Louise Ch 11

Louise wiggled in her seat. She wasn't used to wearing a dress, hose and heels. Her legs itched and her feet felt as though they were on fire even though she had only walked as far as the car to the back yard where the wedding was being held. However, even more uncomfortable than the shoes and hose was the way Barb was staring at them. It was a stare filled with ... hatred. She hated them. Louise let out a sad sigh as the feeling that something horrible was going to happen grew.

"Sweetheart?" Nathan whispered in her ear, "Are you alright?"

He had felt the stare too but was ignoring it until it disturbed Louise. He raised his shields protecting her from the emotions that Barb was emanating across the yard. He turned toward Barb and gave her a warning look keeping his eyes on her until she turned away.

Louise knew when Nathan raised his shields but said nothing for several minutes.

"I'm ok." she whispered.

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked.

"I'm sure... who invented pantyhose anyway?" she asked as she scratched her knee.

Nathan laughed as with a touch he took away the itch.

"Will I be able to do things like that?" she asked.

"Yes." Nathan replied patiently. "As soon as everything is settled, we'll start your lessons."

Louise was going to reply but the anger belonging to someone else distracted her. She looked behind her and saw Joseph, Nathan's younger brother looking off to the side. The anger that came from him was every bit as dark as Barb's but the reason for it was different. As soon as he realized that she was looking at him, his shields went up.

"Sweetheart?"

Before Nathan could say anything more, the processional started and Louise pushed Joseph and Barb out of her mind. She found the wedding beautiful but still didn't want one of her own. The idea of a private ceremony and then a reception was more to her liking. She stole a peek at Kevyn who nodded in agreement.

An hour later, the ceremony was over and the two couples were greeting their guests. Barb hid in the back and caught sight of Joseph sitting alone. She waited for several moments to see if anyone joined him. When she decided that he was single, she walked up to him and sat down.

"Hi, I'm Barb Yancy Simpson. Kevyn and Louise are my sisters."

"I'm Joseph Richardson, Nathan is my brother."

"It's Nice to meet you." Barb said trying to be casual. "It was a beautiful wedding wasn't it?"

Joseph looked at her and decided to lay his cards on the table. He wasn't in the mood to play games.

"Look, I know who you are and I'm not interested in you or any other woman for that matter. If you just want to share a table that's fine but there won't be any dinner dates."

Barb's face burned with embarrassment that she was that transparent. The ball was in her court. If she left, she would confirm what he was thinking. If she stayed, she still had a chance at changing his mind.

"Thanks, it would be nice not to eat alone."

Joseph nodded at her and began watching everyone as the reception began.

"How about a dance?" Barb asked after they had eaten.

Joseph hesitated and then shrugged. He held his hand out to Barb and led her to the dance floor. His touch was firm but impersonal. Barb could have been a mannequin from a department store as far as he was concerned. He would have been just as content sitting at the table.

Nathan watched Barb and Joseph dance but wasn't concerned. Joseph could take care of himself as far as Barb was concerned, but it was the anger that concerned him. He wasn't worried that Joseph would rape. He was as considerate to his few dates as he had been to the women that he himself had dated. Nathan watched them for a few more seconds before turning his attention back to Louise. He had to make a point of talking to Joseph and sooner rather than later.

Nathan spent twenty minutes trying to convince Louise to dance with him.

"I'm not going out there!"

"Come on, you won't have to do anything but hold on to me." he replied. "One dance." he urged as he wrapped his arms around her and began to sway to the music. "Please?" He begged as he kissed her cheek.

Finally, Louise gave in.

"One dance and don't complain when I step on your toes."

One dance turned into three. They left the dance floor when the music went from slow dance songs to fast ones.

"Thank you." Nathan said.

"How many times did I step on your toes?" Louise asked.

"None and Louise, you dance well." Nathan replied.

By this time, Joseph had excused himself telling Barb that he had several legal briefs to write. Barb watched Joseph walked away, stopped to talk to a tall, handsome dark skinned man and left. She was thinking about introducing herself to the man and was in the process of standing when a woman approached the man. Remembering what happened with Veronica, she sat back down.

She looked around hoping to see another male sitting alone. At this point, she didn't care whether he was rich or not, she just wanted someone to pass the time with. She jumped when she heard Kevyn's voice behind her.

"Nice wedding wasn't it?"

"What do you want Kevyn?" Barb asked ignoring the question.

"Nothing," Kevyn replied, "I saw that you were sitting alone and thought that you would like some company."

"I'm fine... I suppose you and the mouse are planning a wedding?" she asked dryly.

"No Louise and I aren't planning a wedding." Kevyn replied putting the emphasis on Louise's name. "We're going to have a private ceremony and a reception afterwards. I would ask you to help but I already know what you'll say."

"What about the others? Are you inviting them?" Barb asked not sure of why she cared.

"We're planning on it." Kevyn replied. "We haven't called them yet."

"Congratulations." Barb said her voice tinged with bitterness. "I have a question though, how did you do it? I mean how is it that the two of you ended up in one of the wealthiest families in the world?"

"I can't answer that." Kevyn replied.

"Can't or won't?" Barb shot back.

"Can't." Kevyn replied. "Have you ever stopped to think that if you stopped looking so hard that it might just happen?"

"Easy for you to say...."

Kevyn threw up her hands and walked away. Even as Kevyn walked away, Barb wanted to call her back. A small part of her wanted to be happy for her but she held back. To acknowledge that one small fact would mean that she was thinking that maybe Louise was right. She stood up to leave and ran into Louise,

"Where's Nathan?" Barb asked.

"He's talking to Patrick." Louise replied. "Barb...."

"I have to go, I'll see you later." Barb said interrupting her. "Call me about the reception."

She walked off before Louise could say anything and wondered why she wanted to go to the reception. It would be nothing more than another reminder of what she didn't have. If she didn't go, she would have to explain why and it was much easier to go and to feign happiness than to go through Juliette and Leon's interrogation and lectures.

She was escorted to her car, helped in and she drove off without looking back.

*******

Louise watched Barb leave with a sense of disquiet but came to a decision. Nothing more could be done for Barb. It was time for her to move forward in her new life with Nathan and for Kevyn to move on in her life with Patrick. She looked around to see Nathan looking at her and blushed. She knew what the look meant. She stood rooted in place as Nathan moved toward her with smooth, graceful movements. Her nipples tightened as he closed the space between them. She didn't think that she would ever get used to the way that he looked at her or to the way that she responded.

A ball of warmth started in the pit of her belly and began to spread to the rest of her. By the time Nathan reached her, her entire body was hot. Suddenly, his arms were around her and he was holding her tight against him taking some of the heat away.

"It's the remnant effects of the turning combined with being newly mated." he assured her as he cooled her body with his.

"How long will this last?" Louise asked thinking about her mother and her complaints about "hot flashes".

"A few more days and things will start to level out." he replied as he stepped back and led her to their table where a pitcher of ice water waited for them. Nathan poured her a large glass of it, refilling the glass as soon as it was empty.

"Better?" he asked.

"Better." Louise replied as she looked around.

Her eyes landed on Joseph who was talking to Winston and seemed to be genuinely happy.

"Winston has agreed to work at his firm." Nathan said when he saw whom she was watching. "He passed his 'Bar' which doesn't surprise me."

"What kind of law does Joseph practice?" Louise asked realizing that she did not know much about Nathan's family.

"Mostly corporate law but he also has a small firm that practices criminal law as well as pro bono work. Uncle Patrick as you know is a professor at the community college where Kevyn attended. I'm an architect but I also teach from time to time, Uncle Ethan owns a conglomerate of companies that deals with anything from computer software to you name it as well as several research companies, Katrina his mate is a social worker and as I said, very instrumental in the changes that have occurred in our world . My father is an architect, my mother a private teacher and the twins and their mates are all physicians."

"Wow, smart people." Louise mused.

"Which reminds me." Nathan said. "You wanted to go to cooking school, is that still a dream?"

"Yes. I have a stack of brochures that I haven't looked at yet." Louise replied.

"Are any of them in Europe?" Nathan asked

"No, they're all here. I was thinking about the community college one. Why?"

"I'm sure that it's a good program but why don't we go to France? After that we can go to Italy, England or anywhere else that we want to go to." Nathan said.

"France?" Louise asked.

"There's a cooking school there that's reputed to be one of the best and they have room for two." Nathan said. "Think about it. I reserved the spots just in case you said yes."

"Nathan!" Ethan said from behind them. "Mind if we join you for a moment?"

"Of course not, please have a seat." Nathan replied standing up to greet his uncle and aunt.

Louise and Katrina looked at each other and smiled shyly at each other.

"We never got the chance to thank you for helping us." Ethan said speaking for both him and Katrina.

"You're welcome, I didn't do much." Louise replied.

"Yes you did." Katrina replied. "You helped save our daughter, someone that you didn't know and we'll always be grateful for that."

Louise blushed not knowing how to respond.

"How's the house coming along?" Ethan asked changing the subject when he saw Louise's discomfort.

"Great, it should be done in another week." Nathan replied. "We've already been shopping for the paint and carpet."

"I think that the shopping is the worst of it." Katrina said softly.

"Me too." Louise replied, "But Nathan can be very entertaining."

"That must be a Sinclaire male trait." Katrina replied laughing getting over her initial shyness. "I hear that you like to play scrabble."

Soon the women were chatting easily and exchanging cell phone numbers. Ethan and Nathan looked at each other and nodded. It had been Nathan's idea to get the two women together. He wanted Louise to have someone to talk to in case she had questions or concerns about the family that she needed a woman's perspective on. He knew that his mother had made herself available as well but he felt that Katrina was a better fit.

Nathan looked around to see if he could see Joseph and saw him getting ready to leave.

"Sweetheart, I need to talk with Joseph for a minute, I'll be back." Nathan said and kissed her on the temple before hurrying off.

*******

"Joseph!" Nathan called just as Joseph reached the gate leading to the front of the house.

Joseph stopped, turned around and waited for Nathan to catch up with him.

"Leaving already?" Nathan asked.

"You know me and weddings." Joseph replied.

"Yes, I know... so when does Winston start?"

"Monday. He'll work with me but he wants to do criminal law as well." Joseph said.

"Does that surprise you?" Nathan asked.

"Not in the least." Joseph replied. "He's brilliant and I'm lucky to have him. By the way, congratulations on your mating."

"Thanks... Joseph, why don't we go out one night and shoot some pool or something? It's been far too long."

"Yes, it has." Joseph agreed.

"How about tomorrow? I think that Louise and Kevyn have plans to cook and bake all day. They're under the impression that they can keep ahead of us." Nathan said.

"I gather you didn't bother to tell them not to try?" Joseph asked chuckling.

"I plead the fifth on that one but what about it? Are you free?" Nathan asked.

"I am but Nathan, what's really going on here?"

"Nothing, I just want to spend some time with you and make sure that you're alright." Nathan replied.

Joseph's blue eyes flashed angrily.

"Why does everyone think that I'm not alright?" he demanded. "Mom, dad, Mason Donahue have all approached me and now you! What the fuck?"

"Maybe it has something to do with the way that you just reacted." Nathan said. "Joseph, you can deny it until time ends but anyone who knows you knows that there's something going on with you. I want you to know that you can come to me no matter what it is."

Joseph started to say something and changed his mind thinking that Nathan wouldn't understand.

"I'm sorry that I blew up like that. I'm fine but if anything comes up, I'll call you."

"Are we still on for pool tomorrow?" Nathan asked.

"Umm sure. What time?" he asked.

"How about seven? That way you can have dinner with us and get to know Louise and Kevyn a little better."

"Sure." Joseph said and walked away.

Nathan watched him leave and knew that Joseph wouldn't make it for dinner. It seemed that Louise wasn't the only one with an angry sibling. Satisfied that he had done all that he could do at the moment, Nathan went back to the table. Louise was still talking with Katrina but Patrick and Kevyn had joined them.

Ethan was standing and holding his hand out to Katrina.

"We have to go see the twins off. They're leaving for their honeymoon in a few minutes."

After they were gone, Kevyn looked at Louise, started to say something about Barb and changed her mind. Instead, she brought up their ceremony.

"Any thoughts as to when?"

"No but we need to call home and find out when people are available to come out." Louise replied.

"It's too late tonight, we can do that tomorrow." Kevyn said. "All of them should be at home. Where do we want them to stay?"

"I think that we should have them stay at the hotel." Patrick said. "It was easy having one person who didn't know who we were in the house but several? The chances that someone will ask about our nocturnal lifestyle is too great as well as the chances of someone finding something. We'll also have to erase memories like we did with Barb."

"I agree." Louise said thinking of their nieces and nephew, Wanda in particular.

"I'll call Hans when we have a date." Patrick said. "Is the ceremony going to be just the four of us or are we inviting certain family members?" he asked.

"Where would the cutoff be?" Kevyn asked. "I don't see how we could invite some and not others."

"I agree." Louise said. "Do we need a witness or something?"

"Not unless you want one." Nathan replied. "We're already married and this is something for you and Kevyn."

"So it could be just us and a minister?" Kevyn asked.

"If you wish." Patrick said. "And just like human marriages, rings are optional. I can't speak for Nathan and Lou but I would like for us to wear rings but we can talk about that later." he added.

"Ok, where are we going to do this?" Kevyn asked.

"Our house." Louise said before anyone else spoke. "The new one... I mean if that's alright with everyone."

"I agree.' Nathan said pleased that Louise had referred to the house as "ours". "We can have the reception there if you want"

"How about our place this time?" Kevyn said. "The last party was at your house and our house is closer to the hotel."

The conversation was interrupted by an announcement made by Ethan with Katrina at his side.

"The twins and their mates are about to depart for their honeymoon. If any of you wish to see them off, be at the front of the house in ten minutes. All of us would like to thank you for attending this happy occasion and you are welcome to stay until just before dawn. If you need transportation home, see any of the security guards. Thank you."

Nathan held his hand out to Louise as Patrick held his out to Kevyn and led her to the front of the house. A few minutes later, the twins came out each of them holding the hand of their mate. They smiled and waved happily as they passed by and stopped in front of Kevyn and Louise.

"We came very close to having a send off service instead of a wedding." Vanessa said. "We have you to thank that it was the latter. Thank you both."

The twins and then the grooms hugged Kevyn repeating the sentiment before continuing on their way to the waiting car. Louise leaned back in Nathan's arms no longer worried about the public displays of affection. They waited until the car pulled off to decide what they were going to do next.

"Why don't you come home with us?" Kevyn asked. "We were going to spend the day cooking anyway and we can call the others while we're at it."

"What do you think?" Louise asked Nathan.

"Fine by me but I need to call Joseph. He was coming to our place for dinner." Nathan replied.

"Great, I'd like to meet my nephew by marriage." Kevyn replied.

A few minutes later, their cars were brought to them.

"See you in a few minutes." Kevyn said as Patrick helped her into the car.

Nathan helped Louise into their car and followed Patrick and Kevyn home. He occasionally glanced over at her amazed at how much she had grown and at how easily she seemed to be adapting to a new way of life.

"I am so proud of you and proud to be your mate." he told her as he brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

Louise didn't know what to say. She gave his hand a squeeze, laid her head against the headrest and closed her eyes.

*********

Barb got back to the apartment and changed her clothes. By the time she was changed, she felt a little squeamish. She looked in the tiny medicine cabinet hoping that Kevyn had something for an upset stomach. She found a roll of antacid that hadn't been opened in the back of the cabinet. She opened the roll and chewed two of them before lying on the sofa and falling to sleep without turning the television on.

************** Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Gene Yancy stumbled into the house without turning on the lights. Things had gone downhill for him since Clay died without making that big investment which would have gotten him financially out of the hole. It was a detail that he hadn't thought about when he decided to kill Clay.

He had his yearly evaluation before he left work and it hadn't been good. In fact, it had been disastrous.

"Gene, you're good at what you do when you do it and when you aren't pissing people off." His office manager told him. "I know that the past few months and especially the past few weeks have been hard for you but I can't keep covering for you. You aren't pulling your weight."

"Is it my fault that my investor died?" Gene snapped.

"No it isn't but to be honest, had I known that it was Clay Robinson I wouldn't have accepted his money."

"What? Do you know how much money he was going to invest?" Gene asked incredulous.

"It doesn't matter because I also have to be concerned about the integrity of this office and accepting money from a known drug dealer..."