by Mary Peart
“Where are you?” Sophia’s voice had gone as cold as the weather outside.
Christopher felt the panic inside him and he wanted to slap the triumphant look off the woman’s face. “I am coming home now.” He told his wife, his voice tight.
She hung up on him and he shoved the phone into his pocket and turned to Dahlia. “I hope I did not cause too much trouble for you at home,” she said innocently, a glint in her eyes.
“You don’t have the power to do that,” he told her contemptuously giving her the once over. “I will not be dealing with you directly from now on and I will let my office call you if we are interested.” He turned and looked at the little boy with his hair falling on his forehead. “You have something most people die for, take care of your son.”
“If only you had met me first,” she said as he pulled the door open to let himself out.
He stopped and turned to her. “There will never be anyone for me except my wife. She completes me.”
Chapter 5
When he got home he found her curled up on the living room sofa staring into the fire blazing in the hearth. He suspected that Christine was taking a nap in her room. He had almost killed himself getting here and it had started to get dark even though it was only five thirty. He had taken off his heavy cashmere jacket and hung it on the peg just inside the door and pulled off his leather boots and left them in the foyer. He did not know how to approach her and he had broken his promise not to hurt her again and that he could not bear. He sat on the carpet in front of her and his eyes met hers.
“What’s going on?” she asked him quietly.
“It’s not what you think,” he did not know if he preferred her screaming at him or this deadly quiet in her voice.
“What am I thinking Christopher?”
“That I am seeing her,” he said impatiently. “You know me better than that. She called and I was around that side and I thought I would go and talk to her about the place. I saw immediately that she was expecting more.”
“You mean she was expecting you to bond with her and her son?” she asked him mildly. She had stopped being mad at him long before he came home but she was not about to let him know that yet.
“Yes,” he bit out, plunging his hands into his soft dark hair. “There was never any temptation there.”
“I know,” she told him softly. His gaze flew to hers and narrowed as he stared at her.
“You know?” his eyes took in her beautiful complexion made even more so by the soft light of the fire and the pink sweater she was wearing. Her thick hair was loose for a change and fell down on her shoulders and around her face in thick clouds. It made her look even smaller. She was not wearing makeup and looked too young to be a mother and his wife.
“I know how much you love me and how much you value your penis,” she told him casually. “I made myself clear the other day Christopher and I stand by what I said. I love you and I am committed to you alone and I know what we feel for each other.” She cocked her head to one side and looked at him. “I also know you want a son,” she nodded as his eyes flared. “And I am trying desperately to give you one.”
“Stop,” he told her sharply. “Do you think I am pining away because you have not given me a son Sophia?” his hands clenched at his sides. “Even if we never have another child I would never love you less and I never want you to feel that is something I would want to go outside our marriage to get, a child: you and Christine are my family and don’t you ever forget that.”
“I know,” she told him softly. She sat up and pulled the sweater over her head revealing that she had not been wearing a bra and she shimmied out of the shorts she had on and came and knelt in front of him. “Christine,” he murmured referring to the fact that their daughter could be up at any minute.
“Fast asleep after wearing me out with a game of hide and go seek and slices of pizza,” she told him pulling the sweater over his head along with the thin merino he had on. He was the one who pulled off the pants himself and pulled her down onto him.
“I thought you would have been so mad at me and I was coming here expecting you to be gone,” he whispered, cupping her face and looking at her, his hands trembling.
“Because you had the foolish notion to stop at some woman’s place? A woman who wants my husband for herself?” she asked him mildly, opening her mouth and biting down on his bottom lip. He shuddered against her and reached down to ease her panties off. He was rock hard against her and he intended to take her right there.
“I am sorry baby,” he muttered, reaching between them for his erection and entering her, his body tightening with desire. “I want you to feel me,” he pushed up and into her, his eyes on hers. “I want you to know that there will never be anyone else but you for the rest of my life,” he pushed into her again, this time forcefully and causing her to gasp, as she closed around him. She opened her legs wider, bracing her knees against the soft carpet and resting her hands on his chest as she lifted her body and moved it against his. He cupped her hips and lifted her, bringing her down on him as he thrust upwards rapidly.
They made love by the fireside with the flames throwing an orange glow on their skin and curled up together as they sought the release that washed over them in waves.
Later that night when they were in bed after putting their daughter to sleep, they talked and Sophia admitted to him how anxious she had been and still was and how she had been to the doctor. “You kept all of this from me?” he asked her softly, his hands tightening around her waist. “Why?”
She sighed. “I thought you were hiding the fact that you wanted a child of your own from me as well and I thought to myself that if I could just get pregnant then everything would be fine.”
“We are okay right now Sophia,” he told her tenderly. “You do not have to go through anything alone and I want you to promise me that you will talk to me about everything.”
“I will,” she promised him. “I love you.”
*****
Sybil spoke to Matthew about it. “I am not going to be able to deal with something so big,” she told him. They were huddled together on the blanket his arms around her as he listened to her telling him about the proposal her daughter had spoken to her about.
“You need to have confidence in your ability my love,” he told her softly and she rested her hand on his solid chest and took a deep breath at his words. He said it automatically and although she had never told him that she loved him she was slowly getting there. She had stopped thinking about the consequences of loving a man who was not available and hated that she had to hide it from her daughter. “You have done a very good job with this store and I know you will do an excellent job at the bigger store. I want to help with the books.” He added. She lifted her head and stared down at him. She had been without physical support for so long that she had forgotten what it felt like to have someone who she could sound out to and who could encourage her and show her a different picture.
“I would love that,” she told him gratefully.
“I love being with you,” he told her gently, his big hands framing her face. “I got married when I was very young and we were happy until she discovered she could never have a child and then she started getting depressed about it. No amount of reassurance from me would make her realize that I was not going to leave her because of that.” He took a deep breath and wiped his thumb against her cheek. “I need to be with you Sybil all the time and I have stopped feeling guilty about this a long time ago.”
“So have I,” she whispered snuggling closer to him. Her heart was racing and her skin warm to the touch as she felt his naked body against hers. They were not able to go out in public together and she hated that but she had stopped beating herself up about the logic of their relationship. “I want to be in your life and I want to be around you for a long time,” she smiled slightly. “There was only one man for me for a long time and I never thought there could ever be anyone else until you came along. I love you Matthew.”
&n
bsp; He stared at her, his heart quickening. “My love,” he said huskily, his hands tightening on her face. “My love,” he breathed and pulling her down to him he claimed her lips in a tender kiss that shattered her heart.
*****
“What do you think?” Sophia asked barely able to keep the excitement out of her voice. She had urged her mother and Lorna to come with her and look at the bookstore. It was the middle of April and the sale was now in the process of acquiring it. It had been closed for renovation and they had not started yet but would be starting as early as next week.
“I think it has tremendous potential and a lot of space,” Lorna commented as she walked around. Christopher had taken a look at it himself and had told her it would do well. “I can just see a make out corner over there,” she pointed to a section shadowed by the tall bookshelves.
“Those are coming down to give the room more light and space,” Sophia told her with a grin, glad her friend was enthused. “What do you think Mom?” her mother had been silent for the entire time and Sophia noticed that she looked different these days with a soft glow on her beautiful face.
“I think it makes my little store look very little,” she said with a smile. “But as Lorna said: it certainly has potential and I think I would love to get the chance to be in charge.”
“Great!” she squealed and hugged her mother. “So Lorna what say you?”
“I think I am going to love being a bookstore manager and I have some ideas that I want to run by you,” she grabbed her friend’s arm and dragged her away leaving Sybil to wander around touching the mellow wood and admire the shine of the simple board floors.
The place was big and her daughter was right, it needed light and space. She smiled as she remembered Matthew telling her that very soon she was going to be an entrepreneur. He had called her earlier and told her he was thinking about her and that he missed her so much. She could not believe she was behaving and feeling like a school girl with her first crush. He made her feel young and special and made her want to love and feel again.
“Mom, you okay?” she turned and saw her daughter standing just inside the doorway and looking at her curiously. She wanted so much to tell her, to shout to her and the rest of the world that she had fallen in love again after so many years but knew she had to keep it to herself.
“Of course honey,” she said with a smile. “I was just picturing myself standing here and smiling at the customers as they pass by to browse or to pick out a particular book they had been searching for for a long time.” She turned and looked at the empty shelves. “I know times have changed and there are things like kindles and what not but nothing beat the written words and the sound of a leaf turning when you have finished reading that page.”
“You should put that in the ad we are going to be running,” Sophia told her gently. Something was different about her and she could not quite put her finger on it.
“We should.” She said with a nod and slipping her hand through her daughter’s they went to find Lorna.
*****
“Relax I am sure he is not going to find out,” Amanda told him impatiently. She pulled down her skirt and walked over to the oval mirror near the door to make sure her makeup was still flawless. She had been having an affair with Marcus for the past seven months and it has been working out pretty well for her.
At first when he had approached her she had refused him point blank telling him that she did not have interoffice relationships because it was too tacky but they had been working late one night and it had just happened. One minute they were poring over figures and the next they were rolling on the very expensive carpet and he inside her with her getting carpet burns on her buttocks in the process. It had been worth it. He had wanted to go public with their relationship until she had discovered that he had a gambling problem and tended to dip into the company’s funds to get himself out of trouble. The first time she had examined the figures and pointed out the discrepancies to him he had cried and begged her to help him and she had done so because she felt sorry for him and she liked what he did to her body.
“He is going to find out,” he shoved his penis back inside his underwear, his mind quickly going back to the problem at hand. When she had been on her knees before him just a few minutes ago he had forgotten about what was facing him but now it was back. Christopher Tang did not tolerate people stealing from him and he was not going to take kindly to Marcus ‘borrowing’ two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to pay off a gambling debt. He had enlisted Amanda’s aid in hiding the figures but he knew sooner or later, the accounting would come, literally.
“What do you want me to do?” she asked him resignedly. She was getting tired of his blubbering and never thought a handsome and educated man like him could be so weak.
“I want you to sound out Sophia to see if she heard anything about Christopher being unhappy about the accounts or anything otherwise.” He gripped her forearms with bruising force. “I cannot afford to lose this job Amanda.” He said desperately.
“You won’t,” she touched his face lightly, managing to soothe out the crease there. Somehow she felt so sorry for him. He was so handsome and yet so weak and she could not help but compare him to Christopher Tang and be envious of Sophia. The woman had come in as a temp and had swept away the most eligible man in the damned company. Some girls have all the luck! “It’s going to be okay, you will see.” She reassured him, putting her arms around his neck to comfort him.
*****
They found the perfect house, if in fact it could be called that. It was a rambling ranch style place with eight bedrooms, six baths and one half bath that could be classified as a powder room and a wraparound porch and a yard that stretched all the way up to a small knoll. There was a sparkling stream and dense wooded area. There was even a small stable and Christopher promised Christine that very soon there would be ponies for her to ride. The landscape was beautiful and spring flowers were already blossoming. It was one story and a split level with a beautiful parquet floor in the living room. There were fireplaces in the huge living room and in the master bedroom and Sophia fell in love with it immediately.
“Don’t you think it is too big?” she turned to look at her husband who had a sleeping and exhausted Christine in his arms.
“For what?” he asked her teasingly, taking her hand and putting it to his lips. “I would like to ravish you right now in front of the fireplace,” he whispered.
“Christopher,” she murmured resignedly feeling the tingling of her skin at his words. “Eight bedrooms?”
“I think it’s perfect,” he told her firmly. “And we will be getting it for a steal as the owners have gone bankrupt and want to sell immediately. Do you love it?”
“You know I do,” she told him her eyes shining. “It’s just that,” she hesitated and looked around. “I am not used to all this luxury and I wonder if one day I will get blasé about it.”
“You blasé?” her husband’s tone was amused. “Your enthusiasm is one of the things I love about you baby and that will never change.”
“In that case let’s go for it.” She told him with a wide grin. The original furnishings were still there and could be bought with the house. There were antiques everywhere and Sophia found to her delight that the master bathroom was almost as large as the bedroom and the décor was fantastic with a deep claw footed bath, a double sink with built in lights, a shower install and a Jacuzzi. The tiles were peaches and cream and looked like a big pastry shop and Sophia found herself wondering if her husband was going to miss his very masculine bathroom back at the apartment.
“I am not selling the apartment,” he told her when she asked him about it. “It’s a prime area and I am thinking of putting up overseas associates when they come to town and we could always use it to get away sometimes.”
She walked into his arms. He had put Christine in one of the rooms making sure the doors were secured. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
�
��I think so,” he told her softly, wrapping his arms around her. “But I still like to hear it.” He added huskily. She showed him instead.
*****
Matthew stared at the woman he had been married to for so many years. She was still pretty with her soft black hair laced with gray and her light green eyes that had always delighted him in the past. Celia had lost weight because she had refused to eat for the past two days claiming that they were trying to poison her and that he was a stranger in her house and she was going to call the police on him. He had come home last night to see the nurse fighting to keep her in the house and he had calmed her down sufficiently and got her into bed. She was sleeping now and looked so peaceful but he knew the time had come for him to put her into a nursing home.
He had told Sybil the truth when he had said she made him feel alive again. When he had been told by the doctors of her condition he had fought it and tried every drug imaginable to try and keep her with him, he had been determined that she was going to get better and was going to be the woman he had married all those years ago.
Their marriage had started dying years ago when she had discovered she would never conceive and she had went from being a vivacious outgoing woman to one who had become withdrawn and sullen. He had told her that they should just enjoy each other’s company but she had pulled away from him and looked at him as if he had gone completely out of his mind. He had stuck by her even when she had barely tolerated him having sex with her and very soon it had become a one sided thing. In the end he had decided to leave her alone and had taken a separate bedroom. He had seen the relief on her face and had felt cheated and lonely until he had met Sybil.
A smile curved his lips as he thought about her. He had left her reluctantly an hour ago and wished he could go back and hold her in his arms. He had been going to work and coming home with no lease on life and now he had found her.
There was a stirring on the bed and Celia looked up at him, her vision clear. “Matt,” she whispered, reaching for his hand. “What are you doing sitting there in the dark?”