My feet are practically flying when I leave the courtroom. It is quite a trick to run yet walk, but Jayden has longer legs. He is breathing down my neck.
“I'll be by to pick up Traci this Saturday at 10 am.”
I glare at him.
“She is my niece. I have every right to see Traci. I love the child.”
“You don't know what love is!”
“Have her ready,” he snaps, “with enough clothes for an overnight visit. I won't be returning Traci until Sunday.”
“But she doesn't even know she has an uncle. You're a stranger to her.”
“Well, I guess you better tell Traci she has an Uncle Jayden then.”
“But you don't know where I live,” I stutter, trying to prolong the inevitable as long as possible. I should have let him go to the old house to get Traci only to discover we moved. The court papers all have my old address, just like his court papers stated he lived in Canada. It is a filthy trick moving to my country.
“Oh. I know where you moved to.” Jayden ducks into the elevator, punching the close door button.
Jayden leaves me standing at the threshold of injustice, making me wonder just what I have done in a previous life to deserve such punishment.
Chapter 76
RONNI
While packing Traci's bag I explain to my daughter about her uncle.
Traci hangs her head and says, “I don't want to go.”
“It will only be for one night, Traci.”
“Do I have to?”
“Yes, you must.”
Traci has tears in her eyes. I damn Jayden for her suffering. How dare he just waltz into her life again. The man has no idea how easily hurt children are. My own mother walked out on me. He had better not abandon Traci or I will take him back to court and stop his visitation rights, even if it bankrupts me. I snap Traci's suitcase shut, nearly pinching my fingers, vowing to keep a diary of Jayden's visits and Traci's reaction whenever he skips a visit.
Traci is making progress with her psychologist and beginning to accept her father's death. Jayden is bound to screw her up again, and Traci will think her father has risen from the grave. I tried to make the judge understand about Traci and the ordeal my little girl has gone through. The man turned a deaf ear, claiming children are more resilient than adults credit them. As for Jayden, he stood like a statue when hearing about Traci's delicate emotional state. The man is made of stone and has no compassion for even a child.
The hands of the clock move, as if my hanging is coming instead of my dead husband's lookalike.
At ten o'clock sharp, the doorbell rings.
I take my sweet time opening the door.
Jayden dips his head. “Hi.”
“You are the lowest of the low,” I hiss. “Don’t you dare take one step into my house! You may have won visitation rights with Traci, but not the right to trespass.”
“Uh.” He scratches his ear like a monkey.
“Ha! You have fleas like the dog you are.”
He rolls his eyes. “Is Traci ready?”
“Traci,” I yell, “your uncle is here.” I point my fingers at my eyes and then at his eyes to indicate that I am watching him with an eagle eye. “She'll be down in a minute.” I slam the door in his face.
He keeps ringing the doorbell, driving me crazy.
“What do you want?” I scream and fling the door open.
He rubs his nose. “Look, can’t we be civil for Traci’s sake. You could have broken my nose if I hadn't been faster and jumped back, if I hadn't been expecting your venom,” he says through gritted teeth. “I know you beneath your skin, Ronni.”
I blush.
“I can damn well read your mind,” he adds.
“Well read this,” and I throw him a dirty finger.
“The child is worth the abuse at the hands of the mother, so bring it on, Ronni.”
Traci shuffles her feet to the front door, dragging her wheeled Minnie Mouse suitcase behind her.
I kiss my daughter’s cheek. “Don't worry, Honey, your Uncle Jayden isn't going to hurt you.”
“Jesus!” Jayden swears.
I whisper to him, “Is the bachelor playboy doctor really going to devote every other Saturday night to his niece or are you going to stand her up? You may fool the judge with your sincerity but I know what a liar you are and how deceitful. I know you beneath your snakeskin.”
Traci nearly knocks me over when she charges through the door and wraps her arms around Jayden's knees. “Daddy,” she screams.
This is exactly the behavior I feared.
Jayden picks her up in his arms and hugs my little girl. The man is a good actor—he has tears in his eyes. “Traci, forgive me, Sweetheart, for ever leaving you!” and he spins her around, both of them laughing.
He sets her down, patting her head. I whisper in his ear, “Traci is confused and you damn well better straighten my daughter out right now. You're not my husband, you creep, and you never were.”
His face flushes red and he confesses, “I'm not your daddy, Traci. I'm your Uncle Jayden.”
“I've got an uncle,” Traci yells in an excited voice and hugs his legs. “He's my daddy.”
“No.” Jayden lifts his eyes to me. “I'm your father's twin brother.”
“I know you're not really my daddy but I like you better. Can I call you daddy?”
“Uh, it's up to your mommy.” Jayden gives me a wide grin and wiggles his eyebrows.
The jerk is enjoying goading me. He told the judge his niece needs a father figure in her life. Damn the judge. Damn the courts. Damn. Damn. Damn.
“Mommy, can I, please?”
“You may call him Uncle Jayden, which he is.”
Love for her uncle shines in Traci's eyes and an ugly jealousy swells my chest. My daughter has not been this happy since the last time Jayden posed as my husband and her father. My own daughter is a traitor. Traci has gone over to the enemy's side.
Moreover, to seal the deal, Jayden lifts a bag from the porch and offers Traci a stuffed tiger, Tigger actually from the Winnie the Pooh collection.
Traci hugs Tigger to her chest and beams at Jayden. “Thank you. What about Mommy? Did you bring my mommy flowers?”
I widen my eyes in shock, wondering if Traci knows about Jayden’s masquerade.
“No, uh,” Jayden says, locking his eyes with mine. “I don't think your mommy likes my flowers.”
I simply swallow, not daring to confess that a red rose, a white rose, and a black rose are preserved in the freezer. The red rose is my heart that he froze, the white rose my innocence he took, and the black rose my death upon discovering his masquerade and betrayal. Now, this man is taking my daughter away, separating me from Traci, even if it is only for 32 hours. I hate him even more for forcing himself on us.
“Are you going to be alright, Mommy?”
I stare straight at Jayden and answer, “Oh, don't worry about me, Traci. I've got lots of good friends to keep me company, very good friends.”
I hit my mark. Jayden looks as if he wants to hit me. Let him think I sleep around. My life is none of his business.
My bravado lasts but a minute as Jayden takes Traci's hand and walks her to his car.
He turns and looks at me standing by myself shrunken. He bends down and whispers to Traci.
She runs over to me, kissing my cheek. “I’ll be back soon, Mommy. Don’t cry.”
“I'll miss you, Sweetie.” Traci has never spent the night away from me except for that night in Victoria. I cringe at the remembrance. I do not want to think about that night in his Mercedes. “Be kind to my daughter,” I tell him and he gives me a peeved look.
Traci runs back to Jayden and jumps in his new Mercedes, which is red, another color for the devil. The man has merely shed his skin. He is taking my daughter away from me.
Traci chatters away to Jayden, as if she has known him all her life.
Jayden throws back his head and laughs at something Traci says as he bac
ks out of the driveway.
I have never felt so alone in all of my life.
Chapter 77
RONNI
Riley nudges me with her elbow at Traci's soccer game. “Look who's here, your ex.”
“Dr. Tremblay is not my ex-anything,” I snort. It is bad enough he shows up every other Saturday like clockwork to pick up Traci, but now he is at the soccer field. Austin has become too small for the two of us.
He walks by and our eyes meet for a brief second. His blue shirt has the first couple of buttons open and his chest hair sticks out. I have taken in all of Jayden with one roll of my eyes.
There is so much I do not know about the man even though I have been more intimate with him than with any other human being. The things I let him do to me and the sex acts I did to him make me blush, yet he is like a stranger. Well, I courted his indifference and have not been any friendlier since the first Saturday he picked up Traci.
Traci has asked me, “Why don't you like my Uncle Jayden, Mommy?”
Of course, I cannot tell her about how Mommy ended up sleeping with Daddy's brother. Traci was able to tell Brad and Jayden apart all along. Last Saturday she yelled at her uncle to wait and then ran up the stairs and came back down carrying that accursed suit she said belonged to her daddy. Traci then handed the suit to Jayden and ran back to get her suitcase.
He turned to me with a sheepish expression on his face and said, “I, uh, guess last time I slept in your house, I forgot my suit.”
What Jayden should have said was, “I, uh, guess last time I fucked you, pretending to be your husband, I forgot my suit.”
The sound of his tennis shoes climbing the stairs of the bleachers takes my breath away. There is still a sick chemistry between us and though he is five rows behind me, my heart skips two beats and drums a warm, oozing feeling all the way down from my throat, settling between my legs. A rush of desire weakens my knees. I resist the sudden urge to cross my legs because it might be obvious to him if he is watching. I long to ask Riley to turn around and see if Jayden is looking at me, but am petrified she will laugh.
Riley can sense my tension and rubs my shoulder. “You sure about Dr. Tremblay not being your ex? After all, you had an affair with him.”
“Not an affair. Remember, I thought he was Brad when we slept together.”
“How about in Canada, huh?”
“Canada was only one time so I wouldn't call it an affair,” I emphasize in a flat voice.
“More like a one-night stand then?”
“He forced me in Canada.”
“Uh-huh. Raped you did he?”
“Not exactly rape, but he took advantage of me.”
“Yeah.” Riley leans back against the bleachers. “Guys take advantage of me like that all the time 'cause they know I'm horny. Well, honey, if you don't want your brother-in-law, I guess you don't mind me taking a crack at the stud then?”
“What?”My hand shakes in the popcorn bag.
“Legally he is not your ex so it's not like I'd be sleeping with your husband. How about you set me and him up? Unless Jayden has been getting his rocks off on that blonde he’s talking to. Who is she, another single mom? I bet the Canadian is horny as hell and if I don’t hump his bones then another woman will.” She smiles at the look of dismay on my face.
“You are tacky, Riley; I did have a relationship with Jayden.”
“Ah, so now it was a relationship.”
“Yes, but it’s complicated. How can you even ask me to set you up with him? You and I are best friends. You dating Jayden would be like incest.”
“Incest? Kind of like you sleeping with your brother-in-law?”
“Sleeping with Jayden was not incest. He is no blood relation of mine.”
“According to the Bible, in-laws having sex is incest. I looked it up, sugar.”
“Don’t sugar me! How can you even think of chasing after Jayden when you know how I feel about him?”
“And that would be?” She pops a bubble of gum, offering me a stick.
“You know I hate him.” I shove her gum back at her.
“Uh-huh.”
“I can't have my best friend sleeping with a man I hate. We couldn't be friends any more if you slept with Jayden.”
“Oh, I'd never let a man come between us, Ronni. Besides, Jayden has his hands full with your neighbor.”
Over at the concession stand, Jayden is talking to Millie Smith, a neighbor across the street from me whose little girl is friends with Traci. Millie should have been named Maxie. She is a five-foot ten inch Amazon, mostly legs, wearing cowgirl boots, which stretch her to six feet tall. Red hair sweeps her buttocks and orange western pants are so tight on her to appear as if she painted the denim on.
“Wasn't Millie recently divorced?” Riley says.
“Uh-huh. Six months ago.”
“Well, she sure looks hungry for a man, and I should know. It's the first year that is the hardest when a woman struggles to see if she can ever attract men again.”
“Her husband left her for another woman,” I add.
“Worse. Poor woman has to prove she can get a man into bed. The first year of freedom, a woman is on the rebound and liable to marry the first eligible man who comes her way, no matter if he is a pig. You think your brother-in-law is a pig, right?”
Millie and Jayden stroll towards the bleachers. Jayden holds a coke in his hand and he and Millie sit on the bottom row.
“Yep!” Riley smacks her knee. “Millie has got her hooks in Jayden. Look at her offering him popcorn so their hands can bump in the bag filled with dirty butter and raunchy salt. Mm, by the end of the game, she'll invite him over to her house for a quickie or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven, or eight, or nine, or...”
“I get your point!”
“Hey, don’t snap at me for being good at math. You do not have to count to infinity to prove Millie's libido is out of control because she just got divorced. You can bet your boobs that because Millie has a tight ass, he will take Millie up on her offer. Maybe Jayden is at Traci's game to pick up single horny moms, except for you, of course. Jayden doesn't have a chance with you, does he Ronni?”
“No,” I mumble. Riley is something of an expert on men. She has slept with hundreds of them, compared to my measly score of two men, my husband, and his brother. Same face. Same body. One zygote. Technically, maybe I had sex with just one man. The sordid mess is still confusing. My voice fills with panic but only because Millie lives across the street from me, “You think Jayden will go home with Millie?”
“Probably. She sure has his attention.”
Traci's team wins the game and I suffer in silence while she runs past me to her uncle, hugging and kissing him.
Jayden ruffles Traci's hair and then walks away with Millie.
Only then do I climb down the steps of the bleachers to congratulate Traci.
At the parking lot, Jayden leans against Millie's car, his keys dangling from his hand.
Traci jumps up and down, yelling, “See you later, Uncle Jayden.”
He waves at Traci but ignores me as if I do not exist.
I sit in the driver's seat of my car, my face pale. He is going over to Millie's, across the street from my house.
Without even thinking, I jump out of the car and elbow my way between Jayden and Millie. “Would you mind picking Traci up thirty minutes early next week for your visit with her?” My voice booms in my ears. “I have an appointment.”
“Uh, sure.” He looks his nose down at me as if I am a fly crapping on his shoulder. “Whatever you want.”
“Fine. Fine then.”
“Fine.”
“Well, then. Fine,” I repeat. “Fine.” I walk back to the car with burning ears from eavesdropping on Millie’s invitation. “Maybe you can stop by some time, Jayden, after you drop Traci off,” she had purred and rubbed her backside against his car.
I rev up the engine of the SUV. All I need is to have Jayden parked at
Millie's house day in and day out. When will I ever be rid of that confounded man?
I drop Riley by her house and then drive home.
I hover in the spare bedroom upstairs, spying across the street to see if Jayden will go over to Millie’s house.
I feel such a rush of relief when Millie swings into her driveway with no Jayden following behind her.
You are only concerned because he may get it into his head to come over here afterward.
A voice whispers back, why would he come over to see you after having sex with Millie? Why would Jayden want you when he has the Millies of Texas more than willing to satisfy his needs?
I stand at the window for half an hour just to make sure.
I am craving ice cream, but strawberry ice cream is just an excuse. I open the freezer and pull out the red rose frozen from the bouquet Jayden sent from Canada, a rose so like my heart—frigid and cold.
I also kept the note delivered with the flowers.
Please accept my apologies, Mrs. O’Boyle, but your beauty swept me away.
Always.
Dr. Jayden Tremblay.
I stroke the words of the note, attempting to gauge a deeper meaning. Is Jayden really sorry or is the note and flowers an apology for kicking me out of his car after seducing me? Or did the note mean he was sorry for everything else?
I shall never know because I certainly will not ask him now that he has Millie Smith on his mind.
I stuff the red rose back in the freezer and slam the door shut.
All evening I make excuses to stare out the window at Millie's driveway. At this rate, I shall go crazy.
Perhaps I should call Jayden and beg him to stay on his own side of the fence, stop invading my territory, and leave me in peace. Jayden might wonder why I am so upset but even I cannot understand my feelings.
I pick up the phone and dial his number. I am about to hang up the phone when all of a sudden I hear, “Hello.”
I do not say a thing; I just breathe.
“Yes?” He sounds impatient.
“Dr. Tremblay,” I say nonchalantly.
“Ronni.” His voice sounds tense.
“When you sent the flowers…” The words are being wrenched from my throat. “…the note—what were you apologizing for?”
Dishonor Thy Wife Page 27