20 – Yannick’s Mistake (1)

 

Stellaluna sat with Yannick at the table in the cottage, as they continued their reading of Lady Chatterley’s Lover. Stellaluna continued to read the first sentence of every new paragraph, while Yannick read aloud the rest. The book had gotten better, though Stellaluna found herself scandalized at times. There had already been one sex scene, and plenty of discussion on the topic. She tried not to react whenever she had to read the word “sex.” Yannick took no issue with it. Or, if he did, he didn’t show it.

The gamekeeper hadn’t even made an appearance yet. Stellaluna had a feeling it would only get more excessive from there.

They soon reached a scene where the impotent, wheelchair-bound husband, Clifford, expressed wishes for a child. How he wanted an heir. It reminded her of Barry. How Barry wished to have an heir. How angry he was when he found out Stellaluna was infertile. As though Stellaluna wasn’t upset enough, without Barry yelling about it. And yet he refused to adopt. Refused for her to go through any treatments for it.

Hell, Barry probably had lots of sons and daughters running about that neither of them knew about, the way he carried on with the servant girls.

The room fell quiet. Stellaluna noticed Yannick staring at her.

“It is your turn,” he said.

“Right.” She steadied her voice, and read aloud slowly. “’It would almost be a good thing if you had a child by ah-not-her… another man-’ oh dear. He cannot be serious!”

Yannick snickered, and read the rest of the paragraph. Indeed, the man was serious.

“Why would he suggest such a thing?” Stellaluna said, covering her mouth.

“He wants an heir really bad... What is an heir?”

“When they die, he wants someone to inherit their estate and everything. It would be their firstborn male child.” Who would inherit Callahan Mansion, if Stellaluna could not produce an heir? Barry had long stopped being upset about it. Maybe he already had one somewhere Stellaluna didn’t know about. And he’d show up after Barry’s death, claiming her home as his. Then what would happen to her?

Yannick cleared his throat. “All is okay? You are… quiet.”

“I’m fine.” Stellaluna’s voice wavered.

“You can to me say, if something is wrong.”

Maybe talking about it would help her feel better. “If you must know… This is hitting a bit close to home. I… haven’t really told anyone this. Well, I told Zailey after I found out, and Celine probably heard from Waylon… But…” Stellaluna steadied her breath. “I’m infertile. I can’t have children.”

“I’m sorry.” Delicately, Yannick set his hand on her shoulder. Tears sprang to her eyes. It was a kind gesture. One Stellaluna had needed desperately, when Barry first broke the news to her. Maybe it was that, or maybe it was because she was due for a period.

Stellaluna couldn’t help it. She buried her face in her hands, and cried. A pair of arms wrapped around her. Yannick pulled her against his chest, and allowed her to soak his shirt with her tears. His ratty gray shirt... Barry really needed to buy new uniforms for everyone. But no. Barry was too cheap for such frivolities. He was the richest man in Jefferson, almost a trillionaire, and he couldn’t be bothered to spare a few thousand ameros for new uniforms.

Stellaluna cried harder. Yannick’s arms tightened around her, stroking her shoulder. She had to admit, he was handling her outburst rather well. If she were him, she’d be panicking. If he were Barry, he’d tell her to stop being hysterical.

Stellaluna finally pulled away, wiping her eyes on her dress sleeve. “Sorry. I got a little carried away.” Somehow she had ended up on his lap. She sniffled, getting a whiff of Yannick’s pine scented soap. Or deodorant. Or detergent. Whatever made him smell so pleasant. Her eyes met his, and she gazed into them. Such a beautiful shade of blue. And he had such a handsome face. She broke into a smile. God, her emotions were all over the place. Her period was definitely on the way.

Yannick studied her face, much like she had studied his. Their faces were only a few inches away from each other. He leaned forward, and pressed his lips to hers.

Stellaluna’s entire body stiffened in shock. Never would she ever have dreamed of kissing Yannick- a servant! But his lips were soft, and gentle. It was a long, slow kiss that did something pleasurable to her insides. Still, she remained frozen.

Yannick jerked his head away. He leaped out of his chair, nearly knocking her to the floor. “I’m sorry. I should not have… I’m sorry!” He refused to look at her, and ran out the door.

“Yannick!” Stellaluna hurried after him. But he was already gone.

 

~~~~~

 

Sebastian and his parents ate dessert at the kitchen table. Waylon spent most of it ranting about his new political opponent, Clark Black.

“I can’t believe he’s actually polling well! I mean, not as good as I am, of course. But there’s people in Jefferson who would actually vote for that madman?”

I would. Sebastian knew better than to voice that aloud. But Clark Black wanted to do away with conversion therapy and blacklisting. Someone with those views, running for Jefferson governor… Actually having a chance...

“And I hope you don’t plan on voting for him,” Waylon said, fork pointed at Sebastian.

“Why would I vote for someone who’s against what cured me?” Sebastian asked, taking the last bites of his cake.

“Exactly.” Waylon slapped at the table. “I hope people don’t get too blinded by his promise of raising the minimum wage. Not that that would be any good. Look at the minimum wage in the ES. 1,000 ameros an hour! How do they expect businesses to make a profit?”

“It’s hard to survive on 72 ameros.” Sebastian couldn’t imagine trying to live on that much.

Waylon scraped the last bits of his cake slice onto his fork. “That’s only the federal. It’s 426 ameros here, you know.”

“It’s still hard.”

“What’s it matter to you anyway? Not like you have to worry about making ends meet, freeloading off of us. When are you getting a job and moving out?”

The medical bill for Sebastian’s knee had come in. 16,000 ameros. And Sebastian was to find a way to pay it off. “My knee is still healing.”

“You made it down the stairs just fine. I don’t see your crutch anywhere.”

“Whatever.” Sebastian tapped at his watch to summon their robot to clear his dishes for him.

“Device limit reached. Upgrade to Premium Plus,” the voice from his watch announced.

“What?” Sebastian stared at the message. “I thought it let us do up to five.”

“That’s another thing I forgot to mention,” Waylon said. “They raised the price of their Premium Plus tier by 800 Ameros. So I switched us to basic. It only works on mine and your mother’s now.”

“What!”

“You want to summon the robot on your watch, you pay for it.”

Sebastian sighed, and grabbed his empty plate. But Celine tapped at her watch, and a humanoid robot walked in the room to clear the table. Waylon left the room, grumbling.

Sebastian thanked his mother, and lowered his voice. “I’m leaving to see my friends soon. We’re meeting at Jake’s, and going to the bar.”

“Are you sure your leg is well enough?” Celine asked.

“I’ll be sitting most of the time.”

“Okay. Have fun and be careful.”