Free The Satin Sash by Red Garnier

knife down and rub. “We’ve talked about this, Mom.”
    “And I’m sure any day now you’ll both change your minds.”
    “If two people love each other, they don’t need papers to stay together,” she mumbled.
    “Hell, yes, you do.” Appearing through the door, her father smacked her cheek with a sloppy kiss; then the large, rowdy man proceeded to investigate the food they were preparing.“I love your mother, but she can drive a man so crazy, I’d be long gone if divorce weren’t such trouble.”
    “See.” Her mother beamed, oblivious to having been just insulted.
    Toni should have stayed home and tried to tackle the Viscevis logo.
    And her mother went on, because, really, there was no stopping that woman once she was on a roll.
    And Dad was on her side now.
    “Sweetheart, when you find The One, the most natural thing to a woman is to want to secure him. Especially a man like yours. Daddy and I love Grey, darling, but those men just aren’t long- term. They’re too exposed to temptation.All that money and the women and the power. First wrong step you make, sweetie, and that man is out the door. After all, what’s holding him back?”
    “There’s me,” she said in an unsteady mumble. Did he care for her enough? Would he stop caring one day? Maybe he just thought he felt something but wasn’t certain enough to tell her.Why didn’t he ever say it?
    And Mom worried that Grey was too much for Toni. Grey knew people her parents could only read about in magazines. His name was among the most influential in the city, while the Kearnys were simple people.
    Her father had been manager of a small air- conditioning business for fifteen years; her mother a caring, loveable woman dedicated to her home.They did not have servants or jets or houses in Marrakech and Mexico. And their daughter was no Miss Universe either. Though why they thought Grey wanted one, Toni had no clue. Stereotypes, maybe.
    “If Grey walks out on our Toni, he’s a fool. I still wish you’d ever looked at me with those moon eyes she gives that man.”
    Her mother’s scowl was murderous as she swiveled round. “Just maybe, Homer, you should think of what to do to deserve those moon eyes. I see no fancy sports car in our garage,” she argued. “Plus, Grey can never keep his hands off her, and I haven’t gotten even a morning kiss lately.”
    Eyes twinkling, he squeezed her mother’s rump, and his hand got a slap for its daring.
    “As I was saying,Toni,” her mother continued, a blush tinting in her cheeks, “if you want to keep him—”
    Toni buried her face in her hands and groaned. “Can we please veer off the topic of marriage? Ask me something else. Anything else.”
    “Grandchildren.There’s a topic for you.Your daddy and I want some.”
    Anything except that.
    “Mom, my career is just picking up. I can’t think of having a kid now. I wasn’t even able to take care of Daffy.” She pointed to the surly old furball eyeing her from his permanent place on the living room couch.
    “But you and Grey talk about it?”
    She snatched a glass from inside a cabinet and poured herself some water. “No.We do not, because neither of us wants one right now.” And because nobody could truly understand how difficult it was to talk to Grey. He listened, he wasn’t judgmental, but he was just so . . . so . . . logical .
    It was practically impossible to get him to talk from the heart.
    “Let’s talk about something else and stop torturing me. Dad, that deer over the fireplace looks miserable.Tell me about him.”
    Her father’s chest expanded an inch or two. “Ahh, that’s a ten-point piebald whitetail deer. A really big buck, by anyone’s standards. Now I’m planning to go bear hunting to Alaska. I’m growing a beard and . . . well, speak of the devil and he appears! Good evening, Grey. How are you?”
    What Toni felt hearing Grey’s distinct, low-pitched voice was indescribable. Like being swamped with whipped cream, covered