Addi didn't think she was imagining it but the air was thick with tension.
The food was good. Her mother had clearly outdone herself. After the grace and the general chitchat everyone at the table became solemn.
"Why is everybody so somber?" Vicky looked around the table. "It can't be the food. Is it?"
"No. Mrs. Porter this is very good." Randy was the first to speak.
"Very." Ellie was tucking into her plate like a starving Judas.
Ivy cleared her throat. "Well, the food is acceptable. I am not sure why everyone is so solemn but I know I would be if I were you Victoria. Your son's slut girlfriend is sleeping with your husband!"
Chapter Twenty
So it was her dad. Addi wiped her mouth on the napkin. A shaft of disappointment hit her out of nowhere. She had hoped otherwise. The bombshell coming from Ivy was not unexpected but it still hurt.
She looked around the table. Everyone was frozen as if somebody had told them to do a mannequin challenge.
Her mother was the first to move. She slowly and deliberately wiped her mouth. And then turned to Ivy.
"Repeat."
Ivy shrugged. "You heard. Nathan is sleeping with Ellie. They have a special motel, one of those sleaze places that they frequent. Saw them with my own eyes a few months ago."
Ellie was moving jerkily. She pushed away her chair. She didn't know where to look. Josh showed no reaction. He was just sitting there and shaking his head.
"I er I should go." Ellie's voice trembled.
"No," Vicky got up, "sit back down!" She glared at her husband. "Tell Ivy she is a liar, Nathan Porter!"
Addi watched as her father retreated in guilty silence. He knew to be afraid when her mother used his full name.
"She is our son's girlfriend!" Vicky yelled. She looked at both Addi and Sky. "Go to your room!"
"Ahm, no." Addi was the first one to speak. "I think what you should ask Aunt Ivy is how she knows where dad meets Ellie. Maybe you should ask her if she was at the same place with say, maybe Rusty?"
"What?" It was Uncle Stan's turn to bellow.
Aunt Ivy subsided in her chair. "That's nonsense. Rusty is a mere uneducated construction worker. I am a school principal."
"They also meet in the hills near the new development." Sky joined in, "we all saw her with him when we went walking couple evenings ago. We caught her having sex with him."
Ivy gasped and clutched her throat like an outraged Victorian maiden.
Uncle Stan flung himself away from the table, knocking over the chair. He looked like he was going to blow. His face was red. The blood vessels at the side of his head looked enlarged.
"She is going to pay him fifteen thousand dollars to kill you Daddy!" Sky blurted out.
All eyes were trained on Ivy who was looking back at them her eyes wide open in guilt.
"She might not have done it yet but she had thought about it." Addi inhaled shakily. She had thought about it.
Ivy didn't refute the latest accusation. She got up slowly and deliberately.
"This is preposterous. Skyler Porter, I am disappointed in you accusing your own mother of something so despicable."
She said it with little heat, her voice was breathless and guilt riddled.
Nobody was buying that token protestation.
"Rusty is supposed to push you off the second floor of the building in Ingleside!" Sky shouted it. "Don't let Rusty back on that site Daddy and Uncle Nate!"
Sky was almost hopping with the information.
She got up. "If anything happens to my dad in the next couple of years." Sky yelled to her mother's retreating back. "If any accident, if any poison, if anything happens to him even if you are not remotely near. I am blaming you! We all know what you are capable of! We all know you now Ivy!"
Ivy didn't look back at them. She walked through the door her head held high.
Stan looked at them and then at Ivy undecided whether he should follow her. "How?" He rubbed his hand over his face. "Why? Good Lord! Is any of this true?"
Sky started to sob. "Yes Daddy. Please don't let her kill you, Daddy."
Uncle Stan had his hand full with a sobbing Sky. Days of pent up emotions flowed freely and she was sobbing like a heart broken child.
Vicky was sitting with her mouth opened. She had forgotten that she had been mad at her husband.
"You must admit," Josh said after a heavy silence, "that murder is worst than an affair."
Her father lowered his eyes. "I am sorry."
"How long, Nate?" Vicky asked hoarsely. "How long has this been going on?"
"A couple of months." Nate fidgeted with his napkin. "I met her before Josh. I didn't mean for this to get so out of hand."
Ellie cleared her throat. "I should go."
"I'll drop her home," Randy said getting up. "Where's your car keys, Josh?"
"Over there." Josh hooked his thumb over his shoulders.
Addi got up too. "I'll come with you." Nobody paid attention to her.
"Wait," Vicky, said sounding militant. "I don't want you near my house again, Ellie. You hear me?"
"Yes," Ellie was shaking like a leaf. "I hear you. I won't...I am sorry."
"This is sick!" Vicky got up, and headed for her room. "You are a bunch of sick people!"
****
Ellie sat in the back of the car. She was crying quietly. Now and then, they heard a hiccup.
Addi felt ridiculously relieved at the outcome.
She glanced at Randy his jaws were firmly clenched.
"Listen," Addi turned to the back of the vehicle where Ellie was slumped like a forlorn sack of rice. "You made a mistake."
Ellie looked at her, eyes red, nose runny.
"You'll learn from it," Addi said, "it could be worse. Imagine if you had gotten pregnant for my dad and then had to pawn off the child to Josh."
Ellie hiccupped.
Addi handed her a roll of paper towel that she knew Josh always had in his glove compartment.
"I am pregnant," Ellie said after a long silence.
"What?" Addi swung her head around so fast she almost got whiplash.
"I...I..." Ellie hiccuped again, "I was seeing Stan too. I haven't slept with Nathan in so long so I know it's Stan's. And Josh has been holding out on me."
Randy stopped. And looked back at Ellie, his mouth agape.
When he finally spoke his voice was heavy with disbelief. "You were seeing the brothers and Josh. The whole family?"
"Yes." Ellie shrugged. "I only recently started with Stan. I met him when he came by the school to drop off something for Ivy. At first, I had no idea he was Nate's brother. He was lonely and he is so generous.
"He gives me money every Monday. My uncle refuses to take care of my brother. I had to do something to supplement the income for his upbringing. I was going to find a place and move with him. Your uncle promised that he would take care of that for me."
"That's why aunt Ivy had him killed," Addi whispered hoarsely. "That's why—not the Rusty thing. It was this. She must have found out and cracked."
"What are you talking about?" Ellie sniffed.
"Nothing," Addi muttered. "This summer of 92 is shaping up to be crazy as hell."
****
They dropped off Ellie.
Randy looked at the gas gauge. "Want us to drive around, before we return to bedlam?"
"Yes." Addi nodded.
"In the other timeline you said she never named the father of her child," Randy said after a while. "Maybe because he was dead and she needed the help."
"Yes." Addi nodded, "I can't believe she was sleeping with all the Porter men. If grandfather was alive he would probably get some of the action."
Randy laughed. "The Porter men like their Ellie."
"Yep." Addi nodded.
"What do you think your mother is going to do now?" Randy asked. "Will they stay together?"
"I don't know." Addi shook her head, "I really don't know."
"And Ivy?
What's going to happen to her?" Randy frowned and then looked at her a smile on his face. "Why am I asking you? You have no idea do you?"
"Nope." Addi grinned, " The rest of the summer is unchartered waters."
Randy nodded. "And you and me? Any idea?"
"We will never cheat on our spouses whoever they are." Addi smiled at him. We see firsthand how destructive the whole unfaithfulness thing can be. Maybe if we had gone through this before...we wouldn't have happened, no way."
Randy smiled back. "Suppose my spouse turns out to be Addison Porter?"
Addi laughed. "Not likely."
Randy stopped the car. And turned to her.
"If I loved you so much before. I may love you that much again. This time, I'll wait for you. Addi."
Addi gasped. "Randy, don't make me any promises. You haven't lived your life yet. You haven't yet met the girl you got married to. No promises okay. I won't be making you any."
"Okay." Randy shrugged. "Just one. I want you to promise me that we won't lose touch with each other."
Addi sighed.
"Promise." Randy insisted.
"Okay, I promise." Addi smiled and rolled down the window.
****
December 1992
Addi started forgetting the other timeline. Trying to recall specific details was getting harder and harder. That life felt more and more like a fantasy, something she had dreamed up. Sometimes she could fuzzily recall details but at other times she was just working with what felt like fragments of dreams.
Sometimes she heard things on television. Saw a piece of news clip and it felt familiar like she had heard it before but that feeling was becoming more rare.
Sky had been urging her for the past couple of months to write down her thoughts. She should have listened because now it was becoming harder to recall anything from the future.
She stood in Josh's room doorway and watched him pack for MIT. He was going to the States. She hadn't seen him much for the past four months since he had gone back to school. He plopped one clothes item after another into his open suitcase.
"Don't look so forlorn." Josh grinned at her, "I'll call."
"I know," Addi said sadly. "It won't be the same here without you though."
"Nothing is the same here these days." Josh sighed, "Dad keeps apologizing, Mom is a wreck but I guess some things had to come out huh?"
"Yes." Addi nodded.
The family dynamics had changed somewhat, but her father and mother were still together. Though their relationship was still frosty.
Uncle Stan had started divorce proceedings against Ivy. Stan and Sky were practically living by Addi's house now. They had most of their meals here. Sky was considering moving into Josh's room when he left.
Ivy was living in an apartment in the town area and still seeing Rusty. Rusty's girlfriend, Precious, had accosted Ivy on the job with a knife. It made the tabloid headlines for weeks: Baby Father Drama. Pregnant Woman Attacks Principal Over Man. The story had been fodder for gossip and didn't seem as if it was letting up.
Ellie had moved on with Ray. She and her brother lived with him and she was driving around town in his vehicle happy as can be. She wasn't pregnant now. Addi supposed she lost the child or had an abortion.
Addi never told anyone what Ellie told her in the summer about being pregnant for Uncle Stan. She and Randy kept that a secret. That was one more issue her family could do without.
And Randy, he had sent her a Christmas card and she felt ridiculously pleased to get it.
She moved away from Josh's door and headed to the hallway. Her dad and uncle were reading the Sunday paper and watching cricket on the television. Still together like peas in a pod. She imagined that they would grow old together keeping each other's secrets. She was not in any doubt that they had both known about each other's indiscretions with Ellie.
"Say Addi." Her uncle lowered the paper; it was the sports section, with the headline, West Indies On the Run.
"What do you think about the Windies chances for the rest of their series against Australia?"
Addi thought for a moment. There was nothing there. No recollections. Nothing.
"I don't know."
Her father looked over at her and smiled. "That's my girl. No more gambling with Stan."
"He is just jealous because he didn't believe you about the Summer Olympics and I made a ton of money on your suggestions." Uncle Stan wrinkled his brows. "Come on Addi, help me. You are a time traveler you should know these things."
"But the longer I am here in this timeline the more I forget." Addi shrugged. "Sorry Uncle Stan."
Stan snorted. "So what's the use of having the super power if you have it for a limited time?"
Her father guffawed.
Addi shrugged and sat on the settee beside her dad, reaching for the magazine section of the newspaper.
"Maybe I came back to save your life."
Stan grunted. "There is that. Thanks I guess."
"You are welcome." Addi beamed opening her paper. "It was no trouble. No trouble at all."
The End
Author's Notes
Dear Reader,
If you look into your palms and have a distinct T, please note that you have the potential to time travel. You need to find a pathway! Well, at least, that's what is happening in the resetters series. I will be making this a four book series. So far, I am having a ball with this time traveling business. Who would have thought that the 90's would feel like the good old days? There are so many things from that era that I had forgotten about--writing this book, really felt like time traveling.
I would personally love to be a resetter. The things I would do! The things I would change! But alas, my palms have more lines than most persons. Maybe that is a thing. :)
Anyway, dear reader, I continue to vicariously live through my time traveling characters. There are three books to follow Never Too Late.
There is: Never Say Never, Sky's story. An excerpt is below.
After that I will release Now or Never, Addi and Randy's story. Almost Never, Josh's story, will close the series.
As usual, thank you for reading. Don't forget to leave a review. If you haven't done so yet you can subscribe to my newsletter here.
Thanks again. All the best,
Brenda
Here is an Excerpt From
Never Say Never
Summer 2000
"Skyler Porter, is it?" Mrs. Beckett, the human resource director looked over her glasses at Sky and then down at the resume in her hand before Sky could answer.
"You have an MBA from Harvard?" The lady looked up at her again. "How old are you?"
Sky resisted the urge to roll her eyes and point out that her age was at the top of the document.
"Twenty-three," she replied in a well-modified tone.
She needed this job, if she had to suffer through obvious questions she would suffer through them. She had no idea why Jefferson Pharmaceuticals called her at the time they did because she had not applied for the job. Nevertheless, it was an answer to prayers because she was at a crossroad in her life.
She had the option of staying in the States with her cousin, Addi, and find a job in New York or return to Jamaica. The decision had been made for her with an invite to a job interview.
"How did you do it?" Mrs. Beckett leaned back in her chair.
"Do what?" Sky thought that she had missed something.
"Finished your undergraduate degree by twenty and your MBA by twenty-two?"
"I just worked hard," Sky said. "I did more courses than the usual in my undergradute studies and graduated with a perfect GPA and then went to Harvard Business School on a scholarship."
Mrs. Beckett smiled. "I am impressed."
"Thank you." Sky nodded. She was now warming up to the stern looking woman.
"As you know this is a family owned company. Travis Jefferson is our current chief operating officer. His father Manuel started out by selling cough syrup. Since the ei
ghties the business has grown exponentially.
"We are the leading pharmaceutical company in the Caribbean. We are a large company and we continue to expand everyday. This position of Business Development Manager is a senior management position, Miss Porter.
"Unfortunately, you have no experience whatsoever. You have a very nice degree no doubt but I am afraid that I can't in all good conscience recommend you for this position..."
Sky couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had not applied for this position. She had not even heard about it until she was asked to send her resume in. And now, after scraping together her airfare and spending her last money on an expensive suit she was told this madness. Now, she would have to report the bad news to her father who had so exuberantly greeted her at the airport.
He had been excited at the possibilities of her living back home and closer to him. She was going to have to burst his bubble.
Sky got up slowly, disappointment ricocheting through her like fireworks.
Did this lady think that she had just been hanging out in Kingston? Did she have any idea how far she was coming from to be having this failed interview?
"They could have done this over the phone!"
"I am sorry Miss Porter," Mrs. Beckett held out her hand to be shaken.
She didn't look sorry. Sky looked at her outstretched arm and considered for just a split second to be rude but she didn't. She shook the ladies hand and searched for something to say that was pleasant, something that didn't scream her disappointment.
The door to the office was unceremoniously opened before she could formulate a word and a rather handsome guy pushed his head around the door.
"Oh good, she is here. Send her to my office Bertha, will you?"
Sky frowned and looked from Mrs. Beckett to the mysterious gentleman.
Mrs. Beckett looked miffed. "But I already checked over her resume as you asked me to do, sir, and I think..."
He came fully into the room. He was tall, over six feet. He had dark nutmeg brown skin and jet black wavy hair, which was brushing his collar—some of it was falling in his chocolate brown eyes. He was the definition of tall, dark and handsome.
Never Too Late (Resetter Series Book 1) Page 16