Sunny

Chapter 5

Six Years Earlier...

Rhea pushed closed the sliding glass door behind her and headed to her room which was just off the den and the kitchen. She didn't bother to turn on a light since she knew the way, and she was going directly to bed. She had been out for drinks with some new acquaintances. It had been fun at first, she hadn't been out with anyone since she had arrived in L.A., and it was good to get out of the house and away from its constant tension. But that was before everyone had focused on her with their questions about Elias and his wife Victoria. They had wanted to know all the details about their private life, and when it became clear to everyone that she wasn't going to share, their attention waned and she was ignored for the rest of the evening.

There was an unspoken rule, to be in the in crowd you had to be willing to talk, and Rhea was unwilling to talk.

Eli and Victoria were at some major fundraising event and wouldn't be back for a few more hours yet, so she had the house to herself. She pushed her way into her room and kicked off her shoes before putting them in their place in her closest.

Her thoughts weren't on her evening out, there were other more important matters on her mind. Her father had called her that morning to inform her that her mother was pregnant, unexpectedly, and he needed her to come home and take care of her. The pregnancy was a high risk one since she was over forty, and her sister Phoebe was too young to take care of her.

Rhea had wanted to ask her father why he couldn't take care of her, but she didn't dare.

She didn't want to return home, she had the fear that if she did she would never leave again, and she had fought so hard to go to go to school and start a life away from her family.

Rhea was so deep in thought about the evening and the trouble at home that she was slow to take down her hair and wipe off her minimal make-up, then she took off her stockings and put them away. She was reaching for the zipper on her dress a light in the living room turned on, and she spun around to see Eli sitting on a chair with a drink in his hand watching her.

"As tempting as it is to remain silent and continue to watch, I couldn't do it. My mother raised a gentleman." He lifted his glass to either to her or his mother, Rhea wasn't sure which.

Rhea turned and walked to the door of the den, watching Eli closely. "You're home early." She leaned against the door jam and crossed her legs at her ankles, putting her hands behind her, grabbing the jamb for support. All of her problems fled her mind as she looked at the unhappy man in front of her.

"Not surprisingly, Victoria and I had a disagreement." Rhea watched the muscle in his jaw jump as he looked hard at his glass, an unpleasant memory running through his mind.

"What was it about this time?" Rhea felt brave enough to ask the question.

He didn't speak as he let his gaze wander over her body and down to her bare feet. "You look lovely Rhea." He took another sip of his drink.

"Thank you." She blushed as she looked down at her toes.

"Why do you do that, why do you blush when your paid a compliment. Is it me or the compliment?"

She shrugged. "A little of both, you are Elias Emory, and I haven't had very many compliments." She gave a small self-belittling smile.

"And that little smile, as if what you say isn't important, and you apologize for what you say all of the time, why do you do that?"

The question made her uncomfortable, she had never had very much self-confidence and it was something she wished she could change about herself. "I've never had very much self-confidence."