The Mistress and the Mouse

by JJ Giles

  “Brian...Dad’s really happy to have you back in his life. Dad will survive.”

  Brian looked away. To think that never a woman loved Jerry until Morgan came into his life made Brian sad. To think he put Morgan and his father together drove him mad.

  * * * *

  There was no sleep in Jerry’s immediate future. The bed was more comfortable than ever he thought a bed could be...or maybe it was just the mood. The soft candlelight still flickered on the draft of cool night air through the door. The muted sounds of the night beyond was something he was unaccustomed to yet very comfortable with.

  But all of this earth, wind and fire was only part of her, her heat mellow now as she laid against him, her subtle breath like a timid windsong against his chest. Hundreds of men she had treated for various ailments including lust, and he thought of her as a spirit, one who sprinkled a little star dust on a situation and then would flit off to the next.

  How could he ever hold her interest when he knew exactly what had entertained her for ten years now? It wasn’t someone like him, it was his son. His shamelessly submissive son. The prettiest baby he’d ever laid eyes on. A boy who was so eager for his father’s attention, who waited on the porch every night for his father’s car to come up the driveway and run to it. A man who had sense enough to refuse to live his father’s life and escape it even if it meant an alienation of affection between them. An angel who sent to him this spirit in his arms.

  He could do nothing more than lie still and let the pain of every passing thought bore another hole into his heart. Nowhere to run, certainly nowhere to hide. He shouldn’t even be here, in her home, in his son’s home, in his son’s lover’s bed.

  Quietly, he slipped out of the bed and closed the door. Standing in the hallway, he peered down the expanse. He opened the door next to his and then the next in search of Alex. In the last, Jerry found him watching TV, lying in a man’s arms.

  Astonished, Alex peered through the flickering light at his brother, his twin who was so horribly ashamed of him. Yet there Jerry stood, only a towel wrapped around his waist, waiting patiently without recrimination.

  “Darling, would go make us some coffee?” Alex said to his slave.

  “Of course, Master.” Quietly, the slave slipped from Alex and quite modestly grabbed a robe. Respectfully, he nodded to Jerry and quietly closed the door. Alex switched the light and turned off the TV.

  Sadly, he studied Jerry for a moment. “I’m so sorry that you’re so miserable.”

  Jerry’s fingers rubbed over his eyes to force the tears back in. “Why does every fuck-up I’ve ever made have to throw up on me in the same day?”

  “If today’s the worst day of your life, tomorrow should be much better.” Alex patted the side of the bed, inviting Jerry closer.

  Jerry moved toward it and sat, his foot hooked on the side rail. “I’m really worried about Brian.”

  Soberly, Alex stared. “It took both of us to screw that one up. We just did what Dad told us to do. To keep the question of his paternity to ourselves because no one could ever prove otherwise. He didn’t plan on Cheryl.”

  “So you knew there’s a possibility that he’s yours?”

  “Always.”

  Aggravated, Jerry huffed. “She’s been planning this for a very long time, hasn’t she?”

  “I’m afraid so, Love. We can’t blame her for everything, but we certainly made it easy for her to do this. We should have told Brian years ago that there was a possibility he’s my son.”

  Sadly, Jerry nodded. “There’s a problem with that, too, though.”

  Alex shrugged.

  Jerry drew in a deep breath to bolster himself against the confusion about to ensue. “He is your son, Alex. I can tell you truly that he is your son.”

  An agonized moment drew long until Jerry turned.

  “Jerry, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I never slept with the woman until after he was born, Alex. I’m sorry.” It was yet another secret to bore a hole in his heart and sap his strength. “Brian is your son. And I never told you because I wanted so desperately for him to be with me. I needed something to live for.”

  “Oh, God,” Alex cried. His voice was shrill with the tightness in his throat. “Oh, my dear God. Oh, Jerry.” In utter confusion he reached to the night table for his cigarettes. When the door opened, Alex sat straight, an arm across his middle as the slave came with a silver tray to place on the bed.

  “Be a love and go...somewhere else for awhile,” Alex said.

  “Yes, Master.” Deeply Rick bowed and then departed quickly.

  Alex grabbed for the coffee and held it to his lips thinking of the implications. That he had a son, not just the possibility of a son and what he would do to his son’s mother if she were here. What he could do to the man who harbored this secret for three and a half decades, unable to look at him. “What in the world has made you tell me this now?”

  He peered through the darkness to the softly lighted gardens below. “A mountain fell on me today. I don’t have the strength for it anymore, Alex. I don’t have the strength to maintain control of the company. I don’t have the strength to look you in the face feeling so deceitful, Alex. And I’m hoping like hell you know what Brian needs better than I do.”

  “Jerry, how could you do this to me?” Alex cried.

  Jerry continued to peer out the window, unable to contact Alex.

  “You bastard! How could you do this to me?” He launched out of the bed and ran through the atrium doors to the porch.

  Inside, Jerry died. To hear his brother’s tortured and agonized weeping beyond the window and Jerry died inside. His own tears redoubled, the distance of thirty-five years between them, the chasm an impossible divide.

  Yet Jerry moved slowly to the porch beyond the softly fluttering sheers. Quickly, Alex turned, his face moist with that agony shimmering in the moonlight.

  “How could you do this to me?” Exhausted of reason, Alex fell into a chair.

  But there were no words, no excuses now. Just this...between them.

  “I want Brian to know this.”

  “Alex, he knows. He’s known for ten years. Cheryl told him the day he walked out on me and Abernathy. The day he found Morgan.”

  “And he never said anything to me?” Suddenly, he felt betrayed by this also.

  “I understand why finally. Just like Cherry, he doesn’t think of you as his father...but rather his mother.”

  Alex let out an indignant huff. “This is incredible.”

  “To say I’m sorry feels like a slight, Alex. To offer anything I can to make it up to you wouldn’t get you thirty five years of your son’s life back to you.” Jerry choked swallowing down the taste of poison rather than let it break free and cause destruction. He could only silently heave with the torture of it.

  Ah, but this wasn’t Jerry’s fault either. In this, they were both victims. Alex’s heart shattered to see Jerry reduced to this...again.

  Silently, Alex slid out of the chair and knelt before Jerry. Quickly, Jerry grabbed him into his arms, crushed him against his chest. Holding dearly to someone he lost so very long ago, he cried, “I’m so sorry.”

  To feel the throbbing of Jerry’s heart against his own, Alex whispered, “No...I’m sorry, Jerry. There’s so many things that have to be put right now. This is just one more.”

  Jerry held that soft flesh in his arms a moment longer and then released it. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

  “Jerry, Brian’s been in love with that woman for ten years. He needs her. I hate to see you like this, I hate it. I’m sorry, but you have to step away from her.”

  Jerry’s head dropped between his shoulders. “She’s the most incredible creature I’ve...ever had the pleasure of.”

  “There’s definitely something about her, I admit. But Brian, Jerry. Surely, you can do this for Brian.” Filled with agony, Alex lurched to his feet and returned to the bedroom. A son. He had a son, and
the bastard before him could have told him so long ago. Alex grabbed at the coffee to drink it down rather than this agony.

  But so much had happened that day leaving them all in a horror of confusion. Alex returned to the porch and sat down, remembering Cherry’s flippant comment at the press conference. “Jerry, Cherry isn’t yours, either?”

  “Neil Cochran.”

  For a moment, Alex only stared at the dark outline of his brother. “And you’ve known this all these years?”

  “Yes, Alex. Cheryl was conducting business out of the Mansion until Dad wanted to know why Cherry didn’t look like anyone in the family. He demanded a paternity test. Neil finally owned up to it since he was the one seen on the security cameras the most. Our father was only pissed off about it because until then, he believed Cheryl was servicing only him.”

  “Oh, dear God. The old man was fucking her?”

  “Alex, the only few nights of our entire lives we slept in the same bed was the first few nights of our honeymoon, sham that that was. We no sooner got back than Dad had moved everything that belonged to him out of the master suite and moved across the hall to the bedroom adjoined to hers. But I insisted that Brian be with me when he was born. The old man didn’t give a shit about that. All he wanted was Cheryl.”

  Sadly, Alex shook his head. “I don’t know how you survived.”

  “Until today, I thought that deep down she cared for her children. But to put them through this bullshit... She’s gonna end up killing herself.”

  “Good riddance. So I guess it’s no wonder why the old man was such a pain in the ass the last ten years of his life.”

  Bitterly, Jerry huffed. “I was never the man he wanted me to be.”

  Pity swelled in Alex now. The constant pressure their father exerted on them was overwhelming at times. Crushing at best. Defeating, almost. But Alex had told his father to fuck off when Jerry accepted the conditions and tried to work with them. Had become the CEO of an international conglomerate. Had accepted a son that wasn’t his and raised that child. Loved that child until the day came that that child could no longer live under Jerry’s crushing weight and escaped much the same way Alex had. Simply refused.

  Alex smiled to think of it. Brian really was his son.

  “We’ll get through this too, Jerry,” Alex said assuredly.

  Astonished, Jerry peered through the soft moonlight. “Alex, you can forgive me?”

  “It’s going to require both of us to support Brian now. He needs both of us. We have to agree on that.”

  Jerry could only nod. “I can believe he’ll never forgive me for this, though.”

  “I don’t believe that. You might be surprised how much forgiveness there is in human beings. But if you persist in your affair with Morgan, I think it will destroy him.”

  Aching horribly, Jerry nodded. “I’ve had a lot of women in my life...”

  “I rather doubt you could count them.”

  “You’re right. But they’ve been none like her.”

  “I know. If I were a man, I’d be having a problem, too. I don’t think I’ve ever met a more sensual creature. She goes with what she feels instead of what’s proper. It would be very hard not to fall in love.”

  “So you do understand?” Jerry’s face contorted to the feel of yet another loss, the desire to die because he was already dead inside.

  “Yes. I do. For whatever reason we’ve created this mess, we’ve created it. Brian had nothing to do with it. I’m going to slap the shit out of him for even putting Morgan in your path, however.”

  Quickly, Jerry shook his head. “No recrimination, Alex. He was only trying to help. Morgan is a licensed sex therapist and Brian only wanted us to understand the frustration between his mother and I. Why I lost control at times and beat her. Obviously, he thought it was of a sexual nature...”

  “Obviously, it was.”

  “It was deeper than that. I could never be what she wanted, either, and eventually, I gave up on it. Brian never meant for all of this to happen, I know that. Didn’t know there was all this shit in the background. Truthfully, sending Morgan did help. It helped me. It might have shoved Cheryl out the door finally, but it definitely helped me. She’s let me be who I am without coming at me with preconceived notions like the rest of the world. Expecting me to have all the answers. To take care of everybody’s little bullshit problems. She’s let me wallow in shit I’ve only thought about through the years. Made me look at myself and see myself for who I am and not what I’m supposed to be.”

  Alex was rather astounded to see his brother like this. He always thought of his brother as plated in bronze, the conquering hero rather than a human being. Never a fallible, feeling, perhaps even compassionate human being. “I apologize, but I don’t think we’ve met.”

  Aimlessly, Jerry dragged his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry, Alex. You of all people I should have had more compassion for, but I wanted Brian so badly. I even managed to fuck that up. I was scared to death he was gonna...” He looked away.

  “Be like me?”

  The grimace on Jerry’s face spoke volumes. “In a lot of ways, he is.”

  “But he can do it without being a fag. You know he’s bisexual.”

  “I know.”

  Alex relaxed a little into the cool night air, something he was unaccustomed to living in the city all of his life. The romance captured in the gardens below was alluring, captivating, the gentle splashing of water in the fountains, soothing.

  “Let’s call Brian,” Alex mewed.

  “It’s three thirty in the morning!”

  “I don’t think he’ll mind.”

  “Right.”

  * * * *

  Brian lay in the massive bed able to contain an orgy and stared at the ceiling. His father, the woman he wanted to be his wife and he had put them together. When the phone rang, Cherry jumped for it.

  Her senses heightened to protect everyone in her family now, including Morgan. “Yeah.”

  Jerry smiled to hear the female in the family ready to do battle. “Are you asleep?”

  “Dad.” She sniffed. “No, of course not. Obviously you aren’t either.”

  “No...is Brian around?”

  There was a click to speaker function. Cherry and Brian were in the same bed, sharing it as always they had in childhood.

  “Dad?” Brian choked.

  “Hi baby.” It was Alex, the two of them together on a speaker phone.

  “Alex...hi...you’re with Dad?”

  “Yes, Precious. We’re both here at Morgan’s beautiful estate and your gardens are simply wonderful. It’s a lovely place.”

  “Yeah,” Brian said dismally.

  “Brian,” Jerry started sternly. “You need to call Morgan, son. She’s still wearing your ring and you need to call her. You need to put everything right with her and you need to start by telling her who you are.”

  “You don’t understand something. Morgan hates guys like me. The prep school-yacht club-Billionaire Boys Club kind of assholes.”

  “Brian, how many guys like that could she possibly know? Okay, so maybe she’s met a few in her day, like JD and they turned her off. I can see that out of Morgan. But Morgan doesn’t really know how the rest of us live.”

  “It’s true, Sweetie,” Alex chirped. “You have to be sick of living a double life. How the hell could you expect her to marry you when she doesn’t even know who you are?”

  Brian’s entire body cramped to think of it. “You think she can get over it?”

  “I think if you’re honest with her for a change. You know I offered to have her buddy investigated for her, but she declined. She knows you have something to hide, Brian. She doesn’t have a clue what it is. Thinks maybe you’re a criminal. But she has enough respect for you to not force you to reveal yourself. She trusts you implicitly and yet there’s the matter of your past between you. She needs to know.”

  “How the hell is she gonna live like us, Dad? Fucking reporters up our
asses all the time. And all this shit today...how the hell would she handle that when she just wants to live a quiet life down on the farm, away from people? She doesn’t like people as much as you might think. When she gets done working for a day, she just wants to be quiet.”

  “What’s wrong with that? Her career is about people, Brian. Do you think I want to shuffle papers when I get home from work?”

  “Or worry about what color the draperies are?” Alex insisted.

  Silently, Jerry laughed at his brother. Yet it was true.

  “I guess,” Brian said quietly. “I just don’t think she’ll be able to handle it.”

  “Then I think you don’t have enough faith in her, Brian,” Jerry insisted. “Honey, she loves you. You need to call her and get this shit straightened out.”

  “But you’re in love with her, too.”

  Jerry winced. “But to think that Morgan and I have a future together is ridiculous. I’m fifteen years older than her and uhh...I’m not what she needs...not all the time anyway. You’ve been with her for ten years, Brian and it’s not like she threw you out. You walked out and you should have your head examined for that. Morgan was perfectly content until you threw a fit. So now that you have her attention, call her, Brian. Explain that you’ve made a mistake, ask her forgiveness and be content to be her lover. Why do you need to be married so badly anyway?”

  “I don’t know anymore,” he huffed.

  “I do,” Jerry said sympathetically. “Because sometimes it feels like other people have as much or more of her love, her care, her heart and soul than you do.”

  “You talking about Cheryl now?” Brian asked.

  “Brian, I’m sorry. The fact that your mother was a prostitute never bothered me. The fact that she carried on after we were married did. Is that what you’re concerned about? That Morgan will continue her career?”

  “Of course, she will. I would never expect her to give that up. Shit...I was her assistant...sort of. I’ve gotten more ass than any man should be allowed to have. But you see there’s another problem with that. If the entire world knows Morgan is married to an Abernathy...”