The Contract: Sunshine (23 page)

Sunshine wasn’t sure how to answer that.  She decided the closer she stuck to the truth the better.   “As you have been obviously shocked by this marriage...my family, I’m sure, will have the same mental reservations, once we speak to them.”

“What?”  Hye Da went off in a tirade of Korean.  She put the back of her hand to her forehead and swayed on the sofa until she was leaning to the side in a faint.

The actions of the woman were so dramatic in nature Sunshine started to look around to see if Yoon would jump out and yell, “gotcha!”  

Maybe her husband had hired an actress to pretend to be his mother so he could test how well she will handle the meeting with his
real
mother.

Well he could c
all the Academy Awards because this woman was a winner!

She giggled inwardly from her foolish meanderings. Growing concerned when Yoon’s mother’s face became extremely flushed, Sunshine uncrossed her legs and sat on the edge of her seat, “Are you okay, Mrs. Young?”  She interrupted the scene unfolding before her.

“I...think I’m going to be sick.”  Hye Da fanned her face with her clutched purse.  “Yoon Min is killing his mother.  Oh...bah...oh!   I’m going to die.  I’m going to die...” she fretted.

Sunshine’s eyes grew round.  “Let me get you some water,” Sunshine bound from the chair.  Racing to the kitchen, she quickly put together a tray with bottled water, a crystal goblet of ice
—
not because she was trying to impress but because it was all Yoon had in his kitchen cabinets
,
a clean folded dish towel and as an afterthought a saucer of her chocolate chip cookies and hurried them back into the living room.

Easing down on the sofa next to Yoon’s mother, she placed the tray on the coffee table and poured the bottled water over the glass of ice.   She used some of the ice water to dampen the folded towel before forcing the goblet in the other Mrs. Young’s small delicate hand and wrapped her fingers around the stem to hold it.

“Drink,” she ordered.  “I’m sure you will feel better in a minute.” 

Yoon’s mother moaned.  “Or not.”

She wasn’t sure of anything but she was doing what she did for her mother when she was in the midst of her hysterics and prayed that it would work for Yoon’s mother also. 

Taking the dampened folded towel, she placed it on Mrs. Young’s brow.  When she brushed her hand away to sit up and sip from the glass of water, Sunshine placed the damp cloth behind her neck.

After about five minutes, Mrs. Young seemed to return to herself again.  She straightened out her still impeccable designer dress and placed a hand on her cheeks.  “I...I apologize.  I just can’t believe the son I raised with such fortitude and care would marry a girl who he had not formally sought her family’s permission for her hand.”

Sunshine’s eyes grew wide and she was prepared to catch her if she should swoon again for her cheeks were looking puckish again.

“This is why you’re so upset?’  She asked with surprise.  That was an unexpected turn.

She waved Sunshine off.  “You wouldn’t understand.  You’re not a parent, but your mother will.”  She took another sip of water.  “What your mother must think of me as a mother.”

She’s thinking thank God you are wealthy and so is your son.  Can you spot me a loan until my daughter comes into her inheritance or I marry again?  Whichever.  
Sunshine bit the inside of her bottom lip to keep from laughing at her thoughts.

“Hey, sweetheart!”  Sunshine looked towards the foyer expectantly.  “I have two hours in between clients and I hope you’re already naked,” Yoon called out, racing pass the living room, undoing his tie and shrugging off his suit jacket.

There was a pregnant pause.

As quickly as Yoon had passed by, he was back standing in the doorway of the living room.  The look on his face was priceless.

“
Uhm-ma
, Mother.”  He sounded as if he was two years old again.  His clothing was askew and his expression looked as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t be doing.

She heard double light popping sounds in the deafening silence of the room. 
Mother and son were more alike than not
.

Sunshine lost it.  She threw back her head and let out a great peel of laughter.

Both looked at her as if she had lost her mind, but it was Yoon’s face that was the first to soften into a smile.  His laughter floated up from his throat, deep, warm, rich and marvelously infectious.

God I do love this man
.  Sunshine thought. 
He takes my breath away and I will do whatever it takes to convince him and his mother that I am right where I belong.
 

She was too busy admiring her husband’s laughing face to see the change that had come over her mother-in-law’s expression as she looked from one to the other.

The corners of Hye Da’s mouth slowly turned up in a genuine smile.  The affectionate look her son was giving Sunshine wasn’t lost on her.  Nor was the fact she didn’t remember the last time she heard her son laugh or had seen him look so happy.  Her eyes watered.

Nothing like a good frolic in the moonlight...

Yoon looked over at Sunshine as they sat in the car in the drive of the looming mansion estate.  He was as impressed by the beauty of the property as much now as he was the first two times he visited.  However, it was the first time he’d been here after sunset and it was even more impressive. 

He still found it hard to picture the woman he caught sneaking out of the restaurant was the same woman that grew up in a house like this.

The soothing muffled sounds of the Parisian style water fountain that decorated the outer courtyard could be heard from inside the car.  They had been sitting there for the last ten minutes with Sunshine looking no more ready to go inside now than she had when they arrived.

He put a hand behind her neck and massaged the sexy slope from nape to shoulder in gentled kneading strokes.  “Sweetheart, the sooner we get in there, the sooner we can leave.”

“I know.”

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look this evening?” 

And she did look beautiful, dressed in an elegant simple black tea-length sheath dress with a modest back split, boat neckline, back drape and a decorative diamond and pearl brooch pinned to the front over her heart.  Finishing off her outfit were pearl earrings, black stockings and black kitty heel open toe shoes that adorned her feet.

When he first saw her, his first thought after he was able to breathe again was all she needed was a hat, a pair of shades and a cigarette holder and she would look like she walked out of the movie
Breakfast at Tiffney’s
.

If Yoon hadn’t met her grandmother already and seen the care she took in her own lovely appearance, he would have thought Sunshine was overdressed for the summoned “family dinner.”

“You did.”  She gave him a half smile.  That was a start.  “Even if I didn’t feel beautiful at first, when I saw how you looked at me I felt like it was true.”

He leaned towards her with his hand still resting on the back of her slender neck.  “That’s because it’s the truth and no matter how you have been made to feel in the past by your family, it doesn’t matter now.”

“Doesn’t it?”  She fretted. 

The sadness he saw in her eyes tugged at his heart. 
Their lovemaking was so good it frightened him.  He wasn't quite certain what he'd expected, but he'd never imagined that Sunshine would have so many facets to her:  bold and insatiable, guileless and unsure, both aggressive and giving, seductive and nurturing.

He'd wanted to withdraw and consume her at the same time, and his little mental battle was confusing the hell out of him.

“Sunshine, most women try to look beautiful because they are trying to catch the eyes of a man.  You now have a man who can’t take his eyes off of you.  When I spoke to your grandmother--”

“You spoke to my grandmother?”  She squeaked out her question.

“As if I had a choice?”  He half smiled.  “I came to speak with Mrs. Dupree the day after mother gave me...uh...long scolding about my manners.”

“Scolding,” Sunshine eyes twinkle with mirth.  “She beat you over the head with her purse.  I’ve never seen a woman with legs that short move so fast.”

“She’s had plenty of practice,” he laughed.  “And she does have a way of never having to repeat herself,” he shook his head.  “But I realized what she said was true and I came here to apologize.

“How did it go?” 

Her eyes searched his face and he looked out the window at nothing in particular when he answered, “Nothing really.”  He shrugged his shoulders.  “She extended the invitation for us to come to dinner tonight.”  He looked down at his other hand intertwined with her fingers on her lap. 

“Really?”  He could hear the suspicion in her voice.  “Nothing else?  Not one threat?  You want me to believe she didn’t even mention disowning me?”

“I think with enough contriteness about my behavior she will eventually come around.”  His head lifted and he winked at her.

“Yeah, but she can be scary, Yoon,” Sunshine chuckled. 

“I thought I was the big bad wolf in this fairytale.”  He nodded with a big grin.  Her wedding band glimmered from the outside spotlights illuminating the front of the mansion causing him to look at their intertwined hands again.

Seeing the ring on her finger puffed him with pride.  Sunshine was his wife. 
My pretty African American wife
.  How surreal was that thought.  He swore it wouldn’t ever happen but with each passing day he was growing more accustomed to the idea.

Yoon had quickly become attached to walking in the house and finding someone there that he could talk, laugh and snuggle with.  He was not one to but she was and she was distracting enough with her mouth and hands to not make him feel as if he was just sitting when he could be doing something important.

Time was already flying by.  He imagined the year was going to pass quicker than he first imagined.  Sunshine wasn’t only his wife and lover, she was becoming his friend.  Yoon didn’t know one could have so much fun with a woman outside of bed. 

“Yoon?”  She touched his face.  “Did you hear me?  I know I’m being cowardly but I don’t want to go inside yet.”

He released an inward groan.  Sophia Dupree hadn’t asked him to bring her granddaughter to dinner tonight, she had demanded it.  Also he didn’t want to tell Sunshine, but she did issue threats, but not about her inheritance.

“Sunshine...”

“I know,” her head dropped.  “You’re disappointed in me.  Here I am, wanting to continue to run from my family after you faced your mother.”

“Remember she was waiting on me when I arrived home.  I can’t say I would have been ready yet to face her and my father if she hadn’t.”  His features took on a reflective look.  “If you ask me, it went so well because you won her over before I got there.”

“Yeah, sure I did.”  She rolled her eyes.

Someone stepped out of the house and Sunshine scooted down in her seat.

“Don’t worry,” he sighed.  “It’s looks to be someone from the staff coming outside to smoke a cigarette.”

“Here I thought I had made some progress since I’ve been with you,” Sunshine said.  “I’m too embarrassed for you to even look at me.  What kind of person hides from their own family?”

“A person like me,” Yoon ground the words out between his teeth.  “I know you remember the grown man that asked a stranger to lie for him to a pretty decent lady just so he wouldn’t have to face his parents and give in yet again to their wishes.”

Happy though he may be at this moment with Sunshine, no amount of happiness would change their shady beginning.  If he could do it all over again he would admit to himself that he was attracted to her voice before he saw her and after he saw her, he desired her.

His contemptuous tone sparked her anger, “You know you’re going to have to let go of that guilt if we are going to be able to move forward.”

“How can I if it’s the truth Sunshine?”

“If we are going to talk truths,” she began looking him in the eyes.  “Then the truth is I could have accepted responsibilities for my actions and walked away from the situation by walking back into that restaurant and speaking with that manager.”

“You didn’t handle the situation that way because of the situation with your family,” he murmured feeling the need to relieve her of any responsibilities.

Why?  Because since she told him she loved him he had been feeling guilty as hell.

He didn’t have a good track record in relationships period.  She only knew about his failed marriage.  She had no idea about all the failures he had afterwards.  It got so bad he deliberately started going after beautiful women that wanted him for his money.  This was something he could relate to.  He didn’t have to cater to any of her emotional demands because he didn’t have any emotional ties to her.  When she started clinging he would buy her an expensive gift, pat her on the ass and send her on her way.