Unilateral . . .
When Victoria turned into her driveway she saw Parker sitting in his SUV, parked in front of her house. She drove around to the car pad in the back, and when she got out Ms. Swanson appeared, walking up to the fence line. “Your gentleman friend has been parked out front for over an hour. Is everything all right?” her nosy neighbor asked.
“Thanks for letting me know, Ms. Swanson. Everything's fine.” Victoria knew that the old lady had been watching the comings and goings of Parker's vehicle since they'd started dating.
Victoria walked into her house and headed straight to the front door. Her heart raced when she opened it and Parker was standing thereâlooking good. He was holding a box of Godiva chocolates, knowing they were her favorites. “These are for you,” he said, handing Victoria the gold foil box. As soon as she closed the door, Parker drew her into his arms and kissed her. She hated that she didn't have the willpower to resist.
“Baby, I missed you,” he said.
“I missed you too, but we really need to talk.” She took the chocolates to the kitchen and ushered him back to the den, putting distance between them on the couch so she could think clearly.
“Baby, I'm sorry about this whole mix up.”
Victoria looked at him squarely. “This isn't a mix up. This is a lack of communication and a total disregard for my feelings, our relationship, and the trust we were starting to build.”
“Victoria, I love you and I would never do anything to intentionally jeopardize our relationship,” he pleaded.
“Clearly that's not true. You knowingly kept something very important from me, and that jeopardizes everything.”
Parker shook his head. “Listen, I'll be honest. The reason I didn't tell you about the Africa Project from the beginning was because you had this huge wall up when we first met. And even though you said you were ready for a relationship, you were very guarded. I knew that if I told you I was leaving so soon, you wouldn't have given me a chance,” he confessed.
“So you thought about your own feelings, about how you wanted me, but not about how your deception would affect me.”
“It wasn't deception,” Parker defended.
“You're used to getting what you want, when you want it, but you can't manipulate others to your advantage.”
“I wasn't trying to manipulate you . . . ”
“What country are you going to anyway?” Victoria interrupted.
Parker let out a deep breath. “Kenya. We'll be set up in a nomadic village about four hours outside Nairobi. But, baby, I wasn't trying to manipulate you, honestly.”
Victoria shook her head, trying to control her emotions that were vacillating from sadness, to anger, to forgiveness. “Well, what are we going to do . . . about us?”
“Continue to let our relationship grow,” Parker said, reaching over to hold Victoria's hand. He held it tight, showing his sincerity.
“If you want me in your life, you have to include me in the decisions you make. A relationship between two people shouldn't be unilateral, it's no way to build trust or respect. I've been through that before and I won't put up with it again.”
Parker kissed her to make her quiet. All he wanted to hear was that she wouldn't give up on their relationship.
He brought her luggage in while she freshened up and then went through a week's worth of mail. Before they knew it, the afternoon had slipped into evening. They ordered pizza and opened a bottle of wine for dinner.
“I tried to call you several times. Did you turn off your phone?” Parker asked, taking a bite of his veggie slice.
“You know I did. I was avoiding you like you avoided me.”
“Fair enough,” he said, clearing his throat. “Mason told me that he saw you at Tavern on the Green.”
Victoria had been anticipating this line of questioning. “Yeah, I love that place. The view of the park is spectacular.”
Parker knew what she was doing, so he let the pause linger until he couldn't take it any longer. Seeing that she wasn't going to cooperate he plunged ahead. “Mason said you were having lunch with some guy. Who was he?”
“Why, are you jealous?”
“Should I be?”
Victoria laughed, but Parker didn't. “Relax, it was just Ted.”
“Ted who?”
“Ted Thornton, silly.”
“But Mason said you were having lunch with some white guy?”
“Yeah, that was Ted.”
“Ted's white?” Parker sat up straight, letting his pizza fall to his plate.
“Yes,” Victoria said with surprise. And for the first time, she realized that just as in her conversations with her mother, she'd never mentioned Ted's race when she talked about him. She assumed that Parker would know that Ted was white for the same reasons she thought her mother would. But the truth was that Parker had very little interest in professions or business happenings outside of medicineâincluding her own budding business.
Parker was speechless. All this time he'd assumed that Ted was black. The fact that he was white suddenly changed his perception of the man and his assessment of Victoria's relationship with him. “I thought he was a brother.”
“Well, he's not,” Victoria said in a “
let's drop it”
tone.
Parker didn't want to have another argument so he backed off.
They slept in Victoria's bed that night. Parker held her close, wanting to make love, but thankful for the chance to lie next to her, especially after narrowly escaping a breakup. They'd gotten over a major hurdle tonight. He was confident that she loved him just as much as he loved her. But her relationship with Ted disturbed him. From the beginning, he had a bad feeling about Ted Thornton. And now, his spider senses tingled even more. Mason had told him that when he ran into Victoria, it definitely seemed that she and her lunch companion were more than just casual acquaintances. Now, Parker was very interested in meeting Ted. His opportunity would come next month at the ViaTech Christmas partyâa party he planned on attending, come hell or high water.
Chapter Fifteen
That's Where You Come In...
It was Sunday afternoon, and Victoria was lounging around the house, glad to be home from her week in New York. She and Parker were back on track. They'd made up last night, and after a large breakfast she'd prepared this morning, he headed back home.
She decided to call Denise to catch up on the office happenings since she'd been gone, but she wasn't prepared for what she heard. Denise told a story that left Victoria's mouth hanging open. “Patricia was fired? I can't believe it!” Victoria said.
“Yes, girlfriend. When the heifer came in on Friday morning, Bob Hoffman told her to pack her shit and hit it!”
“I wonder what finally got her fired?”
“I don't know. It's all very hush hush.”
“What do you mean,
hush hush
?”
“All they're saying is that her services were no longer needed.”
“Jen is your girl. Did you ask her what happened?”
“Sure did, but for the first time since I've known her, she wouldn't give me the scoop. I asked her a few questions and you would've thought I was trying to investigate the Kennedy assassination. Her lips were tight.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, I thought so too. So I figured that whatever got Patricia fired must've happened while she was in New York, and that's where you come in. What happened up there?”
Victoria's head was spinning. “I knew something happened between the two of them. I knew it!”
“Details, details, please!”
Victoria told Denise about the car incident between Patricia and Ted.
“Damn, Ted fired Patricia over you,” Denise said.
“What makes you say that?”
“What else could it be? The man told you that she said something that pissed him off, and you know it was probably something about you because she talks shit about you every chance she gets. That's what got her ass fired.”
“I don't think Ted would fire her over something as trivial as bad-mouthing me.”
“Girlfriend, you're truly in denial. Stop making excuses, it's really not cute anymore.”
“I resent that,” Victoria quipped.
“Look, he's getting a divorce and you'll be leaving the company soon. There won't be any roadblocks, so just go ahead and admit that you two have a thing for each other. Is it because he's . . . ”
“My boss,” Victoria cut her off. “And besides, there's something very important you forgot about . . . my boyfriend.”
Denise wanted to roll her eyes so badly her lashes hurt. She'd met Parker two weeks after he and Victoria had started dating. He'd come by the office one morning, surprising her with flowers. Denise thought he was one of the best looking men she'd seen other than on the pages of her Ebony Man Calendar. But when he requested coffee, it pissed her off. Not only didn't he wait to be asked if he wanted a cup, he
told
her to get him one. He'd treated her like domestic help, and his arrogance and superior air made her want to spit in the freshly brewed French roast before handing it to him.
Even though he apologized, and only because Victoria had gone off on him the moment Denise left the room, the damage had already been done. He'd torn his drawers as far as Denise was concerned, and no forced apology could mend that hole.
“I know you have Mr. Wonderful, but let's pretend he doesn't exist. What then? What would be your excuse?” Denise probed.
“I'm in love with a good man who loves me back. Ted isn't in the running.”
“Girlfriend, who you think you foolin'?”
Victoria paused for a moment. “Okay, so maybe there's a small attraction . . . but it's not going to lead anywhere.”
“If that's the way you see it.”
“That's the way it is.”
Fork In The Road...
1701 Summerset Lane was rockin' the night that Victoria threw Debbie and Rob a spirited going away party. Victoria had decorated her downstairs with rubber palm trees she'd rented from a local party store, giving the house a Miami Beach feel. The living room, dining room, and den were aglow with candlelit hurricane lamps filled with sand and seashells. She'd hired a bartender for the evening who served delicious tropical drinks, and she prepared a variety of mouth-watering delights that had all the guests devouring the food as soon as it hit the buffet table. She secured two new clients by the end of the evening.
Debbie and Rob had a ball, Tyler managed to act civil toward Parker, and Denise and Vernon danced like they were on
Soul Train
. The only tense moment of the evening came when Parker followed Victoria into the kitchen when she went to refill a serving tray with more hors d'oeuvres.
“Why didn't you hire a wait staff to serve the food?” he asked. “You shouldn't be doing this kind of menial labor. You should've told me. I would've paid for it.”
Victoria breathed hard with irritation. “This isn't
menial labor
, it's what I do. I told you, this is my passion. This is my business, Parker. It's who I am.”
Parker's unsupportive attitude made her downright frustrated at times. But that comment aside, everyone had fun.
Debbie was happy and glowing, comfortably into the beginning of her first trimester of pregnancy. Victoria was going to miss her. She was closer to Debbie than to most of her friends she'd grown up with, and they'd become like sisters over the years.
Although Rob was excited, Debbie still had reservations about the move. “Atlanta held your memories, but Miami holds your future. Good things are on the horizon for you, Rob, and my godchild,” Victoria assured her friend.
Victoria was hoping that her future would hold good things too. Her life was taking twists and turns down an unexpected and unfamiliar path. She wasn't sure where it would lead, but she had a feeling that wherever it took her, Parker and Ted would be standing there at the fork in the road.
Driving Him Crazy...
Parker steered the rental car onto Interstate 40 from the Raleigh/Durham International Airport. He and Victoria were spending Thanksgiving with the Smalls. After many discussions, they'd finally come to an agreement about how they would divide up the holidays. Since he was leaving for Kenya the first week of January, they wanted to spend as much time together as they could. That meant dividing the holidays between each other's familyâThanksgiving with hers and Christmas with his.
Although the Brightwoods weren't pleased that Parker wasn't coming home for Thanksgiving, as was tradition in their household, they would have been even more upset if he missed Christmas. The Brightwoods, as Victoria was coming to learn, were big on family traditions.
As they entered the upscale community where Victoria had grown up, she looked out the window with anticipation, excited about seeing her parents. Grand houses, pristine lawns, neat sidewalks, and stately trees graced the streets. She practically bolted out of the car as Parker pulled into the driveway in front of the large colonial on Savannah Circle Drive.
“John, they're here,” Elizabeth yelled back to her husband as she opened the front door. She grabbed Victoria and hugged her tightly. “Sweetheart, I'm so glad you made it,” she said, giving her daughter a kiss on the cheek before reaching for Parker. “And you must be Parker. It's so good to finally meet you.” Elizabeth gave him a hug too.
Parker had seen dozens of pictures of Victoria's parents, and he always marveled at her strong resemblance to her mother. Seeing Elizabeth face to face, he smiled. She'd just given him a close-up glimpse of what Victoria would look like in the years to come.
“Where's my Queen?” John's voice came roaring from the back.
“Daddy!” Victoria yelled like an excited little girl. She embraced her father as they rocked back and forth in each other's arms.
Parker was glad to see Victoria and her father so happy together because family was very important to him. Victoria had told him about the differences that she and John had battled in the past, and that she was trying to rebuild their relationship. Parker encouraged her to work on recapturing the closeness they once had, and on his advice, she'd begun calling her father regularly. They shared open and honest conversations that had been hard at first, but were healing in power. She even opened up to both her parents about the painful night that she'd discovered the truth about her mother's family. John knew that his daughter's new boyfriend had a lot to do with her change in attitude, and he liked Parker if for no other reason than that.
“You must be Parker,” John said, extending a hand that looked the size of a baseball mitt.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” Parker greeted him.
Victoria was surprised; Parker actually seemed nervous.
“Elizabeth and I are glad you could join our family for the holidays,” John said.
“Thank you for having me, sir.” Parker felt small in comparison to the older man's mass. John Small was in his late sixties, but was still fit thanks to good genes and regular exercise. He was an intimidating figure.
“Please call me John, and let me help you with the luggage,” he offered, trying to put Parker at ease.
Victoria and her mother headed toward the kitchen while the men unloaded the car. “He's very handsome,” Elizabeth winked.
Elizabeth had designated the spacious downstairs guest room with private bath for Parker. Victoria was relieved that he'd be sleeping down there and not in the guest room upstairs, right beside her old bedroom. The temptation of giving in to a sexual love fest with him was growing greater by the day. The holidays and change of environment, along with her growing desires, were a potent combination for testing her self-imposed abstinence.
Parker finished unpacking his clothes and pulled a box of Trojans from the bottom of his bag. He was looking forward to putting them to use over the next couple of days.
During their weekend trip to New York when he and Victoria went to see the Knicks play the Hawks, Parker had hoped he would finally be able to make love to Victoria. Mason had invited them to stay with him and his family in their Harlem brownstone, but Parker declined. He told his brother that he and Victoria needed privacy, and made reservations for a romantic suite at a luxury hotel in midtown. That night after the game, they held each other under the feather down comforter and did the usual: kiss passionately, touch and caress to the point of erection and wetness, then fall asleep in each other's arms. Not having her was driving him crazy, but this weekend he planned to change that.
Happy Turkey Day...
Victoria and her mother had been in the kitchen from the minute she and Parker arrived. They worked together, peeling potatoes, dicing vegetables, snapping beans, marinating the turkey, and baking desserts. Although they both prepped the food, it was Victoria who did most of the actual cooking. Parker entered the kitchen a few times to observe Victoria in her element. Food preparation was a new thing for him; his mother had never cooked the family meals when he was growing up. They had a woman named Francis who'd been cooking and cleaning for them for as long as he could remember.
Thanksgiving Day in the Small household was full of laughter, old stories, and enough food to feed a small island of people. John's sister, Phyllis, and her husband, along with their two grown children and grandchildren, were all gathered for celebration and thanks. Elizabeth's brother Maxx, who had never married but always seemed to have a new woman on his arm, was there with his most recent flavor of the monthâtwenty years his junior.
Victoria was delighted that Parker blended in like he was a member of the family. Even her cousin Jeremy, who was now next in line to take over at the bank after John retired, and who happened to be a major-league asshole, liked Parker too. It was a relief to Victoria that her family welcomed her new boyfriend, especially since none of her friends seemed to care very much for him.
Back in the family room, Victoria and her cousins were laughing about old times when her cell phone rang. She walked over to the end table where she'd left it earlier and answered uncharacteristically, without checking the caller ID. “Hello,” she said in mid-sentence laughter.
“Hi V, it's Ted. Happy turkey day.”
She felt a jolt of excitement at the sound of his voice. “Happy turkey day to you too.” She quickly turned her back to the group to give herself a little privacy. The laughter and conversation continued in the background, but Parker was silent. He listened carefully because he noticed a change in the tone and inflection of Victoria's voice.
Who's she talking to?
he wondered. He watched Victoria flip her hair behind her ear, and heard the smile in her voice. He knew this wasn't just an ordinary friend she was talking to. Parker's antennae were at full alert.
I bet it's that mothafucker Ted on the other end,
he said to himself.
Ted could hear the commotion in the background. “How're you enjoying the holidays with your family? Sounds like there's lots of activity around you.”
“We're having a great time. My entire family is here. How's your family?” Victoria asked.
“Everyone's fine. My brother and his wife and kids came; so did my sister and her family. My mother's happy to have all of us here. It's been hard on her since my father died a couple of years ago.”
Ted knew that his mother hadn't been herself since his father passed away, but when he told her that he was divorcing Trudy, it had put a smile on her face that he hadn't seen in a long time. He also told her about his feelings for Victoria, and that she had been instrumental in his decision to finally file for divorce.
“I can't wait to meet this special young woman,” Carolyn Thornton said warmly. “So, tell me about her?”
Ted smiled. “She's amazing. She's intelligent, ambitious, kind hearted, and she's a southern girl like you,” he teased. “I could go on and on. Victoria's wonderful.”
“She sounds like a fine young woman.”
“She is, and she's beautiful. Inside and out.” Ted knew that his mother would appreciate Victoria's beauty because her own good looks had been legendary in her day and had won his father's heart.
Carolyn Thornton was a beautifully frail seventy-five-year-old grande dame. But in recent years, grief had taken its toll. Her five-foot seven-inch frame now looked much smaller with each passing year, her complexion had darkened, and her wrinkles had deepened. But her spirit was still strong. Carolyn Thornton had endured tragic episodes in her life, many of which she would carry to her grave, she'd vowed. Her will and resilience were the weapons that had kept her going.
Ted continued to smile as he talked about Victoria. “She's tall, with incredibly thick, long black hair. She has intense brown eyes, and the most beautiful deep brown skin.”
Carolyn blinked her eyes. “What do you mean, deep brown?”
“You know . . . brown. Kind of like chocolate,” he answered. He knew that his mother would have some sort of reaction after learning that Victoria was black, but he wasn't prepared for the response she gave.
“Theodore . . . is she a
colored
girl?”
The hairs stood up on the back of his neck. “Victoria is African-American. Does that make a difference?”
“Well, I . . . I'm just surprised.”
“Why? You know that I've dated all types of women in the past.”
“You were young back then. Even so, I didn't know you fancied colored girls.”
Ted shook his head, letting his frustration spill out. “Mother, I told you, Victoria is African-American.”
“In my day we called them colored,” Carolyn corrected.
“Well, it's a different day.”
“So it seems,” she said through pursed lips.
Ted hadn't expected his mother's reaction to be so hostile. “I can't believe you have a problem with the fact that Victoria is black.”
“Theodore, I just don't know what to say. What brought all this on?”
“I fell in love with her because of who she is, and how she makes me feel. I can't believe you're acting this way.”
Although Ted had never known his mother to have a diverse social sect, neither had he known her to ever express any prejudiced views. She'd always been a progressive thinker. But he had to remember that she'd been raised in Louisiana, and maybe some of the things she'd experienced as a young woman still clung with her today.
“You think I'm a racist?” Carolyn said defensively.
“I didn't say that.”
“You certainly implied it.”
Ted raised a brow. “You must have a guilty conscience.”
Carolyn looked into her son's eyes. They were the same ocean blue as the man she'd married and loved for over fifty years. “Theodore, I know what it means to love someone the way you say you love this young woman. That's what your father and I had until the day he died, God rest his soul. But I also know how hard it is,” she hesitated, “for
blacks
and whites when they decide to intermingle . . . to marry. I've seen things in my day. The road you'll travel won't be an easy one, not even in today's time,” she warned her son.
Ted thought about his mother's warnings as he listened to the voice of the woman he loved. He wasn't naïve. He knew there would be bumps ahead, but he was ready for the challenge.
“Sounds like this visit is just what your mother needed. I'm glad things are going well,” Victoria said. She wanted to tell him that she missed him, that it would've been nice to have him at the dinner table when her mother brought out her delicious sweet potato pie. But somehow it didn't seem an appropriate thing to say.
Just then, Parker came up behind her. “Ted, thanks for calling, but I've gotta go,” she said in a rush. “Enjoy the rest of your holiday with your family.” She pressed the end button on her phone and turned to face Parker. She could see that his mood had turned sour at the mention of Ted's name.
“Why is he calling you?”
“To wish us a happy Thanksgiving.”
“No, he called to wish
you
a happy Thanksgiving, not us. Victoria, what's the real story with this guy?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, pulling Parker over into the living room when she noticed that her cousins had quieted their chatter to observe what they saw as the beginnings of a lovers' quarrel.
“You're always working late at the office, conveniently with him. It's like he's trying to find ways to keep us apart. Now he's calling you during the holidays. What's up?”
“Working late is part of the job. You of all people should know that by the hours your job requires. And he called to say happy holidays, that's it.”
“I think he's showing an unusual amount of interest in you.”
Victoria stiffened her back. “What are you trying to say?”
“I think it's strange that a man who's running a company as large as ViaTech somehow always finds time for his
favorite employee
.” Parker's tone was accusatory. “Is there something I should know?”
Victoria became furious. “I would never do anything to jeopardize our relationship. I don't have anything to hide. I have no surprises that I'm going to shock you with at the last minute,” she said with heated anger.
“Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that.”
“Too late,” she said. Victoria pushed past him and walked back into the family room with her cousins.