And Mistress Makes Three

by Francis Ray

  It took time to become that weary. It was a learned response from either her parents, the husband, or both. Pity, when she smiled she made you glad to be in her presence, just as she did now.

  “The main lawn can hold everything together if you plan the gardens well. When they come out of the back door they’ll view an arbor gate. Going through it will lead them down to the pier. It will be breathtaking in the spring and, with seasonal planting, remain inviting in the fall and winter.” She turned to him, a wistful smile on her lips.

  “I’ve been thinking about the screened-in porch. Since the living room is so formal, there’s no place for your guests to relax. If you’d whitewash the wood floors, add white wicker furniture with cushions covered with outdoor fabric, a colorful rug, and possibly an inexpensive painting on the back wall, plants, and a small game table, they could relax there and view the river. What do you think?”

  “I can see it,” he said. Gina had the ability to paint her vision so that you could see what she talked about. He recalled her lifeless flowers, the yard turning brown. “You like flowers.”

  “I love them. I—” She glanced toward the river. A sailboat slowly drifted by.

  He stepped closer. “What?”

  She turned. “Nothing. I’d better go see what you have so I’ll know what to purchase when we go to the grocery store Saturday evening. I’ll call once the game is over.”

  He frowned. “Did you forget that I told Ashton that I’d try to make it?”

  Her hands linked together in front of her. “He and I both know that, when you own your own business, your time is not your own.”

  The absent father. Once Max might have been the same way. Life had taught him to live for today, because tomorrow wasn’t promised. “I’ll be there if I can. My cousin and his wife are on vacation and might drop by Saturday. They aren’t sure what time.”

  “I understand. I’d better go inside and start on my list.”

  Max almost reached out to stop her. She didn’t believe him. Once he might have been insulted. Now he knew how easily he’d once made promises and how easily he broke them.

  He was a better man now, but he’d paid a hell of a price to be so. He looked up at the bright sky. “I’m learning, Sharon.” His eyes shut. He had too many regrets to count. If he thought about them too often, he knew melancholy would overtake him as it had before.

  You made mistakes, hopefully learned from them, picked yourself up, and went on. Opening his eyes, he saw Gina open the back screen door and go inside.

  If he didn’t miss his guess, they were both learning lessons. Her marriage hadn’t held the happiness his had. Nobody had to tell him that life had dealt him a sucker punch, but it had also given him one of those rare loves that most people can only dream about.

  He hadn’t been smart enough to appreciate the precious gift until it was too late. He didn’t hold out any hope or even think that he’d be blessed a second time.

  His life now revolved around Journey’s End and fulfilling a shared dream. That was enough—or had been.

  His brow creased in a frown, he stared toward the inn.

  What do you do with a woman who is beautiful, won’t take no for an answer, has your best interests at heart, and cooks like a five-star chef? Alec scraped the plate, searching for another taste of the free-form plum pie. The crust had been flaky, the fruit just sweet enough. The herb-crusted chicken with wild rice and a fresh salad had been just as delicious.

  Was there anything that threw Celeste? He didn’t have to think long of the evening when he’d torn into her for helping him before he realized he was headed for trouble. She was definitely an interesting combination of compassion and fire, but she wasn’t for him.

  No woman was at the moment.

  He turned to put the dish in the sink and saw her standing there. She was the most exquisite thing he’d ever seen. She wore a smile that made his gut tighten and had a body a man would plead for.

  “Don’t let me disturb you. I just came to get us a bottle of water.” Crossing the kitchen, she pulled two bottles from the refrigerator and headed back the way she came. She was almost out of the room before he realized she really intended to leave.

  “You could give the cooks at Sticky Fingers a run for their money.”

  She paused and looked at him.

  He lifted the empty container. “That’s the best pie and probably the best meal I’ve had in a long time. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed it.” With that she was gone.

  Alex frowned as he watched her leave. She hadn’t stayed to entice him, to draw him into a conversation. Had she suddenly decided he wasn’t worth her time? Had he finally pushed her away? He tried to be glad about that but couldn’t.

  Going to the sink, he rinsed his plate, bowl, and utensils. Time to go back outside. Looked like he’d have some peace and quiet. His steps slowed when he reached the bottom of the stairs. His hand on the newel cap, he looked up, trying to figure out why she’d given him the cold shoulder.

  He should get back to work but found himself climbing the stairs. He needed to pay her for picking up the groceries for him. It might as well be now. He removed thirty dollars from his billfold in his room and headed back out.

  He wandered into the master suite to see both women strapping on knee pads. Celeste saw him first. “Yes, Alec?”

  The saucy smile he’d come to associate with her wasn’t there. “I brought you the money. Thanks. I appreciate you taking the time.”

  “No bother. I had to pick up some other things for myself.” Bending, she finished buckling the last knee pad. “Just leave it on the table.”

  He looked at her; she looked back. “All right.” He placed the money on the small table in between the two side chairs in the sitting area. He turned and saw her pick up a trowel.

  “Ready, pardner?” she asked the other woman.

  “Let’s do it.”

  They entered the bathroom without a backward glance. Alec had been dismissed, and he didn’t like it one bit.

  Celeste slowly spread the tile adhesive on the floor, her ears alert. Finally she heard Alec’s feet going down the stairs. She’d noticed he didn’t wear his work shoes in the house. She breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t put it past him to come into the bathroom to try to figure out why she was acting differently toward him.

  On the other side of the spacious room, Willie chuckled. “You certainly took him off-guard and gave him something to think about.”

  “Thanks to Yolanda,” Celeste said as she seriously got to work. She wanted the tile laid today. She planned to come early in the morning and grout.

  “She’s right. Two husbands and two engagements taught me a thing or two about catching a man.” Willie paused and straightened. “That young man is probably wondering what happened to the woman in hot pursuit.”

  Celeste groaned. “I was so obvious.”

  “Nothing wrong with going after what you want; just don’t make it easy for them to catch you,” Willie cackled.

  Celeste laughed so hard she almost lost her balance. “No wonder every time I see Joe he has a smile on his face,” she said, referring to Willie’s husband of thirty years.

  “Just because there’s no smoke in the chimney doesn’t mean a fire isn’t burning.” She went back to work spreading the adhesive. “Maureen and the Invincibles have the right idea about life. Live every day to the fullest with no regrets, love deeply, and help someone along the way.”

  “And it’s a much better life living with someone you care deeply about,” Celeste said a bit wistfully.

  “You sound serious this time.”

  Each of the three times Celeste had become engaged, Willie had asked if she was sure, and when it was over, she and Gina were the only people who never seemed surprised. Each time Celeste’s mother cried for a week.

  “I don’t know, Willie. He’s different from any man I’ve dated,” Celeste said slowly. Working together, they
had a lot of time to talk about their personal lives. Willie probably knew her almost as well as her sister, Yolanda, and Gina. “I just know something about him calls to me, invokes emotions I’ve never had before.”

  “Easy and charming is boring,” Willie said with feeling. “Go after him until he catches you.”

  “What if that doesn’t happen?” Celeste asked, unable to keep the worry to herself. Alec wouldn’t succumb easily.

  “From the obscene way he was looking at you, I’d say it’s in the bag. Now, enough jabbering, let’s do this so I can get home to my man.”

  Gina waited until she’d picked up Gabrielle and Ashton from school and they came into the house. On the way home, Ashton as usual told Gina about his day and the new girl in his class, the planned field trip to the aquarium. All the time Gabrielle, sitting in the front passenger seat, stared out the side window, ignoring them.

  Once in the kitchen, Gabrielle started to push past her mother. She caught Gabrielle’s arm. The start of surprise in her eyes was priceless. “Gabrielle, I want to talk to you. Please wait.”

  Not giving her daughter a chance to say anything, Gina opened the refrigerator, took out a carton of apple juice and a small package of cut apples, and handed them to Ashton. “Please go to your room and stay there until I call you.”

  Ashton looked from his mother to his sister and headed for the stairs. Gina waited a few minutes, then waved Gabrielle to a seat. “Please sit down.”

  “I have homework.”

  “Sit down,” Gina repeated, clearly enunciating each word.

  Uneasiness flickered in her daughter’s eyes, so much like her own; then the surly expression returned. Shrugging off her backpack, Gabrielle let it fall to the floor and plopped in the chair.

  Gina took a seat next to her daughter. Twelve inches of space separated them, but it might as well have been miles. “As long as you live in this house, you’ll respect me.”

  Silence.

  “That means you’ll give me the respect and courtesy to look at me when I speak to you,” Gina said, fully aware that they’d already had this conversation once this week, but she didn’t plan to have it again after tonight.

  Gabrielle turned to face her mother. Her lips were pressed together in mounting anger.

  “I’ve tried to understand you, be lenient with you, but all it has done is let you think you call the shots in this house. That stops today, do you understand?”

  More silence.

  Gina leaned back in her chair. “If you don’t want to talk to me, I can’t make you. I refuse to take a belt to you.”

  Gabrielle’s eyes flared, and she shrank back in her chair. Finally a reaction.

  “But there are other ways to get through to you that you’re the child and I’m the adult and your mother.”

  She could almost see Gabrielle relaxing back in the chair, the wheels turning in her head, as she thought that once again she’d emerge the victor.

  Not this time.

  “Each time you’re rude, snotty, discourteous, and a general pain, more household duties will be allotted to you. If they’re not done in a timely manner and to my satisfaction, you’ll have to do them over no matter what time it is or what your other plans might be. If after the second time they are still unsatisfactory, I’ll deduct two dollars from your monthly allowance for every hour it takes you to do them right.”

  “That’s not fair!” she wailed. “You can’t take my money. That’s what Daddy sends to me.”

  Gina knew that argument was coming and had prepared in advance. Getting up from her chair, she opened a drawer in the kitchen, took out copies of all the checks Gabrielle’s father had sent since he left.

  “Look at these.” Gina held the copies out to her daughter, but she made no move to take them. “I said look at them. The court ordered your father to send ten percent of his net income for you and Ashton each month. I asked for no alimony and received none, just the house. He agreed to that if I relinquished any claim to the gym. I agreed.”

  Gina nodded toward the copies of the checks. “There have been times your father had difficulties, for whatever reason, in sending the checks, yet your allowance has never stopped.”

  She waited and let that sink in. Gabrielle finally took the copies, clutching them instead of looking at them.

  “I don’t want to hear any more about your money,” Gina told her. “You have more new clothes than anyone. Your booster team outfit cost a month of child support, and that didn’t include the boots, the practice gear,” Gina said. “And if you spend every penny, how do you expect to go to college?”

  “Daddy said I could go to whatever college I wanted,” Gabrielle said. “He said he’d pay for it.”

  Your father is a liar and a cheat. “As you can see by those checks, your father’s business is not doing well at the moment,” Gina said. Not for anything did she want Gabrielle to know her father didn’t care about any of them. She retook her seat and stared at her daughter. “My house, my rules.”

  “What if I went to live with Daddy?” she asked.

  Her disloyalty was a stab in the heart. Gina leaned back in her chair. Threats again. “You’d have to change schools. You would have to make new friends. I’m sure that the booster squad has already been selected.” Gina took a big gamble. “If that’s what you want, I’ll call your father, but I wish you wouldn’t leave. Ashton and I would miss you. We love you.”

  “Ashton. It’s always Ashton!” Gabrielle shot to her feet. “He can never do any wrong. You let him get away with murder.”

  This time Gina was taken by surprise. She stood as well. “That’s not true.”

  Moisture glistened in Gabrielle’s eyes. “It is, too. It’s always been that way.”

  Gina didn’t even have to think about it. If anything, Gabrielle was the one she was too lenient with. “No, you don’t, Gabrielle. You won’t blame your poor behavior on me. Was he rude to the B and B owner? Did he deliberately kick the ball wide? Did he call you a snot? No. His crime is that he stands up to you and tries to get your attention because he’s a little boy in the house with two females. Stop picking on him and you’ll see.”

  Gabrielle brushed the heel of her hand across both eyes and looked away. “I might have known you’d take his side.”

  Gina wanted so badly to take her daughter in her arms, but if there was ever a time she had to be strong it was now. “Gabrielle, open your eyes and see that you bring all of this on yourself.”

  Silence, then, “Yes, ma’am. May I go to my room now?”

  Gina’s heart clenched. She wasn’t listening. “All right, Gabrielle, if that’s the way you want it. For being disrespectful this morning and slamming the car door you have another week of doing the dinner dishes.”

  Her lips pursed. “Can I go now?”

  “Yes.”

  Jerking up her backpack, Gabrielle left the room.

  Gina felt drained. She wasn’t meaner or badder; what she was, was in danger of losing her daughter.

  ELEVEN

  Celeste made sure she left with Willie, so even if Alec had wanted to talk to her, he wouldn’t have been able to. Pulling away from Maureen’s house, Celeste couldn’t resist the temptation of looking in her rearview mirror.

  No Alec. She looked again just before she took a left at the end of the street. Nada. Wrinkling her nose, Celeste continued on. She hadn’t thought he would be easy, but as Willie said, easy was boring.

  In twenty minutes Celeste pulled into her garage and activated the door. She didn’t move until the door closed. It was half past six, still daylight, but that didn’t stop crazy people from trying to rob you. She had missed Simon’s first lesson on home safety at Maureen’s house but not the next one.

  Climbing out, Celeste shut the door and went to the back of the van. Opening the door, she took out the toolbox and carried it to the sink she’d installed in the garage. She kept her tools clean, her van neat. If she wanted something, she didn’t want to waste tim
e looking for it.

  Finished, she set the toolbox back in the van and went inside. The alarm blared. She punched in the code, then turned Kenny G down on the intercom radio.

  Sitting on a small bench in the mudroom, she took off her tennis shoes, stripped down to nothing, throwing all of her clothes into the hamper. If she did any remodeling, she always undressed in the utility room. She didn’t want to track dirt through her house.

  Slipping on a short robe, she belted it at her waist and continued to the kitchen. She wasn’t hungry, so a small salad would do. Opening the Sub-Zero refrigerator, she thought of Alec. At least he’d eaten today. If he didn’t continue to eat properly and take care of himself, he’d start to burn muscle, and that would be a true pity.

  “Get your mind off the man’s great bod.” Closing the door, she continued through the one-story house, her sanctuary, to her spacious bedroom, a generous twenty by twenty-four with a sitting area and a small curved sofa in front of the fireplace.

  Getting fresh panties, she used a scrunchie on her hair to pull it off her shoulders and stepped into the open shower tiles in pale blue and gray. Ten minutes later, she shut off the water, dried, then liberally used her favorite Hermès lotion.

  Her mother might nag, but she had taught both daughters to pamper themselves, not to wait for anyone to do it for you. Slipping on her panties, she pulled on a strapless sundress that stopped midway up her thighs. In front of the mirror, she let her hair down and brushed it until it fell thick and silky to the middle of her back.

  She stared into the mirror, trying to see what others saw. She guessed she looked all right, but she couldn’t take any credit for her looks. Besides, life had taught her that no matter how beautiful you were, life could still bring you to your knees.

  Turning away, she went to the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, she pulled out Bibb lettuce, grape tomatoes, scallions, slivers of almonds, and cubed chicken. In a matter of minutes she had a salad and green iced tea ready.