Lie to Me (Pearl Island Trilogy #4)(52)
You want to test me?
I hate you!
The irony of those fights was John’s own string of affairs that had led to him and DeeDee divorcing for a time. Chloe knew, though, that to a powerful and respected businessman like her grandfather, there was a world of difference in him appearing in public with a plaything on his arm, and his daughter behaving like a plaything.
In the end, John LeRoche had always used money as a leash and knew exactly when to give a quick jerk to keep control. This time, Chloe might have found the courage to call him on his threat if Diane hadn’t tipped the scale by bothering Scott and Allison. Chloe couldn’t allow her presence on Pearl Island to cause turmoil for them.
The memories faded, leaving nothing but silence in the air. She suspected the family was in the back garden, having drinks and waiting for her to arrive. Her mother’s fiancé would presumably be there since, according to Diane, he was eager to meet her. That puzzled her. Diane’s men normally acted as if she didn’t exist. Except for Ralph, who’d noticed her a bit too much as her body had bloomed into that of a young woman.
Well, she’d find out what the new man was like soon enough. First, she needed to drop her suitcase in her room and freshen up from the trip. Carrying the case upstairs, she headed toward the room she’d always used when staying with her grandparents, the one that had been her mother’s childhood bedroom.
Sadly, there was nothing of Diane’s vibrant personality in it. Diane might be self-absorbed and irresponsible, but she also exuded a love for fun that many people found infectious. DeeDee, however, preferred absolute order. With Diane no longer living at home, the bedroom looked as pristine as a showroom, where Chloe always feared moving something out of place.
Approaching it now, she wondered if Diane’s attraction to frivolous décor was a rebellion against growing up in a sterile environment, the way Chloe herself had rebelled against her mother’s fussy taste by becoming a tomboy. Were all families like that? she wondered. Like a pendulum swinging wildly with each generation?
Reaching the room, she drew up short.
An explosion of colorful clothes lay strewn over the bed, with lingerie hanging off the wingback chair by the window, and shoes spilling from the closet.
“What in the world?” she muttered.
This mess was classic Diane and looked as if her mother had been staying in the room for quite a while. Had Diane moved back home to live with her parents? Chloe couldn’t imagine her mother doing that with anything less than a gun to her head.
Since she obviously couldn’t stay in her usual room, she picked the one across the hall. She unpacked enough to brush her hair and touch up her make-up. Stepping back from the mirror, she checked her outfit, a green silk top with short, split sleeves and a flared hem that she wore with designer pants. She wanted to be sure she looked presentable. Or rather, presentable by DeeDee’s standards. Nerves swam in her belly and she thought about changing into something dressier. Checking her watch told her she didn’t have time. Besides, she looked fine.
Suppressing doubt about her attire, she went downstairs. At the back of the house, an atrium connected the main house to the kitchen, which had originally been a separate building. She saw Hattie, the housekeeper, standing at the stove stirring a simmering pot and started to greet her, but checked the impulse. After years of working at the LeRoche mansion, Hattie rarely even made eye contact with her “betters.” The class division had always sickened Chloe, especially after spending time on Pearl Island. Aurora’s husband, Chance, came from money and he didn’t treat others as lesser humans.
Reaching the French doors, she stopped for a moment to take in the scene out in the garden. The white scheme of the house’s décor spilled over to the flower beds where white hydrangeas and azaleas bloomed in profusion against deep green foliage. Giant oaks shaded a flagstone patio that offered a variety of lounging and dining options. The small gathering of five people had divided into two groups, with the women sitting in club chairs while the men stood nearby with cocktails in hand.
DeeDee lounged in her chair with regal poise, wearing an ankle-length dress of eye-popping yellow. Clothes were where DeeDee’s obsession with white ended, and Chloe often wondered if her grandmother surrounded herself with white simply so she would stand out. In her seventies, her one concession to age was that she’d switched from hiding the gray in her mahogany hair to embracing it by going solid silver. In the yellow dress, accessorized with a tasteful selection of diamonds and pearls, she looked like a painting that could be titled Silver and Gold.
Diane, seated beside her, sported a gorgeous pantsuit in bright turquoise that had been precisely tailored to her model-perfect figure.
As Chloe watched, her mother tossed back her head with a laugh, and Chloe’s heart clutched unexpectedly at the sight. Her mother looked so beautiful with her long, dark hair pulled back in a chic ponytail that set off her big, playful earrings. The anger that had gnawed at her for days faded as memories of the good times they’d shared flitted through her mind. Chloe may have resented being yanked out of school and away from her friends every time Diane decided to dash off on a ski trip to Aspen, or a shopping trip to Beverly Hills, but having Diane for a mother hadn’t been all bad. There had been moments when Chloe managed to get her mother’s attention and Diane would focus completely on her.
To have a woman like Diane, so vivacious and alive, focus her attention on anyone tended to dazzle them. For Chloe, it had been like stepping into a beam of warm sunlight.