Forever an Eaton: Bittersweet LoveSweet Deception

by Rochelle Alers

  Hugh raised his flute, and the other three followed suit. “Here’s to friendship—old and new.”

  “Old and new,” chorused Myles, Rachel and Zabrina, who only took a sip of the champagne. Myles didn’t have to concern himself with her overindulging tonight because she didn’t like champagne.

  Over the next two hours they were served a four-course dinner that was nothing short of a culinary feast. The lobster bisque, the mixed green salad with the restaurant’s secret vinaigrette, the parmesan-roasted asparagus, prime rib, stuffed pork chops, almond-crusted salmon and the dessert of vanilla gelato topped with puréed cherries, grated lemon zest and ground cinnamon left everyone pushing away from the table.

  Hugh, who admitted he didn’t dance, sat talking quietly to Rachel while Zabrina and Myles joined other couples gliding across the dance floor. It was close to eleven when Zabrina said she was ready to leave. Her calves were aching from dancing nonstop in four-inch heels.

  They said their goodbyes to Hugh, who insisted they not remain strangers. He kissed Zabrina’s hand, then Rachel’s. “You don’t have to wait for Myles to bring you back. Both of you are welcome at any time.”

  Rachel gave him a demure smile. “It may be a while because I heard there’s a three-week wait for a reservation.”

  Reaching into his jacket, Hugh took out a business card, jotted down a number and handed the card to Rachel. “That’s the number to my cell. Call and let me know when you’re coming, and I will make certain there will be a table for you.”

  A rush of color flooded Rachel’s face. “Thank you, Hugh.”

  He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You’re welcome, Rachel.”

  Hugh walked them to the parking lot, then waited for the valet to bring Myles’s SUV around, waving until the taillights disappeared from view.

  * * *

  Myles walked the short distance from Rachel’s house to Zabrina’s, finding her in the kitchen, barefoot, filling a glass with water from the dispenser on the refrigerator door. Slipping out of his suit jacket, he draped it over the back of a counter stool.

  “We have to do it again.”

  Zabrina jumped and water sloshed out of the glass and onto the floor. She hadn’t heard Myles come into the kitchen. She blew out a breath. “What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?”

  “No. Next time I’ll make some noise. Let me do that,” he said when she reached for a paper towel to blot up the water. Easing the wad of paper from her fingers, Myles wiped the splatter. A mysterious smile parted his lips when Zabrina stared up at him. “After you drink your water I want you to go upstairs and pack a bag with a change of clothes and whatever else you’ll need for a couple of days.”

  Her eyebrows flickered. “Where am I going?”

  He took a step. “You’re coming home with me.”

  “To do what, Myles?” Zabrina’s husky voice had dropped an octave.

  “I’ll let you decide that.”

  “What if all I want to do is eat and sleep?”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

  Zabrina took a step, pressing her chest to his. “So, the choice is mine?”

  “The choice has always been yours, Brina. If the choice had been mine we would’ve looked forward to celebrating our eleventh wedding anniversary and Adam would’ve been an Eaton, not a Cooper.”

  She decided not to respond to his baiting. “What about your nieces?”

  “What about them, Brina?”

  “Aren’t they coming over to see their puppies?”

  Lowering his head, Myles nuzzled the side of her neck. “My mother took them to Martha’s Vineyard to spend some time with Griffin’s parents. They’re not expected back until Sunday. And that gives us at least three full days and nights to hang out together.”

  “That sounds like a plan.”

  “I thought you’d like it. When do you expect Adam to come home?”

  Glancing up over her shoulder, Zabrina smiled at the man pressed against her back. Unconsciously, as if they’d rehearsed and choreographed a dance, they’d reverted to their familiar embrace of her settling easily against his body. It felt so good to have him touch her without the artifice of dancing together. She knew they couldn’t relive the past, but she planned to enjoy whatever time was given to them. Even if it was only one night, then she would have the memory of that night to hold on to forever.

  Just like life, there were no guarantees, no promises of tomorrow. If she and Myles were to have a second chance she would count it as an added blessing. If not, then she would continue to improve on the new life she’d made for herself and her son.

  “He’s not expected back until the end of July. But I told my aunt to call me and I’ll drive down and pick him up if he starts complaining that he wants to come home.”

  Myles wrapped his arms around her waist. “Do you miss him?”

  “I miss him a lot more than I’m willing to admit. I realize he’s getting older and he can’t remain a mama’s boy for the rest of his life, so that’s why I agreed to let him spend a month in Virginia.”

  She missed Adam and she’d missed Myles. Resting her head on his shoulder, Zabrina closed her eyes. Time stood still as she reveled in the moment where words were unnecessary. Although she didn’t want to move she realized she wouldn’t be able to avoid the inevitable. It was she who’d issued the challenge when she’d asked Myles to make love to her. Little had she known that he was contemplating the same if she hadn’t been so impulsive. Whoever made the first move no longer mattered, because she and Myles wanted the same thing.

  They were adults—very consenting adults who weren’t looking for that elusive happy-ever-after ending. They would engage in a summer tryst and when it ended it would be without angst or expectations of something. Zabrina wasn’t looking for more. She just wanted to relive a small part of her past when her cloistered world had been perfect for a young woman with stars in her eyes.

  “Are you going to sleep on me, baby?”

  She smiled. “No. You’re a drug, Myles Eaton.” A very potent, habit-forming drug, she mused.

  He chuckled softly, the deep, warm sound caressing Zabrina’s ear. “Will you please explain that very peculiar assessment of yours truly.”

  “With you I’m always relaxed. I can always be myself.”

  “Are you saying you couldn’t be yourself as Mrs. Thomas Cooper?”

  “What I’m saying is that I wasn’t permitted to be me. After Thomas’s accident I thought of reverting to my maiden name, but I didn’t want it to cause a problem for Adam.”

  “Why would that pose a problem for him, Brina?”

  “He told me that he was glad that he had the same last name as his mother. So many mothers of his classmates have different surnames because they’ve been married two and sometimes three times. Some of the kids were very confused about the whole multiple-marriage and blended-family dynamics.”

  “That’s a heavy topic for a young boy to concern himself with.”

  “When you meet my son you’ll know why he thinks the way he does.”

  Myles wanted to tell Zabrina that he didn’t want to meet her son, because it would reopen an emotional wound that had taken a long time to heal. “I’m looking forward to meeting him.” It wasn’t a complete lie. He wanted to meet the boy who was the light of Zabrina’s life. “But, right now I’m contemplating doing unspeakable acts with his gorgeous, sexy mother. You’d better go upstairs and pack or we’ll end up on the kitchen floor or countertop, and that will prove disastrous because I don’t have any protection on me.”

  Zabrina wanted to tell Myles that it wouldn’t be a bad thing. He’d gotten her pregnant once, and if she were to have another child, then she wanted it to be his. Perhaps this time it would be a girl, then Adam could have the sister he’d been as
king for.

  When he asked her for a sibling, it was always a sister, which stunned Zabrina because she’d thought he’d want a younger brother. But Adam wisely said he didn’t want to have to share his computer games with his brother, while his sister would rather play with her dolls and other girly things.

  Easing out of Myles’s embrace, she stood on her tiptoes and brushed her mouth against his. “Don’t run away.”

  “I can’t...” Myles swallowed the other words poised on the tip of his tongue. He wanted to tell Zabrina he couldn’t walk away from her even if his life was in jeopardy, that he planned to spend as much time with her as his or her schedule permitted until the end of summer.

  Zabrina waited for him to finish his sentence, but when he didn’t she walked out of the kitchen, leaving him staring at her back.

  Myles knew he had to be careful, very, very careful or he would find himself so deeply involved with his former fiancée that he wouldn’t be able to easily distance himself when it came time to return to Pittsburgh. What he had to continually remind himself of was her deception, and despite not being able to forget Zabrina he knew for certain that he would never forgive her.

  Chapter 9

  Myles sat on the porch, waiting for Zabrina. Streetlamps that harkened back to nineteenth-century gaslights glowed eerily along the streets that made up the subdivision. A slight smile lifted the corners of his mouth. Someone had left bicycles and skateboards on the lawn of a house across the street without fear they wouldn’t find them the next day.

  Zabrina had chosen the perfect community in which to raise a child, unlike some neighborhoods where the sound of gunfire and the sight of crime-scene tape were all too familiar. He and his siblings were more than lucky to have had Dwight and Roberta Eaton as their parents—they were blessed.

  Roberta, who had given up her career as a teacher to stay at home with her children, said she’d never regretted the decision because she’d utilized her skills when she taught them to read before they were enrolled in kindergarten. There was no trying to circumvent completing homework or a school project because Bertie Eaton was always there to offer her assistance.

  And the worst thing about having a doctor and a teacher for parents was that he couldn’t feign not feeling well to get out of going to school. A quick examination from Dr. Dwight Eaton verified whether he was well enough to attend classes, and if not, then Bertie would make arrangements to pick up homework assignments. He’d grown up with the constant reminder that he was an Eaton, and he must not do anything to disgrace the family name.

  His great-grandfather came to Philadelphia as a young boy during the Great Migration from the South. Daniel Eaton worked two jobs all his life to give his children what had eluded him—a college education. Myles’s grandfather earned a law degree from Howard University and three of his five sons followed in his footsteps when they became lawyers, while the other two earned medical degrees. The five brothers married women who were teachers, establishing the criteria for future generations to select a career in medicine, law or education.

  He found it ironic that he’d come back to Philadelphia to spend the summer with his family for the first time in over a decade, but they’d all left town: Chandra had flown out of Philadelphia International earlier that morning for a return flight to Belize, his parents had taken their granddaughters to Cape Cod to join their paternal grandparents, and Belinda and her husband were in the Caribbean for a two-week honeymoon. He’d teased his mother, saying he hoped his presence hadn’t scared everyone away. Roberta Eaton’s response was that she never planned anything for the summer because Dwight would always surprise her with impromptu mini vacations.

  The soft click of the door closing garnered Myles’s attention. Rising to his feet, he saw that Zabrina had cleansed her face of makeup and brushed her hair off her face. Tank top, cropped pants and a pair of mules had replaced her slacks, blouse and heels.

  Zabrina handed Myles a large weekender travel bag. “I’m sorry I took so long. I had to shower and shampoo the gel from my hair.”

  He dropped a kiss on her damp hair. “That’s all right, baby. I was just sitting here taking in the sights.”

  She inhaled the fragrance of blooming white flowers that opened at nightfall. The sound of an owl’s hooting joined the cacophony of crickets serenading the countryside. “I love sitting out at night. One time I fell asleep on the chaise and probably wouldn’t have gotten up if a bug hadn’t crawled into my nose. Talk about snorting and slinging snot.”

  Throwing back his head, Myles laughed at the top of his lungs. “That’s something I would’ve paid to see.”

  She swatted at him. “That’s not right, Myles Eaton.”

  “It serves you right. Remember the time I begged you to go camping with me and you said you were a city girl? Well, that little bug was paying you back for dissing his folks.”

  Zabrina flashed an attractive moue. “I’m still a city girl.”

  Putting his arm around her waist, Myles pulled her closer. “Come on, city girl. It’s way past my curfew.”

  “What’s the matter, doll face, can’t hang?”

  “You’re going to pay for that remark.”

  Zabrina wiggled her fingers. “Ooo-oo. I’m so scared.”

  “You should be.” He led Zabrina off the porch to where he’d parked his vehicle. “Speaking of hanging, I’d like to go shopping tomorrow so I can buy you a housewarming gift.”

  “Thank you, but I don’t need anything.”

  Myles held open the passenger-side door, waiting until Zabrina was seated before he rounded the Range Rover and got in beside her. “Yeah, you do.”

  “What do I need?”

  “A hammock.”

  Averting her gaze, Zabrina stared out the side window as Myles backed out of the driveway. The Eatons had put up an enormous hammock on their back porch and she’d lost count of the number of times she’d fallen asleep in Myles’s embrace after they’d read to each other. For Zabrina it was the novels of Jane Austen, and for Myles it was C. S. Forester. Forester’s The African Queen was her favorite, along with the 1951 film adaptation starring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart.

  “A hammock would be nice.”

  “Don’t sound so enthusiastic, Brina.”

  “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful.”

  “Then what’s the matter?”

  She turned and stared at his distinctive profile. “It’s about us, Myles.”

  “What about us, Zabrina?”

  “We can’t go back and redo the past, or right the wrongs.”

  The muscles in Myles’s forearm hardened beneath the sleeve of his shirt as the fingers of his right hand tightened on the leather-wrapped steering wheel in a death grip. “When did you become so vain? My offer to give you the hammock has nothing to do with my attempt to relive the past. I just thought your son and his friends would enjoy it.”

  A blush crept into her cheeks, flaming with humiliation when Zabrina realized her faux pas. Had she read more into Myles’s offer to give her a hammock because she was hoping he would forgive her and they would pick up where they’d left off before her damning telephone call?

  How, she thought, had she been so silly, so out of touch with reality? Did she actually believe he would be able to trust her again after she’d not only humiliated him, but also his family?

  She was angry and annoyed, angry with Myles because of his acerbic retort about her attempting to flatter herself. And she was annoyed at herself for being embarrassed. “I’m certain Adam will enjoy the hammock.”

  Myles gave Zabrina a quick glance before maneuvering into the driveway of his sister’s house. He knew by the set of her jaw that she was upset. Well, she wasn’t the only one. He didn’t want to deceive Zabrina or himself into believing they could pick up where they’d left off.
Not one to say never, Myles knew if he and Zabrina were to start over the impetus would have to be life-changing.

  Zabrina stared out the windshield as Myles cut the engine. She hadn’t moved when he got out and came around to assist her. Her body was rigid, stiff enough to break into a thousand tiny slivers if she’d been glass, and she chided herself for agreeing to spend the night with Myles. She stood off to the side when he unlocked the door, deactivated the security alarm, then extended his hand.

  Myles saw Zabrina staring at his hand as if it were a venomous reptile. Her expression was one he remembered well. He and Zabrina rarely argued, only because she refused to argue. She said it was futile to debate someone whose profession it was to argue cases. Rather than concede defeat, she remained silent. And the silence was more effective than any spoken word.

  “I’m sorry for saying what I said about you being vain, because I of all people should know there isn’t a vain bone in your body.”

  Zabrina rolled her eyes at him. “Say it like you mean it, Myles.”

  A hint of a smile softened his mouth at the same time as he took a step. Myles angled his head and brushed a kiss over her parted lips. “I’m really sorry, baby. Will you forgive me?”

  Zabrina bit back a smile. “I’ll think about it.”

  He kissed her again. “Don’t think too long. After all, you did promise to give me the next three days, and I’d hate to have to spend the time with you giving me the silent treatment.”

  Myles might have changed, but not so much that he could deal with Zabrina shutting him out. Whenever they disagreed on something she would stop talking, claiming his debating skills far exceeded hers. He’d tried to tell her that it wasn’t about debating but about talking things out. He hadn’t wanted her to agree with him on everything as much as he wanted her to see more than one side of a particular topic. As a trial attorney he was expected to sway a jury to believe his client’s innocence, yet his powers of persuasion were lost on his fiancée.

  Myles exhaled a breath. It’d been a very long time since he’d thought of Zabrina as his fiancée. Perhaps if he’d allowed himself to become more involved with some of the women he’d dated over the years, then he would’ve been able to completely get her out of his system.