DORIS
We were standing outside the hockey arena, but we didn’t go in.
"What are we waiting for?" I asked.
"Nathan’s cousin, Jin-hoon, and his family," Arthur said.
No sooner had Arthur finished saying that, and we looked up, and there was a man who looked a lot like Nathan. He had the same handsome Korean and French features. When he got closer to us, I could see that his eyes were blue. Whereas Nathan’s eyes were brown.
"You must be Jin-hoon," Arthur said, extending his hand for a handshake.
"I am," Jin-hoon replied. They shook hands and then Arthur introduced us, and Jin-hoon introduced his wife, Nancy, and their eight-year-old daughter, Brittney, who was wearing six pink and purple bows in her hair.
"I’ve never been to a hockey game before," Brittney said in perfect English.
"You’ll lo
DORISWe got home to New York City just in time for me to change into one of my new performance dresses and get to The Sultan Room. Arthur came with me to the gig.I was singing the last song of my first set when there was a commotion near the door. I looked to see what it was, and when the small group of people parted, I could see it was Lisa Zenya, the hottest actress in Hollywood!During my break, I watched everybody fawn over her, and when somebody came up for an autograph, how gracious she was. During my second set break, she came over to me."You have an amazing voice. I really enjoyed the show so far."I was speechless. To have somebody so famous compliment me was a big surprise. I was probably still a little jetlagged from the return to Europe because my mouth hung open for way longer than was polite, and I didn’t say anything for a minute.Lisa laughed. "I’m serious. You have a great voice. It’s sultry and beautiful and very unique."My eyes widened. I couldn't believe Lisa
DORISWe were at the Cheesecake Factory having dessert when Mia put her hand on her chest and seemed to have trouble breathing."What’s wrong?" I asked her. Mia's eyelids drooped a little, and she looked woozy."I don’t know, Mommy."Arthur didn’t take any chances. We rushed her to the hospital.Sitting in the waiting room was agony. Arthur’s face was tortured. I held his hand and grabbed it tightly while we waited for news. When they rushed Mia to the emergency room, they told us she was having an irregular heartbeat. That had been an hour and a half ago, and we still hadn’t heard anything new.Finally, an older doctor, a white man with thinning gray hair and large glasses, came up to us."You’re Mia’s parents?""We are," said Arthur."We’ve had to put in a pacemaker to regulate her heartbeat. The surgery went fine, and she’s completely stable. You can see her now. She’s under heavy sedation, and she needs her sleep, but you can go in and sit with her."The doctor took off his gl
DORISMia was taking an after-lunch nap. She looked adorable and peaceful. Her color had gone back to normal.Cathy had called and insisted she would stop by later in the evening. I had decided I would leave before she got here. There was no point in me sticking around. Unfortunately, she arrived two hours earlier than expected, just when I was preparing to leave.“Hello, everyone,” Cathy said in an overly cheery voice. She swept into the room like she owned it.The first thing I noticed was she was wearing an extremely sexy black and silver dress that showed a lot of cleavage.“Auntie!” Mia said, looking extremely happy to see Cathy. “Beautiful darling,” Cathy said, fawning over Mia. “I brought you some gifts.”Cathy opened a big pink shopping bag. "First, my darling Mia, for my brave girl..." Cathy took out a little purple stuffed bear holding a red heart. The heart read, 'My Good Girl' in white letters on the front.I didn’t like that Cathy gave Mia a heart with the words my
DORISWhen I got home from eating lunch with Nina, I had that post-afternoon slump that came from too many french fries and not enough coffee. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Nina had said. If Cathy was desperate, she would do anything.But why would Cathy be desperate? I thought she had a great singing career, lots of friends, lots of fans, and lots of money.I remembered what Nina said about Google-able, so I googled Cathy. What I found surprised me. First was the information about her band. She hadn’t exaggerated. They were famous within the alternate rock niche. There were plenty of pictures of Cathy performing.But when I looked carefully at the more recent articles, I found out that her drummer had stolen all of the band's money. The drummer, who was also her ex-boyfriend was a scum-ball of the highest order.The drummer had not only stolen the band’s money, and Cathy’s money, but also hacked into all of the other supporting team's bank accounts and stolen their money from
ARTHUR"Have you packed your bags yet?" I asked Doris when we finished lunch. Her eyebrows went up, and her facial expression said she was clueless.I waved my hands open. "The Oscars, Little Dove. The Academy Awards. They're tomorrow. I thought we'd fly to Los Angeles tonight and stay in a fabulous hotel. A friend of mine owns it. If we leave tonight and stay there, we'll be fresh for the red carpet tomorrow."She put both hands to her cheeks, a character of surprise. "Oh, my goodness, with all that's going on, I didn't realize they're this weekend.""They are," I said."I have nothing to wear!""You could wear that beautiful Dior dress that you wore to the wedding." I couldn't bring myself to say Andrea's wedding or my mother's wedding, so I guess I was still angrier than I thought.Doris didn't say anything, so I said, "Or we could spend this afternoon randomly shopping for a new dress, or Wheaton Werther, who I just happened to finance when he was still in fashion school, might ha
DORISI leaned my entire body against Arthur in the elevator on the way back up to the penthouse."I don't know how you manage to fly around the world and not get jetlag," I said. "We just flew back from California and I'm tired.""You're tired because I wore you out in the bedroom, not because of the plane ride."I chuckled. "That might be true."Arthur kissed my hair. "Glad to tire you out anytime, little dove."Arthur opened the door to the penthouse, and Cathy was lounging on the couch, wearing a skimpy tank top and loose boxer sleep shorts with little hearts on them! Her hair was artfully tousled in a sexy way, and she looked relaxed and inviting. What the hell!How did she even get into the apartment?Mia ran to greet us. "Mommy! Daddy!"That's how. All Cathy had to do was knock on the door, and Mia would let her in. Why wouldn't she? Mia thought Cathy was her aunt.Cathy moved her legs so one knee pulled up towards her chest and the other stretched out enticingly. One side of t
ARTHURI looked around the elaborate venue. There were probably about a hundred people here.Doris and I were standing near the back, on the left side of the aisle. Doris had her hand on the inside of my elbow.Doris was wearing a dark blue sparkly dress with a low neckline. I was tall enough to see that she had a piece of material that matched her skin color over her breasts to protect her modesty.Even though everyone in attendance was beautiful, Doris would always be the most beautiful woman to me.On my other side was Nathan, and on the other side of him was Nina.The wedding march played, and we all turned around to look at the large mansion behind us. The doors opened, and Lisa and her father stood dramatically in the doorway.Lisa had dyed her hair a vibrant shade of red, which looked good on her. She was wearing a long diamond-studded white dress. I had to admit she was a beautiful bride.Doris sniffled. I never understood why women cried at weddings. Doris leaned against me,
ARTHURNathan and I asked everyone if they had seen Doris or Nina. I was just beginning to get worried when I saw them talking to the bride by the very front of the venue.We were only a few meters from them when a large white van sped up, the side doors opened, and a man wearing all black and a black mask leaned far out the door and grabbed Lisa around the chest.Doris, acting fast, got a death grip on Lisa’s dress. For a few harrowing seconds, there was a tug of war.When they couldn’t shake Doris off, the kidnappers simply grabbed both women and hauled them into the van.I ran as fast as I could, faster than I had ever run in my life. I got there just as the van door slammed in my face.The van floored it, speeding away at what must have been a hundred miles an hour.I grabbed the bumper and was dragged relentlessly across the gravel driveway for about twenty yards until my grip gave way, and I crashed hard, face-planted into the rough stones.I jumped up and looked for a way to fo