Hoping for Forever (The Lottery Winners Book 1)

by Elizabeth Lennox

  She stared up at the ceiling. A lady. He thought she was a lady because she didn’t climax? Scarlett chuckled. That sound burst out of her and she rolled over, pulling one of the pillows closer to muffle her laughter. But when Thomas came out of the bathroom, she was still laughing. Still thinking about what she did when he left for work each day. He actually thought she went through life without orgasms? What an ass!

  “What’s so funny?” he asked, tossing the towel onto the floor and walking into the closet to get some pajamas.

  Scarlett didn’t bother to answer, aware that Thomas didn’t really care what she was laughing about. He was more intent on his own interests. Ever since the wedding, they’d barely spoken other than discussing which social events to attend.

  Sure enough, he walked out of the closet, his pajama tops and bottoms in place. She wondered what he would do if she slept naked. But then she thought about what he’d just done, sleeping naked next to him might actually turn him on, and she didn’t want to go through that again so soon.

  So instead, she stood up, still chuckling, and walked in to take a shower herself. Coming back out, she pulled her nightgown on over her head and slipped between the sheets. Turning off the lights, she stared up at the ceiling. Thomas was snoring next to her, but she blocked that out. Her mind was whirling with all of the things she needed to get done tomorrow. She was president of the PTA and they had a big event coming up at the school. Thomas asked her to throw a dinner party for his clients Friday night, they had a country club event on Saturday night, the kids had tennis and golf lessons Saturday. Thomas was playing golf Sunday afternoon after church and…

  Basically, her life was a never ending cycle of doing things for other people. When was she going to have her time?

  Chapter 18

  “He was with his secretary!” Midge whispered, scandalized.

  Scarlett had gone to the restroom and her friends didn’t know she was standing behind the column of the country club dining room. It was just a regular Saturday night at the club. All their friends were gathered, everyone dolled up in their weekend finery. Everyone trying to “one up” each other.

  And everyone gossiping. Scarlett had always avoided the gossip, not liking the viciousness of it. But it was even worse when it was about her and her marriage.

  “That’s so tacky!” the other woman sneered. Scarlett didn’t recognize the voice but she recognized the attitude. It was a pervasive disgust that ran through almost every member of the country club.

  She pulled back, not sure what to do. She couldn’t stand here and listen. That was just…Scarlett wasn’t sure because she was too stunned. Thomas was having an affair with his secretary? Again?

  Five years ago, he’d told her that he was working late and she’d spontaneously decided to bring him dinner. He’d been working late a lot and, when she’d walked in on him screwing his secretary, she had been horrified. They’d talked about it that day, worked through the issues, gone to counseling. Apparently, he was doing it again, cheating on her with his newest secretary.

  Scarlett felt betrayed. Irritated because she was sexually frustrated, angry because she was humiliated and…too many emotions to list at the moment. She’d had plenty of opportunities to have an affair! But she’d been faithful to her wedding vows.

  Apparently, Thomas didn’t think their vows were too important.

  Well, that just raised the question, what was she going to do about it? She’d been married for nineteen years now. James was in college and Christopher was doing extremely well as a senior in high school.

  Scarlett moved away, walking into the lobby. Yes, she should go back to the dining room. The rest of the table was expecting her back. But…she was sick of doing the right thing. She was sick of being the personification of manners and decorum. She was sick of…coloring inside the lines!

  Wow, she hadn’t thought about that phrase for…years! A wave of longing rushed over her and she knew that she wanted freedom. She wanted to do things outside the box. Outside the lines. She wanted to be free. Free of all of the strictures that surrounded her every day of her life. She wanted…a job. She wanted to do something for herself! She wanted to do crazy things that made her feel good! She wanted to learn about different cultures and speak different languages. She wanted to travel to places that were different and exciting.

  It was nineteen seventy-six and divorce was…frowned upon…but not unheard of. Especially in her circles, several of her friends had gone through divorces. Yes, Scarlett knew that several of her friends turned a blind eye to their husbands’ affairs. They liked the security of having a husband in their social circles. It gave them a sense of community. A sense of belonging. They’d lived their whole lives as wives and mothers, not ever wanting to work.

  Scarlett wasn’t one of those women. She wouldn’t put up with infidelity. She’d known from her wedding day that her marriage wasn’t the best. But she’d made the best of it. She’d given up her hopes of Mick returning and had made a good life with Thomas and her sons.

  Hearing that Thomas was back to his old tricks told her that he was making a mockery of her sacrifices.

  So, this was the end.

  But she was going to extract herself from this situation carefully. First thing to do was to hire a private detective. If Thomas really was cheating on her, she needed proof. She also needed to hire a lawyer. Someone who could look into Thomas’ assets and get them catalogued before he knew he needed to hide them. She needed to appraise their house, gather the retirement and bank accounts, and figure out how to keep him from draining them.

  Yes, there were ways to get this done cleanly and fairly. She just needed to get things in place before Thomas went behind her back and got away with his cheating ways without consequences.

  With a plan in place, she returned to the dining room. For the rest of the evening, she smiled and nodded in all the appropriate places during the conversation. All the while, she made a mental list of things she needed to do. Get a job. Dust off her skills. She’d always wanted to work for NASA, but had abandoned that dream when she married and Thomas’ career was here in Kentucky.

  Chapter 19

  Several months later, Scarlett hugged Christopher goodbye. He was excited to be entering his first year of college. “Be safe, okay?” she urged.

  He was tall and handsome and looked just like his father. Scarlett just hoped that Christopher hadn’t learned too much from Thomas.

  “I’ll see you at Thanksgiving, okay?” she promised, although she wasn’t sure where that meal might take place.

  Her son’s cocky smile was endearing as he hugged her back. “I’ll be fine. And yes, I’ll see you at Thanksgiving.”

  Scarlett understood that her youngest child was ready to leave the nest, to be on his own.

  Thomas chuckled at her worry. “Come on, Honey. He needs to move into his dorm room and he has classes to sign up for.”

  Scarlett sighed, feeling Thomas’ hand on her shoulder and knowing that he was right. “I know.” She gave Christopher one more hug. “Be safe! I love you!”

  And then she pulled away, walking quickly to the car. They were driving back to Louisville now, and Scarlett had everything ready for a serious conversation with Thomas. Saying goodbye to Chris was the last “normal” thing she was going to do. Her whole world was turning upside down after this. She’d be on her own and that both terrified and excited her.

  Several hours later, Thomas pulled into the garage and Scarlett got out of the car, headed for her office and pulled the files from a drawer. These were all the files she’d gathered over the past several months with the help of a private investigator and one of the best divorce lawyers in the country. The fact that the lawyer was a woman was even better! The woman was a shark!

  “Do you want to have dinner at the country club tonight?’ Thomas asked, slipping his coat off and tossing it over one of the chairs.

  Scarlett eyed the coat, thinking about all the times she’d picke
d his stupid jackets up off that chair. It was like Thomas didn’t know where the coat closet was!

  Her fingers tightened on the file folder and she forced a smile, ignoring the coat and focusing on the conversation.

  Instead of starting off with the famous words, “We need to talk,” she pulled one of the pictures out of the file folder and laid it down on the table.

  “What’s this?” he asked, a smile of anticipation on his handsome features. But the smile vanished when he recognized himself. Naked. He was leaning over an equally naked blonde woman.

  Scarlett laid down another. And another. And several more, all with different women and the dates of each interlude noted on the picture.

  “What the hell, Scarlett!” He looked up at her. “You’ve been following me?”

  Scarlett rolled her eyes. “No. I hired a private detective to follow you. Several months ago, I overheard a conversation at the country club. Two of our friends were chatting about how you were having an affair with your secretary. Again.” She watched his face and saw the guilt. “We’ve already gone through all of that.”

  “You never have sex with me!” he roared. “I had to find comfort in the arms of another woman.” He braced his hands on the table, glaring at her. “I’ll testify that I’m divorcing you for withholding spousal affection,” he announced. His smile turned into a sneer. “I’ll win, Scarlett. I’m a lawyer and I know a lot of people.”

  She didn’t return the smile. She knew Thomas was a tough lawyer. She knew that he’d gotten many of his clients out of serious charges – many of those clients were guilty.

  “Divorce papers were filed by my lawyer yesterday,” she continued, announcing that her filing was a done deal.

  Then she pulled out the picture of him having sex with his partner’s wife. The image was a bit grainy, but there was no doubt who the participants were.

  Thomas looked at the picture and gulped. “Where did you get that picture?” he demanded, grabbing it and tearing it apart. “You can’t do this, Scarlett. I’ll destroy you. You’ll get nothing.”

  She pulled out another picture. This one showed him smoking marijuana while a woman’s head blocked his naked groin. It was pretty obvious what the woman was doing. And there was cocaine on the table right beside his elbow.

  “You are a lawyer, Thomas. An officer of the courts. What would happen to your career, your reputation, if it came out that you were violating the law?” she asked. He stared at the picture in horror, then snatched it from her and crumpled it up.

  “You bitch!”

  Scarlett didn’t smile. This wasn’t funny.

  “Here is a list of your assets, just in case you decide to hide some of them during the next step in the process,” and she laid out a piece of paper that catalogued all of their property, bank accounts, some of which she hadn’t known about, and their retirement accounts. “I want half of everything. And I want alimony in this amount,” she pointed her finger at the number at the bottom.

  “I don’t have that kind of cash!” he roared.

  “Apparently, you do,” she contradicted, pulling out another sheet, showing his offshore bank accounts, another illegal activity. “Apparently, you’ve been a very bad boy, Thomas.”

  He pulled back, the blood draining from his face as he stared at the numbers.

  He then tossed the paper down onto the table. “Half of everything,” he mumbled.

  “And the alimony.”

  He nodded.

  “I will be putting this house on the market Monday morning and we’ll split the profits from the sale evenly. But you may not stay here. Go find a hotel or stay with your secretary. I don’t care where you go, but I’m not living under the same roof with you ever again. You’ve lied, cheated, and done illegal drugs.”

  “And you’re a frigid bitch.”

  “Why did you marry me, Thomas?” she asked, a question that had been haunting her ever since he’d first cheated on her.

  He walked over to the chair and grabbed his coat. “Because you were beautiful and an asset to my career,” he sighed. With that, he turned on his heel and walked out the door.

  Exactly as she’d thought all along.

  Chapter 20

  Scarlett pulled the door closed to her tiny house. She’d moved to Huntsville, Alabama as soon as the divorce papers had been signed. She’d gotten a huge check from Thomas, who continued to call her a bitch. James and Christopher didn’t fully understand, and Scarlett didn’t tell them why she’d divorced their father, not wanting to poison their minds towards him. He was still their father and he was good to them. All children needed parents they could look up to.

  But she was happy and thrilled. She’d gotten a job at NASA, her dream job, and now lived in a small, bungalow type of house in the suburbs of Huntsville. She’d gone from a six bedroom house with a pool and pool house, a country club membership, a life where she played tennis, golfed, and hosted dinner parties, which helped further the career of a cheating husband. Now she was a low level staff member, working in the aeronautics department. She was one of three women on a team of twenty men, but she didn’t care. She was helping the space program! She was working on the very first space shuttle mission!

  Tonight, she was attending the Nutcracker at the Huntsville Ballet Company. She wasn’t expecting much, because this wasn’t a professional ballet company. They had some outstanding dancers, but the majority of the dancers were students of the local ballet school. Her neighbor’s daughter was dancing and Scarlett was looking forward to seeing the little girl perform.

  Stepping through the lobby, she looked around, trying to find her neighbor, just to let her know that she was here.

  But that’s when her gaze froze. The man across the lobby from her, he was staring right back at her. He was tall and handsome, his hair sprinkled with a bit of grey at the temples but…it was Mick! It was him! After all these years, Mick was here?!

  He obviously recognized her as well. His eyes wouldn’t release her own and he walked purposely through the crowd towards her. He didn’t stop until they were almost toe to toe. “You are beautiful,” he said softly.

  The sounds of conversation disappeared as she stared up into the amazing dark eyes of the man she’d never forgotten. “And you look amazing,” she whispered back. “What are you doing here?”

  “A friend told me I needed to get out and socialize after my divorce,” he admitted. “I was given the tickets this morning and told to attend.”

  Scarlett smiled as he lifted her hand, his thumb rubbing over her bare ring finger. “My ex-husband still lives in Louisville, Kentucky, hundreds of miles away.”

  “Ex-husband?”

  Her smile widened. “Yes. Ex. We’ve been divorced for over a year now.”

  “I never forgot you,” he whispered, moving closer even as the crowd moved into the concert hall, everyone taking their seats for the performance.

  She blinked rapidly, not wanting to release tears at this moment. Mick was here! She couldn’t believe that he was standing in front of her, looking even more handsome. “I cried for months after you left me.”

  He lifted her fingers to his lips. “I left in order to give you a better life.”

  Scarlett moved closer. “I loved you with all my heart,” she pulled the familiar gold chain out from underneath her sweater, from which hung the steel washer he’d given her the night he’d proposed, so many years ago. “I never forgot you, Mick. I was so hurt, but I understood why you left. I didn’t agree, but I understood.”

  “But you married.”

  “I waited a long time for you to come back. For you to realize that we were meant to be together.” She moved even closer, the bottom of her skirt fluttering against his slacks. “You never came back.”

  His eyes closed, as if what he’d done hurt him just as much as it hurt her.

  “Can I buy you dinner?”

  She didn’t even hesitate. “I’d love that.”

  He hesitated, suddenly rea
lizing where they were and the purpose for their current location. “Do you need to stay for the performance?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t care about the ballet. I rather talk with you. I want to know what’s happened to you over the past twenty years.” She smiled up at him. “I’ve read every one of your books. Many times, actually.” He laughed and she squeezed his fingers. “They are wonderful, Mick. Just as brilliant as I always knew they would be.”

  Dinner was at a small restaurant in the heart of Huntsville where they talked about their broken marriages, their kids. When he walked her to her car that night, he kissed her.

  Scarlett sighed as the almost forgotten heat hit her at the first touch of his lips. Tears filled her eyes and she lifted her hands to his chest. “Don’t stop,” she begged. “Please don’t stop!”

  He pulled her tighter, his arms almost lifting her off of her feet. “I don’t think I can!”

  She sobbed as she kissed him, opening her mouth to deepen the kiss, needing him so desperately that she ached with the beauty of it. Over and over again, his mouth slanted over hers, kissing her as they both explored each other with their hands. Finally, Mick lifted his head, their breathing ragged. Looking down at her, he smiled. “We can’t do this here,” he whispered.

  “Come back to my place with me,” she urged. “Just…I don’t want you to disappear again.”

  “I did that to you before. I’m sorry,” he replied, his heart heavy with what he’d done. It has seemed like the right thing to do so long ago, but he’d been second guessing himself ever since he’d walked away. “Come with me. I’ll drive and then we’ll pick up your car tomorrow.”

  “Now!” she whispered, pushing him into the driver’s seat. She didn’t care about her car. It could be towed away for all she cared. Right now, being with Mick was more important.