THE GREAT PRETENDER (19 page)

Standing, Olivia reached for her towel. “I just think it’s time for me to get a place of my own—that’s all.” She began toweling off, planning to make a quick retreat to the house. “I’m not getting any younger, you know.”

Reginald flinched. “We’re going to talk more about this later, okay?”

“Sure, Daddy, whatever you want,” Olivia replied, skirting past him.

Reginald shook his head; his shoulders sagged as he looked down at Tracy.

She swam over to the edge, returning his gaze. “You know, Regg, if she wants to move, we can’t really stop her,” she said quietly. “She has her own money.”

Sighing, Reginald loosened his tie. He had arrived home to find Valerie by herself in the den, watching television. After hugging and chatting a bit, she told him where he could find the others.

Once he’d put away his traveling bag and briefcase, he headed out to the pool area just in time to hear Olivia declare that she was thinking of moving out. As he had approached, he’d heard their voices, but that was the only part of the conversation he’d heard clearly.

From the looks of it, he had a steep climb to repair his relationship with Olivia. But he welcomed the challenge. From now on, nothing would come between him and his family.

Removing his socks, trousers, and shirt, he joined Tracy in the pool with a huge splash, sending water everywhere. Underwater, he swam over and tickled the bottoms of her feet.

Tracy squealed, trying to get away from him. When he surfaced, he grabbed her head, pulling it to meet his kiss. As he deepened the kiss, she gently wrapped her legs around his waist.

God, he had missed her. He didn’t quite understand this sudden awareness of something he’d had all the time.

As the passion of their kiss increased, he made his presence felt between her thighs. Breaking the kiss, Tracy arched her neck; he buried his head, suckling the smooth skin there. Reggie ran his hands down the length of her back, and cupped her buttocks. He rubbed her against his hardness. “Hmm,” he moaned. “I missed you…I want you.”

Tracy moaned in agreement, her eyes glazed over with desire. Then common sense took over and she said against his lips, “It’s too early, Regg. What if one of them comes out? It’s…too…early.” He was driving her mad, grinding against her. The water splashed around them.

“They won’t come out,” he whispered. “Besides, does it feel like I can wait?”

She chuckled through her desire. “You’re right. But, let’s go into the pool house…”

Ignoring her, Reginald reached down and slid the bathing suit cloth to the side.

Tracy shuddered, held her breath.

He pushed his boxer shorts down and released himself—full, long, and pulsing in the indigo water. Guiding himself toward her beneath the surface, he probed her opening with his tip. Tracy pressed against it, eager to feel him inside her. With ease, he slipped into her body. They both moaned the pleasure. He sealed their lips together, and once the initial wave of pleasure subsided, began bouncing her lightly in the water.

Tracy came almost instantly. She moaned into his mouth and then threw her head back as he continued to stroke her for his own release.

Reggie slowly moved them over to the edge, resting his back against it. He stared into her drowsy eyes. “Ride me,” he whispered.

And she did. She rode him until they came together in the water.

V
alerie sat in
her fifth-period biology class, making useless attempts to give Mrs. Lyman her undivided attention. She’d had the same problem in her previous four classes. As the white-haired teacher droned on about crustaceans and amphibians, Valerie could only think about the situation at home.

Her father had been home for nearly a month, and she was still paying for trying to have her mother followed. Reginald had blasted both she and Deborah for the scheme—a blasting they would not soon forget.

Valerie hated it when her father was upset with her. He had reproached her behavior and told her to remember her place as a child. He had also been outraged that she could spread such utterly dreadful speculation about her own mother!

He just doesn’t understand,
she thought. Valerie was certain that her mother was seeing someone else. She wondered if it would stop now that her dad was home. She resented Tracy for doing that to her father. How dare she be out sleeping with somebody else when their father had to be away, so hard at work! And Olivia was just as bad. She still wouldn’t give him the time of day.

To Valerie’s surprise, Olivia had not yet taken Sean back. He’d come to the house on several occasions, but Olivia refused to see him. Given their history, she had thought for sure they would’ve gotten back together by now.

Despite Reggie’s attempts to engage her in conversations about a family vacation, Olivia remained noncommittal and distant. She left the house only to attend her day classes at the university and to view condos and town homes. She was more determined than ever to find a place of her own.

At times, Valerie thought about going with her, but she didn’t think she could actually share a place with Olivia. She couldn’t appreciate Olivia’s deep resentment of their father.

Instead of improving, the tension in the house only mounted. It was anyone’s guess when an explosion would occur…

As the bell
rang, signaling the end of fifth period, Valerie gathered her books and headed into the hallway. Her friend Lydia was waiting outside the door, as usual, to walk to their last class together.

“So, what do you say we hit the mall and then go to the movies tonight? Ron and Joe wanna meet us there.” Lydia, who was the same age as Valerie, had promised to arrange a date with Joseph Ellison, the cutest guy Valerie had ever seen. All the girls were after him. Now Lydia was telling her that it was done! He would be meeting them at the movies!

“What?” Valerie questioned, as kids noisily rushed past them in the hallway. “How did you do it?”

“It wasn’t me—it was Ron. Turns out they have weight training together, and Ron told him he knew a girl he could hook up with.”

“Oh, my God, Lydia! You gotta help me find something to wear!” Valerie giggled.

“Of course! That’s why we have to hit the mall!”

At that moment, reality settled around Valerie like an unwelcome relative. She was grounded! She was expected home right after school. “Damn, Lydia, I can’t go! I forgot I’m still grounded! Shit.”

“What? You’re still grounded? Damn!” Lydia frowned. “Hasn’t it been, like, a month now?”

“Almost four weeks—can you believe it? He won’t let up!” When they reached their lockers, Valerie leaned against hers, sighing heavily. She stomped her foot against the bottom locker. “Shit.
I have to go
! I’m gonna go home and beg him to let me go. It’s been four weeks! It’s about time he lightened up on me, don’t you think?”

“Hell, yeah,” Lydia agreed, shaking her head. “
I’ve
never heard of anybody being grounded
that
long.”

Later that afternoon
as she made her way up the driveway, Valerie felt her palms moistening with every step.

Gripping her heavy backpack, she prayed her father would relent and let her go out. After all, it
was
Friday, and she
had
been grounded for nearly a month now…

“They squeezed me
in at nine o’clock on Monday,” Olivia informed Tracy, after practically begging the nurse at Dr. Gabriel’s office for an appointment change.

Her original appointment had been scheduled for a week from Tuesday, but she needed it done as soon as possible. She insisted she did not want to carry the baby another minute, let alone another week. She was nearly six weeks along.

“Okay. Nine o’clock is good,” said Tracy from her closet. She was shuffling through her designer outfits, looking for something to wear to the play at Parker Playhouse that she and Reginald were planning to attend with Roger Roman and his wife, Justine.

“I tried to get it for tomorrow, but no luck.”

“Well, Monday’s fine, Liv. You’ll make it through the weekend.” Tracy pulled out a jade wrap gown and studied it. “Just be prepared, because this isn’t something that can be taken lightly. Say a prayer and you’ll be fine. No, not this,” she said, replacing the green gown and pulling out a navy pinstriped pantsuit. “Nope, too businesslike.”

“Where’s that cute little skirt outfit you bought the other day?” said Olivia from the loveseat just outside the closet. “Wasn’t it silk? That would look nice.”

At the back of the closet, Tracy pulled out the silk Yves Saint Laurent ensemble. It was a solid red with curvy black wisps all over. “Yes, this is perfect. You know, I’d forgotten all about it.” She set about finding shoes and selected a stylish pair of black suede sandals.

As she left the closet, Tracy noticed Olivia’s glum expression and joined her on the sofa. “Oh, sweetie, you’ll get through this. You know, even though it never feels that way at the time, it
will
pass. I promise. It always does.”

“I know, I know. It’s just that I can’t seem to think about anything else, Mom. I wish I could just wipe the idiot completely from my mind!”

The night her father had returned home, surprising them out by the pool, Olivia had gone upstairs to shower and wash her hair.

Thinking he had suffered enough, she decided to call Sean. When she got his voicemail at home, she tried his cell phone, only to have none other than Jacquelyn Henderson answer.

When she asked to speak to Sean, she was told that he was unavailable at the moment. What in the world did that mean? Unavailable? Why the hell had he been
unavailable
?

She had hung up without saying another word to the scrawny bitch.

Now she sighed heavily, saying, “I just want to forget about him, and it would help if I weren’t carrying this baby.”

“Honey, don’t let it break your spirit, okay? I mean, you’ve got so much going for you with school and everything, so just put everything into its proper perspective and take it one day at a time. Before you know it, you’ll be saying, ‘Sean who’?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” At the moment, Olivia could not imagine having a minute go by that didn’t include a Sean-related thought.

Sean. His laugh, his smell. His hair, his funny little words and remarks. And last but certainly not least, his awful betrayals.

“Well, I’ve got to get ready,” said Tracy cheerfully, heading for the bathroom.

Olivia watched her mother as she glided across the floor toward the bath. How did she manage to do it? How could she seem to be so happy with their father now, while seeing their Uncle Frank at the same time? Well, Olivia didn’t exactly know if they were still seeing each other, but she assumed they were. She decided to ask.

She entered the bathroom just as Tracy was stepping into the shower stall. She’d always marveled at how shapely and toned her mother was. At thirty-nine, thanks to Jane Fonda and Denise Austin, Tracy was in admirable shape.

“Mom?”

“Yeah, honey?”

Olivia perched on a stool by the dressing table. “What’s going on with you and Uncle Frank now? Anything?”

Tracy cringed. She had a flashback of the afternoon three years earlier when she’d been lying across her bed, having an uncensored phone conversation with Franklin. She had been alone in the house and she hadn’t heard Olivia come in from school, climb the stairs, and stand in her bedroom doorway.

Oh, there were times when Tracy so regretted that she hadn’t been much more cautious; times she so regretted having had to admit such a thing to her own daughter. This was one of those times. She said, “Why do you ask, honey?”

“I don’t know…Curiosity, I guess.”

“Well, no,” said Tracy, lathering her washcloth. “I haven’t seen him privately since your father got back this last time.”

“Well, what does that mean? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Tracy stilled her movement. “Liv, honey, where are you going with this? What do you mean, good thing or bad thing?”

“Well, you seem really happy. I mean, since Daddy came home, you seem
remarkably
happy. You’re going out all the time, your bedroom’s a regular rose garden…And
you
were the one that said you were thinking of divorce. I was just wondering what was going on, that’s all.”

Dazed, Tracy stood still. It was true. Having Reginald home had not turned out to be at all what she had anticipated. She was
indeed
happier—
so much happier.