“And how do you know something is troubling me?” Claire spat.
Golden rolled her eyes. “I may be young but I’m not stupid.” She folded her arms across her chest. “You need to tell me.” She stared down at the woman but after a solemn silence that stretched on and on she sighed and decided to try another tactic. Obviously, Claire was not one to yield to bullying. “Please, Claire.”
More silence and then it was Claire’s turn to sigh. “It’s my daughter. She’s the one dragging me down in the dumps.”
Golden’s eyes widened. “Your daughter? I didn’t know you have a daughter. You never mentioned her before.” Confused, she stooped down beside Claire’s chair so she could look her in the eyes. “Is she ill?”
“Please,” Claire said with a snort, “she’s as strong as an ox.” Then she shrugged. “At least she was last time I saw her.”
It was those words that made Golden realize there was a lot more going on than she’d imagined. Obviously, whatever was upsetting Claire hadn’t just transpired. Quickly she got up, rested her handbag on the nightstand and pulled up a chair next to Claire. Reaching out, she took the withered hand in hers. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Claire began to shake her head but when Golden gave her hand a gentle squeeze she bit her lip and looked away. Obviously, the subject was a painful one.
Golden stroked her hand. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I don’t want to hurt you.”
Claire’s response was an impatient grunt. “It won’t hurt me. I got over that six years ago.”
“Six years? Was that the last time you saw your daughter?” As she watched the emotions flit across Claire’s face Golden’s thoughts went to Eugenia. She could not imagine not seeing her mother for six whole years. It would tear her up and she knew Eugenia would be devastated. How did Claire and her daughter do it? How had they even ended up in that situation?
Claire nodded and this time she could not fake the stiff upper lip that was her trademark. Her face sagged and she looked like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. “The last time,” she whispered, her voice forlorn. “The day she walked out of my life.”
“But...why? What happened?” Golden didn’t want to press. She hated the idea of breaking open old wounds but how could she help her friend if she had no idea what she was going through?
Claire heaved a sigh. “We had a quarrel and I...said some nasty things to her. I was so hurt that I lashed out.” She shook her head then her gaze moved from Golden to the open window. “I told her she should leave me and never come back.” Her grip on Golden’s hand tightened. “I told her she was no daughter of mine. I haven’t seen her since.” Her speech ended on a hiccup and she dropped her chin, her lips trembling as she fought to regain her composure.
“Oh, Claire.” Tears sprang up in Golden’s eyes. She couldn’t help it. She had no idea what would make a mother say such hurtful words to her own child but she could only imagine the pain Claire was going through. And what about her daughter?
“I’m sorry,” she whispered and leaned over to pull Claire close. “I’m sorry.”
There was not a whole lot more she could say, not when she had no idea what had caused this rift, but she wasn’t going to ask. Not right now when Claire was so vulnerable. Claire would tell her story when she was ready. Right now what she needed most was a shoulder to cry on and Golden would give her just that.
But as Claire leaned against her Golden found her thoughts wandering off to her home in North Ockendon where her mother would be in the kitchen right at that moment, spoiling her husband with his favorite Saturday morning meal.
She would have to make a decision soon, a decision that would affect her mother, but what would Eugenia’s reaction be if she chose a direction which was contrary to her view?
Like Claire’s daughter, would she end up being banished from the mother she loved so much?
The more she thought about it the more her heart sank. Such a weighty decision and so little time...
CHAPTER SEVEN
This was not good. The girl was growing on him too much, too fast.
Here he was in office preparing for a meeting with the VP of purchasing of one of the largest department store chains in Europe and all he could think about were glistening amber eyes and soft pink lips just waiting to be woken with a kiss.
Whenever she crossed his mind, which was often, Reed could not help thinking that Golden was like the fairytale princess, Sleeping Beauty, just waiting for the right man to come along, the one who would draw her out of her slumber of innocence and into the world of awareness. For her it would be a sweet, sensual awakening and for him, the ultimate pleasure.
Reed could only shake his head and chuckle as the thoughts floated around in his head. A girl like Golden needed a prince to teach her the ways of the world. Would he be the one?
At the thought he snorted. Hardly likely. Not when he had secrets and regrets, a past that would send the girl running in the opposite direction.
And all because, back in college, he’d been a major jerk and a certified idiot.
Eyes narrowed, Reed stared at the wall, his gaze resting on the black and white portrait of Audrey Hepburn as his mind went back to his final year at Vassar College. Before senior year he’d been a pretty staid student – boring, he’d been told – and then he ‘found himself’, or so he thought.
If his big brothers, Max and Duke, had the story to tell they’d say he’d fallen in with the wrong crowd. His downfall came when he decided to be adventurous and join a rock band. “Death’s Door” they called themselves and as ghoulish as they looked and as hideous as they sounded anybody would think they were from the deep, dark depths. But despite this, or maybe because of it, they had a huge following both on and off campus.
In the end that was what messed Reed up. He’d never been short of attention from the opposite sex but never before had he had them rushing at him like this. And he took full advantage of the plentiful supply of admirers, so much so that within weeks of joining the band he’d become the group’s most popular member and had developed a reputation as a ‘lady killer’. And that was when it all started - the crazy parties, the heavy drinking and the wild sex...always with protection, of course. That was one thing he never compromised on.