Marla chuckled. "That's serious."
"And then one day I just snapped," Cindy said. "I cornered Ken when we were in university. I actually draped him up, pushed him in a corner and yelled at him. I said, ‘Look at me, I am here. I want you to like me because I like you. You are not going to be in a relationship with Amoy Lee Chang, just forget about it.’"
Marla grinned. "That worked? The forceful approach? I thought everybody said you shouldn't do it. Women should be subtle."
"Yup, it worked," Cindy said. "I didn't care what anybody said. I had had it with being subtle. Of course, he was a little afraid of me at first, but eventually I became his number one priority and the added bonus was, once I was with Ken I no longer resented Amoy.
"How could I? She is a sweet person who can't help how she looks or how she was made. And she has had the most unbelievable bad luck with men, and all she wants is to be a wife and mother with a man who loves her."
Marla cleared her throat. "I liked when you were talking bad things about her."
Cindy laughed. "I like you, Marla. And I am going to give you the kind of advice that you are not going to hear from any well-meaning person. Force Yuri to choose. It's as simple as that. I don't know the scenario but I am imagining that you are at home providing him with the good comforts of home life, being the nurturer, and then he had Amoy, who is providing him with the excitement of being with somebody else and going to parties. He is in man heaven. I say you force his hand."
Marla looked at Yuri from where she was sitting, laughing at somebody's joke, looking all carefree and relaxed while he had her in limbo.
She was really tired of limbo and Cindy was right. He was probably living in man heaven, but what if she forced his hand and he chose Amoy? She pictured Yuri and Amoy together, having children together, while she was in the cold with her son, being the outsiders.
She heard Cindy but she was not going to be doing any forcing. She was too afraid of the backlash.
Chapter Twenty-One
It was the end of January. Yuri was eating a late packed lunch in the staff dining room when Ricardo walked in. The place was empty and the only noise was that of the television, which was on a talk show program.
It was unexpected and shocking, one, because Ricky was walking. He hadn't expected to see that in his lifetime and two, he had dismissed Ricky from his mind. He had more things to think about these days than Ricky and his shenanigans.
Marla was a month from giving birth. Amoy was doing her best to distract him from his home life and he was feeling like a man dragged in two directions. He had asked God for wisdom and yet he didn't think he could choose.
He had also been reading his Bible. One of the stories with Solomon and the women haggling over a baby stuck in his mind. Solomon had asked the ladies for a solution. The first one wanted the baby to be divided in two; the real mother said no. Of course only she would get the baby. Real love didn't want harm to come to the child.
Real love. He struggled with the concept. He was still battling in his mind about what was real or not.
"Your secretary said I could find you here." Ricky sank down in the seat before him. "I can't believe it, Yuri Scarlett has a secretary. What a change in fortunes."
"What do you want, Ricky?" Yuri closed his lunch container. His appetite had fled.
Ricky looked around and then back at Yuri. "Your family has proven to be very difficult to pin down these days. Your parents are away at a spa retreat. Your sister is living in Qatar, no longer with the airlines. Such a pity; I wanted to have her fired. But I found out that she is living as some rich man’s concubine or second wife or whatever. Practically untouchable, truly a pity."
Yuri sat up straighter in his chair. He had no idea what Terri was up to; these days she was deliberately vague about what she was doing but obviously Ricky had done his research.
"And your brother the pastor is finishing up his Master’s in Canada. By the way, I told social services where he was. And gave them his address and I offered to send an agent to go and get his DNA. A man should own up to his responsibilities, don't you think?"
Yuri sighed. "You are investigating my family? Why?"
"Because of you." Ricky leaned closer to Yuri. "You are shacking up with my former pregnant wife. That baby is mine."
Yuri snorted. "Why don't you try to get your own child, Ricky and stop laying claim to mine?"
"Ha," Ricky said humorlessly. "We'll see how cocky and confident you are when I am finished with you and all the Scarlett clan. By the way, don't believe that your immediate family are the only Scarletts I am gunning for, Yuri. You may not be close to these other ones but I can't help myself, I find that when I make a promise to ruin the Scarletts I just have to extend it to them too. Poor things, they won't even know why their lives are suddenly turning to rot. Your Uncle Pete and his band of riff-raff children will pay for your sins, Yuri."
"My sins? Really Ricky, you sound like some evil villain from one of those cheesy action movies we used to watch when we were kids. You are suffering from a mental illness," Yuri said slowly and deliberately. "You need to get help. Obsessive fixations can be cured."
Ricky gave him a nasty smile. "Be warned, Yuri, this is not over. The Scarletts will pay, all of them, whether they have your name or not and you...you better watch yourself. You have my baby."
He walked out of the lunchroom as swiftly as he came in and Yuri sat there bewildered. What on earth was that about—the defeated threats of a friend who knew that he had lost, or the crazy obsessed mutterings of a guy so stuck with making him pay that he would actually do something to hurt him?
He was taking Ricky seriously. He didn't want any nasty surprises in his life.
****
"I have three weeks to go," Marla complained. "I feel like a stuffed sausage. My bladder has shrunk; I can't eat my favorite foods. I do not like this one bit."
Yuri chuckled. Marla was feeling down and depressed lately. He offered to rub her feet with her soothing relaxation oils as soon as he came in from work and she had agreed. Her complaining was as a result of him asking how her day was.
He liked moments like this; he massaged the soles of her feet and watched as she subsided in the cushions of the settee.
Her favorite CD, Lovers’ Rock by Sade, was playing on the home entertainment system. They were in the half dark; only the lights from outside and the little red and green lights on the player could be seen in the darkness. It was cool and dark and intimate. He took her other foot and rhythmically massaged it. He could come home to this everyday.
The thought settled on him like a comfortable cloak. He loved Marla. It wasn't the sharp, tragic feeling of loneliness bordering on despair that he had felt through the years.
This was different. This was better. He loved getting up in the morning and knowing she was in the house. It was his pleasure to make her breakfast and carry it to bed and watch as she woke up and smiled at him. He loved to watch as she subconsciously combed through her hair, wondering if she looked presentable, and then gave up trying to impress him because she didn't want to look self-conscious.
He loved her pregnant body and watching the changes as the days went by. He loved looking at her knowing she was having his baby and no one else's. He loved watching her as she bustled around the kitchen fixing him lunch. He rarely ate out anymore thanks to her.
He loved coming home in the evening and knowing she was there, and he liked to just sit and listen to her talk and he liked the way she sat and listened to him talk. They loved the same music; they read the same books.
She wanted to go back to church with him and was excited about the Bible stories he shared with her.
They both spoke the same language. The language of childhood, the language of young adulthood, the language of Pops. She was such a big part of his life; both the good and the bad feelings that he had ever experienced, all were encapsulated in her.
He had found his mate. She was his and he was hers. A
nd it had taken him this long to accept the wisdom that he had prayed about a month and a half ago.
He stopped massaging her foot and waited as the icy tangles of uncertainty melted from his heart. It was Marla, had always been Marla who had his heart. He would have to tell Amoy.
She would never be first. She had been his insurance against Marla; maybe in a twisted kind of way he had been punishing Marla for being with Ricky for five years. He had wanted to show her that he had not been waiting around for her. But he had. And now he probably had hurt Amoy, who was waiting for him to come to his senses.
"How was your day?" Her tone was now more mellow as the massage took effect.
"I had the displeasure of seeing Ricky today," Yuri murmured. "He was walking unaided. Which is a sight to see and I would be normally happy for him but..."
"What did he want?" Marla murmured.
"He has plans to ruin my family, yada-yada-yada, and he wants the baby. Somewhere in his twisted mind, he thinks he has a right to this child."
"I don't think we should underestimate him." Marla sat up straighter and looked at Yuri. "He is not only obsessed but he has a spark of maliciousness with it."
"I am not underestimating him." Yuri pressed her back down in the cushions, "Relax. Ricky has a lot of bark and no bite."
"If you say so." Marla looked troubled, then she deliberately forced away the feeling of unease that came with the threat. "I short-listed some names today."
"Oh?" Yuri resumed massaging her feet on his lap.
"Crimson Scarlett."
Yuri frowned. "Really?"
"I like the sound of it," Marla protested. "But then again I saw the name Malik and instantly it connected with me."
"Now that's better," Yuri murmured, "Malik Dolby Scarlett."
"Pops would love that." Marla looked at Yuri and then closed her eyes.
Yuri moved and leaned over her. "What about Marla Odette Scarlett?"
Marla's eyes flew open. "What?"
"I love you," Yuri said solemnly, "I really do. I have always wanted us to be together."
Marla grinned. "Hear the song that is playing right now?"
"What, By Your Side?" Yuri grinned. "What about it?"
"You think I'd leave your side, baby?" Marla murmured, pulling him down to her. "You know me better than that."
Yuri chuckled. "I want to hear you say it."
"I love you with all my heart, Yuri. All my heart."
*****
Marla woke up late. She could see that the sun was already high in the sky when she looked through her window. Her clock said 12:02. She smiled a contented smile. Finally her life was coming together. Everything was going the way it should.
Yuri loved her; she loved him. He had chosen her and the baby.
She padded to the bathroom and showered. She was planning to show Mrs. Sibbles how to make soap today. The two women had bonded over that. Mrs. Sibbles should have arrived by the time she got downstairs, the house felt oddly silent. She went over to the phone and read the note under it.
Gone to work. You were sleeping so peacefully I didn't want to disturb you. Mrs. Sibbles will be late. Love you. Yuri.
Marla smiled and headed to the fridge for her regular strawberry yogurt.
The doorbell chimed and she frowned. Mrs. Sibbles had her key; why didn't she use it?
She went to the door anyway and pulled it open and stared into the cold brown eyes of Ricardo Mills.
"Hello Marla."
Marla was shocked speechless.
"Ricky? What?"
"No time to talk." Ricky clapped his hands and two chunky guys came out of the car that she hadn't registered was parked at the front.
"Ricky, no!" Marla squealed. No. She couldn't even run; she walked rapidly toward the stairs. If she could get up there and lock the door to her room and to the bathroom, she could call help before they got to her, but she wasn't moving fast enough. The two goons just snapped her up as if she was a sack of feathers.
"No. Stop it. Help!" Marla screamed. One of them clamped a hand over her mouth and the other opened the car door and stuffed her into the car.
****
Yuri couldn't look Amoy in the eyes. "This is difficult," he started off his statement.
They were having lunch on neutral territory, the shopping mall food court, as he had requested. It was the lunch hour rush. He glanced at his watch. 12:03. The place was buzzing but he wanted to get this over and done with and he needed to do it face to face. He owed that to Amoy. He wasn't going to call her over the phone and break this to her.
Amoy held up her hand. "No, don't say it. Please don't." She closed her eyes tightly and then opened them. "I was having a fairly good day you know? We just closed the deal with the international company. I wanted to celebrate. Not hear bad news."
"Sorry." Yuri sipped his juice. He had ordered whatever it was that Amoy was having and now he was regretting it. It was too sweet. It clung to his tongue and stuck in his throat. "You are going to be first for somebody someday and you'll thank me that I didn't string you along."
Amoy shrugged. "I don't feel thankful right now. I will, someday but now...no."
"I am sorry."
"Stop apologizing. I'll be fine." Amoy smiled sadly. "I realized that I was losing out to Marla anyway. Who can compete with a pregnant woman who cooks you lunch and sends you off to work? I even caught her shining your shoes."
Yuri grinned. His phone rang at the same time. He looked at the screen; it said private number.
He answered it reluctantly. "Hello."
"Is this Yuri Scarlett?" an unfamiliar male voice asked.
"Yes." Yuri sat up straighter in the chair. The man's voice had a tinge of urgency in it.
"You don't know me," he said quickly. "My name is Jason Brown. I used to be security guard for Mr. Ricardo Mills. I guarded his wife, Marla."
"Yes." Yuri felt the beginnings of panic grip him and he had no idea what the guy was going to say next.
"I have always checked in with the other guys who guarded her," Jason said, "just to keep tabs on her, you know…she was so unhappy."
Yuri's hands tightened on the phone. "Yes, I know."
"Well," Jason sighed, "I don't know if this is correct. I hope it is not but two of the guys were told that they had to get back Mrs. Mills from the guy who had kidnapped her, which is you, I understand. You live in Kingston?"
"Yes." Yuri's voice had gone hoarse.
"At Smoky Vale?"
"Yes." Yuri got up from the chair, shock turning his blood to ice.
"Mrs. Mills had confided in me that it was Mr. Mills who has imprisoning her, so when I heard this, I knew that something was off. I just thought you should know that they are planning to get her today at 12. They have been watching your house. I think Mr. Mills bought a house in your complex just so that he could bypass security on your complex. Sorry it took me so long to reach you. I had to do some investigating to find out which one of the Scarletts to call."
"Thank you, Jason." Yuri breathed before he hung up the phone and called home. His fingers trembled as he pressed every button of the familiar number.
The landline rang and rang.
He called Marla's phone. It was the same.
Amoy was looking at him with concern in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Ricky took Marla," Yuri whispered. "He just went to my house and took her. That sick, evil..."
"Wait a minute. I am going to call Bells Security, a private security firm. They are faster than the police," Amoy said, digging in her bag for her phone. "Their offices are on Red Hills." She called somebody on her phone, spoke briefly to them and then turned to Yuri.
"Okay let’s go to your place," Amoy said. "We'll work out everything else from there."
Yuri nodded. "Thanks Amoy."
"No problem," Amoy said. "I really hope we are not too late."
Chapter Twenty-Two
"So, Marla Mills," Ricky said, leaning toward her when they were driv
ing down the winding roads of Smoky Vale. "At last we are together again. I must say you have gotten bigger, more mountainous."
Marla hissed, "Ricky, this is crazy!"
She was sandwiched between two of Ricky's goons, one was driving and Ricky was in the front passenger seat.
She appealed to the two guys beside her. "This is kidnapping. You took a pregnant woman from her house for this lunatic "
"Shut up," Ricky growled. "They know that you are my wife and that I am bringing you back home. Now please keep our private conversations private; you have already embarrassed me enough by running away from home."
Marla moaned. "Ricky, listen to yourself. You have gone overboard. You are out of control."
Ricky turned toward her. "One more word and I am going to tie that mouth of yours. Are you familiar with the silent birth?"
Marla looked at him in consternation. "Huh?"
"You may have to do it and everything else for the rest of your life silently. Because when we arrive home I am tempted to cut out your tongue. Less trouble."
Marla swallowed her retort. Her belly grumbled loudly.
Ricky turned back to her. "Hungry, huh? Sorry you wont get to eat until I say you eat. That may be tomorrow or the day after. Think about that."
The men in the back looked at each other. Marla realized that they were not totally heartless if they were responding that way to what was a cruel threat to a pregnant woman.
"Boss," the driver at the front said, "there is a road block. We have to stop."
"Okay," Ricky said flippantly. "Why not?"
They stopped. Marla tried to see out the front. There was an abnormal amount of police and men in black security uniforms.
One man peered through the front window and into the back. "Please step out of the vehicle, sir."
"What is this about?" Ricky protested.
Both of the back doors were opened suddenly and Marla could see that the policemen had their weapons drawn. "Please step out of the vehicle with your hands up," the guy who opened the door barked. "Now!"
Scarlett Baby (The Scarletts Page 15