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Cheeks burning, Tielle took note of her situation and disentangled herself from Grae. The iron bands of his arms tightened before she could completely disengage.
“Fix this,” he said, brushing his thumb across her lipstick-smudged mouth. He provided her with a tissue from a decorative dispenser perched on the table behind the sofa.
Tielle accepted without looking toward him and disappeared into the parlor’s private room.
* * *
“Hands off,” she murmured when he escorted her to her place at the long dining table.
“Yes, ma’am,” Grae obliged with a meekness no one would believe.
Desree Clegg was seated across from the couple. The approval in her expression was impossible to miss.
“It’s not what you think,” Tielle explained.
“Humph,” Desree laughed. “You don’t believe that any more than I do.”
The sound of a fork clinking crystal echoed in the room, and the soothing rumble of mixed conversation quieted. Heads turned toward the end of the long table where Faro Clegg stood smiling out over his family.
“Thank you, all, for arranging your schedules to be free,” Faro said.
“Good timing, man,” Oscar Clegg called out. “Chances are we’ll be snowed in by the end of the week.”
Grae heard Tielle groan softly over his uncle’s prediction. With a cool smile, he patted her thigh beneath the table and let it remain there to apply a slow massage. Tielle reciprocated by patting his hand and removing it.
“I hope our time in this place will be done before any real snow falls,” Faro said from the head of the table, “but I can’t think of a lovelier place to be stranded. I’d like to take this time to thank Tielle and her staff for opening the place on such short notice.”
With that acknowledgment, Faro applauded. The gesture was followed by less than half of the assembled group.
“Guess you’re all wondering why we’re here?” Faro queried once the pitiful claps silenced into murmurs of agreement. “This family runs one of the most successful marketing firms in the nation, but I’m sure none of us are blind to the fact that those successes almost equal many of our failures as a family.”
The murmurs gained volume. Their agreeing tones, however, betrayed signs of agitation.
“I know that I have much to answer for, and if I can admit that, can’t all of you?”
The low murmuring of voices silenced as though a switch had been hit. The group looked to Faro with greater interest, heightened suspicion.
“Stay with me, guys,” Faro urged. “There’s drama in this family that’s been around since I was a kid, and I can remember a time when it wasn’t like that. I was old enough to remember the love we all used to have for each other.”
“Talk plain, Faro. What’d you really bring us up here for?” Paul Clegg demanded.
“Because I’m ready to be honest and lay it on the line about my shortcomings. I want you all to do the same.”
“What’s that gonna solve?” Ken Clegg’s youngest brother, Barry, asked.
“Yeah, Faro, and why did we all have to come out to Tielle’s stuck-up psychiatric ward to talk about it?” Asia complained.
“Because there’s been enough talking behind closed doors,” Faro countered.
“What do you expect us to admit?” Grae asked.
The room stilled. The group was nervously expectant, as was usually the case whenever the brothers conversed.
“We need to discuss where things went wrong.” Faro’s voice sounded fuller. “Where they went wrong and why, and give apology where apology is due.”
“What the hell are you talkin’ about, boy?” Russell Clegg’s question launched heated discussions that colored the dining room with tense language and harsh laughter.
“Could you give us some example of what you mean for us to do, Faro?” Desree’s easy tone somehow cut through the melee.
Some silenced their agitated words while others leaned forward in anticipation of Faro’s reply. Instinctively, Tielle sought Grae’s hand, clutching it beneath the table.
“I want to apologize for coming between one of the happiest couples I know,” Faro said.
