Among the Ducklings (10 page)

“She’s
pregnant.”

For one
moment, Marcia looked as if she was going to pass out at the news. “How did
this happen?”

“Stupidity,
I guess.”

“Is Mark
the father?”

“Yes,”
Isabel replied.

“Does he
know?”

“Yes, he
wants Rebecca to have an abortion.”

“That
creep,” Marcia said.
 
“Who else knows
about it?”

“No
one else.
 
Apparently, neither one wants to get married
because they think they are too young.”

“They
should have thought about that before engaging in sexual escapades,” Marcia
said.

“That's
what I said,” Isabel agreed. “What do you think I should do?
 
I talked to Rebecca about how stupid she was
and I want her to take responsibility for her own actions.”

“It's
understandable.
 
What does Rebecca want?
 
Did she say she wanted to have an abortion?”

“No. She
wants to keep the baby.”

“Good.
 
How many months?”
Marcia asked.

“Rebecca
said three. I also placed a call to Mark's parents, I'm not sure where that
will go,” Isabel said. “Mark is not even working and Rebecca's part-time job
barely covers gas for her car.”

“We'll help
for sure. But they're going to have to get real jobs.
 
After all, they're going to be parents.”

“I told
Rebecca that too.” Isabel said, nodding her head.

Her aunt
then paused pensively for one moment, and then said, “I'll tell you what. I am
free this Saturday.
 
Why don't we see if
we can invite Mark's parents to lunch?
 
Then we can talk to them about this.”

“Thank you,
Tia Marcia. I would like you to be there.
 
I am so upset right now about the whole thing.”

“Don't
worry. She'll be OK,” Marcia added.
 

“I know,”
Isabel replied. She felt guilty for leaving Marcia with the impression that her
problems were solely related to Rebecca.
 
Then again, how could she tell her aunt that she had fallen for a man
she barely knew?
 

“Her aunt didn't need
to know,” she said to herself.
 
After
what happened between Phil and her today, Isabel doubted that Phil would ever
talk to her again, let alone talk to Marcia about her.
 

##

Stacy's
flight from Los Angeles to Miami was noisy. Being in first class doesn’t shield
you from crying babies, annoying passengers, and incompetent flight attendants
who dared to call themselves stewardesses. It was these six hours of hell that
finally convinced Stacy that she needed to buy her own private plane.
 
No one recognized her. Good thing. She did
not model or act anymore because, to her, that was not where the money was. Who
would want to be an actress when you could be the executive movie producer who
hires the actress?
 
Who would want to be
an employee when you could be the boss?
 
In California, financial success had come quickly to Stacy. Only two
years after her move from Miami, she had moved from acting and investing with
the movie-director-ex-boyfriend in low budget television miniseries, to
investing now in big screen movies.
 
Although she abhorred violence, she carved a niche for herself in gore
and splatter B movies. To her, that was where the money was. Less investment,
less risk, dedicated fans and great rewards.
 
All in all, Stacy had been right in her choices. The horror films that
she had produced had had great success, both in theaters and in video
sales.
 
Her love life had suffered
greatly, but it was a choice she had to make.
 

As Stacy's
limousine navigated the Miami traffic jam, she picked up the phone to call
Phil's secretary.
 
Although Stacy had
asked Phil's secretary not to tell Phil that she was coming to Miami, Stacy
knew that she would tell Phil. As Myra picked up the phone, Stacy could not
help but smile at how her plan to get Phil back was developing perfectly. Stacy
was well aware of her own beauty and the effect that she had on men and even
women.
 
What people failed to notice,
however, was her intelligence. When she first moved to California, a lot of men
prejudged her as another brainless pretty model. Their mistake had cost them
dearly, including her last husband that she married right before he signed the
biggest movie contract of his career. Divorce came quickly afterward.
 
Gone was also half of the money he made from
the movie. Now with Phil, Stacy's genius was again at work. Getting Phil back
was to her like choosing which movie to produce. There had to be a good
script.
 
She knew she had the right
script for Phil. She had written it.

##

“Boss?”
Although it was not unusual for Phil's
secretary to call Phil at home, it was unusual for her to call him after work,
on Skype, a popular video and voice communication service that Phil sometimes
used when he was in front of his computer.

“Are you
OK, Myra?” Phil asked, as her face blanketed his computer
screen.
 
 

“Stacy just
called me.”

“At
home?”

“Yes.”

“What did
she want?”

“She said
she was going to be in town tomorrow and wanted to know if I could work for her
part-time, in the evenings, as her personal secretary.”

“Can you?”

“Yes. She
said she would pay for the babysitter for the kids.”

“I hope she
is paying you enough.”

“She is
paying me four times more than what I make at work.”

“Wow.
Great.” Phil said, while hoping that Stacy would leave him alone.

“Are you OK
with it, Boss?”

“As
long as it doesn't interfere with your work at the office.”

“Thank
you
boss.
I really can use the extra money.”

“You won't
leave with her to California, will you?”

“No, boss,”
Myra replied.
 
Phil's attempted joke did
not register.
 

After they
hung up, Phil wondered what Stacy was up to.
 
The last thing Phil needed was for Stacy to show up in Miami. His love
life was a mess and he didn’t want any more problems.

##

When Isabel
reached home that evening, Richard was already there with Rebecca watching
television.

“You look
tired Bella,” Richard said.

“I am,”
Isabel replied.

Rebecca's
eyes were fixated on a news anchor delivering “Breaking News.”

“When does
this stop being Breaking News? Every half hour they repeat the same thing,”
Rebecca said before looking at Isabel. “The lawyer called and said you needed
to call her today if you could. She will be working late at the office
tonight.”

Richard and
Isabel then called the attorney, who told them the details of the offer,
including the six-figure amount that Isabel was going to receive.

“Besides
the money they are giving you for pain and suffering, the insurance company
also agreed to put money in escrow to pay for all of your medical costs and
treatment,” the attorney told Isabel. Isabel was ready to accept the insurance
company's offer, when the attorney proposed to make a counter-offer for
additional money for pain and suffering.
 
Although she acquiesced to her attorney's suggestion, Isabel was ready
to put this accident behind her.
 

Isabel
could not sleep that night. In the past few weeks, her life had taken several
turns that she never could have imagined.
 
First, it was the accident, then Phil, and now Rebecca's pregnancy. By
the time morning had come, she was tired, wide awake and still in bed.
  
It was almost 10:30 in the morning when the
phone rang.
 
She didn't pick up. A few
minutes later, Rebecca knocked on her bedroom door.
 

“Come in,”
Isabel said.
 

Rebecca
didn't come in.
 
She simply said, “It's
Tia
Marcia,
she wants to talk to you.”

After a
short struggle to reach the lamp on the night table, Isabel picked up the
phone, which was next to a brown alarm clock.

“Good
morning, Tia Marcia.”

“Did
anything happen between you and Phil yesterday?” Marcia asked without returning
her greeting.

“Huh, what
do you mean?” Isabel asked, not knowing what her aunt knew or how to respond
without divulging any information regarding her conversation with Phil.

“His doctor
just called to tell me that Phil called to tell him that he wanted to continue
his therapy at another center.”

“But your
place is recognized as one of the best in South Florida,” Isabel argued.

“I
know.
 
His doctor tried to convince him
to stay but he would have none of it.”

“Did he
tell the doctor why?” Isabel asked, fearing what the answer would be.

“No. He was
sitting on the bench next to you, yesterday. Did he say anything about that?”
Marcia asked.

“No,”
Isabel responded. Isabel was technically correct.
 
Phil didn't tell her that he wanted to
continue his therapy somewhere else. But deep inside, Isabel knew why. How
could she tell her aunt that Phil was doing this because of her?

“Well, I
tried to call him but he was not in his office.
 
I will try to call him again to find out why.
 
To be frank, I liked him and all of the
nurses here kept telling me how nice he was to them. He even gave a job to the
daughter of one of our gardeners,” Marcia said.

“It might
have been because of me,” Isabel admitted.
 
She was not sure whether Phil would tell her aunt when she talked to
him, but she was not going to lie to her aunt or let her aunt find out directly
from Phil.

“What do
you mean? I was right, wasn't I?
 
Something happened between the two of you yesterday?”

“Yes,”
Isabel admitted.

“So what
was it?”

“He told me
how much he liked me and I told him that I didn't want to talk to him or see
him again.”

“Why on
earth would you say something like that? Couldn't you be more diplomatic?
Besides, I was hoping he could help with your accident case,” Marcia said.

“My case is
almost settled. Besides, what could I tell him?
 
I am engaged to be married to Richard.”

“I see,”
Marcia said. “So when is the wedding Isabel?”

“What?
 
My wedding date doesn't have anything to do
with it. It's just that I am engaged.”

“I know
you're engaged.
 
You've been saying
that.
 
Tell me, do you love Richard?”
Marcia asked.

“Why do you
ask?” Isabel answered.

“It would
have been simple enough to say, 'I love him', but you didn't say that, why?”

“Well, I am
not sure, OK?” Isabel's voice was rising as if she had been caught in a trap
and wanted this conversation to end.

“You're not
sure because of Phil?”

“No. Well
yes, but I would never do anything to hurt Richard.”

“Isabel, do
you really know Richard?”

“Of course,
why do you ask?” Isabel asked.

“Why have
you never gone to Orlando with him?”

“He goes to
Orlando for his construction projects and he doesn’t have much time when he’s
there,” Isabel responded.
 

 
Marcia was burning inside because she wanted
to tell Isabel that Richard's trips to Orlando were to spend time with another
woman.
 
But she could not.
 
Marcia, herself found out about Richard's
cheating by accident.
 
Even though it had
been over a year since she saw Richard with the blond woman in the back of the
Brazilian restaurant, the image of the woman kissing Richard's earlobe was
still vivid in her mind.

Had she not
been meeting some physician friends for dinner that night, Marcia would have
never known about Richard's indiscretions.
 
After that night at the restaurant, Marcia then hired a private
investigator who confirmed to her that Richard and the woman had, on several
occasions, spent the night together in an expensive house in Orlando.
 
To this day, Marcia still asked herself why
Richard was with Isabel.
 
What did he
want? Why was he living a double life? What was he up to? She tried to
investigate further but had been unable to find out why.