“How old are they? Your kids?” Charlize asked, eyes lighting up.
“They are eight years old. They like football too as well as street hockey. As a matter of fact, I bet they are at home playing as we speak.” Charlie rubbed her daughter’s arms and felt the goose bumps form. “Why don’t you run inside and get a little sweater? I’ll still be out here when you get back.”
“Okay,” Charlize said, smiling at her father.
Sully winked at his daughter, sat back in his seat and crossed his legs. “She likes you…a lot.” He looked over at Charlie and, without thought, ran a hand down her shoulder. I absolutely adore you, he thought to himself.
Charlie turned to him and shook her head. “Like hardly describes how I feel about her.” She exhaled a deep breath. “I’ve just missed so much, Sully. How will they ever forgive me once they find out?”
“Children are resilient, especially my children. And once I explain to them that you didn’t know, they’ll be ready to move forward with a life that includes you in it.”
Charlie turned towards him. “But how do I fit in it?” Putting a finger on her temple, she closed her eyes. “We did not think this through enough. This was exactly what I was worried about.”
“Please don’t say that you regret it,” Sully said in a near gasp.
Charlie licked her lips. “Of course I don’t. I mean, I can clearly see how they have bettered your life. I can clearly see how this world is better with them in it. I just don’t know how to make up to them all the time that I’ve missed.” She looked over at Sully who seemed so understand and then laughed. “Listen to me. I haven’t even asked if you want me in their lives. I’m just inserting and assuming and talking…” she said, cutting her words off and putting her glass down on the table. It was empty now and probably the reason for her emotional rant.
Sully sat up in his seat and pulled hers closer to him. “Hey, listen to me. I know that we agreed to keep things anonymous, but you feel the connection, right? It’s cosmic, Charlie. You guys were meant to be together, no different than you were meant to be with your boys back in New Jersey. So of course, I want you to be a part of their lives…in any way that I can get you.” He let the truth come out despite his reservations. “And I want you to be in my life too.” He prepared himself for her normal denial, but there was only silence.
Charlie stared into his still gray eyes, letting the wind blow between them and the music drown her thoughts and felt completely lost in the moment. “Even after all of these years?” she asked.
“Time doesn’t fade the passion of true love,” Sully said, moving closer to her. He eyed her pouty mouth and suddenly felt hungry to kiss it. I want you so badly, he thought to himself.
She watched him, frozen from moving away from his touch. “So you still love me?” her voice was barely above a whisper.
“I have always loved you. I’ve always been in love with you,” he said, inching closer and closer to her.
“Oh, Sully, I…” Charlie was cut off mid-sentence in one of the most important statement that she could ever make.
“Dad, we’ve got more company!” Benny yelled out bringing in with him, Robert Clancy, the reporter from the Norfolk Daily News.
Both Charlie and Sully moved away from each other quickly, but the damage was already done. Robert walked through the glass doors to the balcony with a clever grin on his face. “Hi ya, Sully,” he taunted, eyeing Charlie, who sat quietly in her chair, looking like a deer in headlights.
“Robert, what are you doing here?” Sully asked, standing up. He walked in front of the reporter’s view of Charlie.
Robert’s eyes darted between the couple. “I called your cell. Then I just decided to stop by. I had great news for you. The paper was slow on hot news, so I was going to do a quick story on Benny and get it in the paper.” He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and lifted up on his feet. “I didn’t mean to interrupt…I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”
Sully sucked his teeth. “I just bet you didn’t mean to interrupt.” Looking over at Charlie, he walked over to Robert and pointed towards the door. “Why don’t we go inside, and you can get that story on Benny.”
“Before I do, is this who I think it is?” Robert asked, pointing and side-stepping past Sully.
“Just who do you think that is?” Sully asked, stepping in front of him like a wall. The alpha male in him came out, revealing itself as he quietly dared the man to disrespect him in his own house.
“The president of Sophie’s Choice. I’m a big fan of the organization,” Robert said, stepping back. He put his hands up suddenly. “Whoa, man. What did you think I meant?”
Sully didn’t trust a word that was coming out of Robert’s mouth. He knew that he was like a blood hound when it came to a good story, and this was one that would land him a raise and enough notoriety to get him to the big leagues.
“I know what you’re thinking, Robert,” Sully growled. “Get what you came here for and go. Don’t even think of talking to her.”
“Is that how you treat a friend trying to do you a favor?” Robert asked, turning around to head back into the house. “Just remember you told me that you had to figure out how to couch it. Me,” he reminded Sully. “Not the New York Times or the freaking Washington Post.” He cracked a devilish grin and turned his head one last time to look at the frozen Charlene Mendoza before he disappeared into the house under Sully’s iron grip.
***
After Benny’s brief fluff interview with Robert and a quick photo in front of the family trophy cabinet, the reporter was briskly rushed from the premises with a thank you and a warning to stay away from the Mendoza angle and to be nice. Sully had given Robert a strong shake of the hand and harsh hit on the back but what he really worried about were the things that were not being said. However, he would not let the night be ruined. God only knew when he would get the chance to be with her like this again.
Quickly, Benny and Sully returned to Charlize and Charlene out on the patio and they all had dinner together under a fat full moon and a blanket of brilliant stars.
Sully couldn’t recall a time that he had seen the children laugh so much. Engulfed in conversation, they talked over each other and snickered, made jokes and recalled wonderful stories. When it was all over, he sympathized with them about going to bed, but had to insist.
“Do we have to, daddy?” they whined.
“Absolutely,” he had said, urging them up the main staircase to their rooms.
“Will you put me to bed?” Charlize asked Charlie.
“It would be my honor,” Charlie said, walking her to her room.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” Benny said, waving as he headed to his room with his father.
“I’ll only be a minute,” Sully said, following his son. “I need to make sure that he doesn’t have the computer on or the game station out or some grand scheme up his sleeve.”
Charlie kissed Benny on the head before he and his father went into his room. Following Charlize into her room, she turned on the light to find more beautiful art. Her room was made for a princess. The raised ceiling had been painted like an Italian fresco, with blue skies, white clouds and little angels looking down on her. The walls were covered in framed art that she had worked on during her short life. And a twin-sized oak canopy bed sat in the middle of the floor, cloaked in pink netting pulled to the sides of the posts and held by big, velvet blue bows.
“Your room is like a dream,” Charlie said, while Charlize went into the bathroom adjoined to her room to slip into her pajamas.
“Thanks. It was all Dad’s idea,” Charlize said, turning on the water to brush her teeth.
Charlie sat on the bed and waited patiently. When her daughter emerged from the bathroom, barely four feet tall in a white cotton pajama set and her long, auburn ponytails spruced up a bit, she swore that she had seen an angel.
Charlize walked over to her mother and sat beside her. Looking up at her with bi
g brown eyes, the same perfectly straight nose as her father, cheeks splashed with freckles, full lips liker her mother, and a deep, exotic tan, she smiled. “Having you here has been great, Charlie,” Charlize said, swinging her feet off the side of the bed. “I wish that you didn’t have to go tomorrow.”
Charlie touched her daughter’s nose with her index finger and then grabbed her and hugged her tight. “I’m sure that I will be back to visit. Or maybe you can come and visit me.”
“There was something I was wondering. Did you grow up like me? With only a daddy?” Charlize asked, biting her lip. “I know it’s rude to ask, but I just want to know.”
“It’s not rude to ask.” Charlie held her daughter tight. “And to answer your question, no, I grew up with only my mommy. Her name was Margret Meadows. And she would have loved to have seen you and Benny before she passed.” Charlie could feel tears welding up in the sides of her eyes. “I didn’t know my father. He left when I was really young, and I don’t remember him at all, not even his name. But you’re lucky, Charlize. You have a great dad. Remember that for all your days to come.”
“I know,” Charlize said with a grin. “He’s pretty cool, but…I have to get him married.”
Charlie couldn’t help but laugh. “Really.” She shook her head. “What if he doesn’t want to be married?”
Charlize paused. “Oh, he does.” She said it with such finality and such certainty until it took Charlie by surprise.
“Well, your father is an adult. I’m sure he’ll figure that out. You shouldn’t worry yourself with that.” She patted her on the back.
“I think that he loves you,” Charlize said, pulling her covers back. “But you have to keep that between us. He wouldn’t like for me to tell you.”
“Why would you say that he loves me?” Charlie asked, helping her get under the covers and pulling them over her body. She tried to hide the fact that she already knew, that she loved him too.
Charlize grinned. “You’re here, aren’t you?”
Charlie had to admit that her ten year old daughter was right. “You’re too smart for your own good. You know that? You’re like a thirty year old woman in trapped in a ten year old body. Now, go to sleep.” She bent to her forehead and kissed her. “Love you, goodnight.” It was such a natural thing for her to do after being a mother for so long to Hunter and Hanson, until she didn’t realize how unnatural it was for Charlize to have a woman tucking her in and showing her affection.
“I wish you were my mom,” Charlize said, cuddling under the covers and grabbing her teddy bear.
Charlie was speechless. It was not her place to tell her the truth. That she was her mother, that after meeting her, she wanted to spend every day with her and her brother along with her two other brothers. She wanted to tell her that in just the short time that she had known her, she had changed her life forever, but instead, she simply smiled and kissed her head again. “Goodnight, sweet girl,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” Charlize said, closing her eyes with a smile on her face.
***
Sully sat on the end of Benny’s bed and fiddled with his watch. There was so much that he wanted to say to his son, so much that he needed to explain. He just didn’t know how. Looking up at his boy, he smiled and tousled his curly locks.
“So, did you enjoy tonight?” Sully asked pulling the covers up under Benny’s chin.
“Yeah, Ms. Charlie is pretty cool.” Benny yawned. “So you like her, huh?”
“Yeah, I like her.”
“You know that girls have coodies, don’t you?” Benny yawned.
Sully laughed. “We’ll see how you feel about that in about three years.”
“I think she likes you too,” Benny said, shaking his head at his father.
“You do, huh?” Sully laughed.
“Yeah. I know these things.”
“Well, do you like her?” Sully asked sincerely.
“Yeah. You should keep her.”
Sully laughed again. “Well, why didn’t you just say so before?” He wished that it was that easy.
Mocking his father, he rolled over on his side, and cupped his hands under his face. “Sarcasm will only get you so far, daddy.”
Sully grinned. “You’re growing up too fast.” Bending down, he kissed his son’s forehead and stood up. “Love you. See you in the morning.”
“Love you too,” Benny said, closing his eyes.
As Sully walked out of the bedroom door and closed it behind him, he was met by Charlie in the hallway. She wore a look of confusion and enlightenment, like so many things in her life that were marred with questions before were suddenly answered and in just a short moment, new more important questions had arrived, filling her with the need to do some serious soul searching.
Sully walked up to her and stuffed his fists down into his pockets. “And those are the kids,” he said with a grin.
“They are amazing,” Charlie whispered. “Absolutely incredible.” She fought tears, clenching her jaw tight as she heaved a breath out. Her eyes told him that she was torn – torn between two families, between two lives. There was an urgency in her tense body, rigid with worry and denial.
“Hey,” he said, touching her shoulder. He looked down at her and lifted her chin with his index finger. “What do you say, you and I go and grab one glass of wine before bed.”
Charlie nodded. “I could use that right about now.”
179
The Contingency Plan
Chapter 11
At exactly three in the morning, Charlene stirred from her deep sleep and sat up in bed. The darkness of the room first clouded her memory of where she was and then she realized that she was in fact at Sullivan Orrin’s home. For real. She sat rigid for a moment, starring across the room at her reflection in the mirror above the dresser. Then, when her eyes adjusted, she pulled the covers from her legs and slipped off the bed into her fuzzy slippers and quietly exited her room.
With the large house committed almost to memory from her tour earlier in the day, she quietly moved through the dark hallway that led from her bedroom, down the long stairwell, across the dimly corridor and into the main house.
The silence of the house reminded her of her own, with only the sound of appliances clicking on and off, the icemaker dropping ice into the icebox, the large, antique grandfather clock ticking and of course, the house settling. No matter how new or old a house was, it always settled at night, or so her mother had said down through the years.
As she passed all the art, photos and awards in the main hall, she approached the private quarters of the master bedroom. She got to the hallway that led to Sully’s master bedroom and stopped. The door was open, the room dark, the fireplace roaring. From the angle that she was standing, she could even see a part of the large bed.
“What are you doing, Charlie?” she asked herself aloud.
But she knew what she was doing. She was seizing an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before she went home to be with the man who seemed to hold her heart indefinitely. She had battled with the thought since they first talked last week, but she had made her mind up minutes ago when she woke up. She wanted Sullivan Orrin, and she knew that she had to make the first move, not because he was scared to but because he respected her far too much to compromise her.
Tiptoeing lightly on cat-like feet, she used the light from the fireplace to guide her to his bed and then after a nervous sigh, she reached over to touch him.
“Sully?” She ran her hand over the jumbled covers and realized that it was only a large bed pillow.
“Sully?” she said again in a shaky voice. “Shit,” she said, disappointed in herself.
Realizing that he was not there, she tried to tiptoe out of the room without getting caught, but the light suddenly flicked on, causing her to stop in her tracks.
Sully stood at the bedroom door in his black Nike shorts and no shirt with a bowl of baked ziti in his hands. “Going somewhere?” he ask
ed, licking his lips.
Charlie was busted and she knew it. Shaking her head, she half-chuckled. “Yeah, I was…umm.” She looked back at the bed. Was he really going to make her say what she was doing?
There was a long heart-stopping moment of silence between them. Quietly, Sully looked in between her and the bed and assessed the situation, hoping that he wasn’t reading her wrong. It was after all, it was the middle of the night and she was in his bedroom. There was little to be left for interpretation as far as he was concerned.
Slowly, he walked inside of the room and closed the door, locking it behind him. Setting the purple ceramic bowl on the marble fireplace mantle, he wiped his mouth off. “You were coming to say goodnight?” His voice was low now. His eyes hooded.
Charlie nodded. “Yes.” She stared at his bulging chest - the patch of masculine hair over his muscular build only added to his allure - and realized that he had only gotten more ripped as the years had gone by. Her pulse raced as he approached.
He walked up to her, blocking her path to the door and gave a naughty grin. “Well, I’m here,” he whispered, voice deepening. His sultry eyes burned through her. Grazing a thumb over her cheek, he pushed his body closer to hers. “Say goodnight.”
“Goodnight,” she murmured. Charlie could barely breathe. This was happening, only not like she meant for it to. In her mind, for a brief minute, she actually pictured herself as the aggressor, but somehow during the poor timing, she had become the aggressed.
Her shoulders tensed involuntarily.
“Relax,” he whispered, rubbing his hands down her arms. “You want to be here, don’t you?”
His voice sounded sinful. “Yes,” she hummed. “Yes...”
The sound of the fire crackling behind them only added to the heated moment. She gazed over at it and tried to get her bearings.
Running a hand through her hair, he eyed her mouth. “My Charlie,” he whispered. “Sweet Charlie.” He was slow with his kiss and intentionally erotic. Bending down and pushing her chin up with his index finger, he tasted the sweetness of her mouth with teasing sucks that became deeper and deeper with each evolution. First her tongue, then her bottom lip and finally, hungrily, he sealed her entire mouth with a kiss and picked her up off the ground.
The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) Page 15