When Love Comes Around (Love Conquers All) (34 page)

“Come on, man, don’t let him take you there. He’s not thinking straight right now.” Kevin reasoned with Patrick trying to diffuse the situation before it got any further out of control.

This only infuriated the drunk. Charging at Kevin he demanded to know, “Who the hell are you? You baldheaded bastard!”

“Daddy! You can’t come in my house acting like this!” Karen hollered, embarrassed by her father’s behavior.

That’s it! Father or not I’m about to cuss him out! Calling my man a baldheaded bastard!

Just as Starr was about to light fire to her father, Donna yelled, “That’s enough! Everybody shut the hell up!”

All heads swung in her direction. Everyone stepped back making room for her as she approached the man she once loved and cared for. Standing before him, she looked him dead in the eye as she hissed through clenched teeth. “You have one hell of a nerve showing up here like this ruining our Christmas.”

“But Donna, baby I want you back. I want us to─”

“To what? Be a family?” she snapped. “Negro pulleese! You should have thought about that before you kept walking out on your
children
and
me
time and time again! You should have thought about that every time I was stupid enough to take your sorry behind back! Believing all your sweet talk and lies!”

“I’m sorry, Donna! I swear this time I’ll make it right!” He pleaded dramatically dropping to his knees grabbing Donna around her legs.

Rolling her eyes, Donna sucked her teeth in disgust as she pushed him away from her. “Harold, get your drunk ass up off the floor and go home! It’s over between us! It’s been that way for years! That was
your
decision! Your daughters are grown with families of their own! And I’ve already told you that my life is with Patrick now.”

All of Harold’s begging and pleading went out the window at the mention of Patrick’s name. Staggering to his feet, he attempted to lunge at the man that was solid as a tree trunk. The large man didn’t even have to protect himself. All he did was step to the side, which sent Harold crashing to floor, banging his head on the coffee table knocking him out cold.

“Just stupid.” Starr hissed under her breath as she wrapped the towel around her nakedness. Entering her bedroom, she went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of panties and a bra. If she didn’t hurry, she would be late for her lunch date with Karen, Donna and Alicia.

Snatching the perfumed lotion from her vanity, she quickly moved over to the bed flopping down. Smoothing the lotion all over she continued to grumble. “Showing up all drunk, messing up everybody’s Christmas.” Because of Harold’s foolishness, she and Kevin hadn’t made it over to Summer and Nick’s. Instead, Kevin ended up going with Harold to the emergency room, and Starr ended up going home alone. Too frustrated to sleep, she waited up for Kevin. Once he was home, she apologized profusely for her father’s ignorant behavior and the fact he spent hours in the emergency room with him making sure he was fine.

“Baby, stop apologizing. I actually feel sorry for the guy.” Starr just stared at her husband, momentarily speechless. Was he nuts? She couldn’t believe what she was hearing and she told him so, too.

“How can you feel sorry for that man after he called you a baldheaded bastard? He didn’t even know who you were before insulting you.”

Kevin chortled. “I’ve been called worse. Besides he was so drunk he could hardly stand.”

Letting out a un-lady like snort, “Yeah, I could see just how drunk he was. Reminded me of my childhood.”

Blowing out a frustrated breath, she grumbled, “Should’ve let his drunk behind go by himself.”

“Good morning sleeping beauty.”

She smiled, a shiver running down her spine. She would never get tired of that deep, sexy as sin voice. Glancing over her shoulder at her husband, her stomach did a flip-flop. She nearly lost her footing and fell as she stepped into a pair of white lacey bikini panties.

Leaning against the doorjamb, arms crossed over his broad chest, the man looked good enough to eat. Worn, well fitting jeans and the new Gap sweater Alicia and Kyle had given him for Christmas dressed his well-chiseled form.

Starr desperately wanted to kick the panties off she just slid into. Her fingers were itching to snatch every stitch of his clothing off. Temptation was flirting with her, begging her to cancel her lunch date.
You know you want to.
Closing her eyes, she willed the pesky voice to
leave me alone.

“Morning. How long have you been standing there?”

“Not long.” Pushing himself away from his leaning post, he took the few steps required to stand directly in front of her as she was reaching for her bra and began putting it on.

“Not long. I just came upstairs to see if you were up.” Gently moving her hands aside, with slow steady hands, he took his time fastening the front clasp of the white, lacy bra she was wearing. Letting his gaze glide over her from head to toe and then reverse, he wished he were removing the lacey scrap of fabric instead of putting it on her. Letting out a low whistle, he could feel his body betraying him. “Girl, you are too fine. I want you so bad.”

Placing a delicate hand on his chest, Starr stood on her toes planting butterfly kisses on his full lips. “Thank you. And the feeling is mutual.”

He couldn’t resist pulling her in his arms giving her a long, deep kiss. The little butterfly kisses just weren’t getting it. Kevin was going through some major withdrawal. It felt like weeks since he’d made love to his wife. He understood lately she’d been under the weather, not feeling well. So when she fell into bed at night totally exhausted, he’d just take a very long cold shower to calm his aching loins. This however, was only a temporary solution. The moment he slid between the sheets next to her warm, soft, curvaceous slumbering form he wanted her all over again. With great patience and restraint, he’d pull her close in his embrace until he drifted off to sleep only to wake up in the same condition as the night before.

Breaking the kiss, Starr took a step back. From the way he had kissed her, he wanted to take her right then and there. A wave of guilt washed over her. Kevin had been so patient with her. Honestly, she wanted her husband just as bad as he wanted her. But by the end of the day, she was just plain wiped out. “Baby, I’m sorry I’ve been so tired lately. I promise as soon as I finish getting dressed I’m going to see if Dr. White can fit me into her schedule tomorrow morning.”

Kissing the tip of her nose, he smiled. “Good. I thought I was going to have to make the appointment myself.”

When Starr hadn’t come down stairs to join him for breakfast, he’d decided to let her sleep in. But when eleven forty-five rolled around and she still hadn’t come down, he became concerned. Relief washed over him, she was up and getting dressed. If she had still been in bed, he had made up in his mind that he was taking her in for a doctor’s appointment. She had been feeling bad for too long for his liking.

Wiggling into a pair of jeans, she told him, “Nope, I got this.” Starr didn’t want to admit it, but she was concerned as well. She couldn’t remember ever feeling this tired and run down. No matter how much sleep she got it didn’t seem to be enough. Pulling her sweater over her head she asked, “So what do you have planned for today?”

Kevin sat on the foot of the bed, enjoying the view. “Richard Jr. and I are going to hang-out at Dave and Buster’s while Momma and Audrey do some shopping.”

Finger combing her hair in the mirror, she met Kevin’s gaze. “That’s nice. Are we all still meeting up later for dinner?”

Standing, Kevin stretched his long limbs. “Yep. I’ll meet you at Momma’s tonight around six-thirty.” Looking at his watch, he figured he had better get going if he didn’t want to be late meeting his brother. Having been in the military for years the man was a stickler for being punctual. Going over to Starr he planted his hands on her waist, leaning in, he kissed her. “I’ll see you later this evening.”

“All right.” Starr let out a groan as she watched Kevin leave the bedroom. Come hell or high water, she was getting her some tonight!

♥♥♥

Sitting at the red light, Starr hummed the tune to the song on the radio. She couldn’t wait to spend some time alone with her mother, sister and niece. Just as the light turned green, her cell phone began to ring. Grasping for the phone, she quickly glanced at the display. Smiling, she flipped the phone open. “Hi Momma.”

“Starr, I need you to come over here now, sweetie.”

Alarm coiled through her as she noted the shakiness in the older woman’s voice.
Something’s not right.
“Momma, are you okay?”

“Yes sweetie. I just need to see you. It’s really important.”

Starr didn’t like the sound of her mother-in-law’s voice. She could tell Beverly wasn’t telling her the truth. “Okay. Do you want me to call Kevin? He and Richard Jr. are together.”

Starr really became scared when Beverly urgently demanded, “No, don’t bother them. I just need to see you.”

“All right, I’m on my way.”

Making a u-turn in the middle of the street, Starr didn’t pay any attention to the honking horns and offensive hand gestures as she sped off to her mother-in-law’s.

Snatching the phone from Beverly’s trembling hand, the man growled “Is she coming?”

Even though she was scared out of her wits, Beverly tilted her chin and stared her captor in the eye. “Didn’t you hear me tell her I needed to see her? She’ll be here,” she snapped, annoyed this sorry excuse for a man forced himself into her home.

When she heard the doorbell, she thought it was her neighbor Lucy coming for her daily early afternoon visit. Beverly was so excited to answer the door she hadn’t thought to look through the peephole as she always did. Her mind had been on introducing Lucy to Audrey and inviting her out for a day of shopping and lunch.

Lucy hadn’t had any children of her own, so when her husband of forty-nine years suddenly passed away last year from a heart attack, she felt all alone in this world. Although she had nieces and nephews that were kind to her and spent every holiday with her, it didn’t seem to be enough at times. She understood they had careers and children of their own to raise; however, it would be nice to see them more often then at holidays.

When Lucy moved into the assistant living community a few months after losing her beloved husband, Beverly had been the first to reach out to her. Lucy had been so terribly lonely; she eagerly accepted Beverly’s invitation to join her quilting club. Over the span of a few months, the two settled into a daily routine of spending time together.

If Lucy stuck to their regular routine, she should be coming over any minute. Every day she eagerly looked forward to her visit. She and Lucy always had a wonderful time together as they reminisced about days of old. For once she prayed her friend for whatever reason, would get held up. The last thing she wanted was to have another person involved in whatever this madman had planned.

Audrey patted Beverly’s hand to calm her. “Mother, please don’t get yourself all worked up.” The younger woman didn’t want to further rile up the man holding a gun on them. One second they were in the kitchen having tea waiting on Lucy, and the next they were being shoved over to the sofa with this maniac waving a weapon demanding to see Starr.

“That’s right you better shut that old woman up.” The man growled as he paced back to the front window. Neither woman said a word as they kept a cautious eye on the disturbed stranger.

Pulling back the curtain, he spied an elderly woman hobbling up the walkway using the assistance of a cane. Letting out a string of expletives, he threw an evil glance at Beverly. This was not supposed to be going down like this. Last night, when he cased the place, the man and the woman had left around nine. He was caught off guard when the couple showed up again this morning. He hadn’t count on the old woman having company today. Frustration began to swarm all around him in the confines of his beat up 1989 Honda Civic. His plans were not going as smoothly as he would like. Some of his frustration was alleviated as Richard Jr. hopped back in his car and drove off. He didn’t care about Audrey being left behind. If he had to, he would do whatever necessary to keep her quiet and out of his way. So far, he hadn’t seen a need to do get rid of her. If anything, she was keeping the old woman in check.