Heavenstone 02 - Secret Whispers

suitcases for anything but the new things.
    Ethan thought it was all very amusing but never stopped telling me how grateful I should be and how lucky we both were to have someone like Lucille to advise us. Half the time, I wasn’t sure if he was saying these things for my benefit or hers.
    “Tell me,” I asked him one night while we lay together in my bed after making love, “do you ever disagree with Lucille? I don’t mean have out-and-out arguments with her, but do you ever tell her you don’t think so or you don’t believe that, whatever?”
    He shrugged. “I avoid any of that. If I don’t agree with her, I’m silent, or I change the subject.”
    “You don’t think that’s cowardice?”
    “Cowardice? Hell, no. Hey,” he said with a smirk, “I see the way she has your father twisted around her finger, Semantha. Believe me, anyone who crosses Lucille Bennet Heaven-stone will get the boot, and you know where.”
    “She wouldn’t dare fire you or even try to now,” I said.
    “Yeah, maybe not, but she would definitely make sure I didn’t move an inch further in the corporation. It’s easier just to let her think she’s right about everything. Besides, I don’t see you arguing so much with her anymore. What’s the point of it, anyway? It’sbetter to have harmony if we’re going to be a family, don’t you think?”
    “As long as you don’t surrender your self-respect, Ethan,” I said as soon as Cassie had whispered it. I saw him wince as if I had burned him.
    He rose, his mood darkening. “Self-respect is overrated,” he muttered, and put on his robe. Then he paused, turned, and smiled at me. “As long as I have your respect, I’m fine.”
    “Do I have yours?”
    “It comes hand in hand with my love,” he said, pasted a kiss on my lips, and started out. “My parents are coming tomorrow. I’d better get some rest. My mother loves to ask questions, so be prepared. She’s a question machine.”
    “Ethan!” I cried out before he reached the door. I felt a small panic fluttering under my heart.
    “What?”
    “What do they know? I mean, about my past . . .”
    “Nothing,” he said. He smiled again. “Relax. You have no past. You have only a future with me. Sleep tight,” he said, and left.
    “That,” Cassie said, “is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard and something that causes me real concern. You have no past? You? You’re a Heaven-stone. We are the past. We have the heritage. Does he think a few wedding vows will change any of that?”
    “He was only trying to make me feel better.”
    “That’s like telling the passengers on the Titanic they’re in for a refreshing swim. Christmas trees.”
    I turned my back on her.
    She’s just jealous, I thought. I hoped.
    Can’t she ever be wrong?
    She had the final word before I brought down the shades on the windows of my mind and curled into the darkness to sleep.
    “I may have made some unintentional mistakes, Semantha, but I’ve never been wrong about people.
    “Never.”

Games
    E THAN’S MOTHER WAS nowhere near the busybody he had suggested she was. Perhaps she was intimidated by the sight and size of Heaven-stone and the grounds workers she saw on arrival. Lucille had designed some major landscape changes, especially bordering the gate and driveway.
    Daddy liked Ethan’s father. Although he had no wealthy client who came close to us, he knew how to behave around someone like Daddy. They were both on the same page when it came to business interests, the government, and taxes and at times sounded like echo chambers. No mention was made of Ethan’s father’s relatively recent heart problems. I thought he looked rather healthy and robust. I asked him how he was feeling, and he simply said, “Wonderful.”
    When I mentioned it to Ethan, he smiled and nodded. “My mother hates hearing or talking about it,” he warned.
    Lucille was cordial to both of Ethan’s parents, but I saw how she almost immediately climbed back onto her high horse and spoke as if she resided inthe clouds. Ethan’s mother clearly was afraid to interrupt her, offer an opinion, or ask her a question. She spent most of her time nodding and heaping compliments.
    All of Ethan’s other relatives and friends were staying at the Glory, where we held the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. Everyone was impressed with the hotel and the arrangements. Although the rehearsal dinner was Ethan’s parents’ event, Lucille was on top of it, and Ethan’s