Chapter Three: Sweet or Mine's Not a High Horse
Eric Van der Woodsen surveyed his bright open living room from the vantage of his kitchen with a sense of pride and accomplishment. He and husband Henry were well-respected members of Hamptons' society on their own merit. Well, both being from established old-money families probably helped but Eric knew they had arrived at the top by looking around the room. Any woman who mattered in New York was currently lounging against one of his couches, eating his homemade canapés, taking down notes dictated by his husband. He entered with a smile and a third tray of drinks for his guests.
"Ladies, anyone for another Bellini or Bloody Mary?" Eric asked the women around the room, stealing their attention from his husband. Moments later the tray was empty again and the women resumed their twittering and planning for the charity polo-match benefiting the Children's Museum of the East End. If there was a recession in sight these women surely didn't know about it.
Henry smiled up as his husband after being handed a Bloody Mary, extra strong. "Thank you darling," he said in a voice so quiet only Eric could hear. These small moments made him love his husband even more, when they looked at each other like there was no one else in the world.
Suddenly, their beautifully blond adopted daughter flew through the open glass doors, sopping wet after a dip in the pool. "Don't slip!" both men yelled out protectively to the fourteen year old, eliciting a giggle from the young girls lips as she arrived at the wide front doors.
"Grace!" Olivia shouted to her older cousin as she pulled open the door and jumped into her arms.
"Oh Livy you're getting me all wet," the older girl said with a hearty laugh. Her young cousin was always so much like her favorite uncle Eric that she sometimes forgot their connection was not biological.
Eric excused himself from the society ladies and went to greet his niece. "Hi sweetheart, shouldn't your father be arriving from the city soon?" he asked with a wide smile gracing his lips. Grace was defiantly his favorite of Chuck's twins, although he hid the truth well. He noticed a slight falter in her eyes before she regained her regal composure, so much like her namesake, so much like Blair.
"Yes, he got into Southampton about twenty minutes ago. He had some things to discuss with my mother," She responded, trying to keep the tightness and tears out of her voice. Quickly changing the topic, Grace turned her attention back to her cousin. "I promised Livy that I would help her choose an outfit for Sunday. And Theo sent me about a thousand text messages this week making me promise to visit him today."
The older man smiled down at the two children and wrapped his niece in a bone-crushing embrace. "Then you two girls get to it, and I'll send Theo up in a bit." Before he released Grace, he could have sworn that he felt her choke back a sob.
Olivia grabbed her cousin's hand to drag the older girl up the winding staircase. "Come on Grace. Papa and daddy found the most beautiful vintage dresses in the city before we left. There's a purple one that's all flowy and has a cinched waist that I'm leaning towards. But then there's a yellow one with an a-line…"
Eric watched the cousins ascending the stairs with a smile on his face, but inside he felt his heart break a little for the young brunette with so much on her shoulders. He turned away after closing the front door and winked at his husband. The confusion was not obvious on his face, but Eric knew that Henry was interrogating him with the gaze.
Theo Van der Woodsen stared up into the sky from his perch on a floating lounge in the pool. He was envisioning the clouds as a million different shapes, thoughts of a thousand bedtime stories followed. He was the quiet one to Olivia's talkative nature. They both knew they were adopted, and from the same birth mother, an emotionally stunted twenty-two year old that couldn't care for two children so she gave them both up. Things could certainly be worse for this eleven year old.
"Theo, do you have on sunscreen?" the young boy tore his attention away from the clouds and looked at his dad standing in the glass doorway.
"Yes dad," he replied, with a roll of his eyes. Theo would never roll his eyes to his father's face, but he felt sufficiently protected by the dark Ray-Bans on his face.
"I know you just rolled your eyes at me," Eric responded, but he was going to let it pass. "The committee is packing up so how about you come in and get changed for lunch…Grace is joining us." He secretly believed that his son had a small crush on his older cousin and it always made him smile to see Theo's face brighten at the mention of her name.
Suddenly alert and swimming towards the pool ladder, Theo ran past his father with an insatiable grin taking over his face. Eric laughed at his son's enthusiasm, as the boy tripped on the third step of the winding staircase. He looked down when he noticed a beeping noise coming from his daughter's phone that lay abandoned on a pool chair. Just a little snooping never hurt, right?
Gossip Girl Blast #2749
Spotted: P, A, and I in Southampton soaking in the rays. Better watch your brother closely I, sources tell me that he's fallen into A's cross hairs. And we all know that A always gets what she wants. Follow I's example and keep your friends close but your enemies closer Upper East Siders. XoXo
As soon as the last guest was out the door after several air kisses, Henry heard the phone ringing from the kitchen. He groaned inwardly hoping, no praying, that whoever was on the line never had a charitable thought in their life. "Van der Woodsen residence."
"It's Chuck,"
Henry laughed to himself because apparently god was answering prayers today. "Hold on Chuck, I'll get Grace for you," but before he was able to press the intercom button that would connect him to his daughter's room Chuck stopped him.
"Wait! Grace is there?"
Unexpectedly in a prickly position, Henry recalled his niece's abrupt appearance at their door this afternoon. "Yes, she's upstairs with Olivia selecting a dress for the engagement party," going against his greater instinct to protect Grace's privacy, Henry understood that her safety was more important.
"Henry, please don't tell her I'm on the phone." After a long pause Chuck continued, "I need to ask you and Eric for a favor."
Henry's voice was caught somewhere between his lungs and tongue, but refused to emerge. 'Chuck Bass was calling them for a favor…today was an interesting day indeed.' He thought to himself. The man was still his husband's brother so Henry cleared his throat to respond, "Of course Chuck, what do you need?"
"Blair and I had…a disagreement," he began. "I'll need to stay with you for a few days while we iron things out."
"She kicked you out?" Henry's head was spinning at the thought. Everyone knew about Chuck's not so discreet misdeeds with the opposite sex. Blair had turned her eyes from her husband's infidelity for as long as Henry knew her. Whatever Chuck had done must have been so overwhelming, so egregious… "Chuck, we're family, but Blair is too. Eric and I don't want to get in the middle of anything." Henry had to take her side; after all, he was her friend before he had even met Eric.
"I know Henry. I just need a few days to…to fix this. I fucked up Henry; give me a chance to get my family back."
They both knew where Chuck would be spending the night.