by Pat Ballard
She turned back inside and looked around miserably. She knew she should start packing, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it yet. Instead, she went to the phone and called her best friend, Julie.
“Julie, can I come over and bring a cheap bottle of wine? I need to unwind and talk.”
“Nella? It’s only 11:45 in the morning.”
“I know, but I do need to talk. I’m signing the closing contract on the house Friday.”
Now the voice on the line was full of concern. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry! You come on over, and don’t bother about bringing wine. I’ve got some real expensive stuff here. We’ll have lunch and drink wine until you feel a lot better!”
Friday came much too soon. Nella reluctantly parked her car and walked slowly toward the real estate office.
As she entered the plush office a small, familiar figure ran toward her. “Hi Nel—uh, Miss Cubington! Daddy said I shouldn’t call you Nella. I must call you Miss Cubington.”
“Jake! Please come sit down!” Sam du Cannon tried not to sound too impatient with the child.
As Nella settled into a chair, she smiled at the boy. He was such a darling child. Too bad he’d probably grow up to be unbearable like his father.
As she watched him he quietly slipped away from his father, who was in deep discussion with the real estate lady, and came to her. In a conspiratorial whisper, he asked, “Can I sit on your yap?”
Just as quietly, Nella lifted him and settled him on her lap. He snuggled back against her and became instantly quiet and content.
When the other two people finished their conversation, Sam du Cannon looked up and spotted Jake on Nella’s lap. She saw a flash of emotion in those strange-colored eyes. It wasn’t anger, but she didn’t try to analyze it. She imagined those eyes could wreak havoc on a woman if he decided to turn on the charm. She could almost imagine how warmly they’d glow if he were speaking soft words of love. She mentally shook herself off that disturbing train of thought.
He seemed about to speak to the boy, then changed his mind as the real estate lady started discussing the closing of the contract on the property that was once her haven, her escape, her home.
Nella barely listened to the drone of voices as they went on and on. She knew the seemingly efficient Mr. Du Cannon would see to it that everything was in proper order.
“Miss Covington? Miss Covington?” She was brought out of her deep concentration by the real estate lady’s persistent voice. “You need to sign where I’ve made the Xs.”
As Nella leaned forward to sign the stack of papers in front of her, she realized that her lap burden had sat very quietly through the long, boring transaction. But now, his father stood and lifted him from her lap. His hand brushed hers as he lifted the child. She was aware of, and irritated with, the bolt of electricity his touch sent coursing up her hand and arm.
They all shook hands and said the appropriate things. Nella headed for her car. Her hand was on the car door handle when a voice from behind stopped her.
“Miss Covington?”
She turned to face the man, wondering what he could possibly want now. She didn’t have time to hide the tears rolling down her cheeks.
This time there was surprise in his eyes, then something a lot like compassion, which was the last thing she wanted to see. She wanted to shout “what do you want?” but the lump in her throat kept her from uttering a sound.
“Miss Covington, there’s a small restaurant around the corner. Will you come and have lunch with Jake and me? There’s—” here he paused, as if uncertain whether to go on or not, then continued, “there’s something I want to discuss with you.” As he talked, he’d taken a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the tears from her face. She tried to turn her face away, but he firmly held her chin and gently wiped all the tear stains away.
She was about to decline the lunch invitation when a small hand tucked inside hers and a pleading little voice said, “Please come, Miss Cubington—please.”
Nella smiled at the upturned face, then looked at the man in front of her. “I don’t know what you could possibly want to discuss with me, but okay, I’ll have lunch with you.”
Settled in a booth in the restaurant, Nella smiled behind her menu as the little boy beside her studied his menu and pretended to be reading it.
“I want a hambooger and fryers,” he stated in a matter-of-fact voice.
“Don’t you think you need some vegetables?” his father asked.
“I don’t want any vegbables, Daddy.” His pleading eyes and face would have been hard for the toughest heart to resist.
“Okay.” His father smiled and agreed reluctantly, “but next time we’d better have vegetables.”
It was the first time Nella had seen the man smile, and she was dumbfounded at the change it made in him. His facial features softened, and if Nella had thought him handsome earlier, he was surely breathtaking now. To keep from staring at him she went swiftly back to studying her menu.
After the waitress had taken the orders, Sam looked directly at Nella for the first time since they’d sat down. “Miss Covington, I have a proposition I want to discuss with you. Now, please hear me out before you object. When I’m finished we can discuss any questions or objections that you might have.
“Jake’s mother died one year ago. She and I had grown apart prior to that, but for Jake’s sake we’d remained together longer than we should have. Her parents have never approved of me and they were constantly encouraging her to break up the marriage. They never thought I was good enough for Vanessa. Last year, when I was out of town on one of my business trips, Vanessa was involved in a car accident and she was dead on arrival at the hospital. Naturally her parents believed that if I’d been home like a good husband, she would never have been out in that car, at that time of night, with that man. In their minds, the wreck and the fact that they lost their daughter was entirely my fault. They could never believe any wrong of their little girl.
“They’re determined to take custody of Jake. They don’t believe I’ll be a good father because I travel a lot with my business, and they don’t want their grandson to be raised by nannies and strangers.
“I can see their point of view to a certain degree, but a lot of children have been raised by a loving nanny.
“At any rate, they have the best lawyer they can find on the case. He’s good, too. I know him by reputation, and he’ll turn over every stone for some small piece of dirt to hang on me. So far he’s found nothing, but if I should ever slip up, or if he can make it look like I’ve slipped up, then I’ll lose my son forever, and I just can’t take that chance.
“I’ve had an idea in the back of my head now for some time, and I think you’ve furnished the missing piece. You see, I don’t ever intend on becoming involved with another woman on a long-term basis. Sure, I’m a normal man, but with a good bit of precaution, a man can lead a normal life and find someone occasionally to relieve his tensions.”
Nella could not believe how cold and hard this man must be. He spoke as if he had no heart at all. The only time she saw a hint of softness and compassion was when he talked to his son.
“Anyway,” he continued, “Jake does need a woman’s touch. He needs a mother, if you will, and surely not that bitch of a grandmother. I quiver to think of him being raised and influenced by her.”
Nella was dumbfounded that he was talking like this in front of Jake. Maybe his in-laws had a point. But she listened as he continued.
“So, for some time, now, I’ve been thinking about what kind of woman I need to fill the bill of a mother for Jake—and Miss Covington, I think you’re the one. Especially since Jake seems so taken with you.”
Nella started to speak, but he raised his hands to stop her.
“No, hear me out. You see, if you marry me, you’ll be able to stay in your beloved home. Of course, we won’t share the same bedroom, as this is strictly a business deal. So we’ll all be winners here. You’ll get to keep yo
ur home, Jake gets a mother, and I won’t have to ever worry about being attracted to you.”
Nella stared at the man in silence until he raised his eyebrows in a questioning gesture.
“Oh, may I speak now?”
He only nodded.
“What do you mean about never being attracted to me?”
His chuckle was genuine.
“Well, I never have been, nor will I ever be, attracted to a large woman. Oh, I like women with a good, healthy looking body, but not too much body.”
Nella could only stare at the man in stunned silence. She had been a chubby child who had grown into a plus-sized woman. But she had been raised to be proud of herself, to be as healthy as possible, to look her best, and, most of all, to be proud of her heritage—part of which was a plus-sized mother and grandmother. All the family pictures her father had kept through the years had shown a family history of plus-sized women, and she never questioned the fact that she had inherited the genes they all carried and handed down to her.
Nella had been told on numerous occasions that she was a beautiful woman. She had turned many heads with her long auburn hair, her smoky blue eyes, and her hourglass body. Although she was large, she’d always been proud of her body, and had always taken care of herself. She wasn’t about to let this man’s misguided opinion upset her. Even though he was trying to be discreet in his wording, she could sense what he was actually saying.
She was about to tell him in no uncertain terms what she felt for him when two small arms circled her neck. She glanced around at the beautiful little boy standing on the seat beside her. His face was close to hers, and suddenly he kissed her on the lips.
“Well, are you gonna marry us? I’ll be so happy if you do. I don’t want to live with my ’nother grandmother. She makes me go to bed-out with my goodnight milk when I’m bad. And sometimes I can’t help but be bad when I’m with her.”
Nella knew she was a fool, but what did she have to lose? Her father was dead. Her engagement was off. And she didn’t have a home or a job. She had nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. If she went with this plan, she could stay in her home, at least until she decided she couldn’t stand to be in the presence of this man anymore, and she would surely be appreciated and loved by Jake. Hopefully Sam would stay gone most of the time on business trips and she wouldn’t have to see him except on his occasional trip home. Then his time would be taken up with Jake, so she still wouldn’t have to see him that much. Undoubtedly she could stand him on that basis. Especially when she thought of all the other benefits.
She thought her heart would pound out of her chest as she made her decision. She looked up at the man who sat patiently waiting as if he knew what her answer would be. Then she looked at the little boy who still had his arms around her neck.
“I’ll consider it, but I have to have at least until this time tomorrow to give you an answer.” Her voice shook as she spoke.
“What does that mean, Daddy? Is she or not?”
“She will.”
Nella wanted to reach across the table and slap his arrogant, handsome face, but she kept still, knowing he was probably correct. But she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of agreeing on the spot.
The child gave a shriek of joy and said at the top of his voice, “Hey eberybody, Miss Cubington’s gonna marry us!”
And as if on cue, the people in the surrounding area applauded and cheered. That made Jake even happier. As they left the restaurant, he was jumping about and giggling with joy.
As they reached the cars parked side by side, Sam du Cannon spoke. “We’ll just go back to our respective dwellings for the night. I’ll contact you tomorrow and you can tell me what your decision is. I think it’ll be a major advantage to all of us if you do agree to this.”
He was already in charge of her life. Nella could not believe she was actually contemplating this stupid undertaking.
“Oh, and Miss Covington, I noticed that you ordered the lite plate at lunch. Please don’t feel like you have to eat cottage cheese and fruit when you’re with me. Just continue to be yourself.”
Angrier than she had been in a long time, Nella’s voice trembled with emotion when she answered him.
“Mr. du Cannon, I have never, nor shall I ever change my lifestyle to try to impress you or anyone else, no matter how pumped up you are with your own importance! You are, without a doubt, the most pompous, arrogant bigot I have ever run across in all of my twenty-five years. Why I’m agreeing to even consider spending one more second with you is beyond me. I truly must be out of my mind.”
And with that, she slid into her little red Volkswagen and ground the gears out of the parking lot.
Sam du Cannon stood for a few moments beside his black late-model Rolls Royce and pondered her temper tantrum.
He had first seen Nella in the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. She’d been talking to a young woman with a small child, and Sam had been drawn to her by the expression on her face as she talked to the baby. Her eyes had held a soft glow as she talked, and the baby was obviously responding to her as it cooed and smiled back at her. Sam felt at once that she would make a good mother, so he waited until she went through the checkout line, then asked the lady checking groceries if she knew Nella. The woman assured Sam that Nella was single.
But before asking Nella to marry him, he’d talked with several of the leading people in the community concerning her quality of character and her morals. Everyone had praised her. Everyone knew her and her father, and spoke very highly of them. He’d even set her up yesterday, when he deliberately let her think he’d lost track of Jake. He’d been watching them all along from behind a sand dune. He wanted to see how she’d handle a sticky situation, and she had handled it quite impressively. Who would have thought about leaving a message in the sand like that? And Jake had obviously taken to her instantly.
That’s why he’d thought he’d found the perfect solution for his son’s life. A small community to grow up in and a good, solid woman to raise and influence him.
He really hadn’t meant any harm by the statements he’d made about her size. In fact, for Jake’s sake, that was a good thing. He’d always heard people like her were easy-going and jolly.
But this temper thing—he shook his head in concern as he got into his car. He’d have to speak with her about that.
When Nella stopped her car she realized she was in front of Julie’s apartment. She almost never stopped by Julie’s without calling first. She was careful to never take advantage of her friendship, but she was too angry at this point to consider anything except talking with someone who really cared how she felt.
“He whaaat?” Julie couldn’t believe what Nella was telling her.
“You heard me. He wants me to marry him so he can have a mother for his son. His in-laws are trying to prove he’s an unfit parent, and he thinks if he has a wife it’ll be harder for them to find something against him. Oh, and get this. He made it very clear that he won’t have a problem being attracted to me because he doesn’t like large women.”
“No! He didn’t say that! What a jerk! Well, obviously you said no, didn’t you?”
“I told him I’d think about it.”
“Nella! Are you crazy? You’d have to be out of your mind to agree to his proposal. You can just get that out of your head right now. As your best friend, I won’t sit by and let you make that kind of mistake.” Julie was adamant with disgust.
“But Julie, listen to me. I could keep my house. I wouldn’t have to worry about moving into Charleston and finding work that I’d probably hate. I’d just be a glorified nanny to Jake. And Julie, that is the most precious child I’ve ever seen. I think I already love him.”
“It sounds like you already have your mind made up.” Julie’s voice was filled with disbelief.
“No, I haven’t decided yet, but there are some good points to think about. If I don’t have to be around this Sam person much, it won’t be a bad arrangement at all. He
travels with his work, so he’ll be gone most of the time. It would just be Jake and me at home, and that would be wonderful.”
“Nella, if you’re really considering this, at least call Sheriff Dansby and see if he’ll run a profile check on this man. For all you know he could be some kind of criminal.” Julie’s voice was so full of concern that Nella agreed to let her call the sheriff.
Luckily the department was having a slow day, so the deputy took the information and did the check while Julie waited on the phone. It only took a few minutes before the deputy came back on the line. Nella watched Julie’s face change expression.
“No!” she said in disbelief. “Really? WOW!”
Now Nella was concerned. Maybe Sam du Cannon was a ruthless killer. What a mistake it’d be to get involved with someone like that! She was glad Julie had made the call. Just before Nella was convinced the stranger needed to go straight to jail, Julie hung up the phone.
“You are not going to believe who this man is!”
“What? What? Is he a criminal? Is he an escaped convict? What?” Nella’s impatience made her jumble her words.
“He’s probably the wealthiest man in Charleston. He’s the owner of one of the largest sea food chains in the nation. If you marry that man, you’ll be one wealthy woman. And I’ve changed my mind totally. I say go for it! You deserve all the happiness you can find.”
“But Julie,” Nella reminded her, “this won’t be ‘happiness’ if I decide to do this. It’ll only be ‘security.’”
“So how much different are the two? You know, really?” Julie had always been more materialistic than Nella.
“For me there’s a lot of difference,” Nella assured her. “I’d rather be happy with someone I love and not have anything, than own millions of dollars and not be with someone I really love.”
“So what are you going to do in the meantime, while you wait for this special person to love? Where are you going to live? What are you going to do for a living?” On any other occasion, Julie’s total change of attitude would have been humorous.
