Chapter 3
Leah had just finished emptying the dishwasher when the doorbell rang. She’d spent the entire morning cleaning the house from top to bottom. She’d stripped beds, changed the linens, put up several loads of wash, cleaned the bathroom, dusted all flat surfaces, and vacuumed the floors. Everyone was up and out of the house before seven, which gave her at least five hours to get everything done by noon. Since returning home, she’d assumed the cooking duties, which freed up her mother to relax and enjoy her dinner.
It had been three weeks since she’d shared lunch with Alan at the Bramble House, and she’d returned to his office to drop off what he needed to give to the headmistress. Three days later she received a call from an administrative assistant at the Calhoun Academy to set up a time and date for an interview with Mrs. Kelly. The very prim and proper woman did express her concern about Leah’s age because she was the same or close to the age of their senior students, but it wasn’t a factor that would cause her to reject her application.
When she’d told her parents that she was applying for a position at the private school, both said she shouldn’t get her hopes up that she would be hired. Because Alan had reassured her she would get the position, Leah refused to let their doubts dampen her enthusiasm.
She peered out the window to find the letter carrier and opened the door. “Good morning.”
The woman held an envelope. “I have a certified letter for Leah Berkley, and I need a signature.”
“I’m Leah.” She took the pen, signed the card, and returned the pen. “Thank you.” Turning over the envelope, she saw the return address. It was from the Calhoun Academy.
Leah hadn’t realized her hands were shaking as she closed and locked the door. Flopping down on the living room sofa, she opened the envelope and let out a high-pitched scream. She was going to be a teacher at the Calhoun Preparatory Academy for Girls. Her eyes grew wide when she read the starting salary. It was more than what Mrs. Kelly had quoted during the interview.
Tears of joy and relief filled her eyes and flowed down her face. Walking into the kitchen, she picked up the receiver off the wall phone and dialed Alan’s private number. “They hired me,” she whispered into the mouthpiece.
“Congratulations. Didn’t I tell you they would?”
“Yes, you did,” she agreed.
“We’re going to have to celebrate.”
“When do you want to get together?” Leah asked.
“Are you free this weekend?”
Leah wanted to ask him if he planned to see his girlfriend yet did not want to pry. This weekend would be perfect for her, because her father had planned to go to a car show several hundred miles from Richmond to look at cars he wanted to buy and restore, and this year her mother and brother had decided to go with him. They wanted to leave Saturday at dawn, stay overnight, and return Sunday evening.
“Yes.”
“What are you doing Saturday?” he asked.
She folded her body down on a stool. “I’m free all day.”
“Would you mind going back to the Bramble House? On Saturday nights guests are treated to live music between the hours of nine and midnight.”
“I’d love to.”
“I’ll make a dinner reservation for seven. That will give us two hours to eat before we go downstairs to listen to music.”
“What time are you picking me up?”
“Six.”
Leah smiled. “I’ll be ready when you get here.” “Congratulations again, darling.”
“Thank you, Alan.”
It wasn’t until she hung up that she recalled his endearment. She wasn’t his darling, sweetheart, or babe, and he needed to save the sweet talk for his girlfriend. Leah hadn’t seen Alan since their lunch at the Bramble House. When she’d returned to his office to drop off the envelope with her résumé and transcript, the receptionist had asked whether she wanted to see Alan again, but she told the woman she was only there to leave some documents for him. She’d curbed the urge to call him after her interview with Mrs. Kelly, believing the woman would follow up with him as to her impression of his recommended applicant.
And Leah did not want to think of their Saturday meeting as a date. They were just friends getting together over a celebratory meal.
* * *
Leah came down off the porch when Alan stopped in front of her house. He was out of the car and had opened the passenger-side door by the time she reached the sidewalk. Everything about her screamed sophistication from her head to her feet. She’d styled her hair in a twist with jewel-tipped pins, and the long-sleeved, scoop-neck de rigueur little black dress ending at her knees hugged every dip and curve of her slender body. Sheer black stockings and four-inch, black satin-covered heels drew his attention to her long, shapely legs. He couldn’t stop grinning when he saw the pearls around her neck.
He moved closer, one hand going to her waist. “You look incredible.” She was wearing more makeup than when he last saw her, and if he hadn’t known her age Alan would’ve taken her for a woman in her early twenties.
She demurely lowered her eyes. “Thank you.”
He waited for her to sit and swing her legs around before closing the door. Leah was thanking him, when he should’ve been the one thanking her for allowing him to be seen with her. She looked and smelled wonderful. He rounded the sedan, fastened his seatbelt, and reversed direction. The Berkleys lived in a working-class neighborhood with one- and two-story homes each with a patch of grass doubling as a front lawn. Most were well kept, and the streets were free of litter and debris. Posted signs indicated there was a neighborhood watch.
Alan recalled Leah saying she needed to work because she wanted her mother to stop working at a dress factory, and once Constance told him she planned to hire Leah, he was able to convince her to increase the starting salary with a promise he would forward a check to cover the difference.
“How have you been?” he asked when he came to an intersection with a four-way stop sign.
“Good. I’ve been keeping busy taking care of the house and cooking to give my mother a break.”
“Who taught you to cook?”
“It began with my maternal grandmother, who’d moved in with us after Grandpa died.”
“How old were you when you had your first lesson?”
“I think I was about six. The first thing she taught me to make was biscuits, and then bread. She passed away a year before we moved out of the trailer park and into an apartment. By then I was tall enough to look over the stove, and I’d help Mom with Sunday dinner. It continued until I left for college.”
He gave a sidelong glance. “Are you saying you’re a passable cook?”
Leah landed a soft punch on his shoulder. “I’m more than passable. I happen to believe that I’m a very good cook.”
“I won’t be able to confirm that unless you decide to cook for me.”
“No, Alan. That’s not going to happen, because that’s something you should do with your fiancée.”
Alan swore under his breath. His uncle was putting pressure on him to give his colleague’s daughter a ring because Justine had complained that most of her girlfriends were either engaged or married. He was able to belay her anxiety once he told her he wanted to wait for her late-October birthday to make the official announcement. It was enough to temporarily pacify her so that she’d stopped asking for a ring at least once a week. And if he had one wish it would be to marry Justine and have Leah as his mistress.
“You’re right,” he mumbled.
Not only couldn’t Justine cook, but he knew he would have to hire a cook once they were married. As an only child she’d been pampered by her parents, something he’d decided not to continue. Whenever he refused to do what she wanted, she would resort to tears, which annoyed him, and that was one reason he’d asked himself why he continued to see her. However, he knew the answer. He was thirty-five, was the managing partner in a successful law practice; Justine’s father was a judge, while his own plans included a judgeship like his father, uncles, paternal and maternal grandfathers, and his future father-in-law. He turned the radio to a station featuring movie soundtracks, and he knew the tense moment between them was over when Leah rested her left hand over his right on the steering wheel.
“I’m sorry that I snapped at you.”
Alan reversed their hands, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. “There’s no need for you to apologize. It was insensitive of me to ask you to—”
“Don’t say any more, Alan. I don’t want to ruin the evening talking about other people. Tonight, it’s going to be just us celebrating thanks to you what will become a new beginning for me.”
Alan lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to her fingers when it was her lush mouth that he’d wanted to kiss. “I want this to be a night that both of us will remember for a long time.”
“I know I will,” Leah said, smiling.
He stared out the windshield, concentrating on the road in front of him rather than dwelling on the woman sitting only inches away. Everything about her was appealing, and as much as he tried, he wasn’t able to penetrate the wall she’d erected to keep him at a distance.
Leah noticed when she’d come to the inn with Alan for lunch the parking lot was only half filled with vehicles, but not tonight. It was Saturday—date night—and red-jacketed valets were busy parking cars. Couples in business suits and chic evening dresses exited vehicles and were strolling toward the Bramble House’s entrance. When she’d gone through her closet to decide what to wear, Leah hadn’t been certain whether her dress would be appropriate for dinner because she felt it was better suited for a dressier affair. It had become her first and only big-ticket item during college after Philip invited her to accompany him to Denver for his parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary. The salesperson at the Nashville boutique had reassured her that when she put the dress on she would turn heads, and she had. The simplicity of the garment and the décolletage that revealed a hint of breasts each time she took a breath had garnered lustful stares from men and glares from women. She hadn’t heard from her friend since graduation and she didn’t expect to; however, she would always have wonderful memories of what she’d shared with him.
“Is it always this busy on weekend nights?” she asked Alan.
“The few times I’ve come it wasn’t. But that was in the winter. I suppose it’s the warm weather that brings folks out.”
Not only was it a very warm summer night, but a light breeze had managed to offset the intense daytime heat and humidity that made it unbearable to remain outdoors for long periods of time. Alan tucked her hand into the bend of his elbow when the greeter held the door open for them. The lights were dimmer than they’d been when they’d come for lunch, and the interior was noticeably cooler.
The woman at the hostess station gave Alan a key card, and instead of taking the staircase to the second floor, they entered a small elevator in an alcove. Another couple was in the car, and Leah felt the muscles in Alan’s arm tense under the sleeve of his suit jacket when the other man stared directly at Alan, leaving her to believe that they possibly knew or recognized each other. The woman gave her a saccharine smile before focusing her attention on the man holding her close against his side. Leah noticed that only the man wore a wedding band.
Suddenly it became clear to her. The Bramble House, located at least thirty miles away from Richmond, was an establishment where men were able to conduct their affairs with impunity. The hostess gave Alan a key card without checking the desktop’s monitor. He’d told her it was where he’d entertained clients, and she wondered if that invitation also extended to women. However, it was of no import to her, because Leah had told herself it would be the last time she would accompany him to the inn although she’d promised to dine with him at least twice a month. While she was more than appreciative of his assistance in her securing a teaching position, they would celebrate her success and then, like her association with Philip Brinson, she would go on with her life while Alan would announce his engagement and marry his fiancée in a high-profile event befitting a Kent. She had no intention of becoming the other woman.
Alan slipped the key card in the slot on the door to the Yorktown Suite, waited for the green light, and then opened the door. He stood aside, waiting for her to enter, and Leah could not believe the sight unfolding before her eyes. A bouquet of roses in every conceivable hue, an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne, a platter of antipasto, flutes, small plates, and silverware covered the dining area table. The only illumination came from flickering candles in wrought-iron holders, and the sound of a popular love song filled the space from hidden speakers.
A small gasp escaped Leah when Alan scooped her up in his arms and deposited her on a love seat, his body following hers down. “I wanted to make the night special.”
Leaning into him, she pressed her mouth to his, aware that she’d shocked him when he went still. “You have. Thank you, Alan,” she whispered against his parted lips.
He smiled. “There’s no need to thank me, Leah. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”
Maybe she was too caught up in the moment and failed to register the passion in his voice. Leah never would have thought of Alan as a romantic. She had never had anyone wine and dine her on this scale; she felt like the princess in a fairytale. Tonight, Alan had become her prince and she his princess.
“When did you plan all of this?”
“Right after you called to tell me you’d been hired. I knew then the occasion called for something very special.”
Leah rested her hand on his smooth-shaven jaw. “It is.”
“I know you said you don’t drink, but will you have a small amount of champagne?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
The first time she’d drunk champagne was at Philip’s parents’ anniversary party. It had only taken a couple of sips of the bubbly for her to decide if she was going to drink, then it would be champagne. It was slightly sweet, but not as sweet as pop, and before the celebration ended she’d finished the flute.
Alan stood, removed his jacket, and extended his hand. “Come with me to the table, and I’ll serve you.”
He seated her, lingering over her head before pressing a kiss to her hair. Leah smiled up at him over her shoulder before her gaze shifted to the table. There was a tin of caviar, ramekins with marinated olives, pâté, a bowl of parmesan cheese straws, herbed pita crisps, toast points, and a trio of avocado-lime, mango and chutney, and salsa dips. Tiny parmesan shortbreads were topped with parsley pesto and goat cheese and roasted cherry tomatoes and feta.
“This is really a lot of food.”
Alan wrapped a towel around the bottle of champagne and expertly removed the cork with a muted pop. “I didn’t know what you would or wouldn’t eat, so I asked for a variety of hors d’oeuvres.”
“Everything looks delicious, and I intend to sample everything on this table.”
He filled two flutes, handing her one before hunkering down next to her. “May you remember this night for years to come.”
Leah touched her glass to his, her eyes meeting his in the flickering glow of candlelight. In that instant she wished things could have been different; that Alan wasn’t promised to another woman.
“I’ll never forget you or this night.”
Leah lost track of time as she ate, drank, and danced with Alan, unwittingly falling under the spell he’d carefully orchestrated so she wouldn’t forget him or the night. After her third glass of champagne her limbs felt like al dente spaghetti. Her arms went around his neck as she pressed her breasts against his chest, languishing in the strength of his hard body.
She moaned, but the protest appeared ineffective to her own ears when he picked her up and carried across the room to the bed. Time stood still, her senses drowning in sensual heat.
* * *
Long, heated moments later, Alan rolled off her body and onto his back, stunned. It was the first time since becoming sexually active that he hadn’t used protection, and he prayed she was on some form of birth control, because he couldn’t afford to get her pregnant. Not when he was expected to propose to Justine.
Shifting slightly, he tried making out her face in the wall sconce outside the bathroom. “Are you on the pill?”
It was a full ten seconds before Leah said, “No. My period has always been irregular, so I can’t tell if we picked the wrong time to make love.” She sat up. “I never should’ve done this.”
Alan pulled her down to lie beside him. “Don’t, darling.”
“Don’t call me that, Alan, because I’m not your darling.”
He wanted to tell her she could be his darling if only she was amenable to becoming his mistress, and she would want for nothing. He would set her up in her own condo and buy her whatever she wanted or needed. The first thing would be a new car.
“I’m sorry, Leah.”
There was another pregnant pause. “Did you plan all of this?” Leah asked. “The flowers, champagne, romantic music, and a candlelight dinner with the hope that I would fall for your seduction?”
Alan knew it was hopeless to lie to her. “Yes.”
“Thank you for being honest. And now that we’re baring our souls, I did want you to make love to me, but not without protection.”
He dropped a kiss on her mussed hair. “I’m sorry about that, but once I tasted you I couldn’t stop and put on a condom.”
“You have condoms here?”
“Yes. I have some in the bedside table drawer.”
“Make certain you use them the next time.”
His breath caught in his throat. “You want me to make love to you again?”
Leah looped one leg over his. “Yes, because this will be the last time we’ll be together like this.”
Alan’s heart sank like a stone. He couldn’t believe that a girl half his age had bewitched him as no other had and probably ever would again, and for that he hated her. And in that instant he decided not to make love to her again no matter how tempting the offer.
“What time do you have to be home?”
“I can leave anytime you want.”
Twin emotions of desire and hate warred within him, and yet Alan wasn’t ready to let her go. “Let’s get some sleep, and once we wake up I’ll take you home.”
* * *
Leah managed to forget about Alan as she spent the summer experimenting with new recipes, going over the syllabus for the upcoming school year, and attending a series of new-teacher orientation sessions. With the approach of fall, she felt more fatigued than usual. She was in bed at nine, slept with the ceiling fan on all night, and woke drenched in sweat.
Leah shuffled into the kitchen early Saturday morning in October and flopped down on a chair at the table. Her mother, who had taken down a mixing bowl from an overhead cabinet, stared at her.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Not really. I’ve been dragging my behind for a couple of weeks now.”
Madeline came and placed a hand on her forehead. “You don’t feel warm.” Her blue eyes narrowed. “When was the last time you had your period?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been regular.”
“That’s not good, Leah. Maybe you need to see my gynecologist so she can put you on something to regulate it.”
“Does she have Saturday hours?”
“Yes. I think she’s there until two.”
Pushing to her feet, Leah walked over to the refrigerator. Madeline had attached a magnetic board on one of the doors with a list of telephone numbers. Picking the receiver off the wall phone, she punched in the number. The receptionist told her there had been a cancellation and she could come in at one.
She hung up. “I have a one o’clock appointment.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, thanks, Mom. I’ll be all right.”
Two hours later she lay across her bed sobbing as Madeline attempted to comfort her. Leah had almost fainted when the doctor told her she was almost three months pregnant. And she had been quick to admit she’d had unprotected sex with Alan Kent.
Madeline rubbed her back. “Sweetheart, you’re going to have to calm down and call Alan Kent to let him know that you’re carrying his baby.”
Leah sat up quickly. “Why, Mom? It’s not as if I’m in love with him. And besides, he has a fiancée.”
“Which is why the sonofabitch should not have taken advantage of you!”
She knew her mother was angry, because it was on a rare occasion that Madeline Berkley cursed. Leah blotted her eyes with a crumpled tissue. “He didn’t take advantage of me.”
“The man’s twice your age, Leah, and we both know you’re not the first woman he’s slept with. Why didn’t he protect you?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask him.”
“You bet your ass that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
Leah panicked. “Stay out of this, Mom!”
“Why should I? The man seduces my eighteen-year-old daughter and you say I shouldn’t get involved?”
“What’s all of the yelling about?”
Leah shifted on the bed to find her father standing in the doorway, massive arms crossed over his broad chest.
“Your daughter is going to make us grandparents,” Madeline said as she slipped off the bed and walked over to her husband. “She slept with Alan Kent.”
Larry lowered his arms in slow motion, both hands in fists. “I’m going to kill that bastard for taking advantage of my girl.”
“Daddy, no!” She didn’t know why her parents believed Alan had taken advantage of her. She’d been drinking, but she wasn’t so under the influence that she couldn’t have told him no. She’d wanted him to make love to her as much as he had.
Larry’s eyes gave off blue and green sparks. “I knew that sneaky bastard was up to something when he came to your graduation. And I told your mother he wasn’t going to stop until he got what he wanted. But I’m willing to bet he didn’t intend to get you pregnant, not when the word is he’s going to marry Judge Hamilton’s daughter.”
Leah had heard enough. “Mom, Daddy, please let me handle this my way.”
“Are you going to tell him about the baby?” Madeline asked.
“Yes. He has a right to know he’s going to be a father.”
“When are you going to call him?” Larry questioned.
“I’m going to wait until Monday.”
* * *
Alan could tell something was wrong when he saw Leah’s face. She was leaning against the driver’s-side door of her car when he pulled up. She’d left a message on his private line that she wanted to meet him in the parking lot adjacent to the high school. He hadn’t seen her in months, and he’d finally gotten over her. Constance called to tell him Leah had become a pleasant addition to the faculty. She’d become a favorite with the students, and even teachers and support staff were impressed with her intelligence and easygoing personality.
“How have you been?” he asked, not knowing what else to say.
“Pregnant.”
His knees buckled slightly. “Did you say you’re pregnant?”
Her expression did not change. “Yes, Alan. I’m carrying your baby.”
He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath. “What do you intend to do?”
She stood straight. “Have it, of course.”
Alan felt like an animal caught in a trap. He’d planned to give Justine a ring at the end of the month; meanwhile a woman with whom he’d slept once was telling him that he was going to be a father. “What if I pay you to get rid of it?”
“Fuck you, Alan! You can’t give me enough money to kill my baby.”
He recoiled as if she’d struck him across the face. “Don’t you realize you’re fucking up my life, Leah!”
“No, Alan. You did that yourself when you fucked me without wrapping up your cock!”
“Nice talk for an English teacher.”
“Go to hell, Alan!” Turning on her heel, she opened the car door, got in, and drove away, leaving him staring at her taillights.
“Fucking bitch!”
Just when he’d finally convinced himself that marrying Justine was the right thing to do after dating her for a couple of years, Leah telling him she was carrying his baby changed everything. First, he had to tell Justine about the baby. If she was still willing to marry him knowing he had an outside child, then they would go through with their plans. If not, then he and Leah would have to decide how they planned to raise the child.
* * *
Leah sat between her parents in the parlor in the Kent family mansion, known to locals as Kent House. The magnificent structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It had been two weeks since she’d announced that she was pregnant, and all hell had broken loose. Justine Hamilton broke up with Alan; and his mother had insisted he and Leah marry as soon as possible.
Adele Kent glared at Leah. “I can’t believe that with all of the contraceptives on today’s market you would allow yourself to get knocked up.”
“Watch your mouth, Mrs. Kent,” Larry warned. “My daughter did not make this baby by herself. And your son is a grown-ass man that shouldn’t be sleeping with a girl half his age and not protect her.”
Judge Ronald Kent held up a hand. “There’s no need for name-calling or insults. Leah is carrying my grandniece or nephew, and I believe we both want the same thing. I’ve spoken to Alan, and he’s willing to marry Leah. That is, if she’s willing to accept him as her husband.”
Leah suddenly felt like a specimen on a slide under a microscope with everyone staring at her. The exception was Adele, who continued to glare. A follow-up visit with the gynecologist and a sonogram had revealed she was carrying twins, and she could not imagine raising two babies at the same time on her own.
She didn’t love Alan, but with time perhaps she would. But his reaction to her revelation she was pregnant was imprinted on her brain like a permanent tattoo. Her father hadn’t hesitated when her mother revealed to him she was pregnant, while Alan had suggested she have an abortion.
She would have her babies, love them unconditionally, and although their surname would be Kent, she planned to raise them as Berkleys.
Leah gave Alan a long, penetrating stare. “Yes. I will marry you.”
Pushing to his feet, Alan crossed the room, took her hand, and eased her off the love seat. Reaching into his pocket, he took out a ring with a large cushion-cut emerald surrounded by brilliant blue-white diamonds and set in platinum, and he slipped it on her left hand. He angled his head and brushed a kiss over her parted lips and then turned on his heel and walked out of the parlor.
Leah stared at her hand, wondering if it was the ring Alan had planned to give to Justine Hamilton. She’d heard rumors that Justine was so devastated that she wasn’t going to be Mrs. Alan Kent that she had left Richmond and moved to Florida to live with her older sister.
“It’s not the one Alan was going to give Justine,” Adele said, reading her mind. “That ring belonged to my mother. The one you’re wearing was my grandmother’s. She also gave birth to twins. Your mother and I will arrange your wedding to be held here at Kent House. Of course, it will be a private affair with only our immediate families in attendance. My brother-in-law will be the officiant, and once you’re married you and Alan will move into a wing of this house, because his condo has two bedrooms and one doubles as a library. Once you’re more advanced in your pregnancy I will hire a nurse to look after you, and a nanny after the babies are born.” She gave Madeline a weak smile. “I don’t want you to worry about Leah. I’m going to make certain she’s well looked after.”
Madeline glared at her. “I have no doubt you will, Adele, because I’ll be coming by to check on her. Of course, I’ll call first.”
Leah closed her eyes, wishing she could also close her ears. Her future mother-in-law didn’t care a whit about her but was obsessed with the babies in her womb, only because she was carrying the next generation of Kents.