Reader Believes

Chapter 27

            Kicking the front door closed, Rika supported herself against the wall with one hand as she pulled her shoes off. Following the path of the second with her eyes, she frowned at the sight of an unfamiliar pair of strappy brown heels. Connor hadn’t mentioned having a new girlfriend…

            Rika felt like she’d been doused with cold water as the other possibility occurred to her. She fought to keep her breathing even as she walked slowly into the family room. Immediately her gaze was drawn to the woman sitting on the corner of the coffee table. Blonde hair was pulled into an immaculate bun, blue eyes stayed steady above a short, straight nose, while artificially pink lips were wrapped around the end of a cigarette. The woman who lounged so casually on their furniture in capris and a blouse had Rika’s heart speeding up.

            At the sound of her footfalls, the woman looked up, letting her perfectly arched eyebrows go up. “Well,” she said, tapping some of the ash into an empty cup. “It’s about time one of you got back here. I was beginning to think you’d run away from home or some other such nonsense.”

            Rika ground her teeth together, just barely keeping from a scathing reply. “Hello, Mother,” she said, keeping her voice even. “To what do we owe the pleasure of today’s visit?”

            “Does a mother need a reason to drop by to see her children?”

            “No, but you never show up unless you want something from us. Let me guess, you booked another ‘happy family’ photo shoot and interview, didn’t you?”

            Her mother’s shrug was fluid. “My agent said the public’s eating that kind of story up at the moment. It’ll only take an afternoon.”

            “The interview and picture taking will only take that long. You’ll be with us for the days leading up and a few days after, just so anyone watching thinks you really do visit us more than when you want to pull this kind of stunt. Our lives get disrupted for days, you completely mess the apartment up, and it’ll be weeks before we can get the smell of smoke out. We’ve told you over and over not to smoke in here!”

            She took a long drag on her cigarette and looked down her nose at her daughter. “Don’t forget who actually owns this place.”

            Rika bared her teeth. “And we pay for it by doing stupid stuff like letting you pretend to actually be some kind of mother.”

            “Hmph. Since when did you develop such an attitude? I expect this kind of treatment out of your brother, but you at least, have always been quieter.”

            Eyes narrowing, Rika was about to hiss a reply when the sound of the door opening had her freezing in place. Two identical sets of blue eyes turned towards the doorway. “Connor, be a dear and lock the door behind you. We can’t have the paparazzi getting in,” her mother called.

            The click of the lock preceded the arrival of the young man who’d shut it. Seeing black hair and black eyes, Rika couldn’t help choking. Her eyes went from Ahisu to her mother, who was staring at him, lips parted.

            For a long second, there was no sound.

            Then Ahisu turned to Rika, forehead wrinkled as he tilted his head in her mother’s direction. Taking several deep breaths that did nothing to calm her racing heart, Rika crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s my mother. Helen Beauregard.”

            “Who is this?” Her mother demanded, standing. “Anyone who thinks he may walk straight into someone else’s apartment without so much as a knock-”         

            Rika cut her off. “Ahisu lives here so he’s allowed to walk in whenever he likes. He even has a key.”

            Helen drew herself up, blue eyes bright as they landed on her daughter. “I don’t remember agreeing to let you put up strange young men. He leaves, right now.”

            Rika inhaled through gritted teeth, hands balling into fists. “You don’t let me do anything. You might have given birth to me, but you’ve had nothing to do with raising me, with giving me rules, or really, with even getting to know me. You can’t answer the littlest thing about me. I bet if I asked, you wouldn’t even remember how old I am!”

            “I put a roof over your head, ensure that you go to the best schools, and until your brother started getting rebellious, made certain that there was always someone here to take care of you. Do not speak to me about my not being a mother.”

            Rika took a step towards her, glaring. “You don’t know a single thing about us! You’re never around, you never contact us, the only time we see you or Father is when you want something! How is that being a parent?”

            “Your father and I have provided you with everything you need. You should have no complaints!” Helen replied, tossing her head.

            “You didn’t raise us! You left us to nannies. Half of who were horrible and were only a few steps up from neglecting us. There was only one good one out of the seven we had! And Addie still contacts us more often than you do.”

            “Your nannies all came with the best references and highest recommendations from the premier childcare agencies.”

            “They were horrible people! You’re just too much like them to have noticed how completely devoid of human feeling they were.”

            “Wha-Mother? What is going on here?”  The male voice cut through their shouting match. Rika panted, only just now realizing that she’d been yelling, and turned towards the doorway. In the heat of their argument, she hadn’t even heard Connor unlock the door. Now he stood just inside the family room, his eyes drifting between her and their mother.

            “You can deal with her,” Rika snapped, turning on her heel and darting past her mother into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.