Heaven and Hell (52 page)

After Skippy’s, we headed home and finished
the evening on the couch, snuggled together, Sam watching a game. I
knew he’d cuddle even while watching a game and I was happy to have
this verified.

Then bed, great sex, sleep and now I found
myself waiting for Sam’s mother to show and check me out.

He’d shared and he’d even done it deeply
about Marisela Cooper. He loved his mother. I knew this.

So I also knew if I stood a chance of making
the man I loved love me, I had to make Marisela Cooper do the
same.

But of anyone, she knew his many nuances.
She’d created both Sampson Cooper and Sam. She knew Sampson Cooper
could have anyone and should settle for nothing but the best. And
she knew Sam Cooper deserved the best of the best.

And I had to convince her that was me.

And I was scared to death.

“Kia, look at me,” I heard Sam call gently
and my eyes, which were staring unfocused at his shoulder, lifted
to his. When they did, his face got close. “I know you’re worried
and it sucks that you’re worried but I gotta say, I love that you
care enough to be worried.”

My body softened into his and I whispered,
“Baby.”

His eyes moved over my face then locked to
mine and he kept speaking gently, this time soft and sweet, when he
said, “You’re beautiful always but you make a little dress and high
heels look fuckin’ spectacular and when your face looks just… like…
that, honey, you take my breath away.”

God, God,
God,
I loved this man.

And I had to let him know without letting
him know.

So I went up on toes, my hands slid up his
chest to his neck and I pressed my lips to his for a hard,
closed-mouth kiss.

Even though it was a certainty people were
looking and a possibility someone had at least a camera phone, Sam
didn’t hesitate with slanting his head, his arms going tight around
me and he took my hard, closed-mouth kiss straight to a hard, deep,
wet, open-mouthed kiss.

Suffice it to say, my body softened even
more into his and both my hands slid up to cup the back of his
head.

The kiss was awesome, it was hot, it was
sweet and it was very ill-timed.

“Sam, honey?” a velvety female voice called
from close and Sam ended the kiss and lifted his head an inch as he
turned it.

I turned mine too, slowly.

And there stood Marisela Cooper.

Damn.

There was a reason Sam and his brother were
handsome. I didn’t know what his father looked like but his
mother’s beautiful skin, beautiful eyes and now, seeing her
beautiful, blinding white smile, she gave him the best of her and
her best was
the best.

She had long, thick, shining black hair
pulled back at the tops and sides. At her age, which I was guessing
in the mid-fifties, it was likely dyed but either she was very
fortunate or she went to an awesome stylist because there was not a
gray hair to be found and it didn’t look fake. She was wearing a
pair of stylish, loose-fitting, white linen trousers, a pair of
stylish, strappy, black high heels and a black, loose-fitting,
linen man-style shirt over a white camisole. She’d added a tangle
of some interesting silver necklaces that sat perfectly on her
still-smooth, beautiful brown-skinned chest like they’d been
arranged by a production assistant during a photo shoot.

Thank God. I was not overdressed.

I knew from Sam that she (very cool at her
age back then, I thought) went to college when her son hit the big
time and got herself a business degree. While doing this she’d
opened her own high-class, beach boutique in Malibu which she still
ran that Sam told me was very popular and turned a good profit.

And it was clear she was sporting her wares
and they were evidence of why her boutique was popular. She looked
fantastic.

Celeste would love her and so would my
Mom.

She was perfect.

I was screwed.

“Ma,” Sam muttered, my eyes slid to him as
his arms slid from around me and I saw him smiling his mother’s
smile right back at her.

I watched him fold her in his arms then I
watched her eyes close and my breath stuck when I saw her face get
warm, soft and intense just like her son’s as her arms stole around
Sam.

“Sammy,” she whispered, her eyes still
closed.

Sammy.

Oh man.

She loved her boy. Really loved him.

That was beautiful.

I was totally screwed.

Sam moved away but not far. His hands went
to her waist as hers shifted to his biceps and he asked, “Flight
good?”

“It was long and it is over. Why you don’t
move back to California so I don’t have to fly five hours to see
you, I will never know,” she answered.

“Yeah, you say that then you hit the deck
with a rum and coke and stop bitchin’,” Sam returned on a grin.

Her eyes slid to me, I held my breath then
they went back to Sam and she admonished, “Language, Sammy, there
are ladies in your midst.”

Sam stepped away from his Mom, still
grinning and muttered, “Right, Ma this is –”

“Kia,” she breathed.

Yes.

Breathed.

What did I do with
that?

Then she moved into me and gave me a tight
hug.

At first, I was a little shocked. Then I was
a little relieved. Then I pulled myself together and hugged her
back.

“Hey, Mrs. Cooper,” I said into her ear.
“I’m so pleased to meet you.”

She gave me a squeeze but didn’t take her
arms from around me as she leaned back and smiled warmly in my
face. “Maris, honey. Mrs. Cooper is my ex’s mother and she wasn’t
all that nice.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

She kept smiling at me then her head turned
to Sam and she noted, “No Burberry, thank God.”

I pressed my lips together.

Sam sighed.

Maris looked back at me. “Sam told me about
you after he met you in Italy.”

Uh… wait.

Really?
Italy?

Whoa.

Maris cut into my freak out by continuing to
speak. “Then
Luci
told me about you and keeps telling me
about you every time she calls. You’ve won Luci’s heart, Kia, an
impossible feat.”

Thank God. Luci laid the road for me. I just
had to travel it.

“Everyone keeps saying that but knowing Luci
I find it hard to believe.”

She gave me a squeezy-hug-shake and another
smile then released me.

“Right!” she said sharply and I jumped. “I
will
die
if I do not have a chai which needs to be seen to
prior to getting my bags. Let’s go.”

And it was then she hooked her arm through
mine, leaned into me and commenced us walking with Sam trailing and
her talking.

“Sam said he met a beautiful girl in Italy
but until I saw the pictures, honey, I didn’t believe him. He has
good taste but he finally found a true winner. You’re even better
in the flesh. I
love
your shoes.”

She said the word “love” on another
squeezy-hug-shake, this one of my arm and I had to admit, I was
feeling all-over happy that Sam told his mother about me after he
met me and that he included the word “beautiful”.

“Thanks,” I replied softly then I looked
over at my shoulder to see Sam grinning at me.

Then his voice rumbled at me, “Told
you.”

Maris looked over her shoulder too and
demanded to know, “Told her what?”

“That you’d love her,” Sam answered, I gave
him big eyes then quickly rearranged my face when Maris looked at
me.

“Were you nervous?” she asked.

“Uh… yeah,” I answered.

She gave my arm another squeezy-hug-shake at
the same time waving her other hand in front of her, looking
forward and declaring, “I’m harmless.”

“I see that now,” I murmured.

“Unless you break his heart,” she went on.
“Then I’ll find you, rip yours out and feed it to my dog.”

Yikes!

“I think, if that happens, Sam will likely
be the heartbreaker,” I whispered and I felt her eyes on me so my
eyes moved to her.

And there it was again. Just like her son,
her eyes were intense, burning into me, saying something I did not
get.

“I did not raise a stupid man,” she
whispered back and this time she just gave my arm a squeezy-hug
without the shake.

I smiled tentatively at her.

Her smile wasn’t tentative at all.

She looked forward again and cried, “Thank
God! Chai!”

Then she steered us quickly to the line in
the coffee place at the airport.

Right. That went well.

And I owed Luci. Big time.

I ordered an iced latte.

And when the girl handed me my plastic cup,
I finally relaxed.

Never Use It Just to Breathe

“Look at all these beautiful flowers!” Maris
called out.

Since Sam was bringing up her bags, he was
trailing me. I was trailing Maris therefore she’d hit the first
floor before both of us.

I was learning that Maris making note of
something I’d done with her in mind was pure Maris. She was just
like her son, talkative, friendly, warm, demonstrative, decisive
and totally bossy. It was super cute how she ordered her tall,
powerfully-built, definitely adult son around. It was even cuter
how Sam put up with it with affectionate patience and indulgent
grins.

We took the Cherokee up to Raleigh because
it was more comfortable for passengers and meant her bags wouldn’t
be exposed to the elements. During the ride home, twisted in my
seat most of the time to gab with Maris, I had learned that Sam
told his mother about me after he had breakfast with me.

Yes, that’s what I said.
After he had
breakfast with me.

She’d called him that very day and he’d
shared he’d met, as Maris recounted, “a beautiful woman who also
manages to be cute.”

At his mother imparting this information on
me, with affectionate patience and an indulgent grin, Sam had
muttered, “Jesus.”

“Is that not what you said?” Maris
retorted.

Patiently and indulgently, Sam muttered,
“Yeah, Ma, that’s what I said.”

She grinned at me. I grinned back but I
suspected, learning Sam said shared this with his mother
after
we had breakfast
, my grin was a whole lot brighter.

Luci and the news reported widely that
Cooter and Vanessa planned to off me filled in the rest. Therefore
she wasted no time in finding the opportunity to meet me.

“I hope you don’t find it offensive that we
talk, Kia,” she said quietly, studying my face. “We’re family,
that’s what families do.”

I liked it that she corralled Luci in her
family. I liked that a lot. It said everything about her.

“I have a family, Maris, so I get that,” I
replied quietly in return.

She grinned at me again. And again, I
grinned back.

Sam was right; I had nothing to be nervous
about. Then again, it was good that I was nervous because, clearly,
Maris was just as pleased as Sam that I cared.

Now we were home, she liked the flowers and
it was all good.

I made sure I was out of his way at the top
of the stairs then turned and smiled at Sam to communicate my
relief. He caught my smile, stopped, his hand shot out, hooked the
back of my neck and he pulled me to him, leaning down to kiss me
even as he smiled back.

“Luci!” Maris cried.

Sam’s mouth still on mine, I opened my eyes
to see he had too and my surprise was reflected in his.

His head moved away just as Maris exclaimed,
“Oh my God! What a lovely surprise!”

Sam released my neck, left the bag where it
was and we both moved into the kitchen to see Maris already out the
front door and hurrying through the screened porch.

My eyes went beyond her to see Luci on the
deck.

She wasn’t alone.

Celeste was rising gracefully from one of
Sam’s Adirondack chairs.

“Celeste!” I cried happily, running on my
high heels through Sam’s house and out to the deck (Memphis yapping
and following at my heels) where I made a bee-line to my friend and
threw my arms around her.

“
Ma chérie,
” she whispered in my ear,
holding tight.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I whispered
back.

“Surprise,” she replied softly.

I felt tears sting my eyes as I straightened
but didn’t drop my arms.

“Best one I think I’ve ever had.”

She smiled at me, took one arm from around
me and laid her hand lightly on the side of my face. Her eyes moved
over my features, they got soft and I knew from her look that she
liked what she saw. Then they moved over my shoulder.

“Sam,” she said in her rich, cultured voice
and moved out of my arms to Sam.

“Kia!” Luci cried and I turned to her just
in time to catch her in my arms. We gave each other deep hugs then
she pulled back. “Maris told me she was coming to meet you, I told
Celeste and we both decided it would be fun to make it a surprise
party.” She let me go and threw out her arms. “So we’re here.
Surprise!”

“Awesome,” I whispered.

She grinned at me, her head turned then she
cried out, “Sam!” like he wasn’t two feet away from her but down on
the beach during a hurricane and she threw herself in his arms so
hard I saw his body lock so they both didn’t go down.

Celeste and Maris were smiling at them and I
let Sam and Luci have their moment by introducing the two
women.

“Maris, this is my friend Celeste Masterson.
We met in Lake Como. Celeste, sweetie, this is Sam’s Mom, Marisela
Cooper.”

“Maris,” Maris stated, lifting her hand that
Celeste took, she leaned in, they did the cheek to cheek to cheek
business then pulled apart.

“We brought champagne!” Luci announced,
moving to a table, lifting a sweating bottle of Cristal and I noted
it was one of three.