Authors: Fern Michaels
Annie's Rainbow (12 page)
“It makes sense. In the beginning it was kind of a lark. You know, starting your own business with very little money and then, bam, it just took off. I wasn't prepared for it, and neither was Jane. In the end it was too much for her. My brother came back at just the right moment. It's certainly something to think about. I'm going to have to call my brother to talk to him about the prices you offered.”
“Take all the time you need. My coffee beans and I aren't going anywhere. There was a time when more than ten million pounds of Kona coffee was produced each year. Today there are less than two million pounds being produced. It's the rarest of the rare. We want to keep it that way. That concludes our business for the day. Let's have some fun.”
Annie grew still. “What do you mean by fun?”
“Explore the island. Run under the falls. Jump in the water. Climb the monkeypod tree, come back, take a nap. Separately, of course. Get dressed up, go out to dinner and then come home and go to bed. Separately, of course. Rise and shine in the morning, eat a wonderful breakfast, after which I will fly us to Kona and give you a tour of my coffee plantation. How does that sound?”
“Should I change? Do you treat all your prospective customers like this?”
“Sneakers and shorts would be good. No. Most of them are stuffy old ducks who want everything for nothing. You're my first beautiful female customer. Plus, Daniel said you were my destiny, so I have to find out if he's right.”
“Okay. Give me ten minutes. Daniel needs to mind his own business.”
“Five.”
“You got it.” Annie giggled.
“It s been a wonderful afternoon, Parker. I had fun, I feel rested, and I learned a lot. You're a very good tour guide. I never hid behind a waterfall before. I feel invisible.”
“I used to hide here from my father when I was little. At least I thought I was hiding until he told me he used to do the same thing. This big old stone we're resting in is like a chair. That leads me to believe hundreds of children over the years did the same thing we're doing. How is it you never had time for fun, Annie? Look! Now, I'd say that's something special! Just for you, Annie. We should call it Annie's Rainbow. I've been coming here since I was three years old, and I never saw a prettier one. It's bigger, more vibrant and can be seen for miles. I guess it's your special welcome to Maui.”
Annie stared at the rainbow, a chill running up and down her arms. She squinted to see through the shimmering waterfall. Where did it end and what was in the pot of gold here in this beautiful paradise? She shivered again. Parker put his arm around her shoulders. “I never had a rainbow named after me. To answer your question about fun, first my dad got sick, then my mom got ... she has Alzheimer's disease. We didn't know what it was at first. Tom was in college, so I had to take care of Mom while I was in high school. I had to rush home after school. Baby-sitters for older people are expensive. Mom got worse, and we had to put her in a nursing home, and that was expensive. We sold the house to pay off Dad's sky-high medical bills and our share for Mom's care. Their savings went to pay for Tom's college tuition. There wasn't any left for me, so I had to work my way through. Thank God for Elmo. If you ever want to know anything about the drugstore business, just ask me. I had a mountain of student loans. It all turned around when we opened the first shop. If there were more hours in the day, I could have tripled my money. I went to bed tired and woke up tired. This is the first vacation I've had in seven years. Not only that, it's tax deductible. At least the airfare is. If your next question is, did I ever have boyfriends or relationships, the answer is yes but time ruined all of them.
“Having my own business where I didn't have to answer to anyone was always a dream of mine. I did the college thing because both Mom and Dad wanted Tom and me to have degrees since they didn't have the opportunity to go to college. The business helped move Mom closer to me, and the facility is really great. I get to see her weekends. I told myself I was giving it three years, and if I didn't make it by then, I would look for a nine-to-five job. Sitting behind a desk is not what I'm all about. Jane felt the same way. All she wants to do is paint. She's looking forward to having kids. She was a foster-home child, so having her own family is very important to her. Do you have any idea how lucky you are, Parker?”
“Yes. Sometimes it seems a little hollow. Life should be shared.”
“How is it you aren't married?”
Parker laughed. “I came close several times. It didn't feel right, so each time I broke it off.”
“Do you run everything? Why do your sisters live on the mainland? Don't you miss them?”
“Of course I miss them. I inherited because I'm the oldest male child. It's tradition.”
Annie's eyes snapped open and she sat up. “Wait right there. Are you saying all of this belongs to you and not your sisters? Do you share the profits with them?”
“Our traditions here are different from what you're used to. It's our way.”
“That's incredible, and it certainly isn't fair. You get everything, and they get nothing?” Something in Annie snapped. There was such outrage in her voice, Parker reared back. “Aren't they bitter?”
“Bitter? I don't think so. They're all very well off. They moved by choice.”
“Well, hell, I'd move, too,” Annie exploded. “That's exactly what happened to me through no fault of my parents. Tom got it all. I had to bust my ass. I don't want to hear any crap about it building character, either. You can't take character to the bank. I used to eat mayonnaise sandwiches and drink Kool-Aid. That sure as hell didn't build my character. I was always hungry.”
“Wait just a damn minute. You're making it sound like I cheated my sisters. I didn't. It was all laid out. I told you, it's our tradition.”
“Your tradition stinks. What that says to me is women don't count. If they counted, you would have shared. You live like a king in this beautiful paradise. They grew up here, too. Another thing,
Mr. Coffee
, remember that it was a
woman
who gave birth to you. I've just decided I don't think I like you. And I sure as hell don't like all these traditions you're steeped in. I made the mistake of letting this stray off the business path. I can't respect you now. I'm sorry.”
Mr. Coffee
, remember that it was a
woman
who gave birth to you. I've just decided I don't think I like you. And I sure as hell don't like all these traditions you're steeped in. I made the mistake of letting this stray off the business path. I can't respect you now. I'm sorry.”
Parker Grayson stared at his destiny with disbelieving eyes. “Just hold on here, Miss Clark. What you don't seem to understand is no one is complaining. Furthermore, it's none of your business.”
“You're right, it is none of my business. Why would your sisters complain? What good would it do? They have to accept it since they have no other choice. What do you do for them?”
“Do?”
“When you inherited all of this, what did you do for them?”
“I didn't do anything. They didn't want me to do anything. They got married and had babies. That was what they wanted to do.”
“Scrooge! Don't deny it. That's exactly what you are. Would it hurt you to share your good fortune with them? You know. what, I hated my brother for a long time. Deep-down, gut hatred. It started to consume me. I had to let it go for my own survival.”
“My sisters aren't like you. I don't mean that the way it sounds,” Parker said, a helpless look on his face.
“How do you know? Did you ever ask? How many sisters do you have?”
“No, I never asked. I have six sisters. They all have well-to-do husbands.”
“One seventh of something is a lot less than the whole of something. And, they probably don't have a dime in their own names.”
“Where is this coming from? We were having such a good time. Why do my sisters need to have money in their own names?”
“For the same reason I do. Parents have no right to do that to their children. You are no better than your parents. One of your sisters, given the chance, might have been a whiz at running your coffee company. Maybe you're right, and maybe they don't care. I care, and that's all that's important. Women are not second-class citizens. I can't believe you went to school on the mainland. This is the eighties, Mr. Grayson. Women no longer take a backseat to men. I want to go home, and I want to go home
now!”
now!”
“Fine,” Parker snapped. “Watch your footing, or you'll go into the falls.” .
“God, I just hate it when people disappoint me,” Annie seethed.
“What?”
“Shut up. I wasn't talking to you,” Annie continued to fume.
The trip to the plantation house was made in silence. When Parker held the door open for her, Annie marched inside and down the long hall to her room. “Damn!” Her bags had been unpacked. Now she had to pack them again. She did it any old way. The sound of the zipper closing was so loud in the room, Annie found herself wincing. “Just when I thought I found the perfect man he turns out to be a dud. Damn, damn, damn!”
“This is stupid, Annie,” Parker said.
“Yes, I could see how it would seem stupid to you,” Annie said. “Who's taking me to the airport?”
“It looks like I'm the lucky winner.”
The housekeeper looked from one angry face to the other. Hesitantly, she held out a rainbow-colored gown. Tears welled in Annie's eyes as she reached for it. “Thank you so much for . . . for this.” She slung the dress over her shoulder as she made her way to the front door.
“She doesn't understand our ways. She's upset because I inherited the plantation and my sisters didn't,” Parker whispered to the old woman.
“Miss Clark is right, Parker. It was a terrible thing your parents did to your sisters. The old ways no longer work, as my children point out to George and me on a daily basis. It is a new time we live in, Parker. If we are to grow with the times, then we must embrace that same time. Why do you close your eyes to this? You were educated on the mainland at great expense. I can speak like this, Parker, because I raised you along with your mother, and when she was no longer here, I raised you alone. Now, go to the young lady and make peace. She looked very angry to me. She is the best one yet. As George says, you snooze, you lose. Go now, Parker.”
“We'll discuss this later in
greater
detail, Mattie,” Parker hissed in the old housekeeper's ear.
greater
detail, Mattie,” Parker hissed in the old housekeeper's ear.
Mattie drew herself tall until she was eyeball-to-eyeball with Parker. “No. I have said all I intend to say. If you wish to discuss the matter, it should be with your sisters.”
“I'll be damned. When did you go modern on me, Mattie?”
“When I learned about social security, pension plans, and estate planning. Sometimes I think you have coffee beans for brains. I told you to go, Parker!”
“Yes, ma'am,” Parker said, turning on his heel. It didn't pay to argue with either Mattie or George.
In the car, Parker reached up to the visor for his aviator glasses. Behind the dark shades he felt more confident. Out of the corner of his eye he could see how straight Annie was sitting, how prim and proper she looked. He slammed the car into gear. “Listen, you can't just barge into my life, tell me what to do, then barge back out because you don't like my culture. I wouldn't even think about doing something like that to you. What the hell kind of destiny is this?”
“I don't have any trouble with your culture. It's your attitude about women. Let's just say for the sake of argument that you and I got married. I have a successful business. You have a successful business. We have one boy and two girls. Who gets our estate when we die?”
“I got the point back at the falls.”
“Who gets the estate, Parker?”
“The oldest son.”
“My business, too?”
“Yours becomes mine at marriage.”
“Stop this fucking car right now. I'll walk the rest of the way, thank you.”
Parker's foot slammed on the brake. “You can send me my bags.” Hands on hips, Annie glared at the man behind the sunglasses. “Do not ever, even for one second, think I would bust my ass working sixteen or eighteen hours a day so
your
son could inherit over
my
daughters.”
your
son could inherit over
my
daughters.”
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