“I don’t believe you,” she told the well-dressed man with a sallow pockmarked complexion. It was almost impossible to discern the color of his eyes behind a pair of thick lenses perched on a short nose that gave him a porcine appearance.
“Perhaps Councilman Cooper and I should leave you alone with your father for a few moments so he can bare his soul. Perhaps then you’ll believe me.”
Thomas nodded to Zabrina. “Mr. Davidson and I will be in your father’s study. Please, don’t get up. I know where it is.”
Zabrina felt her throat closing as a wave of rage held her captive, not permitting her to draw a normal breath. It was the second time the arrogant politician had usurped her in her home. Once she’d reached sixteen she’d thought of the three-bedroom condo as hers. It was then that she’d assumed the responsibility of mistress of the house when standing in as hostess for Isaac Mixon’s many political confabs and soirées.
She drew in a breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them and stared at her father he seemed to have aged within a matter of seconds. “What’s going on, Daddy?”
Isaac Mixon knew whatever he’d been instructed to tell his daughter was going to destroy her. But either he had to lie or go to jail for a crime he did not commit. And disclosing what he knew meant his chances of survival were slim to none. Thomas Cooper had too many connections in and out of prison.
He walked across the living room and sank down on a love seat. “I’m sorry, baby girl, I—”
“You’re sorry, Daddy!” Zabrina hadn’t realized she was screaming, and at her father no less. “You’re sorry for what?”
“I did divert some of Tom’s campaign funds.”
“Divert or steal, Daddy?”
Isaac saw fire in his daughter’s eyes, the same fire that had burned so brightly in her mother’s eyes before a debilitating disease had stolen her spirit and will to live. Zabrina had inherited Jacinta’s palomino-gold coloring, inky-black hair and hazel eyes that always reminded him of semi-precious jewels. He hadn’t celebrated his tenth wedding anniversary when he lost his wife, but fate hadn’t taken everything from him because Jacinta lived on in the image of their daughter.
“I took the money,” he lied smoothly.
“But why did you do it? You have money.”
Isaac lowered his salt-and-pepper head, focusing his attention on the thick pile of the carpet under his feet. He knew if he met his daughter’s eyes he wouldn’t be able to continue to lie to her. “I...I’ve been gambling—”
“But you never gamble!”
“But I do now!” he spat out in a nasty tone. “I bet on everything: cards, ponies and even illegal numbers.”
Zabrina’s eyelids fluttered as she tried processing what her father was telling her. “Why didn’t you use your own money?”
He glared at her. “I didn’t want you to know about my nasty little addiction.”
“How much did you take?”
“Eighty-three,” Isaac admitted.
“Eighty-three...eighty-three hundred,” Zabrina repeated over and over. “I have more than that in my savings account. I’ll go to the bank tomorrow and get a bank check payable to Thomas Cooper—”
“Stop, Brina! It’s not eighty-three hundred but eighty-three thousand—money Tom gave me to pay off loan sharks who’d threatened to kill me.” Tears filled Isaac Mixon’s eyes as his face crumpled like an accordion. “I took twenty thousand from the campaign fund and borrowed the rest from a loan shark. “Right now I owe Thomas Cooper more than one hundred thousand dollars.”
“What about the money in your 401K?” she asked.
“I’ll have to pay it back,” Isaac said.
“How about selling the condo?”
Isaac shook his head. “That would take too long.”
Zabrina’s eyes narrowed. “How much time has Thomas given you to repay him without pressing charges?”
“He wants my answer now.”
“Answer to what, Daddy?”
Isaac’s head came up and he met his daughter’s eyes for the first time, seeing pain and unshed tears. “Thomas has threatened to have me arrested unless I can get you to agree to...” His words trailed off.
Zabrina leaned forward. “Get me to do what?”
“He wants you to marry him.”
Her father’s words hit her like a punch to the face, and for a brief moment she believed he was joking, blurting out anything that came to mind to belie his fear. Her hands tightened on the arms of the chair.
“Thomas Cooper wants to marry me when he knows I’m going to marry another man in two weeks?” Isaac nodded. “I can’t, Daddy!” She was screaming again.
Isaac pushed to his feet. The droop of his shoulders indicated defeat. His so-called protégé was blackmailing him because of what he’d witnessed when he’d walked into Thomas’s private office: Councilman Cooper had accepted a cash payment from a local Philadelphia businessman whom law officials suspected had ties to organized crime.
It was a week later that a strange man was ushered into Isaac’s office with a message from the businessman: forget what you saw or your daughter will find herself placing flowers on her father’s grave.
Later that evening he’d met with Thomas who had made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. The confirmed bachelor talked incessantly about enhancing his image before declaring his candidacy for the mayoralty race, and then had shocked Isaac when he told him that he wanted to marry his daughter. Nothing Isaac could say could dissuade Cooper even when he told Thomas that Zabrina was engaged to marry Myles Eaton. Thomas Cooper dismissed the pronouncement with a wave of his hand, claiming marrying Zabrina Mixon would serve as added insurance that her father would never turn on his son-in-law.
Zabrina didn’t, couldn’t, move. “I don’t believe this. This is the twenty-first century, yet you’re offering me up as if I were chattel you’d put up in a card game. I could possibly consider marrying Thomas if I wasn’t engaged or pregnant. But, I’m sorry, Daddy. I can’t.”
Isaac turned slowly and stared down at his daughter’s bowed head. “You’re what?”
Her head came up. “I just found out this morning that I’m pregnant with Myles Eaton’s baby.”
“Does he know?” Isaac’s voice was barely a whisper.
“Not yet. I plan to tell him later tonight.”
“But you won’t tell him, Zabrina. The child will carry my name,” said Thomas confidently.
Zabrina hadn’t realized Thomas and the other man he’d called Davidson had reentered the living room. “Go to hell!”
The elected official’s expression did not change. “Mr. Davidson, perhaps you can convince Miss Mixon of the seriousness of her father’s dilemma.”
The bespectacled man reached under his suit jacket, pulled out a small caliber handgun with a silencer, aiming it at Isaac’s head. “You have exactly five seconds, Miss Mixon, to give Councilman Cooper an answer.”
Zabrina’s heart was beating so hard she was certain it could be seen through her blouse. “Okay!” she screamed. “Okay,” she repeated, this time her acquiescence softer. There was no mistaking defeat in the single word.
Thomas smiled for the first time. “Not only are you beautiful, but you’re very, very smart. We’ll marry next week in a private ceremony. And, you don’t have to worry about me exercising my conjugal rights. Our marriage will be in name only.”
A rage she’d never known burned through Zabrina. “Does that leave me free to take a lover or lovers?”
The councilman’s smile faded. “In two years you’ll be the wife of Philadelphia’s next mayor, so I doubt that with the responsibility of raising a child and taking care of your social obligations, you’ll find time to open your legs to another man.”
She felt the overwhelming sick feeling that came with
defeat, but she wasn’t going to let the blackmailing SOB know that. “One of these days I’m going to kill you.”
A slight arch in his eyebrows was the only indication that Thomas had registered her threat. “Take a number, Miss Mixon.” He motioned to his gofer to put the gun away. “I suggest you call your fiancé and tell him you found a better prospect.”
The footsteps of the two men were muffled in the carpet as they turned and walked to the door. The solid slam of the door shocked Zabrina into an awareness of just what had taken place within a matter of minutes. She’d agreed to marry a man she’d come to detest when the baby of another man she’d pledged to marry in two weeks was growing beneath her heart.
She registered another sound, and it took her several seconds to realize her father was crying. Even when they’d buried her mother she hadn’t seen Isaac cry. She stood up and walked over to her father. Going to her knees, Zabrina pressed her face to his chest. It wasn’t easy to comfort him when she was sobbing inconsolably.
It was later, much later when Zabrina retreated to her bedroom to call Myles Eaton to tell him that she couldn’t marry him because she was in love with another man. There was only the sound of breathing coming through the earpiece until a distinctive click told her Myles had hung up.
She didn’t cry only because she had no more tears. Her mind was a maelstrom of thoughts that ranged from premeditated murder to the need to survive to bring her unborn child to term. She may have lost Myles Eaton, but unknowingly he’d given her a precious gift—a gift she would love to her dying breath.
Chapter 3
Ten years later...
“I can’t believe you’re marrying your sister’s brother-in-law.”
“Believe it, because in another week I’ll become Mrs. Griffin Rice.”
A hint of a smile lifted the corners of Belinda Eaton’s mouth as she stared at Zabrina Cooper. As she’d promised when she’d run into Zabrina at a fundraiser, she’d called to set up a dinner date with the woman who at one time had been engaged to her brother.
Her twin nieces, Layla and Sabrina, whom she and Griffin legally adopted after their parents died in a horrific head-on automobile accident, were spending the weekend with their paternal grandparents, giving Belinda the time she needed to meet with her childhood friend and finish packing her personal belongings before she moved into Griffin’s house. They had gone from being godparents to parents, after Belinda’s sister, who was married to Griffin’s brother, died tragically in an auto accident, leaving the twins orphans.
The skin around Zabrina’s large light brown eyes crinkled when she smiled, something she hadn’t done often, or in a very long time. The only person who could get her to smile or laugh spontaneously was her son. Adam was not only the love of her life, he was her life. Her mother had died when she was young, and she’d buried her father four months before she’d become a widow. Aside from an aunt and a few distant cousins there was only Adam.
She sobered, staring at the woman who, if she’d married Myles Eaton, would have become her sister-in-law. To say the high-school history teacher was stunning was an understatement. The soft glow from the candle on the table flattered Belinda’s flawless sable complexion. A little makeup accentuated the exotic slant of her dark eyes, high cheekbones, short straight nose and generously curved full mouth. A profusion of dark curly hair framed her attractive face.
Zabrina’s gaze moved from Belinda’s face to her hand, which flaunted a magnificent emerald-cut diamond ring surrounded with baguettes. She remembered the engagement ring Myles had slipped on her finger, a ring she had returned to him via a bonded messenger hours after she’d called him to let him know she couldn’t marry him because she was in love with another man.
“I knew there was something going on between you and Griffin when you two were maid of honor and best man at Donna and Grant’s wedding.” Belinda’s older sister had married Griffin’s older brother.
Belinda took a sip from her water goblet. “That’s where you’re wrong, Brina. Griffin and I barely tolerated each other. What I hadn’t realized at the time was that I was in love with him. But instead of letting him know that, I acted like a junior-high schoolgirl who punches out the boy so everyone believes that she despises rather than likes him.”
Zabrina stared at her bare hands resting on the tablecloth. “It was the same with me and Myles. He used to tease me mercilessly until I kissed him. I don’t know who was more shocked—me or him.”
“You kissed my brother first?”
Zabrina’s face became flushed as she cast her eyes downward. “He was leaving for college, and I didn’t want him to forget me.”
“And apparently he didn’t,” Belinda said softly.
Zabrina looked up and her eyes met Belinda’s. “I was thirteen when I kissed Myles for the first time, and I had to wait another five years before he kissed me back. Myles claimed he didn’t want to take advantage of a minor, so he felt at eighteen I was old enough either to let him kiss me or punch his lights out.” Her eyes brimmed with tears. “The happiest day in my life was when your brother asked me to marry him and one of the darkest was when I called to tell him I was in love with another man.”
Reaching across the table, Belinda placed her hand over Zabrina’s ice-cold fingers. “What happened, Brina? I know you loved my brother, so why did you lie to him?”
The seconds ticked off as the two women stared at each other. They’d met in the first grade and become fast friends. Then tragedy had separated them for a year when Zabrina’s mother was diagnosed with brain cancer.
Isaac Mixon moved his wife and daughter to Mexico for an experimental treatment not approved by oncologists in the United States. Zabrina had just celebrated her seventh birthday when Jacinta passed away. Her body was cremated and her ashes scattered in the ocean.
Zabrina returned to the States with her father, not to live in the stately white Colonial with black trim but in a three-bedroom condominium in an exclusive Philadelphia neighborhood. She and Belinda no longer attended the same school, yet they’d managed to get together every weekend. Belinda would either stay over at Zabrina’s, or she would sleep over at Belinda’s. Though Belinda had two other sisters, Zabrina Mixon had become her best friend and unofficial sister. But a lifetime of friendship had ended with a single telephone call to Myles Eaton.
Belinda stared at the beautiful woman with the gold-brown skin, gleaming black chin-length hair and brilliant hazel eyes. She remembered photographs of Jacinta Mixon, and Zabrina was her mother’s twin.
“I had to, Belinda,” Zabrina said in a soft voice. “I wasn’t given a choice.”
“Who didn’t give you a choice, Brina?”
Zabrina averted her gaze, staring out the restaurant window at the patrons dining alfresco in the warm June temperatures. “It had to do with my father.” Her gaze swung back to Belinda and she closed her eyes for several seconds. “I’ve already said too much.”
“Are you saying you were forced to marry Thomas Cooper?”
“The only other thing I’m going to say is I didn’t want to marry Thomas. Please, Belinda, don’t ask me any more questions, because I can’t answer them.”
She’d promised her father she would never tell anyone what he’d done although she was tempted to do just that after burying Isaac Mixon. However, she’d changed her mind when she thought of how it would’ve affected Adam. Her son idolized his grandfather.
“You can’t or you won’t?”
“I can’t.”
Their waiter approached the table, bringing the difficult conversation to an end. The two women ordered, then settled back to discuss Belinda’s upcoming wedding.
Belinda touched a napkin to the corners of her mouth. “I know you sent back your response card saying you’re coming, but I want to warn you that Myles will also be there. He came in from Pit
tsburgh last night and plans to spend the summer here in Philly.”
Zabrina nodded. She’d had more than ten years to prepare to meet Myles Eaton again. Marrying Thomas Cooper would’ve been akin to a death sentence if not for her son. Raising Adam had kept her sane, rational and out of prison.
“It’s been a long time, but I’ve known eventually we would have to come face-to-face with each other one of these days.” She couldn’t predict what Myles’s reaction would be to seeing her again, but she was certain he would find her a very different woman from the one who’d pledged to love him forever.
The two women talked about old friends, jokes they’d played on former classmates and the boys they’d had crushes on but who hadn’t given them a single glance. They talked about everything except the loss of their loved ones—Belinda’s sister and brother-in-law and Zabrina’s parents.
Both declined dessert and coffee. “Who’s your maid of honor?” Zabrina asked.
Belinda wanted to tell Zabrina she would’ve been her matron of honor if she had married Myles. “Chandra. She’s scheduled to fly in Monday, because she has to be fitted for her dress.” Belinda’s sister had joined the Peace Corps and was currently teaching in Belize. “My cousin Denise will be my other attendant. Myles will stand in as Griffin’s best man and Keith Ennis will be a groomsman.”
With wide eyes, Zabrina whispered, “Baseball player Keith Ennis?”
Belinda smiled. “Yes. He’s one of Griffin’s clients.” Her fiancé was the lawyer for half a dozen superstar athletes.
“It looks as if you’re going to have quite the celebrity wedding.”
“All I want is for it to be over, so that my life can return to normal.”
“Are you going on a honeymoon?” Zabrina asked.
“Yes. We’re going to spend two weeks at a private villa on St. Kitts. I plan to sleep late, take in the sun and eat and drink until I can’t move.”
Forever an Eaton: Bittersweet LoveSweet Deception Page 20
