by Kimball Lee
“Sky, shhh, hey what happened? Dry your eyes now, come on let’s take these damn dresses off, they’re soaking wet with tears. Here,” she said, crossing the room and pouring them both a shot of vodka from a bottle in the freezer of the wet bar. “Drink up and tell me what went wrong, what on earth happened?”
“It was an ectopic pregnancy with the worst possible outcome. I had no idea I was even pregnant until I collapsed, no morning sickness and I rarely have a period since I take the birth control shot. So the embryo grew in the fallopian tube for six weeks or more and then the tube burst and I was horribly sick. I had emergency surgery, I was in Paris for the fall runway shows and one of the models took me to the hospital and then I had her call Beau. He flew to Paris and we stayed with Evangeline and although I didn’t tell her what happened I think she knew somehow because she was strangely sweet. At the hospital they had to remove my left fallopian tube, there was too much damage to repair it. I’ve seen several doctor’s since then to get more than one opinion but they all say the same thing— my chances of ever getting pregnant again are not good,” Sky ripped the tear-drenched dress from her body and climbed under the downy coverlet on the bed. “So you see, I might as well try and love Reef or any man other than Atticus, I won’t ever be truly happy anyway. Atticus will want a baby with the woman he loves and it would be unthinkable for him not to have a child of his own. He’s so beautiful and he has so many amazing qualities. What do I have to offer? I’m practically an orphan and don’t try and change my mind about meeting Pedro’s mother, if she is alive isn’t it obvious she only wants him? The woman has no interest in me or Beau.”
“Oh, Sky. I’m so sorry that happened and I’m mad as hell that you didn’t call me to take care of you. I’m your best friend for heaven’s sake, you’re my sister, practically. Atticus should know about this Skyler, I’m serious. He’ll be furious that you went through this without him or me or Mom. Thank God for Beau, I hate to say it— but fuck Amanda and Ava for treating you like shit all these years. Jack, too. They’re all so fucking selfish, all of them acting like it was your fault that JP went looking for Lizzie. It was his decision Sky, he did a stupid thing for love just like the rest of us. As for Lizzie, who knows what her major malfunction is. My Uncle Christopher is busy sorting that out right now, it’s so weird with all these bizarre connections. Lizzie gives birth to you and Beau by two random lovers who happen to know each other and now there’s a fifteen year-old whose real name is Joaquin and he’s the son of my mother’s ‘lost and found’ brother. Geez, gimme a break!” Hadley said plopping down on the bed next to Sky. “Holy hot flash Batman, this fucking dress is wet and ruined and I can’t get the silly bastard unbuttoned!”
That set them off on a spitting sputtering side-splitting laughing spree that went on and on until at last they lay wiping tears from their eyes again.
“We have got to get over the men in our lives,” Hadley said. “Holden would rather follow my brother into battle than take full advantage of my young nubile body! Just look at us, Sky,” Hadley said sitting up on the bed and wiggling out of the exorbitantly expensive dress that had been sent especially to her by the designer. “We will never be younger or more attractive than we are at this moment, our tits and asses are high and perky and gravity is only gonna take its toll from this day forward! Fuck Holden and Atti! Fuck Cade and Reef, too! What we need is a girl trip, just us in a convertible hitting the open road to… nowhere in particular. What do you think?”
“I think you’re right, let’s go borrow one of Charlotte’s new cars, call all the men in our lives and say “adios motherfuckers” and just wave goodbye. It’s a great plan, now what about tonight? We have to deal with Reef and Cade and the awards ceremony.”
“Oh Sky, sweetie, didn’t you learn anything from Charlotte? The way to convince a man he can’t live without you is to ignore his ass! You can be my ‘date’ to the event tonight.” She said and even though Kincade Townsend was not a man easily dissuaded or ignored (and he had pulled her against him unexpectedly before she got in her car to leave him at the beach and kissed her like she was the last woman and he was the last man on the planet!) she picked up her cell phone to give him the news that she never wanted to see him again.
*
Matilda was a Texas girl at heart even though she’d gotten out of that slow-talking oil-soaked men-rule-the-world-and-women-are-ornaments state as fast as she could. Marrying Jordan Sullivan had been a purely political decision. She wanted to be first lady and he was destined to be president. It was all pedigree and breeding on Jordan’s part, he was from a long line of politicians from the great state of Rhode Island. The first Americanized Sullivan had stepped off the Mayflower and began a dynasty that would include two United States senators, three governors, a Supreme Court Justice and now a candidate for the highest office in the land.
Jordan would be a powerful man once he was in office but he certainly wasn’t powerful anywhere else as far as Matilda was concerned. He had a little dick and no sperm, so much for breeding and pedigree, but she was biased and who could measure up to Atticus Hale? She would be the true force behind the proverbial throne once Jordan was elected and her son would rise to greatness. She liked to think of that, power was such a turn-on; power was a pure and powerful aphrodisiac. If her baby was a girl, all the better. Women were the source of all life, they should be running the world. They would never send their sons and daughters off to fight wars that couldn’t be won by following the rules, especially since terrorists and the like didn’t believe in rules. Women knew how to settle things simply and with civility. All that was needed were a few carefully selected castrating words or a sizeable bomb dropped to wipe out the offending nation and the enemies would tuck their tails and slink back to what was left of their perpetually worn-torn sand-boxes.
“Mrs. Sullivan?” the doctor said as he sat behind his desk and peered over his glasses at the beautiful and glowing woman who waited for him. “It’s very early on, of course, but I’m happy to tell you the blood test is positive. Congratulations to you and your husband, you’re going to have a baby.”
“Thank you doctor,” Matilda said, standing to collect her purse and coat as the doctor walked around his desk and held out his hand to shake hers. She was so ecstatically happy that she reached up and kissed the doctor full on the lips and then laughed at the look of shock and pleasure on his face.
It was all happening, the presidency was so close and she was pregnant! She could barely contain her joy— a baby, her baby and best of all, Atti’s baby! A baby that would grow up in the White House, the son or daughter of the leader of the free world. And more than that, her baby was descended from a strong and indomitable bloodline. Charlotte Hale, who was now Charlotte Bly, was the strongest woman Matilda had ever known and just like her son she was brilliant and incomprehensibly beautiful. Charlotte had been Matilda’s hero from the first moment she met her and even if she would never know that this child was part of her, Matilda would do her the honor of naming the baby Charlotte if it was a girl.
*
“Your sister is anxious to see you, Ivy,” Atticus said, leaning closer so she could hear him over the noise in the giant Super Stallion helicopter. There were both Marine and Navy troops on board and they were inordinately interested in the SEAL and the stunning dark haired girl seated next to him.
“I don’t want to see her and it’s a long story, one you don’t want to hear, believe me,” she said and she felt the urge to press her lips to the spot between his brows that furrowed in concern.
His face was enthralling just as he was. He had a rare masculine elegance that she had never seen on any other man. His face and what she had seen of his body were pure perfection, like a statue or a painting of an angel. Although he had more of the look of a fallen angel with his piercing sapphire eyes, jet-black hair and bulging muscles that no amount of clothing could cover.
“I’m not expected for debriefing since this wasn’t official military business,
the helo will drop me off in Gulfport, Mississippi at the Naval Battalion Center. I can put you on a jet from there to Washington, you really should go home to your sister,” Atticus said and the look of disappointment in her eyes wasn’t lost on him.
“I’ll get off in in Gulfport as well and I’ll be fine from there. I grew up in Bay Saint Louis so I’m familiar with the area, I can rent a car and drive home. It’s not much but Lucy and I kept the little house our parents left us and I go back now and then. I have my reasons for not wanting to see Lucy and she knows what they are. I spoke to her from the ship and I thanked her for sending you… for sending your team to get me out of that hell hole in Honduras. What was I thinking, right? To go to a country that’s a virtual war zone with a man I met at a soccer game, don’t even ask,” she said and forced her eyes away from him and rested her head against her seat.
“You grew up on the coast of Mississippi? That’s incredible, I spent every summer of my life in Pass Christian, that’s like, ten minutes from my family’s vacation home.”
“You’re kidding, which house is yours? Everyone knows everyone else in that part of the country. My high school friends and I used to drive to the Beach Club in Pass Christian to watch the cute boys and try and pretend we were rich kids too,” she said and laughed wondering if he was the boy she always picked out of that rarefied crowd.
“The McCall house, my mother inherited it from her family. It used to be a bed and breakfast but at a certain point my parents decided to keep it for our family’s use year round. Eventually my mother’s new husband bought the houses and acreage on either side… of course he wasn’t my mother’s husband then. Now that is a story that I don’t want to talk about and you don’t want to hear, so we’re even. I’ll give you a ride to Bay Saint Louis since I’m going to stay in Pass Christian for a couple of weeks. You don’t have to say a word about your sister and my lips are sealed where my family is concerned.”
“Agreed!” Ivy said and relaxed for the first time since her ordeal in Honduras had begun, she relaxed and delighted in the knowledge that she would have a bit more time to spend with Atticus Hale.
*
“I hate that you have to go out of your way to take me home,” Ivy said as they drove west on IH10 and the signs for Pass Christian and then Bay Saint Louis came into view.
“It’s no problem, just ten or eleven miles down the road. Are you hungry? There are a couple of good places for oysters or Po’boys in Pass Christian if you have time we can stop and get a bite to eat.”
“I have plenty of time and that sounds great, Gulf shrimp and oysters are the ultimate comfort food for me. My dad worked on a shrimp boat, so at our house it was kind of like the scene in Forrest Gump where Bubba rattles off all the different shrimp dishes! But I never got tired of fresh seafood and my dad didn’t have his own boat, he wasn’t even a captain, just a hired laborer. To say we were poor doesn’t begin to cover it, but no talk of families, we promised,” Ivy said and she hoped to God he hadn’t noticed her glancing at the outline of his cock in his jeans. Dear Lord, if that was the size of him soft she was absolutely determined to get her hands on him when he was aroused, literally.
“Here we go, you said you used to dream about the boys at the Beach Club, well maybe you might meet one tonight,” Atticus held the door open for her and again she was at eye level with his penis. A swift greedy volcano of need erupted in the deepest part of her body and it was so primal and demanding it blotted out her ordeal in Honduras and the laughable desire she had felt for any man before Atticus.
When they were settled at a table inside the Beach Club they both noticed signs for New Year’s Eve and realized they had no idea what day it was. The server brought two bottles of Dos Equis with slices of lime and complimentary tequila shots.
“The shots are from the bartender, he says he missed seeing you last summer. We all missed you, Atti, how come you weren’t down here at the beach for your birthday? Your mom usually does your birthday up big time and it was your twenty-first and all,” the server said setting her tray down and standing with her hand on her hip.
Atticus wasn’t sure what her name was but he seemed to remember her coming to his house and maybe Vivi Kipling had been there too…
“Yeah, my mom wasn’t into celebrations last year. We all kind of forgot about partying, but thanks for the shots,” he said and hoped that she wasn’t in the mood to socialize.
“Oh, oh my gosh! That’s right, I was just heartbroken to hear about your daddy passing away. Well, I’ll just let you enjoy your evening,” she said nervously and backed away from the table and left.
“So you’re twenty-one? Wow, it makes me feel old at twenty-three! How long have you been in the Navy?” Ivy asked and wondered how many female employees at the Beach Club had enjoyed his company, because it was patently obvious that girl had.
But what did she expect with him looking the way he did and now she remembered that he had some random connection with billionaire Alexander Bly. Jordan had mentioned Atticus Hale once now that she thought about it, he knew Jordan’s wife and might have been related to her. But Jordan Sullivan was yesterday’s bad news, he was both the mistake and the reason she had gotten involved with the Honduran soccer player. Damn him anyway, he just wouldn’t let her go, although it was a sure bet she had him to thank for arranging her extraction from Honduras. Oh, she didn’t want to think about that, she wanted to concentrate on the man sitting across from her. She had never been so attracted to a man in her life, she didn’t have time when she was in college and Jordan had provided her with the means to go to Ole Miss. She was a nice girl from a poor Southern Baptist family and it had been a fluke to catch Jordan’s attention and have him act as her benefactor. But then he had wanted more and she had fled with a group of journalists, one of whom had been her college roommate and then things went in a crazy direction.
“To my missed birthday and to your freedom!” Atticus said throwing back the shot and then taking a bite from the slice of lime.
“To my freedom,” Ivy said and shivered when she swallowed the shot and Atticus laughed and ordered two more.
She was a beautiful girl who had just been through quite the ordeal, Atticus was thinking as his eyes swept over the black hair, creamy skin and blue, blue eyes. He had avoided dark haired women thanks to Matilda’s devious antics and he associated goodness and sincerity with Sky’s blonde, green-eyed beauty. Where was beautiful Sky, had she fallen in love with another man? He had begged her to and he hoped that she had, yet it crushed him to think about it actually happening. They drank the second tequila shots and he finished his beer, and maybe he shouldn’t have on an empty stomach.
Ivy looked so sexy as she leaned on the table and rested her chin on her hand and looked at him with such longing in her big beautiful eyes. She had clung to him when he found her in Honduras and something about her told him she was an innocent, whatever the story was there. He didn’t care to know the details, not yet, at least. He had a painfully throbbing erection that was begging to be inside her, to feel her sweet soft lips close around it and hear her shout his name as she flooded his cock with her hot juices. Did she want that too, he wondered? Oh, the things he could do to that trim little body of hers, things that would wipe out the past for both of them, maybe only for a night or a week or forever.
“Ivy, I’ve had too much to drink. I’m not sure if I can drive you all the way to… where was I taking you?”
She laughed and reached across the table and curled her fingers around his big calloused hand. “I think I’d better stay with you tonight, Atticus. The bandage on your shoulder needs to be changed and I did tell the doctor on the ship I would be sure it was taken care of. Would it be alright if I drive you to your house and take care of you tonight? I would be glad to.”
“Yes,” he said, the alcohol swirling and clouding his brain so that he was convinced she was all that he needed. “Yes, please. I would like that, I need that, take care of me. Come with
me to my house at the beach and stay there with me for as long as you like.”
*
Cade Townsend hadn’t been happy about Hadley uninviting him to the awards ceremony, she claimed that she and Sky were going together and then they were leaving for a spur-of-the-moment road trip. It didn’t sit well with him, the idea of having the object of his desire so easily discard him. Reef told him to get over it, that Hadley was genuine, the real deal; a nice girl who was not a ‘full of herself’ celebrity by any means. Besides she had a serious boyfriend, did Cade honestly think he could just sweep her off her feet so easily?
Reef was bummed that Sky was taking off for who knew how long but he was resolved to wait for her. She had separation issues anyway and it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park to make her forget Hadley’s brother, but he knew he could do it with persistence and the fact that he was already half in love with her. Cade had mentioned that he was going to that damned awards ceremony and he would convince Hadley that time spent with him was more important than some girls-only getaway.
“Ready to go Sky? Hurry up, I am the guest of honor tonight!” Hadley called from the living room of the suite and Sky came rushing in and rolled her eyes and motioned for Hadley to turn around so she could finish zipping the dress she had slipped into.
“Wow, I like this dress even better, good thing the first ones were the victims of our crying jag!” Sky said just as the there was a light tap at the door.
“Oh who in last minute hell would dare to knock on this door?” Hadley shouted and stormed to the door and jerked it open with a flourish.
“These are for the magnificent Hadley Hale from the man who loves her more than she will ever know.”
The bouquet of red roses was so big and so fragrant that for a minute Hadley forgot to be mad, plus they were hiding the face of the delivery boy who was obviously trying to disguise his voice.
“Too little too late,” Hadley said regaining her fury as she swung the door closed but his foot blocked the door and he lowered the bouquet and smiled.