The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) (15 page)

Benny countered her move with a swift swing of his arm and then dug in his nose with his index finger.  “How do you mean?” he asked, twisting his finger to go deeper. 

“You never notice anything,” she huffed, rolling her eyes.  “So why do you think that this woman is coming here?” She waved the wand to hit the ball again.

Benny snorted, irritated with Charlize.  “Why do you ask so many questions?”

“Why don’t you ever ask any?” she scoffed, tur
n
ing to find him still digging in his nose. “Ugh.  You are the grossest boy ever.”

“Want one?” Benny asked with a devious grin.  He pulled his slimy finger from his nose. 

“You loser!  You better not. I’m telling Dad!” she warned stepping back.

“Dad isn’t here…just old Mrs. Perryman and she’s too broke down with gout to chase us around.” Throwing down his wand on the floor, Benny chased her wildly out of the room screaming, “Eat it!  Eat it!” and pointing his finger.

“Don’t you dare touch me with that!” Charlize o
r
dered, screaming as loud as she could as she ran down the corridor away from him. 

“I’m going to do more than make you touch it,
you frog
!  I’m going to make you slurp it!” Benny taunted.

***

The drive from the airport was pleasant, full of light conversation and sexual tension that both of them kept at bay with questions about the two sets of twins.  Charlie kept her eyes on the changing beautiful landscapes as they headed towards the waterway, while Sully kept his eyes on the road but occasionally looked over at Charlie’s legs, only slightly showing under her khaki skirt. 

He tried to make conversation continuously, but they still slipped into silence, only there was no discomfort. Both were aware of the fact that they were about to unite as a family, whether they set out for it to be that way or not. 

As they pulled up to Sully’s home, Charlie gasped.  “Wow, impressive,” she said, marveling at the sheer size of the beachside home.  It had one major house and a connecting, smaller guesthouse along with a three car garage.  The backdrop of the rolling tides and sound of seagulls by the chilly sea made the house seem surreal.

She stepped out of the SUV and wandered over to the gate.  “We have a white picket fence too,” she said to Sully while he grabbed her bag.

“Yeah?” Sully closed the back of the SUV and walked in front of her.  “This way,” he said, glad that she liked his place. 

“Only, it’s not nearly as beautiful as this,” she co
n
tinued, looking around.  “Somerset is nice, but this is…breathtaking.”

“Well, thanks.  You’re welcome to come out and visit anytime,” he said, walking up the walkway with her following closely in tow. 

As they entered into the front foyer, they heard screaming.  Suddenly, Charlize and Benny came barreling towards them.  Charlize was screaming to the top of her lungs while Benny chased her with his finger pointed.

“Whoa,” Sully said, grabbing Charlize before she could get passed him.  “What is going on here?”

“Benny is trying to make me slurp a booger,” she tattled, eyes watering.

Benny stopped in his tracks and wiped the contents on his finger off on his pants.  “No, I wasn’t.”  He lied.

Sully huffed. “What did I ask you both to do?”  He looked in between Charlize and Benny.

The children looked down at the floor and in unison said, “Be good.” 

Charlie couldn’t help but snicker.   They were so much like her own kids when they got in trouble.  She paused at the thought. 
Wait.  They were her children.

Sully put his daughter down and put his hand on Charlie’s shoulder.  “I’d like for you guys to meet an old friend of Daddy’s.  She’s going to have us as guests to a function for her organization, Sophie’s Choice.  This is Charlene Meadows…I mean…Mendoza.”  He looked at Charlie and smirked. 

“Nice to meet you both,” Charlie said, bending to the children.  Reaching into her purse, she pulled out two gift wrapped boxes. “I brought you a gift.”

The kids stepped closer.
Gifts?
  She had said the magic word.

Passing them the boxes, Charlie stood up.  “You can open them.”

The kids immediately began to tear the wrapping off the boxes.  All of the paper fell to the marble floor around their feet. 

“Wow,” Charlize said, pulling her gift out of the box.  It was a specially made brush set for her art.  She marveled at the gold handles and her name engraved in each utensil.  “Thanks,” she said with a bright smile.

Benny opened his to find a cleat signed by famous running back for the New York Titans, Curt Fox.  “Holy crap!” Benny screamed.  “Look dad, it’s signed by Fox.  My friends are never going to believe this!” he grinned from ear to ear. 
             

“Talk about cool, huh,” he said, raising his brow at Charlene.  “Nice,” he mouthed.

“Thank you,” Charlene mouthed back, proud that they liked their gifts so much. She had spent hours trying to figure out based upon her conversations with Sully what to get them.  Then she had spent the next day rounding them up by calling in very important special favors. 

Sully took the moment and stepped back to really take in this personally historic event.  For the first time in their lives,
albeit without them knowing
, his kids were reunited with their mother.  He was in awe at the striking features that Charlize and Charlene shared.  Their wide brown eyes, full lips, delicate chins, the shape of their hands and the same beauty mole on their necks screamed shared genetics.    

Benny, however, looked a lot like both of them but not enough like either of them for one of them to stand out.  That is what Sully liked the most about his son, from birth he had been his own man – a man’s man, like his father and his grandfather before him.

“Mrs. Mendoza is going to be staying with us until tomorrow night and getting to know us a little better before her event, which we will be attending, this upcoming weekend,” Sully explained, stepping back into his role.

“Please call me Charlie,” Charlene said before she knew it. 

Charlize’s eyes lit up. “My nick name is Charlie, too.”

“I know,” Charlene said, locking eyes on the girl again.  She couldn’t stop watching her every move.  She had two boys at home and one standing before her, but she had never had a little girl.  Their conne
c
tion was instant. She had always wanted a daughter, even more so after her mother had passed away, and now she had one. 

“We can both be Charlie for the weekend,” Charlize said, holding her new brushes closely to her chest. 

Charlene took a deep breath, trying to hold in the overwhelming moment as not to alarm anyone, but inside she felt as though she was having a bit of a panic attack. 

Sully winked at her, picking up on the fact that Charlene needed a minute to herself to wrap her head around everything that was happening.  “Hey, kids, I’m going to show Charlie to her room and get her settled and then we can get started with our day.  Okay?  You guys can go do whatever it is that you do until later.”

Everyone nodded.  And the twins disappeared quickly up the stairs to their bedrooms to put away their gifts and talk amongst themselves. 

The babysitter, who had gone undetected, was watching in the corner, putting the pieces together quietly.  She had witnessed the entire interaction and knew without a word being said that Mrs. Mendoza was the mother of her employer’s children.  She had worked with him for many years, and had always wondered how the children had come to be but now she knew.  It was undeniable. This Charlene Mendoza was the donor and probably something more to Sullivan Orrin. 

Sully glanced across the room and saw that he had an audience. Straightening up, he gave a big, bright smile to Mrs. Perryman, an elderly white woman dressed in blue cashmere sweater and slacks.  Her silver hair sparkled in the sunlight as she stepped out of the corner. 

“So, I guess my shift is over,” she said, looking over at Charlene before smiling at Sully. 

“Thanks so much, Mrs. Perryman,” Sully said, walking over to her.  “This is a good friend of mine, Charlene Mendoza,” he said, stepping to the side as he introduced the two.  “Charlene this is my babysitter and a great friend of the family, Mrs. Elaine Perryman.  She also is our neighbor.  Loves kids, has six of them, all of them a lot more accomplished than I am, so I know the kids are in good hands.”

Everyone laughed.

Charlene offered her hand and Mrs. Perryman shook it gently.

“Welcome,” Mrs. Perryman said, leaving off the
home
part.  “How long will you be visiting?”

Charlene looked at Sully. “Oh, just until tomorrow night.  I’m the President of Sophie’s Choice, and we are asking the Orrin family to be our special guests for the evening of one of our major annual benefits this upcoming weekend.”  She tried to sound as profe
s
sional as possibly. 

“Sure you are,” Mrs. Perryman said, not buying a word of it.  “My husband has been the honorary guest of many organizations and I have to say that
I
don’t quite remember one of them being thorough enough to come visit the weekend before.  How clever.”  She gave a knowing nod to Sully. 

Sully tried to hide a smirk. 
Leave it to old lady Pe
r
ryman to cut to the quick of things.
 

“Well, I believe that is why we have been a su
c
cess,” Charlene said, knowing that the older woman knew something.  She looked over at Sully with a what-the-hell glance. 

“Very good.  Well, I’ll leave you young people to catch up.  Call me if you need to,” Mrs. Perryman said, walking across the large foyer slowly. 

Both Charlene and Sully watched her as she made her way to the door. 

“We’re cooking out later. Should I bring over a plate for you and Mr. Perryman?” Sully asked thoughtfully.

“That won’t be necessary, dear.  We’re going out for dinner tonight, but thank you,” she said, opening the door.  The sun and cool breeze came anxiously into the room. “You four had better wrap up if you’re going to cook out.  It’s a bit nippy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sully said, waving as the door closed behind her.

“I think she knows something,” Charlene said, fo
l
lowing behind him as they made their way through the house.

“Well, we’ve never had a female visitor here ove
r
night,” Sully answered, looking back at her.  “
Except family
.” 

“Never in all this time?” she asked amazed.  “What about girlfriends?”

“Are you asking if I’ve had a girlfriend or if they’ve spent the night?”

Charlene stopped herself.  “Okay, I’m being nosey.  Sorry.”

Sully chuckled. “To my children’s knowledge, no one has ever slept overnight.  Girlfriends are few and far in between when you’ve got twins as busy as mine.  Women tend to feel like their playing second fiddle to my family life, so they don’t stay around long.”
  He would not divulge anymore and risk losing her inte
r
est in anyway.  Besides, he was sure that as a grown woman he knew that he had to fulfill his needs over the years, but they were moot in regards to her…everything was.

“Just keeping this monster of a house up must be a handful.”  Charlene stopped and looked at the collage of construction paper art designed by the kids moun
t
ed up in one large portrait.  “Now that’s pretty cool,” she said, stepping closer.

“Charlie has always had a gift for drawing and Benny has just always loved to participate.  He’s a real team player.”  Sully began walking again. “Come on.  Once I get you settled, I’ll give you a persona room-by-room tour.”

The guest wing of the house was even more ama
z
ing than the rest of the house in Charlene’s opinion.  Filled with fresh flowers, adorned with beautiful little trinkets, boasting a beautiful view of the ocean and filled with airy windows, she felt as though she had just walked into a house in the Hamptons. 

“Wow,” she said, stopping in her tracks.  “Sully, this is amazing.”

“Thanks,” he said proudly. 
If you like it so much, you should stay
, he thought to himself with a twinkle in his eye. 

“And you never use it?” she asked, following b
e
hind him again. 

“Sometimes, I sneak over here for a little quiet time, but it’s mostly only used when my siblings and their families come to visit.”  He walked her up the stairs to the guest bedrooms, passing more pictures of their children when they were younger.  “There are two bedrooms up here.  A master suite and a little one for the kids.” 

Opening the door to the room, he stepped aside.  “I took the liberty of ordering a few things to make it as comfortable as possible for you.”

She walked past his wall of chest and entered into the room.  She saw a basket of gifts on the bed – wine, chocolates, cheeses, sausage.  Attached was a card simply signed, from Sully and the kids.  Glad you’re here.