An Independent Wife (21 page)

Sallie had to cling to him; the swift movement as he jerked her to her feet had made her head swim alarmingly and she felt as if she might faint. Neither could she understand why he had reacted so violently, or what he meant about twisting the knife. Confused, all she knew was that she'd made him angry when she hadn't really meant to, and she offered him the only comfort she could, the response of her lips and body. He accepted the offer hungrily; the pressure of his mouth changing from hurtful to persuasive, and he carried her to the bedroom.

Afterward she lay curled drowsily against him, wrapped in the security of his own special male scent and the warmth of his nearness while he lazily stroked her abdomen and pressed kisses along the curve of her shoulder.

"Did I hurt you?" he murmured, referring to his urgent lovemaking, and Sallie whispered a denial.

"That's good," he replied huskily. "I wouldn't want to..." He paused, then after a moment continued.

"Don't you think it's time you told me about the baby?"

Sallie sat bolt upright in the bed and turned to stare at him with huge eyes. "How did you know?" she demanded in astonishment, her voice rising. "I only realized it myself today!"

He blinked as if she'd jolted him in return; then he tipped his dark head back against the pillow and roared with laughter, tugging her down to lie against his chest. "I should've guessed," he chuckled, his hand smoothing her long hair away from her face. "You were so wrapped up in that book you didn't even know what day it was. I knew, darling, because I'm not a complete ignoramus and I can count. I thought you were deliberately keeping me in the dark because you didn't want me to have the satisfaction of knowing you're pregnant."

"Gee, you must think I'm a lovely character," she muttered crossly and, turning her head, she sank her teeth playfully, but firn-fly, into his shoulder. He yelped in pain and instantly she kissed the wound, but she told him defiantly, "You deserved that."

"Out of consideration for your delicate condition I'll let you get away with that," he mocked, tilting her face up for a kiss that lingered.

"Actually," Sallie confessed a moment later, "I wasn9t going to tell you just yet."

His head snapped around, and he cupped her chin in his palm, forcing her to look at him. "Why?" he growled.

"Because I want to go to Europe with you," she stated simply. "I was afraid you'd make me stay here if you knew I'm pregnant."

"Not a chance. I wasn't with you before, but I'm planning on being with you every day of this pregnancy-with your permission, Mrs. Baines, I'll even be with you when our baby is born."

Her heart stopped, then lurched into overtime. Too overcome to speak, Sallie turned her face into his shoulder and held him with desperate hands. Despite everything he had ever said-and all the things he had never said-she began to hope that Rhy really did care for her. "Rhy---oh, Rhy!" she whispered in a choked voice.

Misunderstanding the cause of her emotion he gathered her close to him and stroked her head. "Don't worry," he murmured into her hair. "This baby will be all right, I promise you. We'll get the best obstetrician in the state. We'll have a houseful of kids, you wait and see."

Clutching him to her Sallie thought that she'd be satisfied with only this one, if it lived. That, and Rhy's love, would make her life complete.

Caught up in a whirlwind of activity preparing for the trip to Europe, which included readying not only her own clothing but Rhy's as well, as he was working late more and more often in an effort to tie up all loose ends before they left, and hammering the book into its final shape, Sallie hardly had a moment to think during the next few weeks. The doctor had assured her that she was in perfect shape, though she could stand to gain a few pounds, and the baby was developing normally. He was also in favor of the trip to Europe so long as she remembered to eat properly.

She had never been happier. Four months ago she had thought that Rhy meant nothing to her, and all she wanted was to be free of his restricting influence. She still fumed sometimes at the high-handed methods he'd used to restore her to her position as his wife, but for the most part she was glad that he didn't know how to take no for an answer. She was more deeply in love with him now than she'd ever been as an insecure teenager, for she'd grown in character in those years away from him. Her feelings were stronger, her thoughts and emotions more mature. Now he acted as if he never wanted her out of his sight, and he seemed so proud of the child she carried that she sometimes thought he was going to hang a sign around her neck announcing her expectant state.

Disaster struck without warning a week before they were due to leave for Europe. It was one of those picture-perfect autumn days when the sunshine was warm and the sky was deep blue, yet the air carried the unmistakable fragrance of approaching winter. Sallie made one last shopping trip, determined that this would be it, and took her purchases home. She felt marvelous, and her eyes sparkled and her skin glowed; she was smiling as she put away the articles of clothing she had bought.

Her senses had always been acute, but she still had no warning of what was to come when the doorbell rang and she called out to Mrs. Hermann, "I'll' get it. I'm right here!"

She pulled the door open, smiling warmly, but the smile faltered as she recognized Coral Williams.

The model looked beautiful, as always, but there was a haunted expression on the exquisite face that made Sallie wonder uneasily if Rhy had been wrong, if Coral was suffering because he'd stopped seeing her.

"Hello," she greeted the other woman. "Will you come in? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Thank you," Coral replied almost inaudibly,

walking past Sallie and standing uncertainly in the foyer. "I ... is Rhy here? I tried to phone him, but his secretary said he's out of the office and I thought he might perhaps..." Her voice trailed off and pity welled up in Sallie's throat. She knew all too well how it felt to suffer from the lack of Rhy's love, and she was at a loss as to what to do. She sympathized with Coral, but she wasn't about to hand over Rhy to the other woman, even if Rhy was willing.

"No, he's not here," Sallie replied. "He's often out of his office now. He's very busy preparing for our trip to Europe."

"Europe!" Coral turned very white, only her expertly applied makeup supplying any color to her cheeks. She was unnaturally pale anyway and the severely tailored black dress she wore only pointed up the hollows of her cheeks and her generally fragile appearance.

"He's filming a documentary," explained Sallie. "We expect to be gone about three months."

"He-he can't!" Coral burst out, clenching her fists.

A sudden chill ran up Sallie's spine and unconsciously she squared her shoulders as if in anticipation of a blow. "What is it you want with Rhy?" she challenged directly.

Coral stiffened too, staring down at Sallie from her superior height. "I'm son-y, but it's private."

"I don't accept that. If it concerns Rhy it concerns me. He is my husband, you know," she ended sarcastically.

Coral winced as if SaIllie'd scored a hit, then recovered herself to say scornfully, "Some husband! Do you really think he spared a thought for you when you were separated? The old adage of 'out of sight, out of mind' was never more true than with Rhy! He was out with a different woman every night, until he met me."

Sallie shuddered with the sudden violent desire to punch Coral right in that perfect mouth. The woman was only saying what she'd always thought herself, though privately she wanted very much to believe Rhy's assertions that his relationships with other women had been platonic. Certainly she couldn't fault his behavior since she'd been living with him again. A woman couldn't ask for a more attentive husband.

"I know all about your relationship with Rhy," she declared solidly. "He told me everything when he asked me to come back to him."

"Oh, did he?" Coral asked wildly, her voice rising in shrill laughter. "I doubt that. Surely some details are still private!"

Abruptly Sallie had had enough and she moved to open the door again so Coral could leave. "I'm sorry," she said firmly. "I'm asking you to leave. Rhy's my husband and I love him and I don't care what his past is. I'm sorry for you because you lost him, but facts are facts and you n-fight as well face up to them. He won't come back to you."

"What makes you so certain of that?" Coral yelled, losing all control, her face twisting with fury.

"When he hears what I've got to tell him he'll come back to me, all right! He'll leave you without even a consoling pat on the head!"

For a moment the woman's certainty caused Sallie to waver; then she thought of the child in her womb, and she knew that Rhy would never leave her now. "I don't think so," she said softly, playing her ace.

"I'm pregnant. Our baby will be born in March. I don't think any of your charms can equal that in Rhy's view."

Coral reeled backward as if she might faint, and Sallie watched her in alarm, but the woman recovered herself and burst into peal after peal of mocking, hysterical laughter, holding her arrns across her middle as if she found Sallie's announcement hilarious. "Priceless!" she gasped when she had enough breath for words. "I wish Rhy could be here. This lacks only his presence to be the hit comedy of the year!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sallie broke in stiffly, "but I think you'd better go." The amused, malicious glitter in Coral's eyes made her uncomfortable, and she wanted only for the woman to leave so she could be alone again and recapture her mood of confident serenity.

"Don't be so sure of yourself!" Coral flared, her hatred plain on her face. "You managed to pique his interest by acting as if you wanted nothing to do with him, but surely you know by now that he's incapable of staying faithful to any one woman! I understand him. Some men are just like that, and I love him despite his weakness for other women. I'm willing to allow him his little affairs so long as he comes back to me, whereas you'll drive him mad with boredom within a year. And don't think a baby will make any difference to him!"

Beyond Coral, Sallie saw Mrs. Hermann hovering in the doorway, her round face frowning with worry as she listened to Coral's abusive tirade. Instinctively disliking having a witness to the nasty scene Coral was creating Sallie jerked the door open and snapped, "Get out!"

"Oh, I'm glad to go!" Coral smirked. "But don't think you've got everything your way! Women you make me sick, always acting so sure of yourselves and sticking your noses in where they don't belong, thinking some man will admire you! That's why Rhy pulled you off of foreign assignments, he said you were making a fool of yourself trying to act as tough as any man. And now you think you're something special just because you're pregnant! That's nothing so special. Rhy's good at getting women pregnant!"

Despite herself Sallie reeled in shock, not quite certain she understood what Coral was saying. The sight of her suddenly pale face seemed to give Coral some satisfaction because she smiled again and spat out, "That's right! The baby you're carrying isn't the only child Rhy has fathered! I'm pregnant, too, and it's Rhy's baby. Two months pregnant, honey, so tell me what that means about your perfect marriage! I told you, he always comes back to me!"

Having delivered her blow Coral stalked out with her head held at a queenly altitude. Unable to completely take in what the woman had said Sallie closed the door with quiet composure and stared across the room at Mrs. Hermann, who had pressed a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Mrs. Baines," Mrs Hermann gasped, her voice rich with sympathy. "Oh, Mrs. Baines!"

It was then that Sallie understood just exactly what Coral's words had meant. She was pregnant, and it was Rhy's baby. Two months pregnant, she had said. So Rhy had not only lied about his relationship with Coral, he'd continued it after his reconciliation with Sallie. In dazed horror she thought again of all the nights when Rhy had supposedly been working late. She'd never thought to call him at the office to check up on him. She would have been insulted if Rhy had checked up on her, so she'd accorded him the same respect and he'd abused it.

Numbly she went past Mrs. Hermann into the bedroom, Rhy's bedroom, where she'd spent so many happy nights in his arms. She stared at the bed and knew she couldn't bear to sleep there again.

Without thinking about it she jerked down the suitcases from the top of the closet and began filling them helter-skelter with the clothing she'd bought to take to Europe. She had money and she had a place to go; there was no reason for her to stay here another minute.

She paused briefly when she thought of the manuscript, but it was safely in the hands of Barbara Hopewell, and she would get in touch with her later. Later ... when she could bear to think again, when the pain had subsided from the screaming agony that was tearing her apart now.

When she carried the suitcases out into the hallway she found Mrs. Hermann there, hovering, wringing her hands in agitation. "Mrs. Baines, please don't leave like this! Try to talk things out-men will be men, you know. I'm sure there's an explanation."

"There probably is," Sallie agreed tiredly. "Rhy's very good with explanations. But I just don't want to hear it right now. I'm leaving. I'm going somewhere quiet and peaceful where I can have my baby, and I don't want to think about my husband and his mistresses. "

"But where will you be? What shall I tell Mr. Baines?" the housekeeper wailed.

"Tell him?" Sallie stopped and thought a minute, unable to think of any message that could adequately express her state of mind. "Tell him ... tell him what happened. I don't know where I'm going, but I know that I don't think I ever want to see him again." Then she walked out the door.

The days passed slowly, dripping out of existence. Like a salmon returning to the place of its birth to spawn and die she had returned to her own origins, the little upstate town where she'd grown up, where she'd met Rhy and married him. Her parents' house was empty and neglected and many of the old neighbors had died or moved on and she didn't know any of the children who played now in the quiet streets. But it was still home, and she moved back into the small house and tidied it up, refurnished it with the minimum of furniture for her needs. Then she waited for time to work its magic healing process.