Family Secrets Page 10

  Jake kissed her mouth gently. One of them shifted a little, and their bodies finally parted. Cari blushed when the parting was accompanied with a soft, wet sucking sound. Glancing at Jake through her long eyelashes, she wondered if he had heard the sound as well. The answering smile curling his lips upwards was her answer.

  “Don’t blush, sweetheart. It is a perfectly natural human sound when two people make love. You are still pretty tight,” Jake told her quietly, lifting his eyebrows devilishly.

  Cari felt her cheeks only get brighter at such intimate talk. Jake had slid to her side, leaning on one forearm. She looked over at him and found him watching her. She couldn’t resist the temptation and lifted her hand and traced his profile with one finger. When she reached his lips, she moved her finger more slowly, caressing the outline of his mouth. Completing the circuit, Jake pressed a soft kiss to her finger.

  He then reached out and took her hand in his. Shifting in the bed, he lowered his head to rest on her chest. “If I’m too heavy, just shove me off,” he whispered to her softly.

  Cari shook her head, and then realized that he couldn’t see her movement. Instead she lifted her hand and began caressing the crisp yet soft hair on his head. “You’re not too heavy.”

  Several minutes of comfortable silence reigned. Jake lifted his head suddenly, shifting around to look at Cari.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked him quickly.

  “Nothing is wrong. I just felt the need to tell you that even though it isn’t politically correct I am…honored, glad—hell, honey I was just tickled pink to have been your first!”

  Cari blushed brightly. Yet she couldn’t deny the rush of warmth through her body and heart at his words. “I didn’t think that kind of thing really mattered to anyone anymore. You know, what with the sexual revolution and all?”

  “It matters because it was a part of the person you are, Cari.”

  Cari frowned. “So the fact that I wasn’t a sex kitten didn’t turn you off?”

  Jake laughed softly, leaning down to kiss her mouth. “Oh, I was planning on starting your sex-kitten classes today. I have no doubt that you will be an eager and willing student.”

  Jake never saw the pillow before it hit him, but they both enjoyed the ensuing pillow fight.

  Chapter 10

  Cari was sipping her juice the following morning when she heard the doorbell ring. Jake was in his den, working. She had overslept and had only just come to the kitchen for some breakfast. Mary smiled at her and said she would get the door. In the meantime though, Cari was to think about what sounded good for her breakfast. Cari went to the refrigerator and opened it. She looked inside, wondering what kinds of things Jake kept in his refrigerator. That thought made her laugh at herself, realizing that even though it was his refrigerator technically, it was really Mary who stocked the kitchen.

  She saw way in the back of the fridge, the leftover pie. She couldn’t resist and brought the plate out. She quickly cut a small piece and picked it up with her fingers. She eagerly took a bite of the cherry dessert just as she heard raised voices. Taking another bite, she made her way back towards the front of the house. She stopped just outside the front hall. In front of her she saw her parents, her uncle and Jake. Her mother was crying, Sal was yelling at both Edward and Jake. She saw Mary standing a few feet from her and walked on in.

  Mary noticed her first. Cari grinned, showing her the last bite of the pie. She shrugged and looked a bit guilty. “How about some coffee for everyone in the den, Mary?”

  Everyone else turned towards her, hearing her speak. She knew she was a sight that morning. Her hair was still mussed, and she had come down wearing the first thing she had found, which was one of Jake’s white dress shirts. It came to mid-thigh, and she was barefoot. Jake reached her side first, reaching over to wipe a bit of cherry filling off her lower lip. He licked it off his finger as he wished her a good morning.

  Cari glanced around the hall, seeing the angry look on her mother’s face. Cari was refreshed after spending the night sleeping in Jake’s arms and more capable of dealing with her problems, and life in general. Most importantly, she felt confident. Jake had spent quite a long time last night, both telling and showing her just how attractive he found her to be. She blushed even now as she recalled some of the ways. She shook her head to clear it and spoke softly, “It doesn’t look all that good to me.”

  Before she could go on, Marina started towards Cari, all the while dabbing delicately at her tears with a pristine white handkerchief. But having seen the look of anger on her mother’s face a moment earlier, Cari didn’t believe the tears for one second.

  “Darling, I’ve come to take you home.”

  Cari had done a lot of thinking last night, in between her “classes” and sleep, and again this morning when she had awakened. She had realized that she needed to take control of her life. No, she also wanted to assume control of her life and stop being flotsam adrift in the sea. After all, she had more than just herself to worry about. Before she could reply, Jake suggested they all go into his den.

  Cari stopped Jake by lightly touching his arm. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I hate leaving you to face this alone, but I definitely need to shower and dress.”

  Jake grinned back at her. “I like the way you are dressed, but agree that other clothes would be more appropriate since it is your parents in there.”

  “Okay and I’ll hurry,” she promised. Turning away she took the first couple of steps, but then turned back. “Oh, damn! I was planning on sending that ring back to Tony with mother next time I saw her.”

  “Don’t worry, honey. Mary found it and I have it in my desk, for safekeeping. While we’re waiting for coffee, I’ll go over to my desk, and just slip it into my pocket. Then when you get back down, I’ll pass it to you.”

  Cari saluted like a young sailor. “Aye, sir. Just don’t expect me to go long for a Hail Mary pass.”

  She took her time though, once she reached the bedroom. She was tired of having other people dictate her schedule according to their convenience, and not her own. She took a shower, washing her hair, and blow-drying it. She dressed in cut off jeans and put on a T-shirt, which she knotted at her waist. She paused to look at her body in the mirror, seeing it as Jake had told her that he saw her. She would never be model thin. She had rounded hips, and her belly would soon be even more rounded. Her breasts were large and womanly. The way Jake had praised them, made her less self-conscious. Her hair was lustrous and soft, and her lips were never far from a smile.

  Cari suddenly smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She might never completely leave behind her old doubts and worries about her body, but she was seeing herself with more self-confidence. With Jake, she felt like a woman who was cared for. Her brain stumbled over the word loved. She was in love with Jake, but she didn’t know if he felt the same.

  She had never felt like this with Tony. She had always felt like she was not good enough for him and that she should acknowledge how lucky she was just to be with him. She stopped abruptly, realizing it was an echo of what her mother had said last evening. Obviously, it must have been a universal thought and therefore, she should have accepted it as such. And she certainly had accepted it, she realized angrily, and probably would have gone blindly to her wedding none the wiser.

  It all would have gone so neatly, if only she had not eavesdropped on a couple of conversations. Hell, she probably would have had Tony’s kid, and still been none the wiser that he had been cheating on her all along!

  Cari met her own gaze in the mirror. She wasn’t the same person who had come to Jake’s house what seemed like years ago, instead of just months. She was much wiser, and perhaps a little sadder. She had lost her childhood dreams, but she had a woman’s hopes in their place. She was going to be a mother herself, and she swore she would never be the kind of mother hers had been. She wanted a life with Jake, but if that was not in the cards, then she would deal with it and go on.

 
Suddenly, Cari took a deep breath. She felt like she had been tried by fire, and walked through it not just as a survivor, but also as a woman who was ready to thrive! Flashing a smile at her reflection, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and went downstairs with a distinct skip in her step.

  When she rejoined Jake a few moments later, everyone was seated and sipping some of Mary’s delicious coffee. She saw there were only four cups though, but a glass of milk was still on the tray. Cari picked it up and took a sip. She did wonder that perhaps Mary knew more than she was letting on.

  Sal, who was seated next to Marina, set his cup down. “I think enough of this nonsense has gone on. Cari, you are upsetting your mother. It’s time you came home.”

  Cari looked from Sal to her father. Sal was acting as if she had not called them yesterday and called off the wedding. She guessed they were here now because her mother had gone crying to her father, since Cari had always been closer to her father than her mother. But how they had all ended up here was something of a mystery.

  Cari gazed at her father and thought he looked uncomfortable. She realized that her father had probably known all along about Marina and Sal. He had most likely pretended that all was well just to give his child a stable home. She had intended to call her father yesterday, but she and Jake had never made it back downstairs, or out of bed. And it hadn't seemed appropriate to call Edward from their bed.

  Lying on Jake’s big, downy soft mattress that morning, her thoughts had been about sex, or rather how powerful these feelings could be. Now she had first hand experience with what sexual attraction was and how mind-blowing sex could really be. It was hard to admit, but she wasn’t sure what she would do faced with a similar situation as her mother had been.

  Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she had gotten up slowly, hoping her stomach wouldn’t betray her. Sitting on the edge of the bed for a moment to thank God for keeping her stomach in place, Cari had started to get up, but she paused and thanked him again for letting her bring that book to Jake’s that first night.

  Cari shook her head and came back to the present. Reluctantly she saw that she was in a room with her biological parents, Edward, whom she knew as her father, and Jake, the man she loved. What a crazy situation! Shaking her head at the whole thing, Cari walked over to the sofa where Edward and Jake were seated. Feeling contrary, she perched on the sofa arm next to Jake.

  Edward looked at his daughter. As their eyes met, Cari could see the love her father had for her in his face. “Are you all right, Cari?”

  Before she could reply, Marina interrupted. “Of course she is all right, Edward. Now we need to deal with this insanity. Cari, I demand that you come with us right now, before Tony gets wind of this nonsense.” She made a sweeping gesture with her hand, and Cari assumed that Jake was the nonsense.

  She couldn’t resist, and turned to Jake, holding her hand out as if to shake his. “Hello, nonsense. I must be nonsensical for being here.”

  Jake tried not to grin at Cari’s impudent gesture and words, but next to him he heard Edward laughing in a loud bark, quickly suppressed. He did turn the next moment to look at his friend. “Is she like this often?”

  Edward looked quizzical, chewed on his lip, looking as if he was really considering his answer. “You get used to it…after the first twenty years or so.”

  Jake laughed and turned to look at Cari. He reached out and laid his hand on her thigh. “Just twenty years? I’m a patient man.”

  Cari had to close her eyes as emotion swamped at Jake’s seemingly simple words. She didn’t know whether to say anything, or just…

  Marina interrupted Cari’s thoughts. “This has nothing to do with the problem! Now Carissa, go put something decent on and we’ll go back to Sal’s beach house. Tony will come and you can have some real quality time with him.”

  “Carissa, listen to your mother. Tony never needs to know about this…indiscretion of yours.” Sal added his opinion.

  Cari felt her anger boiling up inside of her. This was crazy! Why didn’t they believe her? She remembered Jake’s words once again about not saying anything she would end up regretting. Her father spoke up first though.

  “Stop badgering her! Both of you!”

  Sal glared across the room at Edward. “Marina is Cari’s mother and she has every right to expect Carissa to listen to her, and obey.”

  That was it! The straw that broke the camel’s back. Or in this case, it cracked the dam holding Cari’s emotions and words in check. “Damn it! Everybody just shut up!” She ignored her mother’s gasp. “I am sick and tired of listening to you. Can’t you hear me? Don’t you understand? The wedding is over. I called Tony last night and broke off the engagement with him.”

  Cari stopped as she felt Jake’s hand on her thigh again. Looking down, she saw the ring in his hand. She took the ring and walked across the room. Without waiting to see if either of them would hold out their hand, she tossed the ring into her mother’s lap. “Here is the ring back. I have no desire to ever see Tony again, so please return this to him.”

  On the way back towards Jake, she paused. She met Jake’s eyes, and she knew he could sense that she was about to go too far. He gave her a shrug of his shoulders, followed by a smile. She turned partway, so she could see both sofas and their occupants. “If you are worried about the money you’ve spent, I offered Tony the wedding dress. That way he can marry his mistress at this wedding you have planned.”

  She heard her mother’s gasp of surprise, but she noticed that Sal didn’t look surprised. “I’m tired of living a lie.” Cari turned and saw that Jake was smiling at her for some unknown reason, and nodding his head. His silent support and encouragement strengthened her. She took a deep breath, and then looked at her father, Edward. She saw that he looked relieved at her words. In that moment, Cari decided she might as well throw all the family secrets into the bright light of day.

  “And you all…” Cari paused and gestured with her hand towards her mother, Sal and Edward, “May feel that this is your secret and not mine to share, but I don’t give a damn anymore. Dad, Mother has been cheating on you with Uncle Sal since before you two were married. And the worst day of my life was when I learned that he was my biological father and not you.”

  All around her, Cari heard her mother’s voice screeching in distress. She heard Sal, trying to calm Marina, and trying to break into her conversation with Edward. But she only looked at her father, Edward. “We are all adults. So, Daddy, I think you should divorce mother and go find happiness with the friend I saw you with the other night.” She paused and smiled at her father’s surprised look. When she heard her mother’s gasp she could not help it, her smile grew.

  “I’m sorry, but I needed to talk to you the other night. Jake and I went looking for you at the book club meeting. I started to call out to you, when you met a woman. I didn’t mean to spy on you, Dad, it just happened. And Uncle…sorry…Sal…maybe you should marry Marina instead of just fooling around with her behind your best friend’s back.”

  Marina burst into fresh tears all over again. Around her tears, she managed to chastise Cari. “You have no right to speak to your uncle that way, Cari. I didn’t bring you up to be so rude and uncaring.” She dabbed at her eyes, while Sal wrapped his arm around her shoulders, glaring at Edward.

  Cari felt exhausted, and came back to perch on the sofa arm beside Jake. A moment later, Jake squeezed Cari’s thigh as he whispered to her softly, “I’m making a mental note, darling, that ‘subtle’ isn’t something you do well.”

  Cari looked into his eyes, and saw he was grinning at her. She was still reeling from the stunned and hurt look on her father’s face. Hearing Jake call her "darling" only made her world tip even further onto its side. But she then looked past Jake, to her father’s stricken face.

  Edward looked a little overwhelmed by all the revelations he’d just heard. Cari had been watching her father closely. She acted instinctively and slid off the arm of the so
fa and came over to her father. She knelt down in front of Edward and rested her head on his knees. After a moment, she looked up at him. “You are my true father, and so long as you will let me, I want to call you dad, and sometimes daddy when I need to be your little girl once in awhile. I love you Daddy. If you knew about them, I’ll try and understand why you didn’t divorce mother.”

  Tears filled Edward’s eyes. “I couldn’t lose you, Cari. You see so many divorced men who never see their children, or they see them so rarely that the relationship falls apart. You were my life. Having you come and spend time with me at the store, helping you study for school, all made my life worth living. Nothing would make me happier Cari than to have you think of me as your dad.”

  Cari glanced over and saw Jake smiling at her. For a moment, she considered that this wasn’t the best way to tell Jake that he was going to be a father. Shoot, maybe he didn’t even want kids! Deciding it was better to get all the truths out on the table at once, especially since she had the courage right now, she held Jake’s gaze as she went on speaking to her father. “And nothing would make me happier Daddy, than to have my baby call you grandpa.”

  Chapter 11

  Silence followed her words. At least for Jake, it was silent in the room. Like a sledgehammer, Jake felt like he’d been hit in the stomach, or the head. His day had started out quiet enough, with Cari still asleep beside him in his bed. He had not been in his study long when the phone had rung, and it was Edward. Jake had listened to his friend telling him that Cari was missing. He had not been able to keep quiet, hearing the distress in his friend’s voice. He had told him Cari was at his house. So, when Edward, Marina and Sal had shown up at his front door an hour later, he hadn't been surprised.

  But now, he was surprised. Hell! He was flabbergasted! Jake ignored the angry shouts coming from the other sofa and stood slowly. He reached down to Cari, pulling her to stand in front of him. Finally, he smiled down at her.