THE CRITIC (27 page)

“Jared, you’re not listening to me.”

“I guess not,” he admitted. “I was thinking of doing something else, but don’t worry, it included you.”  He reached out and gave her a hug as she started to blush.

And that was his introduction to her father, William Rose.  The man stood glaring at him as though he had caught him breaking into his home and stealing his most prized possession.

He tapped Toreas’s shoulder.  “I think your father’s home.”  He stood then, his hand outstretched.  “Hello Mr. Rose, I’m Jared Stone.”

He watched as the man’s glare became even fiercer.  Jared looked toward Toreas, then back toward her father.

“Jared Stone. Why are you here?  Aren’t you the critic who was hounding my daughter on national television?” 

The man’s angry gaze swung to his daughter.  “Tesa, what is the meaning of this?  Why did you bring this man to our home?  He’s the critic.”

“I know, Dad.  Since I’ve always had critics in my life, I thought it was time I invited another.”  Both men looked at her, watching her grin in amusement.

“Jared’s my friend.”  She refused to look away from the fury in his eyes.  “Actually he’s a lot more than that. He’s important to me, Daddy, and it’s important that he spend Thanksgiving with us. He’s going to be in my life for a long time.  I want you to be nice to him.”

She smiled at her father, then went to hug him, hugging him so tightly that he tried to pull away.  “I love you, Daddy, please be nice to him,” she whispered in her father’s ear.  She wanted to whisper that she also loved Jared.

She felt her father’s arms tightening around her and knew he would do his best.  She’d forgotten to tell him that she’d made peace with Jared, that he was no longer the enemy.

Before anyone could say another word, both of her brothers bounded into the room and rushed toward her, lifting her high into the air and passing her back and forth between them as though she were nothing more than a football.

Toreas wished that Kelle had taught her something to do in this situation.  They were literally throwing her and from the sound of their laughter, enjoying it.

“Would you two baboons put me down?  We have company.”

For a split second she was suspended in midair as both brothers momentarily forgot her while turning toward Jared.  Then in the same instant they both put out their arms, catching her between them.

They deposited her on the floor, hugged her to them, kissed her cheeks and turned to Jared all in a matter of seconds.

“This is Jared Stone.”  She introduced her brothers.

“You kicked this big guy’s butt?” Billy asked.

Billy and Michael laughed and shook hands with Jared.  Toreas had expected they would be as angry with him as her father but their attitude was entirely different. They seemed to like him. For that she was thankful. But something strange was going on. It was as if her entire family already knew Jared. They were being much too calm, not drilling him. The more she thought about it, even their initial glaring had been too mild. What the heck was wrong with these people?

“What the heck do you have on?”  Her brother Michael looked at her, frowning.  “Your clothes are ugly.”

“And too big,” her oldest brother Billy chimed in.  “What are you doing, buying your clothes from a flea market?”

She turned toward Jared, seeing the smirk she had known would be there on his face.  She wished she knew a karate punch that would take the three of them down in one fell swoop.

Then her father got in on the act, surveying her.  Apparently he hadn’t noticed her clothes before in his anger at finding Jared sitting in the middle of the kitchen with her in his arms.

“Tesa, the boys are right.  Why are you wearing those clothes and where on earth did you get them?”

“I’ve been trying to save money, so I sometimes buy my clothes at secondhand stores.”  She was praying that for once she wouldn’t blush.

“Why?  You could have asked me for money.”  Then she watched as her father frowned.  “What happened to the clothes you had before?  You never dressed like this when you were dating Fred.  Where are those clothes?”  He growled at her and frowned more fiercely, then glared at Jared. “And you cut off your beautiful hair.”

“Don’t blame Jared.  I cut my hair because it’s easier to manage. And I changed my wardrobe before I ever met him.  This is more my style.”  She pulled on the huge sweater, then twirled around, pretending not to be mortified.

It was one thing for Jared to call her clothes ugly.  She didn’t even mind her brothers’ comments, but for them to do it together, they were ganging up on her.

“You’re going shopping with your mother tomorrow.”

“No, Dad, I owe you enough already.”

“This isn’t a loan.  It’s a gift.”

“I like my clothes.”

“I don’t and you’re not going to church with us looking as if you’ve no family to take care of you.”

“Why don’t you just have Mom tell Mrs. Johnson that I dress like this on my own?  The town should know in a minute that my dress is not your fault.”  She knew immediately she had gone too far.

The four men she loved were staring at her.  Her father’s face wore a wounded expression and her brothers wore identical looks of contrition. Jared’s look was embarrassed amusement.

“I’m sorry.”  She hugged her father, then kissed his cheek.  “I’ll go shopping in the morning with Mom for a proper dress to wear to church on Thursday.”  She felt like what she’d always tried to be, Daddy’s good little girl. “But Daddy, I have enough money to pay for the dress myself.” She held up a hand. “No argument, I’ll buy the dress.”

During dinner Jared talked with her brothers.  He appeared to be enjoying their good natured teasing and she wondered at that.  Their teasing was always a bone of contention with her.  It annoyed her.

Hours later when she went to bed, Jared was still being entertained by her family. They barely seemed to notice when she said goodnight, except to yell a cheery goodnight back to her.

She lay in her old bed fuming, feeling a weird jealousy.  Her family had stolen Jared’s attention, and he had stolen theirs.  She was the only one not having a good time with any of them.

Her family had never been this much fun.  Why was Jared enjoying them?  Why wasn’t he bored out of his skull?  She heard hearty laughter coming from the living room, causing her to shove a pillow over her head.

They were disproving everything she’d told Jared about them, everything she’d thought of them.  Where the heck had this family come from?  And what had they done with her true family?

Wednesday she barely had time to see Jared.  Immediately after breakfast her brothers and father took off with him.  When her mother appeared in the door of the kitchen as she was finishing up with the breakfast dishes, she informed Toreas they were going shopping.

By the time they returned home she had been hugged by so many people she was sure she had people burn from their rubbing their cheeks against hers.

When had this town become so loving, so fond of her?  They behaved as if they genuinely loved her and had missed her.  How could that be possible?  She’d always been as obnoxious a brat as she could get away with.

Of course obnoxious for her was refusing to accept a piece of cake from one of the neighbors her mother had forced her to do errands for.  They probably hadn’t noticed, or else they had forgotten.

Toreas was glad she had a moment alone with her mother. She had some worries about her relationship with Jared. As much as she didn’t want to tell her mother she seemed unable to keep it from her.

“I’m worried about the way Jared and I are always fighting,” she began.

“Why?” her mother answered. “All couples fight.”

She took a moment to digest that word,
couple
.  Was that what she and Jared were? 
A couple?
  “I want to be like you and Daddy,” she confessed.  “You guys never fight.”

Her mother laughed till tears ran down her face. Toreas frowned, looking at her mother as though she were a stranger.

“Mom, stop laughing.  I’m serious.”

“I know, honey, that’s why I’m laughing.”

Toreas watched her serious mother in awe as she clamped both hands over her mouth. Still the tears rolled down her cheeks and her eyes held a devilish twinkle.  Her mother bit her lip, shaking her head in amusement.

“Honey, your father and I fought from the moment we met.  When you kids were little we’d hire a baby-sitter so we could go out and fight.”

Toreas was staring at her mother. Now she was sure something had happened in this town. Maybe aliens had invaded and replaced all of the people she knew with pod people. Her brothers were fun, the townspeople loving, and now her mother was telling her the one ideal couple Toreas knew fought.

“Tesa, fighting is healthy for a relationship. Especially when the two people love each other as much as your father and I do.  If you want a relationship like ours, then you’re on a good road toward getting it.”

Toreas saw the change come over her mother as she smiled before continuing.  “When you love each other, there is a level of respect even to your fighting. The making up is always a lot of fun.” Her eyes twinkled and Toreas’s mouth fell open in shock.

“Mom.”  Toreas had to know, and it would tell her if this was truly her mother. 

“What is it?”

“Can I ask you a personal question?”

“Sure, go ahead.  You’re my daughter.”

“Were you a virgin when you married Daddy?” She watched as her mother, who never blushed, turned a bright shade of red. 

“Billy was a nine pound preemie.”

Okay, this was proof that her family had been replaced by aliens. Her mother had drilled in her head the evils of fornicating the moment she’d learned to crawl. “Mom, I don’t believe it.  You?  You and Daddy were always teaching us not to fornicate, that it was a sin.  I’ll bet I was the only ten-year-old who even knew the meaning of the word fornicate.”

“Tesa, grow up.  Do you think you and your generation invented sex or temptation?  That doesn’t mean that we wanted our children to give in to it.”

“Mom.”  Toreas voice was still shocked.  “Did you enjoy it?”

“Of course I did.  And I still do for your information.”

“You didn’t feel guilty?”

“A little the first time.  We weren’t married, but I loved your father.  I got over it.”  Her mother’s look became intense. “Do you feel guilty with Jared?”

It was Toreas’s turn to blush.  “We’ve never…”

“Never?”

“Never.”  Toreas was glad her mother didn’t ask if she’d ever.  Both women were silent for a moment.  Then Toreas broke the now awkward silence.  “Do you think God forgave you?”

“I know he did.  God loves us.  He doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He just expects us to try our best.”

The door opened then, ending any further conversation.  Jared came in with her brothers and her father, his eyes finding hers.

“Did you have fun?”  He came up to her and kissed her lightly on the lips in front of her entire family.  Toreas waited for the explosion, the protests, but none came.  They were behaving as if he had the right to kiss her.  Who the heck were these people?

She watched all of them warily, including Jared.  She felt as if she was the only person whose body had not been snatched.  All the others were different and happy.

When they sat down hours later to a dinner of pizza, she had to do something to shock them back to reality. Her father eating pizza for dinner?  More proof. Something must have happened to her world while she was in Chicago.

“Tesa, your brothers want to know when you’re coming home. They’ll come up and move you.”

She caught Jared eyeing her.  This was her chance. “I’ve changed my mind, Dad. I’m not moving back and I’m not going to stop writing romance.”

“We had a deal, Tesa.  Are you telling me you’re going back on your word?”

“Yes, I guess that’s what I’m saying.  I’ll pay you back every penny.”

“It’s not the money.”  Her father looked at her, his expression unreadable.  “You gave your word.  Tell me why you choose to break it now.”  He glanced at Jared.

“God gave me a talent.  He gifted me with an imagination and I think I would honor Him if I use it to the best of my abilities.”

“Writing smut?  You think that’s honoring God?”

“Romance isn’t smut, Daddy. Besides, I can write it in a way that won’t compromise my beliefs.”  She, too, looked toward Jared. He’d given her the idea.

“I thought you told me you had to write those sex scenes or no one would read the books.”

“I could be wrong, Daddy.”  She was still looking at Jared, his golden brown eyes telling her he was proud of her.  “I think I can do this in a way that you’ll still be able to hold your head up and I’ll still be following my dream.”

“So your word means nothing.”  Her father looked around the table then.  “How do you plan to support yourself or to pay me back?  You said you needed to be home to write. Surely you don’t expect me to continue subsidizing you when you’ve broken our agreement?  By your own admission you can’t write and support yourself at the same time.”