by Dara Girard
“I’ve given everything to this school and this is how I’m repaid.”
“Your life is not over. You have a lot to live for. You can save your marriage and your career, but you can’t do that from prison.” She held out her hand. “Give me the knife.”
“You’re right,” he said with an eerie resignation. “I wouldn’t want to go to prison. It just doesn’t seem that life is worth living.” He turned the knife to himself.
“Oh no, you don’t,” Brenda said, knowing she couldn’t face another suicide. She picked up a book and threw it at him as she would throw a football to one of her brothers. The book hit him on the side of the head, knocking him down. She grabbed his knife, then checked his injury as he lay on the ground dazed.
“Good aim,” Franklin said.
“Shut up.” She touched Kendell’s forehead, then helped him sit up. “You’ll be all right.”
“He stole everything from me,” he said in a broken whisper.
“We’ll make sure he doesn’t get away with it. I’ll help you.”
“You mean you believe me? He said no one would.”
“He says a lot of things that aren’t true.” She helped him stand. “Go home and promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”
“I promise.”
Brenda watched him leave, then turned to Franklin, who was adjusting his tie as though he’d just suffered an inconvenience instead of an attack on his life. “I should press charges,” he said.
Brenda picked up the knife and looked at it. “I can understand why he would want to kill you.”
Franklin looked at her as though she bored him. “Is that some sort of threat?”
“No, I could never stab you.” She touched the tip of the knife. “But I remember how angry I was when I discovered you stole my work.”
His eyes widened. “You knew?”
“Of course I knew.”
“But you never said anything.”
“No, but I’m going to say something now. I want you to admit your plagiarism and resign.”
He laughed. “I’ll do no such thing.”
“Yes, you will.” Brenda picked up the phone. He rushed over and stopped her.
“Who are you calling?”
“Why do you care?”
“Do you want money? I can give it to you.”
“I want you to resign. Now.”
“Where would I go? I’m established here. You can’t do this to me.” He straightened. “I bet you’re just bluffing. You’ll probably call Dominic, but he can’t do anything to me. If he lays a hand on me, I’ll sue. Besides he’s gotten his revenge.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know how the bastard did it, but no other university will hire me. Why the hell do you think I’ve been stuck here all these years?”
“How do you know it was him?”
“We had a chat one day about you. I won’t bore you with the details, but he explained a few things to me. I thought he was upset because I broke your heart.” Franklin clenched his hands. “I’m meant for great things and he stopped me, but I’ve managed to get around his childish sabotage. And you see how I’ve succeeded.”
“Yes, I see,” she said quietly. She lifted the phone. “I’m not calling Dominic. I have my own connections.”
He yanked it from her. “What the hell is this really about? So I put my name on two of your papers, so what? I made them better. I got them seen and I would have taken you places if you’d stayed with me.”
She sent him a cold stare. “Resign.”
He stared back with contempt. “Never, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Brenda sat behind her desk and clasped her hands together as though ready to give a lecture. “I reviewed all of Kendell’s papers and have the rough drafts with my comments.” She pulled out a thick file and waved it at him. “Think of how it will look if I make them available so they can be compared to your published articles?” She held his stare. “I also have my old papers. What do you say to that?”
Franklin took one step forward, fury in his eyes, then stopped as the reality of his defeat faced him. His shoulders fell and he walked away.
Brenda rested her head in her hands trying to process all that had happened. She’d thought seeing Franklin lose everything would make her feel more triumphant, but a part of her felt sorry for him. His career and reputation was everything and now it was gone.
Brenda stood. Fortunately that wasn’t how her life would be. She packed her things and left the office. When she went outside, she saw Kendell standing by her car. “I thought I told you to go home,” she said.
“I wanted to thank you. I was blinded by rage and obsessed about all that he’d stolen. I’d really lost it.”
“Things will work out.” She gave him a hug.
Suddenly, he stiffened and she felt something was wrong, even before she jerked back and turned. Kendell’s wife stood there, her soft dark curls surrounding a face filled with horror.
“I knew it wasn’t just work,” she cried. “Our marriage is over.” She spun away.
Kendell started to run after her, but Brenda grabbed his arm and shouted at the woman, “Come back here. Now,” in her most authoritative voice. The young woman stopped and slowly turned.
“Come on,” Brenda said impatiently.
The woman walked toward them, then stopped a few feet away.
“I am flattered,” Brenda said. “But there’s nothing, absolutely nothing going on between us. The fact that you would think so is sad.”
“Sad?” she said with a sour twist of her lips. She pointed to Kendell. “He’s always here and he’s always telling me how great you are. And all the things you’re helping him with.” Tears gathered in her eyes. “He talks as though this is his life.”
“This is my life,” Kendell said. “I want to be a great professor. I want to see my name in trade journals. You knew that when we got married.”
“But what about me? I can’t compete with this.” She gestured to the expansive building and grounds.
“But I’m doing this for you.”
“I don’t want you to.”
Brenda moved forward and took his wife’s hand, sensing her pain. “I know how you feel. Years ago I divorced my husband for the same reason. I couldn’t compete with his dream, but I never told him what I needed from him. I never gave him the chance to change. You’re both making mistakes at this moment, but that can be fixed. Tell him exactly what you want. Don’t make him guess.”
His wife looked at him. “I want you to be home so we can eat dinner together. Do things on the weekend. I just want to be with you and talk about other things and not just about your work. Can you understand that?”
Brenda turned to him. “And what do you want from her?”
“I want her to listen—”
Brenda shook her head and forced him to face his wife. “Talk to her.”
He took a deep breath. “I want you to listen to me when I talk about my career and not to pretend. I want you to understand how important this is to me.”
Brenda nodded, pleased, and folded her arms. “Okay, now that you know what you both want, how can you fix it?”
Kendell sighed. “I won’t schedule late classes anymore and I’ll leave one day a month just for us. We can go on a date.”
His wife nodded. “And I won’t bother you about the time it takes you to grade papers or your late nights, but I want to select where we’ll go on our dates.” She tenderly touched his cheek. He wiped her tears.
Brenda rested her hands on her hips. “You love each other but you can’t expect everything to be perfect. You have to work at it and the moment it becomes a competition, where one of you has to win, instead of a compromise where you work together, your marriage will end.” She shook her head in regret. “I know.”
“Thank you,” Kendell said, putting his arm around his wife’s shoulders.
She smiled at Brenda. “I can see why
Kendell talks about you. You are wonderful. Thank you for everything.”
“You’re welcome.”
Brenda watched them go, wishing someone had been around when her own marriage had hit a rough patch. But she was older and wiser now and had a second chance. She finally realized the one thing she’d never told Dominic throughout their marriage. She’d said I love you, I want you, I need you, but never the three words she now knew he needed to hear. She would have to tell him now. She would let him know he was the only man for her and that she didn’t have to look any further.
With her heart bursting to tell him how she felt, Brenda pulled out her cell phone and dialed Dominic’s number. Unfortunately, she couldn’t reach him on his cell phone or at his office. She returned to the guesthouse, put her things down, then ran to the main house. Natalie came out the door just as she was about to knock.
“Brenda,” Natalie said, surprised.
“Yes,” she stammered, just as surprised to see her. “I wanted to talk to Dominic.”
“He’s not here. He’s at the premier showing of his film on global pollution. You know, The Monahan Awards. But when he got there, I saw the horrendous tie he was wearing and begged him to give me his keys so I could get him another one.”
He had mentioned his award. He was guest of honor. She had forgotten about it because all his awards hadn’t meant anything to her. She bit her lip, feeling awful. “Can I take it to him?”
Natalie smiled. “I’ll help you dress.”
Brenda thought about the gown in her metal box. “I know exactly what to wear.”
Tonight he would get his answer, Dominic thought. He stood behind the black curtain with his yo-yo, unconcerned with what would happen in front of it. All he cared about was getting Brenda’s answer. After his speech, he’d shake some hands and smile at a few faces, then go to the guesthouse and find out what his future held.
He glanced at his watch; he’d have to go on soon. Where was Natalie? She only needed to grab a tie. He had hundreds. Suddenly, in the darkness backstage he saw a silvery skirt come into view. He didn’t remember Natalie wearing a skirt, but he hadn’t been paying much attention. “Thanks, Natalie,” he said, winding up his yo-yo.
“Want me to tie it for you?”
He stopped. That wasn’t Natalie’s voice. Dominic glanced up and stared at Brenda, astonished. She looked ravishing in a floor-length silver ball gown, with her hair piled high, wearing a pair of semi-precious stone hoop earrings and a pair of silver high heels.
“What are you doing here?” he said in a hoarse voice.
She draped the tie around his neck. “Fixing your tie.”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I mean.”
“I’m here because I should be.”
He frowned, not understanding her.
She kissed him. “Do you want your answer now or later?”
His heart began to race. “Brenda. I—”
The announcer’s booming voice cut through his. “It is our privilege to honor the renowned Dr. Dominic Ayers this evening…”
Neither of them heard the rest of the introduction as they stared at each other. Dominic looked at her wanting to hear the word he’d been waiting a week for.
Brenda quickly hugged him then said, “Go out there and accept your award. I’m proud of you and it will be an honor to be your wife.” She smiled. “Again.”
He kissed her as though his heart would break if he let her go. She kissed him back with just as much passion, then pulled away. “You have to go.”
“I love you,” he said in a rush. “It’s always been you. You stole my heart years ago and never gave it back. I’ll make you happy and I’ll make you proud. And I’ll—”
She placed a finger against his lips. “You don’t have to do anything. I love you just as you are.” She pushed him toward the curtain. “Now go.”
He sent her one last look before disappearing in front of the curtain to the thunderous sound of applause.
Chapter 16
Dominic was besieged by well-wishers and wannabes once the presentation was over. Brenda didn’t mind. She stood silently beside him basking in the glow of his success. She smiled graciously, feeling genuinely happy for him and, for the first time, realizing his success was also hers. She no longer felt the need to compete or to be envious.
Four weeks later they were married. Nearly a year after that, their book, An Introduction to the Fantastic World of Science, hit the shelves and became a bestseller.
Brenda sat in her office staring at the picture of her husband. She picked up the postcard she’d just received showing an aerial view of Alaska, lying on her desk.
Someone knocked. “Come in.”
Dominic entered. “I’m taking you to lunch.”
“I’ll be with you in a minute,” Brenda said, flipping the postcard over.
He walked behind her chair and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I thought I was the only one who sent you postcards.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Depends who it’s from.”
“It’s from Sonya. She’s telling me about her new research project in Alaska.”
“I know it was hard for her to leave you.”
“Yes.” It had surprised Brenda how much she missed Sonya’s bouncy enthusiasm, clever mind and big heart. She quickly read the message then stopped when she saw a doodle sketched in the margins.
Dominic leaned closer and saw it too. “What’s that? Looks like the state of Florida.”
“No, it’s not,” Brenda said, then laughed. “It’s a stocking. She knew!”
He frowned. “Knew what?”
Brenda slowly stood and rested a hand on her belly, feeling the new life that was growing inside her. She looked at Dominic, the man she’d nearly lost forever. “What I needed.”
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2664-1
BODY CHEMISTRY
Copyright © 2009 by Sade Odubiyi
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
