Annie's Rainbow - Fern Michaels [46]
“Guess she was right about that,” Teke, the second oldest said. “What’s with this command performance, Mattie? I wanted to tell him to stuff his invitation, but Lela said we had to come.” A deep frown etched itself on Parker’s forehead at his sister’s biting words.
“I don’t want any fruit punch, Mattie. However, I’ll take a double shot of Jack Daniel’s on the rocks,” Cassie said.
“I’ll have a beer,” Mahala said boisterously.
“Me too,” Jana said.
“Scotch on the rocks for me,” Kiki, the youngest said. “Smells good in here. Whatcha making, Mattie?”
“All your favorites,” Mattie replied.
“Why?” the six sisters asked in unison.
“Your brother asked me to,” Mattie said flatly.
Kiki whirled around. “Okay, big brother, now that you have us here, what’s the drill? What do you want from us? You already have everything. In case you need a transfusion, count me out.” Parker listened in horror as the rest of his sisters muttered the same words.
“Why don’t we go into the library and have a little talk before lunch. Bring your drinks.”
“Nice tree,” Lela said, walking past the Christmas tree. “It’s bigger than my whole living room.”
“You must have a lot of friends or are all those presents for Mattie and George?” Teke said.
This was not going the way he’d planned. “Actually, they’re for all of you.”
“Really,” Kiki drawled. “We didn’t bring one for you. That means we can’t accept yours. Money is always tight around this time of year. ’Course you wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Parker?”
Money was tight around this time of year. That didn’t make any sense. “I didn’t expect you to bring me a present.”
“Let’s cut the bullshit, Parker, and get to the chase. Why are we here?” Kiki said, gulping at her drink.
“What happened to you? What happened to all of you? You were never like this. You’re Hawaiian women. You talk like...” For one split second he was going to say, like Annie. “It’s not nice,” he said lamely.
“We grew up. Guess you didn’t notice. You being so busy here running things and all,” Jana said tightly.
Parker stared at his sisters. He thought he saw disgust on all their faces. Disgust with him. It was all a bad dream. Annie Clark was preying on his mind and taking her revenge on him through his dreams. He shook his head to try to clear his thoughts. “Let’s all sit down. I want to talk to you about something that concerns all of us.”
“You know what, Parker, you’re about ten years too late. None of us gives a shit what you want or don’t want. Ah, I see my language offends you. That’s just tough. Spit it out. What do you want from us? Wait a minute, I know what he wants,” Lela said as she whirled around to face her sisters. “He wants absolution.. Guess what, big brother, we’re fresh out. That about sums up our contribution to this little visit. You called, we came, and now we’re going. We can get a burger in town. George can drive us back to the airport.”
Parker’s jaw dropped when all six sisters set their glasses down on cue and turned to follow Lela to the door.
“Goddamn it! Get back here and sit down. I told you I want to talk to you. You’re going to sit and listen whether you like it or not.”
Teke whirled around at the speed of light. With her index finger she jabbed at the center of her brother’s neck. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. You gave up the right to tell any of us what to do. What do you say, girls, should we let him have it?”
They converged on him as one, backing him up to the sofa and pushing him down. Teke walked around to the back and held his shoulders to prevent him from getting up. Her grip was like a vise.
It wasn’t a dream, it was a black, ugly nightmare. And from the looks of things he wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon.
“I think I’ll go first since I’m the oldest,” Lela said.
The others nodded as they picked up their drinks. They were smiling now at his discomfort. The funny thing was, in his dream each one of his sisters looked like Annie Clark. Only it wasn’t a dream.
“When you were born,