So, that’s what she did and by the time Alicia arrived at the Harper house after an eighteen-hour sleepless flight, she was soul weary from her year of traveling—first to Sabi Sand Game Reserve in Africa, sleeping in one of their luxury Treehouses for months, reading and meditating before she choose to visit other parts of the motherland, then to Tibet, Switzerland. The call from Tori was perfect timing—a break from trying to repurpose her life.
She’d been grateful when she arrived to find the house empty. She knew everyone was out doing their normal Thanksgiving caravan of visiting friends and family and her plan was to get some sleep before they returned.
Only vaguely did she remember thinking she’d heard the shower; she’d just been too weary, believing that all sounds she’d heard was the carry-over from her travel meds.
So, she’d laid down, closed her eyes, then felt his presence. When she opened her eyes, Dallas was there and . . .
Bernice busted into the room, the same way she’d done yesterday. Her hand was poised on her hip. “How could you do this to her?”
“I would appreciate it if you left my space,” Alicia said, hating to be snatched from her memory of Dallas. She moved toward the dresser to collect the few toiletries she’d unpacked.
“I’m not going anywhere!”
Tori entered the room, ushered her sputtering mother out of it and locked the door.
Alicia pointed to her ears, then gestured toward the bathroom. Tori followed her inside. When Alicia perched on the edge of the tub, the top cover of the throne and took a seat.
She waited several moments for Tori to say something, and when no words came, she began with, “I’m so sorry I hurt you, Tori. Please believe that—”
Tori’s gaze flitted to the marble tiles, then the glass sink and finally landed on Alicia. “So we’re in this complicated situation.”
“Why did you send him to me last night?”
“Because he longs for you.”
Alicia reached out to touch Tori. When she recoiled, the spike of pain through Alicia’s heart was almost too much to bear.
“That’s no reason to sacrifice your relationship.”
Tori folded her hands and placed them on her lap. “Things changed the moment he saw you again.” Her golden cheeks flushed with a bright red color as she focused on the seashell designs on the hand towels. “You’re a basketball fan! You had to know that he was engaged to me.”
Alicia shook her head, folding her arms on her lap. “I detached from my life the minute I left home last year. I didn’t care about you, James, basketball, or anything else. So, I didn’t know you were a couple,” Alicia said. “That’s really no excuse, but I’m so, so sorry.”
Alicia reached for Tori’s hand again. This time, her niece didn’t pull away. Instead, she met Alicia’s gaze head on.
But then, after a couple of seconds, Tori extracted her hand, finding a sudden interest in adjusting the towels so they hung evenly. “He’s in love with you. Did you know that?”
“He couldn’t possibly love me. He thinks he does, but he doesn’t know that much about me.” Alicia hoped her niece could believe that. That was how she explained Dallas. But Alicia had no idea how to explain her own feelings that defied all reasonable understanding. That’s why she needed to get as far away from Dallas as humanly possible. India. Yes, India should be just about right. She held a multi-entry Visa that would make it easy to enter the country.
Both women were mute for several moments, and each dodged eye contact.
“I stayed a virgin until I found the man I wanted to marry,” Tori whispered. “How did I do all the right things and still lose the man I love?”
Alicia placed her hands over her niece’s. “I always encouraged you to respect your body and respect yourself.” Then she gave Tori a small bitter smile. “But because of what I went through, I also told you that once a woman found her future husband, she’d better take him for a test drive before signing up for the long program.”
Tori’s small ears reddened around the edges and she tried to smile, but couldn’t. She tilted her head up and looked at the exhaust fan on the ceiling. “I keep thinking all he needs is a little time and we’ll be back to normal.”
Alicia looked at her niece. “You don’t know how much I want that—for you both to get back to where you were.”
Tori shook her head. “Now that he’s been with you again,” she said, “he’ll want more. And here’s what really scares me: if you’re not there, what if he tries to find what you have in another woman? That’s something I won’t be able to control.”
“And you think you’re controlling the situation right now?” Alicia asked as she looked at her niece intensely. “This situation’s been running the show ever since you dropped that suggestion to Dallas. I don’t see why you even went there.”
“I’m playing the best hand with the cards I’ve been dealt,” she countered.
“You have so little faith in yourself. You have so little trust in him.”
“He’s a man,” Tori snapped, shifting on the porcelain lid. “Men have that kind of flaw.”
“Your father doesn’t.”
Tori looked down at their joined hands. “Dad has a different type of flaw.”
Alicia didn’t counter that statement, because she knew Tori was definitely on the money with that one. Between his gambling and his wife; her brother could never think straight when it came to his wife. He had forgiven that woman a multitude of sins.
“I think it’s best if Dallas and I continue to live together and he just visits you whenever he can. Until he gets tired of all this.” Tori’s dismissive wave of her hand showed exactly how she felt about the prospect. “And he will tire of it, right? It’s all tied to sex, right?”
Alicia said nothing rather than lie to her niece.
Tori accepted her silence as her agreement. She said, “I have this all figured out. The best thing is for you to stay with us for a little while until we can figure this out. By the time it gets closer to the wedding, things will be back to normal.”
“You have lost what’s left of your mind!”
Tori gave a bitter laugh, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Well if I have, I don’t want to lose Dallas, too.”
Silence expanded between them as each woman stayed lost in her own thoughts.
“Tori, why not let him go?”
“So you can have him?” she growled, gripping the edge of the sink. “After all the work I’ve put in on this? I let him go so you can snap him up?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Tori repositioned herself so she was more comfortable atop the toilet seat. “Even last night when he thought I was going to end our relationship, he made sure that the only thing I’d have to do was focus on school. I know he cares about me. It may not be full love, but he was getting there.” Tori looked to her aunt as a single tear slid down her face. “I’ve asked Dallas, but he won’t tell me. What really happened yesterday? I really need to know.”
Alicia looked at her niece and shook her head.
“Please don’t clam up on me now. I need to know how this started yesterday.” She paused. “Please tell me what happened.”
After too many moments of silence, Alicia began, “It was because of all of your messages begging me to come home. I’d never heard you so excited, and so I thought I’d do it. I only planned to stay one day, so I could see you and James before I hit the road again.”
Alicia broke eye contact as the rest of the prior day’s events spilled from her mind. “I was only going to shut my eyes for a few moments, then get dressed and surprise you all for dinner.” She closed her eyes, remembering how peaceful that moment had felt. Home. Finally. Her own bed. “Then Dallas walked in. I thought I was dreaming.
“It was like I was back in his house all over again.” She sat down on the edge of the tub and took Tori’s hands in hers. “I don’t have any excuse. But I’m going to make things right. I promise.”
<
br /> Tori’s brow furrowed with concern.
“I’m leaving for India,” Alicia announced.
Tori’s soft brown eyes widened in shock. “You’re leaving the country? Now?”
She nodded. “I already called the driver I use whenever I’m home and Ray’s waiting to take me to the airport. I won’t be coming back for a very long time.”
For a moment, relief flitted across the younger woman’s face; then her lips turned downward. Tori scowled as she shook her head. “If you leave him like that again, with no goodbyes for the second time, he’ll never be right. You can’t do this to him.”
Alicia snatched her hands away from Tori. “So, what do you expect me to do? Stay here and be part of this trio? This open door - whatever you want to call it? It’s not right!”
“It’s as right as we make it,” she countered. “We just have to be discreet. And the only way we can do that is if you move in with us.”
“Absolutely not! You’re not just playing with fire; you’re lighting the dynamite at both ends.”
Tori waved off her concern with a flourish of a manicured hand. “When Dallas and I go back home on Monday, you’ll come with us. No arguments. But for now we need to get back to the hotel before Mama loses her mind and makes you do something crazy. Like slice her up again.”
Alicia cringed at the dark reminder of how close she had come to taking another person’s life last Thanksgiving.
Tori asked, “They were pictures right? The things that Mama burned, they were pictures, right?”
“They were precious and priceless,” Alicia said on a breathy whisper, hurt filling her all over again.
“If I came home to find someone had burned up all of my prized possessions I might have done the same thing.”
Alicia gave Tori a small smile as Tori stood and moved toward the door. “We really should be getting back to the hotel. I’m sure Dallas is losing his mind.”
“I’m not going back there. I’m not getting into a relationship with Dallas, and I’m not living under your roof.” Alicia held up a hand to silence Tori. “I’m going to India today. And that’s final.”
Her back was to Alicia, when Tori asked, “Did you enjoy being with him?”
Alicia dropped her chin to her chest, exhaled loudly, but said nothing.
Tori said, “After all that’s happened, you owe me at least that much.”
Alicia thought about lying, but she did owe Tori this truth. Talking to her niece’s back, she said, “If my husband had been even one percent as good as Dallas, I would have wanted to die right along with him.”
Tori blinked a couple of extra times before she turned and faced her aunt. “Then we—and I’m talking about us as women—” she pointed first to herself, then to Alicia, “have come to an understanding, right? You’ll keep his dick happy until the wedding, then you’ll leave the country.”
It was that moment when Alicia realized how immature and unprepared for marriage Tori was.
“You’ll play your position as his other woman,” Tori said, her voice wavering with each word. “And everything will work out fine.”
When Tori extended her hand, Alicia clasped it and gave her niece a reassuring smile.
There was no need to argue about this anymore. In a few hours, Alicia would be bound for India and there’d be nothing that Tori or Dallas could do.
Chapter 15
11:31 a.m.
The solemn expression on James’ face nearly shattered Alicia’s heart. Looking down at him, she froze at the second floor landing. Maybe she would speak to James, just not right now.
Tori squeezed around her, scrambling down the stairs with the luggage that Dallas had left there yesterday. She sat it at the front door, then climbed back up the steps, pried Alicia’s fingers from the luggage she held, and took it down the stairs.
Shifting her focus from James, who peered up at her from his recliner, Alicia quickened her steps, following Tori to the foyer. She slithered into the supple black leather coat that Dallas had bought for her.
Bernice swept past Tori who was now carrying her own suitcase and placed her hand against the front door, closing it with a slam. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“Oh, yes I am,” Tori snapped. “Listening to you is the reason I’m in this mess. I shouldn’t have gone overboard with this wedding spending, and Dallas wouldn’t have been rethinking things to begin with.”
“Rethinking things?” Bernice bellowed. “Since when?”
Tori ignored her and turned her gaze to James. “Dad, I want you to come to the hotel with me. I need you to know what’s going on.”
James remained silent for a long while. Only when Alicia finally nodded at him did he say, “I had a poker game this evening, but I’ll be there, baby girl.”
“Daddy, I thought you weren’t going to gamble anymore,” Tori said, her voice laced with concern. “I thought you were done with all that.”
“It’s just a friendly little game,” he reassured her, moving toward the foyer. He placed his hand on Alicia’s arm. “You’re leaving?”
“Actually, I’m—”
“You know I want to put my foot all the way up in your ass,” Bernice growled at Alicia. “Why don’t you stay gone this time?”
“This is her house,” James said to Bernice, moving so he blocked Alicia’s view of her sister-in-law. “She can’t keep running every time things get a little shaky.”
Alicia met his gaze head on. “I’ve always done what it takes to keep the peace around here. I made that choice when you barged in here . . . with her.” She cut a glance at Bernice, then smiled. “Most people leave their strays at the pound, brother, but you have this uncanny knack for bringing them home, thinking they’ll eventually become housebroken.”
“Are you calling me a dog?” Bernice shrieked, her bony finger pointing at her Alicia.
“If that’s what you want to read into it …” Alicia winked. “James always did say you were smarter than the average bear.”
James adjusted his stance so that he was closer to his sister than his wife. “You’ve never liked her,” he exclaimed to Bernice. He took Alicia’s hand, no doubt sensing that she was about two seconds away from strangling Bernice. “But you didn’t have a problem moving into her house.”
“This is your house, too!” Bernice cried out. “Your grandparents left it to both of you. How can she just—”
“She bought me out a few years ago because we needed the money!” James shouted over Bernice’s voice. “She owns this place free and clear. She only let me stay because I’m family; not because I have a claim to this place.”
Bernice frowned at James. “What?”
“This is her house,” he repeated. “Hers alone. She didn’t have to leave last year. She had every right to put us out, but she didn’t.”
Tori nodded. Bernice frowned and asked, “You knew, too?”
“I found out after you ran through my college fund,” Tori said sourly.
Bernice bared her teeth at Tori. “Oh, so now you’re all friendly with her, even after what she did to you?”
“Mom, there’s going to be some changes around here.” Tori’s tone made everyone look her way. “I’ll be handling the wedding plans from here on out.”
“What … what … I …I,” Bernice sputtered, rearing back on her six-inch heels. “He slept with her!” she shrieked, looking first to Tori, then to James and back to Tori. “Forget the wedding. He should be paying you not to put his ass on blast.”
James stepped forward, but he wasn’t given the chance to chime in.
“You know I’m right,” Bernice snapped at her husband. “I don’t know what happened to all that money he gave you to get your ass out of hock, but we’ll make sure he gives us more than enough this time.”
“Money?” James shouted at Bernice. “Is that all that’s important to you right now?”
Bernice spat, “Why’re you barking at me?” Glaring at Alicia, she added, “She’s
the problem.”
“You’ve always been jealous of her for no good reason,” Tori shot back, moving closer to her mother. “Instead of seeing how much I love both of you, you’ve always made it a competition.”
Bernice’s thin lips curled into a sneer. “And you don’t think she was being competitive when she fucked your man?”
Tori winced as though her mother had physically struck her. She adjusted the scarf around her neck and said in a mild tone, “Mom, that’s not what happened here yesterday. I’ve forgiven him. And I’m done with this conversation.”
“So now I’m the bad guy because I call a spade a sp—”
“No, it’s because you could’ve waited to tell me what happened. You didn’t have to tell me that Dallas cheated in front of the whole damn family. And it was a lie! I’ll never forgive you for that.”
Bernice’s thin lips curled. “Oh, but you can forgive them?” She made a show of covering her mouth and taking in a deep breath. “No, wait. You said you forgive him. You didn’t say nothing about forgiving her ass,” she said with a sideways glance at Alicia.
Alicia chanced at look at Tori, who was examining the glass designs on the front door. When she didn’t correct that statement, Alicia’s heart sank. Of course Tori hadn’t forgiven her.
“I’m angrier than you are about all this, and that’s just plain crazy,” Bernice said, giving a blistering look to her husband as she circled about him. “Wouldn’t expect you to be angry, though. You care more about your sister’s feelings than mine.” Then she favored him with a hard glare. “You’re not all up in her face about what she’s done. If she can fuck a total stranger, then I don’t think a member of the family’s all that big of a stretch.”
James stiffened, his dark brown eyes flashing with anger, his wide mouth parting.
“I want you out of this house right now,” Bernice snarled at Alicia. “And this time, don’t come back.”
“Hold up, Chief! This be my teepee,” Alicia snapped, circling her finger in the air to encompass the area and make her point. “You’d better blow those smoke signals somewhere else.” She turned to the foyer closet, yanked down one of the furs inside and slammed it into Bernice’s chest. “Someone needs to leave this house, but it certainly won’t be me. Not this time! You do not get to continue living in my house after saying that again.”
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