He's Quite a Catch... .
Victoria's stomach was a bundle of squiggly lines and nervous jitters. It had been that way since she had arrived at Hilda Barrett's house a half hour ago. She looked down at her watch.
Damn! Thirty minutes to go.
That was how long it would be before she could get the hell out of there!
She couldn't wait to make a beeline out the door and head straight to her car. Even though she would have to return in a few hours to pick up Alexandria from her first Jack and Jill playdate, she knew that she needed to leave now, before her temples throbbed any harder.
She was sitting on a large paisley-print sofa with her legs crossed, trying to concentrate on the information that Hilda, the current chapter president, was delivering to the parents of the newly minted crop of young Jack and Jill darlings. Even though Victoria knew the information like she had written it herself, she tried to focus hard on the words coming out of Hilda's mouth. Focusing would help take her mind off the man sitting across the room.The one causing her nerves to fray at the edges.
She'd spotted him as soon as she and Alexandria had arrived. He'd been bent down on one knee, whispering something to an adorable little boy who looked like his “mini me.” He rubbed his hands over his perfectly shaven bald head, then over the child's thick mass of black curls, which mimicked the ones he had briefly sported several years ago. When he stood, he looked as handsome and sexy as she remembered. His neatly creased trousers and white polo shirt hung well on his tall frame. She couldn't help but notice and admire the fact that his golden-colored skin was still smooth and his dimples were still alluring. His brown eyes were still piercing, and his muscular body was still in tip-top condition.
He had looked at her, then down at Alexandria, before focusing his enticing baby browns back on her again. He stared for a few uncomfortable moments before Victoria finally looked away. His gaze made her feel flushed and nervous.
“Mommy, what's wrong?” Alexandria had asked, tugging at the lightweight material of Victoria's sundress, sensing the change in her mother's mood.
“Nothing's wrong, sweetie,” Victoria softly reassured her. When she looked in his direction again, she saw that one of the other parents had just come up and engaged him in what looked like a deep conversation, taking his attention off of her.
After one of the parent volunteers escorted Alexandria and the rest of the children back to the sunroom,Victoria had tried to make casual conversation with two other mothers in attendance. They were standing in the large living room, nibbling on fruit, waiting for Hilda to start the welcome meeting.
Victoria zoned in and out of the ladies' mindless Q&A. “Where do you live?” “What do you do?” “What sorority did you pledge?” “Are you a legacy?” All the typical questions in that type of circle, which usually bored her to tears. It wasn't until she caught the tail end of what one of the women was saying that she realized the conversation had shifted to
him
.
“He's the top gun in charge at the Carlyle Fraser Heart Center at Emory,” the chatty woman said. Her name was Roberta Stevens. She was short and superthin with a whiny voice, the kind that was primed for nagging. “He's one of my husband's top clients ... with Merck, you know.” She smiled with a wave of her fragile-looking hand. “He's also president of the Association of Black Cardiologists, on the board of the Boys and Girls Club, and he's very involved with his son. He's quite a catch.”
Tasha, the other woman who rounded out their group, looked across the room at him with hungry eyes. “So, he's single?”
Victoria quickly glanced down at Tasha's bare ring finger. There was something about her that was off-putting, a crooked line in her otherwise well-put-together countenance. She was attractive, and her style of dress was hip and sophisticated, masking the ugliness that lay beneath. Victoria had known women like Tashaâruthless! The cunning type who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted.
“Oh, yes,” Roberta answered with a quick nod. “He's single and very much available.”
“
Really?
” Tasha said, pepping up, looking around the huge living room full of parents. “He's one of the few fathers who showed up here today, and probably the only single man in this entire room,” she added, calculating. “But I bet he won't be single for long ... if I can help it.” She grinned and gave a seductive purr. “So, what's the story on his son's mother?”
Victoria could see that Tasha was probing hard, probably already thinking of ways to make dinner plans with her intended prey.
Roberta shook her head. “They never married, but they share custody. She's general counsel for a huge lobbying firm downtown ... a real workaholic, if you ask me. That's why she's not here today. She's out of the country on business. The two of them used to fight like cats and dogs, but lately they've been getting along, which is a blessing for their son's sake. Poor little guy.” Roberta sighed, shaking her head again. “What could be more important than spending time with your only child?”
Tasha nodded in agreement, but Victoria was motionless as Roberta went on. “She used to try to use the boy as leverage to get a ring ... like that would ever happen.”
“I thought you said they were getting along now,” Tasha remarked with raised brows. “You don't think there's a chance of reconciliation?”
Victoria could see that Tasha was hoping there wasn't.
“Maybe when hell freezes over.” Roberta smirked. “They're being civil for their son's sake. Besides, he's kind of, um ... What's the word?” She scratched her head. “Commitment phobic, that's it. I don't think he's the marrying type, if you know what I mean. In the years I've known him, I can't recall him ever dating anyone for longer than a couple months at a time.”
Victoria remained silent, as though the details of his life were of no concern to her.
“You seem to know a lot about him,”Tasha said, still keeping her eyes on the handsome man.
“Yes, Parker and my husband, Alvin, are quite close, and our sons used to attend the same preschool. We do playdates and sleepovers all the time,” Roberta responded. “That's his name by the way. Parker ... Dr. Parker Brightwood.”
Tasha grinned. “That's good information to know.”
“Looks like someone's got their eye on the good doctor,” Roberta giggled.
Tasha flashed a smile in Parker's direction, which he seemed to return. “You could say that.”
“Well, just be forewarned,” Roberta advised. “He's a hard nut to crack, so good luck.”
Back in the present, the other dozen or so parents looked on, actively engaged in Hilda's presentation. But Victoria felt as though she was sinking in her seat. She wanted so badly to get up and leave, to walk outside into the late morning sun to clear her mind. But she knew it would be rude to interrupt the session, and she certainly didn't want to draw any attention to herself.
She focused on Hilda's speech so she wouldn't be tempted to look at Parker's sexy, soft-looking lips. She glanced up at the lovely silk taffeta drapes hanging above his head so her eyes wouldn't accidentally land on one of his deliciously inviting dimples. It had been six years since the last time she had seen him, and she still remembered his words from that day. “I'm gonna fight for you,” he'd told her. “I'm not giving up on us.”
He had devastated her with a betrayal that had hurt worse than her first broken heart. She uncrossed her legs at the thought, then nervously recrossed them, realizing that she was slowly melting away. She wondered if Parker was as uncomfortable as she was, if he was sitting across from her, thinking the same thoughts that were running through her mind. She almost smiled to herself, remembering what a smooth operator he was. He could be sweating bullets, and one would never know; that was how cool and controlled his outward appearance always seemed to be.
She wanted to steal a glance to see if she could discern his mood, but she was afraid he'd catch her in the act. Unlike him, nearly every move she made was obvious, because she wore her feelings on her face. It made her think back to the night they first met. They'd been at one of her favorite restaurants, The Cheesecake Factory. She'd been alone, and he'd been on a blind date. The entire evening he had stolen glances at her. Remembering that night made the smile she'd been trying to hide slip out before she could catch it.
Why am I thinking about this?
But the truth was that she knew exactly why those thoughts, along with others, were floating through her head, and it frightened her. It brought back to mind the recurring dream that invaded her sleep every so often, and the disturbing knowledge that she had never quite gotten over him.
I've got to get out of here right now!
Just as she was about to rise from her seat, Hilda concluded her presentation. Victoria was relieved and tried to make a dash for the door, but just as she was heading out, Roberta stopped her.
“Victoria,” Roberta said, smiling. “We should get together for lunch sometime. Do you have a card?” she asked, handing over one of her own.
“Oh, sure.” Victoria tried to smile back as she fished through her overstuffed handbag for her silver-plated business card holder. She panicked when she looked up and saw that Parker was approaching. His eyes were fixed on her, as if he was taking inventory of her thoughts.Victoria quickly handed Roberta her card. “Call me, and we'll get together,” she said in a hurry.
Instead of thanking the hostess for her time and hospitality, or standing around and mingling with the other parents,Victoria headed straight for the front door.
Part of the Package
Ted looked at his watch and rubbed his tired eyes. It was late afternoon, and he'd been in his office since he left the house that morning. He was sitting at his desk, reviewing projection reports for an upcoming strategy meeting. He pulled off his reading glasses and leaned forward in his high-back leather chair, tapping his signature engraved Montblanc against a small stack of papers.
He was still thinking about the conversation he'd had with Victoria over breakfast. He didn't like arguing with his wife, but he knew the topic they'd discussed was one that would most certainly come up again, especially as their daughter grew in age. He hated the thought of Alexandria having to face the ugly prejudice of the world. She was his only child, and he wanted to protect her.
He let out a heavy sigh, pushing his papers to the side of his desk. This was what Victoria, and even his own mother, had warned him about; it was part of the package that came along with being married to a black woman and raising a biracial child. When he and Victoria had first learned they were expecting a baby just a month after they married, he'd been elated. He couldn't wait to see a miniature version of the two of them running around the house.
But during Victoria's sixth month of pregnancy, she began to verbalize her concerns more and more. “Ted, you're fooling yourself if you think that our child won't be treated differently,” she had told him.
Victoria had been speaking from a foreign place that he knew nothing about, and it had scared the shit out of him. He knew how racist the world could be; he'd worked in corporate America long enough to see it firsthand. And he had witnessed it up close and personal in his own family when he learned about some of his Back Bay relatives' reactions to him marrying Victoria. But he had convinced himself that they were in the minority, and that things would be different for
his
child. His station in life had afforded him certain privileges that he intended to pass along to his son or daughter.
Ted had always prided himself on being a man of great will and prodigious determination. He was the son of Charles Thornton, legendary Boston businessman and real estate developer. He was a man's man, strong and immune to weakness, and like his father, he was always cool under pressure and calm in the face of adversity. But the thought of his child having to endure discrimination and cruelty simply because of the color of her skin was something he was ill prepared for.
Ted leaned back in his chair and looked at the two pictures on the edge of his desk. One was a photo of Victoria, Alexandria, and himself, taken last Christmas, all smiles and cheer. The other was his favorite picture of all they had ever taken as a family. He and Victoria were smiling as they held their tiny daughter in their arms, joy and gratitude spread over both their faces. It had been a tender moment his mother-in-law had captured with her digital camera shortly after Victoria and Alexandria arrived home from the hospital, two weeks after Alexandria was born. They were all smiles and cheer in this photo, too, but instead of celebrating the holidays and the miracle birth of Christ, they had been celebrating the miracle that both mother and daughter were alive.
Ted rested his chin in his hand as he thought back to those days. They had been the roughest weeks of his life, each day presenting the possibility that he might lose the two people who mattered most in his life.Victoria had suffered complications from an emergency cesarean, and Alexandria had been born with health problems. That had been a bleak time, and it was only after his wife and child were safe at home, both out of danger, that Ted got a good night's sleepâhis first in fourteen long days.
As Ted reminisced over those events, a thought sprang into his mind. It was something he'd heard one of the ladies say when he'd passed the nurses' station in the neonatal unit on his way to Victoria's room. “That Thornton baby is so beautiful, like a little black baby doll,” the sixty-something, mocha-colored nurse had said to one of her coworkers.Then his mind took him back to small things he'd brushed off when he'd been out with Alexandria, taking her to the park or out for ice cream when Victoria had weekend events to oversee for Divine Occasions. He thought about the quizzical stares that people had given him when they saw him with his daughter.
It was something that used to irritate him, and he had attributed their behavior to plain ignorance, like the time, a few months ago, when a blond woman who was sitting across from them in Baskin-Robbins leaned over, looked at Alexandria, and told him that she thought adoption was a great thing.
Which dress to wear? Which boy's offer to accept to the prom? Which college to attend? Which academic major to pursue? Those were the kinds of decisions he saw in Alexandria's future. Not what race she would claim. The thought pissed him off, and the fact that he knew there was little he could do frustrated him.
Right then and there, Ted made up his mind. Up to this point he had been largely silent and ambivalent about the issue whenever Victoria brought it up. But now he was going to have to face the cold, hard truth that he realized he'd been avoiding. He knew that his daughter would need support and reassurance in ways that her everyday environment couldn't adequately afford her. He decided that when he returned home tonight, he would talk to Victoria and let her know that Alexandria's membership in Jack and Jill was just fine with him.