A Nantucket Wedding(53)

“I’m a tanker, Mommy. Alice is a tugboat!”

“Awesome!” Felicity yelled. Looking at Cynthia, she said, “I need to go play with my children. You’ll find, once you have your little one, that you become an ace at being schizophrenic. I’d like to stab Noah and Ingrid or at least throw rocks at them, but instead I’m going to be happy mommy.”

“Is it okay that I told you?” Cynthia asked.

“Yes. It was exactly the right thing to do.” She rose and walked down the steps into the pool. “Oooh,” she said to her children, who came swimming to her as if they’d been born with fins. “It’s cold.”

“Do what I do, Mommy,” Alice advised. “Just get wet all the way to your shoulders. Get it over with in one big shock.”

“Excellent idea, Alice,” Felicity said. She slipped beneath the water, swam down to touch the bottom, and came up dripping wet.

    “Are you okay, Mommy?” Alice asked.

“Absolutely,” Felicity responded and dove down again to tickle her son’s foot.



* * *



—

Her children were sleeping. Alice had been so tired she’d closed her eyes and drifted off at once, but Luke was overexcited by the day of swimming and had trouble relaxing. Felicity sat on the side of his bed and lightly ran her fingers over his back, singing lullabies very softly. She was in no hurry to leave her children’s room. Because when she did, she had to confront Noah.

Finally, Luke slept, lying on his belly, face turned to the side, long lashes brushing his sunburned cheeks. Such innocence, Felicity thought, with a pang in her heart. This child adored his father. Luke was only five years old. How confusing it would be if his father left this home to live with another woman. Felicity felt as if her heart was being ripped open.

She rose from the bed, pulling the monster truck sheet up over his shoulders. She left the room and walked into the bathroom, where she locked the door and stood staring at her face in the mirror. She had showered with the children, and her hair was still damp, but the same rosy glow that brightened her son’s cheeks brightened hers. She wore a light cotton caftan she’d got at a thrift shop. She seldom wore it because it fell to her ankles and tripped her going up the stairs. But tonight she wanted the extra material coverage, as if she was going into battle.

And she was going into battle.

Noah was in the kitchen, standing at the sink, drinking down a glass of ice water.

“I think I’m dehydrated,” he said, facing the window.

“Noah. We need to talk. Now. Please.” Felicity put her hands on the back of a kitchen chair for support.

Her husband gave her a weary glance. “Babe, it’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I’m beat. All that sun—”

    “I know about you and Ingrid. Cynthia Levine told me what Topaz saw.”

Noah’s mouth twitched in an oddly childish guilty smile. “And what did Topaz see?”

“She saw you with Ingrid. Kissing Ingrid, and—” Felicity gagged. She put her hand over her mouth.

“For Christ’s sake!” Noah swore. “You have no idea how my company works, do you?”

“Maybe not. Would you sit down and talk to me about it?”

Angrily, Noah yanked out a chair and sat. He still had not met Felicity’s eyes.

Felicity waited.

“Look.” Noah sighed, running his hands through his hair. “I really don’t need this right now. I’ve got a company to run and a product to test and an ad plan to create.”

“And I’ve got a family to protect,” Felicity replied.

“Your family. That’s all you care about.”

“That’s not true, Noah. I do everything I can to take care of you. I cook you healthy meals and keep your clothes clean and ironed. The children adore you. If I spend more time with the children than with you, it’s because you’re never here. I would spend more time with you if you were ever here.”

“That’s because I’m working my ass off! Day and night! These are the crucial days and weeks and hours, Felicity, I’ve told you again and again!”

“And making out with Ingrid in the storage closet is crucial to your work?”

“Come on, Felicity, let’s not get into this now.”

Her heart froze. “What is this?”

Noah crossed his arms over his chest and clenched his teeth.

“Are you having sex with her?”

Noah raised his eyes to the ceiling, exasperated.

Felicity’s voice was quiet, steady, although her hands, clasped on her lap, were trembling. “Please, Noah. I deserve to know.”

    Grumpily, like a cornered child, Noah said, “No, I’m not having sex with her.”

“But you want to.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Tell me how.”

Noah let out a sigh. “I can’t expect you to understand. It’s like doctors and nurses, Felicity. They’re under so much constant pressure, they have sex whenever and wherever they can to release the pressure, to stop thinking for a moment.”

“So…” Felicity took a moment to gather her thoughts. “So you could have sex with any of your female employees? Have you been in the supply closet with other women?”