A Christmas Affair (8 page)

Shocked, Corona dropped her blush brush and jerked around on her small chair. “She did not!”

“Oh, she most certainly did,” he said, laughing and shaking his head. “That was about a minute before she said that she didn’t know how she felt about having a
white
father.”

Corona’s mouth stretched wider.

Rowan turned away from the full-length mirror with his tie perfectly aligned. “It’s okay. I know that she’s just acting out. It’s been the two of you for so long, so now she doesn’t want to share. I get it.”

“That’s still no excuse,” she said, finally finding her voice. Melody was certainly a beautiful child, but Corona wasn’t blind to the fact that her child was a handful. “Tomorrow when she comes back from her sleepover, we’re going to have a looong talk.”

Rowan shook his head. “Nah. Don’t do that.”

“But—”

“I have to win her over on my own,” he said, strolling across the spacious bedroom and settling his hands on her shoulder. “If you go running off and reprimanding her every time we talk, then she’s going to stop talking to me all together.”

“But—”

“Trust me on this.” Rowan tilted up her chin. “I used to pull this same stunt on every one of my stepmothers.”

Corona lifted a brow. “You chased them all away?”

“Nah. My father’s habitual cheating took care of that. I just didn’t see the point in being nice to them if they weren’t going to stick around.”

“Is that supposed to reassure me?”

“Yes.” He leaned down and brushed a kiss against her lips. “Once Melody sees that I’m not going anywhere, then she’ll open up.”

It made sense, but Corona remained dubious.

“Trust me,” he repeated.

“All right.” She shrugged. “My lips are sealed—but you
will
tell me if she says something that’s really out of line, right?”

He held up his hands. “Scout’s honor.”

Corona cocked her head as she narrowed her eyes.

“All right. I was never a scout, but I did play one on TV once.” He winked.

“Ha. Ha.” She stood and headed over to her jewelry chest. While she picked out a pair of loop diamond earrings, her gaze settled on the small golden band with a tiny diamond chip in the center, and suddenly she felt a tightening in her chest. She reached and brushed her finger over the ring, but didn’t pick it up.

“Medlody will be fine,” Rowan said, coming up behind her. “Trust me on this.”

“I didn’t say—”

“You didn’t have to.” He brushed a kiss against the back of her shoulder. “It’s written all over your face.”

Corona drew a deep breath. “You know me so well.”

“I’d like to think I do.”

She turned around and allowed him to pull her into his arms. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well … usually by the time a man proposes to a
woman,” he began, peppering her nose with kisses, “he has met his future in-laws.”

Corona tensed and tried to pull out of his arms. “I … just … I don’t know if—”

“All right.” He held up his hands. “I didn’t mean to stress you out or anything. Let’s just calm down and try to have a good time tonight. You think that we can do that?”

Corona chugged in another deep breath and nodded.

“Then can I at least get a smile?” He tilted his head and waited until her lips thinned out into a smile. “That’s my girl.” He swiped another kiss on her lips and then gave her a loving smack on the ass. “We better hurry. We don’t want to be late to our own party.”

Ask him, she urged herself.
“Uh … Rowan, there’s something that I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Oh?” He reached for his evening jacket.

“Yeah.” She tried to force casualness into her voice. “You didn’t happen to have stumbled on to any of my … books in the walk-in closet, have you?”

He turned with a raised brow. “You read while you’re in your closet?”

“No … no. I don’t read in there. It just happens to be where I store some of my personal things.”

His confusion deepened.

“Oh, never mind,” she said, convinced that he didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. “It’s not a big deal.” Maybe she had just imagined that her secret hideaway had been tampered with.

Rowan walked over and wrapped his arms around her again. “Did you lose a book or something?”

“No. It’s just … Please forget about it. Let’s just get to this damn party so this evening can be over with.”

Rowan lifted a brow. “An interesting way to view our engagement party.”

“Nooo. I didn’t mean it like that.” Why did she keep putting her foot in her mouth? “Really, baby.” She lifted up on her toes and delivered a quick kiss. “I’m excited about the party.”

“And the wedding?”

She swallowed and had trouble pushing up a smile. “And the wedding.”

An hour later, Corona and Rowan smiled and mingled through a swarm of guests offering them congratulations and well-wishes. Since it was the holidays, the decor was a combination of white Christmas and romantic soft pinks. It was a rare event when she was the center of attention in a room of so many celebrities and industry elite. Usually, she was promoting a client, not herself. Nights like tonight reminded her why she liked being behind the scenes. The whole process was exhausting and overwhelming. It was nothing like things were back home, where there was just a natural ease in talking to people you’d known your entire life.

She frowned at that last rogue thought. How many times have she been thinking about home lately?

“You two must be sooo happy,” Danica Foxx said, appearing out of nowhere.

Corona blinked, surprised to see her fiancé’s ex at
her
engagement party. “As a matter of fact, we are.” She tightened her hold around Rowan’s waist for support.

“Good.” Danica’s lips thinned into a flat line. “After all, it’s all I’ve ever wanted for Rowan—for him to be happy.”

“You could’ve fooled me,” Rowan snickered, then lifted his drink and downed the contents in one gulp.

The woman’s red lips smiled, but her faux mink lashes blinked one time too many.

Back off, bitch,
Corona tried to convey the message telepathically through her own narrowed gaze. “Excuse me, but what in the hell are you doing here?” she asked with her old southern-charm voice.

“Oh, I guess Wahida didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what?” Corona asked.

“Oh, there you are, dahhling,” Wahida James cooed. She plowed through her guests like a Mack truck and didn’t bother to see how many bodies she left in her wake. “I thought that you would never get here.”

Danica turned with a bright Hollywood smile and greeted the woman with a dramatic embrace and an exchange of air kisses. “Of course I made it. Who could say no to one of your fabulous parties?”

“How about when you’re not welcomed at one?” Corona challenged.

Wahida pretended to be offended. “Why, Chloe, where are your manners? Danica is a close friend of the family. I only invited her because I knew that she didn’t hold any ill-feeling just because things didn’t work out between her and Rowan.”

Danica bobbed her head, but the smile on her face resembled a Cheshire cat. “Absolutely. I didn’t mean to offend or upset you. I thought that since Rowan and I will be working together in London next week that everything was good between us.”

“What?” Corona turned toward her fiancé. “You didn’t tell me that she was in the movie.”

Danica laughed while Rowan tried to take another gulp of his drink, only to be reminded that it was empty.

“Ah. Ah. Ah. Looks like someone is back to his bad boy ways,” said Danica.

Rowan cleared his throat. “Didn’t I? Maybe I just assumed you knew since it had made the trade papers.”

“You assumed?” Corona repeated, feeling heat rush up her neck and face.

“I, uhm … “ Rowan finally caught sight of a passing waiter and launched at him like a NASA rocket, trying to get at another drink.

Left standing alone in front of Wahida and Danica, Corona sucked in a deep breath. “Well, at any rate, I find extending an invitation to an ex-girlfriend highly inappropriate, Wahida. In the future I’d appreciate it if you’d check with me before inviting any more of Rowan’s ex-girlfriends to parties that we’re attending.”

Without missing a beat, Wahida shrugged. “If you’re trying to avoid women that my son has slept with in this city, or in any other town, then you’re going to leave me with hardly anyone to invite.”

“Ain’t that the truth.” Danica snickered.

Great. These two heifers were a tag team. “Whatever, I need some air.” Corona turned and plowed through the people who were standing behind her. She just happened to be by the door when she heard a loud knock. “Good Lord. More people?” She glanced around Rowan’s apartment and wondered where they were to put more people.

Dismissing the urge to march past it, she stopped, downed the rest of her drink and then painted on a smile. But when she opened the door, the smile melted right off as her gaze crashed into her mother.

“Mom.”

“Hello, dear,” her mother greeted nervously as she pulled another body in front of the door.

“Daddy?”
Corona’s champagne glass slipped from her hand and crashed to the floor.

“H
ello, Corona Mae,” her father said, flatly.

The hair on the back of Corona’s neck jumped to attention at the sound of her father saying her name. Her heart, which was rolling around in her Prada shoes, started pounding in double time.

Despite the full graying of his hair, the hard grooved lines in his forehead and the even smaller lines around his eyes, he looked the same. Before she could contain it, a swell of love poured from her heart while her vision blurred with a rush of tears.

Standing next to him, her mother was smiling with her own streams of tears pouring down her face. “Our baby,” she whispered, clutching her husband’s arms. “Rufus, look at her. Doesn’t she look beautiful?”

He nodded while his Adam’s apple bobbed fiercely in his throat. “She’s a dead ringer for her mother.” Slowly,
he opened his arms. “I hope it’s not too much to ask for a hug … “

Corona stood there blinking like an idiot. When she realized that everyone was looking at her, she pushed on a smile, but the damn thing refused to stay up. When she tried to get her legs to move forward, there seemed to be a short circuit somewhere between her brain and her muscles.

“Chloe?” Rowan said, moving to her side. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

“That wasn’t exactly the response I was looking for.” Her father chuckled awkwardly.

If they were waiting for her to fill the void, they were going to be waiting a long time, because Corona was convinced that her drink had been spiked and she was seeing things. That was the only explanation for what she was seeing.

Her father’s arms started to close, and her parents’ smiles faltered.

Rowan spoke up. “Honey, who do we have here?” He turned on his box office smile while he waited for an answer.

“Uhm, sweetheart, this is uhm, my … parents.”

“You’re kidding.” Rowan’s face fell, but in the next second he regained his composure. “Well, welcome! C’mon in,” he said, enthusiastically seizing her father’s hand and working it like an old water pump. “Oh, Mr. Banks, I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to finally meet you.”

“Uh … same here.” Her father guffawed and seemed concerned that the famous actor was trying to unhinge his arm.

“I can’t believe this,” Rowan said. “Chloe and I were
just talking about my meeting her family—and here you are.” He finally released her father’s arm.

Her father’s gaze shifted over to her. “Chloe,” he repeated, twisting his face. “Is that what you’re calling yourself now? I thought that was just a typo on the invitation.”

Corona blinked at him. “Invitation?”

Rowan released her father’s hand to turn toward her mother. “Mrs. Banks,” Rowan said, stretching his arms wide. “Now I see where my fiancée gets her looks. I swear that you can pass as her twin sister.”

Adele Banks’s entire face flushed a deep burgundy as Rowan swept her into his arms to give her a big bear hug. Of course, the tears hadn’t stopped streaking down her face since the moment Corona had opened the door, and they had ruined her makeup.

“What happened here?” Rowan looked down at the shattered glass he was stepping on.

Corona cleared her throat. “I, uhm—dropped my glass.”

“She was just so surprised to see
us,
” her mother said.

“Well, she’s not the only one,” Rowan said and then signaled for someone to come clean up the glass. “I know someone else that will be pleased to meet you, too.”

He looked around the room and Corona’s heart squeezed inside her chest. “Rowan, sweetheart, you don’t have to—”

“Mother,” he shouted just a decibel above the chattering crowd and the tinkling Christmas tunes coming from the piano player. “Mother, come here for a moment.”

Wahida’s head popped up like a weasel and, before
Corona could do anything about it, the woman was plowing back through the crowd, ignoring the many feet and ankles she tramped on. “Yes, dear? What is it?” She shifted her cool blue eyes from her son over to their newest guests.

Corona caught a waiter passing by and grabbed herself a new drink. It wasn’t until she tossed it back and glanced at her parents, that she thought that perhaps she should have offered to get them something to drink, too.

“I want to introduce you to Chloe’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Banks.”

“That’s Rufus and Adele to you,” her father corrected and then cut another nervous glance at Corona. “After all, we’re about to be family now. Right?”

Corona glanced around for another waiter, but none were visible at the moment.

“Ahh. Rufus and Adele. I’m pleased to see that you received my invitation.”

Corona’s head swung back and forth. “What?”

“Yes, we did,” her mother answered, smiling. “It was so nice of you to reach out to us.”

“Wait a minute,” Corona said, wishing that she hadn’t been so hasty in chugging down her champagne. “
You
invited them?”

The corners of Wahida’s smile nearly touched both ears. “Of course, dear. What kind of engagement party would it be without inviting your parents?”