Unbound (11 page)

“Lucas, what happened to you last night?” she asked.  Lucas figured the guy must be Olivia’s boyfriend so he moved to allow him to pass.

“It’s
a long story.  Where’s Dani?” H
e would have enough trouble explaining it to Dani.  Olivia’s opinion was the least of his worries.

“Well it’s a good thing we have time since you’re not going to be seeing her.”  Olivia scolded.

“Please, just tell me where she is, Olivia.  I need to see her now,” he begged.

“I don’t know where she is, Lucas.  I stayed in Lindsay’s room to give you two some privacy remember?  She was obviously here because her bed looks slept in and the clothes she was wearing last night are on the floor.  She called me earlier to say she was going away for a few days.  She said not to worry about her and she was leaving before you came to find her.”  Olivia explained.

Lucas sat on Dani’s bed with his head in his hands.  He couldn’t even call her.  His cell phone was missing.  He had ruined everything, again.

“Olivia, do you know if Lindsay said anything to Dani about me last night?”  Shame had his head still hung low, unable to look into her accusing eyes.  Olivia just shrugged her shoulders having no idea what he was talking about.

* * *

Samantha strode into her sister Brandi’s bedroom and flopped onto the bed.  Samantha and Brandi were twins but they were exact opposites.  Samantha was a tall platinum blonde with brown eyes and a bad attitude.  Brandi was a brunette of average height with the Vaughn family sapphire blue eyes and a sweet nature that went well with her geeky, tomboy ways.  Both girls were beauties but Samantha was much more flamboyant. She enjoyed showing off her good looks and long body.  Brandi sat at her computer typing out an email when Samantha intruded.

“To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?” Sarcasm dripped from every word.

“Can’t I visit you, little sister?”  Samantha batted her eyes.

“You’re only eight minutes older than I am.  What do you want?”  Brandi tossed dryly over her shoulder.

“And they say I’m the nasty one?  I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping with me but I can see that was a mistake.”  Samantha climbed off the bed and went toward the door.

“What are you up to, Samantha?”  Brandi was suspicious.  Her sister never searched her out.  Rather, she avoided her at all cost.

“I’m going dress shopping for the gala.  I just thought we could go together.  I’m sorry I asked.”  Samantha turned on her heel.

“Fine, I’ll go with you, Sam.  I need some shoes, too.”  Still suspicious, Brandi followed.

“How many times do I have to ask you not to call me Sam?  I am not a boy.  Do I look like a boy?”  Samantha turned to show off her low-cut mini dress.

“Now that you mention it, you could use a shave.”  Brandi gestured toward her chin.  This lightened the mood and the girls were laughing when they walked past their parents in the dining room.  Griffin and Sarah looked at each other, pleased but a little surprised.  The girls never talked to each other anymore much less spent time together.  It was nice to see them laughing and hopping in the same vehicle to go shopping.

They popped in and out of dressing rooms and posed for each other in an uptown dress shop while attendants provided them with an array of stylish gowns to try on.  They were having fun together for the first time in a long time.  Brandi admired herself in a three-way mirror.  She wore a shimmering silver full-length gown and sparkly silver shoes when Samantha emerged from her dressing room in a white gown adorned with white crystal around the high waist.  It was beautiful, and she was stunning in the gown.

“What do you think of this one?”  Samantha asked as she turned to inspect the view from behind.

“It’s breathtaking on you.  But I don’t know if it’s appropriate for the gala.”

“Oh, this isn’t for the gala.  I’m considering something like this for my bonding ceremony.  What do you think?”  Samantha said this as if Brandi should have known her intentions for the gown.

“Your bonding you say?  I guess there’s nothing wrong with dreaming.”  Brandi smirked.

Now Samantha turned her eyes on Brandi with an intense glare.  “I’m not dreaming.  It’ll be within the next six months if I have anything to say about it.  Don’t tell me you haven’t been listening to the conversations between our parents and the Deidricks.  Why do you think they’ve been spending so much time together?”

“Dad and Mason are
Council
members.  Why wouldn’t they be speaking?  And no I haven’t been listening.  I have no reason to be involved in
Council
matters.”  Brandi pretended to be completely clueless.  She did know about the meetings between the Deidrick’s and her parents.  She had a way of being in the right places to hear things of interest without detection.  It was likely because people never really noticed her in the background but she wasn’t about to tip her hand to Samantha.  She also now understood the reason for this impromptu shopping trip.  Samantha was staking a claim to Chase Deidrick.  She was daring Brandi to oppose her.  Brandi had indeed been listening and she knew the Deidricks preferred her to Samantha.  The Deidricks wanted to bind Brandi to Chase in an effort to join their families and effect a change foreseen by their aunt before she died.  Brandi was in the process of researching the reason for the tension between the two houses, and hopefully the reason for ending it.  Samantha was also in the dark regarding Brandi’s knowledge of her affair with Chase.

“Why don’t you enlighten me, Sam?”  Brandi smiled sweetly.

“They are going to bind me to Chase.  We’ll have children that will join our families and strengthen our position on the
Council
.  I’ve already been in contact with Chase.  We’re waiting anxiously for the gala.  We think they’ll announce the binding then.”  Samantha grinned in triumph, still admiring herself.

Brandi tried in vain not to show the amusement she felt at her sister’s lie.  Chase no more wanted to bind himself to Sam than Brandi did.  “I am so happy for you, Samantha.  I had no idea.”  She crossed the room to embrace her sister.  She would need to move faster to put the puzzle pieces together.

When the sisters arrived at home and carried their new dresses to their respectiv
e rooms they both smiled fake smiles and
each girl went to work planning the other’s downfall.

* * *

When Dani got home that night, she found her mother sitting on the floor of her walk-in closet with her head in her hands and her cell phone in her lap.  They didn’t talk about what had brought her home or what had caused Tessa to hole up in the closet.  Dani helped her up off the floor and they stood holding each other.  Then the two crawled into Tessa’s bed wordlessly.  Tessa held her daughter all night just like when she was a child.  The next morning they ate the big breakfast that Tessa had made in silence.  Each was waiting for the other to start.  Dani really didn’t know why she’d come home.  She only knew that her mother would help sort out the confusion.  So why couldn’t she get the words out?  The phone rang and Tessa went to answer it.

“Hello?”  Tessa turned to look at Dani and mouthed, “Lucas.”
             

Dani shook her head vigorously and mouthed, “I’m not here.”

“No Lucas, she’s not home,” Tessa lied and listened to Lucas’s response.

“I know her car is here but she isn’t.  Can I give her a message?”

“I’ll tell her.  Goodbye.”  She hung up the phone and returned to the table.

“Lucas said he is very sorry and to please give him a call.”  Tessa relayed the message.  “And I will wait until you’re ready to tell me what’s going on sweetheart.”  Then she went back to eating her breakfast.

They did the dishes, Tessa washing and Dani drying as they always had.  Dani was thinking about how simple life had been just a month ago and she couldn’t shake the feeling that it would never be that way again.  Sadness began to well up in her chest and she became consumed by the events of the recent weeks.  The tears spilled down her cheeks and she sat on the floor, leaning against the cabinets.  Sobs began to shake her body and she became swamped by all the fear that had been building up in her heart.

* * *

Tessa sat on the floor taking Dani’s hand in hers.  She turned to face her daughter and was startled by her eyes.  Her irises had gone jet black with no visible trace of her usual beautiful ice blue.  Her eyes looked just like her father’s eyes when he was emotional.  His eyes had also turned if he was feeding or when they made love.  Extreme emotions and need were his triggers.  Tessa said nothing to alert Dani to the difference.

“Mom, I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I don’t know why I can’t get my head on straight and I don’t know what I think you’re supposed to do about it, but I need help.”  She sobbed the words through bouts of hiccupping tears.

“I need you to be more specific for me.  What does this have to with Lucas?  How did he know you were home?”  Tessa was trying to sort out what was going on with Dani without giving away anything Dani didn’t need to know yet.  Dani gave her a blow-by-blow of the situation with Chase and Lucas.  She told her about Lucas drinking and him coming to visit.  She explained how things got out of hand at the party and Lucas had embarrassed her.  She admitted getting drunk and Chase helping her get home, but Tessa was sure there were things left out of the story.  After all, she was still her mother.  The icing on the cake of her story was that she’d woken to discover that Lucas had never showed up at her room.  He’d spent all night out with God knows who, doing God knows what.

Tessa was actually a little relieved.  This sounded mostly like the problem was the stress that starting college had put on her relationship with Lucas.  She could deal with these kinds of problems, but the current state of Dani’s eyes was another situation altogether, and for that she would need back up.

“Sweetheart, this really is to be expected.  You and Lucas were joined at the hip for years.  Now that there’s a little distance between you, you’ll both have to figure out who you are individually.  Boys aren’t as mature as we are so they have more difficulty.  That’s no excuse for his drinking behavior, but that likely has more to do with the people he is filling his free time with now that you’re gone.  Do you think you’re going to be able to get past what happened yesterday?”  Tessa watched Dani mull that over.

“I don’t know.  He was so mean and I really don’t know what happened.  Maybe he doesn’t want to be with me anymore.  Maybe the distance is too
far to maintain a relationship,
”
Dani sighed.

“Do you want to find out what happened?  I can tell you, judging by the conversation I had with him, that he still wants to be with you.  He’s made some mistakes and you’re going to have to deal with him either way.”  Tessa hoped that wouldn’t happen until Dani got her emotions under control, because those eyes were enough to freak anybody out.

“I guess, but it might take me a while to get over it and I feel like that will just make the situation worse.  If he can’t handle the distance between us now, how will he deal with me needing more space to get past this hurt?”

“Tell me more about Chase,”
Tessa pried.

“Chase is beautiful.  Being near him makes me crazy because I want to touch him and I can’t do that.  Being away from him makes me crazy because I want to touch him and I can’t.  And he smells
like sunshine and happiness,”
Dani blurted.

“He smells like what?”  Tessa raised one questioning eyebrow.

“I know.  I know
it’s crazy but I swear he smells like sunshine and I can smell him before I see him.  He came to find me yesterday and I knew he was
on the other side of the door,”
Dani admitted sheepishly.  “I think I’m going crazy, Mom.”  She hung her head again.

“I see.  That actually isn’t crazy.  Your father had quite a sense of smell.  He always said I smelled like vanilla.”  She looked away from Dani, already knowing the answer and fearing the consequences of keeping her daughter in the dark for so long.  “Does anybody else smell strongly?”

“I have been able to smell a lot of odd stuff lately.  Everybody has a smell but some people smell like food and some people are more like plants and flowers.”  Dani leaned into her mother and smiled.  “You do smell like vanilla.”

An odd look crossed Dani’s face and Tessa knew she was surprised to hear her speak of her husband.  “I guess I did inherit some stuff from him.”

“You got a lot from your father.  You have his hair and some of your expressions are totally his. You look very much like him actually.  You just got stuck with my eyes and height.”  Tessa stared off into the distance as if she could see him standing on the other side of the kitchen table.

“You never told me that,” Dani whispered and ran her hand through her hair.

“I fear there are a lot of things I haven’t told you but now is
no
t the time to start
my confessions
.”

“Why not tell me now?”  Dani scoffed.

“Because, Lucas is about to knock on the door and I think you should talk to him.”  Tessa pointed toward the large mirror above the table in the foyer.  They could see from where they sat on the kitchen floor that Lucas was pacing on the porch.