Head Over Heels (13 page)

“Hey, you better not insult Mama.” One of the younger ones piped up. Of course she blanched when Cyn turned her attention toward the girl. Parker felt as if he was in the middle of a ping pong match. There was no doubt in his mind who was going to win though. Cyn was more than holding her own.

“
Excuse me
. One, you don’t tell me what to do because I don’t answer to you. Two, isn’t your mother old enough to defend herself?” This comment elicited a gasp from all www.samhainpublishing.com 95

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three women. “And three, you shouldn’t have brought attention to yourself, because I can find insults for you as well, if you think you can take them.”

Parker had to control the laughter threatening to bubble up at Cyn’s words. His woman obviously didn’t need anyone to defend her. She was a force to be reckoned with.

The other sister, obviously too stupid for words to learn the lesson Cyn just imparted, jumped into the fray.

“You think you’re so smart. But you’re not.”

Cyn leaned forward as if waiting for more, but then laughed. “Is that it? Damn, Drew, you can’t insult someone to save your life.”

“Listen here, young lady, when your father hears about this he won’t be happy. In fact, I look forward to seeing him taking you down a peg or two. You are too spoiled for words. And don’t think you’re just going to get away with kicking my girls out.”

“There’s nothing to get away with. It’s already done. And you can tell my father whatever you want. I have nothing to hide. Just make sure it’s the truth.” She stared pointedly at the two younger girls and they actually had the audacity to blink their eyes in confusion, as if they had no idea to what she was referring to. If he hadn’t been aware of their duplicitous nature, he might have bought into the innocent act. But, unfortunately, Parker had been a victim of one of their schemes and he was more than happy to see them get their comeuppance.

Cyn shook her head in disgust as she turned toward him, obviously dismissing them from her thoughts. “Just ignore the—”

Her words were interrupted by the arrival of her father bearing an oversized white box.

The three Cruellas immediately turned toward him and all began speaking at once.

Although speaking was a relative term. To Parker it sounded as if they were squawking.

Their complaints were varied, but all came down to one common factor, Cyn.

Much to his surprise though, while they bitched and moaned about her, Cyn didn’t utter a word in her defense. It wasn’t what he’d come to expect of his little hellion and it took him aback.

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“Enough,” Walt said sharply. When the noise continued he roared it. “Enough.”

As quickly as the braying had began, it ending, coming to a stuttering stop at Walt’s harsh command. The room grew so hushed Parker could hear the clock ticking in the background.

In the wake of the silence, Walt set the parcel he’d been carrying on the counter and turned back around, crossing his arms over his massive chest. The easy going man Parker had been introduced to less than an hour ago was gone, and in his place was this formidable giant. “I can’t leave you all together for five minutes without War World War Three starting. Without yelling will someone tell me what the hell is going on here? Cyn?

Franny?”

Cyn opened her mouth to speak but was drowned out by Franny who barreled on full steam ahead. “This is about your daughter disrespecting me for the last time.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Cyn murmured under her breath, much to Parker’s amusement.

“Disrespecting you?” Brows furrowed, Walt glanced over at Cyn. “Explain yourself.”

“Dad, there’s nothing to explain or to get upset about.”

“I disagree. Did you know—” Franny’s eyes welled with tears, “—she gave the girls a month to move out?”

A month too long as far as Parker was concerned. Cyn was being far too nice. When Walt turned back to look at Cyn in disbelief, Parker could tell he was the only one who thought that. “Is this true, Cynthia?”

“Yes.”

“See…” Fanny’s smug pleasure made her crocodile tears from earlier ring false.

“Why don’t you tell him why, Franny? Or did the girls even bother to explain it to you?”

“Staci and I have nothing to hide,” said Drew in a snotty little tone.

“Do you really want to get into this right now?” Everything in Cyn’s stance indicated she was ready to do battle. “Huh, do you?”

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Walt glanced over at Parker, and then nodded his head sharply. “No, we’ll discuss this at home at a later date.”

Not to be put off, Franny added an extra dig. “Another thing you might want to add to your list of ‘later’ conversations is why the shop was closed when we arrived.”

“Closed?”

“Yes, locked tight. They,” Franny pointed to Cyn and Parker as if they were some sort of criminals, “were in the backroom doing God knows what.”

Could this get any worse
? Walt’s gaze collided with Parker’s, but Parker didn’t flinch. He met the surprised man’s gaze head on, refusing to cower or feel embarrassed for spending time alone with his woman.

“Oh, please,” Cyn muttered, crossing her arms over her breasts. “He
is
my man.

Hello.”

He was her man.
Parker couldn’t hold back his grin.
Take that, bitches
.

“And this is your place of work,” Franny shot back.

“What makes you think I wasn’t showing him around?”

“I’m sure he’s been around, all right.” Drew sniffed as if her shit didn’t stink. “Lord knows you have.”

“Watch yourself, Drew.” Walt warned as he turned back around to face the other women. His voice had gone ice cold, and his posture stiff as a board. “What they were doing back there is none of our business. Nor is it anything that hasn’t been done in this store before.”

“Eww, Dad.” Cyn grimaced. “I could have gone the rest of my life without knowing that.”

“I assure you, honey, the feeling is mutual,” he said with a wink.

Parker’s esteem for the man was growing by leaps and bounds. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind where Cyn got her sense of humor or fortitude from.

“But, Walt—”

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“I said later, Francine.” Walt’s tone brooked no further argument and the older woman seemed deflated for a moment. Parker didn’t miss the snide look she shot Cyn however. He had a feeling this incident wasn’t over as far as Francine was concerned.

“Now for your surprise, Cyn.”

Walt had turned his attention back to the large box he’d carried in. Gently lifting the lid, he revealed a swath of tissue paper. Parker noted a sheen in the older man’s eyes, as if he were on the verge of tears.

“Cyn, baby, come on over here. I have something very special I want you to see.”

Cyn joined her father at the counter and snuggled into his embrace when Walt wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“When you told me about this ball—”

“Ball, what ball?” Franny exclaimed.

“Cyn’s been invited to a fancy charity masquerade party.” The pride in Walt’s voice was more than evident.

“Is it for the whole family?”

Parker blanched at the thought of having Franny and her daughters at the event, although he’d almost invited the bitter woman. Thankfully Cyn had stopped him, but it had been a close call.

Walt frowned at Franny’s interruption and she actually looked a bit worried. “No, of course not. This is a special occasion, just for my girl.”

Everyone in the room could hear the love emanating from his words. But Parker could tell it didn’t help to endear Cyn to the other three women. In fact, Parker could practically hear their teeth grinding.

“And for such a wonderful night, you need a wonderful dress.” Walt spread open the tissue paper to reveal the dress.

“Is that Mom’s…?” Cyn’s voice broke and she was unable to finish her question.

“Yes.” Walt’s own voice sounded a bit thick with emotion and he cleared his throat before continuing. “I figure if you were going to a ball with a prince, you should have a dress fit for a princess.”

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“You’re going to die when you see my dress.” Cyn excitedly ushered Miller into her apartment. “My father found it in the attic and pulled it out for me.”

Words alone couldn’t express the high she was on. Not only was she going to a ball with her personal Prince Charming, she would be wearing her mother’s Cotillion dress.

The ivory gown was similar to the princess dresses she’d read about in stories when she was younger. As a child she used to sit and stare for hours at her mother’s photo albums. The one that held her attention and captured her imagination though, was the one with pictures of her mother wearing the pretty white dress at the formal dance.

Cyn had never had a Cotillion of her own. Her mother passed before she turned fifteen and the dreams she had were laid to rest alongside her mother. But now, she’d have a chance to be a princess, just as her mother was.

“Is this your month or what?”

“Definitely.” Cyn was blessed in so many different ways. “The gruesome twosome are now officially my father’s problem not mine. I’m dating the man of my dreams and I have a private plane waiting on me as we speak to whisk me away to a ball where said man is waiting for me. Could my life be more of a fairy tale?”

“It really couldn’t,” Miller agreed happily. “Speaking of your man, is he waiting at the airport?”

“No, I haven’t seen him since last week.”

“You mean when you were busted by your dad doing it in the backroom.”

“Shut up.” She was never going to live that down.

“No can do. As your best friend it’s my job to tease you unmercifully about this to the day we die.”

“Tell me something I didn’t know,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

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“No, how about you tell me something I don’t know. Are you going to take him up on his proposition?”

This was a question that had plagued Cyn like nothing else before. She weighed her pros and cons, asked her family and friends for advice and even took stock of her life circumstances, but when it came down to it, she realized she had to go with her heart.

And her heart was with Parker. “Yes, I am. I’m not sure of the hows and whys right now, but I want to be with him. My dad and I talked about it and he wants me to make the move.”

“He wants you gone?”

“No, he wants me to be happy and he knows Parker makes me happy. So I’m going to do it.”

“Wow.” Miller seemed surprised by her admission.

”I know.” She smiled. She hadn’t told Parker, but Cyn was pretty sure he was going to think the news was wow worthy as well. “But we can discuss all of that later. Right now, let’s talk about my beautiful dress.”

“When did you take it out of the cleaners?”

“Today. My dad picked it up for me and he was going to drop—” The words died in her throat as they rounded the corner and spotted Drew and Staci standing in the living room. After the little showdown at the store they’d moved out, much to her delight. So it was a bit shocking to see the two of them standing bold as day in her place again. “What are you two doing here?”

“We just came by to get a few things we left.”

“Good.” Cyn took off her purse and set it on the side table. “Now leave.”

“We will, but first…” Staci glanced quickly at Drew then back to Cyn. She took a hesitant step back and a little to right, as if she was trying to stand behind Drew. “We need to talk to you.”

“About what?” Cyn didn’t really care what Staci had to say. They weren’t moving back in. Not today. Not ever. The last three nights were the most peaceful of her life and she planned to keep it that way.

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“There was an accident,” Staci said softly.

Cyn frowned. “What type of accident?”

“Well…Walt asked us to pick up your dress.”

“Oh, no.” Miller caught on before she did. He stepped up behind her and placed his hands comfortingly on her shoulders. “Cyn stay calm.”

“What?” Confused she glanced back at him, then to Drew who was watching her intently.

“It was an accident,” Staci repeated. “You know how clumsy I am.”

“What was an acc—” Sudden realization hit her squarely. “Not the dress.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“What did you do?” Miller questioned, his voice filled with rage.

“It’s just a little wine.”

“Wine.” Cyn glanced wildly around the room looking for any evidence of the supposed accident. “Where’s my dress?”

“I’m sorry,” Staci cried.

“Where?” She was going to kill them.

“In the kitchen. I tried to clean it.”

Cyn tore away from Miller and raced into the kitchen. Lying on the counter was her mother’s gown. There was a large plate sized crimson stain over the bodice with several mini dots along the side.

“Fuck.” Miller’s outrage was no match for her own.

Deep inside, she known kicking the two of them out would have some repercussions, especially when her father had sided with her over them, but she in no way did she ever imagine they would do something so malicious and cold. They didn’t just ruin her dress for tonight. They ruined one of the last tangible links she had to her mother.

“You…you…bitch.”

The words came out stilted and without heat. Her heart was breaking. She didn’t have the energy it would take to kill them and bury their bodies.

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“It was an accident.” The lack of remorse in Drew’s voice was the final nail in her coffin.

“Get out.”

“I have to get the rest of my st—”

Cyn grabbed the knife off of the cutting board and pointed it at Drew. Maybe she had the energy after all. “Get out now!”

“Cyn, give me the knife.” Miller took a step towards her with his hand held out.