Alicia's Misfortune (31 page)

Emily went into her room and pulled out her suitcase.
 
Her unfinished letter to Leila sat folded in
the pocket.
 
She took it out and unfolded
it, then sat down on her bed.
 
She
thought about all that had happened in the short time that she had been in
Texas.
 
She tried to think about what to
say to Leila, but she couldn’t find the words to write.
 
Feeling somewhat homesick and confused, Emily
folded the letter back up for the third time and placed it back inside the
pocket in her suitcase.

“Miss Emily, we’re ready for our book now!”
 
Anna called out to Emily from her room at the
end of the hall.
 
Emily smiled and then
got up, happy to feel like she was wanted.
 
She walked down the hall and then into Anna’s room which was decorated
in pink and purple.

“What book will it be tonight?”
 
Emily scooted next to Anna and Eisley climbed
in next to her.
 
The three buried
themselves under the covers and Emily waited while they tried to come to an
agreement on a book.
 
When Eisley finally
decided that they read a book of fairytales, Emily dove in with
enthusiasm.
 
Some of the places in the
tales reminded her of home, with their mystical stone walls and their vast,
enchanted forests.
 
She thought again
about Leila, and wondered what she was doing.

“Good night, girls.”
 
When Emily had finished reading them their stories, she tucked them in
and kissed them both on the forehead.
 
Then she flicked off the lights and tiptoed down the hall.
 
Dylan was up reading a book when she peeked
in.
 
“They’re already asleep.”
 
She grinned and then walked inside his room,
quietly locking the door behind her.

Dylan patted the bed in a gesture for her to come
forward.
 
She climbed atop the king sized
mattress and then gave Dylan a kiss on the cheek.
 
“It’s game time.”
 
She winked and then smiled.
 
There was something about Dylan that she was
deeply attracted to, and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Aside from
his outward appearance, he had a quality of lightness to him that made her feel
at ease.

“Okay.
 
Fire
away.”
 
Dylan sat up and then looked at
Emily as she got ready to ask her first question.
  

“My first question is about Felix Rose.
 
I found a bunch of bills from him inside the
kitchen cabinet the other day.”
 
Emily
felt much better telling him the truth than she did keeping it inside.
 
“I only found them because they fell on my
head when I opened the cabinet looking for trash bags.
 
I swear.”
 
Emily still felt very much like a guest in his home, and she didn’t want
him to think that she was snooping around.

Dylan nodded his head and then playfully kissed Emily on the
head.
 
“So I guess your question is:
 
Who is Felix Rose and what does he want from
me?”
 
Dylan chuckled and then stretched
out on the bed.
 
Emily could see the
bulge in his biceps from underneath his t-shirt, and she could make out the
notches in his stomach where his muscles announced themselves.

“Yes.”
 
Emily nodded
her head with an emphatic yes and Dylan drew in a deep breath.

“Felix Rose is the man who I signed a lease with, back when
I was first married to Ginger.
 
He used
to collect the rent from me, but we worked out an arrangement where I was going
to lease to own.
 
The long story short is
that I had fallen behind on my regular rent right around the time that the
girls came here to live.
 
It was no time
to be out of a home, but my work as executive at the bank downtown was going
really slow.
 
I eventually got laid off,
and was collecting unemployment with the hopes of being promoted to manager
when they called me back.”
 
Dylan looked
straight ahead as he spoke and Emily watched on in silence.

“So let me guess.”
 
Emily moved a little closer and ran a hand across his stomach.
 
“The bank never called you back.”
 
She could tell where the story was
leading.
 
Dylan nodded his head.

“Bingo.
 
The bank
never called me back, and I therefore never got promoted.
 
So, time goes on and I get deeper into the
hole with my bills and with my rent.
 
Felix Rose and I have a nice chat and work out a deal where my payments
each month will be lowered, with the expectation that I pay off the house in
five years, and make myself the owner.
 
As you can tell from the other day’s meeting- that never happened.”
 
Dylan shook his head and then leaned closer
to Emily.
 
“I think that since I just
told you half my life story I get to have the body part that I desire.
 
That was the name of the game, right?”
 
He smiled and Emily gazed into his blue eyes,
once more unable to resist.

She closed her eyes and they met for a kiss.
 
“What body part do you want?” Emily continued
to kiss him as she asked.
 

“Well first I want to start with that nice flat belly of
yours.
 
Let me have at it.”
 
He dove down and nuzzled his face against
Emily’s stomach and she giggled with enjoyment.
 
Then he took his hands and ran them across her thighs, squeezing them
with his hands as he made his way down.
 
“I love every part of your body, Emily.”
 
Dylan smiled and then kissed her on the top of her knees.
 

“I think we both could use a little stress relief
tonight.”
 
Emily smiled and then arched
her back on the bed, revealing her taut firm breasts.
 
Dylan moved up and then caressed them in his
hands.
 
He loved how her body was
proportioned and how her slender frame still carried enough curves to keep him
satisfied.
 

“Let me feel you inside me again.”
 
Dylan wanted to know her better, especially
since she was now his wife.
 
To him, the
legality was of less importance than the insinuation.
 
He wanted to know that he could trust her,
that he could rely on her when he needed someone.
 
He wanted her to be his other half.

“I’m ready for you.”
 
Emily pulled him close, yearning for his touch.
 
He pressed his body against hers and then
positioned himself so that he could get as near to her as possible.
 
He felt around for her sacred walls and then,
with a subtle yet prominent movement, thrust himself deep inside her.
 
Emily let out a moan that echoed against the
walls of Dylan’s room.
 
Again, he thrust
himself inside her, and she responded with the ecstatic cries of desire.

         
“I want to
feel all of you, Emily.”
 
Dylan whispered
in her ear and she cried out with pleasure.
 
It was like she had been transported to another time and space, and she
couldn’t quite tell if what was happening were real. In fact, at one point she
actually pinched herself to see that life was truly in the real.
 

Dylan and Emily moved in unison, both of them falling into a
sort of lover’s rhythm that usually only comes after years of being with the
same partner.
 
Emily, although she
couldn’t quite believe it yet, felt as if she might actually be falling in love
with Dylan McBride. She ran her hands over his back and drew him even closer to
her than before.
 
He pleasured her until
she finally let out a resounding cry, reaching her climax just as the stars
poked their way through the cloudy sky.

When the sun rose the next morning, both Dylan and Emily
bounded out of bed with the youthful energy of children.
 
They made their way downstairs after getting
dressed, and then they each found their places in the kitchen.
 
Dylan made the coffee and Emily prepared
breakfast for the girls.
 
Dylan set up
the sink for dishes, and Emily washed them when they were all done eating.
 
To Dylan and to Emily, it already felt as if
they were one big happy family, until Ginger came knocking at the door.

“One second.”
 
Dylan
and Emily had just wiped the last crumb off the counter and sent the girls off
to school when there was a loud knock at the door.
 
Emily walked behind Dylan to see who it was,
and Dylan opened it, expecting to see the mailman or possible a debt collector.
 
Instead, it was a tall, thin, attractive
woman with auburn hair and seductive green eyes.

“Ginger?”
 
Dylan
looked as if he’d just seen a ghost.
 
The
woman batted her lashes at him and then smoothed her hair which hung in long,
thick waves beyond her shoulders.
 
Dylan
froze in his tracks.
 

“How are you, Dylan.
 
It’s been awhile.”
 
Ginger smiled
and then tried to see beyond Dylan’s shoulders to where Emily was
standing.
 
“Do you have a few
minutes?”
 
She smiled and Emily could see
that she had perfect teeth.
 
In fact, she
looked to Emily a bit like a movie star that she’d seen once on
television.
 

“Well, I’m kind of in the middle of something, but…”
 
Dylan’s face reddened as Emily inched closer
to the door.
 
Ginger smiled and then
stepped inside the house after Dylan stopped talking.
 

“I came by to tell you that I’m sorry.”
 
Ginger cut to the chase and Emily nearly
buckled at the knees.
 
How could this be
happening?
 
Why?
 
Emily felt stunned, like the wind had just
been knocked out of her sails.
 
She
walked out of the living room and then ran up the steps into her room.
 
She flung herself on the bed, pounded the
sheets with her fist, and then cried.

“I cannot believe this.”
 
Emily talked to herself as she stood in the bedroom.
 
“His ex-wife?
 
Coming to apologize?
 
What if they
get back together?
 
That woman is
gorgeous.”
 
Emily shook her head, unable
to decide if she should cry or scream.
 
After a few minutes of deliberation, she decided to go back downstairs
and at least make her presence known. Ginger was now sitting on the couch and
Dylan was sitting in a chair across from her.

“Emily, why don’t you come sit down?”
 
Dylan acknowledged her as soon as she stepped
into the room.
 
It took all of her class
and character to force out a polite smile.
 

“I’m actually going to work on making a treat for the girls
to eat when they get home from school.”
 
Emily thought it would be the perfect way to both remove herself from
being in the same room as Ginger, and to allow herself to hear what was being
said during their conversation.
 
This
time, she told herself, she didn’t care how much eavesdropping took place.

“It’s taken me a long time to realize that I was wrong back
when the girls first came to live with us, you know?”
 
Ginger leaned forward in her seat, her
mysterious green eyes fixed on Dylan’s face.
 
Emily could smell Ginger’s perfume all the way out in the kitchen.
 
She wanted to march out there and tell Dylan
that his ex-wife smelled like a cheap whore, but she kept her composure and
pulled out the rolled oats and brown sugar, instead.

“I appreciate your telling me all this, Ginger, but I’m not
sure what your intentions are.”
 
Dylan at
back, his arms folded across his chest.
 
The dogs had started barking about something outside, so Emily stepped
out back to shush them.
 
Once there, she
took a deep breath.
 
What was she getting
so worked up, anyway?
 
She had just met
Dylan, and even though she was now his wife, he was a man with a past.
 
What could she really do to change that?
 
What point was there in getting mad?

She walked into the backyard for a few minutes in an attempt
to clear her mind.
 
She tried to imagine
what Leila would tell her, and she decided that as always, Leila would
recommend something prudent and wise.
 
Emily imagined that Leila would tell her to go for a walk and calm down,
or to go sit down and have a beer to see if that soothed her nerves at
all.
 
The sun was bright and in the
distance, a herd of cows grazed beyond Dylan’s fence line.
 
She wondered if she’d be on this property
long enough to see them live out their lives.