Four: Stories of Marriage

by Nia Forrester

  Leaning back, Chris folded his arms. “That’s really mature of you.”

  Robyn shook her head. “Don’t make fun of me.”

  “I’m not. I mean it.”

  She studied him for a moment. “Do you?”

  “Yeah.”

  Robyn got up and went to sit on the edge of the desk closest to him.

  “I’ve been thinking about stuff, like what you said about Frank, and how he had to be in France when it was his wedding anniversary. I don’t want to be that person. And even more than that, I don’t want to be the person that Jamal would make an exception for … because I think he would.”

  “Because of me?” Chris asked.

  “No.” Robyn rolled her eyes. “Because of me. He likes me way more than he likes you,” she said.

  “Sleep on it,” he told her.

  “Already decided. But what I will sleep on is whether I should step down as acting general counsel as well.”

  Chris shook his head. “You shouldn’t,” he said.

  “No?” Robyn looked surprised.

  “Taking your name out of the running for general counsel is what you do because you know your own bandwidth, because you’ve assessed your priorities. Stepping down as acting GC is different. It’s quitting something you started.”

  Robyn’s eyebrows went up a fraction.

  “And the Scaifes don’t do that,” Chris said softening his tone. “Right?”

  “Right,” she said. Her voice was thick.

  Reaching for her, Chris tugged on the hem of her top, pulling her forward to sit on his lap, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the back of her neck.

  “It’s just that I feel like things are … slipping …” Robyn admitted.

  She didn’t mention Elaine Richards, but Chris knew she was thinking about her. Getting her out of their lives by firing Felicity had been her way of handling the slippage. There had been no need, but if their situations were reversed, Chris knew he would have done the same thing. A protective perimeter surrounded their family, and Elaine tried to breach it, so Robyn did what any wife would, or should do. She’d tightened things up. It was a turn-on, and a little bit gangsta how she hadn’t hesitated a second.

  That woman just lost her daughter her job.

  It made his dick hard thinking about it.

  “We won’t let anything slip. We’ll rearrange some stuff,” he said. “I’ll step up more …”

  Robyn spun round, straddling him. She cupped his face.

  “Are you kidding me?” she said. “You step up plenty. I’m the one who …”

  “Baby,” Chris said. “It’s okay. We’re not keeping score.”

  “But has it been okay, really? Because lately …”

  “Lately work’s been kicking your ass. I know. But SE is a fast-paced kinda deal …”

  “I never knew how fast though. Frank’s crankiness makes a lot more sense now. After leaving his firm, he probably thought he was coming to Scaife to rest. And you know what else is interesting?”

  “What?”

  Chris could tell she had relaxed a little, because now she was back to her usual babbling self.

  “I think Jamal is shaping up to be more of a hard-ass than even you were.”

  “For real?”

  “He yelled at me for messing up my first pass on Kendrick’s contract, and …”

  “Whoa. Hold up. He over there yelling at my wife?”

  “Not your wife,” Robyn said. “His acting general counsel.”

  “Yeah, but I’ma let him know …”

  “Don’t you dare. If I was anyone else, he probably would have fired me on the spot. We almost lost the contract entirely because of me.”

  “What? You never told me that part.”

  “Because I was embarrassed.”

  “With me though?”

  “Yes, with you. There’s no one I respect more than you, professionally speaking. And …”

  “Just professionally speaking?”

  “No.” She pulled back a little, so she could look him in the eye. “In every way. Anyway, Jamal didn’t fire me that day, obviously, though I know he kind of wanted to, and maybe even would have, if I’d been someone else. Can you imagine if SE lost Kendrick Cruise?”

  “It’s okay. We’d just sell the house, and the kids would have to go to community college.”

  Robyn laughed and smacked him on the shoulder. “That’s not funny, Chris! I would’ve been the one responsible. Do you know how that would look?” She mock-shuddered.

  “So, that’s why you’re bowing out of the running for GC?”

  “Yes. Not because he was angry at me, but because he had a right to be. I’d basically phoned it in on that contract. I didn’t do my homework, because my focus was divided.

  “And it’s always going to be. Because even if I had it to give, I don’t want to give one-hundred percent to being head of SE’s legal department. I want to be able to give that, or close to that here. With us. And with the kids.”

  He tried not to smile, he really, really tried. But it didn’t work.

  Robyn pretended not to notice though, and just kept talking.

  “But don’t think it didn’t kill me to decide to back away …”

  “I know,” Chris said, tightening his hold on her. “And that makes me even prouder that you did it.”

  “But … no way is Rebecca smarter or a better lawyer than me …” She was basically talking to herself now, almost oblivious to Chris’ lips on her neck. Almost. He felt her legs open, just a little more, and she pressed just a little closer.

  Kissing her under her chin, he reached for the waistband of her pants.

  “You want to?” he asked.

  “Again?” Robyn said, her voice a little breathy. “That’d be the third time today. Are you sure that’s a good idea. I mean, you are getting up there a little in years, so …”

  “Be quiet … and take those pants off.”

  15

  Caitlyn, hang on. Hang on, Caity! Stand right here next to Mommy!”

  Robyn didn’t often come into town, but this time, she had, lured by Chris’ story about a special toy store that he had been to, but which he found too overwhelming to buy anything. Robyn had taken Friday off, gotten the kids dressed and ready by noon to go explore it.

  Parking in the store’s small lot, she had removed Landyn from his car seat when Caity unfastened herself, and hypnotized by the colorful sign, was trying to head inside on her own.

  “Look!”

  Caity pointed at the huge mannequin in the front entrance, which Robyn already knew was going to make Landyn cry as they walked past it. Robyn would try to distract him before the shrieks commenced but she wasn’t always as successful at staving off Landyn’s meltdowns as his dad was.

  Chris had no interest in the excursion, though, which hadn’t surprised Robyn one bit since he was now officially and completely immersed in the new media project with Riley. He was waking up at four-thirty a.m. again, coming to bed after nine, and sometimes absent from the dinner table.

  Chris was not, and never would be a man of leisure. He had to work, and Robyn didn’t just accept that, she embraced it. Because now she realized, he was happier when he was burning all cylinders. As she walked by his home office these days, she often heard him barking in the phone at someone, his voice taking on that sexy, commanding baritone that reminded the listener exactly who was in charge. And she also didn’t hate it that when he felt like a master of the universe, the sex was beyond phenomenal.

  The two SE employees who had been on loan stayed for about three weeks before Chris decided he needed one full-time assistant and found a business-school grad from U. Penn., a young guy named Thaddeus Hunt, who Robyn could already see becoming the next Jamal Turner. Chris was loyal to people he mentored, and if Thaddeus “Call me Thad” Hunt could survive his new, mercurial boss, he would probably be a hot ticket in his own right in less than five years.

  Hoisting Landyn
onto her hip, Robyn held Caity’s hand and walked them across the lot and into the store. Landyn, right on cue, stared at the mannequin with large, horrified liquid brown eyes, and his lower lip began to tremble. But just as he took a breath to let out the first wail, Robyn turned at the sound of her name.

  Walking toward her was Felicity. She smiled and waved, and once close enough immediately crouched to Caity’s level.

  “Hi Caity!”

  Caity looked at her shyly for a moment until Felicity opened her arms for a hug. Caity leaned into it and put her head briefly on Felicity’s shoulder.

  “Aw, I miss you too, Little Bug,” she said.

  For a moment, Robyn felt a stab of regret. Felicity had always been sweet with the kids, and she had had no complaints other than her inability to drive. It boggled the mind that an almost twenty-year-old living in the ‘burbs would not know how to operate a motor vehicle, but it was what it was. Part of the reason Robyn had hired her anyway was her mentioning in the interview that she lived “just down the street.”

  Well, almost no other complaints. There had been the mother as well.

  The girl stood and stroked Landyn’s cheek, looking to Robyn for permission to take him when he reached out for her. Robyn handed him over and looked down at Caity who was smiling and glancing back and forth between her mother and former nanny.

  “So, how’ve you been Felicity?”

  “I’m good. I work here now.” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the store’s interior. “It’s a pretty cool place. My experience working with kids helped me get it, I think. And the pay’s decent.”

  “Oh. Not nannying anymore, or …?” There was that stab of guilt again. Although she had given a letter of reference and a month’s severance, Robyn still felt a tiny bit regretful of having abruptly separated her children from someone they cared about, and who cared about them.

  “No, my mom said, and I kind of agree with her, that it’s a little too unpredictable. Families move or change their minds. You know.”

  Robyn tried to read Felicity’s expression, but the comment did not seem to be one made out of passive-aggression.

  “And it’s more convenient, anyway, since Mom’s studio is just down the street. We get here together in the morning and leave together in the evening. She’s about to meet me for lunch.” Felicity nuzzled Landyn’s cheek. “That doesn’t suck either, having her buy me lunch almost every day.” She gave a quick smile, and Robyn smiled back.

  She hadn’t seen Elaine Richards since the day she’d decided Felicity would no longer be working for them, but if she and the kids didn’t get moving…

  “Why, hello.”

  Too late. Robyn turned and prepared to offer a smile she hoped looked friendly.

  Elaine Richards, wearing a fleece jacket over long-sleeved thermal top and full-length yoga pants and with bright-white sneakers was standing there. Her face was clean of makeup and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Her smile was cool, and not particularly heartfelt. But of course, why would it be?

  “Hello, Elaine.”

  “It’s been a moment or two since I saw you last,” Elaine Richards said. “How are you?” And then after a pause. “And how’s Chris?”

  “We’re well,” Robyn said. “And you?”

  “Good. That was generous, by the way, what you did for Felicity when you … let her go.”

  “It was well-deserved,” Robyn said.

  “Yes.” Elaine looked at her intently for a few beats then turned to Felicity. “Sweetheart. Maybe you want to show the children that cute display you told me about? The Thanksgiving one?” Then, as an afterthought, she glanced at Robyn again. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  Robyn shook her head. “Not at all.”

  She had hoped to avoid this, but some people just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

  Elaine and she watched as Felicity led the children deeper into the store, pausing at intervals to point things out to Caity, or to let Landyn touch something he reached a chubby hand toward.

  Finally, Elaine Richards turned to look at her. She gave a frosty smile.

  “Felicity was very disappointed when you told her she was being let go,” she said. “She found it quite unexpected.”

  “It was the best decision for our family,” Robyn said. “Though the children enjoyed her very much. And of course, if she ever goes back into nannying, I’d be happy to speak to anyone who might be thinking of hiring her and let them know …”

  “I understand you have a twenty-year-old of your own.”

  “My stepson, yes.”

  “So, you know how difficult it is for them to absorb disappointment and keep at something. Losing this job was a setback. I don’t know if Chris told you … it’s something he and I talked about, Felicity’s difficulties at college, and my worry that …”

  “Elaine,” Robyn said. “I hear you, and I appreciate how challenging it can be to keep young adults motivated, but again, this was the best decision for me and my family.”

  “According to my daughter, you were really busy. Harried sometimes. And the stability she brought …”

  “Elaine,” Robyn said, again, this time more pointedly. “So far this has been a fairly cordial conversation. Let’s not have it go left because you want to speculate about my children’s need for … stability.”

  The other woman blinked. But if Robyn thought she was about to back down, she was wrong.

  “Let’s just cut the crap,” Elaine Richards said, her voice hardening.

  Robyn’s eyebrows flew up in surprise.

  “You’re not home like you should be, and so you were threatened by my friendship with your husband. And I don’t know, maybe even by Felicity’s connection to your kids. She said …”

  “You might want to think a moment before continuing,” Robyn said. “Your inappropriate behavior already lost Felicity her job. Don’t let an ill-considered comment lose her a reference.”

  “She doesn’t need your reference. She’ll do just fine without it, thank you very much. But to blame Felicity because my being friends with …”

  “You’re embarrassing yourself,” Robyn said keeping her voice low. The last thing she needed was to get this woman all amped-up. “My husband doesn’t consider you a friend.”

  He doesn’t consider you at all, she almost added. But that would have been gratuitously unkind.

  “Oh, is that so? Did he tell you about coffee? Did you he tell you about lunch?” Elaine folded her arms. “I wouldn’t be so smug if I were you. Mrs. Scaife.”

  Then she headed into the store, returning moments later and walking by Robyn without sparing her a glance. Felicity followed a few seconds behind her, pink-faced, carrying Landyn, and holding Caity’s hand.

  “It was good seeing you again,” she said, as she handed the baby over. Then she ducked her head like a fugitive and left, with one last stroke of Caity’s head.

  Robyn had a feeling this wasn’t the first time Felicity had borne the brunt of her mother’s behavior. But she wasn’t so concerned about that as she led the kids into the store to—at long last—pick a toy.

  What she was preoccupied by was Elaine’s very pointed parting shot: Did he tell you about coffee? Did he tell you about lunch?

  Robyn found him in his office, as she had known she would. She led their children there, knowing that if they were the ones to interrupt his work, Chris would neither complain nor show the annoyance at her that Robyn knew he would feel.

  “Daddy look!” Caity went running in past the threshold without any of the hesitation that Robyn sometimes felt when she knew she was going to disturb Chris’ concentration.

  He was sitting behind his desk, and Thad in front of it. He looked up at the sound of Caity’s voice and in a fraction of a second, his frown turned to a smile and he turned away from the desk to permit Caity the room to climb onto his lap.

  “Whoa!” he said looking at the doll she held up. It was almost as large as she was. �
��Who’s this?”

  “Kendall,” Caity said, except she pronounced it ‘Ken-DOW.’

  “She’s pretty,” Chris said. “She looks like you.”

  Caity beamed.

  Landyn, not to be outdone, teetered around to where his sister and father were having their powwow and held onto Chris’ leg, trying to climb him. With one practiced motion, Chris lifted Landyn up, finding a spot for him on his already crowded lap. Then he looked at Robyn, his face expressionless, but his eyes clearly asking what the hell she was thinking coming in to his office in the middle of a work day to interrupt him with the spoils of a toy-run when she knew doggone well it could have waited until later.

  “Thad, why don’t you go see what Mrs. Lawson’s got for lunch?” Chris said. “Grab yourself something and take a break.”

  Thad, who had been sitting still, patiently waiting through the domestic scene, stood, and giving Robyn a nod of acknowledgment, left the room. He was tall, slender and had a penchant for bowties, none of them conventional.

  After his first week, Chris told him he could wear business casual, or even casual-casual since it was only the two of them for the time being. And Thad had respectfully declined, saying that he liked to dress professionally for work, no matter where the work was, or who might be there to see him. That night Chris told Robyn that response helped confirm for him that he had hired the right person.

  Now that Thad had gone, Chris said with words what only his eyes had told her moments before.

  “Baby. Seriously. Right now? You had to do this right now?”

  “You should break for lunch anyway, just like you told Thad to do. Now’s as good a time as any.” Robyn shrugged.

  Sighing, Chris stood, and as he did, held one kid under each arm at his side like a man toting two sacks of rice.

  Caity squealed, and Landyn disoriented for a moment, followed suit once his sister’s response assured him that it was supposed to be fun. Rolling her eyes, Robyn took the baby, and set him down on his feet, but he squawked and made a wailing noise until his father picked him up again.

  Chris grinned at her. “See? He knows what’s up. I would never drop either one of them, would I Caity?”