"No it shouldn’t, but you are not going to be doing anything about this, you hear me?" Marla's heart was pounding in an uncomfortable staccato beat. When had her father become so bloodthirsty?
John went back to hacking the plants with exaggerated energy. Marla went into the house without another word. Her father's casual suggestion to murder was worrying. They said that alcohol destroyed brain cells. Obviously some of his were gone.
"What were you two talking about, plotting another murder?" Ricky rolled his wheelchair in front of Marla and she jumped guiltily.
"What is this?" Ricky smirked at her in her stricken silence. He waved a pregnancy test package in front of her face. The package crackled under his fist.
Marla closed her eyes and sighed. How could she forget that Ricky had the housekeeper report on her every move? She had just left the package on her bed and gone to talk to her father five minutes before.
"Heather acts fast," she said nervously.
Ricky cocked his head to one side, a small, tight smile on his face. "So what are the results?"
"None of your business," Marla said, walking around the wheelchair. The house had belonged to Ricky's mother, who had loved the open concept idea.
Ricky wheeled himself before her and blocked her from heading up the stairs. Marla eyed him tensely.
Ricky might be in a wheelchair but he was not handicapped. He had muscular arms. He trained hard with his personal trainer and though his legs had lost some of their conditioning, he did a lot of swim therapy.
He also looked really healthy. He was conscious of not getting fat even though he was immobile for the time being. His face looked the same. His wavy hair was worn a little bit long at the front to disguise his widow's peak. The same whisky colored eyes that always seemed alert had an evil glint.
Ricky had a hard face. Handsome but hard. He could easily play the villain in any play. He was always calculating and had a reptilian smile that could freeze the warm waters of the Caribbean. He inherited his complexion from his white father and his nose too, thin and aristocratic. He got his high forehead from his mother.
He was giving her one of his cold smiles now and his eyes were calculating.
Marla would not for one minute underestimate Ricky, whether he was in a wheelchair or not.
"Marla...come on..." He lowered his voice to a purr, like a cat looking at its prey. "Tell me, what are the results from your lover’s tryst with Yuri?"
Marla folded her arms. She could feel his eyes running over her body as he tried to guess the results.
"You don't look any different. You are not throwing up in the mornings but you missed a period, didn't you?"
"Is there nothing sacred in this house?" Marla gasped. "Do you have hidden cameras upstairs or is Heather so thorough she is keeping a record of my monthly cycle?"
"So it is positive." Ricky wheeled toward the front window and looked out at the landscape. "Yuri's baby. A Scarlett baby." He glanced behind at Marla. "I'll tell him."
Marla slumped to the bottom step of the stairs and closed her eyes tightly. "I'll tell him."
"No you won't," Ricky said, anticipation lacing his voice. "You are never to have contact with Yuri again. I don't need to reiterate the same thing over and over again, do I? You know what will happen if you do defy me, don't you? If you call Yuri, if I even find the hint of his number on your phone records, I am going to hand you over to the cops."
"Just shut up." Marla got up and headed up the stairs.
Ricky laughed. "This is better than I expected. An honest to goodness baby!"
"One day you are not going to be able to blackmail me," Marla growled. "One day I might just leave because I do not care."
"Ah," Ricky countered, "feeling hemmed in and powerless, little Marla? I understand. I really do."
He followed that up with a sarcastic laugh that grated on Marla's last nerve. She slammed the door and waited for the nervous pulse in her wrist to calm down and the heavy pounding in her head to quiet a notch.
Surely it wasn't normal to live like this? And it wasn't going to be good for her baby either. She clutched her still-flat belly and lay back down on the bed.
This was not good. She wished she hadn't gotten pregnant. She had unwittingly played right into Ricky's hands. This was not bad news for her so-called husband, her blackmailer, her jailer.
This was another pawn in his stupid power game with Yuri. This Scarlett baby, as Ricky stated, was just another tie to keep her in the marriage and another way for Ricky to control Yuri.
*****
"Yuri, I am glad that you called me today." Zachary slid across from him in the dimly lit restaurant. "I got the papers all drawn up as you indicated and the company contracts have all been ironed out. I just have one little concern, but that is just me being fastidious. Before we go into that, let’s eat. I am famished."
Yuri nodded. "Sure. I always order the vegetable stew. It's good."
Zachary raised one eyebrow doubtfully. "I trust your taste.” He indicated to a waitress nearby and they placed their orders. "Where on earth do you find these restaurants, Yuri? It seems so unassuming from outside, I wouldn't have known that there is a bustling restaurant in here."
"When you are on a budget, one has to quickly know the ins and outs of the eateries around here, and this one does brisk business because it serves healthy and tasty food at a fraction of the regular price."
Zachary nodded. "I should introduce you to some other places though, now that you are not on a budget."
"Wait until you taste Cassandra's veggie stew before you make promises." Yuri laughed.
"Well, if it's good I just may join you here for lunch sometimes. My office is near enough to you Mr. Soon-to-be executive vice-president of his own company."
"It still feels unreal," Yuri shook his head. "My whole family is reeling from it."
"It happens, more than you know." Zachary shrugged. "We had a client once who I saw begging in the streets of downtown Kingston. I was just coming from court and I saw her. I was shocked. I almost spun around in the one-way street. My first thought was, did something happen to her account with us? At the time she had a multi million-dollar account and property, lots of it. I could not fathom that she was begging in rags and acting impoverished when she was so wealthy. Her family had no clue that she was that well-off until she died."
Yuri shook his head. "Now that is sick. I guess begging was lucrative for her. How is the search going for my missing cousins and Uncle Pete?"
"Terrible." Zack sighed. "Really bad. The trail on your uncle has gotten cold. We traced him to the university hospital where he was once a janitor. In that time period he got two ladies pregnant at almost the same time: Honey Allen, who had your cousin Oliver, and Keira Facey, who had your cousin Kane. We are still trying to find him. It's not easy. Kane ran away from home years ago."
"Take out an ad in the papers," Yuri said. "Let them come to you."
Zack nodded. "We tried that three years ago."
"Oh." Yuri frowned. "Maybe they don't read the papers."
"Or maybe like your cousin Oliver, they don't even know the real circumstances of their births. So they may not know that they are Scarletts or know who their father is."
"There is that." Yuri nodded. "I don't get Uncle Pete, though. I just couldn't have children and not be involved in their lives. How on earth he is related to Pops? I have no idea. Pops had a very strong sense of family. His favorite saying was once you have family you have everything."
Zack smiled. "Yes, I have heard him say that."
"Remember, I told you about my friend Ricky." Yuri grimaced. "The one I had asked for a loan before the will was read."
"Yes." Zack nodded.
"He had an accident. Well, I was driving and the brakes of the car just gave way. Anyway, to cut a long story short he... er... can't use his... er... parts anymore."
"He is paralyzed from his waist?" Zachary asked.
"Yes."
; The food came and they dug in with gusto. When he was halfway to clearing his plate Yuri said, "Told you it was good."
"Yes," Zachary said, "really good. So what happened to your friend?"
"He wanted me to have a baby with his wife."
"Oh." Zachary cleared his throat. "Think of the legal ramifications of that before you attempt it. I have seen some cases where that arrangement didn't work out so well. And think about your feelings. I mean, you would know that they have your child. You would wonder about him or her...you'd probably run yourself ragged. I know I would."
"That's right," Yuri said hesitantly. "Thing is, I haven't spoken to him since that time he was in the States doing therapy. I've been wondering how to tell him that I can't do it. It wouldn't feel right. Besides, there is the added complication that his wife was my girlfriend. Well, not technically, but it was understood."
Zachary frowned. "Stay far away from that."
"Yes, I will," Yuri said it faintly. He was trying to subdue his thoughts of Marla but as was his regular issue these days, she was still in the forefront of his mind. Marla smiling, Marla naked in the sand in the moonlight at Sherman’s Cove, Marla clinging to him and crying softly as he caressed her body, Marla with tears in her eyes telling him she couldn't leave Ricky, Marla breaking his heart again.
He dragged his mind back to the present. Zack was watching him with speculation on his face. He hurriedly changed the subject.
"I found a house that I really like--gated community, garden...nice views overlooking Kingston—in the Smoky Vale area."
"Mmm." Zack nodded. "That’s my area. I know where you are talking about. It’s a new development. The prices are still good. If you are serious..."
"Yep." Yuri nodded. "Handle it for me. Can't wait to get out of my apartment."
Zack pushed his plate away. "You know what, I live in Smoky Vale. You should come by my place tonight. We are having a birthday dinner for one of the partners, Harrison. You remember him—old guy with the high afro. You are cordially invited."
Yuri grinned. "Sounds intimidating, rubbing shoulders with a group of lawyers."
Zack laughed. "We are your lawyers. We work for you. We should be the ones being intimidated by having a Scarlett millionaire in our presence. Besides, you'll get to see the view at night. Pretty spectacular."
Chapter Nine
After Yuri got home he was reconsidering Zack's casual invitation to his place. He called Zack and asked for directions but he was still standing in his living room staring at himself in the wall-length mirror that his mother had insisted that he get.
She had wanted him to get a full perspective of himself before leaving the house, since he didn't have anyone to do it for him. He wished the mirror could show him a full perspective of his present situation. He guessed it was true that money couldn't buy peace of mind because he was feeling really troubled right now.
Troubled. Rejected. Dejected. All because of Marla. The guilt about them having sex with her had rapidly cooled into anger.
What was holding her to Ricky? It wasn't sex, money or greed and definitely not love. Marla did not seem as if she even liked Ricky.
He had had his suspicions on the day of their marriage when he had thought that Marla had looked more like a lamb on the way to be sacrificed than a woman in love. His mother had told him that he was just mad at them and he was imagining things but he had really been upset—Ricky had seemed so excited even though he had been wheelchair bound.
He shouldn't have been the best man at that wedding. It had been grim. Everybody around had looked grim. It was the saddest wedding he had ever been to. The bride repeated her vows reluctantly and in whisper-like tones, Ricky's mother had not bothered to show up and they had found Marla's father drunk on the beach the morning of the ceremony. He hadn't been able to attend, nor had he wanted to. Yuri was the one who found him. He had been crying like a baby.
Yuri closed his eyes tightly and then inhaled. He had done his share of crying too. And then he had gotten better. He had tried to block them out of his mind. It hadn't been hard to do after a while. Sometimes, he would take Ricky's weekly calls and listen to his chatter about him and Marla, silently seething, but after a while even his seething had stopped.
He had gotten better. He could ask about her without feeling that ache in his chest. He glimpsed her through the years when he went home, but as usual it had been fleeting and he had gotten over whatever it was that he had had for her. He refused to call it love, not now, definitely not.
And then he had made the fundamental mistake of making love to Marla six weeks ago and now she was back in his head. He had been foolish, impulsive and downright vulnerable.
He had to get her out of his mind. He had to purge her somehow. He wasn't going to spend a minute more thinking about Marla. It was unhealthy for him.
He pushed himself from the wall that he had slumped on and grabbed his keys off the key holder. He headed for the door, determined to enjoy himself at Zack's get-together. He liked Zack; he sensed that he would make a good friend. Tonight he was going to make new friends and he was going to embrace his new life with both arms. The only place to look now was forward.
****
Zack lived in a lovely family home with a beautiful view of Kingston. Yuri had never asked; he assumed that Zack had a wife or girlfriend. Zack greeted him at the door and then showed him around the four-bedroom home.
He then introduced him to his partners, five of them, two elderly gentlemen who looked to be in their late sixties and two who seemed to be Zack's age, mid-thirties, and then there was one woman, Amoy Gardener, who had held his hand a little bit too long. She could be twins with Kimora Lee Simmons. They had an uncanny resemblance. Yuri assumed that she was in her thirties as well. It was hard to tell.
Yuri found himself wondering if she and Zack were an item or they were related. They were both half Asian. Every time Yuri looked around he caught her staring at him. He didn't know how to handle this special interest so he tried to ignore it.
If she was Zack's girl he did not want to intrude. Besides, she was probably way out of his league.
He dragged his thoughts from Amoy and looked around the living room. The place was impeccably decorated with jewel-toned colors. Everything worked well together.
When he got his new place he would ask Zack who decorated for him. He really liked it. He wandered out to the patio and leaned on the balustrade. It was amazing what a difference six weeks had wrought. He was on the balcony of a rich up-towner’s residence. He watched as Zack ushered in several more of his friends, some of them he recognized from television. One of them, a young politician, found him outside and they had a lively discussion about technological advancements.
The politician excused himself and continued to work the room.
"Everything okay?" Zack came over to him a drink in hand. "I saw you had quite a pow-wow with Greg…didn't want to intrude."
"Yes," Yuri looked at him, bemused. "He sounded so knowledgeable and passionate about incorporating technology in his government ministry. I am on the verge of rethinking my stance that all government ministers are idiots who mean this country no good."
Zack laughed. "They go in with starry-eyed ideals on how to change things but eventually the system changes them. They quickly realize that democracy is a term only used if you conform to the status quo. It's why I have never been tempted to enter the political arena.
"It changes people and not for the better. It’s either you walk whatever party lines you join or you become like them, the people you criticize.
"It's crazy but that's the way the system works and there is no one brave enough to turn it on its head and make a complete change. To do that would probably make you a dictator or a martyr. Nobody wants to die for the good of the people."
Yuri eyed Zack. "That sounds so bleak."
"It's the way it is. This world is imperfect and it probably won't get better. On the bright side," Zack shrugged, "Jesus alr
eady died for the good of the people. And even then, the people reject him. So why on earth would you want to do anything for the people again?"
Yuri chuckled. "You kind of sound like Pops."
Zack laughed. "I always liked arguing with Dolby. He and I were on the same wavelength. He once told me that I was an old soul."
Yuri laughed. "Who did your decorating, Old Soul?"
"Amoy." Zack grimaced. "She completely disregarded all my suggestions and redid the place the way she liked it. Too bad she isn't living here anymore. Now I have to live with it."
"I like it." Yuri nodded. "Too bad she's a lawyer and not a decorator."
"It's her hobby." Zack looked around and then called her over.
Yuri was feeling slightly confused. Was Amoy Zack’s ex girlfriend or what?
"Yuri likes your decorating," Zack said to her when she walked over, her eyebrows raised.
"Oh." She smiled. "Thank you, Yuri. Finally, a man with taste."
Zack smirked. "Whatever, Sis. I have to find Harrison. You two can talk about your shared tastes."
He walked away and Yuri looked at Amoy. It just clicked that Zack called her Sis.
Amoy grinned at him. "Zack would have preferred the old decor Grandma had... bleh. I wasn't going to live here with floral wallpaper, no way."
She made a face.
"So you two are siblings?" Yuri asked. "I never would have thought that. You have two different surnames."
"Not only siblings. Twins. He was born five whole minutes before me." Amoy grinned. "I am a bitter divorcee who is yet to get rid of the surname."
"Oh." Yuri nodded.
"And you?" Amoy asked, "What is your status?"
Yuri frowned. His status was that he missed Marla.
Scarlett Baby (The Scarletts Page 6
