Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The weekend passed smoothly, almost to the point where I forgot I was spending it with my estranged mother. Annabelle and Christoph happily spent most of the time in the pool, watched over by Marie, the middle-aged French nanny. Janette seemed happy to sketch while she sunbathed on the deck, and Maurice was delighted to find another tennis player in Brandon. I was able to spend the mornings studying in Brandon"s office, interrupted only occasionally when he would check on me with a cup of tea. Only one kiss turned into something else that we needed to lock the door for.

When I came out to the yard around lunchtime on Monday, our last day, Brandon and Maurice were finishing their usual morning match. Janette was lounging at the pool while the children dove for rings at the bottom. She peered up at me through a pair of oversized Chanel sunglasses, poised in a sleek black maillot like Bridget Bardot.

"Back from studying. Amazing, a daughter of mine could be such a bookworm."

I pulled off my light gray cover-up and tossed it onto the other lounge next to her. "I didn"t know that was a bad thing."

"Well, at least you"ve kept yourself nice and trim." Janette looked up and down my body with blatant inspection. "Of course, you"ve got those genes on both sides, haven"t you? Danny always was a handsome little thing."

I fought the urge to put back on the cover-up. I had noticed her making remarks about Annabelle"s slightly round, eight-year-old physique and meant to say something it about it anyway, but Brandon had suggested that it wasn"t the best way to continue rebuilding my relationship with my estranged mother.

"Is that what I"m doing here?" I had asked in bed last night.

He"d shrugged. "What else?"

What else indeed?

"Do you know, I think you would look perfectly marvelous as a blonde," Janette continued. "With our green eyes...it"s just a shame you inherited your grandfather"s hair. And skin, as it were. Let"s hope if you and Brandon ever have children, those genes skip another generation."

I looked down warily at the light speckles that decorated the skin my modest blue-gray bikini didn"t cover. Despite the umbrella-sized straw hat I wore in the sun, the last two days of playing on the beach and in the pool had caused an avalanche of freckles to erupt all over my normally olive-toned body. Normally I wasn"t too conscious of them, but Janette"s frank appraisal made me more aware than usual of my Irish complexion.

"You know, there are procedures that can remove freckles, darling," Janette said, pushing her sunglasses onto her forehead to examine more closely some of the spots on my thighs. "I"m sure we could find a top-notch dermatologist in Boston to take care of them for you. I"d pay, of course."

"Don"t you remove a single spot, Janette," Brandon interrupted. "She"s perfect as is."

He loped up the deck and scooped me to his side for a sweaty kiss. Janette watched us with keen interest, then slid her glasses back over her porcelain nose.

"Who won?" I asked as I stepped away from Brandon, more just to benefit from the view than because I didn"t want to touch him. His white tennis shirt and hairline were both damp from the game, and the shirt stuck to his lean muscles.

"I tried to let Maurice have it in the end, but he forced me to take it. Straight sets." He looked back at Maurice. "You all right back there, Maury?"

I had to stifle a laugh at the familiar nickname, which seemed more appropriate for a used-car salesman than a suave French businessman. Maurice approached, looking considerably worse for wear. His normally immovable gray hair stood up in a few places, and his tanned face was bright red under the sweat that also soaked through his blue shirt.

He grimaced. "It was a good match."

Clearly, Maurice didn"t like losing. I didn"t blame him, but I could have told him two days ago that Brandon, one of the most competitive people I knew, not to mention a natural athlete, never lost. I had learned that the hard way more than once.

Brandon hopped from foot to foot, swinging his racket toward a phantom ball. "It was a good match," he repeated. "What do you say, Red? You up next?"

I shook my head, holding my hands out as if to block him. "Ohh, no. I learned my lesson yesterday."

"I could teach you to be better. I"m a very effective instructor." Brandon waggled his brows at me prominently in a way that made me giggle.

"Brandon!" Annabelle called from the pool. "Will you come swimming with us now? S"il vous pla?t?"

Every afternoon after his tennis match with their dad, Brandon had demonstrated to Annabelle and Christoph his excellent impressions of various sea creatures. This generally led to countless games of Jaws that basically consisted of us chasing the kids around the pool while they giggled uncontrollably. Maurice and Janette often disappeared around this time, Maurice to work in their guestroom, Janette to the expensive Pilates studio in a nearby town. I didn"t mind when they left, although I did wonder sometimes what kept them so long to get ready for their daily "errands." Sometimes they hovered upstairs for hours before they left. Brandon guessed they were probably getting it on and teased me for thinking too much about it.

Today would be even better. It was Marie"s afternoon off, and I had volunteered to take the kids beachcombing in Chatham before the firework display that night. Unfortunately, Brandon also had to spend the afternoon working. I didn"t mind too much, though; I was eager to get some time with the kids by myself.

But first things first.

Brandon pulled off his shirt, his perspiring, cut torso gleaming in the sun. Behind him, Janette snuck a peek over the rims of her glasses. I hid a smile; she was only six or seven years older than him, and I couldn"t really blame her for looking. He was quite a sight.

"Papa, vous aussi?" Christoph"s small voice piped up behind his sister.

They were both hanging onto a life-sized, alligator-shaped floaty that Brandon had bought for them yesterday in the village. The creature had already been used as a whale, a boat, a spaceship, and a subway train.

Maurice looked at his children as if he had just realized they were there, then curtly shook his head. Christoph"s face fell, but his quick recovery indicated he hadn"t expected his father to join them in the first place.

"Well, I"m coming in!" Brandon yelled, and to the children"s giggling surprise, he launched cannonball-style into the center of the pool.

The massive splash sprayed me, Maurice, and Janette. Janette shrieked, and Maurice rolled his eyes.

I laughed. "Me too!" I jumped in to chase the kids with Brandon.

"Comme pisser dans un violon," Maurice muttered to himself as he brushed the stray drops of water off his tennis kit. He zipped his racket forcefully into its case, then strode into the house, mumbling more grumpy French idioms under his breath.

Janette stood up.

"I think I"ll get ready for the afternoon too," she said as she put on her caftan. "I"ve got a spinning class in the village at two." She pushed her sunglasses on top of her head to look at me, where I was carrying Christoph on my back. "Are you really going to be okay with them for the entire afternoon? I can tell Marie to come back, you know, if you need a break."

I rolled my eyes. I wished I could be surprised that Janette found it strange to want to spend time with her children, but my life had taught me otherwise.

"We"ll be GREAT!" I yelled before I tossed Christoph off my back to send him flying in the pool with a squeal. "Enjoy your class. We"ll meet you in the village for dinner."

Janette glanced at all of us with a dubious expression, then shrugged. "As you wish. Ciao, darlings. Listen to your sister and be good."

The kids ignored her, too focused on Brandon"s stalking underwater form to answer. Janette left, equally unperturbed.

After chasing the kids for a while Brandon hopped up to where I sat at the edge of the pool and wrapped a wet arm around my waist.

"You going to be all right with them all afternoon?" he asked as he nuzzled my cheek. "I feel bad I have to work."

I leaned into his lips and smiled. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? We"ll be great. I"m actually really excited to spend the day just us. It"s their last day, and I want it to be special."

While my time with Janette and Maurice had been mostly lukewarm and cordial, the last two days had allowed me to truly bond with my siblings. They were adorable kids, and I was already trying to figure out how to see them more often. Brandon had hatched a plan to convince Maurice to send them to one of the boarding schools in the area instead of the school they currently attended in Switzerland.

In response, I got another kiss on the neck. "I don"t know how well I"m going to concentrate," he said, "knowing that you"re running around town in this."

His hands dropped low to play with the side-ties of my bikini bottoms. It wasn"t a terribly skimpy suit, but it was flattering and showed off my curves well. My breath caught in my throat; it had been incredibly hard keeping our hands to ourselves until we were behind closed doors each night. More than once Brandon had dragged me upstairs in the middle of the afternoon to discuss some "business" only to tackle me onto the bed.

"Touché!" Christoph yelped, slapping Brandon on the butt with a loud, wet thwack!

Brandon jumped, the momentary spell between us broken.

"That"s it! One last round of King of the Mountain!" he cried, turning around and diving back into the water after the shrieking, laughing children.

I grinned and dove after them. This weekend wasn"t anything I"d expected, but I was happier than I"d been in months.

~

A few hours later, I was shepherding the kids into town after beachcombing and sand castle-building on Brandon"s property. Chatham was packed for the holiday, but luckily most of the tourists were at some of the other neighboring towns to view the larger fireworks displays. This was apparently the first year that Lighthouse Beach would have a display, so while the beach was already starting to fill with onlookers, it wouldn"t have nearly the crowds that would be at Orleans or Hyannis.

My phone buzzed in my purse, and I pulled it out to find Brandon calling.

"Hey," I said. Christoph and Annabelle stopped at the window of a closed toy store, giving me a moment to chat.

"Hey, beautiful." Brandon"s voice was tense and frustrated.

I frowned at my reflection in the shop window. "What"s wrong?"

He sighed loudly enough that I could hear him, even on the busy street. "We"re kind of wrapped up in the some things here. Maurice asked me to help him with this...deal...he"s trying to put together, and it"s taking more time than I thought. We"re nowhere near done. Do you mind taking the kids to dinner without us?"

I glanced down at Annabelle and Christoph, who were currently debating whether American dollhouses were better than French ones.

"No, it"s fine," I said. "They"ve been great. Are you sure you can"t just take a break, though? You have to eat."

"Unfortunately, not," Brandon paused for a moment. "I"ll tell you more later. We"ll meet you on the beach for the fireworks, okay? Try to get a spot near one of the lifeguard stations so I can find you."

"Okay," I said. "I hope everything is all right."

He heaved another great sigh. "It will be. I think."

We hung up, and I found the kids looking at me expectantly. I pasted on the biggest smile I could. To hell with the fancy farm-to-table place Janette had chosen. If there were ever kids in need of fast food, it was these guys.

"Vous aimez des hamburgers?" I asked.

The instant grins on their faces told me everything I needed to know.

Fifteen minutes later, we were comfortably ensconced at a picnic table outside a local diner, watching tourists ambling around Chatham while we enjoyed our very American meals of burgers, fries, and chocolate milkshakes.

"I"m so glad you guys were able to visit," I said for what must have been the fifth or sixth time that weekend. I meant it, too. "I"ll really miss you when you go back to France. You"ll have to come back and visit."

"Oh, we are not going home," Christoph said casually before taking a monster bite of his burger. For such a small kid, he ate a lot. "Not until Papa can get us back our house."

I frowned, French fry in midair. "What"s wrong with your house?"

"Well, it"s not ours right now. The big men come to take our furniture," Christoph continued before taking a long pull on his milkshake.

"Idiot!" Annabelle hissed next to him. "On ne doit rien dire!"

"You keep forgetting that I can understand you," I remarked calmly, causing Annabelle"s face to turn bright red. "What is it you"re not supposed to tell me?"

Christoph stared at his sister, then shrugged. "C"est notre s?ur." She is our sister, he reminded Annabelle.

Annabelle sighed. "Donc, we had to move. Papa thinks I don"t know that he is in trouble, but I do. The...how do you say...le conduit? For the air?"

She looked to me for help.

"The vent?" I guessed.

She nodded, satisfied. "Oui, the vent in his office, it connected to my room at home. I could hear a lot that he didn"t know." She looked at me with sudden terror. "You will not tell?"

I placed a hand over her small one and tried to look reassuring. "Sisters don"t tell on their sisters."

Annabelle"s small shoulders relaxed, and she smiled. "Bon," she said.

"So, what did you hear?" I asked before I took another bite of my burger.

An uneasy look crossed her face. "I don"t like to listen to him fight with Maman. But I know she was very angry with him about something he did. She said that if he did not get our money back, she would find a way to do it without him. The men came to take our things the next week, and Papa says we are here to try to fix it." She looked up, her large brown eyes full of questions. "Do you know what he needs to fix, Skylar?"

Both of the children"s faces zeroed in on me, unblinking. Clearly, they were both extremely concerned with their father"s situation, what little they knew of it. I gulped.

"Um, no," I said, although now I was certainly curious. Maybe this was what was keeping Brandon.

When Christoph looked like he might cry, I gave him my best "don"t worry" smile. I set my burger down and reach across the table for both of their hands.

"I"m sure we"ll figure it out," I said.

It was all I could say. Both the kids nodded and went back to their meals. Their normal chatter returned as we started speculating about what kinds of designs the fireworks would have.

After dinner, we went to the beach and laid out a blanket. We had bought some cupcakes from a shop in town, and the kids were happy to lay with me, telling stories about France while we waited for the fireworks to begin.

"I wish you came to our house in France," Christoph said. "When you lived there too, I mean."

I squeezed his shoulder. He was a small boy for his age, but solid.

"It"s probably better this way," I said. "When I lived in Paris, you were only a baby. You wouldn"t have remembered me."

"I would remember," Christoph said.

"Me too," Annabelle echoed, and they both burrowed closer to my sides as we watched the sky above us change colors in the twilight.

Just as the sky turned dark and the crowd was starting to hum with anticipation of the main event, Brandon, Maurice, and Janette appeared, bearing flashlights.

"Finally!" Janette cried as we scrambled up. "I thought we"d never find you! Skylar, darling, you really should check your cell phone more often."

Maurice and Janette sat in the front of the blanket, with Annabelle and Christoph on either side of them. Maurice made no move to touch either of his children, but I noticed Christoph sidling closer and closer to his father until their knees touched. Only then did the boy sit still.

Brandon landed on the blanket beside me with a huff just as the fireworks began over the water. Even in the din, I didn"t miss the way he kept glaring at Maurice and Janette.

"Everything okay?" I asked, nudging his shoulder. "I thought you would be here earlier."

I pressed my nose into the crook of his neck and inhaled. His scent was so calming. Brandon reached a hand to briefly clasp my face to him, then pressed an absent kiss on my cheek before releasing me.

"It"s...I"ll tell you about it later," he murmured into my ear after another sharp look at Maurice. "But it"s safe to say that Maurice and Janette aren"t just here on a typical business trip."

I frowned, then dropped my face into a more neutral position when Janette peeked over her shoulder to smile at me.

"I got some vibes like that from the kids at dinner," I muttered while giving her a forced smile. "Why? What happened today?"

Brandon just shook his head and pulled me closer.

"Later," he said again. "I"ll tell you later."

We continued to watch the fireworks, but the familiar knot of stress in my stomach constricted again. Would I ever be able to bring anything else to Brandon"s life besides family drama? The arm around my shoulder tightened, as if Brandon could feel the tension.

"Hey," he said into my ear. "Don"t worry about it. It"s nothing I––we––can"t handle, okay?"

I could see the fireworks reflected in his eyes, which searched mine for reassurance. He didn"t want me to worry, or to bolt, most likely.

"Okay," I said, and moved further into the nook of his shoulder. I only wished my gut felt the same way.

~