Southern Belles 4 Blissmas (6 page)

He laughed, "Uh…no. My mama taught me the
best giblet gravy recipe in the world and I'm not about to let you
mess them up." Not only was Tommy a decorated cop and sex god, he
was also a really good cook.

Mamá Vargas returned with a baking dish,
"Hijo, help your mamá out, bring the food from the car." She sat
the dish on the table and lifted the lid. "Mmmm… I bring you
tamales, frijoles, everything." Her smile warmed the room as they
all sat down and gave thanks to The Lord for their wonderful
blessings.

Nick took a seat next to Marti and his mother
was on the other side of her. They passed around the food, laughed
and chit chatted about the various dishes. The whole table was
laughter and conversation, getting to know Nick and Mrs. Vargas.
They talked about the tamales, Los Angeles, the football game on
TV. Marti sat there quietly playing with her food. She didn't want
to be here. She also didn't want to be rude to Nick's mom. She
faked a smile and tried to seem interested, but the unexpected
visitors had thrown her off.

Nick finally noticed Marti was playing with
her food, barely eating. "What's wrong? You don't like the food?"
She glanced at him and jumped up, smacking both hands palms down on
the table. The whole table jumped, startled at her outburst.

"Oh.

My.

God!

I can't fucking do this anymore!" as she
turned, teary eyed and ran through the house and up the stairs.

Everyone was aghast. Annie looked at Tommy,
"What the - " Nick stood up, placing his napkin on the table.” I'll
be right back," he said as he went after her. "Marti!"

Marti threw herself on the bed and smashed
her face into her pillow and let out a stifled scream. The tears
were flowing and her screams turned into sobbing. Nick sat on the
side of the bed, "What's wrong, Marti?" She felt his warm hand
caressing her back.

"Marti, tell me what happened." She turned to
see sheer terror on his face. "Why are you crying?
Princesa
,
what is going on with you?"

Shaking her head, "Nothing, nothing is going
on with me," she stood up. "Just releasing some steam. I'll be
fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I don't care what the fuck I look like; I
said I'll be fine," She snapped, running to the bathroom, locking
the door behind her.

She plopped herself down on the small velvet
settee in the oversized bathroom. One thing about the old ranch
houses in Georgia, they were huge. The guest bathroom was no
different. It was big enough for a small family to live in. And
very girlie…subtle pink lighting and a plum colored settee.

Marti sat there crying.
What the fuck am I
doing? This amazing, wonderful man actually married me, stayed
married to me, and here I am running around like a fucking little
brat. God, what is my problem? I bet his mom thinks I'm a total
freaking loony bird. Tommy probably won't even let Annie hang out
with me anymore. Fuck, I don't even know what to do. I mean shit! I
really don't want to go back downstairs with my tail between my
legs and apologize to everybody. I cannot believe I fucking did
this. SHIT!

She let out a big sigh as she ran her fingers
through her hair, leaned back on the wall and sighed, wiping a tear
from her cheek.

Fuck!

After a few minutes passed and she gathered
her senses, she blew her nose, washed her hands and face and
stepped out into her bedroom. "Nick?" Her husband was looking out
the window, on the phone, again. He turned to look at her, quickly
said goodbye and walked over to her.

"
Princesa
, are you okay?" His voice
was soft and his eyes were dark. He reached over to hug her,
pulling her into his chest. She sighed; this is where she wanted to
be, in his arms. She wanted to feel safe, protected, loved. His
scent was so manly, musky. He always smelled good and the rippling
muscles on his chest didn't hurt. She felt a warm slice of heaven
and raised her head to look at him.

"I'll be fine, honey, I'm sorry, let's go
home."

"Well,
Princesa
, it doesn't look like
we're going home tonight, I was just on the phone with Jimmy and it
seems a cold front has come in and a big winter storm will be
passing through in the middle of the night and early-morning. I was
just watching the snow flurries outside. We'll have to call into
town, find out if there's any room in a hotel; we're not going to
Memphis tonight." He inhaled, letting it out slowly.

"Honey, y'all can just stay here. I'll go ask
Annie, I don't think she'll mind. I've got to get downstairs and
apologize to everybody for acting like such a bitch. I'm really
sorry" Biting her lip, she said "I don't know what's got into me.
All I know is that I have a constant feeling like I am going to
fucking explode, fair warning."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward
the door. He pulled back. "What do you mean explode? Are you
alright? Do you need to see a doctor?"

"No, I don't need to see a fucking doctor, I
need to go apologize to your mother." Pulling his hand, she led him
downstairs.

Making her grand entrance into the dining
room, she blurted out, "Hey y'all, I'm sorry I'm such a brat,
apologies to all of you. Tommy, Annie, there's a storm coming in;
did you see the snow flurries outside? Anyway, no one is going to
be able to drive home tonight, so is it okay if Nick and Mamá
Lupita stay here until the storm passes?"

Tommy looked at Annie and nodded, they had
been talking and eating with Mamá Lupita for over an hour. She had
helped with the dishes and the only thing left on the table was
Nick and Marti's plates, and a chilled bottle of wine. He looked
over at Nick, and smiled.

"Hell yeah! Y'all are more than welcome to
stay at our house any time you want, for as long as you want. We
have tons of room, more than enough for all of us." He stood up and
grasped Annie's hand. "Baby, let's go set up the other room. Nick,
will you…uh…need a room of your own?"

Marti looked up at Nick, still holding his
hand, then back to Tommy. "No, Tommy, Nick will be with me tonight.
And I'm so sorry y'all that I am acting like a freaking idiot.
Lupita, please forgive me."

"No biggie. I know you got a lot going on,
girl. Now finish eating 'cause I'm not feeding you again!" Annie
chuckled and gave Marti a big hug. "You know I love you girl. Just
give us some warning before you go postal, okay? And if you do go
postal, remember, I'm on your side." A smile slid across Annie's
face as she hugged her best friend. Marti would be okay.

"Tommy, come on! Let's go get the guest rooms
squared away." She scurried up the stairs, Lupita slowly followed
behind. She glanced back at her son. A wink and a smile slid across
her face. He nodded and they sat down to finish up their cold
Thanksgiving dinner…nothing a microwave wouldn't fix.

She turned to look at Nick, his eyes were
tired and the muscles in his jaw tight. "I'm really sorry for all
this, Nick. Please forgive me." She felt like she was giving up,
again. She had to, for today anyway. It was Thanksgiving and she
wanted to give thanks, not screw up everyone's holiday.

His dark eyes turned into melted chocolate,
he reached across and slid his arm around her shoulder, caressing
her for a second, then pulling her close into him. "I forgive you,
Peach. I was more worried than anything. Not angry, just
worried."

She poured another glass of wine. She needed
it. And then she poured another. This was going to be a long
night.

Nick stood up "I'll have to carry mama’s bags
upstairs, and get her settled in. I'll be right back." Marti smiled
and nodded, she was about to down another glass of wine. Oh, fuck
it! She went to the liquor cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Jack.
Her heart hurt, her head pounded and if she was going to sleep with
Nick tonight, she needed something to take the edge off.

After a few shots of whiskey, Marti was a
little buzzed. Nick and Tommy got Mrs. Vargas all set up in the
other guest bedroom and Annie and Tommy locked up the house and
went to bed. The snow was falling outside and there was a chill in
the air. Nick brought in some firewood and stoked the fire. They
sat on the sofa watching the flames and Marti started, "You know
this house was built in the 1800's? Annie had it restored, don't
know where the girl got the money, but she did an amazing job." She
lay back between his legs, her back warm on his chest.

"This house is beautiful. Your friends are
wonderful. I can see why you love Mountain View. I can see why you
are such an amazing lady. You came from this beautiful, small
town."

If he only fucking knew how my life truly
was before I met him, he would run for the hills.
She thought.
"Our house is beautiful too, I'm just a whiny brat. Guess I didn't
know what I had till I didn't have it no more." She sighed, the
warmth of the fire and the feel of his heart beating in his chest
stirred up a tingling inside.

"How's your mama? Does she hate me?"

He chuckled, "
Mi mamá
doesn't hate
you. She has enough love in her heart for everyone. And she gives
it freely. No questions asked. You have to remember where I come
from. We were a poor immigrant family for many years, she has
worked hard and now all the work she did raising her children has
paid off. She's an amazing woman. You will love her once you get to
know her."

Marti rolled over, placing her chin on his
chest, and looked into his eyes. "You are an amazing man, we just
have our differences and I really hope we can get them settled
before we fall apart again. I really need you.”

He reached up and ran his fingers through her
thick hair. His thumb slid across her cheek bone. "You fell apart,
Peach. I have a business to run." She frowned. "I know, I just,
well… I really don't want to talk about it now."

He exhaled. "You don't want to talk about
anything, ever." He hesitated, playing with her curls, "you are my
wife and I intend to keep it that way, but
hija
, you left
me…in the middle of the night. We need to talk about this."

She pouted and ran her fingers through his
hair. "But I don't want to."

"Marti…
hija
. You left, I woke up in
the night and you weren't there. My wife, gone, I searched all over
the house and you were gone. What kind of life is this? What do you
need that I am not giving you?" His eyes were dark and piercing,
she shivered, she had never seen him like this.

"Nick, I really don't want to talk about
this. Not today, it's Thanksgiving. Relax." Shaking her head, "This
is not how this night is supposed to end."

"This is not how my marriage is supposed to
end. Do you have any idea how I felt when I saw you had left? Do
you even care what you did to me?" His voice vibrated throughout
the living room.

She sat up, almost snarling. "What I did to
you? What about all the shit you do to me?" Her voice was getting
louder. "You know what? Just forget it, just fucking forget it. I'm
going to bed." She picked up her glass and started towards the
stairs, stopping for a moment at the bottom step. She turned back
and looked at him. "You know what? I ju-"

"Marti," he interrupted, "I'm sorry. Sorry
that my feelings for my wife are more than I ever imagined. Sorry
that I love you. And I'm very sorry that you think our marriage is
a joke or something to be played with. Damn! Are you
ever
happy?” he exhaled, tired of arguing, and looked over at her and
said, “I'll go in the morning, for now I'll sleep on the
couch."

"Good night." She didn't know if it was the
whiskey or what, but her feelings just went on overload and she
wasn't about to let it show. She slowly walked up the stairs,
wanting him to come to her, her heart pounding, begging him to come
to her…because her bruised ego wouldn't dare let her go back
downstairs.

*****

Marti slid her hand across the bed, hoping to
find Nick, and he wasn't there. Her heart skipped a beat, did last
night really happen? She hurried and threw her clothes on, her head
pounding from the night before.

Running down the stairs, she looked in the
living room and heard voices in the kitchen, she ran into the
kitchen to find Annie and Lupita cleaning up the breakfast dishes.
Thank God they haven't left yet. Rubbing her head, "Shit, what time
is it? Y'all already ate?"

"Good morning sleepy head, it's about eight
thirty. You hungry?"

"Eight thirty? On a Saturday? And you're up?"
walking over to the coffee machine, pouring a cup of coffee. "You
girls know where Nick is at?"

Lupita replied, "They are out cutting a
Christmas tree. How nice to have a real tree. You know back in L.A.
we just buy them from the lot. Much easier, but here, it's so
pretty and there are trees everywhere."

"Yes there are, big and beautiful and a big
mess to go along with them." Annie chuckled. "Marti, they went over
to the foothills, they should be back soon. We are going to pull
out the Christmas decorations and decorate the tree when it gets
here. You game?"

"Uh, sure, I love Christmas. Did Nick say
anything about going home?"

Annie shook her head. "No, not that I know
of." Turning to Lupita, she asked, "Did he tell you anything?"

"No,
hija
, he just said he was going
with
Tomás
." Standing up, she walked to the living room.
"
Que bonito
, where are the Christmas lights? We should get
started, this is a very big house and it will take us a very long
time."

"They are in the attic. I'll have to get the
ladder." Annie dried her hands and went to find her boots. She
slipped them on and grabbed her coat. The storm had passed, but
there were flurries falling when she walked outside.