Louise Ch. 05

"I don't know... mom sometimes knew things and she talked about her grandmother, our great- grandmother who was supposed to have been able to tell the future." Kevyn replied sighing as a hand covered her bra-covered breast. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm just curious." Patrick replied. "You were gifted when I found you and so was Louise. It wouldn't surprise me if other members of your family are gifted as well which is why Barb could hear Louise."

"So what do we do?" Kevyn asked as she moved closer to Patrick.

"Nothing for the time being. Nathan will look after Lou and I'll look after you." Patrick said as he lifted Kevyn's shirt, bent down and kissed her belly making her giggle.

"Fine but no more keeping things from me, are we agreed?"

"I agree and sweetheart, I am sorry." Patrick replied kissing her belly again and then laying his head on her breast.

Seconds later, they were naked and a nipple was in his mouth. He gently chewed on it careful not to cause pain as his hand trailed down her stomach not stopping until it rested on her mound. He loved the fact that she was already wet for him, slipped a finger between her lips, and pressed against her clit knowing that she was going to come.

The first orgasm of the day was always quick for the both of them and then they took their times until one of them, usually Kevyn, fell asleep from exhaustion. The other part of their lovemaking was Patrick taking a time out to tell thank her for accepting him and his family as flawed as they were and always ending with how much he loved her. At first, Kevyn tried to stop him but soon gave up when she realized how important the ritual as she called it was to him.

As Patrick rubbed and sucked her to orgasm, she stroked his cock with long, slow but firm strokes listening to his moans to tell her how close he was. When he took a sharp intake of breath, she began to stroke harder and faster. At the very last minute, Patrick would move away, climb on top of her and be inside of her just before he came.

As usual, Kevyn fell asleep first leaving Patrick awake to think about what they were going to do about Barb. He knew that as angry as Kevyn and Louise were with her they wouldn't send her back to Pittsburgh knowing that she had no job but they didn't want her staying here permanently any more than he did.

She had only been in town for two days and was already wearing on everyone's nerves. He had already gotten several calls from the hotel full of complaints about her treatment of the staff. The time for a talk was drawing near but in the meantime, he snuggled tight against Kevyn and fell asleep.

********

Louise watched as Nathan finished cooking the biggest omelet that she had ever seen. She knew without being told that it would take several minutes for it to cook simply because of its size. She hadn't responded to his request that she tell him about her life and as far as she was concerned, there was really nothing to say about it.

Nathan sensing her reticence put her to work.

"Why don't you start slicing some more bread?" he asked.

"What kind?" Louise asked grateful for something to do.

"How about some of each? The omelet should be ready in a few more minutes."

"So you're the youngest." Nathan said when she started cutting the bread.

"I wasn't until my brother died."

"If I may ask, how did he die?"

"The complications of diabetes, he was on the list but you know how that goes."

"I'm sorry." Nathan said meaning it.

"It's alright, I still miss him though."

"You've had a difficult life, who cared for you?" Nathan asked watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"What do you mean?" she asked, "I took care of myself and mom with Kevyn's help."

"I understand but who helped you? Kevyn was here in California."

Louise hesitated and changed the subject, she didn't want to talk about them or Pittsburgh, and it was bad enough that Barb was here. Nathan noticed and let it drop; she didn't trust him enough yet. The cooking helped to relax her but it wasn't quite enough. She needed to see what he was feeling for her and he was just going to have to have faith that she wouldn't go running off.

"The omelets ready." he said as he slid it onto a large serving platter. "Can you grab the forks?"

Louise took two forks out of the drawer, grabbed the plate of sliced bread and brought it to the counter where Nathan was waiting with the food. He pulled a stool out for her and sat only after she was sitting and put the plate between them and took a fork.

"Eat up." he said digging in.

Louise ate less than a quarter of the huge omelet and watched Nathan finish it off as well as the last slice of bread. She got up to clean up the dirty dishes and he stopped her.

"Let me, it's about time you allow someone to care for you." As he said it, he let his shields drop just a little and he touched her hand in a manner that wasn't in any way platonic.

Louise's mouth went dry and her heart rate picked up. That annoying but pleasant throbbing was back and she squirmed on the stool. She watched Nathan as he cleaned up the kitchen and wanted to know why he was being so nice to her.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Nathan stopped working and gave her his complete attention.

"You can ask or tell me anything you want, I will never lie to you nor will I ridicule you ." he replied.

"Why are you being so nice to me? You hardly know me and I'm hardly your type."

Whether she was aware of it or not, she just told Nathan that on some level she had been thinking about him in terms other than friendship, her mental outburst at dinner confirmed it.

"And what is my type?" he asked lightly interested in her answer.

"I don't know... that woman at the restaurant and...."

She couldn't bring herself to say Barb's name. Even thinking about how she had acted at dinner made her angry.

Nathan noticed but didn't address it but he would address her concept of what she thought his type was. He put the last dish in the dishwasher and sat beside her at the counter.

"Aside from the fact that I had a brief relationship with that woman, why do you think that she's my type?"

Louise blushed, wishing that she hadn't asked the question and tried to back out of it.

"Never mind, what I should have said is thank you."

Nathan wasn't about to let it go.

"You're welcome but you asked a question that I would like to answer if you would let me."

"Okay... but you don't have to." she replied.

"I want to." Nathan replied taking her hand in his and stroking the knuckles slowly. Then he had a thought, "Louise, how honest do you want me to be?"

"Honest." she replied her heart pounding.

"Are you sure?" Nathan asked still stroking her knuckles.

Louise nodded her head not trusting herself to speak.

"I'm not just being nice to you and I think that you know that. You're right in that the woman at the restaurant is beautiful and so are your sisters for that matter but you are more beautiful than all of them put together. There is a gentleness and kindness about you that I have rarely seen. Your concern about that elderly woman in Pittsburgh bears that out. The fact that you made bread and made a kind that you knew your sister Barb likes is another case in point.

In spite of how she has treated you, you are still kind to her. As I told you before, I don't think that anyone other than Kevyn and then my uncle realized what a jewel you are. You also have a strength about you that you don't realize is there and it shows itself when needed, like tonight with Barb."

Louise listened to how Nathan saw her and didn't see herself in the same light, she wasn't beautiful... she was just her.

"I like being with you and watching the excitement and energy that you show when you cook. Louise, I like you. Women like your sister Barb are only looking for someone to care for them and they don't want to give anything in return. You aren't like that and neither is Kevyn who by the way loves you very much, talk to her about anything that you wish, me included."

Nathan slowly brought her hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it before turning it over to kiss the palm while watching her reaction. He paused when he saw that she was holding her breath.

"Breathe sweetheart." He said and then repeated the command when she didn't immediately comply. He was about to repeat the command when she let out the breath that she had been holding with a whoosh. Realizing that she was overwhelmed Nathan abandoned the idea of kissing her that night. "You're tired, go to bed and I'll call you later."

Louise nodded, she was tired and the vibes that she was getting from Nathan were unsettling. She needed some time alone to sort through her thoughts; she needed to talk to someone with a lot more experience with men than she had. She needed her sister.

Nathan walked her to her room still holding her hand; he wanted to kiss her so badly that he almost did. Instead, he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, wished her a good rest and walked away already missing her.

**********

After hanging up, Barb said a string of curses that would have done her Uncle Wesley proud. Not once, since she thought about the bread did she think about Louise and how she was but what she did think about was Nathan Sinclaire. She had already forgotten the anger in his eyes when he looked he looked at her or the angry tone in his voice when he spoke to her and she had forgotten the strong way in which Louise had commanded her away from him.

She wasn't taking any of it seriously including Kevyn's threat to send her back to Pittsburgh. She convinced herself by later in the day, everyone would have cooled off. Feeling better, she turned on the television, took a snack out of the fridge and lay on the bed with no intentions of falling asleep.

She woke up two hours later, her face wet with tears. She had dreamt the dream that she hadn't dreamt in months and wondered what had precipitated it. She went to the bathroom, washed her face without looking in the mirror and went back to bed.

She began to think about their childhood. She still rememembered each first day of school with clarity, the being teased because she was wearing the hand me downs from Kevyn and on occasion her brothers. She remembered paging through the catalogues and marking the outfits that she wanted for the new school year and becoming angry when she was told that she couldn't have any of them.

The reasons for the denial didn't matter but what did was that she would face another year of teasing. It had never occurred to her that all of them were going through the same thing and that even Kevyn was wearing the hand me downs that were given to her by their cousins or that their parents did without so that they could have a roof over their heads and food to eat.

She didn't remember their father working two jobs and coming home from work so exhausted that he practically dropped but he always spent time with them even if it was an hour. Victor Yancy believed in family and caring for them to the best of his ability. Welfare or any kind of public assistance was out of the question and in Barb's estimation would have been worse than having to wear hand me downs.

She spent her entire school career trying to fit in with a group that she had no hope of fitting in with simply because of the way that she dressed although it was no fault of her own. By the time she was in sixth grade, she had made up her mind that she would have everything that she ever wanted no matter what she had to do to get it.

Barb turned on her side and tried to block out the memories that wouldn't stop coming. The most painful one of all was the senior prom. She could still feel the excitement of being asked by Norman Boothe one of the second string football players. She didn't care that he was second string or that had never played in a game for more than a few minutes, what she did care about was that he was good looking and that his family was wealthy. That he asked her only because he was looking for what he thought was an easy lay for after the prom didn't matter, she saw the prom as a way of getting where she needed to be. In with the right group.

She remembered the day that Norman asked her to the prom, she rushed home and ran into the house,

"Mama! Where are you?" she yelled.

She found her mother in the back yard hanging up the uniforms that Victor wore for his security guard job.

"What are you so excited about?" Wanda asked when Barb hugged her.

"I got asked to the prom! When can we go looking for a dress? It's in two months."

Wanda blinked back tears, as much as she wanted to be able to buy a prom dress for Barb, she couldn't. The money simply wasn't there and there were other children to consider. She didn't tell Barb that right away, she had an idea that could give Barb what she wanted but she had to talk to Victor first. Before she could say anything, Barb had run off eager to share the good news.

By dinnertime, everyone in the neighborhood knew that she had been asked to the prom and it was the topic of excited conversation at the dinner table. She was chattering so much that she missed the look that passed between her parents.

"Barbie doll..." Victor said softly interrupting her.

Barb stopped mid sentence. He only called her that when he was going to tell her that she couldn't have something that she wanted.

"Daddy please! Don't say no... I won't ask for another thing! I promise!"

"Barbie...."

"Don't call me that!" she screamed, "Don't call me that! You don't care about me! You don't care that everyone laughs at us because we live in this dump and because we pass our clothes down."

"That's enough." Victor said softly trying to control his own anger.

Even though she saw her mother's tears, Barb kept going ignoring her father's warning.

"It's not enough! I hate this house! I hate this city and .... And I hate you!"

Victor stood up and looked Barb in the face his own anger evident.

"Do you think that I don't want to be able to go to the store and buy any of you what you want and need? Do you think that I want people laughing at you? I don't! Do you think that I feel good about not buying your mother anything that she wants? Do you? Do you think for one god damned minute that I like spending so much time away from home? I don't but you know why I do it? I do it because I love all of you and to me loving you is more important than any material thing that I can give you. I'm sorry that I can't buy you a brand new dress and send you to that prom, but I can't, the money isn't there."

Victor sat down, his chest heaving and wondered where the selfish streak that was in his fourth child had come from.

Barb ran from the table and up to the room that she shared with Juliet and Louise slamming the door behind her. Once she was inside, hot tears ran down her face as she once again resolved that she was going to have a life where she would want for nothing.

The next week was a tense one in the Yancy household. All of them stayed out of Barb's way and the word prom was taboo. Victor and Barb didn't speak even though Wanda tried to make the peace between them. She even went so far as to try to talk to Barb again but no matter what she said, she couldn't get Barb to see reason or at least make an attempt to understand that they weren't trying to deny her what she wanted but that it was just the way it was. Eventually, she gave up; Barb either couldn't or wouldn't understand that all of them had to make sacrifices. For the entire week, the remaining children made a point of not arguing or complaining about being teased at school.

Just past the one week mark of the blow up, Victor Yancy came home with a huge box. He took off work early so that he could give the gift to Barb in the hopes that she would be happy. He showed the gift to Wanda who hugged him and told him what a good husband and father he was.

Finally, Barb came home and was surprised to see her father sitting on the couch. She had no choice but to speak to him.

"Hi daddy."

"Hiya baby girl." Victor said softly, "can you sit a minute?"

Reluctantly, Barb sat down in a chair across from her father noticing for the first time the large box on the sofa next to him. Her heart began to pound; he had bought her a dress for the prom! He had found a way to make it happen.

"Daddy thank you!" she gushed as she moved to sit next to him on the couch.

"Barb, I want you to understand something." Victor Yancy said. "I don't appreciate the way that you acted last week. You thought of no one but yourself and that isn't what we taught you. I want you to know how this dress came to be. Each of your siblings down to the youngest contributed to the purchase of this dress. When you go to the prom, remember the sacrifices that were made so that you could go."

She wasn't listening; she only wanted to see the dress in the box. Victor handed her the box and called everyone who was home to the living room. He thought it only fair that they see the dress along with her.

Barb waited until they were all sitting and with shaking hands opened the box. The living room was silent in anticipation of Barb's shrieks of excitement. Victor leaned forward on the couch; Wanda's hand was on his shoulder squeezing it. He could feel her excitement as well as the excitement of the other kids as Barb opened the box.

She closed her eyes, took the lid of the box off and then slowly opened them. She blinked and looked at the dress again. Her first thought was that it was a joke. The dress in the box was older than she was, the box was new, the manager of the store that her father guarded gave it to him. It was a pale yellow that would look good against her skin and all she would need were shoes to go with it. She looked at the large flowers that were attached to the sides of the dress and inwardly groaned.

Everyone waited for her reaction so she gave them all a false smile and thanked them profusely but her mother wasn't fooled.

"I called your grandmother, you know how she is with a sewing machine, it won't look like the same dress."

Barb wasn't listening; all she knew was that she couldn't possibly go to the prom wearing this dress no matter what her grandmother could do with it.

In the end, she did go to the prom wearing the dress and her mother was right, it didn't look like the same dress. In fact, it was even more beautiful than many of the dresses there. Her grandmother solved the shoe problem by taking the huge flowers from the dress and using the fabric to cover a pair of existing shoes. The outfit was stunning and she got a little of what she wanted, she was looked at with envy. That night, even the whispered comments about the dress being a hand me down didn't matter as much... she was in the spot light.

After the prom, Norman took her out for a snack and then to the after prom party where in short order; she lost her virginity. In her mind, she thought that she and Norm were a couple but found out the hard way that they weren't; she was nothing more than an easy, virgin fuck. Even though she knew that this was his intent in asking her, she was still hurt by it, she really thought that he would change his mind and decide that he really did like her. His rejection just reinforced the feeling that money would make all the difference in the world.

What really got her was as the older ones left home the supply of hand me downs diminished meaning that by the time Louise and the youngest one were in school, they got new clothes. That they weren't designer clothes didn't matter, that they still wore some hand me downs didn't matter. What mattered is that they got new clothes. The thing was that as irrational as it was, Barb wasn't angry with her brother but at Louise. In her mind if her parents could afford clothes for Louise, then they could have afforded clothes for her.