Best Kept Secrets(76)
"That's not really my problem, is it?"
"Maybe it should be."
Her harsh backlash surprised him. "You sound mad at me.
Why?"
"I don't know." The flare of her temper had been short
and sweet. Now, she felt drained. "I'm sorry. Maybe it's
just that I always pull for the underdog."
He reached across the car and covered her knee with his
hand.' 'An admirable quality that hasn't escaped my notice.''
Alex picked up his hand and dropped it back onto the leather
seat between them. "Uh-oh, I'm not off the hook yet."
She resisted his smile. "Why did you marry Stacey?"
"Is this really what you want to talk about?" He wheeled
the car up to the breezeway of the Westerner Motel and shifted
the gear into Park.
"Yes."
Frowning, he cut the engine and laid his arm along the
seat, turning toward her. "It seemed like the thing to do at
the time."
"You didn't love her."
"No shit."
"But you made love to her." He raised an inquisitive
eyebrow. "Stacey told me that you'd been lovers for a long
time before you got married."
"Not lovers, Alex. I took her out every now and then."
"How often?"
"You want it plain?"
"Shoot."
"I called on Stacey whenever I got horny and the Gail
sisters were busy, or had their periods, or--"
"The who?"
"The Gail sisters. Another story." He waved off the questions
he could see rising in her mind.
"I've got all night." She settled more comfortably against her door.
"Doesn't anything escape you?"
"Very little. What about these sisters?"
"There were three of them--triplets, in fact. AH named
Gail."
"That stands to reason."
"No, it wasn't their last name. Their names were Wanda
Gail, Nora Gail, and Peggy Gail."
"Is this a joke?"
He drew an x across his chest. "Cross my heart. Reede
had already initiated them, so to speak, before I arrived on
the scene. He introduced me to them." He snickered, as
though recalling a particularly sordid incident of his youth.
"In short, the Gail sisters put out. They liked putting out.
Every guy in Purcell High School must of had them at least
once."
"Okay, I get the picture. But when they were unavailable
you called on Stacey Wallace, because she put out, too."
He looked at her levelly. "I've never coerced a woman.
She was willing, Alex."
"Only for you."
He shrugged an admission.
"And you took advantage of that."
"Name me one guy who wouldn't."
"You've got a point," she said dryly. "I would venture
to say that you're the only man Stacey's ever been with."
He had the grace to look a little ashamed. "Yeah, I'd say
so, too."
"I felt sorry for her tonight, Junior. She was hateful to
me, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for her."
"I never understood why she latched onto me, but she
shadowed me from the day I enrolled into Purcell High
School. She was a brainy kid, you know. Always the teachers'
favorite because she was so conscientious and never got into trouble." He chuckled. "They'd never believe what she was
willing to do in the back seat of my Chevy."
Alex gazed distractedly into space, not really listening.
"Stacey despised Celina."
"She was jealous of her."
"Mainly because when you made love to Stacey, she knew
it was my mother you were wishing for."
"Jesus," he swore softly, his smile collapsing.
"That's what she said. Is that true?"
"Celina was always with Reede. That's just the way it
was. It was a fact of life."
"But you did want her, even though she belonged to your
best friend?"
After a lengthy pause, he admitted, "I'd be lying if I said
otherwise."
Very softly, Alex said, "Stacey told me something else.
It was an offhanded comment, not a revelation. She said it
as though it was common knowledge--something I should
already know."
"What?"
"That you wanted to marry my mother." She refocused
on him and asked huskily, "Did you?"
He averted his head for a second, then said, "Yes."
"Before or after she got married and had me?"
"Both." When he saw her apparent confusion, he said,
"I don't think a man could look at Celina and not want her
for his own. She was beautiful and funny and had this way
of making you think you were special to her. She had ..."