Love Me Tonight (20 page)

“Not to worry, baby. I'll cover you with this spray I bought, and neither the mosquitoes nor I will come within a mile of you.”

 

Pamela met them as they entered the front door and embraced first Henry and then Heather. She put an arm around Heather and walked toward the stairs. “You may share with Judson or have your own room.”

“Thanks, but I'll suffer alone.”

Pamela laughed. “That's what I figured. Sharing with him would be a mistake, 'cause Henry would give you a tongue-lashing.”

“Why? Is he that old-fashioned?”

“Indeed not, but he told me not to make it easy for Judson.”

“I guess I'm backward about these things,” Heather said. “If he wants the benefits of marriage, he'll have to get married. Making love is one thing, but keeping house for a man goes with a solid commitment and witnesses to that fact. And even then, housekeeping will be a shared activity. Slavery is out.”

“My sentiments exactly. Telford and his gang will have the master bedroom. You and Judson will have the two guest bedrooms, Henry will have the other bedroom, and Drake and I will sleep in the den on the Murphy bed. So there's plenty of room.”

They walked into a room that faced the bay and which Pamela had decorated in aqua and white for a very feminine effect. “This is beautiful,” Heather said. “I love the colors, and it suits this environment.” She sat down. “I know you're busy, but I've wanted to ask you something. I'm sure women make a fuss over Drake because they literally throw themselves at Judson, and they're dead ringers for each other. Does it annoy you?”

Pamela sat down and exposed a perfect pair of legs when she crossed her knees. “What used to get to me was the way they ignored my presence. Some would suggest to him that I'd caught
him.
One woman put her arm through his and asked him where he came from. Another one asked me where I found him, but he grinned at her and said, ‘I found
her
.' Drake detests that adulation, and he has a sharp-tongued way of putting the women in their place.

“Don't worry about it, and whatever you do, don't be jealous. He could have had any of them, but you're the one he wants and the one he loves. Never forget that, and you'll be happy. Do you want to marry him?”

“We love each other, Pamela, and I haven't loved any other man. But what I saw in my parents' relationship was not conducive to faith in marriage.”

“Every marriage is different, Heather,” Pamela confessed. “My dad worships the ground my mother walks on, and she doesn't want to be away from him ever. After thirty-five years of marriage against their families' wishes and without their support, they're still passionate about each other. It's an interracial marriage,
and they've had a lot of social problems because they live in the South, but I've never heard them say one cross word to each other.”

“Which one is African-American?”

“My mother. Her dad didn't speak to her for seven years after she married my father, but they reconciled a good while before he died.”

Heather shook her head as if saddened. “My mother just walked off one day when I was ten and never came back. I can't understand how she could leave a nine-year-old child and never look back.”

“Maybe she did look back. Sometimes when you close a door, you can't reopen it.”

Heather nodded. “I'll think about that. It's an angle I hadn't considered. Let's go down. I haven't greeted Alexis and Tara.”

Tara met them on the stairs. “Hi, Miss Heather. I was afraid Mr. Judson didn't bring you.”

Heather hunkered in front of the little girl and hugged her. “I'm so glad to see you, Tara.”

“Are you going to marry Mr. Judson? If you do, I'll have another auntie. I love my aunties.”

“I don't know about that, Tara. Be patient. We'll see.”

“Okay. I'll be patient as long as you don't say no.” Heather hugged the little girl. So Telford's family had discussed her relationship with Judson, and it seemed as if they wanted Judson to marry her. They must have seen something deep and loving between them.

“There you are.”

Heather looked up and saw Alexis reaching toward
her with open arms. “I've been looking forward to seeing you and Judson here. This is always a bang-up weekend for us, and it's probably the last we'll have this year.”

She embraced Alexis. “I was wondering how long Drake keeps this house open. I'll bet it would be a beautiful place for Christmas festivities.”

“I imagine it would, but everyone gathers around Henry, Telford and the family home at Christmas. I hope you'll be with us this year. We have a wonderful three- or four-day celebration.”

“Thank you, Alexis. I confess that I feel happy with this group. Love and affection seem to spill out of everybody.”

“It does. We don't go barhopping or night clubbing, and we don't seem to need much entertaining. I guess that's one of the reasons why we're so close to each other.

“Come on, we're having coffee and dessert here. Velma made the dessert, and Drake's in there making the coffee. I think we're having it in the den.”

“Where's the baby?”

“Marc's upstairs sound asleep. I'm just having dessert. I don't take in caffeine while I'm nursing. The most difficult adjustment to that wasn't the coffee, but giving up chocolate. I love chocolate.”

“Thanks for telling me. The minute I decide to get pregnant—if I ever do—I'm going to pig out on chocolate. So I won't miss it as much.”

Alexis let a grin spread over her face. “And start drinking orange juice.”

Heather threw up her hands. “I'd better make a list. I always thought that all you had to do was…”

Alexis interrupted her with a big laugh. “Dear Lord, that's
huge!
Honey, that's the least of it.”

After dessert, Tara went to her bed, Velma and Drake served espresso and cognac, and Pamela treated them to a rendition of “Climb Every Mountain” because Henry asked her to sing it. Drake played some CDs of Buddy Guy's gut-bucket blues and jazz. It surprised Heather that the brothers immediately paired off with their wives in slow dancing. She didn't look toward Judson, and hoped that Henry would ask her to dance, but instead, he announced that he was going to bed.

“Dance with me?” She looked up at Judson, and shivers soared through her body. Zombielike, she took the hand he held out to her, walked into his arms and let the flow of love and passion possess her. She loved the way he danced and gave herself over to it.

“Unless you want me to find my way to your room tonight, ease up, will you? This atmosphere is sufficient to lull me into a stupor without the lure of your body moving against me,” he said.

“I'm sorry, hon. When you're this close, my brain seems to take a vacation.”

He rubbed her nose with his index finger and then kissed her mouth. “I know I can't get my birth certificate, because I doubt Mom put my name, hers or Sparkman's name on the certificate filed with the recorder of deeds. But if I can get Aunt Cissy's sister-in-law to file an affidavit that includes the information she gave me, I may be able to get some kind of legal
document. At least, I hope so. That, along with DNA tests, should be sufficient. It won't be perfect, but it will be better than what I have now.”

She wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, honey. I…want this so much for you.”

“Thank you,” he said softly. She moved her head from its comfortable place on his shoulder and stopped dancing.

“Judson, we're the only ones here. They've…they left us.”

“They didn't want to interrupt whatever we were experiencing. In any case, I doubt they were thinking about us.”

“You're right. I sure wasn't thinking about them. Let's sit here for a while. The moon's shining like daylight. If we knew this place better, we could go for a walk.”

He locked his arms around her and rested her head against his shoulder. “Maybe we can do that tomorrow night. I love you, woman.”

“And I love you. But I'm going to bed, because the temptation to be indiscreet is too compelling. Kiss me good-night.”

In a second, he had his tongue inside of her. His fingers plied their magic on her body, roaming until they found her breast. “No,” she said. “It would be more than I can tolerate knowing you're sleeping in the room next to mine. I, too, am human, and I've got too good a memory to expose myself to that. Good night, love.” She pulled away from him, pulled off her shoes and sashayed up the stairs.

 

He walked over to the bottom of the stairs and watched the sight of her swinging hips. He waited until he heard her door close, checked the lock on the front door, extinguished the lights and dragged himself up the stairs.

He wasn't often ill-tempered, but if he gave into his mood right then, he'd send his fist straight through a wall. He stripped, stepped into the shower and turned on the cold water full blast. Thank God his room had its own bath. After a punishing ten minutes, he dried off and crawled into bed.

“A lot of good that cold shower did,” he grumbled and started counting sheep.

After an hour of that, he gave up. She'd wanted him as badly as he wanted her, but she left while she could do it gracefully. Funny thing. When they were alone and had privacy, he always had to be the one to stop.

Hours later, the barking of a dog made him want to curse. He opened his eyes, saw streaks of daylight through the blinds and got up. If he'd slept for a single minute, his body didn't feel like it.

Judson dressed, found his way out of the back door, looked around and, seeing a path, headed down it. Jogging. After a half-mile run, he stopped suddenly at the sight of a woman slowly backing up as if afraid to move forward and just as scared to turn and run. He made it a point not to alarm her, but moved closer to determine the nature of the threat. He got close enough to see that the woman was Heather wearing a green jogging suit.

He could also see that one large and three smaller animals blocked the path, and quickly determined that she had intercepted a family of raccoons. He called to her.

“Turn around and walk away, Heather. They won't attack you if you don't threaten them.”

As if the sound of his voice was all she needed, she swung around and ran to him. He caught her in his arms. “I've never been so glad to see anybody in my life,” she said, clutching him to her.

“It's all right now. Couldn't you sleep?”

“Not a single wink.”

“Neither could I.” He tipped up her chin with his index finger. “I need to kiss you.” He slipped his tongue into her mouth and sampled every crevice, let his hands roam over her, caressing the flesh that he loved so much to touch, and hugged her. When she trembled uncontrollably, he picked her up, carried her into the thicket and pressed her against the smooth trunk of a witch hazel tree.

She loosened the strings on her jogging pants, dropping them to the ground, and hooked her legs around his hips. Within seconds, he began to storm within her, nearly out of his mind with a passion such as he'd never felt and that threatened to overwhelm him. She started throbbing around him, and he told himself to control it, but when her vagina began squeezing his penis and her moans rose higher and higher, he emptied the essence of himself into her. At that moment, he knew she could have him on any terms she cared to dictate.

He picked up the jogging pants and helped her get into them and held her close to his body. “Are you all right, sweetheart?” he said. “I mean, did you feel it?”

“Did I ever! Oh, Judson. I've never experienced anything like that.”

They walked slowly, arm in arm, in the direction of the house. “Neither have I. I don't think it was because I needed relief. I know how to handle that. But it was such an intense emotional need. It was you, and I know of no other way to explain it. I needed
you.
”

“I don't think I'll ever understand it,” she said. “I ached for you in the very pit of me.”

He expelled a long and heavy breath. “It settled something for me.”

“And definitely for me.”

He looked up at the house and saw a light in the kitchen window. “Someone's in the kitchen. Do you feel like going in now?”

“Yes. Thanks. I'm all right,” she said.

He took her hand, opened the kitchen door and saw no one. “I'll stay here,” he said. “Why don't you go on to your room and get comfortable?” He washed and dried his hands, found the coffeepot and a can of coffee, and soon the aroma of perking coffee filled the room. He poured a cup, added some milk. Seeing a television atop a storage bin, he turned it on to distract himself, sat down and began to sip the hot coffee. He'd drunk half a cup and sat lost in his thoughts when Drake walked in.

“Good morning. Say, it's early. Couldn't you sleep?”

“Good morning. The room is perfect. The mattress on that bed was made for me.”

“But—”

Judson smiled. “But, heaven was next door.”

Drake fingered his chin, poured a cup of coffee, sat down and looked at Judson. “And heaven said no way, not here.”

“You got it!” Judson exclaimed, protecting Heather's modesty.

“You're gonna have to do something about that.”

“As soon as I get this business about Sparkman settled, I will.”

“Let's hope she doesn't lose patience.”

“She'd warn me. Heather doesn't know how to be coy or treacherous. I'm not planning to live without her, but I have a compulsion to get this business straightened out before I ask her to marry me.”

“Don't ever let her think that marrying her is contingent upon your resolving who your parents are, because she's accepted the matter as it is.”

H
eather showered, dressed in jeans, a sweater and boots and walked over to the window in her room that overlooked the bay. She didn't remember ever having been so incautious and so reckless as an hour earlier when she'd made love with Judson in the open where some other early riser could have happened upon them. But at that moment, she'd felt that if she hadn't had him, she would have died. And what an awesome, mind-blowing feeling it was when he'd gotten into her and she'd finally exploded all around him.

She saw no point in thinking and worrying about the control he had over her; she should have worried about that months earlier. If marriage proved to be his terms for keeping him in her life, she'd marry him. She took a deep breath and exhaled it. That was silly, a child's
way of thinking. She was not going to fool herself any longer. She wanted him, and she'd negotiate the terms if she had to.

Her gaze caught Drake and Pamela as they walked hand in hand along the pier to Russ's boat. Lovers. All of the Harrington men loved their wives and showed it. And their women exuded not only contentment but happiness. Maybe… She wiped the dampness from beneath her eyes. Could it happen to her with Judson? He'd taught her to need him, and not only for the complete sexual satisfaction that he gave her every time, but for himself. At the sound of music she loved, she wanted to dance with him, and only him. If she enjoyed food, she wanted him to taste it, and if she found anything beautiful, she wanted him to see it. Why hadn't she acknowledged that to herself weeks ago, and when had she begun to want to share everything with him?

“I've been so focused on my career that I almost let something maybe even more important sneak past me,” she said to herself, shaking her head as she left the window and started down the stairs where she knew she'd face him…and the others. Her mind told her to skip down the stairs, but she couldn't do it. The last person she'd ever been able to fool was herself.

Heather walked toward the kitchen with a slower gait than was normally her wont, for she hated the thought of engaging in meaningless, friendly patter at a time when she was experiencing something akin to an epiphany. As she reached the dining room, Judson came to meet her with his arms open, and she walked into them.

“Are you okay?” His fingers brushed gentle strokes over her back.

“You know, I like these people so much, but right now, I don't want to be here. I want to be alone with my thoughts. Do you understand that?”

“Yes, I do. But let me tell you something. Kindness is one of the things the people in this family share. Be yourself, and they'll understand. I'm sure they'll all accept it gracefully if you don't want to talk. Come back here with me. I'm helping Velma get breakfast.”

“Where's Henry?”

“You have to ask? Henry and Tara are fishing.”

In the kitchen, Velma greeted her. “Good morning, Heather. I hope you slept well. Judson's helping me with breakfast. You just sit over there and keep us company.”

“Good morning.” So Judson hadn't told them that she'd already been out. She took a good breath and relaxed. “Can't I at least set the table?”

“Thanks, but Judson did that. We're probably going to have fish for lunch because Henry and Tara will try to catch every fish in the bay. I packed the crabs on ice to take back with us. Drake said it's too cold to swim up here, so if you want to swim, Russ will take the cruiser down to Cape Charles. For some reason, it's much warmer down there.”

“I don't especially want to swim.” He looked at Heather. “Do you?”

“No,” she said, but it was hardly the truth. “Is Tara good at fishing?”

“Absolutely,” Velma said. “The way she trails behind Henry, she couldn't miss.”

Judson dipped the bread into the egg batter for the
pain perdu.

“We're having French toast?” Heather asked, excited, because she loved it.

Judson stopped with the spatula dangling in the air. “My dear woman, this is nothing so simple as French toast. I'll have you understand that I'm making
pain perdu
as it should be made, complete with cinnamon, butter and all the other necessary ingredients.”

“Really? Impressive, Mr. Philips,” Heather said.

The three of them rocked with laughter. Velma dialed Russ on her cell phone. “Honey, would you please haul Henry and Tara in here? Judson and I are ready with breakfast.”

“What about Alexis and Telford?” Judson asked. “Where are they?”

“With Tara out of the way, you can guess,” Velma said, and added, “Makes me think I'd better not start a family till the fire dies down a little bit.”

Surely the sound she heard wasn't the hand of Russ slapping playfully on Velma's backside. “I'll be back in a minute,” Russ said. “Tara's going to be furious with me for bringing her in here now. She's as much of a fishing addict as Henry is. Be right back, baby.”

Velma drained two rings of sausage and put that, along with a pound of cooked bacon, on a large patter. “I'll take that to the dining room,” Heather said. She met Alexis in the hall, her color high and her eyes sparkling.
No one had to tell Heather that Alexis was still flushed with passion.

“You're just in time for breakfast,” she said to Alexis. “Velma and Judson are cooking like we're all a bunch of hard-working ditch diggers.”

“Is there anything for me to do?” Alexis asked her.

“No and not for me, either. Russ went out on the pier to get Henry and Tara, and I'm not sure where Drake and Pamela went.”

Within the next ten minutes, the brothers, their families and Henry found their way to the dining room along with Heather and Judson. After his usual tease with Tara, Russ said the grace. He tapped the side of his glass, and the rest of the family laughed.

“Those who didn't help with breakfast,” Russ said, “can clean the kitchen. By nine-thirty, I want us to be on the boat. I'm thinking of going down to Norfolk where Henry and Tara can fish for Spots. Telford and I can try for some striped bass and bluefish.”

“What will you do?” Heather asked Pamela.

“Read, provided Alexis and Velma don't want to play pinochle. Do you play?”

“I do, but it's been a while.”

“Good,” Pamela said, “they can play with you.”

“Suppose she wanted to play with Judson,” Henry said. When the group laughed, he said, “Clean up yer minds.”

 

Heather played pinochle, fished and, after Russ's captain dropped anchor near Cape Charles, she finally got a chance to swim that afternoon. But, although the
water cooled her body, it did little to reduce the fever for Judson that still raged within her. And that longing for something elusive remained after Russ delivered them to her apartment on Sunday afternoon.

“I'm not going to stay,” Judson said. “I have some work to do that's urgent, and if I stay even for a few minutes, I won't want to leave. Please understand. I'll never forget this past weekend and my time with you, sweetheart.” He kissed her so quickly that she hardly experienced it. Minutes later, she was alone.

Heather stared at the front door, frustrated as her anger began to furl up. She walked from one end of the dining room to the other and back again, picked up a crystal bowl, raised her arm to throw it and laughed. Just because she'd decided that she wanted Judson didn't mean everything should go her way. “Oh, hell!”

She pulled out a chair in the dining room and phoned Scott.

“Say there, Heather, girl. Where've you been?”

She told him as much of the weekend's events as she thought he needed to hear.

“So where's my buddy?”

“Judson went home to take care of some urgent business. I doubt he knows how I'm feeling. I tried to show him, but he's fixated on Fentriss Sparkman.”

“Hold it, Heather. You sound bitter and for no reason. How would you feel if you had to tell your kids you didn't know who their grandparents were? He's worried about it since he was seven years old, and that's an awful burden for a kid. He didn't mind being adopted, and he
loved Aunt Bev and Uncle Louis, but he didn't know who he was. Be patient, Heather.”

“I know that, but if you have a garden and you don't tend it properly, the flowers wither.”

“Don't get dramatic on me. You mean the minute you decide you want him, you think he should kneel at your feet? You're smarter than that, Heather. Judson loves you, and you know it. Instead of standing on the sideline, jump in and help.”

“You don't know what you're talking about. I have, and I would if he'd let me.” Frustrated, she changed the subject. “When are you going to Lithuania?”

“In a few weeks. This is something I'll love you for forever. I definitely wouldn't have been in line for it for another three years at the least.”

“With your personality,” she said, “you can't miss rising to the top at State.”

“You're a sweetheart. Be sure and give me notice enough to get back here for your wedding.”

“You're nuts.”

She hung up. “Why do I always feel better after talking with Scott?”

Because he neither pampers you nor lies to you. He tells you the truth and you know that's what you need to hear.

She answered the telephone, certain that she would hear Judson's voice. “Hello.”

“Hello, Heather. This is Pamela. How about lunch tomorrow? I meant to ask you during the weekend, but it kept slipping me. Is twelve-thirty good for you?”

“Perfect. Shall we go back to The Grill?”

“That's what I had in mind. See you tomorrow.”

“Okay, and thanks.”

She jotted the place and time in her pocket
Week at a Glance
and went to the refrigerator to look for the makings of supper. Seeing nothing interesting, she took a quiche lorraine from the freezer and heated it in the microwave oven. With that, a bottle of beer and a mobile phone, she made her way to the living room and sat down to eat and watch the Ravens.”

When the phone rang, she could see his caller ID.

“Hi, Judson. I just sat down to supper. Are you okay?”

“More or less. Somehow I got a feeling that you might be distressed about my leaving you.”

“That's one way of putting it, but I got it under control…at least for now.

“I'm glad. I'd like to give Scott a party before he goes away. I thought a dinner for about twenty people would do it.”

“Twenty people? Judson, that would be at least a hundred dollars a person plus three hundred for the waiters and another couple hundred for the maitre' d. A cocktail party for fifty at a good hotel would be cheaper.”

“That's true,” he said, “but I don't really like cocktail parties.”

“Neither do I. He's leaving in around a month. I'll get the correct date from his secretary. Is this why you called me?”

“No. It's killing me not getting into my car and driving to you right now.”

“But if you come here, you definitely won't get your work done,” she teased. “We can see each other tomorrow evening maybe. I'm having lunch with Pamela.”

There! Henry would be proud of her. “Don't make it easy for him,” he'd said, “but don't give him too much rope, either.”

“Does that mean you'll have dinner with me tomorrow evening? We can go to that Italian restaurant that we never got to last week.”

“Okay. Will you wear a tie?”

“Absolutely, and a handkerchief, too.”

After they told each other good night, she finished the quiche and beer, discarded the refuse, extinguished the kitchen light and went to her bedroom, but she couldn't sleep.

 

The phone aroused her from a tired stupor at a quarter of six the next morning.

She sprang up. “Hello.”

“Heather. It's your father. He…he won't wake up.”

She jumped out of bed. “Annie! Is this Annie? What is it? What's the matter with him?”

“I think…I think he's left us. Just a minute. The ambulance is here.”

She heard her heart pounding, as pain crisscrossed her stomach like scissors gutting her into pieces.

“Hello, ma'am,” a male voice said. “I'm the EMS driver. The lady here insists I talk to you. I…I don't think there's much hope. I'm sorry.”

Stricken, Heather mumbled, “Thanks. Let me speak with Annie.”

“I knew he was gone as soon as I touched him, Heather,” Annie said, tears in her voice. “Funny thing is I couldn't sleep last night. He ate a good dinner, and we laughed and talked for the longest time. Every time I said it was time for him to go to bed, he'd think of something else to reminisce about. He got up to go to bed, stumbled slightly and laughed.

“You know what he said? ‘Getting old is terrible. Maybe the alternative isn't so bad. If I was twenty years younger and knew what I know now, I'd make you marry me. You've been the true love of my life.' It hasn't hit me yet, but Lord, I know it will.”

“I'll be there as soon as I can get there, Annie. I have a few calls to make.”

She hung up and telephoned Judson.

“Hi, sweetheart. You're up early again today. Is this getting to be a habit?”

“Oh, Judson. My…my father died. I—”

“What? When?”

She told him.

“Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I'll be there as soon as I can.”

“I have to go to Hagerstown.”

“I'll take you.”

“But you have something important to do today.”

“I know, but my senior associate will have to take care of it. Can you make a pot of coffee?”

“Yeah. Don't forget to feed Rick.”

“I'll call his sitter. Rick will be one pampered dog when I get back home.”

She packed, remembered that she probably wouldn't be back home for at least a week, and repacked. She made coffee, fried some bacon, mixed some pancake batter and set the little table in the kitchen.