Something to Talk About (30 page)

“I need to take this off, Adam,” she whispered.

“No, you don’t. You look so sexy, baby, leave it on for a while,” he coaxed.

By now he’d turned her so that she was cuddled next to him and he had full access to the center of her womanhood. The ivory silk panties were no barrier at all to his skilled fingers as he pushed past them to cup warm, yielding flesh. Her legs parted to allow him more access and she had to bite back a scream as he gently savaged her nipple, licking, sucking, and teasing it with his teeth. As her moans became more passion-filled, Adam moved the wet silk aside with his unshaven cheek and rubbed the bristly skin across her breast several times, loving the sounds of pleasure she was making. His fingers continued to explore her, massaging her hot, pulsing jewel until she was on the brink of a shattering release. He turned back to her erect, engorged nipple
and began a sweet torture, sucking her with the same rhythm he was applying with his fingers until her body was a continuous pulsing mass of sensation. Her release was long and intense. The shudders that racked her body rendered her mindless with the most profound pleasure she’d ever felt, but at the center of it all was Adam; it was Adam who made her feel like a creature of light and energy and love. It was Adam whose strong arms cradled her and brought her back to earth to rest in his embrace as he whispered her name.

Some time
later they were lying in his big bed, the only light coming from the platform of glass bricks. Now the music was
Warm and Tender
by Charlie Watts. The incredible vocals of Bernard Fowler floated through the scented air while Adam caressed Alicia. She was murmuring something he had to ask her to repeat.

“I
said,
who knew that the drummer for the Rolling Stones was a fantastic jazz artist? I love this CD.”

“I love you,” Adam said softly.

“I know, isn’t it wonderful? I love being in love with you. This night was supposed to be all about you, you know.” She kissed his neck and rubbed her face against his shoulder. “It was all about making you feel wonderful. I was going to give you a massage and all kinds of things I learned at the spa.”

“We can do that anytime, baby. And what makes you think I wasn’t having just as much fun as you were? Sex isn’t just about tit for tat or who got off and who didn’t
.
And
by the way I did get off, way,
way
off. I’ve told you before that watching you
is
arousing in the extreme. I love it. But when I’m making love to you I’m communing with you, joining my soul with yours for a brief eternity. It’s not just about having an orgasm, my love.”

A long kiss put a stop to further conversation for a time, followed by a comfortable silence in which they just relished being in each other’s arms again. “Thank you for washing my hair, Allie. That was kind of special to me. No one’s washed my hair since m
y mother died,” Adam murmured
.

“You’re welcome, Adam. You can get a shampoo from me any time you want.” Alicia snuggled closer to his warmth and yawned delicately. She was about to say something else when Adam’s voice cut through her lassitude.

“Did I ever tell you about my mother?”

Suddenly Alicia was wide-awake. “
Some
. I know she was very pretty and very smart
.
”

“She was the most incredible person I
ever
knew. I was a real mama’s boy, believe it or not. I was the youngest until Donnie came along. I had her all to myself for three years because all the other kids were in school all day. Even after Donnie was born, I was her helper. I used to fetch and carry for her all the time, just so I could be around her as much as possible. Mama was so funny, she used to teach me little crazy songs and we played all kinds of games. We used to play
catch every day. She was a great pitcher. Mama was also pretty handy on the basketball court
. 
She was a den mother for our Cub Scout troop and she was absolutely fearless. She’d take us camping and fishing, she wasn’t afraid of snakes or worms or anything. I think that’
s where Benita got it from;
she’s tough like that, too.”

Adam’s deep voice went on, talking to Alicia so
softl
y she could feel the vibrations from his chest as he spoke. “I loved my dad, he was a great father, loud and boisterous and fun, but my mama was my heart. I was crazy about her. Even when I was in kindergarten, we were still running buddies. Kindergarten was only a half day back then, so I’d come home from morning kindergarten and there was always something great to eat and something fun to do. I don’t think anyone realized how close we were. It was like that right up until the day she died. That was the worst day of my life, for a lot of reasons.

“Everyone else had gone off to school and Donnie was asleep. I had a doctor’s appointment and Mama was getting me ready when Daddy came home for some reason. I was upstairs but I could hear every word. They were having an argument, something that didn’t happen very often. They were screaming this time, though. I’d never heard Mama yell like that. She sounded like her heart was breaking
;
she was crying and screaming at the same time. All I can remember is that she kept saying, ‘He looks just
like Adam, Ben. Just like Adam!
How could you do this to us?’”

Alicia’s arms tightened around Adam and she tried vainly to stop the hot tears she felt forming in her eyes. Adam stroked her body and kissed the top of her head before continuing.

“I don’t remember exactl
y what happened next, but I do remember that Daddy left. Mrs. Johnson, the lady who helped Mama clean, came over and Mama asked her to watch Donnie while she took me to the doctor. She also had to take Benita’s science project to her school. We got into the car and she was still mad, I could tell, but she wasn’t saying anything. We hadn’t gone too far when there was this huge explosion, well, it sounded like an explosion to me. A truck had plowed into Mama’s side of the car. Everyone thinks she died on impact, but she didn’t. I was holding her hand and she was talking to me until the ambulance came.”

A voice that didn’t sound quite like Alicia’s asked, “What did she say, Adam?” She winced, thinking it was a truly insensitive thing to ask, but Adam didn’t seem to think so.

“She told me how much she loved me, how much she loved us all. And she told me to be good always. Then her eyes closed and they didn’t open again, even though I begged her to please open them, just once. And that was the end of the sweetest woman who ever lived.”

Alicia was weeping openly now, her head cradled on Adam’s shoulder. Adam kissed her forehead and lifted her chin up to kiss the tears away. “Don’t do that, baby.
 
I’ve never told you this but I hate to see you cry. It feels like someone is tearing my insides out when you do that
Don’t
cry, Allie.”

“I’m sorry, Adam, it’s just so sad. I’m seei
ng a sweet littl
e boy left all alone and confused and my heart just breaks.”

“Confused is the operative word, baby. I was convinced that something I did had caused the argument and it was somehow my fault that Mama was killed. Someone who looked like me had done something awful to her and it was therefore my fault she was dead. So I really had no choice.”

“No choice about what, Adam?”

“About doing what she said and being good always. I was terrified that my family would find out that I had done something to cause my mother’s death and I became the best child you ever saw. I think that’s why I’m so neat now; I was determined that no one would ever have to reprimand me for anything. I got straight A
’
s in everything; I was polite, punctual, and organized. I never broke a promise or a curfew. In a lot of ways I was like the invisible child. I was quiet and well mannered and never did anything to upset anybody. I tried to be
superchild
and in some ways I succeeded.”

“But at what cost?” cried Alicia. “Adam, surely there was someone you could talk to about this. Your father or Bennie and Andrew, wasn’t there someone for you to confide in?”

Adam shook his head. “Not really. Pop kind of fell apart after Mama died and Benita and Andrew took over the household until Aunt Ruth got there. We were all pretty busy trying to fill the gigantic
hole
Mama’s absence made. It was easier as I got older, I went to camp a lot and I was on the lacrosse team and the swimming team so I had ways to ‘sublimate my conflicted emotions.’ That last part is a quote. I’ve read a lot of books about displaced guilt and adolescent anxieties,” he said with a dry laugh.

“But that’s why this is so hard for me, Allie. I’ve finally concluded that Mama must have found out about Cassandra and the baby. She had to, that’s what the argument was all about. That’s something
Pop
neglected to mention in his pretty
, sweet
sad story about his lost love,” he said bitterly. “Everybody else might be able to handle this, but I don’t know if I can because I know how much it hurt my mother, I know it made her last hours on this earth miserable, and I don’t know if I can find a way to deal with it I don’t care what Benita and the rest of them do; I’ll never be able to accept this John Flores as a brother. Never,” he said with finality.

Chapter Nineteen

Benita Cochran Deveraux was curled up in the big bed that occupied the guest bedroom of her brother’s home. When she
and Renee shared the house, the third floor rooms
had been Renee’s
abode
. Now it was used as a guest suite. The twins, Marty and Malcolm, were asleep on the convertible sofa in the sitting room of the suite and the babies, Isabella and
Katerina
, were in cribs brought down from the attic for them. Only Trey was still awake and he was sprawled across the bed talking to his parents. Clay was propped up against the head of the bed, waiting for Trey to wind down so he could be alone with his wife. Trey, however, showed no signs of sleepiness.

“What are we doing tomorrow, Mom? Are we going to the zoo or are we hanging out at the house? When do we get to go to Uncle Adam’s loft? Uncle Adam has a cool loft, Mom.”

Benita smiled at her son. He was so identical to his father it was eerie. He was so much like a miniature Clay; he always tugged her heart in a special way. She was about to answer him when her cell phone rang and she grabbed it hastily, hoping it was John.

“Hello?” she said breathlessly.

“Benita,
it’s
John. I apologize for the way I left things tonight, but it was a bit overwhelming. Can we get together later and make some plans?
You and Andrew and Clay, if they’re available.”

Benita couldn’t conceal her joy. “That’s a great idea,
John. How about we get together for lunch on Saturday if you’re free? Or breakfast or dinner, it doesn’t matter to me. Clay will definitely be with me and so will the imps, probably. I think Andrew and Renee are free, too, but I’ll check with them to make sure. Thanks for calling, John. I know this isn’t easy for you.”

“Or for you and your family, Benita.
I’m not ignoring the fact that this is pretty cataclysmic for everyone involved. What time shall we meet?”

“Why don’t we play it by ear? I’ll give you a call at nine and we’ll take it from there, is that okay?”

After ending the call, Benita turned to Clay, her eyes alight with excitement
.
That was Clay’s cue to encourage Trey to vanish. Clearing his throat, he stared meaningfully at his oldest son.
Trey turned over and propped himself up on one elbow. Looking as grown and
dignified as his summer SpongeB
ob pajamas would allow, he said, “Yes, Dad?”

“Isn’t it about time for bed, son?”

Clay was wearing a short navy blue cotton pique robe, the mate to the oversized pajamas Benita was wearing. He hated wearing nightclothes of any kind; he did it only because Bennie insisted on it when the children were still up or they were visiting someone.
Trey
could hear the edge in the question his father was asking, but he excelled in ignoring all hints.

“Why, no, Dad, I’m not sleepy in the least. I could probably stay up for another five or six hours,” Trey said cheerfully.

Clay raised one eyebrow and stroked his thick moustache with his forefinger. “Suppose your mother and I are sleepy, son. What then?”

“There’s lots of room in this bed, Dad. You could just close your eyes and be asleep in no time and I can still be in here watching television. See how that works?”

“How about I might want to be alone with your
mother, who happens to be my most beloved wife, for a change? How does that work?”

Trey grinned mischievously. “You just want to be alone so you can kiss and stuff,” he said knowingly.

“Yes, that’s right. But I can also do that with you sitting here,” Clay answered with a steely glint in his eye. He then grabbed Benita and pulled her into his arms, planting a big juicy kiss on her very willing lips, which made Trey go, “E-w-w-w-w-w! ” and flee the room.