Best Kept Secrets

by Rochelle Alers

  Ignoring her gaping mouth, he continued. “You’ll probably want a wedding, so start making arrangements on what you want. We’ll go and pick out a ring in a couple of hours. I’ll also ask Samuel for time off for a honeymoon, so let me know where you’d like to go.”

  “You—you make this sound like a business arrangement,” she said once she’d recovered her voice.

  “It is. I’m not in love with you, and you’re definitely not in love with me. So, let’s try to make the best of what could possibly become an uncomfortable situation.”

  “Uncomfortable for who?”

  “For you, Teresa. You and the child in your belly will be the losers if you reject what I’m offering you.”

  Tunneling her fingers through her hair, she held the heavy waves off her face. “I’m so confused.”

  Everett dried her tears with his handkerchief. “Let me handle everything. I’ll tell your father that I’ve been interested in you ever since you came to work for ColeDiz, and now that I’ve made my feelings known I want to do the right thing and make you my wife.”

  Teresa’s hands trembled uncontrollably. “I don’t know if I can do what you propose.”

  “Yes, you can. We both can.”

  She stared at the man offering her the chance for respectability for herself and her unborn child. She couldn’t have Samuel Cole, but she was being offered a second choice, the man closest to him. They’d met and discussed her like a parcel of land they wanted to purchase, then decided who would claim her.

  Her eyes narrowed. “I don’t understand how you’d want to claim another man’s child as your own.”

  Everett leaned closer, his gold eyes darkening dangerously. “You are never to speak of the child as Samuel’s. This baby, whether girl or boy, will be known as the son or daughter of Everett and Teresa Kirkland.”

  Teresa regarded Everett with impassive coldness. She hated him, hated his supercilious, patronizing manner. And if he thought she was going to submit to him once she delivered her baby, then he was crazier than the people they locked away in mental hospitals.

  The accountant was offering her what Samuel couldn’t and wouldn’t. She would become Mrs. Everett Kirkland, but in name only.

  “Okay,” she said softly. “I will marry you.”

  Teresa sat on the porch step with Liliana, waiting for Everett to emerge from the house. She tried staring through the curtain of rain that fell sideways. She’d told her friend that Everett had come to ask her father’s permission to marry her, but hadn’t said a word about the baby.

  “What’s taking so long?” Liliana whined like a child.

  Propping her elbows on her knees, Teresa shifted her gaze to the car parked in the driveway. It belonged to the man who was to become her husband once Ramon Maldonado gave his approval. But what her father didn’t know was the longer he resisted, the more evident her condition would be.

  She was only six weeks into her term, and her body was changing quickly. Her breasts were fuller, her appetite had increased, and she needed to marry within the next two weeks.

  Liliana popped up like a jack-in-the-box when the screen door opened. Teresa was slower in rising. Everett stepped out onto the porch. A wide grin crinkled the skin around his tawny-gold eyes.

  He reached for her left hand and slipped a ring with an emerald-cut diamond on her third finger. It wasn’t the ring she’d picked out the day before. The one she’d selected had a much smaller stone.

  Lowering his head, Everett kissed Teresa’s parted lips, inhaling and swallowing her breath. “Thank you,” he whispered loud enough for Liliana to overhear.

  Clinging to the front of his shirt as if he were a lifeline, Teresa stared up at him. “Thank you,” she repeated softly.

  “Let me see your ring!” Liliana shouted before she put her hand over her mouth. Her hand came down slowly. “Oh, m’ija, it is so beautiful.”

  Teresa hugged her friend. “Will you be my maid of honor?”

  “But of course.”

  The two women were babbling excitedly in Spanish when the door opened again and Ramon and Silvia Maldonado joined them on the porch.

  Everett had asked the elder Maldonados to set a date for the wedding before the end of September. The next day they would leave for their honeymoon. Teresa hadn’t seen her parents’ homeland, so she would visit Cuba for the first time, not as Teresa Maldonado, but Teresa Kirkland.

  Winding an arm around his fiancée’s waist, he smiled at her. “We have to go, or we’re going to be late for dinner.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I’ll tell you in the car.”

  Everett shook Ramon’s hands, then kissed Silvia’s cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said in Spanish.

  Liliana smiled as Everett held an umbrella over Teresa’s head when he escorted her off the porch to his car. She was relieved her friend had changed her mind about seducing Samuel Cole.

  Everett Kirkland would make her a much better husband.

  Teresa saw the sign pointing the way to Palm Grove Oval, and knew Everett was taking her to his home. The rain had subsided to a light drizzle by the time he parked his car under a porte cochere.

  “Don’t move,” Everett warned when her hand went to the door handle. “I’ll come around and get you.”

  To anyone watching them, they appeared to be a normal couple, a loving couple; but appearances were deceiving, because they would begin a life together living a lie.

  She watched Everett unlock the front door, step into the entryway, then extend his hand for her to take it. Trustingly, she placed her hand in his, feeling its strength when his fingers tightened.

  The entryway was as large as the living room in the house where she’d grown up. It gave way to an expansive living room, and beyond that a formal dining room. All of the furnishings were Spanish or Caribbean-inspired.

  “Most of the furniture was shipped from Costa Rica and Jamaica.”

  She smiled. “I like it. Where are the bedrooms?”

  “Toward the rear.” Cupping her elbow, Everett led her down the hallway, stopping at each bedroom. The two smaller rooms contained only rockers and a side table with a lamp. “As you can see I don’t have company.”

  Walking into one room, Teresa noticed the wallpaper. Figures of circus elephants and calliopes dotted a pale green background. “This was once a nursery.”

  Hands thrust into his pockets, Everett angled his head. “Yes. Samuel’s son and daughter slept here before he built the new house.”

  “This was Samuel’s house?” she said without turning around.

  “Yes.”

  “And now it’s yours.”

  “Yes, Teresa. It’s mine. And once we’re married it will be ours.”

  She closed her eyes. She was carrying Samuel Cole’s baby, she was going to marry Samuel Cole’s business partner, and she would also live in a house that had at one time belonged to Samuel Cole.

  How many more secondhand goods would the man she’d promised to marry accept before he developed enough of a backbone to say enough is enough?

  Forcing a smile she did not feel, Teresa turned and smiled at her fiancé. “It’s a lovely home.” And it was. It still smelled new.

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  “May I see the kitchen?”

  “Don’t you want to see our bedroom?”

  “I’ll see it later. Right now I need to eat something or I’m going to be sick.”

  Taking her hand, Everett led her into the kitchen. He seated her at a table, then opened the refrigerator. “Do you like fruit?”

  “Yes.”

  He took out a bowl of diced pineapple, mango and guava. Teresa had rested her head on the table to stop the spinning. “Eat,” he ordered, forcing her mouth open. It was only when she’d swallowed several forkfuls of fruit that the spinning stopped.

  Teresa chewed and swallowed the last piece. “Thank you.”

  Everett did not acknowledge her gratitude as he turned an
d put the bowl in the sink. She stared at his tall, slender figure as he leaned into the refrigerator.

  “Why did you change the ring?”

  He took out a bowl of cut-up chicken. “The one you picked out was too small.”

  “But it was the one I wanted.”

  “It wasn’t the one I wanted.”

  “Why didn’t you say something when we were in the store?”

  Everett set the bowl on a countertop. “Because I don’t argue in public, Teresa. To do so indicates you haven’t been properly trained.”

  “You train animals, not people.”

  “Proper rearing and good manners are essential if you want to be accepted in polite society.”

  Her eyes paled. “Are you afraid I’m going to embarrass you in front of these fancy people who live around here?”

  “No, I’m not, Teresa. Because that is something I will not tolerate.”

  She stood up. “And if I do embarrass you?”

  Everett stared at the woman who wore his ring, the woman he’d promised his boss he would marry to protect his reputation. He liked his women docile and obedient. Teresa Maldonado was a lot of things, but docile or obedient wasn’t among them.

  A hint of a smile curved the corners of his mouth upward. “I will spank you for being naughty.”

  She returned his smile, her breasts rising and falling, bringing his gaze to linger there. Teresa wasn’t certain, but she thought she saw a spark of desire fire in his eyes, but he’d shuttered his gaze so quickly she could’ve been mistaken.

  “I’m going to see the bedroom now.”

  Everett watched her retreating figure. Teresa was unlike any other woman he’d ever met. What have I gotten myself into? he mused.

  The question nagged him later that night when he went to bed—alone. It would nag at him two weeks later when he stood in the formal English garden on the Cole estate with Teresa Kirkland, accepting best wishes from their wedding guests.

  Teresa concentrated on placing one silk-covered foot in front of the other as she stared through the white veil at one of the two formally dressed men standing at the altar. She pulled her mesmerizing gaze from Samuel’s startled one and smiled at Everett.

  Ramon Maldonado lifted the small gloved hand resting on his suit jacket, placing it in Everett Kirkland’s outstretched one. He nodded to his impending son-in-law, stepped back and sat down beside his wife, who dabbed her eyes with a lace-trimmed handkerchief.

  Ramon wanted to see all of his children married, his daughter in particular, but he’d wanted her to wait until she’d graduated from nursing school. He wanted to tell everyone that his daughter would be the first Maldonado to graduate from college, but that accomplishment would have to wait.

  Everett had promised him that he would see that Teresa completed her education even if she did become a mother. The accountant said he wanted to marry Teresa and father a child before he celebrated his thirty-fourth birthday. As it was, he’d thought of himself as too old for marriage and fatherhood. The younger man had also offered a dowry for the hand of his daughter. It was enough money for the Maldonados, with the sum they’d saved, to purchase a house of their own.

  Teresa stared up at Everett staring down at her. She had to admit he looked incredibly handsome in his wedding finery. A mysterious light fired the deep-set gold eyes that reminded her of honey.

  During the past weeks she’d spent as much time as she could with her fiancé, hoping to know him better before she became Mrs. Everett Kirkland. Her life had changed drastically since she’d accepted his proposal and his ring: she’d submitted a letter asking for an official leave of absence from her classes for the school year, tendered her resignation with ColeDiz, moved all of her clothes and personal possessions into the house in the Palm Grove Oval, and had begun looking for furniture for one of the two empty bedrooms. She decided to wait until April to decorate the nursery. Her doctor had estimated her date of delivery anytime between late April to mid-May.

  She and Everett had argued the day following their engagement. Samuel and his wife had offered their home for the wedding reception, and Everett said to refuse was not only discourteous but unappreciative. As before in all of their discussions, she’d found herself on the losing end, and invitations were sent out informing guests that a reception at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Cole would follow the sacrament of holy matrimony at St. Ignatius R.C. Church.

  Teresa repeated her vows, secretly wishing it were Samuel she was marrying. To the world she would be known as Mrs. Teresa Kirkland, but in her heart she would always be Mrs. Teresa Cole.

  Everett raised Teresa’s veil and what he saw in her luminous eyes made him hopeful that maybe they could possibly become man and wife. That perhaps one day there would be enough respect and affection between them to present a modicum of normalcy to those outside the wall they’d erected to hide their best-kept secret.

  Lowering his head, he wound an arm around her waist and gave her a chaste kiss. Just for an instant he felt her respond. “Congratulations, Mrs. Kirkland,” he whispered for her ears only.

  Her eyes paled, appearing colorless. “No, Everett,” she whispered back, smiling for those observing the supposedly happy couple. “You’re the only winner here.”

  What should’ve been one of the happiest days in his life suddenly soured for Everett. He and Teresa hadn’t mentioned Samuel since the time they’d argued about where the reception would be held, but it was apparent she wasn’t going to forgive him for overruling her.

  He caught her hand as they turned to face those who’d come to witness their union. Squeezing her fingers in a deathlike grip, he forced a smile. “Not here, not today,” he ground out between his teeth. “Now smile pretty for the people,” he said, as if speaking to a child.

  Teresa drew in a breath against the unyielding pressure on her hand, the gesture resembling a grimace. “Please.”

  Bending slightly, Everett swept her up in his arms and carried her out of the church and into the bright Florida sunlight. Yards and yards of ivory silk flowed over the arm of his cutaway coat and down to his pale gray dress trousers.

  Samuel, holding Liliana’s hand, followed the newlyweds, who were showered with handfuls of rice and orange blossoms. He waited for M.J. to emerge from the church with Martin and Nancy. He spied her with Ramon and Silvia Maldonado. A stylish cloche in sapphire-blue matched the silk dress, artfully disguising her expanding waistline. She’d followed her doctor’s instruction and hadn’t overtaxed herself. She and Belinda, who’d taken up residence in one of the bedroom suites, had truly become mother and daughter.

  He caught M.J.’s eye, waved to her, then left to join the bride and groom for wedding pictures.

  Teresa stood in the receiving line with her husband, thanking the people waiting to offer their best wishes. A large tent had been erected in the center of the boxwood English garden to protect the guests from the sun.

  Most of the invited guests were friends of Samuel’s and Everett’s, and coworkers. Nora Harris had returned from Arkansas after burying her son. Depressed because he would have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, he’d put a second bullet in his own head, this one killing him instantly. Eddie Grady had come with his wife, and Joseph Hill, the part-time bookkeeper, had brought his girlfriend.

  Nora kissed Teresa’s cheek, smiling. “Be happy. You’ve got yourself a good man.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Harris.”

  Teresa saw her mother with M.J., the two women laughing like long-lost friends. Silvia was ecstatic that she’d found someone from her homeland with whom to communicate. They had come from different social classes, but they still were Cuban women.

  The last guest moved into the tent to be seated when Teresa leaned into her husband, a fixed smile on her lush mouth. “If you ever hurt me again I swear I’ll cut your heart out of your chest when you go to sleep.”

  Everett froze and stared at her as if she’d suddenly gone insane. His eyes widened bef
ore he looked away. What had he gotten himself into?

  Samuel had spared no expense for the reception. He’d hired two bands, one playing the pieces made popular by Edward “Duke” Ellington’s big band in Harlem’s Cotton Club, and he’d paid the traveling expenses of Havana’s top musicians to play at his best friend’s wedding reception.

  Teresa picked at the food on her plate, preferring instead to drink water. The heat and the spicy food had triggered an unnatural thirst. The band slowed the tempo and she found herself pulled gently from her chair. It was time she danced with her husband. The hem of her flowing dress trailed over the grass as Everett led her to an expansive slate-covered area.

  The sunlight glinted off the platinum waves framing her face as she stared up at her husband. “I hope you’re happy, Everett. You’ve saved your boss’s ass.”

  His mouth tightening under his mustache, Everett pulled her closer, twirling her around and around. “I was only joking before when I said I would spank you, but if you push me I will beat the hell out of you, baby or no baby.”

  She gasped. “You wouldn’t!”

  He tightened his hold on her waist. “Test me and you’ll find out.”

  Teresa wasn’t able to form a comeback when she found herself in her father’s arms. Resting her head on his shoulder as she’d done as a child, she felt safe and protected. However, that was short-lived when she detected the fragrance of the man who had forced her into a predicament from which there was no escape.

  Samuel couldn’t take his gaze off the face of the woman in his arms. He found her more hypnotically alluring than when they had shared a bed for a few precious moments on an enchanting island paradise.

  He was drowning, in her eyes and her sensual scent. “You are a beautiful bride.”

  A sun-bleached eyebrow lifted. “Is that what you said to M.J. the day you married her?”