Always (5 page)

Grammy had such a nice ring to it and Graham
had just grinned when his mom had suggested that’s what she wanted
Amalie to call her. Grammy it was and I hoped it would be.

“Here, Ma, let me take her?” Graham said,
after opening his mom’s car door.

She gave Amalie a kiss and reluctantly
handed her over to Graham.

“No, no,” Amalie said, shaking her head and
reaching for her Grammy. “Me Me.”

“She’ll be calling me Grammy before we know
it.” Mrs. Edwards face lit up with a smile. “Any time you want me
to keep her you have Graham call me, okay?”

“Absolutely,” I quickly agreed. “How about
Friday night? Graham had suggested us having a date night and I’m
not sure if Carmella will be available.”

“It would be just perfect.” If she was fazed
by her son having a date night with someone other than his wife,
she sure didn’t show it. “I’ll keep her the whole weekend if you’d
like.”

“I’ll bring her out Friday afternoon then,”
Graham said.

“We’ll have so much fun, won’t we,
Amalie?”

Amalie clapped her little hands in
approval.

“Bring Odessa with you and I’ll fix us a big
old salad for lunch.”

I smiled, happy that she’d remembered I
don’t eat meat.

“That red hair of yours is so pretty in the
sunlight.” Mrs. Edwards reached out and touched a strand of my hair
and then surprised me with a genuine hug. She was such a tiny woman
that she barely came up to me boobs, so I had to lean over to hug
her back. I held on to her a little longer than maybe I should have
because I found her touch so soothing. Her entire aura radiated
with such intense love for Graham and Amalie that I actually
enjoyed empathing her wonderful energy.

“You take good care of that angel baby,” she
said before turning to Graham and adding, “Give her my phone
number.” She gave me another quick hug. “You call me anytime you
need me. I’ll always be there for my little Amalie, no matter
what.”

“Thank you, that means a lot to us.”

“It sure does,” Graham agreed, helping her
into her car and holding Amalie so she could give her Grammy a good
bye kiss.

“Bye, Bye,” she said waving at Amalie. “Love
you, sweet girl.”

“We love you, too,” Graham said.

Amalie waved at her until the Oldsmobile was
out of sight.

Graham opened my car door for me and said,
“That turned out better than I’d expected.”

I threw my arms around him, crushing our
daughter between the two of us. “I love you and your mama and our
beautiful daughter.”

“Love you, too.” Graham laughed and handed
Amalie to me after I got in the car. “I think that lithium is
kicking in.”

I wasn’t sure if it was the lithium or the
gin. All I knew was that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt
so contentedly happy.

“Want me to put the top down?” he asked.

“That would be lovely.”

The weather was just right for cruising down
the highway with the wind whipping my hair. There was nothing more
I could have wanted as I had my daughter nestled comfortably in my
arms and my lover, looking as devastatingly handsome as always,
behind the wheel of the Mercedes.

“You, know,” Graham said, when we stopped at
a red light. “I think my mom actually likes you and she sure does
love Amalie.”

“Me Me,” Amalie said, grinning from ear to
ear. “Me Me.”

“Yeah, you and Grammy hit it right off.” I
kissed the top of Amalie’s head. “She really does favor your
mom.”

“I told ya so.” Graham reached over and took
my hand.

We drove in a comfortable silence, just
enjoying the sunny day and his favorite country music blasting on
the radio. I’m usually a girl more into Sinatra, but I do enjoy a
good Patsy Cline song.

Just as we passed the
Welcome to
Tampa
sign, Always came over the airways. This time Graham
didn’t seem to mind as I sang along. “Not for just an hour. Not for
a day. Not for a year, but always.”

“Always,” Graham agreed. “I’ll be loving
you, always.”

Dear Readers,

Thank you for purchasing this story. Over
the next several months Odessa and I will be sharing more of her
naughty adventures in anticipation of releasing her full story.

Reviews are appreciated. If you find any
formatting errors or typos please let me know at
[email protected]
. I
always enjoy hearing from my readers and appreciate your
support.

If you liked this story I hope you will
consider checking out some of my other titles. I’ve included the
first chapter from Fly Away. If you do decide to purchase Fly Away
just forward me the confirmation email and I will send you a free
copy or either Under My Skin or The Lady Is A Tramp.

Jezebel

PS… Odessa’s other stories are a bit
smuttier and more erotic in nature, especially The Lady Is A Tramp
and Under My Skin.

Odessa

"Blessed Goddess, please, oh please, let her
be home," I chanted the words as my mantra, gripping the steering
wheel so hard my fingers ached almost as bad as the blistering heat
searing my face.

The pain was getting close to unbearable and
made worse by the brat sleeping fitfully in the passenger seat. If
I stopped the car I just knew my daughter would start screaming
again. My daughter? It didn’t seem possibly that this little bundle
of terror could possibly had come from me. I shivered at the very
thought of the whole horrific birthing process. That was a memory I
doubted I’d ever forget.

In my best attempt to quell her cries, I'd
been up all night driving the streets of Tampa. It was bitterly
cold for a February morning in Florida. The wind had run rough shot
over my long red hair and my eyes burned behind the lenses of my
dark sunglasses. In my haste to shush her screams, I hadn't though
to put the top up on the convertible before starting this journey
to nowhere.

The 1967 Mercedes 280SL always had a
soothing effect on the both of us. Graham had given me his sleek
convertible on a hot August day as an appeasement for the sperm
he'd shot into me some eight months prior. His atonement for the
child inside my swollen belly. A baby he'd insisted we keep. The
supposed beginnings of a loving family that had yet to be.

He'd driven the car two years before turning
it over to me. Long enough for his ass to leave an imprint in the
soft tan leather seat. His essence lingered with me every time I
decided to go for a drive. I couldn't have loved it more if the car
had been brand new. My existence would have been nothing, if not
for my beloved Graham.

I swallowed down a defeated howl when I saw
Carmella's deserted driveway. No sunshine yellow Beetle in sight.
My best friend had been the one to bring my little Amalie kicking
and screaming into this world. In the seventeen some months since,
she was also the only one able to figure out how to appease the
child’s constant neediness. Now it appeared she had deserted me in
favor of her thriving baby birthing business.

Carmella had tried to get me to assist in
her new career of midwifery. Birthing babies just wasn't my thing.
All that blood and gore and pain. Not an appropriate career option
for an empath such as myself. It wasn't just emotions I absorbed. I
was also cursed with feeling the physical pain of others if I
allowed them to get too close. I'd gotten to where I could shield
from most people. Just not the brat sleeping beside me or my
beloved.

There was no use in dawdling around waiting
for Carmella. I had dropped my guard long enough to feel the
expectant mother's pain shooting through my own womb. That baby
wouldn't be here for hours. I quickly threw up the best shield I
could muster and sped down the road.

As if by its own accord my Mercedes traveled
through the familiar streets of Sunset Park, an affluent
neighborhood right on the water. Florida living at its finest. The
perfect place to raise a family. You and me and baby makes three.
Yeah, right, maybe for him and the wife he'd married when I'd still
been a little girl trapped in North Carolina with only my snakes
for solstice.

I turned onto South Dundee and my head felt
like it might explode. Graham's migraine hit me with such intensity
that I had to fight a wave of nausea. It infuriated me how he
hadn't so much as bothered to call me going on three whole days,
yet I still couldn't shield against his fucking headache.

It must have been my punishment for driving
by his house. Wednesday's were very busy for him with TV tapings
and all the wrestlers in and out of his office all day. Normally I
would have taken to my bed to soak all of the pain from his body
into mine, but after a night with his screaming child I wasn't
feeling all that charitable.

Knowing that Graham had already left for his
office, I gave serious consideration to pulling into the driveway.
Maybe a conversation with his wife was in order. She knew about me
and Amalie. Our affair was no secret. We all knew I was the one he
truly loved. Yet, she stayed, refusing to walk away from the luxury
of being Mrs. Graham Edwards. His name meant a great deal in this
town and I suppose his money meant even more to her. No amount of
money could have ever convinced me to stay with a man who's heart
belonged to another.

Damn his heart and my freaking headache.

I drove to the end of the cul-de-sac and
didn't look back as I sped by his house. If I wanted to stalk his
sorry wife I could go to my own home just across the canal on West
San Jose. The view from my property's pier offered up a perfect
glimpse of his oak tree shadowed backyard. I often felt his eyes
upon me when I striped naked each night in front of the French
doors of my bedroom. It was no coincidence he'd chosen both his
homes to be so close together, broken only by a rivulet of the
enormous Tampa Bay.

It seemed best to take the scenic route to
the Sportatorium, turning a ten minute drive into a trek around
Bayshore Boulevard and cruising slowly along to watch the waves
crashing against the bay. I wasn't in any hurry to get to a TV
taping I couldn't attend with baby girl asleep in the car.

Gas, however, was another matter. The gauge
had slid past empty and the blinking angry red light only added to
the pounding inside my head. I was going to have to risk stopping
for gas. I pulled into the parking lot of a market just down the
street from the Sportatorium and Amalie let out a little snore.
Taking that as a positive sign, I tucked her blanket up to her nose
and held my breath as I cut the engine. Her eyes didn't flutter. I
eased my door open and pumped the gas, even risking to move the car
up to a space by the front door without rousing my little
sleepyhead. I stopped at this market all the time and everyone
there knew us. Graham had even set up a charge account for me. So,
it wasn't a big deal to leave her sleeping in sight of the front
window.

"Howdy, Miss Odessa," the clerk said, way to
overenthusiastic for such a glum day. “You’re looking pretty as
always this morning.

Miss? I had to bite my lip to keep from
informing him I wasn't missing anything, least of all Graham. It
always amazed me how people were never taken aback by my disheveled
appearance. The one downside to being a red head is that every dark
circle, bruise or blemish is magnified upon my pale skin. I'm not
vain enough to believe I am as stunning as most make me out to
be.

"How'd you like those t-bones Mr. Edwards
brought home yesterday?"

My stomach churned at the mere thought of
dining on dead cow.

Instead of informing the man those steaks
were for his other family, I gave an insincere tightlipped smile
and said, "He forgot the wine."

"Want me to get a bottle of that merlot you
like."

"That would be lovey."

"I'll be right back," he said, walking over
to where they kept a surprisingly large assortment of beers and
wines.

I grabbed a Diet Coke, juice for Amalie, and
since Graham was paying I fixed him a cup of coffee heavily doused
with cream and sugar, just the way he liked it.

"The new wrestling magazines came in this
morning if you want to take one for Mr. Edwards," he said, as he
rang up my purchases. "Want me to put this on his tab?"

"Of course." I glanced at the cover of the
magazine and my spirits soared at the sight of Roger Rohde's
beautiful face grinning at me on the cover. "I believe I'll take
two of these," I said, tucking one copy in my purse.

I put Graham’s coffee in the cup holder and
started up the car, holding my breath in hopes that Amalie wouldn’t
awaken. Just as I took my first sip of Diet Coke, the child came to
life with a sobbing howl that startled me into spilling soda down
the front of my blouse.

"How about some juice?" I asked, already
reaching to fill her sippy cup.

She tossed the cup to the floorboard,
screaming in animate displeasure.

"I hate to break it to you kid, but my butt
is sore from all this driving and I'm exhausted. We're going to see
your daddy whether he likes it or not."

The Sportatorium was just down the street. I
cut past the line of fans waiting for the doors to open and pulled
in the back alley, blocking in Graham's matching black Mercedes. I
ignored Amalie’s wails long enough to pull my hair back into a
loose ponytail and take another sip of my drink.

Scooping Amalie into my arms, I threw my
purse over my shoulder, somehow balancing Graham’s coffee cup in my
hand. I kicked the back door open and let out my own scream when my
toe hit the door frame. No wonder my feet were cold, I'd forgotten
to put on shoes.