Forever an Eaton: Bittersweet LoveSweet Deception

by Rochelle Alers

  Belinda went completely still. It was apparent Zabrina wasn’t going to play the grieving widow. “You never loved him, did you?”

  “If you want to know the truth, Belinda, then I’m going to tell you the truth. I hated Thomas Cooper as much as I loved your brother.”

  Belinda recalled the images of Zabrina Cooper staring blankly at photographers when they snapped frames of her stoic face at her husband’s funeral. Thomas Cooper had come from a long line of African-American politicians dating back to the 1890s, and when the confirmed bachelor announced his engagement a collective groan went up from women all over the state. And nine months later when his young wife delivered a son, rumors as to his hasty nuptials were put to rest.

  “If you hated him, then why did you marry him, Brina?”

  Zabrina blinked back tears. It’d been years since anyone had called her Brina, and hearing it come from her childhood friend took her back to a time when all was right and pure in her world.

  “I can’t tell you. I swore an oath that I’d never tell anyone.”

  Belinda moved closer. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

  “I need a friend, Belinda. When I married Thomas he made me get rid of all my friends.”

  Belinda felt her pain. “Do you have a piece of paper?”

  “Why?”

  “I want to give you my phone numbers. Maybe we can get together to have lunch or even dinner.”

  Opening her small evening bag, Zabrina took out her cell phone. “I’ll program your numbers into my phone.”

  Three minutes later, the two women parted with a promise to get together to talk. They couldn’t change the past, but Belinda knew Zabrina needed a friend.

  “Wasn’t that Thomas Cooper’s widow?” Griffin asked when Belinda returned.

  “Yes.”

  He’d heard rumors why Zabrina Mixon married a man old enough to be her father, but they’d remained just that—rumors. What he did know was that when she ended her engagement to Myles to marry Cooper she’d been vilified in the press until Thomas Cooper used his political influence to pull the articles.

  Belinda accepted the glass of wine Griffin had ordered for her. “We’re going to have lunch or dinner one of these days,” she said after taking a sip of the cool liquid.

  “Good for you.”

  “Oh, you approve?”

  Griffin nodded. “Yes. Look at us, once we were able to clear the air about how we feel about each other.”

  “You’re right, darling.”

  Griffin knew she liked him, but what he didn’t know was how much she’d come to love him—enough to want to spend the rest of her life with him.

  Chapter 14

  Sabrina leaned closer to her sister as they sat in front of the computer monitor. “I don’t like that dress.”

  Layla rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to like it. We’re just looking at different styles.”

  “Isn’t it too soon to think of bridesmaid’s dresses when Uncle Griff hasn’t given her a ring?”

  Layla’s hand stilled on the mouse. “Wasn’t it you who said you overheard him tell Grandma that he was in love with Aunt Lindy?”

  “Yes, but that still doesn’t mean they’re going to get married.”

  “I just want to be ready in case they are ready. I know we’ll be in the wedding, but I am not going to wear a dress I don’t like.”

  Sabrina stared at her twin. “Maybe it’s better if we design the invitations first. Then the only thing we’ll have to do is fill in the date.”

  “Okay,” Layla conceded. “We’ll do the invitations. What if we get some bridal magazines and look through them. It would be easier than trying to come up with our own designs.”

  “That’s a good idea. Let’s ask Uncle Griff if he can take us to the mall.”

  Layla shook her head. “I don’t know if he’s going to take us again. We were just there yesterday.”

  Sabrina pursed her mouth. “I could always tell him that we need to get a gift for Aunt Lindy’s birthday.”

  “Let’s do it,” Layla said, shutting down the computer.

  * * *

  Belinda’s cell phone rang, and she reached over to the table next to her rocker to retrieve it. She pushed the talk button without glancing at the display. “Hello.”

  “Hello, Belinda.”

  She sat up after recognizing the voice coming through the earpiece. “Raymond. Long time, no hear. Where are you?”

  “I’m still in Orlando, but I’m coming up your way next week. Do you think you can find some time to see me?”

  “Where are you going to be?”

  “I have to attend a conference at Johns Hopkins, but I can stop in Philly for a few days either before or after.”

  “You’re going to have to give me a date, Raymond. My nieces are living with me now, and I have very little free time.”

  “How do you like playing mother?”

  A slight frown appeared between her eyes. “I’m not ‘playing mother,’ Raymond. I am a mother.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  She smiled. “Apology accepted. Look, Raymond, I’m not in the house right now so there’s no way for me to check my planner. Can you call me tomorrow evening and I’ll let you know when we can get together?”

  “You’ve got it, doll. Good afternoon.”

  “Good afternoon, Raymond.”

  Belinda looked at Griffin staring back at her. He’d overheard her conversation with Raymond. “Raymond’s coming up next week.”

  “I thought paroled cons weren’t allowed to leave the state,” Griffin said, deadpan.

  “That’s enough, Griffin.”

  Griffin left the cushioned love seat on Belinda’s front porch and came over to hunker down in front of her. “Sunshine’s coming up next week and what, Belinda? Are you going to ask me to take care of the girls while you open your legs for him?”

  “Stop it!” Her eyes filled with tears. “You have so little respect for me that you think I’d sleep with two men at the same time?”

  “What’s with you and this dude?”

  “He’s a friend, Griffin. A friend I’m not sleeping with,” she added in a softer tone.

  “Of course you’re not sleeping with him because you’re sleeping with me. But what’s going to happen when he comes up?”

  Suddenly it dawned on Belinda that Griffin was jealous—jealous of a man he’d never met. “Nothing’s going to happen. I told him that I have the girls living with me, so he’s going to stay at a hotel.”

  “And what if the girls weren’t living with you. Where would he stay?”

  “In my guest bedroom.”

  Griffin blinked once. “You really mean that you’re just friends?”

  She threw up a hand. “Yes, Griffin Rice! We are f-r-i-e-n-d-s!” She spelled the word for him.

  A smile lit up Griffin’s face like the rising sun. “Well, damn, Eaton. Why didn’t you say that in the first place?”

  “I did, Rice,” she countered. “You just chose to believe what you wanted to believe, that a woman can’t be friends with a man and not sleep with him.”

  “I’ve had women as friends that I didn’t sleep with.”

  Belinda emitted an unladylike snort. “Yeah, right.”

  He leaned closer. “We were friends before we started sleeping together.”

  She ran a finger down the length of his nose. “Wrong, Rice. We were in-laws before we started sleeping together.”

  “We’re still in-laws.”

  “True,” Belinda drawled.

  Reaching for her wrist, Griffin eased Belinda off the rocker and onto the floor of the porch. “I’ve been doing some thinking about hanging out here during the
week and at my place on the weekends.”

  “You know you’re dangerous when you start thinking,” she said teasingly.

  “I’m serious, Belinda.”

  She sobered. “Talk to me.”

  His eyes were fathomless pools of dark brown when he focused on Belinda’s mouth. “Why don’t we blend households?”

  “Please explain blending, because I thought that’s what we’ve done.”

  “Either you live with me, or I’ll live with you.”

  Belinda shook her head. “Isn’t that what we’re doing, Griffin? You spend more time here during the week than you do in Paoli. And there’re very few weekends we’re not in Paoli. So, I don’t know what it is you want.”

  Griffin took a deep breath. “I want you, me and the girls to live together under one roof.”

  For a moment, Belinda let herself believe she was mistaken when she tried analyzing the complex man sitting beside her. “You want us to shack up together?”

  “Live together.”

  “Live. Shack. Same difference.”

  “What do you think?”

  “I think you’re crazy. What message would we send to our nieces if we shack up together?”

  “It doesn’t have to be ‘shacking up,’ as you put it.”

  “Pray tell, Rice, what would it be?”

  “We could get married.”

  Belinda stared at Griffin Rice as if he’d taken leave of his senses. He’d mentioned marriage as if he were negotiating a deal. Give me this and I’ll concede that. And, she wondered, what provoked his spur-of-the-moment proposal?

  The sex was great—no, it was better than great. It was incredible. And what about love? Did he actually believe she would marry him when not once had he said or indicated that he loved her?

  A hint of a smile ghosted across her face as realization dawned, just as the sky cleared with the sun rising each morning. “This is about Raymond, isn’t it?”

  “Who?” Griffin asked, feigning ignorance.

  “Sunshine. This is about him, isn’t it? You still don’t believe that we have a platonic relationship and if I became your wife then you’d make certain he’d be out of my life—permanently. Thanks, but no thanks, Griffin. I don’t want to marry you.”

  “This is not about Sunshine.”

  “Who is it about, Griffin, because it’s definitely not about us.” Pushing to her feet, she stood up and went into the house, leaving him staring into space.

  The soft slam of the door caught his attention and Griffin thought Belinda had come back because she’d changed her mind. He schooled his features so not to reveal his disappointment when Sabrina and Layla came out of the house.

  Sabrina stared at her sister. “Uncle Griff, can you please drive us to the mall?”

  He frowned. “Didn’t we have this conversation yesterday?”

  “Yes,” Layla said quickly. “But we forgot to buy something for Aunt Lindy’s birthday.”

  Griffin stood up. “When’s her birthday?”

  “May twenty-eighth,” the girls said in unison.

  He wanted to tell his nieces that he didn’t want to go back to a mall two days in a row because he hated fighting the parking-lot traffic. He also detested the crowds. If they’d spent the weekend in Paoli then he would’ve driven them to a smaller mall that featured specialty shops instead of the large department stores.

  Mother’s Day had come and gone and the day hadn’t gone well with the teenagers. They spent the day in their rooms, refusing to go to their grandparents’ house for Sunday dinner.

  It ended when he sat down with them to let both girls know how much Belinda had been hurt by their behavior, but that she understood they missed their mother, that although she would never replace their mother she loved them as if she’d given birth to them. The day ended with the four of them crawling into Belinda’s bed and falling asleep.

  He woke hours later and carried the girls to their bed, then drove back to Paoli. Griffin didn’t know how Belinda did it. She made parenting look so easy when in reality it was the hardest job in the world.

  Reaching into the pocket of his jeans, he took out his car keys.

  “Let’s go.”

  “We have to get our money,” Layla said excitedly.

  “I’ll cover you this time,” Griffin offered.

  The two girls exchanged a glance. Sabrina smiled at her uncle. “We have to get our purses.”

  “Hurry up.” His voice was fraught with resignation. He didn’t know what it was with women and handbags. It was as if they couldn’t go anywhere without a purse attached to their wrist or shoulder.

  * * *

  Griffin found himself sitting on a tufted chair in a jewelry shop while a saleswoman showed Sabrina and Layla gold lockets.

  Layla beckoned to him. “Come, Uncle Griff, and look at this one. Do you think Aunt Lindy would like it?”

  He stood and came over to the counter. His nieces had selected a variety of heart-shaped lockets. “Which ones do you like?” They pointed to two lockets. “I like this one,” he said, pointing to one with a diamond on the front.

  “We don’t have enough money for that one,” Sabrina said.

  He pulled her ponytail. “Don’t worry about the price. Pick out whatever you want.”

  Griffin wandered over to the showcase with diamond engagement rings and wedding bands. He spied one that would look perfect on Belinda’s hand. Motioning to a salesman, he pointed in the case. “I want to see that one.”

  Light from hanging lamps caught the brilliance of the diamond solitaire. He didn’t know if it would fit Belinda, but he didn’t care. “I’ll take it,” he said softly. “I don’t want my daughters to know I’m buying this for their mother, so let’s not make a big show of it.” Reaching into his pocket, he took out a case with his credit cards. He pushed one across the counter, winking when the elderly man smiled at him.

  “What did you buy, Uncle Griff?” Sabrina asked when she saw him with the small shopping bag.

  “It’s just a little something for your aunt’s birthday. Are you finished shopping?” he asked, smoothly changing the topic.

  “We’re going downstairs to the bookstore while you pay for the necklace. We’ll meet you in front of the store.”

  Not waiting for their uncle to agree or disagree, the two girls raced out of the jewelry store. They needed to buy some magazines to get an idea of what they wanted to wear to their aunt and uncle’s wedding.

  * * *

  Belinda’s palms tingled from applauding as the entire cast of the school production of Grease came back for a third curtain call. She was startled when Griffin put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loud enough to shatter her eardrums. The spring concert was a rousing success.

  Belinda had found herself singing along with Sandy and the Pink Ladies, and she was surprised when Griffin knew the lyrics to “Greased Lightning.”

  Both sets of grandparents had come to see the production, but Dwight and Roberta declined Lucas and Gloria’s invitation to come with them to take their granddaughters out to an ice-cream parlor because they’d committed to a dinner-dance and they would already be late, but they hadn’t wanted to miss seeing their grandchildren’s dramatic debut.

  Belinda kissed her mother and father, resplendent in evening attire, and watched as they rushed out of the auditorium. “Let’s wait out in the lobby for the girls,” she shouted to be overheard.

  Slowly, they inched their way down the aisle and out of the auditorium to the lobby of the elite, private school. Sabrina and Layla would enter the ninth grade the next school year, and then she and Griffin would have to select a high school commensurate with their academic standards.

  They’d attended a public school from the first to the third grade, accelerating to
the fifth grade when they showed advanced aptitude. But at their present school, every student was gifted.

  They didn’t have to wait long as Sabrina and Layla appeared—both in stage makeup. Layla wore a cardigan sweater, buttoned in the back, poodle skirt, bobby socks and black-and-white saddle shoes. She’d tied a scarf around her neck and another around her ponytail.

  Both girls squealed in excitement when Lucas and Gloria handed them bouquets of flowers. Lucas hunkered down and made a big show of kissing each girl on the cheek. “The flowers are from both your grandma and grandpa. They had to leave. What’s in the shopping bags is something else Grandma and I brought back for you.” They’d bought so many souvenirs for the girls they’d decided not to give them everything at the same time.

  Layla smiled and leaned closer to Lucas. “Can we look now?”

  “No, baby girl. Open it when you get home.”

  Sabrina squinted at Lucas. “Grandpa, we’re much too old to be baby girls.”

  Lucas tugged on the end of her ponytail. “I don’t care if you’re thirty, you’ll always be a baby girl to me.”

  Griffin patted his father’s shoulder. “Dad, it’s time we leave before we won’t be able to get a seat.”

  Nodding, Lucas rose to his feet. “The girls can ride with me and Glo.”

  Griffin winked at his mother. “We’ll meet you there.”

  “Your father has really mellowed,” Belinda said as Griffin headed in the direction of the ice-cream parlor.

  “Yeah. That’s what Mom says. She claims going away together was the best thing for him.”

  “For him, or for them, Griffin?”

  “I think it was good for both of them. They needed time away to deal with whatever they needed to deal with.”

  Chapter 15

  Griffin sat in the shiny lipstick-red booth with his mother and Layla, while Sabrina, Belinda and Lucas sat opposite them. They’d ordered floats and sundaes smothered with endless toppings.

  “This is decadent and fattening,” Gloria said, spooning ice cream, whipped cream and chopped nuts into her mouth.