by Dara Girard
Edmund took Cammie from her. “I do.” He went into the kitchen and grabbed a spritz bottle. “Fill that with lukewarm water.” After she did Edmund lightly misted the iguana. Slowly the panting stopped. “She’s probably dehydrated so this won’t be enough. Go and prepare a bath. Not cold. Make sure the water is lukewarm.”
Mary raced into the bathroom, glad that Cammie had improved but no less concerned. She struggled to turn the knobs but eventually managed to fill the tub. “It’s ready!”
Edmund entered the room with his sleeves rolled up and Cammie cradled in his arms. He gently placed her in the water. Mary watched his hands, remembering how they’d held her just as tenderly. She turned away.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said.
“Thank you.” Why couldn’t it be okay for them? Why did he have to be the man who’d caused her to lose her promotion twice? The man who’d kept secrets from her?
After about fifteen minutes Edmund took Cammie out of the bath and toweled her. The iguana looked healthier. “There we are. Much better. I think she deserves a treat. I have some melon in the fridge. It will help rehydrate her.”
In the kitchen Mary fed Cammie a piece of cantaloupe. To her relief, Cammie ate it.
She glanced at Edmund, who stood at the sink washing the knife he had used to cut the melon. “I guess all those books you read about iguanas came in handy. Thank you.”
He dried the knife, then put it away. “You’re welcome.”
Mary hesitated. “Would you mind keeping Cammie for a while? She’s really not doing well and I’m afraid she’ll…she misses her cage and I know this wouldn’t have happened if she’d been here.”
“I don’t mind looking after her,” Edmund said. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to her.”
Mary didn’t respond, the memory of Mrs. McQueeth still separating them.
“You can trust me.”
She touched Cammie’s skin. “Just make her better.”
“I will.”
Mary went to the door.
“If there’s anything else, I’d be happy to help.”
Mary started to say no, then stopped and sent him a pensive look. “Actually, I’m glad you asked. I could use your help.”
“Stop moving,” Jenna scolded him.
“When Mary asked for my help this isn’t what I had in mind,” Edmund said.
“You’re going to be the perfect master of ceremonies.” She adjusted his jacket. “Too bad we couldn’t put you on auction.”
“You’d have to kill me first.”
She smiled smugly. “I’d bet you would be out there if Mary was willing to bid.”
“She wouldn’t bid on me.”
“What happened between you two?”
“Are you finished yet?”
Jenna drew back and looked at him. “Yes.” She watched him turn. “You’re not going to tell me?”
“No.”
On the night of the auction, a crisp summer wind greeted the participants. With word that some of the expensive hats were going to begin bidding for as low as fifty dollars, the ballroom was filled to capacity. Edmund stood at the podium and looked at his mother and Jenna. They outstyled everyone with matching bright pink silk off-the-shoulder full-length gowns, glass slippers and large dangling earrings made of semiprecious stones. His father wore a dark suit with a ladybug pin on his lapel. But the residents looked the best. The women looked fashionable in their gowns and the men wore their finest suits to act as escorts for the models. Then he saw Mary and couldn’t tear his gaze away, his mind aching for the words that would make everything all right again.
Mary was too busy to notice him. She had started the evening in a panic, beginning with the last pair of stockings she was to wear. She slipped into the pair of lace-top diamond-net stockings attached to a garter belt, then immediately knew she had come full circle. The old Mary and the new Mary had become one. She took a deep breath and put on a knee-length, turquoise chemise dress, glass bead necklace and earrings—Jenna had insisted—and a pair of black satin shoes. Tonight will be a success, she told herself. But once she entered the ballroom she wasn’t as sure. Mr. Johnson hadn’t practiced what he was to say and had lost his reading glasses, and Mrs. Pointer, an elderly woman of ninety-nine years of age, refused to wear the hat. Instead she wanted to just carry it on her lap and hold it up while she was pushed in her wheelchair.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” Jenna said, seeing Mary’s worried expression. “Don’t worry about Mr. Johnson or Mrs. Pointer. Nobody expects this event to be perfect.”
“I hope it works.”
“It will. Tonight’s our lucky night.” Jenna glanced at something in the distance, and Mary turned to see what it was. She saw Edmund and her heart stopped, a feeling of loss cascading over her as she looked at him. She spun away. “The show’s about to start.”
Lady Luck definitely made an appearance that night. At the end of the evening Edmund announced the six-figure amount they had raised and the crowd cheered. Gregory hugged Mary. “You saved us.”
“I had a lot of help.”
“Edmund was right. You were the perfect person for this project.” He hesitated, catching a glance at his friend in the background. “If you can forgive me, you can forgive him, too.”
“I already have, but that doesn’t mean I can be with him.”
Gregory shoved his hands in his pockets. “Just because you’ve gone down a certain road doesn’t mean you have to stay there. You can make U-turns. Why let pride keep you on a lonely road?”
“I’m proud of you,” Edmund said as he helped Jenna with her coat. He turned to his parents and Mrs. Lemon. “All of you.”
His mother hugged him and his father patted him on the shoulder. “Perhaps you’re not so much a dragonfly as a flying beetle.”
Jenna hugged him. “It was a great night.”
“I can’t tell you how thankful I am for all that you’ve done.”
“We only helped,” Mrs. Lemon said. “You should be thanking Mary.” When the group turned and stared at her, she impatiently threw her shawl over her shoulder. “It’s the truth.”
Jenna nodded. “It is. This is all due to her.”
Edmund sighed. “I know. You’ve been hinting at it for weeks.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“Something.”
“I could talk to her for you.”
“I can handle this.”
“Are you sure?”
He affectionately tweaked her chin. “Yes, little sister, I’m sure. But if I need any advice I know who to call.” He looked at them and smiled. “I know I have a family.”
Edmund left and headed down the hall. He saw Mary standing by the elevators. He stopped and began to turn away, then remembered that a Davis never turned away from something he wanted. Although she stood only a few feet away it felt like oceans. He took a deep breath and moved forward.
Chapter 14
“Great evening.”
Mary turned to Edmund, startled. He stood a respectable distance away, but still felt too close. “Yes.”
“Cammie’s doing well.”
“I’m glad.”
He pushed the down button.
“Thanks for taking care of her for me.”
“It’s no problem. I—” He stopped.
“Yes?”
He shook his head. “It’s nothing.”
“What were you going to say?”
“We heard back from the coroner. Mrs. McQueeth died of natural causes.”
“I know, Jenna told me. I’m glad to hear that.”
“Right.” He hit the down button again. “I’m not a very social person. There are few people I can really talk to.” He took a deep breath. “I don’t…” He moved his hands in a helpless gesture. “Just tell me what I have to do to win you back and I’ll do it.”
“Win me back?”
“Yes. If you want me to create a wing dedicated in her honor I’ll do it.
If you want anything just tell me and you can consider it done.”
“I just want you to stop hiding the truth from me.”
“I wasn’t trying to hide anything. Gregory and I didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily. I’m not hiding anything anymore.”
She looked doubtful. “Really?”
“Yes.”
She studied her manicure. “I read Mrs. McQueeth’s diary. You’re mentioned in it a lot.” She raised her gaze to his face. “I found out that you had taken her out for dinner and bought her things.” She threw up her hands, exasperated. “Why didn’t you tell me you were visiting her? What was the big secret? Why couldn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t feel it was a big deal. Every time I went to meet with Gregory I would stop by to see her and make sure things were okay. I said I would look after her for you.”
Mary shook her head in disgust. “You’re lying again.”
“I’m not lying.” When Mary moved to walk past him, Edmund grabbed her wrist. “Look, I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I am used to keeping things to myself.”
Mary yanked her wrist away and shouted, “Why?”
“Because it’s safer! People can’t hurt you when you know more than they do. It gives you the upper hand. Growing up I didn’t have the upper hand. Everyone knew my parents were different and that my grandparents had to raise my sister and me. It was a small community and they knew all my weak spots and used them against me. Then we moved to a brand new neighborhood and I learned that life was like a card game. You have an advantage the more your opponent doesn’t know about you. When people know too much they can hurt you.” He rested his hands on his hips and lowered his head. “But I never considered that having the advantage could also hurt someone else. Someone I truly care about.”
“How can I trust you?”
Edmund took an awkward step toward her. “I don’t often ask for forgiveness, but I’m asking you to forgive me.”
“I do,” she whispered.
“I can’t bring her back, but at least—”
Mary shook her head. “No, I’m not talking about Mrs. McQueeth or the community center or my promotion. I’m talking about you. How do I know I can trust you? My father left me, and before Curtis I never had good relationships with men. I wish I knew you were different, but I don’t.”
The elevator arrived. They stepped in.
Edmund leaned against the wall and sighed, feeling the hopelessness of the situation. He stared at the lit numbers as they descended. “Thanks for what you did for the community,” he said in a distant voice. “The residents looked great. I know you didn’t do it for me, but—”
“Yes, I did,” she whispered.
He turned to her with renewed hope. “What?”
She kept her gaze on the elevator doors. “The auction, the fund-raiser, the publicity. I did it all for you.” She looked at him, her eyes filled with tears. “Because I can’t help loving you.” When he moved toward her she stopped him. “That doesn’t mean we can be together. I can’t trust that you’ll stay around, but we can be friends.”
Edmund pounded the emergency button and the elevator halted to a stop. His voice rose above the flashing red lights and alarm. He grabbed her. “I love you,” he said, his words raw with emotion. “I don’t know when it happened and sometimes I don’t know why, but I do and I can’t stop myself. I’m happy about your successes, but I don’t want to be neighbors or colleagues or lovers—I want you to be mine. I want to know you’ll be with me in the morning when I wake up and when I go to bed at night. I want you to carry my name, I want you to carry my child and I want you to share my life. I don’t want anything less than that. Do you hear me?”
“Yes.”
A voice came through the call box. “Are you all right in there?”
“Yes,” Edmund said, his gaze never leaving Mary’s face. “I made a mistake and I’m sorry.”
“Okay. We’ll cancel the crew.”
The alarm stopped, the elevator started moving again and suddenly all they could hear was their breathing. “Mary, I wanted to tell you this many times, but I knew it wasn’t what you wanted to hear. I promise—”
She pressed her fingers against his lips. “No, don’t promise anything. Promises get broken.”
He removed her hand and held it close to his chest, where she could feel his heart beat. The heat of his grayish-brown eyes penetrating hers. “I promise that I will never leave your side. That I will not keep any secrets from you, unless it’s a surprise, and until my last breath you will hold my heart. I want you to be my wife.”
Mary gazed up at him. His eyes still reminded her of the Arctic, and she knew the color would never soften or be warm. He would never be very social and she would likely always have to remind him to listen, but she didn’t want another man because no other man had ever looked at her like this. And she knew she could stare forever into the gaze of those cool grayish-brown eyes, which reflected a love that always forgave, never judged and promised forever.
To trust was a risk, but it was a risk she was willing to take. “You want me to be your wife?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you care what I want?”
“Only if you want me, too.”
The elevator stopped on the ground floor and the doors opened. Mary took his hand and stepped out. “I do.” She turned and kissed him, no longer afraid to feel the true longings of her heart. “More than you know.”
“I knew I wanted you the first time I saw you, I just didn’t realize how much.”
She smiled. “Do you always get what you want?”
“Would it sound arrogant if I said yes?”
Mary nodded. “Definitely, but at least it would be honest.”
“Do you always get what you want?”
“I didn’t used to until—” She thought about the day she had received a mysterious invitation in the mail.
“Until what?”
“Until I found the courage to claim it.” They walked out into the summer evening.
Edmund stopped and they both looked up at the blanket of stars. Then Mary whispered, “I did it Mrs. McQueeth—thank you.”
His gaze fell to her face, love reflecting in his eyes. Mary threw her arms around him and, for a moment, as she looked over his shoulder, she could have sworn the stars twinkled and formed a pair of stockings.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-1927-8
POWER PLAY
Copyright © 2008 by Sade Odubiyi
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
ith friends
