Scarlett Secret

by Brenda Barrett

  He was well and truly curious about her ever since that one searing glance in the elevator.

  He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to share everything about him. He could not recall feeling this need to know a person as much as he did with this mysterious girl whose surname he didn't even know.

  "What do you say we spend the day together tomorrow?" he asked.

  She leaned toward him. She smelled sweet, like exotic spices. "Repeat that. I can't hear you."

  There was a thunderous noise in the background as the crowd around them booed the person on stage.

  He came to her side of the wrap-around seat and leaned close to her ear.

  "Can we spend the day together tomorrow?"

  She looked at him, her eyes wide. "No, I...Sorry, I am supposed to be going to the Emerald Island tomorrow."

  "With someone special?" He waited with bated breath for her answer.

  "No," she whispered near his ear. "Definitely not."

  Her lips brushed his ear and Zack felt the sensation all the way to his toes. It was electric. He didn't think before he did it.

  He turned to face her. They were almost nose to nose. Before he could think too much about what he was about to do, Zack hauled her into his arms and kissed her.

  She gave a gasp of shock against his mouth. A moan broke in her throat as his lips parted hers, and then her arms were around his neck and she was kissing him back as hungrily as he was kissing her...

  He loved the feel of her in his arms, the softness of her breasts against his chest, the long length of her legs against his. He pulled her closer to him, so close that he could feel beat of her heart against his chest.

  How long they were kissing he had no idea.

  "And the winner is Lola!"

  "That's you," somebody said over their heads.

  They sprang apart at the sound of the voice. That was when the noise of the crowd filtered back in. Zack stared at her and she stared back at him, her hazel eyes cloudy.

  "Congratulations," he said huskily.

  She groaned. "What am I doing?"

  "Going to collect your prize." Zack helped her up. She went to the front, said her thank you’s, and the next thing he knew she was heading out the door.

  Now that was a kiss. He sat in the booth, half dazed. Capable of making you forget everything.

  The both of them were combustible together.

  He just had to solve the mystery of Lola. Maybe tomorrow when he booked himself on the Emerald Island tour, he would get to know her better.

  *****

  Terri half-expected Hamad's whole army and Mona to be in the suite when she got there but when she let herself inside the suite she was met with silence.

  She breathed out shakily. In the karaoke lounge nobody had known who she was. It was semi-dark, and she had on a head scarf, which was as good a disguise as any. That kiss had been a close call--and in public, too.

  She hurriedly changed and combed her curly hair out around her shoulders. While she combed her hair she relived the kiss. The five day and night free stay that she had won to Al Jannah did not produce as much euphoria as that kiss did.

  She put on her night dress, turned off her light, closed her eyes and relived it, over and over again, until she was slowly going mad with it.

  She needed to think about something else. She took up the phone and texted Lola instead.

  Delay. Prince gone for 3 days. I am fine.

  Was that cryptic enough to through off Ajmal and clear enough for Lola to figure out? She wondered if Ajmal was tapping the phone.

  She was doubtful. She cleared it and started over. I am fine. Delay in plans. Don't worry.

  She pressed send but knew that Lola would worry. There was nothing like the phrase 'don't worry' to get you worrying.

  She needed to call Lola from another phone. She also needed to call her parents and find out if they were okay.

  They would be calling her by now. And then her brain went back to the most eventful moment of her life. Kissing Zachary Lee Chang.

  She didn't know if she could sleep with it churning over and over in her mind. She put her hand on her lips. The best kiss ever.

  She fell asleep with a smile.

  Chapter Twelve

  Lola woke up to what sounded like pandemonium near her ears. She sat up groggily and felt the bed swaying. Then she realized that she was in the hammock. The sun was high in the sky. She squinted at the house. Several men were on the roof, pounding and shouting and creating general pandemonium. She got out of the hammock and yawned and stretched.

  A sharp whistle from the housetop and a catcall stopped her mid-stretch. Her blouse had ridden up all the way to her breasts. She tugged it down and grabbed the blanket that Reuben had given her last night and headed inside.

  She found him in the dining room busily cutting wood with his miter saw. He looked up when she cleared her throat.

  "Hey cuz. Slept well?"

  Cuz? Lola quirked her brow. "You could have woken me." She glanced at the clock in the kitchen. It was after eleven.

  "You deserve your beauty sleep." Reuben winked at her and put another plank of wood on the machine. "I made breakfast. I don't know what your new dietary requirements are, as it relates to breakfast, but I made ackee and salt fish and dumplings and yam and sweet potatoes."

  He started the machine again and studiously ignored her.

  Lola headed to the kitchen, saw her reflection in cabinet glass and gasped. She had a serious case of bed head. Her eyes looked puffy and one side of her face had the pattern of the hammock on it.

  She groaned, picked her way past Reuben and all of his fandangle on the floor and headed upstairs to wash her face and change her clothes.

  She did that quickly. She was looking forward to eating breakfast. Terri used to make ackee and salted fish when they were in London together. She had liked it.

  Reuben made it better. Lola found herself almost wanting to lick the plate--it was that good. He even made freshly squeezed orange juice. When all of this was over, whatever happened to her, she needed to take Reuben with her.

  She grinned at her insane musings and headed to the dining room, where she heard Reuben talking to a gruff-voiced man.

  They spun around when she entered.

  "Who is this?" the gruff-voiced man bellowed.

  "You remember Terri," Reuben said, "Terri, this is Carlisle."

  "Otherwise known as Solji!" the man said, laughing. "Terri, you have grown into one fine, fine woman."

  Lola smiled. "Thank you."

  "And Reuben must be one proud cousin," Solji said jovially. "Cousin and cousin make good soup."

  He laughed and headed through the kitchen, winking at her on his way out.

  "What did he mean by that?" Lola asked, pushing her hand in the front of her pocket.

  Reuben frowned. "Come on, you must have heard that term before."

  "No, well..." Lola shrugged, "pretend that I didn't."

  Reuben sighed. "It means that cousins can have a good relationship together."

  Lola nodded. "Oh."

  "I am sure you have heard that term before, Terri." Reuben shook his head. "You have been acting really strange lately."

  "And you have been acting really snappy," Lola huffed. "Solji was joking. So calm down."

  Reuben took off the gloves that he had on his hands and flexed his fingers. "I am calm. You are the one who is snappy."

  Lola eyed him. The tension between them was at stratospheric levels. She dragged her eyes from his. "Breakfast was really good. Thank you."

  He grunted. "At least you liked it. So you ready to work?"

  "Sure. What are you doing here?"

  "Just finished the crown moldings for in here. Solji will help me to put it up and then you and I can do some painting."

  "Sounds fun." Lola rubbed her hand over one of the smoothly finished wood edgings.

  "And then I go to choir practice at five. Want to come?" Reuben aske
d the question as if he wanted her to say no.

  "Sure," Lola said brightly, "should be fun."

  She could swear she heard him groan.

  *****

  Pedro church was a large church building. Reuben had casually informed her that he started going to the church just a year before and they had made him youth choir director. Lola thought it would be really strange if she asked him where he used to go to church before. That was obviously filed under information that Terri should know.

  When they arrived at the church a few girls ran to meet Reuben at the car door, giggling and chatting to him before he could even say good evening.

  It was obvious that he was popular. Lola was given a hurried hi and then it was all about ‘sir', as they called him. Their practice dragged on and on. Lola found an illustrated Bible on one of the back benches and got immersed in some of the stories. At one time, Reuben came over and asked her if she was okay and she nodded absently. She had forgotten how fun it was to read the Bible.

  "So what do you think of the first song?" Reuben came and sat beside her

  Lola looked up at him. "It was good. You have a good group there."

  "And the second?" He was staring at her in anticipation to hear her answer and she smiled at him.

  "It wasn't to my taste."

  "Why?" Reuben sank down beside her.

  "It sounded too..." she wrinkled her brow. "Too, ah, how should I put this? They were singing the same thing over and over. That song was not really about the voices blending or the message in the song. It was more about the music. I am betting that there is going to be a lot of that at the competition, where the music overpowers the voices."

  "I should have asked you to come to practice with me weeks ago." Reuben got up, looking perplexed. "That's a good point."

  "Why, thank you, Reuben." Lola batted her eyelashes. "Anytime."

  He paused before he walked away. "Sorry for snapping at you earlier."

  "When?" Lola raised an eyebrow.

  Reuben smiled. "Okay. Then I guess I am forgiven. Another thing I like about you, you never hold a grudge."

  He walked back up to the front and an older lady came to the door and waved to him. He waved back with a broad smile on his face.

  Lola went back to her story about Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, when the same lady slid in beside her and nudged her.

  She looked up and her eyes clashed with dark brown ones set in a narrow, very pretty face.

  She smiled at Lola. "So what is going on?"

  "What do you mean?" Lola asked. All the breath was seeping out of her body in fright; the lady was looking at her thoroughly, knowingly.

  "You had a brain concussion, Terri?" the lady continued.

  "No, I, ah..." Lola was stumped. Who was this?

  As if the lady was reading her mind she said stiffly. "My name is Fanny Murphy. And you are?"

  "Ah... Terri Scarlett," Lola replied uncertainly.

  The lady laughed. "Really now? My Terri Scarlett would be hugging me right now and talking a mile a minute about everything that is going on in her life. You are not her."

  Lola froze. "How did you know?"

  "Terri calls me Aunt Fan," Fanny said solemnly. "And she wouldn't be looking at me as if I am a stranger. I am Reuben's mother, and you are?"

  "Reuben's mother?" Lola whispered.

  "Yes." Fanny nodded. "Are you one of Peter Scarlett's children?"

  "No, oh no." Lola shook her head.

  "So where is Terri? And why is Reuben calling you Terri?"

  "I am Lola. Terri is away for a short while. She is doing some business for me. I am filling in for her."

  "Mmmm." Fan looked as if she wasn't convinced.

  "Please don't tell Reuben that I am not Terri." Lola pleaded. "Terri is helping me out with something and she'll be back shortly. Nobody will notice that we switched places for a little while."

  Fan swung her head and looked at her son, who chose that moment to turn around and look at them, his eyes softening when they rested on Lola.

  Fan frowned. "I am going to tell him. I don't care what you and Terri have planned."

  "Please no," Lola pleaded, looking between Fan and Reuben.

  "You had better clear this up real soon, young lady. My son looks a little bit too smitten with you. We can't have that, not while you are pretending to be his cousin." She frowned fiercely. "If I wasn't on my way to Negril to track down my daughter Faith and her no-good, ganja smoking, unemployed boyfriend, I would deal with this now."

  She got up, obviously quite preoccupied with another other situation.

  "You better have this sorted when I get back. Whatever it is you and Terri have cooked up can't be good for the people around you. It is deceitful."

  Lola felt a nervous tingle. Fan didn't say how long she would be gone or how long she would stay. She was right, it was deceitful. She wondered if she told Reuben that she was really Lola Montega and not Terri, what harm could it do anyway? It wasn't as if Reuben would report her to Hamad.

  Fanny left the church after a brief discussion with Reuben, who didn't seem at all fazed by what she said. Lola hoped it wasn't about her and Terri and their switcheroo.

  *****

  "Reuben, I have something to tell you," Lola said it hesitantly because Reuben looked preoccupied. He glanced at her and then slowed down and looked through the rearview mirror.

  "Does it have anything to do with the car following us?"

  "What?" Lola looked behind and there was a black SUV which looked just like the one that Hamad's men came to pick Terri up in. It was a few meters behind them.

  "Oh my." Panic made her voice tremble.

  Reuben glanced at her. "Some secret admirer of yours? A creepy stalker?"

  Lola was too busy working out in her mind, the fact that Hamad must have left somebody to watch her.

  Did he suspect that Terri was not her? Was Terri in danger?

  She put her hand to her heart and was hyperventilating. Reuben pulled over at the side of the road and stopped. The vehicle swung past them and stopped in front.

  This was her fault. Lola looked at Reuben frantically. "Listen Reuben, I can explain."

  "It's Andy!" Reuben grinned, getting out of the vehicle at the same time. She saw a huge guy with red bushy hair and an eye patch getting out of the vehicle in front.

  He waddled toward Reuben and gave him a hug. Andy approached her side of the car. "Terri! I haven't seen you since your high school graduation."

  "Come and give your big cuz a hug?" He had a heavy American accent.

  Lola got out of the vehicle gingerly. Andy looked like she could get lost in his arms, as he hugged her off the ground. He was a gentle giant.

  "You both have to come over to Ma's next Sunday. I am killing a goat. Inviting the whole fam. I didn't get to come to Pops’ funeral and I need to see y'all."

  Reuben was grinning from ear to ear. "Sure. Tell Aunt Karla hello."

  "Yes, er...the same," Lola said hoarsely.

  Andy laughed. "Sure."

  He waddled back to his car but turned around just before reaching it. "Hey Terri, I prefer you with hazel eyes. You look more like me. Capice?"

  Lola smiled. "Capice."

  Reuben laughed when they got back in the car. He tooted Andy, who pulled onto the road. "He has gotten bigger, hasn't he?"

  "Yes." Lola nodded. "Much, much bigger."

  Reuben glanced at her. "You were going to confess something to me before he pulled us over?"

  "I was, er...going to say...er..."

  Reuben sighed. "Don't worry about it; my mom told me."

  "She did?" Lola widened her eyes.

  "Yes," Reuben turned around and faced her. "She said that you are not Terri and that you are in love with me."

  Lola gasped.

  "Don't get me wrong," Reuben said, shaking his head, "but my mother can be fanciful and way out there with her theories. Remember the time when she dreamt that she saw Hope drowning and then she didn'
t allow Hope to even go to the beach for years? She tortured that girl because the beach was practically in our back yard."

  "Er... okay." Lola relaxed slightly.

  "The thing is, I know things have been way off between us. She may have thought that since you changed your hair and eyes...and that you, ah...look at me a certain way..."

  Lola sighed and closed her eyes.

  "You do look at me a certain way, Terri, like I have been looking at you."

  This was the point when she should tell him that she was really Lola Montega and not Terri Scarlett but the panic from a few minutes ago was still fresh in her mind.

  What if Hamad really was spying on her? She couldn't tell Reuben; he had to believe that she was Terri if by any chance a scenario like that happened.

  She really, really needed to talk to Terri now.

  "Terri," Reuben said gently, "maybe if we ignore it, whatever this is, it will go away."

  Lola sighed. "Okay."

  "Okay." He nodded and started the car.

  They drove home in heavy silence, both of them knowing that that was not going to happen.

  Chapter Thirteen

  "Hey Reuben, have you seen my phone?" Lola asked, walking into the kitchen. They had gotten home an hour ago. In the silence Reuben had castigated himself for telling her about what his mother had whispered to him.

  Most of what she said didn't make sense anyway. Why did he repeat it?

  "Reuben?" Terri's voice was impatient. "Phone. Have you seen it?"

  "No. Sorry." He took a sip of his tea and pretended to look over the house plan that he had spread before him. At the rate at which he was working he would probably finish the whole thing by the end of summer. The roofing was almost done and the plumbing and electricity had been modernized.

  He took the pencil from behind his ear and looked at Terri, who was rummaging in the drawers for her phone.

  He watched her as she reached up to the top cupboard in her khaki shorts and oversized Bob Marley t-shirt.

  He had never noticed her curves before; she was always just his little cousin, Terri, who was fourteen years his junior. Why was he noticing her now? And did his mother have to put ideas in his head that she was in love with him?