Elijah peeked in to Odette's office for the second time that morning, she was late. He turned his attention to the proposal he was reading on his tablet as he leaned up against his desk. Finally, he heard Odette's decompressing sigh as she walked in to her office and turned her computer on. Elijah kept his eyes on his tablet as Odette walked in to his office holding his cup of coffee.
"Good morning sir." She said cheerfully as she placed his coffee on the desk along with a couple of memos.
"Good morning Ducky...you're late, why?" He asked as he caught her by the hand as she tried to pass him. With a gentle pull Odette found herself wrapped in his arms.
"You asked me to sit in on the promotions meeting for you. That was this morning." She said turning around to face him.
"Oh... I forgot." He murmured as his gazed dropped to her lips. Elijah leaned in for a kiss and Odette pulled away from him. "What's wrong?"
"What if someone comes in?" she whispered as she put distance between them.
"So what, I don't care." He said with a shrug as he reached for her but Odette kept her distance.
"But I do. I don't need people talking about me behind my back."
"Let 'em talk, it doesn't matter as long as you know what we have is genuine." He tried reaching for her again, desperate to hold her and kiss her fears away.
"Elijah I like this job, it's great working for you and I do not want to mess this up. Can't we just keep our private lives and business lives separate... At least for now?" she pleaded the last thing she needed was an office romance scandal to worry about. Elijah could see that she was serious about their relationship remaining private, for now he would not fight about it.
"Okay fine Ducky, have it your way." He said with a sigh. "But as soon as five o'clock comes business is over, so don't even try to reject me when I come to kiss you."
"Yes sir," Odette said giving him a mock salute, she was just happy that he was so understanding about her position.
"Can I get a little peck just to start my day?" Elijah tapped his cheek as he mustered up his best pouting face. Odette opened the office door and peaked out to make sure no one was coming before standing on the tips of her toes to kiss Elijah's cheek. Elijah quickly turned his head to catch her lips, Odette pinched his arm as he chuckled.
"I didn't promise that I would always stay on my best behavior." He said with a wink.
"Drink your coffee while it's still hot." Odette grumbled as she turned to leave. Elijah pulled her back in to him her back hitting his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled her neck.
"Didn't we just-"
"-Will you go somewhere with me Friday night."
"Where?"
"A friend of mine is having a gallery opening and she's invited us. All of my friends from college will be there and I would love to show you off to them." He said as Odette's heart sank, although Elijah was proud of her Odette couldn't see herself being able to spend an entire evening with his friends. She didn't come from an elite background like they did nor did she have a name-brand degree. She was just an ordinary black girl from Queens there was nothing interesting about that. But she didn't want to disappoint him.
"Sure." She said as the telephone rang using it as an excuse she broke away from his grasp and rushed out of the office.
****
Oh man Dante is going to kill me. Victoria thought as she stared back at the man claiming to be Dante's father. She was going to leave things alone but her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she set up a meeting. She had a bunch of questions for him so she could only imagine the questions Dante had.
"You're prettier than I imagined." He said with a smile that was so familiar to her, she saw it every day. His eyes even crinkled a bit like Dante's when he smiled. His voice deep, yet soothing like Dante's and he had a presence about him that made Victoria felt like he was trustworthy. There was no question about it, he was definitely Dante's father.
At least I know he'll age well.
"Thank you. I wasn't expecting you to be my husband's twin."
"I know; I was shocked when I first saw him. I had only seen baby pictures of him and back then he looked more like Lailah."
"Do you know where she is?"
"No I don't, I haven't seen Lailah in over thirty-three years. After we broke up neither of us bothered to keep in touch."
"I looked over Dante's records and you aren't listed as his father. In-fact no one is, why is that?"
"You would have to ask Lailah that, I honestly don't know. I didn't even find out that Lailah was pregnant and had Dante until several years later. I ran into Lailah's cousin and she told me about the baby, but at that point Dante was already in the system."
"Did you ever try to find Dante?"
"I did but he was already a teenager by then, the Williams had already adopted him and I didn't want to interfere with his life."
"So what changed your mind now?"
Marcus let out a long sigh, he hadn't expected to be interrogated so thoroughly when Victoria asked to meet him; but he could understand her methods.
"I guess old age." He said with a laugh "My wife and I have two sons and they are grown now. My youngest is getting married so the family is growing but it just doesn't feel complete without Dante. I have to at least try to meet him, just to see his face and tell him how sorry I am that I couldn't be the father he needed me to be. I want my sons to know their big brother."
"I won't make you any promises, Dante isn't keen on the idea of meeting you. I know when he finds out about this meeting he'll probably strangle me, but he needs to meet you, even if it's just once."
After their meeting Victoria had the long drive home to think about how she was going to convince Dante to meet his father.
****
"You dragged me to the supermarket?" Elijah grumbled as he got out of Odette's car.
"Yes, you said you would help me figure out what to bring for Thanksgiving dinner." She said as she linked arms with him as they walked through the parking lot.
"You can bring whatever you want, it doesn't have to be anything special. Just bring a lot."
"What does your mom like? Does she lack a sweet tooth like you?"
"I don't lack a sweet tooth; I just don't like overly sweet things... except you" He said as he looked at her lovingly and Odette rolled her eyes.
"That was gross." She said with a laugh.
"I agree it was."
"While we're here I might as well pick up some things for dinner." Elijah said as he grabbed a cart as they entered the building. "Okay Ducky what do you feel like eating tonight?"
"You know once you start feeding me there is no turning back."
"I'll feed you for as long as you want." He said pulling her in to him ready to kiss her.
"Behave, we're in public."
"So what, a little PDA won't hurt anybody." He said as she pulled away from him.
"We already talked about this." Odette said as she strolled along to fresh produce aisle as she tried to make up her mind what to make. It was her first time at the Gregorio home and she wanted to make a good impression on all fronts. With Thanksgiving a week away, she wanted to test her recipe to make sure nothing would go wrong on the day of.
"We talked about the office, we're not at the office."
"Consider it punishment for that stunt you pulled this morning." She tossed over her shoulder.
Elijah could already see that trying to separate their personal lives from their business lives was going to be a thorn in his side. He didn't care who knew about the or what others thought about their relationship. He just wanted to be with Odette without all of the secrecy. But, on the other hand he wanted Odette to be comfortable with him and their relationship.
"Oooh it's free sample day." Odette said as she made a b-line for the cart with her favorite barbequed Swedish meatballs. "These are my favorite." She mumbled as she stuffed two samples in to her mouth and held up a third to Elijah's lips. Elijah took the sample and was surprised by how good they were.
"Wow that is really good, what are these called?"
"I get these all the time, it's probably the only real food I have in my freezer." Odette said taking him by the hand and led him to the freezer section that had the meatballs.
"I need to look at your fridge. I have a feeling you don't have a lot of adult food."
"Being an adult is hard."she whined " I have the working and paying bills part down, what more do I need?" she said as she tossed the packages of the frozen meatballs in to her cart. "How about cake pops? I can make quite a bit and it won't be too filling after such a big dinner."
"Since we are on the topic, I know Vic invited you and so did I."
"Mmmhm," Odette murmured absentmindedly as she tossed a box of toaster strudel in to the cart.
"Will you be coming as Vic's friend or as my girlfriend?"
"Can't I go as both?" she said with a confused laugh as she looked up at him. To her, it was a bizarre question to ask.
"I don't know, can you? You're the one who wants to keep us a secret and all. There might be some people from the company there."
"You really don't like this idea, do you?"
"Would you? I'm trying to be supportive but there are just too many variables. We live in a building filled with our staff, we hang out in that area, we work together all day long; so the only time we can actually be together is when we're alone in our apartments." As badly as Elijah wanted to tell her that she wasn't being fair he held his tongue. He wanted to state his view without making Odette feel like he was trying to change her mind.
"I think I'm in the mood for fish tonight, how does that sound?" he said changing the subject.
"Yeah that sounds good." Odette mumbled as she walked ahead of Elijah, as she thought about what Elijah said. Odette watched as Elijah looked over their fish options, she knew that he was right, but she just wasn't ready.
"Why are you so quiet?" He asked as they walked up to Odette's car.
"That girl was flirting with you"
"Was she? I didn't notice. You should have told her to back off."
"This won't work. " She mumbled as she popped open the trunk.
"What won't work?"
"Us-"she said tossing a bag into the trunk. "Trying to keep it a secret. I won't be able to take it. I don't know what I thinking.... It's stupid." she said shaking her head, feeling embarrassed for even bringing up the idea.
"It's not stupid, I completely understand why you want to keep things under wraps. Unfortunately, it just won't work in our situation." He said closing the trunk. "People will talk; it can't be helped. I won't ignore my feelings for you just because of a few busy-bodies. If people really have a problem with our relationship, then they can look for a new job." Elijah closed the gap between them; he could see the worry in Odette's eyes. He wished that she would just trust him and let everything else go.
"Just trust me." he said while kissing her cheek. Odette perched on the tips of her toes and kissed his lips.
"I trust you." she said against his lips before kissing him again as she caressed the sides of his face. Elijah picked her up and sat her on the trunk as his tongue delved in to her mouth. Odette's arms and legs wrapped around him out of desperation to get closer to him. A moan escaped her lips as Elijah kissed his way down her neck, her natural scent mixed with the soft jasmine perfume she wore made his mind hazy. He had forgotten about everything and just wanted to be completely consumed by her. A car alarm blared off in the distance reminding the couple of their surroundings. Odette's face burned with embarrassment as Elijah help her down, as he dusted off her coat.
"I better get you home before I end up hungry for something other than dinner." Elijah said as he opened the door for her.
****
Victoria walked into the house and could smell the evidence of the chicken gumbo Dante was making for dinner. She hated what was about to come next. There was no way she could hold on to the conversation she had with Marcus she was a dead woman walking, so she was determined to get as much love as possible to store for the coming drought.
"Hey babe." Dante greeted her as he chopped up the chicken he prepared for his gumbo.
"Hi," she said as she offered up her lips for a kiss. Dante pecked her lips but Victoria wrapped her hand around the base of his neck keeping him in place.
"I love you," she murmured as she looked him in the eyes.
"I love you too. I guess you missed me a lot today huh?"
"Yes I did." she said finally letting him go. "I'm going to take a shower, I'll be back." Victoria retreated to their room before Dante could ask her about her day forcing her to tell all. As she stood under the stream of warm water she began to mentally kick herself. She was beginning to regret getting involved. The shower door opened causing Victoria to jump as Dante stepped inside
"I'm sorry babe I didn't mean to scare you." he said wrapping is arms around her. "There's about an hour left on the gumbo," he said planting a kiss on Victoria's neck "I figured we could be productive with our time."
Victoria turned around and looked up at Dante she cupped his face in her hands as she let out a sigh.
"I have something to tell you." she said as her heart began to race, she was used to getting in trouble; the few times Dante had been upset with her during their marriage she could usually seduce her way out of it but not this time.
"You have to promise not to yell at me." she said with a pout, Dante furrowed is eyebrows, wondering what she was talking about.
"What is it babe?" he said as he pressed her back against the wall. "Can't we talk about it later" he asked as he bent down to capture her lips and Victoria shook her head no.
"Okay what is it?"
"You have to promise you won't yell at me. I'm allowing you to be mad at me but you can't yell at me."
Dante's eyebrows raised with curiosity, normally Victoria wouldn't let him get away with being upset with her. Their fights usually never lasted longer than a few minutes, a few hours max. For her to give permission something big had to have happened.
"Okay, what did you do?"
"I had lunch with your father today..." Victoria trailed off as she watched Dante work through a series of emotions the last one being anger.
"You did what!" he bellowed. "What part of drop it did you not understand?"
"You promised you wouldn't yell at me."
"You don't think you deserve to be yelled at. I told you I didn't want anything to do with him, what possessed you to think that it was okay for you to talk to him?"
"I wanted to see what he was all about, if he was worthless then I would have made him go away."
"He is worthless, what else do you need to know. I don't need you to try and fix this." he ran his hands down his face as he tried to keep his anger in check. He knew that Victoria was only trying to help but she was only making things worse. He did not want to give Marcus any hope at establishing a relationship when it was the last thing on his mind.
"How am I supposed to trust you with anything now?"
"You can trust me; you know that Dante."
"It's obvious that I can't. You went behind my back and had lunch with him when you know how I feel about this man. Apparently what I want doesn't matter to you at all."
"I-"
"You hurt me Victoria. You're my wife, I expect you to be by my side and support the decisions I make." His hands slammed against the wall, Victoria clasped her hands to her mouth as she tried to keep from crying. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. " You couldn't even give me that." he said in a whisper, his voice strangled with a mixture of anger and grief. Victoria watched as he stepped out of the shower and slammed the door behind him. Victoria let out the breath she had been holding. When she finally stepped out of the shower and dressed, she searched the house for Dante only to discover that he had left the house.