Chapter 25

“Who ARE you and what am I doing naked with you in a strange bedroom?” Her tone was less than cheery. Cathay was clearly not a before noon riser. Her blond hair was plastered to her head, but scrambled all over the place, leaving her looking like she’d just finished walking through a car wash.

My answering smile failed to disarm her sense of disorientation. That kind of hurt. I think I have a pretty nice smile. Cathay was no longer buzzed from whatever she had Margaret serve her over lunch and throughout the afternoon. Drinking strong liquor never was my thing, in any of my lives, so she was on her own as far as handling the morning after effects were concerned.

My overnight guest hurried into her clothes talking a mile a minute. I learned several things about her as she rambled on while attempting to make yesterday’s wardrobe look fresh and new. “What will people think if this gets out? We came down here to get away from gossip, gossipers, and gossip mongers. Now I’ve gotten blitzed, slept with a complete stranger, and left Sheldon alone with his nannies overnight...”

“Sheldon?” I wanted to hear more about Sheldon.

“My nephew lives with me. He’s only five. His mother – my sister – spent one too many nights cranked out of her head and died. I can take him everywhere as long as his nannies are with me. They take care of all the ... not so nice facets of motherhood.”

Her face took on a bit of glow when she talked about her nephew. I liked her that way and my smile must have shown it, because she stopped talking, and demanded, “What? What is with the smile, mister?”

“Your whole face lit up when you started to talk about him. It makes you even prettier.” It wasn’t a line. She glowed even through the scraggly hair and unmade up face. Raising her orphan nephew agreed with her. “He must be very special to you.”

“Oh, he is that,” she spoke with a bit of urgency. “I wasn’t ready to be a full time mom, but when Kimmy passed away, it was me or an orphanage. We were all we had, and then Kimmy’s habit killed her one day. After that it was just Sheldon and his Auntie Caffey. He calls me Caffey ... at least I think that’s what he’s trying to say when he gurgles at me when I get home from a concert, or back to a hotel from a venue.”

Her face changed just a bit and I knew something painful was about to emerge. “Sheldon can’t really talk. He’s very damaged. Kimmy smoked too much, drank too much, and took far too many drugs while she was pregnant. She almost killed the most beautiful thing she ever did, which was have that wonderful little guy...” She cut her eyes at me, realized that she was sharing very intimate things with a stranger and her face closed down completely.

“Just WHO ARE YOU, anyway? How did we end up... ?” she glanced around the spacious and expensive bedroom suite. Thinking she was about to accuse me of drugging her, I was prepared to let her watch the security tapes of her barging in like she owned the place, but that wasn’t it at all.

“I remember opening the gate and finding you and the dog resting like you didn’t have a care in the world. After that things are a bit fuzzy...

“Did I really stand up and toss off my dress and force you to make love to me? I never do that. I assure you that people in my position never let themselves become dangerously at risk by going off with strangers.

“And ... just where are my security people?”

That one I could handle. “They met my security people when you decided to open the gate and use my back yard as your escape route. Once they sorted everything out among themselves, my cook, Margaret, fed them and they were waiting for further developments when you decided to make me your afternoon conquest. I imagine they are somewhere just outside those doors, waiting for you right now.” Cathay never really had a chance. I’d disarmed all of her arguments by being open, guileless and interested in her nephew. She wanted to focus on something displeasing and use it as a pretext to leave in a huff and recover some of her poise.

That wasn’t in my plan, either. “Why don’t you pick up that phone, and when the housekeeper answers, ask for your security chief. Let him know you will be out as soon as you ... let’s say ... freshen up.” She looked in the closet mirror, squeaked in horror and ran into my bathroom to begin a major remodeling project if the sounds she made were any indication.

As I closed the sliding glass door opening onto my bedroom patio, I could hear the singer in full voice berating her security staff over the phone. Baby Girl and I took a stroll outside to give Cathay time and privacy to inspect her condition and allow her to calm down. This also provided an opportunity for Baby Girl to visit her favorite trees and get some fresh air before having noontime breakfast.

We enjoyed the sudden quiet enough that I delayed returning for an extra thirty minutes, figuring that even Cathay would have cleaned up enough to walk the fifty yards to her own yard by then. Baby Girl was anxious to head in and hit her breakfast bowl, so I finally relented and headed for the house.

We managed to sneak in through a side entrance to avoid the super storm Cathay going on in the foyer. Baby Girl was thrilled to dive into her water bowl, then attack breakfast, while I sat down to French toast, sausage patties and all kinds of delightful side dishes. The volume rose and fell as Cathay browbeat her staff for all kinds of real and imagined slights. Baby Girl stopped eating and gave me a puzzled look when the front door slammed hard enough to knock pictures off the wall. I stroked her gently to calm her fears.

At least Cathay was gone and we could eat and go back to living in peace. That was good news.

Except for the part where Cathay went home, or wherever divas go after having thrown the lives other people into a whirlwind.

“Where have you been? I’ve been waiting for you for hours ... simply hours. And ... in case you haven’t noticed, I am NOT in the habit of waiting for anyone.” Cathay was in full diva. Her face glowed with excitement as she excoriated me for living my own life, in my own house. That crazy woman seemed to have moved in and taken over in the thirty minutes that Baby Girl took me for her morning walk.

It was my specific intention to answer her ... right after I formulated an answer that sufficiently communicated my exasperation with her antics. The only problem with my strategy was Cathay had a strategy of her own. “Well??? Where HAVE you been while I’ve been explaining the facts of life to your staff? Speaking of staff, why do they all refer to you as Sir Terrance? Just WHO are You?”

It took some time but I eventually explained how I came to be Lord Terrance. She was unimpressed, even as she was terribly interested. Once she discovered all the pertinent facts, as least those facts she thought were worth knowing, she changed tactics and hit with her best shot.

“You do realize that there is hours of work ahead of us and I can assure you that my things are not going to find their way over here and properly put themselves away, on their own, in your tiny closets...” Cathay continued talking, but she was speaking to herself. Everything after she declared that she was moving in was lost on me.

Her expression was almost enough to bump me off my game. “Precisely what facts have you been explaining to my staff?” I could feel my blood pressure climbing with just about the same intentionality as my temper rose.