TIS THE SEASON...FOR ROMANCE (WESTMORELAND/MASTERS/JEFFERIES)

by Jackson, Brenda

  Peggy tilted her head back. “Do you know how old I am?”

  Sonya evidently found the question rather funny because a huge grin settled around her lips. “Of course I know. You’re my mother. And because I know how old you are, I give you permission to stop wearing those silly looking scarves to hide the hickeys on your neck. It happens when you get caught up in the throes of passion sometimes.”

  Peggy frowned. Just what was going on here? First Barbara, then Toni and now Sonya. Did she expect the same kind of talk from Courtney when she returned this week from her honeymoon?

  Deciding she might as well get it over with and listen to what two cents Sonya was tossing in, she said. “Is there something you have to say?”

  Sonya seemed surprised by her question. “No, not really. You’re wearing Willie’s mark. In fact it seems like every time he comes and goes, he leaves his mark on you, so I guess that pretty much says it all.”

  Peggy’s brow lifted. “And what do you mean that says it all?”

  Sonya smiled. “You and Willie are evidently an item. Sooner or later the two of you will become more.”

  “No we won’t. I have no intentions of getting deeply involved with another man again. Your father ruined me for life.”

  Sonya rolled her eyes. “Pleeze. If Uncle Ron didn’t ruin Aunt Barbara then there is definitely hope for you. You had to put up with just one crazy hoochie. Look how many Aunt Barbara had to deal with. Not to mention all those outside babies Uncle Ron fathered. As far as we know, for Dad there is only one baby, and as far as I’m concerned that one is questionable.”

  Peggy chose to ignore the last comment. “There is a difference between me and Barbara. She didn’t go through the crap that I went through because she got with Rick in a timely manner. I’m grateful for that. I had nearly two whole years to -”

  “Feel sorry for yourself? Almost turn into an alcoholic? As far as I’m concerned you should have been stronger than that. Dad was never a candidate for husband of the year anyway. Although he might have been faithful before he met Suzette, the two of you still never spent a lot of time together. You were beginning to live separate lives. For all I knew, the two of you could have been sleeping in separate beds. Dad was married to his job. He was working like hell to build his business so he could retire early. Now he’s saddled with a woman who’s determined to work him until he’s one hundred.”

  Peggy wondered how Joe had become the main topic of conversation…not that she was complaining. She was glad Sonya was no longer concentrating on her and Willie. “Your father tried to find you New Year’s Eve night.”

  Sonya slipped her hands into the pockets of her slacks. “Yes, I noticed I had a couple of missed calls.”

  “Didn’t you call him back?”

  “Yes, but you know Suzette. She doesn’t always let me talk to him. She claimed he was busy. I called his office and they said he’s out this week. I figured he just wanted to tell me Happy New Year.”

  “Probably. But still, he sounded rather anxious to talk to you.”

  Sonya shrugged. “I don’t know why. I would think he has enough to do, like change diapers.”

  Barbara knew the inner anger Sonya was still dealing with and decided not to touch that one. “When will Mike be returning?” She knew her son-in-law, the private investigator, had flown to Los Angles to conclude a case he’d been working on.

  “Some time tomorrow night. I miss him already.”

  Peggy smiled. She knew how her daughter felt since she missed Willie as well. She was getting used to seeing him each week when he flew into town. “If you’re not doing anything for dinner you can join me. I’ve been dying to try that new Chinese restaurant on International Drive.”

  Sonya smiled. “I’d love to.”

  * * *

  “Will there be anything else, Mr. Baker?”

  Willie glanced up from the documents he’d been scanning and glanced over at the young woman who worked as an intern in the marketing department of his real estate firm. Diana Nash. And if he recalled, she was a new hire who began in September.

  “No, there’s nothing else.”

  After the woman left he leaned back in his chair as memories of the past weekend filled his mind, and he couldn’t help but reflect on New Year’s Eve night. A night that still made him aroused just thinking about all they’d done in the greenhouse. Things hadn’t stopped there. Once they’d gotten back to her place they’d celebrated some more in the bedroom. She had pulled out a bottle of champagne that had been left from Courtney’s wedding and he’d ended up pouring it all over her and proceeded licking it off.

  They’d slept in late New Year’s Day and when they’d gotten up she convinced him that they needed to go to a white sale of all places. They’d hit several stores and it had been the first time he’d gone shopping with a woman in a long time and had enjoyed himself. And he’d learned more about bed sheets that day than he’d figured he would ever need to know. But it had been fun.

  After shopping they had stopped by her sister’s condo and enjoyed the rest of the day with Barbara and her fiancé Rick. He liked Rick and the two of them had watched the football game while Barbara and Peggy decided to do some baking. Later that night the four of them had played cards while drinking beer and eating brownies.

  Like aways, just spending time with Peggy had been a joy; a real treat. He loved her and he was looking forward to seeing her again.

  And when he did see her he would ask her to go to Paris with him.

  Seven

  “Are you enjoying the play, Willie?” Peggy whispered.

  He glanced over at her. The Color Purple, had come to Orlando as part of their national tour and he’d come to town and surprised her with tickets. He could tell she was enjoying herself and was concerned about him enjoying his.

  He gave her an assured smile. “Yes, sweetheart, I’m enjoying myself.”

  A few hours later he took her hand to lead her out of the auditorium. There had been a sold-out crowd and from the look on everyone’s faces, he could tell they’d enjoyed themselves as well.

  “Well look who’s here, Joe.”

  Willie and Peggy glanced up at the same time to see Joe and a young woman who was plastered to his side. Willie figured she was the infamous Suzette. The first thought that came to his mind was that she had certainly outdone herself but with poor results. She looked like she’d been to a nightclub with her short black clingy dress and a pair of killer stilettos and overly made up face. On the other hand, Peggy’s outfit made her look glamorous, sophisticated and classy. He preferred the Peggy look.

  “Joe. Suzette,” Peggy said, recovering at the surprise of seeing the couple. Glancing over at her Willie could tell her smile was forced.

  Willie and Joe shook hands. They had met before when Joe dropped by Sonya and Mike’s house one night while he and Peggy were there. Willie thought it was a pity the man hadn’t appreciated Peggy as his wife, when she had so much more class than the woman hanging on Joe’s arm who was showing an indecent amount of cleavage.

  Joe then introduced him to Suzette. He thought it was sad when she openly checked him out, giving him an appreciative look from head to toe, in front of her husband and Peggy. Which of the two she was trying to piss off he wasn’t sure.

  Willie cleared his throat. “So did the two of you enjoy the play?” He thought he would be diplomatic and ask.

  “It was simply awesome,” Suzette said, all but batting her long eyelashes at him. On some women they would probably look natural but on her they looked false which he had a feeling they were.

  She then turned her attention to Peggy and a frown touched the younger woman’s lips. “So, Peggy, I understand you’re going to be a grandmother,” Suzette said with a smirk on her face as if being old enough to be a grandmother was something distasteful.

  Peggy smiled. “Yes, and Joe will be a grandfather as well. And of course you will become a step-grandmother.”

  Willie had to re
frame from laughing and could immediately tell being reminded of her husband’s age, especially by the ex-wife, probably didn’t sit too well with Suzette. Before she could open her mouth to say anything, he quickly stepped in and said. “Well, Peggy and I will be going. Good evening.”

  Taking Peggy’s hand firmly in his, he led her toward the exit. He glanced over at her wondering about her mood after seeing her ex. “Not having seconds thoughts about us stopping at the Oasis for coffee, are you?”

  She met his gaze and smiled. “No. I’m looking forward to it.”

  And he was glad to hear that. They would enjoy coffee and a pastry and talk about the play. Then they would go back to her place where he would be staying the night. He recalled just when he’d stopped staying at the hotel whenever he would arrive in town and began staying at her place. It had been a few months ago. There hadn’t been a discussion on the matter it just seemed like the thing to do since he was with her most of the time and had slept over most of the time. He enjoyed waking up beside her in the mornings, taking showers with her and getting dressed in the same room as she did.

  When they’d first begun seeing each other he would return to Orlando every other week. Now he came to town every weekend. His daughter had begun teasing him about it but he took it all in stride. He figured sooner or later they would make a decision about their future. He was just giving her time to get used to having him around. She had to know the only reason he visited Orlando so often was because of her.

  He wondered how she defined their relationship and decided he would ask her later.

  * * *

  “Peggy?”

  They’d just made love and she was lying beside him with her eyes closed. His hands were resting on her thigh, still needing to touch her. “Hmm?”

  “I have a business trip to Paris the first week in February and I would like you to come with me.”

  He studied her face and saw her eyes open. She glanced over at him in surprise.

  “Paris?”

  “Yes.”

  He didn’t miss the frown that settled on her face as she pulled herself up in bed in a sitting position. “I don’t know, Willie. We’ve never gone on a trip together before.”

  “I know. Don’t you think it’s about time?”

  Her frown deepened. “I didn’t know there was a time table on things like that.”

  “There’s not, but I figured it would be something nice for us to do together.”

  “Yes, but Paris?”

  “I’d like to take you there.” He decided not to mention that in the eight months they’d been together, although he’d invited her to his ranch in Texas she hadn’t been there either.

  When she didn’t say anything he said. “Talk to me, Peggy. Is it because you can’t get the time off work or is it me?”

  She lifted her brow. “You?”

  “Yes, sweetheart, me.” He moved to prop up on his elbow. “I want to ask you something and I want you to think before you respond, okay.”

  “Okay.”

  “How would you define our relationship?”

  He could tell she’d gotten nervous by the way she was nibbling on her bottom lip. “How would you define it?” she countered.

  “I asked you first.”

  She pulled in a deep breath and met his gaze and said. “I consider us friends.”

  He nodded. “Nothing more than friends?”

  “Good friends,” she clarified.

  He didn’t say anything for a moment. He would love for her to admit to him what she’d admitted to Toni a week ago. “And good friends on occasion do things together, I would agree with that. However, I doubt very many spend as much time in bed as we do,” he said, trying to make a point and hoped that she got it.

  She shook her head. “No, but our relationship is different.”

  “Different how?”

  She shrugged. “We’re good friends and we’re also lovers.”

  He noted she spoke with strong conviction in her voice when she’d stated the latter. “And what if I told you I wanted to be more than your good friend and lover, Peggy? What if I told you that I was in love with you and wanted to marry you?”

  She stared at him for a long moment and then without saying anything she slowly eased out of bed. He could tell her degree of nervousness had increased by the way she was rubbing her hands over her arms. And she was looking at everything else in her bedroom but him. She was wearing a cute negligee. She liked wearing them to bed and although he would eventually remove them, sometime during the night she would put it back on. She hadn’t gotten the hang of sleeping in the nude yet.

  Finally she met his gaze again and he actually saw fear in her eyes. “Why do you want things between us to change, Willie?”

  She eased up in bed, not caring he was stark naked. “And why do you want things between us to stay the same?”

  She gazed at him for a long moment and then she turned and walked over to the window and glanced out into the darkness. It took her a few moments to turn around and the look on her face made him draw in a deep breath and slowly let it out. Tears wetted her cheeks.

  “I’m scared to totally give my heart to you,” she said brokenly.

  He got out of bed and crossed the room to pull her into his arms. After holding her for a few moments he asked. “Why, Peggy? Do you think I would deliberately hurt you?”

  She shook her head against his chest before raising her face to meet his gaze. “No, I don’t think you would deliberately hurt me. You are the most honorable man I know, Willie. I realized it on the first day I met you. You’re as genuine as they come. You would treat your marriage vows as sacred and would never abuse them.” She paused a second and then said. “But -”

  “But what?”

  “Nothing is one-hundred sure proof. And I’ve built this protective shield around me since my divorce. Our relationship, as it is now, makes me feel safe because I’ve set up inner boundaries I won’t cross. I don’t want that to change.”

  “And I do. We’ve been together for eight months, Peggy. We’re good together, we enjoy spending time together and I see no reason for us not to consider our future.” He smiled teasingly down at her. “We’re not getting any younger, you know.”

  Willie then paused a moment and when she lowered her head to study his naked chest, he added. “And I’m not Joe.”

  She snatched her head up abruptly and met his gaze. “I never said you were Joe,” she whispered.

  “You didn’t have to. By not wanting to deepen our relationship and setting those boundaries you basically told me what the roadblocks were. He hurt you, I know that. His actions established a degree of mistrust in your mind about men, including me, I know that as well. But not all men are like Joe Morrison, Peggy, and don’t you think it’s time for you to give love a second chance? I heard it’s even better the second time around.”

  She held his gaze for the longest time. “I wished I could believe that.”

  “You can and you should. But the belief has to come from within you, Peggy. You have to be the one to determine if your ex-husband is worth everything you’re now denying yourself because of him and the pain he’s caused you. I can’t make that decision for you, sweetheart. I’m just a man who has fallen in love with you. I don’t want anyone else and I don’t need anyone else, younger or older. You’re all the woman I need and want but you have to believe it. I can tell you that until I’m blue in the face and it wouldn’t matter. It has to be what you believe.”

  When she didn’t say anything, he said. “Come on, let’s get dressed and fix breakfast. I’ll be leaving for the airport around noon today,” he whispered against her ear.

  The thought of leaving her this time bothered him but he knew she needed her space to think about all they’d said to each other. He knew things would work out between them, but like he’d said she was the one who had to believe.

  * * *

  A short while later they were in her kitchen working in compan
ionable silence. As usual he was at the stove cooking the eggs, bacon and biscuits while she set the table. Over the past few months they’d done this together several times. The only difference today was the silence. Peggy suspected that like her, Willie had a lot on his mind.

  “Everything’s ready.”

  She turned from taking the bottle of orange juice from the refrigerator. “Okay.”

  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see something was going wrong with their relationship already and she had no idea how to fix it. He wanted her to go to Paris with him but she wasn’t sure she was ready to do that. In her mind, taking a trip with him meant leaving her comfort zone, venturing beyond what was safe and the thought of doing that sent shivers of fear down her spine. She had worked too hard to rebuild her self-esteem at the risk of it being destroyed again. That was more than she could bear.

  Peggy continued to hold his gaze, seeing the solemn look in his eyes. He was a wonderful man and he loved her. He’d said it and she believed him. He didn’t deserve the garbage she was still lugging around. He deserved so much more. And the sad thing was that she loved him back. She really did but she was afraid to admit it to him.

  “Come here, baby.”

  She sat the orange juice on the table and didn’t hesitate to cross the room to him. She shivered as she went into his open arms and he pulled her closer to him. He seemed to be enveloping her fears – but not all of them. There were some he didn’t know about. The ones of her sitting in her house alone days and nights drinking heavily. God, she didn’t ever want to go through that period of her life again. It could destroy her. It was bad enough that every time she saw Joe and Suzette she was reminded of the pain, the hurt and the humiliation. Why couldn’t she let go?

  “I love you,” Willie whispered against her temple.