Dad hooted with laughter. “I like your Freckles, Elijah.”
“I’m quite fond of her too, Dad.” The fierceness in her eyes showed her passionate nature.
After dinner, I helped Mom do dishes while Maegan helped my dad back to the recliner. “Mom, why didn’t you tell me about Dad’s cancer diagnosis? Did you think I wouldn’t want to know?” I was careful not to use an accusatory tone. My mom wasn’t a suspect; she was the woman stuck in the middle of a horrible situation.
Mom released a long, shaky breath like she’d anticipated the question all afternoon and was grateful it had finally been asked. “I should’ve told you, but I didn’t want to use emotional blackmail to get you back home. I would’ve called you sooner if the doctor had given your father a bad prognosis. Your father was convinced from the offset that he’d beat it, and…” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t think he wanted you to see him in his weakest condition. He wanted to feel better when he made his apologies. He didn’t want or need your pity; he wanted and needed your forgiveness.”
“I’m getting there, Mom.”
She looked up from washing her pot roast pan and smiled brightly. “You are going to marry Maegan, right? There’s something different in your voice when you talk about her. I can hear how much you adore her.”
“I do adore her, and I’m absolutely going to marry her.” There was no doubt in my mind.
“Good, because there’s something special I’d like for you to have.” Mom reached into her cardigan and pulled out a red velvet box I immediately recognized. I knew a two-carat antique ring carefully rested on a ring pillow inside.
“That’s Great-Grandma’s wedding ring,” I said in awe.
“It is,” she agreed, lovingly tracing her finger over the top. “This ring means the world to me, and I want you to have it. More importantly, I want you to give it to Maegan when you feel the time is right.”
“Mom,” I said in awe. I’d asked her if I could give it to Brandy, but she’d gently told me no. Here she was offering the precious ring so Maegan could wear it someday. “She’s going to cherish this ring.”
“I mostly care that she cherishes you.”
“She truly does, Mom.”
After we finished cleaning, it was time to head home. I couldn’t say all of my hurt was gone after one visit with my dad, but I could say his apology went a long way to healing the pain I’d felt. We promised to return soon for another visit, and Mom assured me she’d keep me updated on how surgery went.
During the trip home, I had a ring in my pocket and a burning question on my mind. I just needed to find an occasion worthy of the woman who would wear the ring.
“GIRL, GET IN HERE,” APRIL said when she opened her front door. “It feels like I haven’t seen you in ages.” It was her turn to host our weekly Tuesday night book club meeting.
“It’s only been a few weeks, but it has seemed longer.” I hugged April and noticed she held onto me a little longer than normal. She felt thinner and her long, dark hair didn’t seem as lustrous. “I—we all—missed you.” I exchanged a worried glance with Vanessa, who’d arrived before me. April smiled like she wanted to believe it, but I could tell she wasn’t sure. Things between her and Violet were still a little strained, and I hated the heartache it caused them. “One of us missed you more than the rest and took your absence personally.”
April’s poor attempt at a smile slid off her face, making me want to kick myself. “I’ve tried, Mae. God knows how hard I’ve tried to fix things between us, but I can’t reach her. I fucked up so bad.”
“Honey, she just needs more time.” I didn’t know that for sure, but I hoped Violet would come around. I pulled April back in my arms and hugged her tight.
“I didn’t want to be an experiment to her, Mae. That happens so much. You hear women say all the time that they’ve given up on men and think they’ll give women a try. It’s so fucking insulting. I didn’t know she was serious. Fuck, if I knew…”
“You’d have done what?” asked a voice from the door. Violet stood in the open doorway with a bottle of wine in her hand. “You’d have taken me up on my offer?”
“Violet,” April said softly. “I didn’t think you’d come tonight.”
“That makes two of us,” she replied sharply. “Now I wish I hadn’t.” Violet turned to leave.
“Don’t go, Vi,” April said. “Please stay. I—”
“Are you done insulting my intelligence?”
“What? When?”
“Just now when you told Maegan you thought I hit on you because I was done with men. I knew what I wanted, and I wanted you, April.”
“I didn’t mean to—”
“And the comments you’ve made in the past about the alcohol,” Violet said, cutting her off again. “Do you really think alcohol makes people do something they don’t really want to do? Did you ever think that bottle of wine loosened up my inhibitions so I would take a chance and go after what I wanted? It’s called liquid courage for a reason.”
“Put yourself in my shoes, Vi,” April said pleadingly. “I have loved you since I knew what romantic love was, and it took you getting drunk to tell me you were attracted to me. Can you possibly understand that I was hurt too?”
“Ladies,” Candace said, entering the room. “Not this same old argument again. Fuck and forgive already.” She looked April up and down then rubbed her forefinger over an artfully, arched brow that was the exact same shade of red as her long, wavy hair. “I’m so glad you dressed for company. I think you owned those yoga pants back in junior high. I know for a fact you got your New Kids on The Block T-shirt back then.”
The T-shirt was baggy on her because she’d lost a lot of weight since we were kids. She’d also grown taller so the shirt now hovered just above her belly button. Violet seemed to have a hard time looking away from the strip of exposed skin that included a pierced belly button. The feminine, crystal hearts dangling from the belly button ring reflected prisms of light onto April’s skin. It looked like she had mini disco balls dangling above her—
“Pizza is on the way,” April said, steering the conversation back to where she wanted it to go. She closed the door and turned to face us. “I ordered everyone’s favorite pizza or sandwich, including yours, Vi, because I hoped you would come.”
Candace snorted because her mind had gone straight to the gutter. I glanced up at Vanessa who was doing her damnedest not to grin. She failed epically and started laughing hard enough that she had to lean against me for support.
April walked slowly toward Violet. She took the bottle of wine from Vi with her left hand then cupped Vi’s face softly with the right. “I am sorry, Vi. You’re the last person on the earth I’d hurt.” She pressed in slow, giving Violet time to back away or meet her halfway. Instead of kissing her, April rubbed the tip of her nose against Violet’s. When she stepped back, Violet looked glassy-eyed and dazed.
“Holy fuck,” Candace said breathlessly. “Our girl has serious game.”
“That’s nothing,” April said smugly. “The rest is for a private audience only.”
“What’s more private than your own living room?” Vanessa asked.
“My bedroom and three less people.”
Candace pointed to herself, Vanessa, and me while counting, “One, two, three.”
“You guessed it.”
“Well, talking about a book after witnessing that seems kind of tame now,” I said.
“Let’s get caught up on each other’s lives while we wait for dinner to arrive,” Vanessa suggested. “Then we can talk about the book.”
Everyone agreed except Violet and April who probably had forgotten we were still there.
“Maybe we should just go,” I said, looping my arm through Van’s and tugging her toward the door while giving Candace a look that silently implored her to follow my lead. She rolled her eyes at me but started walking toward the door too.
“Don’t go,” Violet said softly. “Not yet, anyway.”
She smiled sweetly at April. “How long before the food arrives?”
“Twenty minutes.”
“Fine, we’ll do a round of speed sharing where we each get four minutes to talk about what’s going on in our lives. We eat pizza then have a thirty-minute discussion about the book.”
“Then we get the fuck out so you can…” Vanessa let her words trail off.
“Do whatever we want,” Vi finished for her.
“We might be down to three minutes each now,” I said.
April, Violet, and I took the couch while Vanessa and Candace sat in the club chairs on either end that were turned to face one another over the coffee table.
“I’ll go first,” Violet said, tucking her feet under her and cuddling into April’s side. There was nothing new about the position because the two of them were always touching. It had been that way since we were little kids. “I finally worked up the courage to tell my parents I have romantic feels for April.”
“Whoa!” we all said while Violet grinned, nestling closer to April.
“We haven’t even had our first kiss yet,” April said. “What if you—”
“I’m aware that things will feel physically different with you than a man, but more importantly, it will feel different emotionally. I will feel things with you no man has ever given me because I’ve lived a lie for so fucking long. Everything I feel with you will be better; you’ve had my heart since we were ten years old. I’m tired of lying to myself. I’m tired of pretending my desire to touch you is platonic. I’m done running.” April ran her hands through Violet’s hair the entire time she gave her impassioned speech. “It’s always been you, A.”
“What did your parents say?” Vanessa asked softly.
I saw April tense like she was bracing herself for bad news. She should’ve known Vi wouldn’t have started this conversation in front of us if her parents had been upset, but I suspected her emotions were all over the place and they greatly diminished her ability to rationalize.
Violet giggled and said, “Mom said it was past time I realized I loved you for more than friendship, and Dad said he’d be honored to welcome someone as kind, smart, and beautiful as you into our family.”
“Wow,” April said.
The rest of us said, “Aww.”
“What about you guys?” Violet asked, diverting the attention away from them.
“Not much on my end,” Vanessa said, holding my stare for a few seconds. For whatever reason, she still hadn’t shared her wild, passionate weekend with the ladies. “Tattoos and reading books about fellas who love other fellas. Chaz Hamilton can write some seriously good books.”
“No book talk yet,” Violet said. “What about you, A?” Vi said, lifting her head off April’s shoulder once more to look at her. “What’s been going on with you besides all your traveling for business?”
“Like I can remember anything at this point,” April said, sounding dazed. “Besides missing you, I worked out a bunch, traveled for work ten out of the last fourteen days, and I managed to eat and sleep some when I wasn’t doing those things.”
“Are the Hollingsworth Corporation takeovers going according to plan, Miss Chief Financial Officer?” Candace asked.
“You know I’m not allowed to discuss work.”
“Can you discuss if that sexy beast of a CEO is single or taken?”
“I wouldn’t know, Candy Apple. Mr. Hollingsworth is a very private man. The only conquests we discuss are the corporate kind.”
“Speaking of conquests,” I said, noticing the way Van stiffened. “Do you have anything to share, Candace? You seem to love asking questions about our love lives but are secretive about your own.”
“I’m quiet because there’s little to report. I found a delicious new toy that’s getting the job done for now. Did you know they made ones that stimulate your G-Spot, clit, and anus?”
“Yes,” we all replied.
“How the hell did I not know? These are the important women’s issues we need to be discussing each Tuesday.”
“Vibrators are now considered women’s issues?” I asked.
“Equal rights to orgasms,” Candace said boldly, reminding me of the mom on Mary Poppins fighting for voting privileges.
“I’ll start making the posters,” Vanessa said excitedly.
“I’ll sew the sashes to wear across our chests,” Violet said.
“I’ll call the Blissville Daily News and let them know we’re hosting a meeting at Maegan’s house,” April volunteered.
“Thanks a lot,” I told April. “What will our slogan be?”
“Equal Rights to Orgasms,” Candace said. “That’s catchy enough.”
“Nah, we need something that will stand the test of time,” April said. “My rainbow community has the best ones.”
“Yeah,” Candace said. “We can’t steal one of theirs.”
“Instead of telling people to get out and vote, we’ll be telling them to get out and come,” Vanessa said.
“That’s a good one,” Candace said. “We could use the two together. Equal Rights to Orgasm. Get Out and Come.”
We were laughing hysterically when the pizza delivery arrived. The young guy was too awestruck by April’s tight yoga pants and exposed belly to pay us any attention. “Here’s your pizza, Miss Uh…” His eyes zeroed in on her breasts, and he stopped speaking altogether.
“Let me help you with that, Timothy,” Violet said, squeezing between him and April. Timothy tried to look around her, but Violet moved every time he did. It was quite entertaining. Violet signed the credit card slip then handed it and the pen back to Timothy before she took the pizza boxes and carryout bags from his hands and shut the door in his face.
“So rude,” Candace said. “And territorial.” Candace made a roaring sound and swatted Violet on her butt. “And smoking hot.”
“I’ll say,” April said, sounding like she was still in awe over how the night was turning out.
We devoured our food like starving animals and drank wine like it was grape juice which loosened up my lips to tell the girls about the situation with Elijah’s family. I’d never shared the details of his past before, and I felt guilty as hell for doing it then. I just needed to vent to someone about how I felt, and Elijah wasn’t the right one to hear what I had to say.
“She married and cheated on both brothers?” April asked to clarify.
“Women like her make us all look bad,” Vanessa added.
“Poor Elijah,” Violet said softly. “Thank goodness he found you.”
“Maybe we can have Chaz kill her off in a book,” Candace suggested. “I mean, it’s really fun having a writer living amongst us.”
“I’m sure he gets suggestions all the time,” I said, but killing off Brandy was starting to sound good. “I guess there was part of me that wanted to have a showdown with her.” Van started whistling the tune to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. “I really wanted to tell her what I thought about her and the way she treated Elijah, but I wanted to do it in a classy way and not full of shouty, rage-y curse words.”
“With your chin up and head held high,” Candace said.
“Have you been talking to my mom?” I asked when Violet opened the second bottle of wine and started pouring us each a glass.
“Not recently. Why?” Candace replied. I told them about my mom’s advice a few days earlier, and they had the biggest laugh.
“God, I love Jackie,” Vanessa said.
“Me too,” I said. I couldn’t imagine life without her.
“I’m glad Elijah is trying to patch up his relationship with his dad,” Violet said softly. “It’s too bad it took a cancer diagnosis to get them there.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Men can be stubborn mules sometimes.”
“You ladies have fun with that,” Vi said, leaning into April.
“Like you two won’t have issues,” Candace snorted, taking for granted everything would work out for our friends. “Better hope your periods sync up
, or you’ll only have two weeks out of the month for sexy times.”
“Does that happen?” Vanessa asked. “Some women swear by it.”
“I couldn’t tell you,” April said. “The only woman I’ve lived with is my mother, and she had a hysterectomy at thirty-two which was many years before I started having periods.”
“Report back to us,” Candace said.
“None of you are driving away from here after two and a half glasses of wine. You all look like you’re about to topple over,” April said.
“I’ll call Elijah,” I said.
My knight in shining armor showed up fifteen minutes later. “Hello, ladies,” he said. I nearly came from just hearing his voice. Candace sighed, and Vanessa giggled. His eyes landed on April and Violet then returned to meet my gaze where I waggled my eyebrows as if to say, “It’s about damn time.”
“Let’s all pile into Maegan’s SUV, and I’ll escort you home.” He looked at April and asked, “Mind if I leave my truck parked out front? We can pick it up in the morning before work.”
“That’s fine by me,” April said. “You all have a good night.” Neither she nor Vi budged from the couch to walk us out.
“Hey, how are we getting our cars back?” Vanessa said.
“I’ll come pick you gals up after I drop Elijah off to get his truck.”
“That works,” Vanessa said. “Make it early enough for us to see if Violet’s car is also still in the driveway.”
Once Elijah and I were finally alone, I confessed that I’d talked to my friends about his family. “I feel like I’ve betrayed you or something.”
“It’s perfectly normal that you told your closest friends. I know they only want the best for us, and I’m okay with it. I don’t want to see it show up in that tacky gossip column in the Blissville Daily News, but I trust your friends.” He paused for a second before continuing. “I’m curious what you discussed, but I’m okay not knowing.”
“We’ve decided to ask Chaz to kill a Brandy-inspired character in a book.”
The Lady Stole My Heart (The Lady is Mine, #2) Page 11