part six

Olivia had been politely standing in front of the mirror for over an hour. The heavy embroidery Gregory picked out had to be painstakingly taken up by hand. Relieved that her dress had been much simpler, Caitlin settled back into the velvet chair in the corner and continued paging through the bridal fashions books. Bathed in the warm sunlight from the picture windows in the front of the dress shop, Olivia really looked like royalty, Caitlin thought quietly to herself as she watched her mother smile patiently and turn a tiny increment to left for the hundredth time. Growing up, she had been privy to the constant talk behind her back that came from coming from one of the most recognizable families in Sunset Beach. Sean believed the only way it could be worse was if they were Deschanel instead of Richards, but she loved the Deschanel legend. A man who would build a castle for his true love certainly sounded fantastically romantic to Caitlin.

Bette always said that her father had done exactly that for Olivia when he was young, built her a castle by the sea and promised to love her forever. They were the fairy tale then, both young and entirely star-struck with each other. The wistful melancholy in Bette's eyes when she talked about the old days was proof enough for Caitlin that her parents had loved each other beyond reason once.

Now Gregory seemed to be at it again, throwing a ball for his queen and reminding the whole town why they envied her. Caitlin had hope again. Sean thought she was insane and had spent the better part of last night telling her as much.

"Dad can't change Caitlin. No matter how much you want him too. He'll always hurt me, and he'll always hate me. That's the way he is. The only one of us he can stand at all is you, and he's made no secret of that." He finished morosely as he threw a rock into the ocean. "Mom and dad don't remember how to love each other. I don't know why you always get your hopes up. You're just going to get hurt this time."

"You didn't see dad," she protested as she sat down in the sand. "He was crying Sean. Really crying about mom and how much he missed her."

Sean laughed bitterly and started looking for another rock. "Dad can't cry."

"Why can't you trust him?" Caitlin asked softly, looking into the stars and dreading Sean's anger. "People can change as time passes. People can learn from their mistakes."

The second rock skipped on a wave and sank beneath the dark surface. "Dad isn't other people Cate. Sometimes, I wonder if he's a person at all."

"You don't mean that." She argued softly, trying to tell herself it was true. "How can you mean that? He's your father."

"A father is more then the act of giving someone your genes. A father occasionally has to interact with his offspring." He kept his face carefully towards the ocean, but Caitlin knew the look that would be in his eyes. Sean wore his feelings close to the surface, and just like their mother, those feelings were nearly constantly hurt.

She got up and put her arm around the shoulders of her little brother. "Come on. Let's just go home."

Sean shrugged out of her hug. "Home... so we make it just in time for the weekly blowup." Sullen contempt gleamed in his eyes, but he started walking down the beach.

Caitlin followed him in and tried to find a happier subject. "Is Tiffany going to come with you to the ball?"

"Yeah," he replied without turning back to talk to his sister.

Undaunted, Caitlin smiled cheerfully at the back of his head. "Well that will be fun, won't it?"

"I guess."

"That's the spirit. Such optimism!" She jogged to catch up with him.

Sean smiled for a moment and she knew she was finally through to him. The rest of their walk was as peaceful as the sky above their heads. Tiffany was good for Sean, Caitlin decided as the conversation went back to her. She gave him something to look after. Someone who needed him.

The lights in the living room from their house shone across the patio to the beach to paint the sand a warm yellow. Caitlin started up the way towards home first, and when Sean hesitated she reached back a hand to him and they walked on together. She entered the access code at the gate to the patio and was heading towards the house when Sean stopped her suddenly and pulled her down into the hedge around the garden.

Whispering urgently, he pointed towards the house. "Look!"

The glass doors were illuminated from within and the inside of their house was like a silent movie. Gregory appeared at the bottom of the stairs, dressed only in black pajama bottoms. He went purposely across to his jacket. He picked it up from the heap it was in near the door of his study and switched something small from one pocket to the pocket of his pajamas. Then he disappeared into the kitchen.

"What do you think he's doing?" Caitlin whispered curiously.

"I don't know yet," Sean shook his head and moved a piece of brush out of the way of his elbow. "But I don't trust him. Let's see if we can see into the kitchen." He suggested out of the corner of his mouth. Relishing his chance to witness whatever evil his father was up to tonight. They snuck through the dark yard, and from a vantage point on top of the patio wall they could see into the kitchen. Gregory had his back to the window at the stove. He was stirring. Sean was instantly disappointing. Cooking wasn't one of his father's more nefarious crimes. He was ready to give up when the door from the living room opened into the kitchen. Olivia walked up to him and wrapped both of her arms around his naked chest. She only had on a silk dressing gown and Sean was almost embarrassed to look at her as she crossed to the stove.

When he turned to his sister she was suppressing a giggle with a hand across her mouth. "That's pretty bad all right."

Gregory lifted the saucepan and poured it into two mugs on the counter top. Olivia took two containers down from the spice rack as Gregory went into the cupboard for cookies. Then he helped Olivia up to sit on the counter and slipped between her legs as he handed her a mug. She blew on it coyly and wrapped one bare foot around the back of his knee. The red dressing gown slide up her thigh and Gregory's hand followed it.

Caitlin was biting her lip to keep from laughing at Sean's mortified blush. "That's pretty dire all right. It looks like warm milk, cookies and a little midnight make-out session in the kitchen." She climbed down from the wall and headed back towards the beach. "I'm going back down to the water for awhile. They should head back to bed soon-"

Sean shoot her a dirty look and she winked at him as she slipped back into the night. He took another look into the kitchen and shuddered. They were really getting into it now. Gregory had the belt of Olivia's dressing gown in his left hand and both of her hands were intent on pulling his shoulders closer to her.

Sean was more then ready to give up and leave them both some privacy when he saw his father's right hand go to his pocket. He pulled something small out of it and dumped something into Olivia's forgotten warm milk. As Gregory kissed the line of her neck down her shoulder, he stirred it and handed it back to her as he picked up his own.

Having seen nothing, Olivia took it and returned his toast. Their mugs clinked together and laughing they finished the warm liquid and quickly returned to their study of each other's bodies. His father even starting to lay her back on the counter.

Sean stood up so quickly that he bumped his head on the orange tree behind him. Cursing under his breath he stumbled out of the yard to meet Caitlin on the beach.

She was still giggling as she traced the sand between her fingers. "Seen enough?" She teased lightly.

Seeing her innocent glee, Sean's intentions to tell her what he had seen melted away. Maybe he hadn't seen anything. "Yeah."

"I'm right aren't I?" She teased cheerfully. "They looked like they were enjoying themselves."

For Caitlin he shoved all his misgivings about his father's strange behavior out of his mind. Maybe he was really just too suspicious. Maybe his father really could be trusted to love his mother. Maybe was an uncomfortable word.

Olivia's head hurt. The ache had been building for the last hour as they pinned up the hem of her dress. She looked at herself in the mirror and tried to forget about as she studied the glorious dress. Gregory's taste was still extraordinary. The dress was tight to her waist and chest without being uncomfortable. The corset left a neat line of cleavage and the deep blue of the dress made her skin look porcelain and elegant. The trouble causing embroidery began just above her hips and swept like trails of silver mist down to the full sweep of the skirt.

Gregory had left the dress without straps, promising to find something suitable to put around her by the time of the party. She ran her fingers across the base of her throat and wondered what necklace he intended for her. Her fingers were cool and she let them rest there. The dress had started to become confining, and she could see the flush starting in her cheeks. It was definitely getting warmer, but maybe it was just the afternoon sun creeping through the windows

Sensing they were almost done, Caitlin went to the huge mirror and fingered part of the skirt wistfully. "It really is lovely mom."

"Your father knows what he likes." Olivia started to pile her hair onto her head, but stopped when the reflection she was watching became distant and blurry for a moment. She blinked and it improved momentarily.

Concerned, Caitlin helped her mother down from the stool. "Fading out on me?"

Smiling carefully Olivia tried to focus her eyes on her daughter's face. "Just a little sick of standing..."

Caitlin started to speak, but she broke off to answer her cell phone. While she talked, Olivia and the seamstress went to the dressing room, to get the dress off and carefully back to its hanger. Olivia pulled on her clothing, taking her moment alone to wonder why her reflection seemed so out-of-focus in the mirror in front of her.

Caitlin finished her call and was waiting for her. "Daddy wants to take us to dinner, he sent the car to pick us up so we can get ready."

Nodding to the saleswoman as they left the store, Olivia stopped with the railing of the stairs in her hand, enjoying the cooler breezes from the ocean. Caitlin kept up a pleasant chatter about wedding dresses she had liked and what she thought the groom would have to be like to match them.

Running her hand through her dark hair, surprised Olivia with its dampness. Something was going on with her, she spent a second on hoping it would disappear before Gregory's grand ball, as she took her water bottle from her purse. Though warm, it tasted faintly of lemon and helped a little with the heat she was feeling. Making a mental note to thank Gregory for thoughtfully putting it in her purse that morning, Olivia sat on the bench near the street and listened to Caitlin's gentle enthusiasm. It was nice to sit there and forget about everything but her daughter's wedding dreams.

By the time the car finally came, her water was gone and her hands were damp with sweat. She folded them into her lap and leaned against the cool glass of the car window. After the heat of the outside, the air conditioning of the car was frigid in comparison. Reaching for the climate controls, Olivia turned off the AC and tried to concentrate on the scenery.

"Did your father say what the occasion was?" She asked during a lull in Caitlin's cheerful banter.

"Something about a celebration." Caitlin shrugged, " It must be something good, Bette and Tiffany are both coming."

Relieved by the promise Bette's presence, Olivia let herself relax. Whatever Gregory wanted to celebrate must be something that made him nearly giddy if he was allowing Tiffany to join them. The car pulled up to the mansion before she had a chance to get any more information out of Catilin.

Gregory's thoughtful hand was a lifeline as he helped her out of the car. Unlike Caitlin, he seemed to notice immediately that Olivia was distracted. As Caitlin breezed past them both to start getting ready, he led Olivia to the living room and sat her down without a word. He brought her a glass of ice water and rested his hand on her forehead. He kissed her cheek and smiled gently. "You've got a fever Liv. What have you been doing all day?"

Olivia drank her water slowly and kept on hand on his arm for support. "Just the media center and dress fittings with Caitlin."

"You seemed fine this morning." He offered as he took her empty glass and set it aside.

Standing up was easy with the support of both of his hands. "I don't know what it is. I don't feel sick, just warm."

"I'll cancel dinner." Gregory offered quickly, but she waved him off.

"No no, I just want to rest for awhile."

Gregory started to suggested taking her upstairs, but she pointed to his study. "Would you just sit with me for awhile?"

Olivia's vulnerability brought a protective rush of warmth in his chest. Keeping his arms securely around her back, Gregory remembered Roger's instructions with a smile. Fever was the first on the list. That made tonight his mission. He nuzzled her hair as he settled her into the small couch in the study. She put her feet up on the arm of the couch, and rested his head in his lap. Olivia always felt safer with him there, and he could feel her relaxing. Grabbing his copy of his father's will from the desk he started to go over it with one hand, the other ran in slow lines across Olivia's forehead.

"What are you working on?" She asked up at him.

Moving the paper aside and he kissed her hand. "Just a will. Don't even think about it."