a finality in his tone that even Pearlie Mae didn’t question. Amazingly enough, she did just what he said and calmed down. She got in a couple of well placed “hmmphs” to let him know her spirit wasn’t broken, but she finally shut up. To Renee’s shock, the rest of the evening went well, although it was a brief one due to the lateness of the hour. Andrew and her parents sat in the living room and chatted while she made them herbal tea and prepared a guestroom. Pearlie took to Renee’s puppies right away but they seemed to prefer Mr. Kemp, to her mother’s chagrin. There was really no time for Renee to question the whole situation; she went into hostess mode with a vengeance and had the elder Kemps all settled in for the night before she realized that her evening with her fiancé was now torpedoed by subatomic machine gun Pearlie Mae.
The living room was unnaturally silent, as the little dogs had willingly gone to their kennel to sleep off a night of chasing and being chased by small children. Her parents were safely upstairs and she and Andrew were facing the fact that any amorous pursuits were going to have to wait until another time. Renee tried not to let her disappointment show too much as she walked Andrew to the door. Andrew was also trying to take it in stride, but looking down at Renee’s velvety skin; her luscious lips and all her glorious curves made it truly difficult. The fact that they’d reaffirmed their abiding love for each other just a few hours earlier made it even more unbearable. Renee stared at her lovely ring and sighed. “You know, we didn’t even get to make our announcement tonight,” she said ruefully. “But honey, it’s just as well we didn’t. Mama would have pitched a side door fit if we had said something before we told her. God help us if we had said one mumbling word before speaking to her!” Renee shuddered at the thought.
For some reason, Renee’s words cheered Andrew immensely. “Look, baby, everything is going to be fine. We’ll take your parents and Dad and Martha out to a fabulous dinner and spring it on them then. Or I’ll ask your father for your hand or tell him to post the banns or whatever will make them happy. Who cares? The important thing is you and me and our life together. Nothing can stop us now, Renee. We’re almost home free.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly with the air of a man who is deeply in love with nothing but time on his hands. And at that moment, he was. It took a couple of days for reality to sink its teeth into his butt.
That had come the next day when he did indeed ask Renee’s parents for her hand in marriage, something that sounded romantic and sweet, but instead opened up avenues of unspeakable horrors as far as Renee was concerned. Her parents were thrilled to the extent that Pearlie Mae actually got it into her head to act as a duenna for Renee until the nuptials. The news of the impending marriage coupled with the fallout from the recent news that her daughter had been raped made Pearlie Mae exceptionally protective, like a middle aged lioness with an unexpected and much-loved cub; she wasn’t letting her baby out of her sight until she was safely married. And this was the main reason that Renee was now sitting in Andrew’s living room looking shell-shocked.
“
Andy, she’s driving me nuts,” Renee confessed. “I got rid of her this afternoon by sending her and daddy shopping at Somerset. I claimed I had to be at the spa, which was kinda true, but in reality I just needed to be away from them for a while. I don’t even get to play with my babies because they’re too busy following my daddy from room to room. They like him better than they like me, I swear they do. If they don’t go back to Cleveland soon I’m going to be sitting in a corner strumming my lips with my eyes spinning around like pinwheels,” she said glumly.
Andy, she’s driving me nuts,” Renee confessed. “I got rid of her this afternoon by sending her and daddy shopping at Somerset. I claimed I had to be at the spa, which was kinda true, but in reality I just needed to be away from them for a while. I don’t even get to play with my babies because they’re too busy following my daddy from room to room. They like him better than they like me, I swear they do. If they don’t go back to Cleveland soon I’m going to be sitting in a corner strumming my lips with my eyes spinning around like pinwheels,” she said glumly.
Andrew brought her the steaming mug of brandy-laced tea he’d prepared and sat next to her. He pulled her legs into his lap and started rubbing her feet, something that ordinarily had her purring with enjoyment, but she was beyond noticing his ministrations. “Well, how about calling your sisters? Surely they could prevail upon her to come home,” he said reasonably.
Renee snorted inelegantly. “Those harpies are ganging up on me. They’re all pissed because I kept the dark secret from them in the first place. They feel like the Kemp girls should have issued out some Cleveland justice back when it happened and I wouldn’t be going through all of this now. The only one with any sense about it is LeeAnn and she’s all the way in New York, too far away to help.” Renee’s brow lowered as she remembered the long and colorful conversations she had with each of her sisters who each berated, consoled and condemned her before the talks ended.
“
They were also not too happy that I kept the news about you on the downlow—it’s a Kemp tradition that all the sisters celebrate engagements and I hadn’t let them know that things were this serious between us, so I must be punished at least for a while. Those heifers won’t lift a finger to help me,” she sniffed, clearly put out at the betrayal by her aces in the hole.
They were also not too happy that I kept the news about you on the downlow—it’s a Kemp tradition that all the sisters celebrate engagements and I hadn’t let them know that things were this serious between us, so I must be punished at least for a while. Those heifers won’t lift a finger to help me,” she sniffed, clearly put out at the betrayal by her aces in the hole.
Andrew tried not to look amused, but he couldn’t help be delighted that Renee was being so thoroughly distracted by her folks. At least the Bailey business had taken a back seat to the goings-on at hand. Suddenly their attention was drawn to the television, which they had been ignoring while Renee ranted. A special bulletin was forming before their eyes.
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