Second Chance, Baby

by A. C. Arthur

  Felicia stood at the door to the home she and Ty had shared, debating whether or not she should use her key. Still, she needed to retain some sort of distance between them. As she’d told Ty earlier that afternoon, she wasn’t about to run back to him and things the way they were, baby or not. She wasn’t about to act like things were even remotely back to normal.

  After a few more awkward moments, she realized how foolish she was being and lifted her hand to ring the doorbell. Ty was at the door in no time, as if he’d been standing directly on the other side waiting for her.

  “Hey, you’re right on time, as always.” He smiled and Felicia almost bolted.

  How was she going to survive having dinner with him, here of all places? It was bad enough she’d been thinking of him and that crazy toned body for the duration of the afternoon. “I was hungry.” She shrugged and walked inside.

  “I’ll bet, considering your present condition. Let me get that for you.” He took her purse and the sweater she’d draped over her arm as a weather precaution.

  Felicia continued into the living area. She loved their loft-style penthouse and remembered each piece of furniture they’d chosen together. Clean lines and a contemporary décor was their goal. As she stood in front of the wall-length windows, she would say they’d hit their mark.

  Ty wanted to be close to the pulse of the business industry, and so they’d found this great place in the center of downtown. The windows that made up one wall overlooked downtown Houston’s Near Northside.

  As dusk had just settled over the city, Felicia was treated to the sultry golden hue of the sun as it settled for the night. Buildings glowed majestically, while trees with leaves just changing color filled the landscape. In the distance the Quitman Bridge had a steady flow of commuters either heading toward Houston’s nightlife or hurrying to get home and put the workday behind them. Folding her arms, she took a moment to simply enjoy.

  “You look good standing there,” Ty said from behind.

  She turned slowly. “It’s the view.”

  He shook his head. “No. It’s you. I always liked to see you standing there looking so content.”

  Quickly unfolding her arms, she moved away from the window to take a seat on the beige leather couch. “Looks can be deceiving.”

  Ty didn’t respond, but came to sit beside her. “Dinner’s just about done. Do you want to listen to some music?”

  Felicia blinked in surprise as he leaned forward and picked up the remote to the entertainment center from the cherrywood block coffee table. When was the last time she and Ty had simply sat in the living room listening to music? When was the last time they had sat and did anything together?

  She watched in a trance as he pushed buttons, having never mastered that monstrosity he called a remote. It operated everything electronic in the room—the DVD, the CD player, the television, etc. It had been her practice to just push the power button on the machine she wanted to turn on. The remote was intimidating and entirely Ty’s domain.

  Her heart stumbled when the first chords of a song she hadn’t heard for years began to play. It was an old Freddie Jackson song she and Ty had listened to as they’d studied back in college. She couldn’t help but smile. “Where’d you find that?”

  It was Ty’s turn to shrug. “It wasn’t lost, just forgotten for a while.”

  She sat back in the chair, loving the caramel and ivory pillows she’d insisted on. The relaxing was good for her. Dr. Franz, her ob-gyn, had informed her that during her first trimester she should try and get as much rest as possible. Especially in light of the mild cramping she experienced erratically. Dr. Franz said it wasn’t a big deal as long as she wasn’t bleeding or the pain didn’t become unbearable. But she certainly wanted to be as careful as she could.

  “Are you comfortable?” Ty asked. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Please, no.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “I go to the bathroom enough without any added help.”

  “Really? I always thought that was later in the pregnancy.”

  “Nope. That was one of those symptoms that started right away. I hear it gets worse as the baby grows. I’m definitely not looking forward to more trips to the bathroom.”

  “So you’ve been to the doctor and everything is going to be okay? You and the baby are healthy?”

  She couldn’t help but touch her stomach at his words. In the beginning of their marriage, Ty had always been very attentive, providing any-and everything she needed—from a glass of wine when they came home from work to a massage on those particularly rough days she’d had at school.

  “Dr. Franz said that everything looks fine. He anticipates a noneventful pregnancy and a healthy baby in late April.”

  To her surprise, Ty smiled. “May I?” he asked, nodding at the spot on her stomach where her hand rested.

  After a second of stunned silence, she smiled. “Sure. There’s not much to feel yet.”

  When his hand replaced hers, Felicia’s pulse quickened. It wasn’t just with the awareness that it had been almost three months since she’d felt Ty’s hands on her. It was also the realization that what he was feeling was something they’d both created. The baby that would forever symbolize their love and commitment. Family.

  “This still seems a little unreal,” he said, his eyes glued to her stomach.

  “Is that good or bad?” she inquired tentatively.

  He lifted his gaze to hers and smiled with complete sincerity. “It’s perfect.”

  Keeping his palm on her stomach, Ty continued to stare at her. He used to do that when they were in college. She’d be reading some textbook and assuming he was doing the same. But when she’d look up, those intense, dark brown eyes would be focused solely on her. What was it he used to say he was doing?

  “I’m still memorizing you,” he said as if he’d read her mind. “After all these years, I look at you and want the picture of your face to stay permanently etched in my mind.”

  Dammit. She wasn’t going to make it. He was pushing all the right buttons, saying all the right things. How could she resist coming back to him?

  “I wonder why that is, Ty. I mean, I’ve always wondered why you’d want to memorize me. Is it that you knew one day we would part?” Clearly Ty hadn’t expected that, as his once-soft gaze shifted to mildly irritated.

  “I don’t want tonight to go this way, Felicia. I want us to spend the evening together, with nothing on our minds but you and me. Like we used to do.”

  She nodded, chastising herself for being a little insensitive. It was a protective instinct, she knew, but was it necessary?

  “I hear you.”

  “Let’s just relax and not think about our issues for this one night.”

  He moved closer as he spoke, his voice lowering to that seductive tone she knew all too well. Still, she heard what he was saying and decided it wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “That sounds perfect,” she whispered, just before his lips brushed hers.

  Tonight is going to go well, Ty thought with certainty. He had the music and her favorite meal: meat loaf, mashed potatoes and corn. Ty was used to getting his way, and in this arena there would be no changing that. He would win his wife back, and then he’d make sure she never felt she had to leave him again.

  After dropping Felicia off at the school this afternoon, he’d thought of her constantly. However, when he’d arrived back at his office, Shondra had called to see if he was available for lunch with her and Malcolm tomorrow, and he’d been forced to think of his father’s death again.

  He knew the story of how long his parents had tried for children; it had been years before his mother had gotten pregnant. They had just been about to give up. The appearance of him, his brother and his sister brought a sense of completion to their lives. He realized that with Felicia now carrying his child, he wanted that same thing. His dad was gone, and now Ty wanted to leave his own legacy.

  He wanted his career, his wife, his child, his family
. And nothing was going to stop him from having them. He hadn’t been so sure of anything in a long, long while.

  “Dinner was fantastic,” Felicia said when they stood out on the balcony. “How much did you pay Sarona to cook it for you?” Because Felicia knew nothing if she didn’t know her man. Sarona, the Braddocks’ longtime housekeeper, cooked like an angel. Felicia would know her signature mashed potatoes anywhere.

  “I’m offended.” He smiled and leaned against the railing. “You know I can cook.”

  “Shrimp pizza and hamburgers on the grill are the extent of your culinary expertise. This was a good soul food meal that you definitely did not prepare yourself.”

  “All right. All right, you caught me. But I had the best intentions.”

  “You did, so you earn points for effort,” she said, watching as the crisp, white dress shirt, left unbuttoned at the neck, molded his upper body.

  Ty had always been sexy. There was no doubt about that. Even in the designer suits he seemed to wear more than anything else, he exuded pure, unadulterated sex appeal. She’d been thinking of nothing else but heading to the bedroom with her gorgeous husband for the duration of the night. Her hormones were going crazy. Luckily her brain still had some power over her libido.

  While she’d been lusting after his body, Ty had moved closer so that his hand was now caressing her cheek. His cologne permeated her senses. She looked away, pretending that the view from the balcony was affecting her more than the man standing too damn close to her.

  Putting a fingertip to her chin, he directed her gaze back to him. “You can’t walk away from me, from us,” he whispered, his face looming dangerously close to hers.

  “Ty,” she whispered, trying to turn away from him. She knew what was coming, and no matter how much she wanted it, she knew that it would be a mistake. That kiss they’d shared before dinner had been brief but still potent enough to leave her off-kilter.

  “I love you so much, Felicia.”

  At his words, she could do nothing more than sigh. “You said we would take this slow.”

  “We’re not supposed to do this tonight. Just dinner, remember?”

  He feigned innocence, which was a blatant lie considering that devilish look in his eyes. “We’re not doing anything.” His lips touched hers in a sweeping fashion that sent tingles all the way to her toes.

  Her body was instantly on fire, her tongue anticipating the silky feel of his. “This doesn’t solve our problems.”

  “No,” he answered, then used his tongue to stroke fire into her mouth, pulling out the moment she was about to give in. “But it’s a damn good start to our reconciliation.”

  He wasn’t lying about that, Felicia thought with a groan. Then she felt her body leaning into his. His arms wrapped quickly around her, locking her in place. “You’re not playing fair,” she gasped, then nipped his bottom lip, loving the scrape of his low-trimmed goatee against her face.

  “All’s fair in love and war.” He sighed a second before taking her mouth in a scorching kiss that made her remember just why she’d spent the last nine years loving this man.

  Chapter 3

  Shawnie had gotten involved with Stewart Industries as a result of the siblings’ amateur investigation into the death of their father. Malcolm and his fiancée, Gloria Kingsley—who used to be his father’s assistant—had uncovered the fact that Harmon’s last cell phone call was made to someone named Daiyu Longwei, who worked in the human resources department at Stewart Industries.

  Shawnie wasn’t supposed to fall in love with the owner of the major oil company, but looking at the two of them across the table, Shondra’s darker complexion against Connor’s lighter one, proved Ty wrong. His sister was definitely in love. And, truth be told, Ty didn’t begrudge her one moment of happiness. He and Felicia had been like that once, and after the previous night, Ty was sure they were on their way to that point again.

  “Connor, did you find out anything about this Longwei person?” Ty asked. He had to get his mind off how happy his sister and Connor looked and fight the urge to call his wife.

  Connor was able to look away from Shawnie for a moment to answer the question. “She’s worked at the company for thirty-two years, after a foreign exchange internship while she was in college. In that time, she’s moved up from an HR assistant to vice president of the entire department. Her employment file is squeaky clean. I haven’t approached her personally yet. If she was the last person that Harmon called, she may have something to hide and is probably not real keen on being questioned. I don’t want her to run before we get the information we need. So I’m trying to find an official reason to call her into my office for a conversation.”

  Shawnie shifted and crossed her long legs, to Connor’s obvious delight. “I wonder if she was the same person who called Gloria? Remember? The one where the caller said it wasn’t an accident.”

  Malcolm took a sip of his lemonade and shrugged. “Gloria checked the caller ID but it read unavailable.”

  “Was she able to find out anything about Ms. Longwei from Dad’s records?” Shawnie asked.

  “No. There was nothing in his files about her. Not even an old message. Gloria has never heard the woman’s name before, and you know how close she worked with Dad. If anybody would know Dad’s connection to this woman it would be Gloria.”

  “That’s true. Why didn’t Gloria join us for lunch today?” Ty asked.

  “She’s down at the police station. The cops wanted a list of anything that might be missing from Dad’s office after the break-in,” Malcolm answered.

  “Really? She found something missing?” Ty asked.

  Malcolm shook his head. “No. But she wanted to go and tell them in person in case they had some other leads to tell her about.”

  “And you let her go by herself?” Shawnie inquired.

  Connor answered before Malcolm had a chance. “That was probably smarter. A Braddock at the police station might set the reporters off.”

  Ty looked from Connor to Malcolm, who was nodding his agreement, and back to Connor again. Was it just a few short weeks ago that he and Malcolm had walked in on the ridiculously rich white man kissing their baby sister? And now look at them, he thought, all sitting at a table having lunch and discussing his father’s case. But Ty knew Connor was a cool guy, especially after he had discovered they both shared a love of cars. Connor’s tastes, though, leaned more toward the expensive, speedy sports cars, compared to Ty’s passion with vintage excellence.

  “That’s true. I’m glad we’re all in agreement that this investigation is still on the down-low,” Ty said.

  Connor nodded. “Like I said before, I want to help you get to the bottom of this. Something is definitely not right. The phone call warning to Gloria, the response she got to stay away, the break-in and her last-minute travel plans to D.C. the day he died…The things you’ve uncovered so far support that notion. Besides, it’s not that farfetched that there’s been a cover-up. That’s the name of the game in politics these days.”

  “You’ve got that right,” Malcolm chimed in. “That’s why we need to be extra careful in the investigation.”

  “Let’s face it, guys, we don’t have a clue what we’re doing here,” Shondra said as she forked her salad. “I mean, we’re grasping at straws, accumulating information but have no idea what to do with it.”

  “So what do you suggest?”

  Shondra picked up her glass, drank and used a napkin to wipe her mouth. “Well, Mom did tell us to hire a PI, and Drey St. John offered to help.”

  The men exchanged weary glances.

  “What do you know about him?” Malcolm asked Ty.

  Ty shrugged. “Nothing much. He was at the funeral. He introduced himself, said he knew Dad and worked with him frequently. That’s about it.”

  “Gloria said she has invoices that prove Dad employed him often. He’s a private investigator. What more could we ask?”

  Malcolm looked alarmed. “When did you tal
k to Gloria?”

  Shondra was lifting another forkful of salad to her mouth. Ty had often wondered how the girl stayed so thin. Ever since she hit puberty she’d been able to eat just as much as he and Malcolm and still possessed a model’s figure.

  “She called me this morning. Why?”

  “I don’t like you two teaming up, that’s why,” Malcolm chided.

  “Oh, please,” Shondra quipped. “You’re just afraid she might let it slip how you act in bed.”

  Ty and Connor laughed while Malcolm tried to suppress a grin. The older brother normally had a dry sense of humor, but Ty had noticed a change in Malcolm since Harmon’s death. The change since he’d admitted his feelings for Gloria. Malcolm was light and unburdened these days. Ty was happy for his big brother, happy for the new direction Malcolm’s life was taking.

  “I’ll try and talk to Ms. Longwei before the week is out. I’ll call you guys with what I find out and you can decide what to do from there,” Connor said.

  Ty had emptied his own glass and signaled for the waitress to bring him lemonade. “That sounds good, Connor. Why don’t we hold off on hiring St. John until we see if this Longwei has some relevant information?”

  “She obviously knows that Dad’s death wasn’t an accident,” Shondra said with a frown.

  “Not necessarily,” Malcolm interjected. “She could simply be making assumptions.”

  “Or,” Ty added, “she may be involved in whatever is going on. In that regard, Connor, you need to be really careful about questioning her. We don’t know what can of worms we’re about to open up.”

  “You’re right,” Connor agreed.

  Shondra and Malcolm agreed, as well.

  “In the meantime, there’s a cop at the gym where I work out. I can make some casual comments about the accident just to see if they’re still looking into it. The guy and I are pretty cool, so he might just let something slip.”

  “You be careful, too,” Shondra said. “You know corruption rarely skips the police department.”

  Ty nodded. “True.”