Page 109 of Legally Mine
Chapter 25
It seemed I couldn't quite get away from family. Brandon and I went back to New York after enjoying the delicious spread that Bubbe laid out Friday night, despite her many attempts to convince us to stay the night. When she promised blintzes, I could tell that Brandon was tempted.
Unfortunately, I had none of my study materials with me, and on top of that, Janette had already cornered me and Brandon into brunch the next day. She and I had traded a few phone-calls over the week, and she had been insistent on getting more quality time with me so I could meet my half-siblings. It was hard to say no to that.
"Your mom's in town?" Dad had asked, trying and failing to mask his obvious curiosity when we had mentioned it on the way back out to the car after dinner.
"With her husband and kids," I had said in a tone that I hoped told him to leave it.
Dad definitely didn't need to fall down the Janette Chambers black hole again. He was already vulnerable enough. Behind us, Bubbe had rubbed her forehead and muttered something about a "shiksa hussy." She couldn't stand my mother, having been forced to fill her role in Dad's and my lives for the last twenty-six years. It probably didn't help that she was being shirked for a brunch date with Janette.
~
"You really don't have to come," I said again as David pulled the car up in front of the Stillwater Hotel just before eleven. "It's not exactly private."
We were having brunch in the hotel restaurant, a swanky spot that catered to wealthy businessmen and local politicians. We would be on full display to many of the same people who, if they hadn't been present at last weekend's benefit, would have almost certainly heard about the drama.
Brandon picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles, nipping at the last one in a way that made my skin prickle with something much more than nerves. Although he'd woken me up that morning with attention that had should have sated any desire I felt, I was still humming for more.
"Our cover's blown now, Red," he said with a lopsided smile. "Silver lining is, we don't have to hide anymore." He cupped my face, running a thumb over the contours of my lips. "Come on. Let me meet the rest of your family. I promise they'll like me."
I smiled into his kiss, trying and failing to curb the mounting desire his lips and tongue caused. Just as I was starting to curl my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, he pulled away with a satisfied, cat-who-ate-the-canary grin. He watched with obvious satisfaction as I struggled to fix my hair and smooth my dress.
"Easy for you," I muttered as we stepped out of the car. "It would take a tornado to make you look like less than a million dollars. One kiss and I look like a windswept tomato."
Brandon laughed and glanced down at his outfit. He wore a perfectly pressed, blue and white gingham shirt and navy pants, paired with a cognac-colored belt and matching shoes. His wavy blond hair was combed back, and his bright blue eyes matched the color of the sky. He looked picture perfect for a Saturday brunch. I looked reasonably nice in my gray sundress and brown sandals, but I couldn't light a candle to him.
He wrapped a long arm around my waist and pulled me close for another kiss. "I'm nothing compared to you, Red."
We were led to a table in the middle of the crowded restaurant where Janette, Maurice, and two children sat. Of course Janette had requested the most visible spot in the restaurant. She was always one who basked in the attention of others.
"Brandon!" she cried as she hopped out of her seat.
Tasteful as ever, she wore a light floral skirt and green silk shirt that brought out the color of her––our––eyes, her light brown hair tied at the nape of her neck. Pearl-and-diamond earrings swung from her ears, matching the necklace she wore and the sparkling tennis bracelet at her wrist. Maurice wore tailored slacks and a button-down white shirt, and the children, from what I could see, both wore equally prim outfits. They were the perfect picture of an upper-class French family.
Janette leaned in to accept a kiss on the cheek from Brandon, who then reached across the table to shake Maurice's hand before sitting down. I accepted French-style, double-cheek kisses from both Janette and Maurice with some surprise; this was the friendliest Maurice had ever been to me. The two children at the table, a boy and girl who weren't older than ten, watched all of us.
"So good of you both to join us," Janette said as we all took our seats. "Mes petites puces, ça c'est votre sœur," she introduced me to the children. "Skylar, this is Annabelle and Christoph."
Despite the endearments their mother used to address them, neither child responded to her, choosing instead to watch me with open curiosity.
"You may have to brush up on your French a bit, darling," Janette said to me. "They're still learning English."
"My English is very good, Maman," a small voice with a very thick Parisian accent piped up from across the table. The older child, the girl, looked pointedly at her mother with clear green eyes she'd inherited from Janette, just like me. "And Christoph can understand everything, even if he still cannot say very much."
Beside her, the little boy, whose fringe of brown hair topped a pair of wide brown eyes, nodded broadly as he sipped from a plastic cup with a straw.
Janette cleared her throat and took a sip of her drink, which looked like a mimosa. "They go to a very good school."
A waiter came by to take our orders and deliver drinks. I hoped that another round of mimosas and food would calm everyone's nerves.
"So, what are you doing in town?" Brandon asked Maurice after the waiter had left. "Boston seems a little outside of your scope at BNP."
He had taken my hand again under the table and held it securely on his lap.
"Maurice is here to help the new BNP Boston office negotiate an expansion. They are trying to land Rick Avery's portfolio," Janette said before Maurice could respond. She looked coquettishly at Brandon. "Of course, I'm sure he wouldn't mind a meeting with the CEO of Sterling Ventures as well."
"Tais-toi, Janette," Maurice cut her off sharply. "Pay no mind to my wife," he said more jocularly to Brandon with an extremely Gallic roll of his eyes. "She often speaks without thinking."