Anna Marie Sorenson's Secret Affair (26 page)

Anna Marie, trying to ignore Dallas’s roving hands and lips, introduced them. “Bea, this is my sister’s brother-in-law, Dallas Trenton. Dallas, this is my assistant, Bea.”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse your friend, but I’m the one who’s been keeping her from work,” Dallas said.

Bea went back down the steps. “Well, as long as she’s being well taken care of, I’ll get myself back to the library. Nice to meet you, Mr. Trenton. And I’ll see you, Anna Marie…well, when I see.”

The door closed, and as soon as it did, Bea heard her friend’s low shriek, “Dallas!” and then heard her moan sharply and a low male growl of triumph and intent. Bea smiled as she slid into her car. Yes, she thought, Anna Marie was being well taken care of.

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A few days later, Anna Marie, while on her lunch break in downtown, ran into Cameron.

He persuaded her to stop with him at Pepper’s restaurant for coffee. When they sat down, Pepper joined them, bringing over to their table a pot of coffee and chocolate-dipped biscotti.

“Ahhh, it feels good to get off my feet for a bit,” Pepper sighed. “I’ve been on them for nearly eight hours today. And I expect to be on them for another eight. I have a big dinner tonight for the Arts Council. Which, reminds me, Cam, you’ll have to pick up Toby from his soccer practice.”

“I already arranged it with the au-pair. I hope you enjoyed the other night, Anna,”

Cameron said.

“The other night…Oh, the other night, here, at the restaurant.” Anna Marie lowered her eyes, hoping they wouldn’t see the lie in them. “Yes, I did. It was nice. And the food was great.”

“Did you have the coc-au-vin or the crispy duck over fried noodles?”

“Uh, the duck, I think.”

Pepper nodded. “I thought the crispy duck was successful. Did you think there was too much cumin in it, though?”

Anna Marie gave a wan smile. “I thought it was just right. How did everybody else like it?”

Her sister slid her gaze at her husband. “Well, that’s hard to say, since some people tend to skip out early.”

Anna Marie paled. “You mean me?”

“No, she doesn’t mean you,” Cameron said. “She means my brother. You remember

seeing him there, that night? He was only there for less than an hour and then he disappeared.”

“He left her high and dry. Just like that, not even a goodbye,” Pepper said with disgust before taking a sip of her coffee.

“He wasn’t exactly with Serena, honey. He certainly didn’t come with her, and he had no intentions of leaving with her.”

“Well, how’s he going to get to know her if he doesn’t stick around?”

Cameron rolled his eyes and explained to Anna Marie, “I keep trying to explain to your sister that I don’t think there’s any hope for Serena with my brother.” He briefly slid his eyes to the side that silently said Thank God. “Actually, I think Dallas has got a bird in the area, and that’s why he’s not much around when he’s town.”

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“A bird?” Anna Marie said cautiously.

“A woman,” Pepper said impatiently. “Cameron thinks his brother’s got a woman

somewhere that he sees whenever he’s around here.”

“Wha…Wha…What makes him say that?”

Cameron shrugged his shoulders. “When he’s here, it’s not his family he sees. That is when he’s here for more than one night. I found out from my Dad that Dallas was in town for the weekend nearly six months ago. But he didn’t see any of us, and we don’t think it had anything to do with his job. And then he disappears the other night. There’s only one other reason why he’d be in town and not be with his family. It’s got to be a bird.”

“Maybe it’s Serena,” Anna Marie offered in an effort to cover her sense of guilt.

Cameron burst out laughing but quickly suppressed it when Pepper glared at him.

“Well, it doesn’t make sense that your brother would come several thousands of miles half way around the world just for a woman,” Pepper said impatiently. “And ignoring his family like that is just rude. What woman could be that special for him?”

“Women have a powerful hold on men. You, my darling wife, should know that better

than anyone. I can bet that even enigmatic, cold-hearted Dal is capable of succumbing to the mysterious powers of a female.”

“I, for one, don’t care,” Pepper said dismissively. “I’m sick of talking about Dallas and his coming and going as he pleases. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Yes,” Anna Marie said with relief. “Let’s talk about something else.”

But Pepper wasn’t finished being irate with her brother-in-law. “He’s been awfully rude to Serena. So rude, that I’m not quite sure the whole experience hasn’t put her off men completely.”

She snapped her fingers to a passing waitress and rattled off orders, effectively ending further conversation about Dallas.

Several weeks later, Beatrice opened the door to Anna Marie’s office. “Anna, here’s the list of books that we might want to stock for the reference section next year.” She stopped when she saw Anna Marie’s face looking pale and her eyes wide with shock. She was holding in her hand the telephone receiver.

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“What’s wrong, honey?” When she didn’t get an answer, Beatrice shook her by the

shoulder. “Anna, wake up? Are you all right? If you don’t answer, I’m going to call the paramedics.”

Anna Marie jerked herself out of her stupor and focused her eyes on Beatrice. “I don’t know if I’m okay, Bea.”

The other woman grabbed the phone out of her hand. “Okay, that’s it, I’m calling the paramedics, right now.”

“No, no, no.” Anna Marie took back the phone and replaced it in its cradle. “I’m fine. I promise. It’s just…” She broke into laughter, and a great, luminous happiness glowed from her face. “Oh, my god, I can’t believe this. I’m pregnant.”

“What!?”

“I’m pregnant, Bea.”

“How do you know? Are you sure?”

“I went to the doctor for my annual checkup and they drew some blood. She just called and told me.”

“Pregnant? But, who…” Beatrice gasped. “The sailor!”

“Yes, it’s Dallas’s.” Anna Marie spun around in the room. “I’m having Dallas’s baby.

I’m having Dallas’s baby.”

Beatrice “But…how…I mean didn’t you guys use contraceptives?”

Some sheepishness broke through Anna Marie’s ecstatic expression. “No, not really.”

“Well, that was quite foolish.”

“Yes, it was.”

“Weren’t you worried about diseases?”

“I didn’t really think about it, actually. I guess he just didn’t strike me as someone who sleeps indiscriminately.”

The older woman gave her a look of exasperation. “Are you kidding me? He’s a sailor.

You know how they are. A girl in every port?”

“I don’t know. He just didn’t strike me as that type.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “I would think especially with him, with all of his secret missions and going all over the world, he’d be a regular Don Juan. It would be the most effective Secret Affair 166

way a guy in that type of job would be able to come down from all the tension and uncertainty of the mission.”

“Well, they did a complete blood work including diseases and my doctor said that it came back fine.”

The other woman stared at her for a moment. Then she surprised her by putting her arms around her. “Alright. I’ll stop being a downer and be happy for you. I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re going to keep it. When are you going to tell him?”

Anna Marie had to think about the question for a long moment. She already thought of the baby as hers. She had yet to get around to the fact that it was also Dallas’s. “I’m not quite sure. I guess next time I see him.”

“When is the next time you see him?”

“I’m not quite sure. But, look, I looked up on the Internet about pregnancy.” She turned the flat monitor around to Beatrice. “Look, that’s how small my baby is, right now.” Beatrice squinted her eyes. “It looks like a pea.”

“That’s exactly right. That’s how big my baby is, right now, the size of a pea.”

Beatrice studied her for a moment, seeing the incandescent happiness. “You’re really wanting this baby, aren’t you?”

Anna Marie moved the monitor back to her, some of the excitement dimming. “Yes, I do, Bea. I really want this baby more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my life.”

”Can I ask why?”

She shrugged, struggling to find the reason. “I guess it’ll be something that will be mine only, mine alone.”

“He might want it, as well.”

“Yes, he might. Then it will be his and mine.”

Beatrice sat back and gave a sigh. “You’re in love with this guy, aren’t you?”

Anna Marie winced. “I’m afraid I am.”

“Yep, I was afraid of that.”

“That’s why this baby is so important to me. Because it came from him. It’s part of

Dallas that’s part of me. I have part of Dallas inside me.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

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She knew Beatrice was asking if she was going to be able to handle the fact that Dallas was not in love with her. “Yes, I promise you, I’ll be okay.” She rested her hands on her stomach and closed her eyes for a moment. “I’ll be more than okay.” Then she smiled hugely again. “You can be the godmother.”

To her shock the older woman’s eyes began to well up, and quickly reached for the tissue and stuffed them in Beatrice’s hands.

Beatrice wiped her eyes. “Oh, now you’re going to make this tough old cynical bird cry.” Anna Marie came around the desk to put her arms around her and the two held each other and laughed with both relief and excitement.

Anna Marie knew that the first thing she should do was to write a letter to Dallas. It was only right as the baby’s father that he be informed as soon as possible. But after several days of berating herself for not sitting down and doing the letter, she decided that she could afford to wait a few weeks to do it. She reasoned that she had a right, as the person carrying the child, to keep all to herself for a little while the joy and excitement of bringing into the world a being that she could love and take care of. For now she would make this her moment and bask in the glory of a creation that she was half responsible for.

So, for the next few weeks, she blissfully began preparations for motherhood, often

enlisting Beatrice in shopping for how-to books such as Birthing for Dummies and Pregnancy for Dummies, ABCs of Breast Feeding, and The First Important Steps In the First Three Months of Your Baby’s Life.

“You know, it’s funny how these Dummy books were written by men,” Beatrice

commented as she and Anna Marie flipped through the baby section at a book store. “In fact, I think, this was edited by…” She held up the book called Breastfeeding for Dummies. “The same author who wrote all other Dummy books, Computer Programming for Dummies, The Stock

Market for Dummies, Traveling for Dummies, Religion for Dummies, and so on. And here’s my favorite, Creating a Book Franchise for Dummies. I wonder if he has one that’s titled How to Avoid Dummy Books for Dummies.” When she turned, she saw Anna Marie arms loaded with books, a few of which were the Dummy series. “It seems a little obvious for me to point this out, but there is a very fine local library, of which you are the head librarian.”

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Anna Marie, peering her head around the pile of books, gingerly made her way towards the checkout. “I know, but most of them are a few years old, and if they’re new, they’re always checked out. Hey,” she protested when Beatrice pulled out all the Dummy books.

“You’re not a dummy, and you definitely don’t need to be instructed on how to give birth by men. They probably don’t even have any clue where the birth canal is on a woman.” By the time they arrived back at Anna Marie’s condo, her Honda Accord was loaded with not only a small library of pregnancy and baby books, but also bags and bags of baby clothes, car seat, diaper bags, bottles, dishware, swings, toys, and rattles. Beatrice just managed to prevent her from buying the changing table, a crib, and furniture.

“You can buy those things later. You still have eight months to go, kiddo. Plenty of time to max out your cards.”

While Beatrice swore every step of the way, they hauled everything into the condo. When the shopping bags were strewn all over the living room floor, Anna Marie insisted that they put the swing together.

“I can’t wait to see how it’s going to look in my living room,” she said excitedly. She began to rip open the box.

Beatrice walked to the kitchen. “Well, if you insist on making me work, the least you could do is to allow me get drunk at your expense.”

“There’s white wine in the fridge, top shelf, the very right.”

“You know, I didn’t get my degree in mechanical engineering,” Beatrice warned as she came back with the opened bottle and a glass.

“But we’re both good at following directions, aren’t we?” Anna Marie opened the

instructions.

They heard the front door open.

“Hello,” Pepper’s voice called out. “Anna, are you home? It’s me, your sister, and

Cameron.”

Beatrice took a hefty slug of her wine. “Oh, god, I’m going to need something a lot

stronger. What the hell is she doing here?” She and Pepper had met a few times over the years, and there had been little admiration for the other on each side. Pepper could not find anything fascinating about Beatrice and found little use in a dowdy, unmarried, childless, sour, spinster librarian who was fast approaching middle age. And Beatrice desired minimal interaction with a Secret Affair 169

tyrannical, shrewish, overly ambitious famous cook who interfered in everything in her sister’s life.

“Anna, I’ve been trying to call you all day.” Pepper stopped when she stepped into the living room. Her eyes widened as they took in all the bags. “What have you been doing…Oh, my god, these look like baby things.”

“Hmmm, your power of deductions never seizes to amaze me,” Beatrice said caustically.

Pepper’s eyes went cold but, unlike Beatrice, she tried to pretend to be polite. “Ms.

Summer, I see it’s you…”

“There you go again, with your amazing intellect, a regular Sherlock Holmes,” Beatrice cut in again.”