The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) (9 page)

“I will do any and everything that you tell me,” Sully said with a blissful smile. 

“Good, because if you don’t…” She didn’t quite know what to threaten him with but she tried to give him the sternest eye possible. “I’ll rip your balls off, and not just one…both.”

Sully couldn’t help but laugh.  In the back of his mind, while tragic, he would always know that Charlie was only getting half of Alex, even when he gave her his all.  Suppressing a naughty grin, he moved on.  “So, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, do you mind if I have breakfast with you?”

“You promise not to ask me for anything else t
o
day,” she asked before he took off his coat.

“Promise, cross my heart and not my fingers,” he said with a smile.

83

The Contingency Plan

Chapter 5

On a crisp, sunny Sunday afternoon with not a cloud in the bluest of skies, the Mendoza/Meadows apartment was packed with well-wishers, bearing gifts and singing praises.  To say that it was a joyous occasion was an understatement with firemen from across the city there to receive home a nearly fallen colleague and nearly half the Bronx there to cheer one of their own. 

When Alex arrived home from Jacobi hospital, he was absolutely overwhelmed.  It had been a long month and half of recovery and rehab for him, but he was back on his feet (with the help of crutches of course) and in good spirits again.  He knew that each day moved him closer to returning to the firehouse and closer to doing the job that he had grown to love. 

With Charlie at his side, they moved past all the family and friends who lavished them both with hugs and kisses to the dining room table where a huge cake awaited him.  “Welcome Home Alex” was painted on the large cake with a little boy wearing a fireman’s hat and Dalmatian pulling at the boy’s diaper. 

It was a glorious celebration, one that meant he had survived yet another storm in his life, but he could not have done it without Charlie.  Leaning down, he kissed her on her cheek and grabbed her left hand, holding on to the finger that boasted his engagement ring. 

“Thanks everyone,” he said as the ruckus calmed down.  “I’ll tell you right now that I’m a lucky man.  There isn’t a person in this room who hasn’t come to visit or called with an encouraging word, and I want you to know I’ll remember each and every one of you for it.  My family and friends have truly been good to me.  Ma has broken every rule in the Jacobi Hospital guidebook by smuggling in hundreds of Puerto Rican dishes, my bros brought me all my muscle magazines so I could stay motivated and keep this six pack, and well, Charlie has been there to remind me that there is plenty more in this life to look forward to…like kids and marriage, which as you know will happen for us very soon.”

“Hopefully not in that order!” one of his friends, Mason, from the fire department screamed out.

Everyone laughed. 

“You got that right,” Alex said, winking at Charlie.  “But I guess what I’m saying is that I know that I’m blessed.  And I just thank you all for everything.  And I can’t wait to get off these crutches and race this beautiful woman down the aisle and make her my wife.”

“Amen, because shacking up is against God’s law,” his mother said with a smirk.

“Leave it to Ma to find a way to lecture us,” his brother, Mario said shaking his head.  “She means well, bro.”

“Hey, you gotta love her,” Alex said with a grin.

With such a heartfelt statement, Charlie couldn’t help but kiss him.  In front of everyone, the normally stand-offish young executive wrapped her arms around her fiancé and planted a large, passionate kiss on him. “I love you,” she said with tears in her eyes.

“I love you too,” Alex professed. “Always, Charlie.”

“Way to go, Mendoza!” another fireman said, lif
t
ing his beer.  “To Alex and Charlie!”

The crowd erupted. “To Alex and Charlie!”

Still gazing in his eyes, Charlie finally pulled he
r
self from his embrace and looked around.  All eyes were on them and for once, she didn’t mind.  It was probably because being alone without Alex had been one of the hardest things that she endured in a very long time.  She had missed his company, his compa
n
ionship, his presence in her life, and those little quirks of his.

She spent most of her time at the hospital with him or at the office working, because being at home felt so wrong, but now that he was here again, she was certain that she would never question whether they were meant to be again.

***

The clinic was cold, outside of everything else that was happening at that very moment, all that Sully could think about was that his friend’s freaking clinic was cold, ice cold, bone-chilling cold.  Heaving a heavy breath, he crossed his long graceful legs and looked over at his host, Diane, with a smug smile.  She didn’t bother to reciprocate. After working for him for nearly five years at the DLC, she knew his mood swings.  He was skittish, nervous and agitating the shit out of her at the very moment.

She rolled her eyes and yawned. 

“Why don’t you just have one of those bottled w
a
ters over there on the table?  He’ll be here in a m
o
ment,” she said, smirking at him.

“I can’t drink anything. I feel like I’m going to puke,” Sully said, uncrossing his leg. “Why do they have it so cold in here?”  He looked over at her and realized that she was giving him that look again – the one where she knitted her brows and stared at him like if she looked mean enough he would simultan
e
ously combust.

“It’s not cold,” she said, raising her brow at him. “You need more iron in your diet.  That’s all.”

“Maybe you’re right or maybe you’re just…pregnant,” he said, wishing hopefully that the process had worked.

The door opened and his friend emerged. “Hello, folks.”  He closed the door behind him, clipboard in-hand, white smock coat covering his green scrubs.  Hitting Sully on the back, he took a seat behind his perfectly cleaned desk and pushed his seat up. 

“Cut the crap.  Are we preggers or not?” Sully asked, pushing up to the end of his seat.

“Isn’t he a gentleman?” Diane joked.  “Please, doc, just tell him. He’s been on pins and needles for over a week. He’s driving me insane.”

“You’re pregnant,” Dr. Haggard confirmed with a grin. “Congrats.”  It was not the way that he usually broke the news but with Sully, there was no other way.  The pomp and circumstance would not happen until the baby was born, but for now, he’d just hold his breath and wait. 

“Yes!” Sully said, clapping his hands together.

“Yep. You guys did it,” Dr. Haggard said, adjusting his silver wire rim glasses on his crooked nose. 

“No, you did it,” Sully corrected.  “And in nine months, I’ll be a father.”

“Well, regular checkups will be needed with your OBGYN back in D.C,” Dr. Haggard began.

Sully cut him off. “I’ve already bought a house in Norfolk.  Diane and her husband will be staying there until the baby is born, and then I’ll move in and they’ll move out.”

“Glad to know that you’ve got things all figured out,” Dr. Haggard said, looking over at Diane. “How are you feeling these days?”

“Great.  Sully made us an offer that we can’t r
e
fuse,” she said with a grateful smile. “Plus, we’re finished making our family. We have two very healthy boys.”

Diane had been a blessing to Sully all the way around.  Working in his office had been hard at times. In work, he was very demanding and extremely passionate about pushing the DLC’s agenda, but outside of the office he was a great guy.  He had visited their home, eaten dinner with them on more occasions than she could count and occasionally slept on her couch.  He was always fair and balanced as a boss and dependable and loyal as a friend. So, when he came to her and told her in a private meeting that he was leaving his position, she was horrified.  No boss could be better.  Plus, the DLC leadership normally brought in their own team, which meant she could very well be out of a job.

But Sully had countered with a great job oppo
r
tunity.  $500,000 for nine months of work – carrying his child.  True she was married, but he went to her husband, George, and talked it over with him.  No sex.  No relationship.  Just a friend that he could trust to carry his most precious of investments. 

Of course, they accepted the offer but were still shocked by it.  Sullivan Orrin was an Orrin from
the Orrin family
, and he wanted a black family to carry his child.  It only made more sense when he came to them a little over a month ago and explained that they would be carrying a little half-black baby.  It totally changed their view of Sully forever, and put them on a course to make him a daddy.

Now he was putting them up in a $2.5 million home in Norfolk for nine months to make sure that his babies had the best comfort possible, far from the drama and hustle and bustle of D.C., hidden in the quiet tranquility of a lavish, golf course community off the beach.

Yep, she was doing just fine. 

***

When all the visitors had gone and the apartment was cleaned, there was only a peaceful silence in the house.  Pouring a glass of red wine, Charlie passed it to Alex, who laid on his side of the bed and, then poured her own.  Words really couldn’t express how good it felt to Charlie to look over across the vastness of their California king-sized bed and see her man.  She pulled the covers over her and sat back on her pillows with her wine glass in hand and released an exhaled breath of pure ecstasy.

“Welcome home,” she said, leaning over to kiss Alex’s cheek.

“Thanks,” he said, taking a sip, “but I hope you don’t think that a peck on the cheek is going to cut it.”

Charlie giggled.  “Do you think that you’re up to that yet?”

“Baby,
chica
, sweety pie, I have been in the hosp
i
tal for over a freaking month and a half.  You wouldn’t once sneak me some hospital kitty, and I can’t cuff it with my mom sitting across the room. You’re damned right
I’m ready
.”

Charlie laughed aloud.  “Okay,” she said, wiping her mouth.  “Well…” she sat down her glass on the nightstand. “How are we going to do this?”

She looked into his warm brown eyes and felt her heart melt.  Leaning in again to his full, pink lips, she kissed them slowly, arousing heat between them with every slow evolution. 

Alex moaned and then sucked his lips as he pulled away from her to set down his glass.  “God, I have missed you, Charlie.”  He rested a large hand on the small of her back.  “Every part of you.  Your eyes, your lips, your voice, your smell, your touch…” He groaned. “I could go on and on for days, but I think I’d rather have you ride me.”

Charlie raised a brow. “I could do that.”  She reached over across him to open the nightstand but Alex caught her hand.  “What’s the use of putting one of those on?”

“You know how I feel about that,” she said with a whine in her voice. 

Alex ran a gentle hand down her arm that made goose bumps form. “But you know how I feel about you.”  He rose up and kissed her again, pulling her down into his embrace.

She fell gracefully into the softness of his gray NYFD t-shirt and the smell of his Ralph Lauren c
o
logne.  Pushing the drawer closed, she straddled him.  “I’m trusting you, Alex, with our lives.”

Alex bit his lip. “Finally…all it took was me nearly getting killed.”

Charlie paused when he said it, paused because it was true.  They had never made love without prote
c
tion before.  Part of her knew that it was because Sully wasn’t the only one with trust issues, but she hid hers with the rhetoric of Sophie’s Choice. In truth, she just didn’t want to be another baby’s momma tied down to a kid with a man who ran off with cold feet and landed in another woman’s warm bed.

Somehow, Alex knew that Charlie had bigger i
s
sues with not using a condom, but had managed to not let that deter him from being with her, even though he loathed the restriction and feel of a condom. During their relationship, he had continuously reminded himself to be thankful that he hadn’t experienced an unwanted pregnancy, and when the time actually came to have a child, he would be more than ready, he’d be eager.

Taking her face in his hands, he pulled her to him again and kissed her, this time slow and deep enough to make her submit completely.  The smell of her hair and soft skin made his desire come to a fever pitch.

“Tonight, we make love as we were meant to,” he said, pulling off her chemise.

99

The Contingency Plan

Chapter 6

Eleven Years Later

Norfolk, Virginia

If Sully kicked his foot on one more little football cleats then he was certain that he would go mad.  Bending down to pick up the shoe off the staircase, he took a deep breath and tried to compose himself. “Benny, what did I tell you about leaving your football gear all over the place?  What are you trying to do, kill me?”

A bushel of blondish brown locks peeped over the staircase on the third floor. “Sorry, Dad!” the squeaky little voice called out before it disappeared again. 

“Sorry isn’t good enough, mister.  Get down here and pick up your stuff.”  Coughing, Sully covered his mouth with his hand and turned and sat down on the carpeted staircase.  There was no way that he was going to make it upstairs right now. The flu was killing him.  Aches and pain radiated through his body, and he felt like he was blazing with fire. 

“Here I come,” Benny said. 

“I’m going to my room.  Don’t leave this house u
n
til it’s clean.  That goes for both of you,” Sully called out again before he pulled himself up.

“Why do I have to clean up Benny’s mess?” his daughter Charlize asked from the second floor.  Her long, auburn, braided pigtails flopped over the alaba
s
ter staircase and hung nearly a foot over the rail.

“Because some of this mess,” Sully said, picking up her paintbrush, “is yours.”  He couldn’t dare be as hard on his little girl as he was on his son.  Charlie, as he affectionately called her, was his princess, where Benny or Benjamin was his pride and joy.  Both had a special place in his heart, but as twins most days they just wore him out.

Sully coughed again.  “Charlie, do me a favor will you? Go check the mail for Daddy. I’ve gotta crash.”  Stepping over more toys at the bottom of the staircase, he made his way through his lavish but very “lived in” home to his master bedroom where he threw himself on the bed, fully clothed in jeans and a red and white flannel, kicked off his shoes and turned on the telev
i
sion.

How he loved Saturday evenings.  They were filled with the peaceful bliss of tacos, popcorn, lazy conve
r
sations that avoided anything constructive and u
n
structured family time that usually involved him not being involved. Football practice for the week was over for Benny; Charlie was in her room being Picasso and listening to Puccini, and he was free to lie in bed and watch re-runs of football and write on his nearly completely undiscovered blog.  He had like two readers, one of which was him and the other a co
m
plete lunatic from Danville. 

The fireplace across from him crackled with new wood and light snow began to fall outside of his windows on their manicured lawn.  It somehow added to his lazy day.  Coughing into a decorative pillow, he nestled down into the comfort of his bed and began to drift off.

Just as the rhythm of his chest became constant, and he began to drift off into a peaceful sleep, he suddenly heard a loud shriek from Charlie.  His head popped up quickly, hands planted into the mattress, drool coming from his mouth.  “I’m up.  What’s wrong?” he asked, alarmed.  Quickly, he jumped out of bed, nearly falling over his own boots to meet her at his open door.

His daughter came barreling through the door, throwing her coat on his floor to reveal denim overalls and a pink turtleneck.  Her cheeks were red and rosy from the cold chill of the weather and excitement of the correspondence.  “Daddy!  Read this!” she said, eyes bright with excitement. 

“Read what?” he asked, trying to calm his heart. “Don’t ever scream like that unless something is wrong.  You nearly gave me a heart attack.”  And she did. He was an older man now, unable to handle girlish screams anymore. 

“Sorry, Daddy, but just read it,” she said, jumping up and down.

Taking the letter, he squinted as he looked at the seal of the White House stamped on top. “Get my glasses, baby,” he said, pulling the letter closer to his face.  It was addressed to the Charlize Orrin. 
His Charlie.

She gave him his glasses quickly, and they both sat on the end of his bed in front of the fireplace and the ignored football game while Sully read the letter quietly.  When he was done, a bright smile crossed his face.

“This is amazing, sweetheart,” he said, shaking his head in amazement.

“I know. I was picked.  It said that there were 100,000 entries and they picked me.”  She was still out of breath from her sprint back from the mailbox and all the excitement.  “They want us to come to the White House!  I get to meet the president’s children, Robin and Victory.”

“I know,” Sully said, rubbing her back.  “You are the best, Charlie. I knew that they would pick you.” He said so in a matter-of-fact tone that embodied his paternal pride.

Charlize was glowing, radiating with youthful bliss that could only be appreciated, admired but not captured.  And her father basked in her beauty.  In ten years, she had completely engulfed him.  He was nothing without her and her brother. His existence had become all about his twins, his light in the dar
k
ness of this world.  And he knew that he had never known true happiness before being a parent.

However, he was blessed beyond the normal standards.  His children reciprocated his affection.  They loved their father, hung on to his every word and adored him almost as much as he adored them.  They were a team, and played their respective roles with great pride.

“I’ve got to call your uncles and cousins about this.  They are going to be thrilled.”

“Oh, while we are in D.C., can we go and see U
n
cle Will?” she asked, clasping her little hands together.

“Do you think he’d let us out of the city without seeing him?”  Sully bent and kissed the top of her head, which smelled like strawberries.  “Now, off with you.  Go and tell your brother.  Stop in my office and make a copy of the letter to show your friends, but leave the original on my desk.”

He watched her run out of the room and down the corridor before he laid his head back on the bed.  Looking up at the ceiling, he smiled with pride but at the same time, remembered his promise to Charlie. 

Eleven years ago they agreed to keep this entire arrangement under wraps, but he was no fool.  There was going to be loads of press behind this story.  They were going to interview the shit out of the entire family and eventually some reporter would ask where Mom was.  Then he’d have to share with not only the world but also his kids that while he did go through with the In Vitro process,
as he had told them
, he did know who the donor was,
which he had not shared
. 

It had been hard enough to try to explain to them how they had arrived in this world, but he had left out the part about knowing the mother for their own good.  Charlie had been right about her concerns. 

The children were far brighter than he ever r
e
membered being at their age.  They often asked about the process of IVF and who had given their “eggs” away.  But Sully had felt that telling them that he didn’t know only protected them from feeling aba
n
doned by their mother. 

Now, he’d have to face the entire truth, and more than likely, he’d not be alone in the inquisition.  Reporters were smart.  People had talked in the past about his decision to have multiracial children, and they’d also talked about his short relationship with Charlie.  It wouldn’t take long to put two and two together. 

***

It was eight at night by the time that Charlie got home from work.  Pulling into the garage of their suburban white, two-story colonial home with the classic red door and the picket fence in Somerset, New Jersey, she turned off the car and put her head on the steering wheel.  She knew that she was in for it - two hours late for dinner and two hours late for the
discussion
that she and Alex were supposed to be having tonight spelled trouble for her.  

They were having issues.  He was completely u
n
happy with her, and she wasn’t too thrilled with him either.  Still, he tried, and so did she.  He had called her earlier in the day and asked her to sit down and talk over a quiet dinner. He had bought the kids pizza and put them to bed early but he had fixed Charlie a separate, quiet dinner with wine and wanted to discuss
rebooting
their marriage.

When she hung up the phone with him earlier that day, she had one intention – to meet him at six for dinner - but then they had a major client fly in, and she was asked to speak at the press conference, and then the day went to shit.  She called and missed Alex on his cell, and then she had her assistant, Frank, call and leave more messages, but the end result was the same. 

Alex was pissed at Charlie.

Well, what was new in the world?

Getting out of her pewter Mercedes Benz with her bags hanging off both shoulders and her leather coat draped over her arm, she slowly drudged up the stairs and entered into the kitchen of their house. 

Carefully, she closed the door behind her and hit the alarm, trying not to make a noise. 

The lights were dim, and the dishes had all been washed and put away.  She kicked off her shoes and looked around, but there was no sign of Alex. 

The television on the counter in the kitchen played CNN, the larger one in the sitting room played MSNBC.  The den was quiet and empty.  Everything was in its place and silent – a sure sign that he was pissed. 

Normally, when everything was good between them homework, toys, shoes a
nd random mess was everywhere.
Alex only cleaned up when he was angry; it helped him think.  And based upon the look of the house tonight, he was furious. 

“You finally made it home,” Alex said, rounding the corner with a pint of mint chocolate ice cream in his hands. 

Charlie jumped. “
Jeesh
, you scared me.”  Holding her hand to her chest, she shook her head.

“A bit dramatic for
so late
in the evening aren’t you?” he said curtly as he walked passed and went to the stainless steel refrigerator to put away his late evening snack.

“I could say the same for you,” she said, looking at the ice cream.  He only ate it when he was really upset too.  Taking a deep breath, she went over to the kitchen island and sat down. “Sorry that I’m late.  Did you get my messages?”  She tried to sound upbeat even though she was beat down. 

“Yep.”  He slightly slammed the refrigerator, then turned to her and took the spoon out of his mouth.  “You know how I feel about you having Frank call me.”

“Please don’t start with that homophobic crap,” she said offended.

“I’ve asked you before not to have someone else call me. You call me; I’m your husband.”  His voice slightly rose.

“Why don’t we get to what this is really about?” Her nostrils flared. “You want a housewife, someone who makes less than you, works less than you, and is here every time you decide to grace us with your presence.”  Before she said it, she knew that it was too much.  But it had been stewing in her mind all day long, ever since she realized she would be late for dinner. 

“You know before I wasn’t man enough to say it, but yes, Charlie, that’s what I want.”  He shook his head.  “But what I want more than that is for you to treat us like a freaking family instead of an appoin
t
ment that you have to make.”  He was ready for her tonight, already fuming under the collar and ready to take it all out on the person who deserved it most. 

“I love my family,” she said, putting her hands to her chest as if the action made it that much more sincere. 

“Really?” His big brown eyes bucked. “Then why aren’t you ever here?”

“You know what I was up against when I took this position, and we weren’t even married yet.  Being the president of Sophie’s Choice is no nine to five job.”

Alex threw up his hands.  “Save me your high le
v
el talking points, because I’ve had it up to here with hearing about Sophie’s
Fucking
Choice.  What about the Mendoza family, huh?  What about your two children upstairs?  Are you going to try to give them
that
explanation for why you are never home? 
Mommy’s job is too important to just leave
isn’t good enough for little kids.  Trust me, I’ve tried to explain that to them, and they are just as confused and pissed as I am.”

Now Charlie was really upset with him.  How dare he?  She slammed her hand down on the table. “Ev
e
rything that I do, I do for you and those kids. I love my family, and I prove it by working my ass to the bone.”

“You don’t do this for us,” he smirked. “You do it for you, because you like being Mrs. Important.  It feeds into that woman’s lib bull shit that you preach across the city.”

“It’s okay for me to be Mrs. Important when it benefits you for $10,000 hair plugs or a new Range Rover for you to gallivant around Manhattan in, but that’s where it stops right?  Do you really think that we could afford the mortgage on this house, the payments on these damned cars, the kids’ private school tuition on just one income?” she asked, gritting her teeth.