A Marriage of Convenience

by Doreen Owens Malek

  "Do you think you could stop talking for a moment, please?" he said, sprawling next to her.

  "You should get used to this," Sharon said. "Sometimes I chatter."

  "And sometimes you should shut up," he replied, covering her mouth with his.

  And so she did.

  * * * *

  During the following month Sharon waited for final approval on her loan and tried to survive the blazing dry inferno of a San Gabriel August. In the beginning she worried that Tay would find out about her scheme, but she made sure she got the mail first and took all calls. Since Tay was out of the house most of the time that wasn't difficult. The waiting was tough, but as Pete's father had put in a good word and she had met the loan criteria, she was confident she would get the money.

  The heat was really bothering her. Sharon insisted on air conditioning all the time and began to feel unwell. Everything irritated her, and Rosa told her to make an appointment with a doctor. She called the same clinic Tay had gone to for his cracked ribs and went one afternoon when Tay was at an auction with Carlo.

  The doctor was the same cute number who had seen Tay.

  "Braddock?" she said, knitting her finely arched brows. "I saw a Braddock a while ago, cracked ribs, I think. Tall, dark haired guy, mid-thirties.''

  Sharon was not surprised that she remembered Tay. "My husband," she said pointedly.

  "I didn't know he was married."

  I'II bet, Sharon thought.

  "So what are your symptoms, Mrs. Braddock?" the doctor said.

  "I feel queasy and irritable all the time, and I'm exhausted. I'm falling asleep on my feet.''

  "Missed any periods?"

  "I'm ten days late." No flies on this lady; having met Tay, she considered pregnancy as the first possibility.

  "Have you been using birth control?''

  "No."

  "So you want a child?"

  "I'd like one, yes."

  "Well, let me examine you, then we'll run the tests."

  The examination was brief but thorough. It transpired that Sharon's pulse and blood pressure were normal, her lungs clear. She didn't have a temperature or an intestinal obstruction.

  "So am I pregnant?" Sharon asked as they were sitting again in the doctor's office.

  "You could be. I'll call you when the results are in."

  "How long will that take?''

  "A day or so."

  "Can you tell this early?"

  The doctor nodded. "Oh, yes. Your hormone levels are already changing. It will show up on the tests."

  "Do you think I'm pregnant?" Sharon said.

  The doctor hesitated. Sharon could tell that she did but she wasn't going to say so.

  Sharon stood; she felt a little shaky but awed at the same time. How wonderful if it were true.

  "Please let me know as soon as you hear," Sharon said.

  "I will." The doctor followed her out with her eyes and called, "Say hello to your husband for me."

  Oh, I certainly will, Sharon thought dryly.

  At home Rosa was waiting for her.

  "Well?" she said.

  “The doctor thinks I'm pregnant.''

  Rosa nodded. "So do I."

  Sharon grinned. "You're practicing medicine now?"

  "You were nauseated yesterday morning."

  "I was just nervous about Tay's hearing. I wasn't sure it would go as well as it did, and I wanted the whole episode to be over and settled."

  "He's on probation now?"

  Sharon nodded. "Six months. There will be no further incidents, you can rest assured on that subject."

  "You don't seem very thrilled about the baby," Rosa said.

  "Rosa, I want to be, but I can't bear getting all excited about it and then finding out it isn't true."

  "It's true."

  "What if I just have a bug or something?"

  "What's the matter with you? Can't you believe that you're getting what you want?"

  "I guess that's it. I'm afraid to believe it. Everything is falling into place so nicely, it's like a dream."

  "So you've heard about the loan then?"

  "Not yet, but Pete says if they're going to turn you down you hear fairly quickly. It's a good sign that it's taking longer."

  "Uh-huh," Rosa said.

  "Is that your inscrutable Latin face?" Sharon asked archly, observing Rosa's expression.

  "It's not inscrutable. I think you should tell Tay about the loan. That's what the face means."

  "It'll be arranged soon. Relax."

  Rosa said nothing.

  Sharon went into her room to change for dinner.

  * * * *

  The next day Rosa was off and Sharon went into town to the grocery store. Tay came into the empty house for a drink and was examining the contents of the refrigerator when the phone rang. He picked it up on the third ring.

  "Hello?"

  "Peter Symonds's office calling for Sharon Braddock," a feminine voice said.

  What did he want? Tay thought. "I'm her husband, I'll take the call," he said. "Put Symonds on the line."

  "Mr. Symonds is not in, but I was instructed to talk directly to Mrs. Braddock."

  ''She's not here, I'll take a message.”

  The secretary hesitated. She tried to follow directions exactly, but she was very busy and she'd been dialing the California number for hours and getting no answer. She didn't want to waste any more time on this trivial matter.

  "I suppose that would be all right, if you make sure Mrs. Braddock gets it," she said.

  "What is it?" Tay said impatiently.

  "Please tell Mrs. Braddock that her loan has been approved. The officer at Union Bank called Mr. Symonds senior this morning.''

  "What loan?" Tay said, bewildered.

  "I have no idea sir, that's all I was instructed to say. May I complete the message?" the secretary stated crisply.

  "Go ahead."

  "Mr. Symonds will assist in closing the deal with Sun City as soon as Mrs. Braddock inherits."

  There was a strained silence before Tay said in a deadly quiet voice, "Is that all?"

  "That's it. Will you see that Mrs. Braddock gets the message?"

  "I will," Tay replied mechanically and set the receiver in its cradle.

  He slumped against the wall, his face blank with shock.

  What the hell was going on? He didn't want to think what he was thinking.

  Had Sharon been negotiating behind his back to unload her share of the ranch?

  Had she been leading him on to buy time?

  No.

  It wasn't possible.

  But then why was Symonds involved? Had they conspired together to get Sharon's parcel? Was she going to divorce him and then get together with Symonds after the will was probated?

  He couldn't believe it. He closed his eyes, his body trembling, and he grabbed the keys to his truck and dashed out of the house.

  Chapter 12

  Tay ran for his truck as if chased by a league of demons. He jammed the key into the ignition and tore down the road away from the house, blinking rapidly to clear his blurring vision.

  What a fool! he thought despairingly. He had believed everything she said; every lie, every manipulation he had accepted as the truth. Of course she was an excellent actress and he a most willing subject. He desperately needed to believe that she loved him and wanted to be with him, so he was gullible. He went over the secretary's words in his mind, and they were like slivers of ice cutting him to ribbons.

  She had planned this with Pete Symonds all along, and somewhere inside he'd known it. He'd fallen for her boyfriend's phony apology and graceful exit, the whole bit as polished as a vaudevillian's routine. Sharon was going to dump him as soon as the will was probated and go back to her lover, who was negotiating some kind of deal in her absence.

  He wondered briefly what Symonds was up to, what loan the secretary had been talking about, and decided that it didn't matter. Sharon was planning to sell her parcel to Sun C
ity; that was the only "deal" she could possibly have with them.

  Tay remembered how she had felt in his arms, how she had responded so eagerly to his kisses, and he ground his hands into the wheel. It was a joke. Their love, their marriage, their plans for the future, all of it a farce perpetrated to lull him into a false sense of security. She knew his nature. If she had announced her plans to sell right from the beginning he would have fought her. So she had pretended to reciprocate his feelings. She had even put up that smoke screen of talking to the developers and then changing her mind out of her concern for him. Oh, she was very clever, but this little accident with the telephone message had tipped her hand. Once she had inherited the land she was going to skip, and now he knew it.

  Tay pulled off to the shoulder of the road, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm. He couldn't see well enough to drive and he didn't even know where he was going.

  Cars whizzed past him, and he realized that he was on the interstate, heading up into the foothills. Fine. That was as good a place as any to think. There were a lot of areas where a man could get lost in those mountains, one of them a camping spot he had used years ago when he wanted to get away.

  He waited until he was under control before he pulled into the lane of traffic heading north.

  * * * *

  Sharon waltzed into the house, humming under her breath. She had stopped off at the clinic while she was in town and persuaded the nurse there to give her the test results as soon as they came into the office.

  She was pregnant.

  Rosa wasn't there and Tay was working; she was disappointed that she couldn't share her joy with anyone. She thought briefly of finding Tay outside and telling him but decided that a romantic dinner would be a better setting in which to deliver such a bulletin. She had bought the ingredients in anticipation of getting good news from the doctor, and so she was ready with steaks and baking potatoes and fresh strawberries for dessert. She had even bought a bottle of wine. She had remembered the name of one Tay ordered in a restaurant and purchased it at the liquor store in Glendora. She put everything away and glanced at the clock.

  It was almost five. Time to bathe and dress before Tay came in for the evening. By five-thirty she was ready and had started dinner. He usually arrived around six-thirty and he called if he was going to be late.

  She set the table and put out the food, growing concerned only when seven o'clock passed and she hadn't heard from Tay. She telephoned the main stable and got Miguel.

  "Hi, it's Sharon," she said. "I've been waiting for Tay and his dinner is getting cold. Could you put him on for a moment, please?"

  "He isn't here," Miguel said. "In fact, I haven't seen him all afternoon."

  "Really?"

  "He went up to the house around lunchtime and never came back. We were supposed to go over to George Jensen's and pick up that roan he's been boarding, so I wondered what happened to Tay."

  "Is his truck gone?"

  "Yup."

  Sharon felt alarm raising the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. "Do you know if anyone else saw him leave?"

  "No. I've been asking around and nobody did." Then, as if realizing that he shouldn't scare her he added, "I'm sure it's nothing. He probably just took a trip into town and forgot to tell anybody."

  "Probably," Sharon agreed, but she didn't think so. He always let her know where he was.

  Unless he didn't want her to find him.

  "Thanks, Miguel." She hung up, staring at the wilting lettuce in the bowls on the table.

  Something was wrong. She could feel it. She thought for a moment and dialed Rosa's home number.

  "Hi, it's Sharon," she said when Rosa answered.

  "What's up?" Rosa said. She was never one to beat around the bush.

  “Have you seen Tay?'' Sharon asked.

  "No. Was he supposed to come here?"

  "Not that I know of, but I thought he might have stopped by to see you."

  "Sharon, he sees me almost every day." There was a pause. Then, "What's the matter?"

  "Nothing's the matter."

  "Don't give me that. You're calling here to find out where your husband is? You've been practically joined at the hip the last few weeks and suddenly you can't locate him?"

  "He was supposed to come back for dinner and he didn't show," Sharon said, abandoning all pretense. "I called Miguel and no one has seen Tay since noon. His truck is gone, too."

  "I see. Did you have an argument?"

  "No! Everything was going fine. In fact, I had some news to give him tonight that I thought would make him very happy."

  “He's going to be a father, right?''

  "Right."

  "Congratulations."

  "Thank you. I wish I could be happy but I'm too worried right now."

  "You're sure you didn't do or say anything to upset him?"

  "Rosa, I'm telling you, he went out of here smiling this morning. I went to town for a few hours and haven't seen him since I got back."

  "Then something happened while you were gone. You know he always took off when something was bothering him."

  "I thought those days were past."

  “Apparently not.''

  "Can you think where he would go?"

  “He always used to go into the foothills when he was upset."

  “Any special place?"

  “I know of one, but I'd have to give you directions. And I forbid you to go there at night, you'd get lost. If he's not back by morning you can drive up there and see."

  “All right." At an earlier time she would have gone immediately despite Rosa's warning, but she was very conscious of the new life she was carrying. She didn't want to take any chances with it.

  Rosa gave her the directions, and Sharon copied them down on the notepad she kept by the phone.

  "Let me know what happens," Rosa said.

  "I will."

  “Sharon, do you think this has anything to do with that Sun City deal you're planning?"

  Warning bells went off in Sharon's head. She hadn't thought of it until that moment. "I don't know," she said.

  “He wouldn't be happy about your going behind his back if he found out about it."

  "But he wouldn't run away from home either, would he?"

  “Who knows? Don't forget what he used to be like. He could revert very fast if he were threatened."

  “With what?"

  "Losing you, maybe."

  "Losing me! That's ridiculous!"

  “Maybe he doesn't think so.''

  "Should I call the police?" Sharon asked, really frightened now.

  "No, no. He'd never forgive you, and he can take care of himself. I don't think anything has happened to him, I just think he's taken off to be alone."

  ''To get away from me, you mean.''

  "Same thing."

  "Oh, Rosa."

  "I know. You'd better get off the phone in case he's trying to call you. And wait until tomorrow to look for him. He may show up later tonight with a perfectly reasonable explanation."

  "All right." Sharon hung up, carefully wrapped the food she had prepared and put it into the refrigerator. Then she sat and stood, paced and walked, for the rest of the night waiting for Tay to return. Around three in the morning she fell asleep on the living room sofa, and when she woke again the sun was rising.

  She showered, dressed quickly and left the house, taking the keys to her father's car and the directions Rosa had given her. She realized that Rosa could be wrong about what had happened to Tay, but at least this way she felt as though she was doing something. If she couldn't locate him today she would call the police, no matter what anyone said.

  The sun was high by the time she found the mountain road Rosa had indicated, shown by a squiggle on the map. The going was rough and she bumped along grimly, looking for the cabin Rosa had described.

  She spotted it through the trees as she came around a bend in the road, and with a grateful lurch of her heart she saw that Tay's truck was parked beh
ind it. She pulled her car in next to the pickup, got out and went over to the cabin. Hesitantly she knocked on the door, which was ajar. When there was no response, she pushed it inward. To her extreme disappointment the cabin was empty.

  She thought for a moment and realized that Tay had to be nearby. If she couldn't locate him she would just sit down and wait; he would have to show up eventually. She wandered outside and listened closely, thinking that she heard the gurgle of water in the distance. She listened again; it sounded like a stream. She followed the sound and it got louder until she could see the gleam of water through the underbrush. She pushed on and finally broke through the trees, coming to a clearing where Tay was sitting on an outcropping of rock, staring into the distance.

  She sagged with relief and watched him for a while, until he felt her gaze and turned to look at her.

  "What are you doing here?" he said curtly.

  Not exactly the lover's greeting she had been longing to hear. "I came to find you. Rosa told me where you might be."

  He watched her as she picked her way to him, climbing over rocks and fallen tree limbs. He made no move to get up and help her. When she was standing next to him she said, "Tay, what's going on? You didn't come home last night, I've been out of my mind worrying about you."

  "I'll bet," he said acidly, looking away from her. He hadn't shaved and his beard was dark on his cheeks and chin. He was wearing the same clothes he'd had on the previous day.

  "Have you been sitting here all night?"

  "What difference does it make?"

  "Tay, don't you think you'd better tell me what this is all about?"

  He considered her for a moment and said, "Fine. The game is over. You can stop pretending that you love me and will stay married to me. I know all about your clever scheme."

  "What scheme?" she said, stunned. "What on earth are you talking about?"

  "I have a message from your boy Pete," he said.

  "Pete Symonds?"

  "Do we know any other?"

  "He called you?"

  "His secretary did. Or rather she called you but I took the message."

  Sharon's expression changed, and he noted it.

  "Yeah," he said sarcastically. "She blew it sky high. When old Pete finds out about this I don't think she'll be on the payroll too long."