Keeping Victoria's Secret (29 page)

“I didn’t come up here to go on a diet, Vic.
I’m going to open a bottle of the wine I brought. Red with that, or
do you want white?”

“Either one. You choose. It’s chicken, but
then again it’s robust peasant food and the red would be fine.”

“Red it is,” said Marsha and went to work
with the corkscrew.

A gentle rapping sounded at the porch door.
“Is that you Jack?” called Vicky.

“Yup, got a minute?”

“Come on in. Marsha and I are about to have
some dinner.”

Opening the door, he inhaled deeply. “That
smells great. I’m on my way into town to meet Van Wart for a beer
at Paulding’s. Just wanted to know if you need anything at the
Henry Hudson, or anywhere else?”

“Thanks, but I don’t think so Jack. You had a
pretty successful morning. It looked like most everything was
scooped up.”

“I appreciate all your help, the muffins and
everything. It’s a good thing we decided to take Sundays off. The
gardens are about tapped out for a day or two. Might get some rain
tonight, which will be good for the squash and cucumbers.” He
leaned in, looking at the bubbling pan of meat and potatoes,
emanating herbal goodness. “You think there might be a little of
this leftover tomorrow?”

Vicky smiled. “Marsha and I can’t eat all
this. It’s an Italian thing, you know. You have to have enough food
on hand for three times the number of people eating, at a minimum.”
I’ll save you some.”

“Great. I’ve got to run. Marsha, nice meeting
you again. Probably see you tomorrow.” He was out the door and in a
minute, they heard his truck rumbling down the drive.

“Oh my god! Oh my god! Vicky, Sweetheart!
That is one good-looking hunk. Did you check out his ass in those
jeans as he walked out of here?”

Looking demurely at her friend, she said, “I
admit I may have checked out the ass and the rest of him too.” She
set two plates of food and a marinated green bean salad on the
table.

“Not only is he a hunk, but he seems like a
very nice guy. Are you sure, there’s nothing between you two. All
that chit chat about needing anything from the store, and the
weather, you sounded like an old married couple.”

She eyed Marsha for a moment. “No, no there’s
nothing between us. We’re friendly to one another...most of the
time we’re friendly. We get along okay.”

Marsha speared a piece of potato and a bite
of sausage and chewed thoughtfully, took another bite, then sipped
the wine. “Mmmm, Vick. Oh my god, this is delicious. You’re
absolutely a magician in the kitchen. I can’t cook worth a damn.
Mom showed me how to do things, but I just don’t seem to have the
knack, know what I mean?” She spooned some of the green beans onto
her plate.

“You have to like doing it, that’s all,” she
replied. “You’ve got other skills and life experience I don’t. In
fact, I guess I’m kind of an introvert, even reclusive. I’m
beginning to think I’m better suited to living in a place like
this, instead of the big city. Here, let me pour you some more
wine.”

“Thanks Vick. I heard what you said, but I
don’t believe you. There’s gotta be something between you and that
big dark handsome thing with the pumped up arms and shoulders. He’s
got the most beautiful eyes. The two of you are what, sharing this
farm? I’ll bet money there’s more to this than you’re telling
me.”

Blushing, Vicky didn't answer, but drained
her wine, and refilled their glasses. She avoided eye contact with
Marsha, just shaking her head, and busying herself with her
food.

As they were cleaning up and putting
leftovers away, she shredded some chicken onto a saucer. She called
out, “Romeo, Juliet,” and rapped on the saucer with a spoon. This
apparently, was a signal the kittens understood. They came racing
from the living room where they’d been napping on the furniture.
She set their dinner down in a corner and they made straight for
it. Two little tails stood straight, quivering with excitement.

“Romeo and Juliet, that’s cute,” said
Marsha.

“They’re very good kitties. They were a gift
from Doc and his wife. They came by with them just after I had the
car accident. I’ve got to tell you all about that, Van Winkle and a
lot more. Let’s get comfortable in the other room. I’ll open some
more wine.”

They settled themselves in the living room,
Marsha in an easy chair and Vicky on the couch. Purring and licking
their whiskers, Romeo and Juliet joined them.

“So, I told you that Jack thought he’d
inherited this farm from his uncle who didn’t actually own it and
couldn’t will it to anyone. The real owner was of course my Nanna,
who’d long ago been briefly married to his Uncle Charley, right
after World War II.”

“I think I remember all that,” said
Marsha.

“What I never told you was how Jack and I
first met. I had a key to the house and let myself in. The guy who
was Nanna’s lawyer was supposed to meet me here, but he was held up
for some reason. So, very innocently, I come in and look around.
It’s my house after all, right? I go upstairs and open a bedroom
door and out of nowhere pops this totally naked guy. It’s Jack, and
he’s just stepped out of the shower.”

Marsha leaned forward, becoming interested.
“Okay okay, so you’ve seen him without a stitch, the Full
Monty?”

“Yup, completely totally naked and he was…,
he really was mad,” she said hesitantly. “I was surprised to say
the least. You can imagine, right? I panicked, tried to run, but
only succeeded in falling and knocking myself out.”

“Oh my God, then what?” said Marsha, sipping
her wine.

“Apparently, Jack picked me up and carried me
to a bed. I was only sort of half conscious, but when I realized
there was this ferocious-looking, big hairy naked guy running
around, I was scared to death. I thought I was going to be mugged
or raped. So when he was out of the room I called
nine-one-one.”

“Be still my heart. Let me get this straight
Vick, while he was still totally starkers, he carried you into a
bedroom? Oh my God.”

“Yes, it was a little disconcerting. No,
actually I was terrified. Don’t think I’ve been that scared, ever.
I didn’t know it then, but while I was calling nine-one-one, he was
downstairs calling Doc Sweeney to come look at me. Doc is an old
friend of his. He’s a semi-retired doctor. Real nice guy. Anyway,
the cops showed up along with Doc and his wife, while Jack was
still prancing around completely naked, and I’m getting ready to
defend myself from a rapist. I had a concussion and I was really
dizzy and nauseous. At the worst possible moment, I barfed all over
the shoes of poor Doc and the cops. Wasn’t funny at the time, but
now….”

Marsha was laughing out loud at the thought
of it. “So that was how you and Jack met each other. How
romantic.”

“Speaking of romantic, you were going to tell
me about that hot guy in the legal department who turned out to be
not so hot.”

“Yeah, Frank Balducci. He hadn’t cut the
umbilical yet, and he was at best, mediocre in bed. So I dumped
him. That was over a long time ago, before Christmas. No great
loss, but once again, I’m back to square one in my love life.”

“You’ll find someone else before long, I’m
sure.”

“Hey Vicky, what’s with the crowd of people
here this morning? You were going to tell me about that.”

“Oh right. Well, you saw that black mess down
by the road when you came in?”

“Yeah, I wondered about that too.”

“Jack had this vegetable stand down there and
he’d just started selling stuff he grows, like all the veggies you
saw today on the porch. The other night someone set fire to it. At
least Jack is sure it was vandalism, and he thinks he knows who did
it. I got the idea to just sell things from here at the house.”

“Good idea.” Marsha leaned over and filled
her glass.

“You met John Van Wart this morning. It was
his idea to spread it around that Jack was still open for business
and he put up notices in town and well, everyone just showed up to
support Jack and let him know that they weren’t going to let some
nut case ruin it for everybody. Then John casually told me that
he’d also put in his notice that there’d be free coffee and muffins
for all customers, so I had to get busy. Van Wart is a bit of a
loose cannon. You never know what he’s going to do or say.”

“I see.”

“Mainly this place is all apple orchards, but
Jack decided to plant a whole lot more veggies this year. That’s
where tonight’s green beans and potatoes came from.”

“That’s kind of nice, everyone showing up and
pitching in that way. Guess that’s what it’s like in a small town,”
said Marsha.

“People here are really nice, Marsha. The
only exception is this Van Winkle character. He’s the one that has
the legal case, claiming he’s the real owner of this farm. Then
there’s the old guy who periodically shows up, claiming he’s a
Willet relative and that it actually belongs to him. My lawyer, Mr.
Douglas, says that Van Winkle doesn’t have a case any longer, but I
don’t know any details. The whole thing is complicated and I’m
still wondering if I could lose the farm in the end.”

“Sounds crazy, but getting back to my
original question which you haven’t yet answered, what about you
and Jack? Tell me again, how you and Jack are just casual friends.
Tell me he hasn’t tried to get in your pants, because I don’t
believe it for a minute.”

She blushed once more, hesitated, and then
made as though to speak, but opened her mouth only for a sip of
wine.

Marsha didn’t press the point, but instead
asked, “Is your Tori Baxter secret still safe. Am I still just an
old friend from the city?”

“Marsha, I think Jack has figured it out. He
makes me so mad sometimes.”

She told Marsha about the book club and Jack
giving her that knowing look from across the room as Carol and
Penny raved about Rendezvous Romance.

“It was as if somebody knocked me on the
head. There I was standing in the kitchen and my two friends are in
the dining room telling each other how much they love to read Tori
Baxter. They’re asking each other if they’ve seen the latest,
Rendezvous Romance and they were actually giggling about the hot
sex scenes in front of Jack.”

“Oh my god,” Marsha laughed. “I told you Tori
was popular.”

“I was so shocked that I dropped a cup and
saucer. Jack was looking right into my eyes from the dining room,
and I thought maybe that he’d guessed the truth. Then, we had
dinner together that night, and when he was leaving, he tried to
kiss me. That’s when he said, ‘Goodnight Tori’ and I definitely
knew for sure. Damn him, he had to let me know that he knew I was
Tori Baxter.”

“It looks as though your cover is blown. Have
you and Jack talked about this?”

“He hasn’t mentioned it since, and I’m
certainly not going to bring it up, but I’m sure he knows.”

“Vick, Honey, I doubt if you can keep your
identity undercover forever. I think he’s a nice guy though, nice
enough to keep his mouth shut if he knows that’s what you want. I
saw him looking at you when he stopped in tonight. He was here only
a minute, but I could tell. That man adores you. Trust me on this
one, Vick. That man is in love. I think I know men pretty well, and
I’ve got good love radar. You still didn’t answer my question.
Jack’s never made a move? Never put his hands on spots that make
you go all tingly? Come on Vick.”

Once more she colored deeply, picked up her
glass and realized it was empty. Quickly she refilled it and drank.
She felt the wine warming her and felt her inhibitions slipping
away. If I can’t trust Marsha, then who?

She took one more sip and set the glass
down.

“Well Marsha, there was that one day. It was
about six weeks ago. It was a rainy day and Jack was helping me get
some of Nanna’s things down from the attic.”

“Uh huh, okay, a rainy day. I’m listening,”
said Marsha.

“We opened up this old trunk and there was a
framed picture on top of a lot of other stuff in there. It was a
wedding picture of his Uncle Charley and Nanna. I’m not sure what
happened, but suddenly he was kissing me. When we came up for air,
it was as though there were electric sparks sizzling in the air
around us. I swear Marsha; I think my vision actually went all
blurry. Next thing I knew we were on the bed and he was taking my
clothes off or I was taking them off. I’m not sure what
happened.”

“Oh my God Vicky. I knew it. You road tested
him already didn’t you? Come on, tell me the rest. He was good,
wasn’t he?”

“There’s not much to tell. We uh, we made
love. It was crazy and wonderful. Then we lay there for an
incredibly long time. He talked to me then about the farm and the
apple orchards and everything he wants in the future. He wants
nothing more really, than to be a farmer in a small town. Then we
were touching each other, and we made love again very long and
slow. I couldn’t even begin to say how long we were at it. He took
his time with me and, oh God, I can’t believe I’m telling you
this.”

She sniffled and went to the kitchen for a
box of tissues.

“Vick,” Marsha called after her, “I’m telling
you that man is in love with you. I can see it plain as day. Why
are you sniffling? What could possibly be the matter? It was good
right?”

“Marsha, after that he ignored me for weeks.
He said he wasn’t ready for commitment yet. He didn’t want me
thinking he was just trying to romance me into giving him part
ownership of the farm or something stupid like that. I was just a
one-night stand for him. We keep arguing about this and that. We’re
not really suited for each other I think.” She blew her nose and
reached for another handful of tissues.

“When he tried to kiss me that night I blew
him off. Don’t know why. What should I do?”

Her friend didn’t answer right away. Instead
she divided the remainder of the wine between their two glasses and
took the empty bottle to the kitchen. Returning she sat opposite
Vicky who was still dabbing at her nose with a wad of Kleenex.