THE GREAT BETRAYAL (8 page)

Or were they?

“
So, where do your parents live?” asked Luke finally, their fingers entwined across the table.

He saw her hesitation.

“
I was raised in a foster home. I never really had parents.”

“
You never knew your real parents?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Just a foster mother and a house full of bad memories until—” She paused suddenly. Her gaze fell to the silver teapot in the middle of the table. “Can we talk about something else?”

Luke ducked his head, catching her eye. “Come on; don’t clam up on me now.” He smiled reassuringly. “Until what?”

“
Until I left, moved out on my own.” She was clearly uncomfortable. Her palms became moist and her breathing changed.

The mystery swelled.

This time it was Luke who changed the subject.

One night at dinner with their parents, his brother Evan commented, “You’re definitely gone, bro.”

“I know,” replied Luke. “I think…I think she must be the one.”

“Well,” Evan ventured, for Luke’s ears only, “have you at least sampled the waters yet?”

“No, not yet.” Luke smiled. “But it’s only a matter of time.”

Only a matter of time?

The time came on their next date.

The emotions coursing through him were unlike any Luke had ever experienced. He’d never given a second thought to making love to any woman before in his life. His body was screaming for ball-busting sex with Leslie—he wanted to get her between himself and a mattress more than anything—but he found himself feeling self-conscious about their first encounter. Was he worthy?

Leslie Phillips was no ordinary girl. She was so grounded, gentle, and sweet, and Luke sensed that she wouldn’t settle for anything less than she deserved. Would he measure up?

His dick kept telling him he would; every single time he saw her—and sometimes even when he didn’t.

The mere thought of her and he’d get so hard he could write
I want to fuck Leslie Phillips,
right across the length of his shaft.

This night, after he’d driven her home, she’d surprised him. She gazed across the seat and touched his arm. “Why don’t you come inside?” Her eyes seemed to say more. They said,
Pun intended
.

“
Are you sure?” he asked hesitantly, not wanting to…to what? He wasn’t quite sure why he wasn’t jumping her bones right there in the car.

She leaned over and kissed his lips, urgently. Like she meant it. “Yes,” she breathed against them. “Don’t you want me?”

And Luke was lost.

Upstairs in her bed, she introduced him to another woman. A woman who was in control. A passionate lover who knew what to give and how to give it.

He was on his back, naked and rock hard, his dick saluting her as she gently kissed her way through the hair on his chest. She gently licked a straight line down his stomach, finally reaching his groin.

Leslie paused there, the long tendrils of her hair caressing his skin, driving him mad. He knew what was coming.

She took him into her mouth.

Luke lost it.

She cupped his balls with one hand while the other began stroking the base of his penis. His ass lifted off the bed in exquisite pleasure.

Then, just before he exploded, Leslie straddled him, taking him into her inch by delicious inch.

She rode him like a Thoroughbred, driving him to near madness, then bringing him back again. Her sighs and moans of pleasure pushed him over the edge.

When he came, she fell onto his chest, breathless and panting.

From that point on it was all over for Luke. He wanted to die with this woman on top of him.

Chapter 15

Dawn was gaping at Leslie, completely mesmerized by her recounting of the events. She fanned her face. “Whew! I wish I’d had a night like that one last night!”

Leslie smiled. “Don’t worry—I’m sure you will soon enough.”

They were out in the parking lot at C&C, giggling like a couple of schoolgirls. Although Leslie had never spoken of her husband again, a wonderful, quiet affinity had ripened between the two women. They both valued the new depth of their friendship—each for her own reasons.

“
So, it sounds like things have gotten pretty serious with you and Luke. Is Paul completely out of the picture?”

Leslie waved her hand. “Paul’s definitely out of the picture. I’m not letting go of Luke. If it doesn’t work out with him, I think I’ll swear off men for good…as it seems you have!”

Dawn feigned offense. “Ha, ha. I have not sworn off men!”
Ignoring her, Leslie continued as if she hadn’t spoken. “I’m so much more comfortable with Luke.” She thought for a moment. “It just
feels
right, you know? It feels comfortable to be with him…as if we’ve known each other for years. Like it was fate that made us bump into each other that day.” Her gazed drifted briefly, then suddenly snapped back.

“
Now,” she said looking at Dawn, “we’ve got to find
you
a man.” She hesitated, growing serious. “Have you even been out with anybody since…?”

Quietly, Dawn shook her head.

Leslie nodded, an understanding look on her face. “I thought as much. Don’t worry. We’ll fix you up.”

That night, with the moon watching her every move, Dawn’s passion came with a new sense of urgency—an urgency she’d felt as she’d imagined Leslie and Luke’s lovemaking.

Her heels dug into the mattress. Her back arched from the bed.

“
Oh, Michael…oh, Michael…” She chanted his name again and again as his memory stroked her. The beautiful sounds of ocean waves—Michael’s favorite cassette to make love to—purred from the stereo.

And this night, when she came, it made her body shudder…and shudder…and shudder.

Chapter 16

Memphis, Tennessee

The sky had been fittingly murky and dark. It was raining out. Leslie’s belongings were gone. She’d packed up her things and disappeared.

Without Grace.

“
How could she?” Ingrid cried, flabbergasted. “Dear God. How could she just up and leave her little precious baby like that?”

“
She’s a selfish bitch, that’s how!” Beth offered, equally shocked. “I just don’t see how Jeff could’ve fallen for a girl who could do such a thing…”

But once disbelief had settled, it was then time to face the baby. The precious little newborn baby. Beth’s niece, and Ingrid’s granddaughter.

What were they going to do?

Beth had said, “We’ll just take care of her, that’s all.” Lifting the tiny bundle from the bassinette, she cooed in a whisper, “I’ll just raise you as my very own.”

“
Whoa, there,” cautioned Ingrid. “Leslie will come back. She’s just running away from the hurt and pain…You know she hasn’t been too right in the head since we lost dear Jeff. I guess she just needs some time away from it. Don’t worry. She’ll be back.”

Though they’d anxiously looked out the peephole for visitors, grabbed the telephone expectantly at the first sign of a ring…to their utter disbelief, one full year had flown by with no word from Leslie.

Then, before they blinked, it was two years.

Then three. Four. Five.

Five whole years. And nothing from Leslie. Grace’s mother.

The child was ready for school when Beth and her husband, Billy, who had been her high school sweetheart, took the necessary steps and adopted her. Ever so discreetly, she became Grace Cunningham.

As the years passed, all was quite well on the surface. Billy and Beth Cunningham were hardworking, upstanding citizens. They proudly maintained their family, raising their three children with care and love. Ten-year-old Grace was the oldest, eight-year-old Jude was the middle child, and three-year-old Mindy was the baby.

Now, unbeknownst to her, Grace was about to have her first encounter with the deep end of the Cunningham family pool.

What in the world were they going to do?

“
But…why would they say that, Mommy?” the ten-year-old sobbed, her sea green eyes blinking in panic. “Why are they saying my daddy died?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart. You can’t always pay attention to those mean-spirited kids at school—they don’t know what they’re talking about. Sometimes they’ll say anything to try to stir trouble where there is none, looking for excitement. And it’s because they have nothing better to do.”

Beth Phillips Cunningham cupped her daughter’s tear-streaked face. “Now, Grace Cunningham, you listen to me: You know your Daddy is alive and well. He’s out workin’ hard to make sure we have a good supper on the table each and every night. Don’t you listen to those mean kids another second!” She wiped away the child’s tears. “Don’t you give it another thought, you hear? It’s all lies. Just mean lies.”

From her bedroom doorway, Ingrid Armstrong shook her head.

Oh, poor Grace.

Ingrid stood listening to the exchange going on in the kitchen, just a few feet away from her bedroom’s doorway. Her thoughts ran into overdrive.

It was finally happening. Word had reached Grace!

With grim anticipation all these years, Ingrid had been waiting for it to happen—waiting for the inevitable dropping of the shoe, though fearful of how it would play out. She dreaded the details. The
how
. The
when
. The
where
and
why
.

The
what’s going to happen next
?

After all…there were so many people who knew what took place. And people always talked. Her grandfather had always said that a secret was no longer a secret once two people knew it.

Leaning against the doorjamb, Ingrid remembered. She remembered the heartbreaking evening they’d discovered that Leslie had gone. That she’d fled like a thief in the night.

Damn it
, she thought, heading for the kitchen.
We should’ve raised Grace right
.
We should’ve told her the truth
.

Now look what lay before them. Look at the problem they now had on their hands! Grace having to hear from mindless strangers what her own family had a responsibility to tell her.

It wreaked havoc with Ingrid’s conscience. Beth and Billy would simply have to understand. It was time.

But was it the right time? Would she be doing more harm to Grace telling her so young? Should they wait until the child was a little older?

God, please tell me what to do
?
prayed Ingrid.
I’ll wait for Your guidance
…

Chapter 17

West Palm Beach, Florida

1995

Dawn Chadwick couldn’t think. Her mind was a complete blank. Why had she agreed to get herself into this?

Only one thought came to mind—
Call Brenda
. She had to call Brenda. If anyone would know what she should do about Victor Sellers, it would be her sister.

“Um…could you excuse me for a minute?” Dawn said politely, offering him her most dazzling smile.

“Sure,” he said easily enough.

Leaving Victor at the table, she walked toward the door of the restaurant and sprinted into the parking lot. Pulling out her cell phone, she dialed. Brenda’s husband, Carmine, answered. Brenda wasn’t home. She’d taken the kids to the movies to see
Babe
.

Dawn snapped her phone shut.
Damn
.
Maybe I could just leave him sitting there
…

“
You mean you actually just left him sitting there?”

“Sure did.”

Leslie barely had a chance to get the Pull-Up over three-year-old Kathryn’s naked bottom before the toddler playfully ran from the bathroom, eager to continue watching
Barney
on the giant-screen TV they’d just put in the den of their new house. “I wanna watch
Bawnee
, Mommy!” she yelled, running down the hall. “Wanna watch
Bawnee
!”

Shaking her head with a smile, Leslie grabbed the soiled Pull-Up from the floor and headed for the garage. “I can’t believe it…He actually told you he had a boil on his ass?”

“A boil on his ass,” Dawn affirmed, following Leslie. “On the left cheek, to be exact.”