Marie was a bit puzzled. She didn't know that Billy was in contact with Caroline Spalding. There was no other woman more unfitted for her son than Caroline. For heaven's sake, she was intelligent, beautiful, but she had nothing in common with Billy. She nodded and smiled.
"Sweetheart, along with Marie and Shawn is also..." Erica began but was abruptly interrupted by her daughter.
“Yes, Danielle has already told me who she is...” Caroline said with a half-smile, almost annoyed by Isabelle's presence. “I hope you will have a good time at my party... ah... Irene, right?” she added innocently.
“Isabelle... Her name is Isabelle,” Marie defended her amazed by the slight malice that she noticed in Caroline's tone, someone that Marie knew since she was a little girl.
Sitting at one of the tables, Isabelle looked at Ted Spalding as he was coming towards her with two glasses of champagne. She liked him as a man and as a person. He was acting so normal, even though he was a very rich man, and he was quite nice. They had danced, talked about music, about theater, about a lot of things."I like spending time with my family away from the city, but I have to say that I can't wait to get back to my apartment in San Francisco," he said. “Truth being said, I love big cities, and San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York remain amongst my favorites.”“I lived in San Francisco until I was ten years old. Then my parents bought a house outside the city, far from all the madness, and there I felt much safer. I felt I was at home,” Isabelle replied completely surprised by how relaxing and ple
His aunt approached him asking why he wasn't going to invite Isabelle to dance. Shawn drank the last drop of champagne from his glass as Isabelle was still dancing with Ted. He had known Ted for years, their families got along very well, but Shawn had always thought of Ted as being a bit… slimy. And right this very moment, he hated him with all his might."Aunt Marie, I don't want to dance with little Belle," he said. “Can’t you tell?”"I could, but all the guests around us are whispering about your… attention towards Isabelle," Marie replied very abruptly and looked at him sideways. “I think you should leave Isabelle and Ted alone and stop following them around like a stalker. It’s not very respectful ofthem.”“Since you know me when was the last
Shawn's voice sounded different… it was hoarse, deep, warm. She needed a few seconds to be able to recover and reply to him.“Like... like Danielle said... I... I'm hot...” Without asking her permission, Shawn put his cold hand down on Isabelle's warm arm. His touch had the effect of an electric discharge on her and Isabelle startled. Her eyes became wide open when she met Shawn's gaze."Yes, your skin is… quite hot," he said softly with a worried expression. “You look flushed, have you got the fever?”“NO!” she exclaimed, but not wanting to make a scene in front of everyone, Isabelle lowered her voice. “I mean no... I don’t have a fever. I feel like this because... there are too many people around
The following morning, Isabelle dressed in her usual clothes. She needed to feel comfortable, to feel at ease in order to face Marie, who surely will ask her a lot of questions about what happened at the party. Isabelle knew she would encounter Shawn also. The worst part was the fact that on her wrist she had... a sign that Shawn's strong grip had left her. She joined the girls in their room, helped them get ready, and then they went together to the terrace. Marie was already sitting there, reading the newspaper. She smiled at her and hugged Frannie and Diana. As the girls chatted among themselves, Marie turned her attention to Isabelle. Once again, she was wearing her usual clothes and this wasn’t very encouraging. She didn't know what had happened to her yet, but Marie was determined to find out this day. She will need to be very carefu
Totally frustrated by what had happened with Isabelle and his aunt, Shawn just drove around for a few hours. He didn't want to go home; he didn't want to see his friends... He wanted to sit somewhere and not think about what he had done to Isabelle. Shawn couldn't get her disgusted expression out of his mind. He couldn't get his aunt's words out of his mind. Then, when she mentioned Jennifer, he felt the urge to scream. His destiny changed when that woman entered his life and took his young and foolish heart and crushed it in the shortest time possible. Then she threw it away as if it was garbage. On that ugly terrible day, he swore to himself that no other woman would ever make fun of him. Shawn Grayson would treat every woman who would cross his path as if they were toys. He would use them just for sex, nothing more. A pure physiological need that he had often sa
Someone shouted his name and Shawn saw his aunt running towards him along with another person... it was John, their driver... Marie was next to him in a second, and together with the driver, she helped him to walk towards home. Shawn passed by Isabelle, who was standing near the front door with Frannie and Diana, trying to calm them down. His aunt made him sit on the couch and she hugged him tightly.“Sweetheart, are you okay?” she asked, extremely worried."Yes, aunt Marie, I think I am..." he answered softly, brushing his hair with his fingers. His white shirt was stained with blood and he felt a strong need to drink a drop of whiskey. "Trust me, it's nothing. It’s just a little scratch, that's all. But my car...”“Ah, that damn car!” Marie exclaimed. "John," she said to the driver, "please
Sunday morning, Shawn woke up with a slight headache. Fortunately, the accident of the night before hadn’t caused too much damage and there had been no injuries apart from a small cut on his cheek that was already closing very well. He got out of bed pushing the black silk sheets and took the remote control to raise the blinds. The morning was very sunny and he opened the window to breathe the morning’s fresh air. From the terrace, he could hear the voices of his nieces who were talking to Marie. Shawn loved those two little angels so much, loved hearing their voices after a day of work. Richard and Christine were so lucky... Shawn decided to take a quick shower to relax a bit and then he would go downstairs and would spend the morning next to Marie, the girls, and... Isabelle. His accident had frightened Frannie and Di
Sunday morning, Shawn woke up with a slight headache. Fortunately, the accident of the night before hadn’t caused too much damage and there had been no injuries apart from a small cut on his cheek that was already closing very well. He got out of bed pushing the black silk sheets and took the remote control to raise the blinds. The morning was very sunny and he opened the window to breathe the morning’s fresh air. From the terrace, he could hear the voices of his nieces who were talking to Marie. Shawn loved those two little angels so much, loved hearing their voices after a day of work. Richard and Christine were so lucky... Shawn decided to take a quick shower to relax a bit and then he would go downstairs and would spend the morning next to Marie, the girls, and... Isabelle. His accident had frightened Frannie and Diana and wanted to be seen by them