His parents greeted him enthusiastically. His mother was in a new dress that flattered her round figure. His father was looking less careworn. The telling effects of having more money.
The picture in question was just as large as the abstract that was there before and it was a beautiful artist’s rendition of Sherman's Cove. Yuri glanced at it and then swallowed.
"It’s gorgeous, isn't it?" Amoy asked him, quite unaware of the effect it was having on him.
"Yes." Yuri swallowed. "Yes it is. It is very true to life."
So now he had a daily physical reminder of the one place on earth that was haunting him in his dreams, and the picture was authentic down to the last leaf of on the rocky overhang and the powdery white sand of the inlet.
"I wouldn't mind going to that place," Amoy said wistfully.
"You can come along anytime you want to," Lloyd said helpfully. "That is Sherman's Cove down in Treasure Beach."
"You mean here in Jamaica? Where you live?"
"Yes." Daisy smiled. "Yuri and his friends loved that place so we thought we would carry a piece of Treasure Beach here to him in Kingston."
"Thanks, Mom and Dad," Yuri said dragging his eyes from the picture and to his parents.
"Okay then," Amoy said, excitement in her voice, "I want to go to Treasure Beach next time you are going, Yuri."
Before Yuri could answer, his mother was nodding, "You are most welcome. You should come for more than a weekend, Yuri. Spend a week. Show Amoy around our side of the island. She'll love it."
Yuri shook his head. "I don't know about a week."
"You haven't been back since Pops' funeral," Lloyd said, "six months. I can't recall you ever staying away so long."
After Marla and Ricky's marriage, Yuri wanted to point out, but he didn't.
"Okay." Amoy got up. "The party is in an hour. I have to take a little visit to my place which is just up the road from here. I'll be back soon. Oh Yuri, the caterer is setting up in your kitchen and the deejay is on his way to get some music going."
"See you soon." She smiled at Yuri's parents and gave Yuri a long lingering kiss that had his face flaming when she eased up from him.
That was a statement for his parents, no doubt. A statement that Yuri was not even ready to make. She had taken it out of his hands, though.
His parents were looking at him knowingly. His mother was obviously delighted; his father looked disappointed.
When the front door closed behind Amoy, his mother was the first to speak. "She is wonderful and so pretty."
"Isn't she too old for him?" Lloyd asked, unimpressed. "She's thirty-five."
"That means she will be more keen to have children now and won’t be waiting on her career or any such thing," Daisy said excitedly. "I like that. Since when have you cared about how old women are, Lloyd?"
Lloyd looked boxed in. "I am just saying, she's nice and yes, as you said, pretty but..."
"You are looking for some reason to doubt that she would be a good daughter-in-law because in your head you have always wanted Yuri and Marla to be together. Get over it, Lloyd. Marla is married to Ricky."
Yuri stood up abruptly. "Would you guys like to see the place?"
"We were already shown around by Amoy. I love the size of the bedrooms," Daisy said. Then she eyed her husband. "You are going to behave."
"Okay." Lloyd looked at Yuri sheepishly. "She is right, you know. I...it's just that...I thought that Ricky couldn't function with his paralysis. You know, I thought down there was off limits. I always found it strange that she would marry him when he had that issue."
Yuri swallowed. "Dad. Please..."
"Marla is pregnant," Lloyd said quickly. "She's pretty much been keeping to herself but we saw her yesterday when we went to look for John at a hospice in Black River. He had a stroke and he is not doing too well. But let me tell you it was a shock to see her so big; she is significantly pregnant. Our visit coincided with hers and she looked guilty, at least to me."
Yuri felt a buzzer go off in his head, like a little low, humming ding. He sat down in the seat that he had recently vacated and looked at his father, stunned. He saw that his father’s mouth was moving but he couldn't process what he was saying. He didn't hear anything past the three words—Marla is pregnant.
"Yuri?" his father looked at him, concerned. "What's wrong?"
"You just said Marla is pregnant." Yuri got up and headed for the bar area. He grabbed a bottle of orange juice and then put it on the side of his head to calm the throbbing, and then chugged it down.
His father was looking at him with suspicion.
"You didn't have anything to do with that did you, Yuri?" Lloyd asked finally, after the words kept churning in Yuri's head.
He avoided his father's stare.
"Lloyd!" Daisy stood up and shook her head at her husband. "Why on earth are you asking Yuri that?"
"Because he's Ricky's friend; he would know if Ricky and Marla were planning something."
Yuri turned his back on his bickering parents and looked out at the view. The shock was not as bad as he had thought it would be, because now he wasn't just feeling shocked; he was feeling a tiny niggling feeling of elation.
He spun around to look at them. "The baby is mine."
His mother slumped dramatically where she was standing and crumpled on the floor.
****
Yuri had avoided his parents for much of the housewarming party. They hadn't gotten the chance to talk after his mother's dramatic faint. The deejay had arrived and the caterer had come into the living room to set up. He had been grateful for the distraction. He was still coming to terms with the news; he didn't know if he was ready for a lecture from his uber-conservative religious parents.
He tried his best to act normal throughout the party but how was a man supposed to act when he had gotten the best and the worst news of his life?
He wasn't surprised that Marla hadn't called him. He long suspected that she was told by Ricky not to get in touch with him.
And he had respected that distance. Obviously he had made the right decision, because one night nearly six months ago they had not had any intervention and look where they were now.
Somehow he didn't think that when Ricky had suggested that they have a baby he was thinking that he would get together with his wife in the traditional way. Now the very situation he had thought would be too complicated and crazy had happened.
Marla Roundtree Mills was pregnant with his child. And the longer the thought lingered, the more he liked it. She would be around six months pregnant now. That meant she would have his baby by February.
His baby. A boy or girl. Growing up with Ricky. No way that was going to happen. He didn't know what he was going to do next, but he would do something. He didn't want any child of his growing up with Ricky's influence.
"That's a fierce frown." Amoy tapped him on his shoulder. Yuri turned to her fully and tried for a smile.
Amoy frowned at him. "What's going on?"
"Nothing. I...this is not the place where I want to talk about it."
Amoy widened her eyes fearfully. "You are scaring me."
"I didn't mean to." Yuri cleared his throat. "Tomorrow after my parents leave probably." He sighed. "What is the deejay playing?"
"Old school songs, baby," Amoy said, perking up again. "I told him to play songs from the sixties to present day. That's the song To Sir With Love. Are you honestly saying you don't love that song, Yuri Scarlett?" Amoy looked at him in disbelief. "Who in this world can hate that song?"
"No, I don't." Yuri grinned. "As a matter of fact, it brings back memories. Back in the early nineties we got a VCR and Pops got the videotape of the movie. Every Thursday night he would have us watch it until we could recite the lines word for word. Marla and I would even role play to the point where Pops got fed up of us."
"Marla," Amoy said, "that's a nice name. Who was she?"
"A family friend," Yuri said quickly and then frowned. Marla was
much more than that. Had always been. To explain their relationship in such terms could prove problematic for future conversations.
"I loved her," he added.
Amoy nodded. "Childhood sweetheart huh?"
"Not exactly." Yuri’s smile had a tinge of sadness. "Long story."
"Ah." Amoy tapped her glass. "My lawyer instincts are telling me I am not going to like this."
"Hey Yuri." Wilson interrupted the conversation before it could get even more uncomfortable. "You should put in an infinity pool. That would be cool."
Yuri turned to Wilson gratefully. He had his hand thrown across a heavily pregnant lady, his wife Cindy.
"He is obsessed with pools now," Cindy said, smiling. "But he can't have one because of the baby."
"She's paranoid." Wilson shook his head. "We grew up with a pool, didn't we Amoy?"
Amoy had gone silent and was looking contemplative. "Yes, we did. Remember when Zack almost drowned in your grandparents’ pool?
"Now I rest my case," Cindy said. "Thank you, Amoy."
Amoy smiled. "No problem."
Yuri kept glancing at Cindy's belly; he couldn't resist staring.
"I am five and a half months along," Cindy said, rubbing her tummy, "and I want it to just be over already. I want to meet my little girl."
The conversation continued and Yuri nodded in the right places but he couldn't help wondering about Marla. Was that how she felt? Were they having a boy or a girl?
Why didn't he just go to Treasure Beach tomorrow and find out?
Because she was married to Ricky and refused to leave him for reasons that he wasn't clear about. Because Ricky wouldn't allow him to just snatch Marla without a fight. He had to make a plan.
Chapter Twelve
"It was a nice party." Daisy padded into the kitchen and yawned widely.
Yuri clutched the cup of tea in his hands for warmth and to steady his hands. He hadn't slept a wink the night before. He hadn't even pretended to sleep. He had gone to his in-house gym and worked out for about two hours and then he had sat in the sauna for such a long time his flesh was still looking pruney. It was just five in the morning, so he knew that his mother had not slept much either. She headed for the kettle.
"What kind of tea are you having?"
Yuri looked into his cup. He hadn't even taken note. "I don't know. It tastes lemony. Amoy was the one who got these flavored teas. She loves them."
She was the one who had stocked the cupboard for him.
"Ah," his mother looked into the cupboard. "Apple and lemon, ooh wait, apple and cinnamon." She sniffed one. "Smells good. I am going to try the apple and cinnamon."
Yuri nodded.
"You should make some for me too." Yuri's father came into the kitchen. He sat across from Yuri at the nook and rubbed his eyes.
"Nice party last night. Your friends here are pretty nice."
"Technically, most of them are not really friends. I mean, apart from Zack and Amoy and the business partners, I barely knew anybody. They were mostly Amoy's friends. The Lee Changs have a clique. They went to prep school together; their parents run in the same circles. They know famous people together. Hell, they are famous people."
"And you don't like that?" His mother came over and sat in front of him.
"I don't fit in with them." Yuri shrugged. "Sometimes I feel like they speak a different language. I don't share in their rich upbringing. I'll probably always feel like the odd guy out of their tight circle."
"Well, you are the newcomer," Lloyd pointed out, "the new kid on the block. With time, you'll be comfortable."
"And that is what gets me," Yuri murmured. "Would they be even speaking to me if I was just Yuri Scarlett, middle manager at SofServ? Would Amoy be talking to me? Would Zack even want to be my friend?"
"They probably wouldn't have met you," Daisy said, getting up to turn off the stove. "It’s true we only encounter some people because of circumstances, and because of that we realize that they are not much different from us and then we become friends with them. Don't over-think it, Yuri."
Daisy carried over the tea and sat down, cradling the cup in the same way he was doing his. "Are you serious about her?"
"I don't know...maybe." Yuri sighed. "These last couple of months, she helped me with moving in and decoration and we've been out on a few dates, mostly to restaurants that she likes.
"I don't know anywhere except for fast food places and such. She's fun. I think she is trying to acclimatize me to her world."
"I think it's more than that." Lloyd shrugged. "She is in love with you. Last night she barely left your side and she couldn't take her eyes off you."
"Attraction." Yuri took a sip of his tea. "Chemistry. I wouldn't call it love, yet."
"And you haven't er, slept with her?" Daisy asked, looking uncomfortable.
"No." Yuri grimaced; he knew where this was going. His parents were working up to asking him about Marla. "I don't make a habit of having casual sex with women."
Lloyd cleared his throat. "So Marla..."
Marla. There it was. Yuri sighed and closed his eyes.
Marla.
"What happened with Marla?" Daisy asked in the silence.
"Marla and I...we...er..." Yuri rubbed his temples. "Can we just drop this?"
"I don't understand what's gotten into my children. All of you," Lloyd retorted. "We raised you with such high moral values and your lives are like train wrecks. Haven't we been good examples to you, Yuri?"
"Yes," Yuri nodded, "but Dad this is not about you or Mom. Not everybody can find their perfect mate at church camp, get married as soon as they graduate high school and have the beach side picket fence life in idyllic Treasure Beach. Some of us have a million and one trials to go through before we find happiness."
Lloyd nodded. "I know that, Yuri. I am not naive. But Marla is married to your friend. This is way out there. This is not you finding a single woman and even living in sin, though that would make us uncomfortable. You had an affair with Marla and she is pregnant with your child!"
"It wasn't an affair," Yuri murmured. "It was one night."
His mother's sigh was long and exaggerated.
"Doesn't it strike you as odd that she is still with Ricky? It’s like she is trapped with him somehow," Yuri asked in the loaded silence.
"It is odd," Daisy snorted, "and even at the hospice where they have John, she has a bodyguard following her around. It’s creepy. Why would anyone have a bodyguard in Treasure Beach? The place is virtually crime free.
"The last time anything untoward happened was when they found Trip Calloway washed up on the beach."
"With blows to the head," Lloyd said. "That was violent. Maybe Ricky is being extra cautious or paranoid about his wife."
Lloyd got up and went to the patio area. He spun around to Yuri. "So what are you going to do?"
"I don't know. All my plans seem to involve snatching her from Ricky in the middle of the night or something."
"Their place is as heavily guarded," Daisy said on a sigh, "and who is to say that Marla would come with you? She hasn't contacted you since she got pregnant. The baby might not be yours; have you thought of that?"
Yuri inhaled noisily. No he hadn't thought about that because he knew the baby was his.
"All I am saying," Daisy said, gentling her voice, "is you need to talk to Marla."
"Or Ricky," Lloyd said gruffly. "Have you spoken to the man since you slept with his wife?"
Yuri got up from his chair and stretched. "No, I haven't talked to him. I don't want to."
"It would be nice to know how he is handling this," Lloyd said.
"He wanted a baby before," Yuri shrugged, "so I am pretty sure that he is okay with the situation."
"But he can't be okay with you and Marla having sex behind his back," Lloyd said, reproof heavy in his voice. "No straight red-blooded male would be okay with this. Even if the man is paralyzed this should be a blow to him. You can't justify this situation, Yu
ri. It is so unlike you."
"I am not trying to justify anything." Yuri shrugged. "But you are assuming that things are normal between Ricky and Marla. I am pretty sure they aren't. They do not have a regular relationship. They don't even like each other."
He put his cup in the sink and leaned on the island. He looked at his straitlaced and conservative father. For his dad, black was black white was white. He had old fashioned values and ideals; he still held the door open for his mother and they both had their strict male/female roles. They were both unaffected by the liberal changes in society.
His dad wouldn't have a clue as to how derailed he had been after that sham of a wedding.
He would be shocked at some of the things he had done, like drinking himself to sleep and having sex with women whose last names he didn't even know. None of it had given him satisfaction, but he had not wanted to stop; it had helped him to forget the pain. If it hadn't been for Pops and his hard talking, and praying, Yuri didn't know if he would have been brought back from the brink.
"I am going to have a shower," he said to his parents. They looked at each other and then at him. He knew they were calculating in their heads what else to say to him. He felt relieved when his mother said, "Okay."
He left the kitchen and went to the dark master bedroom. He felt too lazy to draw the blinds and let in the early morning light. He took off his shirt and sat on the edge of the king-sized bed.
It was times like these he missed Pops. Pops had always known the right thing to say. The right pep talk to give.
He tried to recall their conversation four years ago. He had just gotten home from work. The software division had been going through a shake up at the time and his work load had been increased.
He had welcomed it. It kept his mind busy but it also made him feel especially lonely when he got home to his cramped apartment.
His whole apartment then could fit into this master bedroom. That night, the anniversary of Ricky and Marla's wedding, he had been so low, he had actually felt like crying at the opportunities he had forever lost.
Scarlett Baby (The Scarletts Page 9