Holiday Trilogy Special Edition

by Jamie Hill

  He grinned. "I was thinking that same thing about you in the fancy dress and stockings. Though I prefer the kind with the garter belt that I can unhook and roll down myself."

  "Um." Maddie settled back in her seat. "We may have to play a little 'business executive and the naughty secretary' when we get home."

  "I'm not sure I can wait that long." He looked at her.

  She tossed her rolled up stockings at him.

  He caught them, and clutched them to his heart.

  "I know where there's a rest stop with some privacy. Think these seats recline all the way?"

  He smiled. "Let's find out, shall we?"

  Maddie grinned as she directed him on to the highway.

  "And then," he said, "I think it's time for you to tell me about Nick."

  "You never told me about your first time with Mary Lou What's-her-name."

  Eyes on the road, he said, "That story takes exactly six minutes to tell. Three before the pants were unzipped, and three after."

  Maddie laughed and swung her feet up on the dashboard.

  He glanced at her sideways. "Why do I think the story of you and Nick is going to take every bit of the two hour drive we have ahead of us?"

  She smiled at him. "Drive slow."

  Rob threw his head back and laughed.

  ~The End~

  Secrets And Lies

  Part One

  "How dare you speak to me in that manner?" Natalie Jameson clenched her fists. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so furious, while at the same time full of anguish and regret.

  "No, Natalie. How dare you?" Her husband's normally handsome face reddened, the veins in his forehead growing bigger the angrier he became. "You started this. It's your fault."

  Natalie stomped past her living room sofa, pausing long enough to pick up a decorative pillow. She squeezed the small, blue square and slammed it down on the couch again. "So you've said. Repeatedly. I've got it, Alex. All our problems are my fault. Read you loud and clear."

  "I never said everything was your fault. Just this one thing. This one very huge issue." He ran a hand through his closely cropped, brown hair.

  "You're making it huge, that's for sure."

  Alex blinked in apparent disbelief. "You saw our daughter when she stormed out of here tonight! Gigi was damn near hysterical. She's got an hour's drive ahead of her. Frankly, I'm concerned that she makes it home safely."

  Natalie glanced over her shoulder as she headed into the kitchen. "Great, pin that on me, too, while you're at it. Now I'll worry until she has time to get home and we can phone her."

  Alex stayed on her heels. "I doubt she's going to talk to either one of us tonight."

  "She might." Natalie dredged some optimism from deep inside. Gigi had been upset. Even though Natalie had the best intentions, nothing about their conversation had gone the way she'd hoped or planned. Natalie's stomach churned with uneasiness.

  "Now you're delusional. We'll be lucky if she talks to either of us again this month."

  Natalie filled the kettle and placed it on the stove. "In case anyone wonders where Geege gets her flair for drama…"

  "I'm not being dramatic," Alex insisted. "Realistic is more like it. And I think I've figured out your motive for stirring this pot."

  "My motive?" Natalie raised her voice again. "I told you my motive. Gigi is having some medical issues. Her doctor referred her to a specialist, and before she even sees him, she has to fill out a really long family medical history. I wanted her to have accurate information."

  "You honestly think it's better for her to put 'unknown' than to possibly list inaccurate information? Because that's what it is, you know, a great big stinking 'U' for unknown."

  Natalie's heart sank. "I never thought about it like that."

  "Exactly. You didn't think, Nat."

  "Why should I?" she snapped. "You're thinking about it enough for both of us. You're overthinking it to death. You always do this, Alex. Give me a break!"

  "Don't turn this around on me. I told you I figured it out. You're bored with the kids out of the house for the first time ever. You've lost your purpose. I think you stirred all this up so you'd feel needed again. So Gigi would need you."

  Natalie coughed, choking back amazement at Alex's assessment. He was so totally off base, she wondered if her husband really knew her anymore. "How dare you?" She fumed.

  "Here we go again. Round and round in circles. This conversation is going nowhere. I, on the other hand, am out of here." He grabbed his coat and yanked his keys from the hook on the wall.

  "Where are you going?" Her voice sounded shrill to her own ears. Natalie knew she needed to reel herself in, but couldn't quite handle that just then. "Don't you walk out on me!"

  Alex steeled his blue-eyed gaze at her and scowled. He tugged the door open with a jerk, and slammed it on his way out.

  "Alex!" She stared after him but he didn't return. She heard the garage door go up, and the sound of his car backing out. The overhead door lowered again. Alex was gone.

  Two hours later, he still hadn't returned.

  Natalie sighed. The eyes seemed to follow her as she moved around the house. The ghost didn't move, it simply peered out from the dark hallway, but it had an eerie glow-in-the-dark quality that made her uneasy. Natalie chided herself for being jittery about a cardboard Halloween decoration. She pulled her sweater tighter around her waist, and hurried from the hallway.

  The house is too quiet. That's my problem. In the twenty years she'd lived there, the place had never seemed as quiet as it did now.

  Is Alex right? Am I bored with my 'new' life? The question nagged at her as she made her way to the kitchen, where the teapot had just begun to whistle for the third time that night. She poured steaming water into her well-used 'World's Greatest Mother' mug and added a fresh tea bag. She scooted onto the bench in the breakfast nook, then leaned back against the cushions and allowed herself to think about what was really bothering her.

  It wasn't just the quiet. The stillness of the house was preferable to the yelling and crying that had taken place there just two hours ago. Alex almost never got angry. A calm and rational man, he usually thought about his words before he spoke. Natalie liked to tease that he was the stereotypical accountant—organized, predictable and virtually unshakeable. He'd proven her wrong tonight. He could indeed be shaken, and it wasn't a pretty sight.

  Despite her teasing, his predictability and calm demeanor had always provided a steadying influence on her. He was her rock, her strength. An extremely good-looking man, now a mature version of the incredibly handsome boy she'd met in college. The first thing she'd noticed about him had been his eyes—piercing, bright blue irises that could see through her, as if to her very soul. Add to that his intelligence and common sense way of seeing things, and Natalie had the man of her dreams. He was, quite simply, the love of her life.

  Natalie remembered seeing those eyes grow dark with anger only one other time in their lives before tonight. Serious anger, not the 'Who-launched-the-ball-through-the-window?' type of stuff. Alex handled those things with a grain of salt. He was a good father, with an extraordinary amount of patience. Not tonight. Tonight he'd been angry, his eyes, normally bright, had grown dark, full of anguish and resentment. She hated knowing she'd caused that.

  The ironic thing was, when Alex had gotten so angry before, a long, long time ago, it was for the same reason that he was angry now. Natalie sighed and sipped her tea. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

  The thud that rattled the back patio door made her jump. She chuckled, then set her cup down and went to the door. "Get a grip, Nat." The dark eyes peering through the glass made her smile. She unlocked the door and slid it open. "I forgot you were still out there. Sorry, Jake."

  The golden Labrador Retriever nuzzled her knee in response, and headed directly for his food and water bowls. His dinner had been interrupted when the fighting broke out and Natalie sent him to the backyard.
Jake was very protective of his family, but not so much toward Alex, who spent less time at home and therefore interacted with the dog the least. Jake had a tendency to growl at Alex, which irritated the hell out of the man. If Jake had seen Alex screaming at her like a madman, there would have been trouble. And nobody liked to see Gigi cry, even the dog. He was extremely protective of the children, especially Gigi, their only girl.

  "Children," Natalie said thoughtfully as she sat down, absent-mindedly watching Jake eat. They technically couldn't be called children anymore, but they'd always be her babies.

  Gillian, called 'Gigi' by everyone except her co-workers at the fancy new advertising agency where she was recently employed, had just turned twenty-three. David, who was twenty-two and living away at college, preferred to be called 'Dave'. Natalie smirked. Twelve hours of labor earned her the right to call him whatever she wanted. Most of the time it was 'David', but occasionally it was something worse. Matthew, at nineteen, was her baby. He hated being called that, but it didn't stop Natalie. She'd been called her mother's baby until well into her thirties, when her mom died. It was a tradition handed down.

  In August, she and Alex had moved their baby into a dormitory room at the local university. He'd lived at home his first year of college but had grown increasingly anxious to get out on his own. The dorm was their compromise. He had a life-long friend as his roommate and a meal card to eat at the dining hall. Which basically meant Natalie and Alex saw him on Sundays, when the dining hall was closed. Matthew came home to eat and do his laundry.

  She liked the fact that this last little chick hadn't ventured too far away from the nest. It was easier to keep tabs on him. Other parents had it worse. Some kids went hundreds of miles away to college. David was within two hours of home, and Gigi lived an hour away. Close enough for both of them to come home regularly. Natalie loved having her children close.

  There I go with the 'children' business again. She'd probably always think of them as children. She finished her tea and looked around the kitchen. The presence of Halloween decorations indicated that she'd remained in mother mode, even though the kids were all but gone. She wasn't sure why she'd decorated for the holiday, except that she'd done it for the last twenty-some years, and now, it was a habit.

  Natalie rinsed her cup and put it in the dishwasher, glancing at the clock. Barely nine p.m. She didn't know if Alex was coming home tonight or not, but she had to check on Gigi. Enough time had passed; her daughter should have made it back to Topeka by now. She picked up the phone, punching the memory button and the number two.

  Gigi answered with a clipped tone. "I don't want to talk, Mother."

  Ah, the wonders of Caller I.D. At least she answered, even if she did call me 'Mother'. "I know, I'm sorry. I just had to make sure you got home okay. You were pretty upset."

  "You don't think I had a right to be?" Gigi demanded dramatically.

  Natalie always said the girl should have studied theater. "Of course you do. I know you need some time to process the news, and get used to the idea."

  "Then please don't call me again. Give me some space."

  "All right. Like I said, I just wanted to make sure you got home okay."

  "I did. I'm fine. I'm totally pissed, but I'm fine."

  "I'm sorry, Gigi."

  "Good night, Mother." Gigi disconnected the call.

  Natalie sighed and hung up the phone.

  Alex was right. It'd been too much for Gigi to process. He'd known she was going to be angry.

  Natalie naively had held out hope that her daughter would understand. Too idealistic, she'd thought Gigi would take the news better. But how was a girl supposed to take the news that the man she'd grown up believing to be her father… actually was not?

  * * * *

  Alex Jameson squinted up into the early morning sun. Entering the garage, he frowned when he found the inside door leading to his house locked. Unusual. They rarely locked it. He wondered if it was significant, a message Natalie was sending him. He dug his keys from his pocket and let himself in.

  Jake barked once, and stopped when he saw Alex.

  "Hey, pal." He patted the dog's head.

  The dog trotted to his food bowl and looked up.

  "Outside first." He opened the patio door and sent the beast out to do his morning business. It was early. Alex rubbed a hand over his chin. He needed to shower, shave and get to work.

  Natalie appeared in the doorway, wrapped in her thick, velour robe. "Where have you been?"

  He tossed his keys on the table and glanced at her. The distressed look on her face indicated she'd slept about as well as he had. "I got a motel room." He went to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice. After pouring himself a glass, he drank it as he stood staring out the kitchen window. "I didn't take any clothes. I need to get cleaned up for work, and pack a bag."

  "Pack a bag! You can't mean that you're going back to the motel?"

  He glanced at her guiltily. Their argument had gotten way out of control last night. He shouldn't be so mad at her. After all, he'd always known he wasn't Gigi's biological father. He'd just never wanted Gigi to know. That's Natalie's fault, dammit, and I'm angry at her for telling the secret we've shared for over twenty-three years. "I need some time to think this through," he finally told her. "I need a little space."

  "You sound just like your daughter," she snapped at him, and mimicked snottily, "I need some space, don't call me." She trailed off, apparently realizing what she'd said.

  The words knifed through his heart. She is my daughter. He damned Natalie again for making them both uneasy when the words were spoken aloud. "You talked to Gigi?"

  She poured herself some juice. "For a minute. I wanted to make sure she got home okay. She didn't want to talk to me."

  He nodded. They'd both realized she'd feel that way. Natalie was a good mother to check on her, anyway. Nobody could ever accuse Natalie of not being a good mother.

  He glanced at the homemade Halloween decorations that graced the kitchen. His wife could remember which kid made what, and the year they did it. He was clueless about that stuff. They balanced each other out, one reason why their relationship had worked so well for all these years.

  He stared out the window again, watching Jake tree a squirrel. That dog can entertain himself for hours. Probably a good thing, since the kids were all gone now.

  He startled as Natalie moved in and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She pressed the side of her face against his back. "I missed you last night. It's quiet here by myself. Please don't go back to the motel."

  Alex appreciated the warm press of her body against his back, and his own body's reaction to it. Even through her heavy robe, he felt her curves against him. He knew every one of them by heart. He probably knew her body better than he knew his own. It'd be so easy to turn around and sweep her into his arms. He'd brush her long, dark brown hair away from her neck and kiss the hollow there. He could have her naked and beneath him on their bed in two minutes flat, one minute if he went for the kitchen table instead of the bed. He smiled at the thought. Been there, done that, and it really wasn't that comfortable. His hand rubbed over hers for a moment. Then he pulled away and moved around her, walking toward the hall. "I'm going to shower and change before I pack."

  She went to the bench by the table and dropped onto it. "I won't help you pack, but I'll make you breakfast."

  "Toast will be fine." He trudged into their room. Her side of the bed was rumpled, his neat as a pin. For one more moment, he thought about dragging her down with him and messing up both sides of the bed but good. Shaking his head, he peeled off his clothes and stepped into the shower.

  * * * *

  Natalie couldn't believe he was packing. Never, in their twenty-four and a half years of marriage, had either of them ever packed a bag and left. There'd been arguments, a few fights that lasted longer than the standard riff, and even one time when she'd accused him of having an affair. Eight months along wi
th Matthew at the time, her pregnancy paranoia was at its peak. She never really thought he'd done anything with that annoying woman from his office, but she sure gave him hell about it.

  She shook her head, not believing she'd remembered something so insignificant. Sometimes the stupidest things stuck in her mind. Alex had a knack for remembering facts and figures. Natalie could tell you the color of her fourth grade classroom. Pea green with yellow trim.

  Now he was packing and leaving, over something he'd known about all along. She wasn't sure whether to be miserable or infuriated. Somehow, she was both.

  He walked into the kitchen dressed for work, and set his overnight bag by the door.

  She glanced at it. It wasn't very big, if that meant anything. Natalie stood and walked to the toaster. She pushed the button down and turned to look at him. "Don't go."

  He got butter and jelly from the fridge, and set them on the counter. "I don't want to go through this again. I need to get to work."

  "You need to work things out with your wife. Don't leave me like this."

  "I'm not leaving you, Nat. I told you, I need some time to think."

  "To think about what?" She grew agitated while he calmly buttered and spread jelly on his toast. "You've known for twenty-three years and nine months about Gigi's paternity. What exactly do you need to think about?"

  He froze on the spot for a second, then slapped his hand down on the counter. "Of course I've known. My knowing has never been the problem. I told you I didn't want Gigi to know. I thought we had an understanding."

  "I never understood that we were going to keep it from her forever. I thought we agreed to tell her when she was older, and better able to handle it."

  He looked at her incredulously. "You think that time is now? Because I was thinking older like thirty or forty, or maybe never, I don't know. I've raised her like my daughter, Nat. I want her to be my daughter. She has been for twenty-three years. Now, in one night, you've taken that away from me."