The White Queen (S.Rogers)

Chapter 16

Sighing in delight, Brooklyn stretched out further on the lounge chair, the heat from the August sun embracing as much of her exposed skin possible. The sound of the water splashing in the pool nearby was the only disturbance to the peace and quiet of the patio. The Marino's house, located in Malba, was in comparison to her little two room apartment, massive.

She reached for the drink, located on the table next to her, shifting to snag the straw, enjoying the sharp freshness of the lemonade. Raising her sunglasses, she checked on where Juliana was, but dropped them when she saw that her sister was fine.

"It's been a while, since the two of you visited." The aristocratic tinged voice to the other side of her stated.
"I am sorry about that, Kitty." Brooklyn apologized. "It's just been a bit... crazy, the past week."

"so I've heard." Kitty Marino, her ashy blonde hair tied up on top of her head, tilted her head back in the sun. "Momo says you have been having a gentleman pick you up after work."

"Gentleman?" Brooklyn rolled her eyes, hidden by her sunglasses. "He's trying to be."

"Is he someone that needs to be encouraged to move along?" Kitty sipped her lemonade. "because I can ask Francis to have that happen."

Brooklyn sat up, and leaned her arms on her knees. "Did Momo say who he is?"

"No." Kitty shook her head. "He said I had to ask you."

Kitty Marino had once been a Vegas show girl.  She had caught the eye of a young Francis Marino, while he had been sent to Vegas to look after the Marino Family's interests, back in the mid-nineties. He had fallen in love with the bright eyed blonde dancer, who in turn, had fallen in love with him.  She freely admitted knowing that he was rich, powerful, and connected helped the falling in love part. But whatever mercenary tactics might have been used to gain an advantageous marriage, they were truly in love, and happy.  Three sons, and five grandchildren later, they were still going strong.  Kitty, born Katherine, still remembered how hard it was for a dancer to get by, and often took it upon herself to look after the performers in her husband's clubs.  The interest in Brooklyn and Juliana was mostly due to the fact that they had come out into a world with no support system, beyond her nephew by marriage.  She often called them over, for events or just to hang out, because she honestly liked the two of them.

The fact that Kitty sometimes invited Brooklyn over to meet eligible gentlemen in her husband's employ, was a side effect of that, in Brooklyn's opinion. So it was not really surprising that Kitty was interested in anyone who had an interest in Brooklyn.

Watching as Juliana paddled around in the shallow end of the pool, firmly strapped in a life vest, Brooklyn sighed. She began to crack the knuckles of a hand on her jaw.

"Brooklyn." Kitty intoned. "Who is he?"

"Steve Rogers." Brooklyn blurted out, unable and unwilling to hide something from Kitty.

"You are shitting me!" Pulling off her sunglasses, Kitty stood up, and came over to sit next to Brooklyn's knees.  "You have Steve Rogers picking you up from the club, and what? What's going on?"

"He asked me to be his girl." Brooklyn responded, still cracking his knuckles. "Even though he knows that I don't... respond, the way a normal woman does."

"You don't respond?  What do you mean, Brooklyn?" Kitty leaned over and placed a hand on her knee.

Taking a deep breath, Brooklyn quickly explained the connection between Rogers and her father, and why he found her, and about the files he had asked for about her father, and what Banner had found out about her, through those files. She wasn't crying half as bad, as she had last night with Rogers, but she was still wiping tears from her cheeks when she was done.