Kissed by an angel (camren)

Chapter 3

Song suggestion:
Grouplove- tongue tied
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Camila froze. She was stunned by the sight of Lauren, celery stick stuck in her ears, salad shreds in her hair, something squishy and black on her teeth, and hard as it was to believe that some one older than 8 would do this, shrimp tails sticking out of her nose.

Lauren looked just as stunned to see Camila.
"Am I in trouble?" Sofi asked.
"I think I am," Lauren said softly.
"You're supposed to be in the dining room eating with us," Camila told Sofi.
"We're eating in here. We're having a feast."
She looked at the assortment of food piled on the plates between them and one side of her mouth curled up.

"Please Kaki, mom said we could bring any friends we wanted to the wedding."
"And you told her you didn't have any, remember? You said you didn't have one friend in Stonehill.
"I do now."
Camila looked at Lauren.
Lauren was careful to keep her eyes down, concentrating on the celery, shrimp, and squashed black olives, lining them up on the box in front of her. Disgusting.

"Mademoiselle!"
"It's Doo-be-do!" cried Sofi. "Close the door! Please Kaki!"
Against her better judgement, she did, for strange as it seemed, her litter sister looked happier than she had in weeks. With her back to the storeroom, Camila faced the caterer.

"Is something wrong, mademoiselle?"
"No sir."
"Are you très certaine?"
"Très," she replied, taking Monsieur Pompideau's arm and walking him away from the door.
"Well, you are wanted in the dining room," he said crisply. "It is time for the toast. Everyone is waiting."

Camila hurried out. They were indeed waiting, and she couldn't avoid an entrance. Camila blushed as she crossed the room. Gregory pulled her toward him, laughing. Then he handed her a champagne glass.

A friend of Andrew's made the toast. It went on and on.
"Hear, hear," all the guests cried out at last.
"Hear, Hear, sister!" Gregory said, and drank down the contents of the glass. He held it out to be filled again.

Camila took a small sip from hers.
"Here, here, sister," he said again, but low and soft this time, his eyes burning with a strange light. He clinked his glass against hers and downed the champagne once more.
Then he pulled Camila to him, so close she couldn't breathe, and kissed her hard on the mouth.

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Camila sat at her piano, staring at the same measures of music she had opened to five minutes before, one hand resting lightly on her lips. She dropped her hand down to the yellowed keys and ran her fingers over them, eliciting ripples of music, not quite in tune. Then she ran her tongue over her lips. They weren't really bruised, it was all in her mind.

Still, she was glad that she had talked her mother into letting Sofi and her stay in their apartment until after the honeymoon. Six days alone with Gregory in the huge house on the ridge was more than she could face, especially with Sofi acting up.

"Kaki, I decided," Sofi said suddenly. "I'm not going to move."
"What?" She lifted her legs and spun around on the piano bench.
"I'm staying here. Do you and Ella want to stay with me?" Ella was the family cat.
"And what about mom?"
"She can be Gregory's mother now," Sofi said.

Camila winced, the way she did each time her mother made a fuss over Gregory. Sinu was warm-hearted and affectionate and trying hard, much too hard. She had no idea how ridiculous Gregory found her.

"Mom will always be our mother, and right now she needs us."
"Okay," Sofi said agreeably. "You and Ella go. I'm going to ask Lauren to move in with me."
"Lauren!"
Sofi nodded. Apparently she had made up her eight year old mind and didn't figure that the matter needed to be discussed further.

What had Lauren said to Sofi that helped her so? Perhaps nothing, Camila thought. Perhaps instead of trying to explain her mother's marriage for the last three weeks, she should have just stuck some shrimp in her own nose.

"Sofi," she said sharply.
"Huh?"
"Did Lauren say anything to you about me?"
"About you?" She thought for a moment. "No."
"Oh." Not that I care, Camila told herself.
"Do you know her?" Sofi asked.
"No. No, I just thought that maybe, after I found you in the storeroom, she'd say something about me."

Sofi's brow knitted. "Oh, yeah. She asked me if you like to wear pink dresses like that, and if you really believe in angels. I told her about your collection of statues."
"What did you tell Lauren about my dress?"
"Yes."
"Yes?" She exclaimed.
"You told mommy you thought it was pretty."
And her mother had believed her. Why shouldn't Sofi?

"Did Lauren say why she was working there tonight?"
"Yup."
"Well, why?" Camila asked, exasperated.
"She has to make some money for a swim meet. She's a swimmer, Kaki. She goes to other states and swims. She needs to fly, I can't remember where."

Camila nodded. Ofcourse. Lauren was just hard up, earning her way. She should stop listening to Dinah.

Sofi stood up suddenly. "Kaki don't make me go to that big house. Don't make me go. I don't want to eat dinner with him!"
Camila reached out for her little sister. "New things always seem scary," she reassured her. "But Andrew has been nice to you, right from the start."
"I don't want to eat dinner with Gregory."
She didn't know what to say to that.

Sofi stood next to her, her fingers moving silently over the old piano's keys. When she'd been younger she used to do that and sing the tunes she was supposed to be playing.
"I need a hug," Camila said. "How about it?"
Sofi gave her an unenthusiastic one.
"Let's do our new duet, okay?"
She shrugged. She'd play along with her, but the happiness that Camila seen in her little sister earlier had disappeared.

"They were five measures through when Sofi slammed her hands down on the piano. She banged and banged and banged.
"I won't go! I won't go! I won't!"
Sofi burst into tears, and Camila pulled her towards her, letting her little sister sob in her arms. When she had settled into exhausted hiccups, she said,
"You're tired Sofi. You're just tired," but she knew it was more than that.

While Sofi rested against her she played for her, her favorite songs, then softened the medley into lullabies. Soon she was almost asleep and much too big for her to carry into bed.
"Come on," she said, helping her up from the bench. Ella followed them into her room.

"Kaki."
"Hmmm?"
"Can I have one of your angels tonight?"
"Sure. Which one?"
"Tony."

Tony was the dark brown one, carved out of wood, Camila's father angel. She stood Tony next to the sleeping bag. Then Sofi crawled into the bag, and she zipped her in.

"Do you want to say an angel prayer?" She asked.
Together they said, "Angel of light, angel above, take care of me tonight. Take care of everyone I love."
"That's you Kaki," Sofi added, and closed her eyes.