Close Quarters: A Novel (Zane Presents) (31 page)

“Merry Christmas, Lina.”

I placed my phone on the nightstand. “Merry Christmas, Ellison.”

He paused a moment, then slowly shook his head from side to side. “You sounded like Mother for a moment. She always called my father Ellison. Never Ellis. You’d always hear her say ‘Good morning, Ellison. Did you do this, Ellison? Did you do that, Ellison? Where have you been, Ellison?’ She was always so reserved with him—at least in front of others. I would imagine she had to be different when they were alone, but maybe not.” He sat on the settee with his back to me. “I was just in the dining room having breakfast with Mother and she commented that it was interesting not having my father around for the holidays. She didn’t say
sad
or
lonely
or even
strange
, she used the word
interesting
. It’s as if she was weighing whether she preferred him not being here.”

“Well, I certainly miss him.” I went to sit next to Ellis.

He was hunched over, arms resting on his lap. He concentrated on repeatedly interlocking and unlocking his fingers. “You know, Lina, my father wasn’t a perfect man. He had flaws like everybody else—maybe more than some.”

“No one is perfect, Ellis.”

“The night he died we had dinner at Peter Luger Steak House.”

“I remember.”

“It was just the two us. You know Mother would never allow him to consume that much red meat. We would go there from time to time without her knowing.” He smiled at the memory and then took a deep breath. “Well, that night, he didn’t seem like himself. He wasn’t completely there with me. I asked if he was feeling all right and he said he felt like he was coming down with a cold. I could tell there was something bothering him. He ordered two scotches back to back and he relaxed a bit. I pressed a bit more to find out why he seemed out of sorts. That’s when he confided in me. Why me, I still don’t know. It must have been eating him up and he needed to tell someone.”

My heartbeat quickened. “What did he tell you?”

He looked over at me. “That he was having an affair. He was in love and thinking about leaving my mother.”

I hesitated, not knowing how to respond. “What did you say?”

“What didn’t I say? We had a heated exchange at the table, struggling to keep our voices down. He kept trying to tell me that it wasn’t his intention to hurt his family. I laughed at that. Apparently he was cheating with a younger woman. I accused him of being an old fool being led around by some bimbo. Now that pissed
him
off. He wouldn’t say much about who this woman was, but he took offense at my assuming she was a classless degenerate. He kept saying she was an intelligent woman with a successful career, so she wasn’t interested in his money. I figured
it was a colleague, but he wouldn’t say anymore about her. He wanted to keep the focus on himself. How he loved my mother, but he wasn’t happy and hadn’t been for years. He said he felt unfulfilled. That was the word he used repeatedly—unfulfilled. He said he’d been living my mother’s life all those years and not his own. He said he was going home to tell my mother.”

“Ellis, I—”

“At that moment, sitting across from him at the table, I hated him. I told him he was being a fool and then I got up and left the restaurant without another word. He died that night. I never asked Mother if he told her, but I assumed so. I felt she deserved the right to preserve the image of her marriage. No one needed to know that my father wanted to leave to start a new life with someone else.”

“Did you ever try to find out who the woman was?”

“I thought about it, but I decided against it. He’s gone. What’s done is done. He didn’t have the opportunity to leave this family to start another.”

I thought about Giselle and the baby. “What if you found out he did have another family? I mean, what would you do?”

“He didn’t mention a family, Lina. He only admitted to having an affair.”

“I know,” I said, tentatively, “but sometimes there are children, too.”

“I don’t even want to think about that. If my father does have some bastard children out there, they’ll stay that way, out there as little bastards. They won’t get a dime from me or my family. I wouldn’t want anything to do with cleaning up his mess. As far as I’m concerned you let sleeping dogs lie.”

I looked at the man sitting next to me and couldn’t believe my ears. Just weeks ago Ellis talked about the importance of embracing
family and yet he would be able to completely disregard his own flesh and blood. I squeezed his hand. “I suppose you’re right. If there were any kids out there they’d be better off staying that way.”

I went to get dressed, leaving Ellis alone with his thoughts, because I needed to be alone with mine.

• • •

We were all in the living room surrounding the tree. I handed Daniella her Christmas present. Ellis financed the gifts but had left the shopping to me.

She screeched when she opened the box. “This is the Louis Vuitton bag I’ve been looking at for months! Thank you, guys!”

“Ellison, you spoil her too much,” Bebe said.

“This is for you, Bebe.” I handed her a box.

“That’s from me and Lina, Mother.”

Bebe turned the box in her hands. “They say big things come in small packages.” She stripped off the paper and opened the box. “This is nice. A cute little pendant,” she said, using her manicured fingertip to move the pendant around the box.

Cute
little
pendant? That pendant was upwards of five thousand dollars. I would have never spent that much money on her, but Ellis insisted that nothing was too good for his mother. “It’s Harry Winston,” I said.

“Yes, dear, I read that on the box. Thank you, Ellison. Thank you, both. It’s beautiful.” Her mouth was puckered so severely, I was expecting her to spit out a lemon seed.

Ellis handed me my gift. “Merry Christmas.”

I peeled back the paper, revealing a Rolex box. Nestled inside was a watch. Diamonds surrounded the face and also adorned the Roman numeral six.

“How do you like it?” he asked.

“I love it.” I leaned over and kissed him.

“Ellis does have good taste,” Daniella said, “but a watch? Where’s the romance? Something to make her ooh and aah.”

“It’s not just a watch, Daniella. This watch represents the
time
Lina and I have been together, the
time
we’ll spend with one another and the hope that
time
will always be on our side.” He took the watch out of the box and put it on my wrist.

“Well, when you explain it that way, I guess it’s a romantic notion,” she said with a laugh. “All right, Lina, let’s see what you got Ellis.”

I reached under the tree and pulled out Ellis’s gift. I handed him the rectangular box. Bebe watched like a hawk as he tore off the gift wrap. His eyes narrowed when he saw the iPad in the box.

“That’s hot,” Daniella commented. “As much as you’re on the go, you need one of those.”

“Lina, thank you. It’s great.” Ellis hugged me, kissed his mother on the cheek and then turned to his sister. “Daniella, how about you show me how to use this in my office?”

“Don’t be long,” Bebe said. “Dinner will be served at five.”

They left the living room together with Daniella chattering about how much she loved her gifts. Their voices eventually trailed off and Bebe and I were left together in silence.

Bebe leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs. “You don’t mind that I coordinated the dinner menu with Chef, do you?”

“Of course not. Why would I?”

“Well, you are the lady of the house now, aren’t you?”

“Yes, I am.”

“When do you plan to step up and act like it?”

I took a deep breath. “It’s only Christmas dinner, Bebe.”

“No, I believe it’s more than that.”

“Bebe, let’s not—”

“A mother wants to feel that her son will be taken care of when he marries. She wants a wife for him that will treat him like a king.”

“We’re not going to do this again.”

“We will do this again and again until you get it through your skull that Ellison deserves more in a wife. So either you will
be
more or you’ll
be
gone.”

“Excuse me? What gives you the right to dictate my relationship with Ellis? Yes, he’s your son, but he’s not a baby. He’s a grown man that makes his own choices and he chose me.”

“Yes, but we all make mistakes, dear.”

“Bebe, you are a bitter woman. Just because your happiness was ruined doesn’t mean you can destroy mine.”

“What did you say to me?” she said, through gritted teeth.

Bebe rose from her chair and I stood up. She put her hand on my shoulder and pushed me back down into my seat, holding me there. “I want you to remember one thing.” She leaned down and got all up in my face. “You’re here now, but don’t get comfortable. If I want you gone, then you’re gone.” She let go of me, pushing me back in the process.

“You’re sick, Bebe.”

She started toward the door. “Perhaps I am, dear, but it’s astonishing what you can get your hands on when your son owns a pharmaceutical company—remedies for all sorts of
problems
. Don’t be a problem.”

Bebe left the living room and I could still see her contorted face next to mine. She was really insane.

Ellis came to the door with his iPad in hand, fiddling with the display. “Daniella’s got me up and running. I came to get you for dinner.”

I walked over to him and pulled him into the room. “Ellis, your
mother has lost it and I’m not going to deal with her anymore. She just threatened me.”

“What are you talking about?” he said, tapping the screen.

“Put that damn thing down. Did you hear what I said? Your mother put her hands on me and
threatened
me.”

“Lina, you’re not going to start this on Christmas, are you?”

I knocked the iPad out of his hands, sending it crashing to the floor.

Ellis took a step back. “What has gotten into you?”

“Your mother! She attacks me whenever we’re alone, never when you’re around, because she likes to put on this air that she would never say the venomous things she says.” I began to pace back and forth. “It’s becoming so clear to me. She knows I’ll complain to you and it’ll start to drive a wedge between us, because in your mind, your mother is not that type of person. Bebe knew this from the beginning. She
knew
this would happen.”

“Listen to yourself. You’re not making any sense.”

“I am making sense, Ellis, and if you would listen you would see that. Your mother thinks you’re making a mistake by marrying me. I’m not worthy. Not only that, she told me that if she wants me gone, she can make it happen. The best part of all of this is that she threatened to get her hands on some drugs from your company to do it.”

“Lina, that’s absurd. Mother cannot access anything from my company. You should know that.”

“I don’t know what she can or can’t get, but that’s not the point, Ellis. You don’t see anything wrong with what your mother said to me? You don’t have a problem with your mother threatening our relationship and what sounded like my life?”

Ellis took my hands in his. “Listen, I told you I would work on Mother. If she said these things—”

“
If
?”

“If she said these things I’ll talk to her tonight. But right now they’re waiting in the dining room. We don’t have time for this.”

I looked down at his hands holding mine. I didn’t feel the warmth or protection that I got when holding my daddy’s hands. I didn’t feel safe or like Ellis would always take care of me. I gazed at the watch on my wrist and thought about what Ellis said it represented.

“You’re right,” I said, barely above a whisper. I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice steady and holding back the tears. “We don’t have time for this.” I pulled my hands from his, unfastened the watch and handed it to him. “Our time is up.”

“Lina, what are you doing?”

“Here’s another gift you can give to Bebe.” I slipped my engagement ring from my finger and pressed it in Ellis’s palm. “Tell her the wedding is off.”

“Lina . . . ”

I slowly walked out of the room, listening to Ellis call my name while Bebe called to him from the dining room. He didn’t come after me and I never looked back.

I
was lying on Giselle’s living room couch, watching TV. I was wearing a pajama top, had rollers in my hair and floppy socks on my feet. She came in and stepped in front of the television, obscuring my view.

“Melina, you know I love you—”

“Prove it and kindly move your big belly out of the way.”

“Oh, no you didn’t,” she said, laughing. “Okay, it’s time to get tough. You’ve been in that funky pajama shirt for days. It’s already after noon. Get your ass off the couch and get dressed.”

“You don’t even sound right trying to be tough. And my shirt isn’t funky. I bathe every day.”

“Fine, but I’m sick of looking at it. I know you’re upset about Ellis, but you can’t stay like this.”

When I left Ellis’s on Christmas night, I drove straight to Giselle’s. She was in Connecticut with her family, but she had the doorman let me into her apartment. She came home later and found me with red, puffy eyes and a runny nose to boot. When the tears finally dried up, she made me eat something and tell her what happened. I told her everything and let her know that I didn’t tell Ellis about the baby. It was her decision if and when she ever told him. She insisted I stay with her until I found a place. I had been holed up for days in her apartment.

“I’m missing the movie with you standing in my way.”

“Just so you know, Charlee is on her way over and if she sees you like this, she will be all in your ass. How’s that for tough?”

I sprung up. “I’m getting dressed now.”

Giselle’s doorbell rang. “Too late. She’s here. Why don’t you answer it, Melina?”

“Damn you, Gigi.” I went to open the door for Charlee.

She looked me up and down. “Oh, hell no! What is going on up in here? We can’t have this. Go shower, or do whatever you have to do, to not look so busted.”