Playing the Hand You're Dealt

by Trice Hickman

NY Jewelry Store

  Brenda smiled with satisfaction as she looked down at her feet. She was at Saks Fifth Avenue, trying on a bronze-colored pair of Valentino pumps. She loved the way the shoe enhanced the curve of her slender legs. “I think I’ll take these,” she said to the young salesgirl, not bothering to look in her direction. She stepped out of the beautiful $1,200 pair of shoes and back into her own equally stylish ones. “I’ll meet you at the counter,” she instructed before strutting away to make her purchase.

  Brenda was delighted that after several weeks of shopping she had finally found the perfect pair of shoes to complement the one-of-a-kind dress she planned to wear to the party she was throwing tomorrow night. Initially, she was worried that Samantha might turn the elegant affair she was planning into a giant mockery. But from the moment she managed to persuade Emily to stay with them while her house was being renovated, all her worries were put to rest.

  Emily was going to share top billing in the birthday celebration, which would make Samantha behave because she wouldn’t want to spoil things for her best friend. Brenda knew that as determined to humiliate her as Samantha seemed to be, she was equally determined to do whatever it took to make Emily happy, especially after the pain she had suffered since her mother’s death.

  Brenda desperately wished that Samantha could be more like her best friend. Emily was responsible, exercised good judgment, and displayed perfect manners. She was hardworking and carried herself in a way that commanded respect. She never used foul language or raised her voice above an acceptable volume in public. She always adhered to the principles of time, never arriving late as Samantha always did. And even though her sense of style drifted toward the bohemian flavor, it was forgivable because she managed to pull it off with a hint of elegance. Unlike Samantha, Emily possessed a natural beauty that didn’t require artificial enhancement.

  Emily was the kind of daughter that Brenda had always longed for. She often thought about the cruel hand that life had dealt her. If circumstances had been different and had the stars been aligned just right, Emily would be her child instead of Samantha. Because as fate would have it, both girls were born on the same day. But Brenda knew that she couldn’t lament over what could have been, which was why she was determined to guide Samantha toward a lifestyle more befitting a daughter of hers.

  Brenda smiled to herself when she thought about the party, which was going to help her accomplish her goals. The first and most daunting goal was to usher Samantha back into the DC social scene and hopefully nab her a suitable husband in the process. Her second goal was to win a coveted position on the executive board of the Rock Creek Family Support Collaborative, one of the city’s most notable charities. Brenda knew she possessed all the criteria that the board required. However, she needed to show her giving, selfless side beyond the sizeable donations that she and Ed made each year. And yet again, that was where Emily came in.

  Brenda planned to demonstrate her generosity by the fact that she had opened up her home to a grief-stricken young woman who had just lost her mother to a debilitating disease and needed a place to stay. And going a step further, she had been instrumental in helping the poor girl find a good job. And if that weren’t enough, she was making her a guest of honor at a birthday celebration that would also serve as an event to raise money for charity. Brenda knew those acts of kindness would surely impress the organization’s board chair.

  And Brenda’s last but certainly not least important goal was to one-up Juanita Presley. She was apoplectic that the success of Juanita’s party had netted another feather in her enemy’s cap. Brenda thought that Juanita was the most egotistical, self-centered, and disingenuous person she knew. She flaunted her unearned good fortune as though it were her supreme entitlement. It made Brenda furious that everyone seemed to gravitate toward Juanita’s fake charm instead of seeing the woman for who she really was—a social-climbing shrew!

  But it wasn’t just their rivalry that made Brenda determined to rise above her nemesis, it was a matter of family. Brenda was livid about the fact that Dorothy, her own sister and only true friend in the world, acted as though she and Juanita shared the same bloodline. Even though Juanita had managed to sucker Dorothy, Brenda refused to let her win in any other area.

  For Brenda, everything was about style and competition. She learned at an early age that in order to get what she wanted, she had to devise a strategy. In society’s pecking order there were always people at the top who made the rules, and people at the bottom who followed them. She had plotted all her life to make sure that she was one of the people standing at the top, and that she stayed there.

  Although birth order had relegated her to the bottom ranking in her household growing up, Brenda had used it as an advantage to get what she wanted. Before she could even crawl, she had figured out that a small pout of her dainty lips or a perfectly executed quiver of her adorable chin could elicit oohs and aahs that caused her parents, siblings, and other relatives to give her whatever her little heart desired. As she grew older and lost her cuddly baby appeal, she mastered the next stage of development in the art of manipulation. During her teenage years she embraced her picture-perfect, girl-next-door good looks and tastefully developed sense of style to influence and persuade people to give her what she wanted.

  Brenda prided herself on being clever and resourceful, efficient and calculating. In addition to her natural physical beauty, it was those qualities that she attributed to her landing a husband like Ed. Ed was the prized catch in their social set, and from the time they were small children in Jack and Jill, she had set her sights on becoming his wife. There were other boys in their circle who were poised to be successful professionals with prominent careers, but Brenda saw early on that Ed’s potential far surpassed the rest, and she was determined to land him.

  She sat back, watched, and waited as Ed had his fill of the young beauties who clamored for his attention. They were much like she was, well-cultured girls from some of the best families in the city. But she wasn’t concerned because she possessed something they didn’t—a strategic plan.

  During their senior year of college, after Ed had run through as many coeds as she cared to tolerate, Brenda decided that it was time to settle him down and stake her claim. She studied his ways, took her time learning about the things that were important to him, and paid close attention to the causes he championed. And even though none of his interests seemed to mirror her own, she aligned herself with them for the sake of winning his heart.

  The final stage in her well-orchestrated plan was sex. Brenda withheld physical intimacy until Ed nearly begged her on bended knee. It was then that she knew she was going to be the one on top, literally. She’d cultivated an arsenal of sexual skills through secret summer rendezvous on Martha’s Vineyard. She picked boys who came up to the resort for summer work because she knew they had no social standing, thus removing the threat of a trail which could lead back to her group and damage her reputation. After several summers of hot and heavy action, Brenda knew that she was skilled, and when the time was right she’d make Ed forget about all the other women he’d been with.

  Finally, after months of dating and waiting, Brenda allowed Ed the privilege of sleeping with her. “You’re my first. This is so special for me,” she told him. She didn’t show him all that she knew at once because her expertise would have been a dead giveaway. Instead, she rationed her abilities in small doses until she knew he was wrapped in her web.

  But she soon discovered a problem she hadn’t anticipated.The skills that she thought she owned were some of the same moves that Ed had experienced countless times with other women, and he told her as much one night during a heated confrontation.They had just finished making love in his off-campus apartment, and he was driving her back to her dorm room when the drama began.

  “Brenda, I care about you, you know that. But I’m not ready to make a commitment of marriage,” Ed told her as he parked his car in front of her dormitory. “After gradua
tion I’m heading to law school this fall. There are things I need to do before I settle down and start a family.”

  Brenda sat in the passenger seat of Ed’s brand-new red Mustang convertible, an early graduation gift from his parents, and seethed with anger at his reaction to the ultimatum she’d just issued—marry me or lose me! She knew she had to snag him before he entered law school, otherwise all bets were off. “You don’t want to settle down because you want to sow your wild oats,” she said above soft sobs. “You don’t love me.”

  “Brenda, c’mon.We’ve been through this a thousand times.”

  “How could you, Ed?” Brenda sobbed harder. “I went against my upbringing and slept with you before marriage.You were my first and only, and now you want to just toss me to the side.And for what? Suzanne Jones?”

  Suzanne Jones was a radical young feminist from San Francisco. The tall, dark, and lovely coed sported a perfectly coiffed six-inch afro and had managed to catch Ed’s eye . . . and Brenda took notice.

  “This has nothing to do with Suzanne,” Ed sighed. “This is about me and what I want for my life.”

  “You’re saying you don’t want me?”

  “I’m saying I don’t want to get married right now.”

  “Same thing.” Brenda pouted.

  “Whatever.”

  “That’s all you have to say to me?”

  Ed gripped the steering wheel. “It’s late and I’ve got an early-morning class. I’ll walk you to the front door.”

  “Haven’t I been a great girlfriend to you?” Brenda continued. “I’ve fulfilled every fantasy you could ever imagine, in and out of bed.You’ve never had it so good!”

  Ed let out a smirk followed by a small chuckle.

  Now Brenda was pissed. “What’re you laughing about?” she asked, raising her voice.

  “Brenda, let’s just drop it.”

  “No, I want to know what that little smirk was all about.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  “Yes, I do!”

  “Brenda, trust me. You really don’t want to know what just crossed my mind, so why don’t you let me walk you to your door and we’ll call it a night.”

  Brenda was furious. “Be a man, Ed.Tell me the truth!” she spat out, knowing her challenge would spark a reaction—and it did.

  Ed turned in his leather bucket seat and looked straight into Brenda’s eyes. “The truth is that I’ve had all kinds of women, all kinds of ways. So when you sit there and tell me that I’ve never had it so good I have to laugh, because quite frankly I have, many times.”

  Brenda wanted to scream at the top of her lungs and slap Ed across his face, but there was a small group of underclassmen that had just gathered out front and she refused to let them know that she and her boyfriend were arguing. So instead of causing a scene, she let Ed walk her to the front door of her building, then gave him a small kiss on the cheek to make the onlookers jealous before bidding him good night. Once she was inside her room she burst into rage-filled tears, throwing every object on her dresser to the floor. “He just said those hurtful things to get back at me because I challenged his manhood,” she reasoned aloud. “How could any other woman possibly compare to me!”

  After she calmed down, she put Ed’s foolish slip out of her mind and didn’t spend another moment thinking about the other women who had come before her. She wasn’t concerned about them because again, she had something they didn’t—a strategy. And this time her plan was already in motion, thanks to the fetus growing inside her womb with Ed’s name on it.

  For the last thirty-two years her plan had worked. Now, as Brenda admired her newly purchased designer shoes, she was confident that her next set of goals would come to fruition.

  She smiled to herself as she watched the sales associate tuck her expensive purchase into the black-and-white shopping bag. “And to think that I wasted my time in New York looking for the perfect pair of shoes when they were right here waiting for me all along,” she said to the sales associate who swiped her platinum card. Then her mind turned to Harry Winston and the night they had shared during her stay in New York. He had given her a type of pleasure that she hadn’t experienced in a very long time. Until now, only Ed had been able to truly satisfy her, but Harry had matched him.

  As Brenda walked out of the store and into the hot summer sun with her new shoes in hand, she experienced a jolt of excitement just thinking about her next encounter with Harry. She slid into the seat of her freshly washed Mercedes, pulled out her cell phone, and hit NY Jewelry Store on her speed dial. “Well, hello,” she purred in a low, seductive voice when Harry answered.

  “Brenda, I’m glad you called. Are we still on for next weekend?”

  Brenda’s mind flashed back to the steamy passion they had shared during their night of wanton pleasure. She wouldn’t miss another chance to be with him for all the Valentino pumps on Saks’ shelves. “Of course,” she chirped enthusiastically. “I’m looking forward to seeing you again.”

  “Are you sure you can’t make it up this weekend? I’m off tomorrow and we could spend the entire day together.”

  The idea of lying in bed with Harry was deliciously appealing, but Brenda knew she had to stay focused on her goals. As good a lover as Harry was, he couldn’t match the items on her list, which included a prestigious board position and further notoriety in her social circle. “I wish I could, but I have relatives coming into town that I haven’t seen in years,” Brenda lied, not wanting him to know all of her business. After all, even though he was handsome, kind, and amazing in bed, he was just a fling.

  “I understand. Family is important and I’m glad you value that,” Harry said in a sincere tone.

  “Yes, family is all that matters.”

  They talked a few minutes longer, flirting and reminiscing about their passionate night together before they ended their call.

  Brenda was glad that she had the good forethought to volunteer on the planning committee for her sorority’s spring cotillion. It was the perfect excuse for staying out until the wee hours of the morning. And once she was confirmed on the board of directors for the Rock Creek Family Support Collaborative, she would have all the more reason to be absent from home with good cause. Harry was only a quick train ride away, and she intended to use that time for their secret trysts.

  Brenda smiled as she steered her car into her garage and walked through her beautifully landscaped flower garden. In twenty-four hours her backyard would be the scene of one of the most lavish social events of the season, and she couldn’t wait. All of her plans were working out, and she gave herself a pat on the back for orchestrating such a wonderful life.

  Chapter 17

  Emily . . .

  Dangerously Sexy and Bold

  It was naptime, and the kids were resting peacefully on their mats. This was the only quiet time I had during the course of my workday, so I usually tried to make the most of it. I charted out lesson plans, graded papers, and caught up on the e-mails I received from parents, other faculty, and staff. But today I did none of those things. I spent my quiet time daydreaming about Ed. I hadn’t been able to get him off my mind since he showed up here yesterday afternoon.

  We met in one of the small conference rooms that was rarely used. I made sure that I arrived early because I knew I’d need the extra time to gather my thoughts. I was determined not to make any slips and vowed that I would keep my composure. I was going to control my emotions and mask my wanting. I even practiced what I was going to say to him. But the brilliant pep talk I’d given myself had been useless because when Ed walked into the room I lost all train of thought.

  Discreetly, I admired his polished navy suit, crisp white shirt, and pewter gray tie. His broad shoulders were impressive and perfectly squared, allowing his jacket to drape him as though he was born in it. Ed’s sense of style was impeccable, and his aura was dangerously sexy and bold. I wanted and loved everything about him. And although I knew I shouldn’t have, I allowed myself to reli
sh in the wonderful scent of his Bulgari cologne as he settled into the chair beside me.

  Ever since those intense moments we shared last weekend during my move, I knew we were inching closer toward the feelings that had been simmering for years. But I was still hesitant to embrace it because there was so much at stake. It was ironic that our happiness would ultimately result in someone else’s pain, or as Ruben had foretold, something deadly.

  After I told Ed the real reason for my call, I was almost sorry I shared it with him. Thank goodness I opted not to use Ruben’s name because Ed lumped my story about people with the gift, and Ruben’s premonition, into the category of nut jobs similar to the con artists on late-night infomercials. He didn’t think much of the whole idea, and at one point it crossed my mind that he might once again suggest the name of a good therapist I could visit.

  Nonetheless, I was glad I got it off my chest. I passed my test and was ready to leave the room, but Ed flipped things around, shifting the dynamics and the mood. He scooted his chair close to mine, leaned over, and started questioning me about why I wanted to warn him in particular. My motive was obvious and there was no denying my feelings.

  “Those I love,” I had said. I gave myself away when I let those three little words slip from my tongue, and there was no secret tunnel that could lead me out of where I had gone. I knew it, he knew it, and the familiar heat that rose between our bodies confirmed it. We expressed our feelings for each other without using words. Our truth was suspended in the way I looked at him, the way he inhaled the air around me, and the way my chest pounded when he sat so close I could literally feel him. It was all around us, and it felt glorious and frightening all at once.

  Sitting here in my classroom, I continued to daydream about Ed, somehow making it through until the last bell signaled the end of the school day. As one part of my life was about to end, another was set to begin. It was Friday afternoon, the beginning of the weekend. And not just any weekend, it was my birthday weekend. Tomorrow was the big day. At approximately five fourteen in the morning, I planned to kiss my twenties good-bye and welcome my thirties in with open arms.