Page 50 of Now & Forever
“Did you know, Mom?”
“Gwen told me,” Ophelia said. “A few weeks ago.”
James squeezed his wife’s hand. “I told Cassandra a little while ago. So,” he said, louder, “she already knew.”
“Are you implying that we were the only ones here who didn’t know about this?” Albert gestured to the hands held before him. Gwen’s faltered within James’s, but he did not relent his grip on his wife’s fingers. “How could you? Howdareyou do that without informing us?”
“Because it was between us.” James wrapped his arm around Gwen’s shoulders and held her close to his side. “We decided we didn’t want a large affair you would surely demand, assuming you even gave us your blessing. So why have a wedding? Why bring that drama into our lives? I realized that Gwen is the only woman I could ever want to marry. She’s perfect for me, and I like to think I’m pretty perfect for her.” He didn’t wait for Gwen to back him up. “You got what you really wanted, Dad. You got a grandson with the only woman you approved for me. I’ve forgiven you for that. Now, forgive me for what I have done. Let me have this.” James squeezed his wife. She shuddered against him, and he decided that was her way of saying she loved him. “Let me have Gwen.”
Albert spat something about foolish children and their insistence on ruining everything their parents ever built for them. Didn’t James know that this went beyond children? This was their reputation! This followed them into the business world! Not everyone was a soft-hearted, lovey-dovey sod who overlooked poor choices in partners. Wasn’t it bad enough that everyone and their grandmothers knew where Gwen and James hung out every weekend? That they were sexual deviants who indulged in too much debauchery? Of course Gwen shouldn’t have children! Not when half the city had seen her pussy at that club! How could Albert condone a woman likeheras even the stepmother of his grandchildren?
“Half the city has seen her pussy,” Cassandra snapped back at him. “The other half has been in mine, so I fail to see the real difference.”
That was what made Sarah faint into Albert’s arms. It was also the final word Cassandra imparted upon them before showing herself out the door, with hardly a word to James or anyone’s mother.
Gwen soon followed her. At first, James assumed his wife had burst from his hold to go after Cassandra and say something to her. But when she blew past Cassandra’s car and made a break for the front gate, James knew that something was terribly wrong.
If he didn’t move quickly, that might be the last he ever saw of the woman he married.
