Forbidden Pleasures by Bertrice Small

you’ve known someone. If there’s chemistry it’s there from the start. And there is definitely chemistry between you two. Enjoy it! You’ve worked hard all your life trying to make up for what you consider Katy and Joe’s mistake. You weren’t a mistake, Emily. Oh, I know. Your parents weren’t lovers, and their coming together was a onetime thing. But they were best friends from the time they were in diapers. You were created from that loving friendship. You don’t have to be a saint to make up for them. They created you, had you, and moved on with their lives. Time for you to move on, sweetie. Is there any whipped cream to go with this devilish creation?”
    Emily didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Rina Seligmann,” she said. “Since the grans died, you have been my rock.”
    “Of course I have,” Rina replied calmly, brushing away the single tear that had slipped down Emily’s cheek. “You could be my daughter, sweetie. And I could never have enough daughters. Sam will tell you that. ‘A son’s a son till he takes a wife. But a daughter’s a daughter all of her life.’ My mother always said that, but if truth be known my brother was a better daughter to our mother than I ever was.” She chuckled.
    “I’ll make the whipped cream,” Emily said. “It won’t take long. Check to see if the men want coffee or tea. And would you take that bottle of ice wine in? The glasses are here on the tray.” She pulled out the dark, slender bottle of the sweet dessert wine and handed it to Rina. Then she set about whipping the heavy cream, transferring the finished product into a cut-glass bowl with a scalloped silver spoon to serve it.
    They had all decided upon tea, and Rina brewed a large pot of American black-leaf tea from the only tea plantation in the United States that was located outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Emily’s friend Savannah Banning had introduced them to it. Emily spooned out the dark-chocolate trifle, adding a lavish dollop of the freshly whipped cream to each serving, and passing the plates around. There was virtual silence as the diners devoured it. Rina was in charge of the teapot and the ice wine.
    Finally Michael Devlin pushed back his chair and sighed deeply. “I do not know when I last ate such a grand meal,” he said, his green eyes on Emily.
    “I’m glad you enjoyed it,” she said almost shyly.
    Rina saw Devlin’s eyes soften. Hoo, boy, she thought. He wants her, all right. I wonder how long it will take for them both to realize it. She looked at her husband and saw that Sam was finally noticing the attraction between Emily and Michael Devlin too. Rina’s eyes met her husband’s in silent understanding, and Dr. Sam stood up.
    “I hate to eat and run,” he said, “but I’ve got rounds at the hospital early. Rina, come! Emily, as always, a wonderful dinner. Thank you, darling, for asking us. Mick, delighted to meet a fellow rare-roast-beef lover. I hope we’ll see you again.”
    “I hope so too, Dr. Sam,” Devlin replied.
    “I’ll see you to the door,” Emily said, and she did, waving her two friends off as their car pulled away from in front of her house.
    “Where do they live?” Devlin asked. He was standing next to her, she realized.
    “A subdivision nearby. It’s called Ansley at Egret Pointe,” Emily said. “It’s the only one in town, and has been there for years.”
    “When I came through the village I didn’t see any serious shopping facilities,” he replied, “and that wonderful beef had to have come from a real butcher. Let’s sit. It’s lovely out here on your big porch.”
    “The dishes,” she protested.
    “I’ll bet you and Rina have everything in the dishwasher but for the dessert things,” he said softly. “It’s twilight, and I hear a robin singing. They have the sweetest song, and you hear them only at dusk and at dawn in the spring. Spring is already half-gone, Emily. You