Trouble Down The Road. Bettye Griffin

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СКАЧАТЬ She and Errol often had dinner there, since meals were included in that outrageous annual membership fee he paid. She played the part of beautiful, charming, and cultured wife, hoping to make Brad envious of Errol.

      She wondered how Brad stood being married to an air-head like Suzanne. During a boring halftime performance by an over-the-hill rock ’n’ roller they’d talked about the latest political happenings, and Suzanne had a look on her face that said she wished they’d change the subject. That girl had just plain lucked out with Brad. She was probably all over him like a cheap plaid suit from the day she’d been hired to work at his place of business. Why else would a cultured, educated man like Brad even notice her?

      Micheline thought she’d bust out laughing in the kitchen that day when Suzanne haughtily defended being a stay-at-home mother to teenagers by saying that a woman had to be a mother to understand. Suzanne obviously felt that giving Brad a couple of kids elevated her to demigod status. It had been a dig intended to get her where it was supposed to hurt. Suzanne probably decided that Micheline had no children after three years of marriage because she had difficulty conceiving and wanted to rub salt in the wound. The truth was that Micheline had no desire for motherhood. She’d been tempted to shoot this back at Suzanne, but a wiser head prevailed and she kept her mouth shut. That was a detail about herself that she’d shared with no one, not even Errol. The key here was to listen and learn, not to strike back.

      She grinned. When she did strike back, Suzanne wouldn’t know what had hit her. And neither would Errol.

      Married life had turned out to be a real bust. When Errol proposed to her, he said he wanted to be the one to make all her dreams come true. She believed him, but before the first year of their marriage was over she’d become convinced he wasn’t the man of her dreams after all. He complained incessantly about the money she spent, which was ridiculous. He could spend thousands to join a golf club, but he squawked if she bought a few outfits or pairs of shoes?

      In their newlywed days he’d insisted she not go right back to work after the “trauma” she suffered. Micheline had actually gotten pregnant as the result of a torn condom during a one-night stand with a married man, but she told Errol the pregnancy had resulted from a rape and that she planned to give up the baby for adoption. That part had been true, and it had been a lot easier than Micheline had anticipated. When she informed the man she’d slept with of her pregnancy, he immediately offered to take the baby. It turned out his wife had fertility problems, and the resulting stress on their marriage had been what had led him to sleep with Micheline in the first place. That had been a complication with a happy ending, but the more complex circumstance, the one that haunted Micheline to this day, was that the baby’s adoptive mother was a close friend of Micheline’s sister, Cécile.

      Even Micheline hadn’t planned that little twist. She didn’t know if Vic Bellamy had ever told his wife that the child they were raising was biologically his, or if he’d convinced her that someone left the baby on their doorstep. The latter scenario was ludicrous, of course, but adoptions had become big business, and women who wanted babies and were unable to have them could be desperate. Vic had made it sound like his wife was about to go off the deep end. Micheline hadn’t realized that pregnancy would come as easy to her as it had for Cécile, who had four kids. One thing for sure—she never planned to have another pregnancy. Micheline knew she possessed neither the patience nor the nurturing skills necessary to raise children. Maybe that would change, but she doubted it. She was already thirty.

      Cécile just about had a cow when she found out the part Micheline played in the drama. Micheline merely shrugged and went on. Let Cécile and her friends live their boring little lives, lives filled with raising brats and having same-old sex with their husbands.

      No, that wasn’t true. Norell’s husband, Vic, had been a fabulous lover. She thought he might be good because he was so fit and trim, but because he’d been past fifty, it came as a pleasant surprise to find out just how good.

      That was one bright spot in her marriage to Errol. His sexual appetite was as voracious as hers, and the action in their bedroom was never boring. But in every other way he was all wrong. He’d even suggested to her that she go back to work to take her mind off of her inability to get pregnant.

      She chuckled at the irony. That inability was pure fiction. She could probably get knocked up faster than a person could say “nine months.” The unexpected pregnancy from one incidence of a torn condom attested to that. She simply made up fertility woes so that Errol, who wanted children, would keep her at home longer.

      He’d begun to show a little impatience with the situation lately, though, and she couldn’t blame him. She was only thirty, but Errol was thirty-eight. They hadn’t been trying for their entire marriage, but for at least half of it. Lately he’d expressed that they should begin a workup to investigate the problem. Errol was a good guy, and Micheline knew she wasn’t being fair to him. She reasoned that it would be even less fair for her to have his babies feeling the way she did. If it weren’t for the occasional social event at Cécile’s that Errol insisted they go to, she would never even see the baby girl she gave birth to three years ago. It satisfied Micheline to know the child, who’d been named Brianna, was being raised by loving parents in a good home.

      Micheline knew she wouldn’t be able to string Errol along forever. The time had come to find a new husband, one who wouldn’t object to a little clothes buying on her part, and one who already had kids—kids who lived with their mother and wouldn’t get in the way, of course—and didn’t want any more. Her gut told her that the still handsome and sexy Brad Betancourt was a prime candidate.

      She smiled dreamily at the invitation. Brad was about to turn fifty himself. Something told her his bedroom skills were every bit as sharp as Vic Bellamy’s.

      Micheline intended to do everything in her power to find out.

      All she had to do was get rid of Suzanne.

      Chapter 4

      Suzanne surveyed the public areas of the house. Much to her annoyance, her regular housekeeper, Teresita, was off for the week. Not only did Teresita know the house better than anyone, but she did an excellent job. A local agency specializing in housekeepers had sent a temporary replacement, but the woman was slow moving and missed a lot of areas. She’d come in three times this week, and each time Suzanne had to point out to her that the tables were streaked and that there were still spots on the tiled floor. Unfortunately, this same woman would be on duty for tonight’s party.

      Suzanne sighed wearily at the prospect. She’d offered to pay Teresita double time if she’d come in and work the night of the party, but her longtime housekeeper refused. Of all the lousy luck that Brad’s birthday fell on the same weekend as the double celebration Teresita and her husband were hosting for their two children, who had just graduated from high school and college, respectively. They had family members coming in from all over the state to join in the festivities. Suzanne supposed she couldn’t blame Teresita for turning her down. Two graduations was a big deal for any family. She just wished they were having their party some other weekend.

      At least it looked like Teresita’s substitute finally got it right this time, Suzanne thought with satisfaction when she failed to notice anything amiss. Maybe she could relax a bit before starting to dress.

      She turned to go to her bedroom, then made a last-minute detour into the kitchen, where her friend Paula Haines was busy with food preparation. “You okay in here?” she asked.

      “Fine. I love working in your kitchen, girl. It’s a cook’s dream.”

      Paula wore a tank top, sweatpants, and flip-flops. Her long hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and her forehead was covered with a СКАЧАТЬ