Misty Blue (13 page)

“You’re not going to keep telling me nothing is wrong. It’s in your voice. You’re upset about something. Tell me what it is. Maybe I can help.”

“Baby girl, I don’t need a therapist, I need a wife.” He grinned. “This is not the way I wanted us to spend the day. My parents got into a messy fight last night. I caught act one and two.” He saw her lips pull down and sadness fill her eyes.

“No baby, no sadness over this, not today and not ever. They’re adults. They’ll have to work out their problems for themselves. Some people like drama, Mia; they like being miserable and no one can help them out of it. I don’t plan on allowing them to sap my energy or to ruin our day.”

“You’d make a good counselor yourself,” Mia teased.

“I’d rather shovel manure all day and all night at the zoo than deal with all the crap most people come with. Come on, I promised you a ride on the Ferris wheel. After that maybe we’ll walk down to the edge of the pier and listen to a little jazz.” He held Mia’s hand tightly in his own. Their lives would be a hell of a lot different than his parents’ or hers. He would do everything in his power to make sure of that.

At the top of the wheel Damien pulled Mia into his arms and kissed her, wishing that they could stay locked forever inside their safe little box. But they couldn’t and he knew that. As the ride came to an end, Mia begin pulling him towards one of the boats for hire, but then stopped and grinned.

“I’m hungry.”

Damien laughed, wondering where she was putting it all. They had both been eating constantly the entire day. “I can’t believe it but what would you like?” he asked, grinning back at her.

“I want a pretzel.” She kissed him. “I’ll wait here and watch the boats.”

When Damien returned with the pretzel Mia wasn’t where he’d left her. He’d almost panicked, unable to spot her in the increasing fog, when he caught sight of her at the end of the pier staring out at the lighthouse.

Damien stood for a long moment watching Mia. The sight of her took his breath away. Dressed in a silky blue dress that stopped just short of her ankles, she was extending her arms as though inviting the Lake Michigan mist into her soul. He could hear her tinkling laughter as if she were being tickled by unseen hands.

He could stand watching her forever, but she turned and held out her hand for the pretzel, her smile lighting a fire in him and igniting a memory.

“I didn’t know you were aware I was there.”

“I always know when you’re around. Why were you standing there watching me?”

“I was thinking how beautiful you are. I wish I had a picture of the way you looked. Words from a song came to mind as I watched you.”

“What song?” Mia laughed, “You’re making that up.”

“‘You make my whole world misty blue,’” Damien sang in her ear, loving her more with each passing second.

“What?”

“What do you mean, what?” Damien nipped her ear playfully. “The song, you remind me of the song.”

“I have no idea what song you’re talking about.”

“Gladys Knight. You’re kidding, right?” Damien pushed back to look into her eyes. “Mia, if you don’t know ‘Misty Blue,’ I’m afraid I’m going to have to take back your black card.”

He waited a moment until she got it and laughed. Then he pulled her close for a hug. “Come on, let’s go hear some music.” Together they walked away from the end of the pier, the sounds of Motown pulling them toward the open pub a few steps away.

Finding a couple of empty seats was next to impossible. When Damien left saying he was going to check for something closer, Mia gave him a look of skepticism.
Good luck
, she thought. A few seconds later he was back and grinning.

“Okay, Mia, the band is playing this one just for you.”

“‘Misty Blue?’”

“‘Misty Blue.’ Now dance with me,” Damien said softly. “Listen to the words, Mia. This is us. This is how you make me feel.”

* * *

Mia was fighting the jitters that had claimed her in the last few days. Everywhere she went, everyone she talked to thought they should warn her about Damien. She’d stopped going to the club altogether because she realized the women hit on Damien partly because they wanted to, partly to rile her up. Even when the women didn’t choose to confront her face to face, they made nasty insulting remarks they knew she could hear. She was tired of hearing them, tired of the doubt that kept trying to rear its ugly head.

Seeing less of Damien had two side effects, one good, one bad. On the one hand, she had accomplished a lot. With less than a week left until she was married, she was glad they’d taken a day for themselves. She pulled up that memory whenever she felt overwhelmed.

On the other hand, Mia had not seen her brother as much as she would have liked. If she didn’t know better she would think he was avoiding her. But why would he? she thought. Still, Mia realized that she missed him. The quick calls and short visits weren’t nearly enough but that would be remedied soon. Keefe and Ashleigh were taking her out for her birthday.

Not seeing the people that meant the most to her, especially Damien, was the downside to her being so busy. She had not seen nearly as much of Damien as she’d wanted and she missed the reassurance of having his arms around her. In his arms she never doubted.

She looked at the clock. Damien would be there in a few minutes. When the knock came at her door, she was ready. She opened the door with a huge grin, ready to fall into his arms and kiss him.

“About time,” her mother said as the door opened. Mia stared in shock. “Mom, what are you doing here?”

“I talked to Tanisha a couple of days ago. She happened to mention that it was your birthday. Silly me, I’d forgotten. Anyway, you never called me back. Your cousin reminded me you were getting married in a few days, so I figured you’d either forgotten to call me or the message got lost on my machine. I was going to meet a friend in Windsor, so I thought, ‘Hey why not stop in and see my baby girl, stay with her a few days and see her get married all in one shot?’ Are you surprised?”

“Yeah, I guess I am. Lucky for me that my birthday and wedding came at a time when you were on your way to Canada. At least that way you didn’t have to go to any trouble.”

Mia saw her mother’s mouth form a look of surprise. Mia didn’t blame her. She had surprised herself when she heard the words come out of her mouth. She refused to meet her mother’s gaze. Having said it, she didn’t want to change it. In rapid succession the words from her last conversation with her mother came back and try as hard as she could, there was no shoving the memory away.

Mia heard voices on the stairwell and stood for a nanosecond gawking at Keefe and Ashleigh. She managed to say, “Look who’s here,” as she moved aside to allow everyone to enter.

“Are you okay?” Keefe whispered to her as he entered.

Oh how badly she wanted to tell him that nothing was wrong, but his mended fence with their mother was fragile at best. Nevertheless, she gazed directly into her brother’s eyes and whispered, “No, I’m not okay. I don’t want her here.” Then she calmly closed her door, aware there was a crack in her facade, microscopic but there.

The look on Keefe’s face told the story. He was surprised. Mia had never behaved as she was doing now. She was always the one who welcomed their mother with open arms. This time Mia couldn’t even fake it. So she didn’t try.

Another knock sounded on the door and Ashleigh, who was standing there, looked toward Mia for permission, then pulled it open. Mia could tell from the look on Damien’s face he’d been prepared to kiss her and had pulled back on realizing that it was Ashleigh.

“Hey,” he said when he entered the room. Then he stopped and stared.

“Hello. You two must be Ashleigh and Damien. It seems the cat has my childrens’ tongues. Otherwise I’m sure they would not be so deliberately rude as to not introduce their mother.”

Mia blinked, stuttered and looked toward her brother. This was stupid and yes, rude. Though she was trying hard to make the proper introductions, she couldn’t get her mouth to work and was grateful when Damien stuck out his hand. Icy fingers of dread touched the core of her soul as she watched her mother’s reaction to Damien. Her mother gave him a long appraising look and she held on to his hand, not letting it go.

“My, my, my, you are handsome, aren’t you? Mia didn’t lie. And your voice. It makes me melt.”

Mia’s face burned with embarrassment and she glanced once again over at Keefe, not saying a word.

Bless Ashleigh
, Mia thought, as Ashleigh stuck her hand out for her mother to shake, forcing her to release Damien’s. But Mia couldn’t help noticing that even though she’d released his hand, her eyes followed him like a hungry cat. Either Damien didn’t notice or it didn’t bother him, for he came toward Mia and kissed her as though nothing odd had happened.

Her mother shoved a box at her. “Here, Mia, I brought a birthday gift for you.”

“Thanks,” Mia said softly, taking the box and opening it. “Peanut brittle,” she announced, unable to stop herself from once again searching out her brother. His gaze met hers and Mia swallowed the lump of sudden pain.

“Peanut brittle?” Damien asked as he looked at the box in Mia’s hand. “Aren’t you allergic?” he questioned as he took the box. “Do you mind if I have some?” he ripped into the box before Mia could answer.

“He’s right. Mia’s allergic to peanuts, Mom,” Keefe said. “Ashleigh, Damien, meet Lillian Black, the woman who brings her daughter a gift that could kill her.”

And that was everyone’s introduction to their mother.

Mia groaned inwardly, wishing for a moment that she’d handled things differently. She should force herself to smile, to pretend. But she couldn’t. She was rooted to the spot, her skin tingling with awareness. Her mother was there to cause problems. She knew that as surely as she knew she’d allow it to happen. She remembered Damien’s words from the week before: Some people create the drama. Mia wouldn’t deny she’d started the ball rolling with her remarks to her mother.

“Kill her? How would I know that?” their mother said airily. “You can’t expect me to remember everything, now can you?”

It was as though Mia were watching a play. She felt the increasing tension. She shouldn’t have told her brother that she didn’t want her mother there, but it was true. She didn’t. She watched Damien whom she’d never seen eat candy, munching on the peanut brittle. She saw him smiling at her mother and a sense of betrayal tugged at her frayed nerves as she remembered bits of the last conversation she’d had with her mother.
The
first woman that comes along. Oh God, she didn’t want to have those thoughts.
She touched Damien’s arm, needing to look into his eyes, to see—

“This hits the spot,” Damien said. “I wanted something sweet.” He looked toward Mia. “Something edible, some candy. This was perfect.”

Mia smiled. Damien’s words were just what she needed, his jokes and innuendos, his look when his eyes settled on her. She saw her mother staring and she stared back, determined that her mother wouldn’t get to her. She had nothing to fear. Her mother’s vile remarks meant nothing. Damien still wanted her.

There was an intense building up of electrical energy. The room practically sizzled with awareness. In slow motion Mia observed the players and tensed, waiting for the fall-out. She saw the anger in her brother’s eyes and knew he would have his say.

“Damien, I can’t believe you would think peanut brittle is a perfect gift for Mia. Yeah, if she was trying to kill Mia it was perfect.”

Keefe sputtered and all eyes turned in his direction. He was protecting Mia, the same as he’d done her entire life. Mia couldn’t deny that she’d known any negative comments she made about her mother would cause Keefe to rush to her defense, to save her. He always had.

“Keefe, why the hostility? I thought last time I was here we buried the hatchet.” Lillian turned toward Keefe and smiled. “I thought you had forgiven me?”

“I never said that. I said I would try and I have.” He shook his head. “How could any mother not know or care what her daughter is allergic to? Oh forget it, you would never understand.”

“Good. It’s best forgotten. It’s not as though she ate the candy. Come on, big deal. She’s a grown woman. If she ate something that she knew she was allergic to, that would be her fault, not mine. Now enough talk on that. The two of you are making me feel unwelcome. Mia, you haven’t given me a hug. Is something wrong?”

Mia blinked three times in rapid succession, not wanting to turn what was a little thing into something big. She had always hugged her mother but this visit felt different. Something had changed. Mia glanced once at Keefe but still couldn’t move.

“I have a cold,” she lied. “I don’t want you to catch it.”

“You didn’t seem to mind having Damien catch it. I noticed when he kissed you you didn’t move away.”

“I gave it to her,” Damien answered.

Damien stepped alongside Mia and rested his arm around her waist. Mia could have given him another kiss just for that. It was up to her to diffuse the situation. She wouldn’t force Damien into the role of peacemaker for her family. From the look of things he had enough problems of his own on that front. She searched her mind for something that would pull her mother out of the room. Maybe not seeing her, Keefe would declare a cease fire.