Chapter 3
When Emily got home that evening, two things were running through her mind. How dinner would go and how she was supposed to face great aunt Catherine. She walked to her room and took a long shower before she put on a pair of blue stonewash jeans and a long white sleeveless top. She chose that particular top because it was perfectly low cut so she could show off her generous cleavage. She was willing to do anything that would spark up a conversation…no an argument with her great aunt. Maybe it was about time someone put her in her place. She looked into the mirror as she applied her makeup. She went for a smoky eye look and red lipstick. She had just finished curling her hair when she heard her doorbell. She took one last look at her reflection before she walked out of her bedroom.
“Hey…I thought you were coming to prepare all the food here,” she said when she saw Alex and his driver standing at the door. They had bags and containers of what Emily immediately assumed contained food.
“I was coming to make dinner for you,” Alex said with a smile. “And I was kind of called into an emergency meeting sometime in the afternoon so…I kind of had to outsource everything,” he added as the two men walked into the apartment. She walked to the dining table and set it as Alex said something to the driver before the two walked to the door. She was placing a pitcher of water on the table when Alex came back in. He looked at her and she looked back at him.
“You look great,” he said in a whisper. She smiled and looked at him. It was almost too perfect that he was in a suit, as usual.
“You look pretty dashing too,” she said.
“Do you think this is a good idea? I mean if I remember correctly, great aunt Catherine had the ability to bite your head off,” Alex said.
“Yeah, back then she was picking at a child. Now I’m a woman who can fight back. Let’s see what she is going to do about that,” she said as she walked to the kitchen counter and began emptying the food containers into serving bowls. He walked up to where she was and stood behind her with his hands on her waist. He pressed his nose into her hair and inhaled deeply as he pressed his hips into her ass.
“You smell so good,” he said in a low voice. She instinctively turned her head to the side and bit her lower lip as she felt him pressing his hips into her ass. It was like she was totally and completely defenseless in his arms.
“Alex...stop it,” she said in a whisper as he began kissing her neck. He was caressing her folds and making her think of what it would be like to have him take her on that counter right there and then. He turned her around and kissed her deeply making her moan. The sex dream she had was still fresh in her mind and the fact that it had been quite a while since she and Alex got together was not helping. “Alex,” she said again as she closed her eyes. He kissed her again before he pulled away from her.
“This night cannot be over fast enough,” he said in a whisper just as they heard a knock on the door. She looked at him and smiled.
“Show time,” she said in a whisper.
“Don’t get too worked up, okay?”
She nodded before she made her way to the front door. When she got to the door, her heart was already racing. She suddenly began thinking how everything was a bad idea. How she should have maybe just stuck to what she had done for so many years…ignore Catherine. But at the same time, something in her was screaming at her to end this once and for all. She opened the door and found a nervous looking April and a super conservatively dressed Catherine standing at her doorstep. She looked at the two women and forced a smile.
“Hey guys,” she said.
“Hey, Em. You look great,” April said as she took a step forward and gave Emily a quick hug.
“Thanks. You don’t look so bad yourself,” Emily said. She looked at Catherine and once again tried to smile but she just couldn’t give her the real thing. Whatever smile she was wearing was more fake than…she couldn’t even compare it to anything. “Hey Aunt Catherine,” she said in a soft voice.
“Emily. It is nice to see you,” Catherine said. Her eyes wandered to her cleavage and then back to her face. “Do you have a scarf or something? That thing you are wearing is practically giving away the goods,” Catherine said as she walked into the apartment leaving a not so stunned Emily standing there.
“And so it begins,” she thought as she closed the door…
Back when she was in the sixth grade, all Emily wanted to do was play lead in the school musical. Initially, the school was supposed to do their own version of Wicked but for some reason, things changed. Instead of Wicked, the school was supposed to be doing an urban version of Boy Meets Boy. She could remember how excited she had been when she signed up. This would be the first time the world would get to see her showing off her talent…her beautiful voice.
Mrs. Dane, the drama teacher had told her that her rendition of Marilyn Monroe’s Diamond are a girl’s best friend was the best she had ever heard. And that too, only at twelve years of age. Emily was excited. She was sure that this musical would be the step up to her dream of one day being on Broadway.
When she broke the news to her father Frank and stepmother, Kelsey, they were both overjoyed. But all that soon turned sour when great aunt Catherine heard about it. The words she had said to Emily were imprinted on her for life. There was no telling if she could ever recover from being told such harsh things.
No self-respecting person would ever dream of being in a musical…Singing is not a career, it’s a hobby…the only people who choose to make music a career turn out to be whores. Do you know what whores are, Emily? Whores are women who choose to sing rather than study and they…
Emily shook her head. The memory was too fresh in her mind, raw even. She rubbed the back of her neck and walked to the living room. Catherine was seated next to April looking around like a young child in a new place. It was almost like she wanted everyone there to know that she was uncomfortable.
“So, Aunt Catherine, what have you been up to? I haven’t heard from you in ages,” Emily said.
“I live just a couple of hours away, you could always come over and see me but for some reason you choose not to,” Catherine said. She looked at Emily and at that moment, the room was so tense you could have heard a pin drop.
“I’ll just finish setting up,” Emily said as she walked out of the room. She walked back to the kitchen and went on transferring the food from the containers into serving bowls. She could hear Catherine giving some cockamamie story about when she was younger. For all Emily cared it could very well have been a lie. When she was done setting the table she walked back to the living room and stood next to Alex who looked down at her.
“You okay?” he mouthed and Emily nodded.
“Alright, everyone. You can come to the table,” Emily announced with a smile.
The initial minutes of dinner were okay…not good but okay. Emily could actually stand it but as the time moved on, it became apparent that things were about to take a turn for the worse. There would be long uncomfortable silences that even the music playing in the background wouldn’t make any better.
“Have some chicken, Aunt Catherine. I hope you like it. Alex made it,” April said as she passed the dish she was holding to her aunt. Catherine looked at the bowl for a long time before she served up some food on her plate. Ever since she sat down, she had only had some salad and that too while complaining that it didn’t have enough dressing. Alex looked at her and raised the bottle and shrugged.
“Would you like some wine?” he asked but Catherine shook her head.
“I do not consume alcohol,” she said.
“Some juice then? Water maybe?” Emily asked as she looked at her aunt.
“Water will do,” she said as she poured herself a glass of water. “Well, well Emily. What have you been doing with yourself?”
“Nothing much, Aunt Catherine. Just working mostly,” Emily said with a smile.
“And what is it that you do?” Catherine asked.
“I’m a stock manager,” Emily said proudly. Catherine looked at Emily for a long minute before she turned her attention to Alex.
“So, Alex.” She started as she took a bite of her food. “How is everything?”
Alex looked at Emily and then at April before he cleared his throat.
“Um…everything is fine. Can’t complain,” he said in a soft voice.
“How is business going?” Catherine was getting to something that Emily just couldn’t understand. She looked at him and took a bite of her own food.
“It’s better than ever, actually. It’s never been better,” he said with a smile. Catherine smiled.
“That’s great and April told me that your company is spread out in various states?” she said. Alex nodded.
“I first set up the headquarters in Silicon Valley but everything slowly spread out across state lines. I guess there are more start-up companies than I thought possible.” He took a sip of his wine. Emily couldn’t help but notice the proud smile he had. She looked at him and then at her aunt wondering what this was all about.
“Start-up companies?” Catherine asked and Alex nodded. “What is it you do exactly?” she pressed.
“I basically have my ear on the ground for people who are looking to get into business…mostly new age companies like app developers and such…businesses that actually show promise as far as keeping up with the trends is concerned,” he explained.
“And you acquire these companies?” Catherine asked. Both Emily and April knew that she was probably not understanding anything. For all they knew, she could have very well been feigning interest.
“No, I fund them,” Alex said. Catherine frowned and Emily could tell that Alex was trying hard to explain everything to her as simply as he could. “I basically come in as an investor,” he said and finally Catherine nodded. She looked at Emily and shrugged.
“So, these companies you fund, are there any women there or is it a man’s world out there?” she asked.
“Actually, it’s a pretty fair world out there. We rarely have cases of a place with too many males compared to females and vice versa,” he said. Catherine took another bite of her food and looked at Emily before she looked at Alex.
“Then why didn’t you start up something with one of the women there? Why did you have to go after your sister?” she asked. Emily rolled her eyes.
“And here I thought you were genuinely interested in our lives,” she thought.
“Aunt Catherine, you do realize that these two have no blood relation whatsoever, right?” April asked. Catherine shook her head.
“No, no. At some point her father was married to his mother and…” she started before Emily cut in.
“Was being the operative word. They divorced, remember?” she asked. Catherine shook her head.
“Don’t you see it? This family has sins over sins. You cannot just ignore what is going on,” she said.
“What the hell do you mean ‘sins’?” Emily asked. Alex reached for her hand under the table but she was too riled up.
“It all started with your mother Alex…having a child out of wedlock and then marrying some man before the two decided to divorce…that’s a sin in God’s eyes and now the two of you are in a relationship or sleeping together…it’s a sin. It is incest!”
Emily rolled her eyes. “Why do you even care?”
“Emily,” Alex said in a warning tone.
“No, I just want to know what right she thinks she has to talk to me like that,” Emily asked. By now she had put her fork down and was looking right into her great aunt’s old tired eyes. “You have always had a field day getting me down and you know what the worst part of it is, I freaking let you!”
“You better watch your language young lady,” Catherine said sternly.
“What, all I said was freaking. If I wanted to use a better F-word, I would have most definitely done it,” she said angrily.
“Emily, cool it. Please,” April said as she looked at her cousin.
Emily shook her head.
“Why should I? Aunt Catherine took one thing away from me once. I won’t let you do the same especially with something that makes me happy,” she said.
“You are happy sleeping with your brother?” Catherine asked as she looked at Emily.
“For the last time, Alex is not my brother. He never was,” Emily said.
“Yeah, Aunt Catherine. We have no kinship ties,” Alex said.
“It doesn’t matter. Your parents were bound in holy matrimony…God wanted you to be related and not in the way you are trying to…” that was it. That statement was the straw that broke Emily’s back.
“Listen here, Aunt Catherine. I like being with Alex and there isn’t anything you can say that will change my mind. This isn’t some school musical you can talk me out of because guess what? I’m no longer that twelve year old girl,” she said calmly but sternly. Catherine looked at her.
“Aren’t you glad I talked you out that stupid idea? Right now you would have been a junkie in New York just because you wanted to sing for a career,” she said in a cynical voice.
Emily rolled her eyes.
“God, Aunt Catherine. Just shut up, will you?” she said making Catherine’s eyes grow wide. “I was a good singer. I am a good singer whether you are willing to admit it or not,” she said. She looked at Alex when she felt his hand on her knee. “And I think you need to get off your high horse because everyone at this table knows that you were married thrice. So much for divorce being a sin.”
By this time, Emily could almost see Catherine’s nostrils flaring with each breath.
“Why can’t you be respectful like your cousin, April here?” Catherine asked.
Alex raised an eyebrow. “You mean quiet?”
“No! I mean respectful. She has values unlike you Emily Carter, You won’t hear her running around with men the way you do.” Emily’s eyes grew wide. She was genuinely surprised. What men was she talking about? “She is saving herself for that perfect man she will get married to.” April rubbed her temple.
“Aunt Catherine…” she started but Catherine wouldn’t let her talk.
“No, she has to hear this. April here is a perfect example of what…”
“Aunt Catherine,” April said again.
“You would never hear April doing the kind of thing you are doing…”
“Damn it, Aunt Catherine!” April said banging the table making everyone’s attention shift to her. “I’m seeing someone. I have been seeing this person for a while and I was actually going to bring him over so the two of you could meet,” she went on. “And we have been living together for four months,” she added in a small voice.
Emily could have been seeing things but she could have sworn her aunt’s jaw almost dropped. There was a long silence in the room before Catherine finally spoke.
“You are living in sin. You are fornicating with this man,” she said.
Emily rolled her eyes.
“For God’s sake, Auntie,” she said under her breath.
Catherine suddenly pushed her chair from the table and stood up.
“This place is too much for me. I probably have to go to confession before I go home,” she said before she walked out the living room.
“Aunt Catherine…” Emily started as she followed her. “Where are you going?”
“You did what you wanted and that was rubbing my nose in this disgusting thing you have going with your brother and now you have corrupted poor April…”
“How the hell did I do that? April lives in Baltimore!” Emily pointed out but Catherine wasn’t having it, any of it. She was already putting on her coat. Alex and April had now walked into the room.
“Where are you going, auntie? Just stay and finish your food first,” April said. Catherine looked at Emily and Alex but there was spite in her eyes as she looked at April.
“I am disappointed in you,” she said before she walked out leaving the three standing there, stunned.
*****
Needless to say, the rest of dinner was more entertaining than it had started out. Emily was on April’s case for not disclosing the fact that she and Jake had moved in together.
“I had to ease in the information. I didn’t want to come in all guns blazing with this kind of information,” April said.
“That is the same expression you used a few days ago when you told me about Jake. Is there some kind of offer or something? Should I use it too?” she asked.
“I kind of don’t know how to give big news. I guess that is why I thought telling you and auntie at the same time would be a good idea,” she said shrugging.
“Well, I’m happy for you,” Alex said. He then placed his hand over Emily’s. “We both are.”
“Yeah we are,” Emily said nodding.
“So, are you happy with how things turned out?” April asked.
“I do feel better. I guess I just really wanted to lash out at the person who made me give up on Broadway,” she said. “I’m sorry if that makes me sound a little immature.”
“Don’t be. I think you deserved it, especially after corrupting me and all,” she said laughing. Emily looked around for something to throw at her but all the pillows were too far. “I have an early start tomorrow you guys. I have to turn in,” April said as she stood up.
“Sleep tight,” Emily called after her as she made her way down the hallway.
Alex pulled Emily into his arms and held her tightly.
“Alone at last,” he said in a low voice. She smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Alone at last,” she echoed.
Alex ran his hands up and down her arms. He was trying very hard to keep himself from slipping his hand under her top to caress that beautiful cleavage.
“So, Broadway, huh?” he asked and she nodded. “How come you never told me?”
“My esteem was crushed. I didn’t even think I ever wanted to sing until some months back my workmates and I did some karaoke.” She smiled. “I won, that night. Got me a thirty year old scotch and my face up the club’s wall of fame,” she said in a tired voice. “Though right now that I say it out loud I’m not very sure it’s a very good achievement to brag about.”
“If that was what made you fall back in love with music then it is worth it,” he laughed.
“I never really fell out of love. I guess I just didn’t know what I felt for music…it’s like that nerdy boy you hang out with in school who kisses you at prom and then you find out you really liked him. But only after he kisses you.”
“I’d like to hear you sing one of these days,” he said in a soft voice. He swept her hair to one side and began kissing her neck. She bit her lip and closed her eyes. “Ready to finish what we started?” he asked in a soft voice before he went on kissing her. She wanted to just ask him to carry her to bed and let him have her, however he liked…