You've Gotta Get the Hell Outta Here ... !
Victoria refused to answer the door when she heard the bell chime. She thought about leaving through the back, but she knew she'd run into Parker if she did, because she would have to walk around to the front of the building, where her car was parked. “I've been such a damn fool,” she cursed herself in a whisper. After the fifth ring she looked out the peephole. “Go away, Parker,” she said through the door.
“I'm not going anywhere until I talk to you, face-to-face.”
Victoria knew she shouldn't be surprised, but it baffled her as to how a mature, confident man like Parker could act like a two-year-old throwing a tantrum. She thought about calling the police, but then she'd have to fill out an official report, explaining his presence at her door. She was already paranoid and nervous about Ted finding out what she had done.
Even though she had not slept with him, she knew her husband would have a hard time believing that she had been in his hotel room but had not had sex with him. Hell, she barely believed it. And at this point all she wanted Parker to do was go away.
After Parker rang the bell for a sixth time, she knew she had to do something. She opened the door, stepped aside, and let him in. Even though the business park wasn't crowded that time of night, she looked around before shutting the door, making sure no one was in sight to witness him entering her office suite.
Victoria watched Parker as he stood before her. He was still in his scrubs, which meant he had had a long day and didn't have the time or inclination to change. He hated going out in public in them, preferring his fashionable plainclothes duds instead. His eyes looked tired, and his face bore an agitated scowl.
Victoria put her hand on her hip, standing her ground. “You have a hell of a lotta nerve showing up here like this.”
“You won't call me. You won't see me. So I have to take matters into my own hands.”
Victoria shook her head. “There are a lot of things about you that have changed, but I see that your need for control is still the same. You're used to getting your way, and if things don't go according to your plan, you don't know how to handle it.”
“We reconnected. We love each other. Are you forgetting that?”
“Are you crazy?”
“Don't insult me,Victoria. You came back into my life for a reason.”
“Let it go, Parker.”
“We might not have made love, but we shared a very passionate evening, and now you want me to just act like it never happened? You want me to let this go?”
“I got caught up in the moment that night. It was a mistake that I completely regret.”
Parker shook his head. “You don't mean that.”
“Why do you keep saying that? I know exactly what I mean.”
“Why are you trying to push me away?”
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Listen, the bottom line is this. We'll run into each other because our children will be attending the same school and participating in the same social organization. But outside of that we can't have any contact. I'm only going to say this one more time. Do
not
attempt to see me again,” she nearly shouted. “
What
about that scenario do you not understand?”
Parker crossed his arms, organizing his thoughts. “You've been avoiding me, saying what you think you have to in order to make me go away. That's what you do,Victoria. When you don't want to deal with something, you shut it off and push it to the side. But I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to fight for us to get back together. I know it's going to be hard, but I'm ready to put in the work.”
“Damn it. Don't try that armchair psychology with me,” she said with irritation. “I was trying to be civil about this, but now you've really pissed me off. You need to go.”
Parker smirked. He'd always loved her feistiness. “You're something else, you know that? Why are you fighting this?”
Oh, Lord. I've gotta get his ass out of here!
Victoria could see that playing hardball with Parker wasn't working, and that her strategy had actually backfired. She needed to get him out of her office, so she tried to be calm as she attempted to reason with him. “We can't change anything that has happened between us, not the past or the present, but we can control what happens in the future.” She folded her arms, resting them at her chest as she looked him in his eyes so he could see that she meant business. “I love my husband. What I did with you was selfish and irresponsible. I'm under no illusions about my reckless behavior, and that's why I'm trying to make things right.” She paused briefly for a breath, saying her last words with conviction. “You need to accept what I've said and respect my wishes. This is it.... This is the end.”
“Are you finished?” Parker asked.
Victoria nodded her head and braced herself for another heated exchange. But the barrage of words she was expecting never came. Instead, he took two steps forward, put his arms around her waist, drew her into his embrace, and kissed her so deeply she couldn't breathe. “That's my response,” he whispered.
He had taken her by surprise. “You need to stop this!” she hissed, pushing him away as she released herself. They stared at each other, she with contempt, he with steadfast nerves.
Victoria turned and was about to open the door to show him out when the bell chimed, startling them both. The uneasy feeling of impending danger she'd experienced before Parker had arrived suddenly returned.
Victoria put her finger to her lips in a shushing motion, her eyes pleading with Parker to remain silent. When she tiptoed to the door and looked through the peephole, she nearly lost her balance. Ted was standing on the other side.
Panic shot through Victoria's body like a flash of hot lightning. She rushed over to Parker, pulling him by the arm as she ushered him to the back of her office. She led him to the back door, trying to stay calm. “Ted's outside,” she whispered in a hasty breath. “You've gotta get the hell outta here!”
Parker opened his mouth to object, but Victoria quickly covered his lips with the palm of her hand as she turned the dead bolt and opened the door. “Damn it, Parker. Don't do this. Please, I'm begging you. Just leave!”
They stood in the middle of the open door as the smoldering night heat seeped in between them.Victoria's BlackBerry started ringing in the holster on her hip. She knew it was Ted, and she knew she had to pick up. Her car was parked out front, so he knew she was still there. Again, she put her finger to her lips, motioning for Parker to keep quiet.
“Hey,” she said in a nervous rush.
“Why haven't you answered the door? I'm standing outside,” Ted said with worry in his voice. “Is everything all right?”
“Um, yeah. I'm in the bathroom,” she lied as tiny beads of sweat began to form on her forehead. “I'll be out in a sec.”
Victoria hit the end button and prayed he hadn't detected the panic in her voice.When she looked at Parker, he was staring at her with a combination of emotions that she couldn't place, and she didn't have the energy to try to decipher them. “Parker, you have to go. This can't happen again. Everything has to end right here, right now.”
Parker brought his hand to the side of Victoria's cheek and stroked it gently. He shook his head and stepped away, granting her wish. Victoria exhaled a deep sigh of relief but then held her breath, because he turned around, walked back up to her, and looked her in the eye. “Every good-bye's not gone,” he whispered softly.
Victoria stood at her back door, speechless as Parker turned again and walked away, into the darkness of night.
Serious, Deadly Serious ...
Victoria quickly pulled herself together, smoothed her hair back with the palm of her hand, and opened the front door. When Ted entered, he looked at her with questioning eyes. “Are you sure you're okay? You sounded different on the phone ... and you look flushed.”
Victoria took a deep breath, trying to appear casual. “I'm fine. Like I said earlier, I'm just a little tired, that's all.” Then a thought occurred to her. In all the years since she had opened her office, Ted had never shown up unannounced, not even when she'd been working late at night. “What made you come by?” she asked.
Ted removed his suit coat and unbuttoned the top of his shirt, loosening his tie for comfort. “Let's have a seat,” he said, extending his arm toward the small love seat near Denise's desk.
A fresh wave of panic reached out and grabbed Victoria's heart. She knew that something was very wrong. She sat down beside him, not wanting to look him in the eye, praying she could hold herself together.
Ted took her hand and held it gently in his. “You're trembling,” he said in an unsteady voice that was unlike his.
Now he was scaring her. “Ted, what's wrong?” This time Victoria looked into his ocean blue eyes and held his stare.
Ted squeezed her hand tightly. “V, I love you with all my heart.You and Alexandria are my world, and I'll do whatever it takes to protect you. Sometimes things aren't as they appear, but eventually all things will be revealed.”
Victoria withdrew, studying the serious look on Ted's face. “What's going on? You're talking in circles.” She started sweating like someone had poured water over her face.
Oh, Lord! Did he see Parker as he was leaving?
Then she realized that he couldn't have. There was no way that Parker could have possibly made it from the back of her office building to the front before she opened the door to let Ted in. She knew that, because if the two men had seen each other, she wouldn't be sitting and talking with her husband at that very moment, because the paramedics would've been there by now!
Ted reached for her hand again. He spoke softly, but with great intent. “The past few weeks have been difficult, and I know you've noticed that I haven't been myself.” He lumbered slightly, taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to say next. “You know me better than anyone else, and I don't want there to be any secrets between us. I love you, and I'm sorry that I've had to lie to you.”
Victoria's eyes widened. Normally, she would be asking a million questions, because her curiosity was just that great. But she knew this was serious, deadly serious, and it left her in complete silence.
Ted continued. “I haven't been completely honest with you about my mother's secret. What I discovered about her is far more complex than I told you.”
Now Victoria was sitting on the edge of her seat, her thoughts swimming with confusion as Ted held on to her hand. His words tumbled out like a mystery movie plot starting to unfold.
“You know that old saying âYou never really know someone'? Well, it was invented for people like my mother. Her life wasn't what it seemed, and she wasn't who any of us thought she was. This isn't the right moment for me to tell you what I found in her safe-deposit box, but I want you to know that neither you nor Alexandria is in any danger from it.”
Victoria finally spoke. “I don't understand why you can't tell me. This is crazy.”
“V, sweetheart, please bear with me and trust me on this.”
The irony of the situation nearly crippled Victoria's mindâhe was asking his lying, cheating wife to trust him. But despite her duplicitous position, she wanted answers from him.
She withdrew her hand from his and stood to her feet, then began to pace the room. “You just told me that you've been lying to me, and now you want me to trust you? How am I supposed to do that?” A small voice inside her head called her a hypocritical bitch. She immediately regretted her words, knowing that she had absolutely no right to stand in judgment or demand truthfulness when she'd just welcomed her husband through the front door after rushing her ex-lover out the back.
Ted stood and walked over to her. “You have every right to feel the way you do. I've lied to you, and I know it's built a wall between us.V, I'm still dealing with the shock that my mother revealed to me... . It's been hard. But yes, I'm asking you to trust in me, and I'm asking you to give me just a little more time so I can make sense of it all. I'll tell you all there is to know ... soon.”
She wanted to believe him, and he wanted to make the questions and the pain on her face disappear.
Victoria could see that the weight that had been haunting Ted's eyes was no longer there. He looked tired, but he also looked relieved. She knew it must have taken a lot for him to come forward with the truth, even if he had given it only in dribbles, and that whatever embarrassing indiscretion Carolyn had been hiding, it almost certainly paled in comparison to the secret Victoria was keeping.
Now she knew how Debbie had felt, because she wanted to tell Ted her truth, too. She wanted to confess her sins and make things right, but she knew she couldn't. It was one thing for him to lie to her about a secret that his mother had been keeping, but it was another thing entirely for her to admit to him that she had enjoyed the heat of Parker's kiss and the excitement of his touch.
Victoria sank into his arms. She held back a tear that threatened to fall. “Before we got married, I remember you said that we'd encounter a few hurdles along the way, but as long as we were together, it would make life a hell of a lot easier,” Victoria said, biting her bottom lip as she swallowed hard and continued. “I haven't been perfect, either, but you've loved me, anyway. I adore you, and I'm here for you whenever you're ready to open up to me.”
That night Victoria and Ted made love like old times. All that had been said and done was washed away with tender kisses and gentle caresses. Everything that had been broken was made whole again. As she lay in her husband's arms, Victoria drifted off to sleep. She knew they hadn't cleared all the hurdles in the road, but they were headed for recovery. Now her only worry was how she was going to keep Parker at bay.