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"Yeah," Brandon cleared his throat, "about that...we need to talk. I am not going to change my mind about divorcing Ashley, that's for sure."

  Nadine smiled and squeezed his fingers. She looked down at their clasped hands earnestly. "Well, until the ink is dry on your divorce papers. I am not going to take anything for granted."

  "Fair enough." Brandon raised her hand and kissed it.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The kiss made it to the Real News, a weekend gossip rag that was widely read because of its sometimes inaccurate gossip and innuendos. The waiter had snapped a picture of Nadine and Brandon and sold it to the paper and somebody had done a little private investigation.

  And that was the picture that greeted Ashley at her desk on Friday morning. She read Real News avidly because of the juicy little tidbits she got from that and the gossipy news about celebrity lives; besides, she advertised with them. She didn't expect that Brandon would be on the front page kissing Nadine Langley's hand.

  She sat down at her desk hard. She hadn't seen him since Tuesday. He hadn't even called home. She had left the children with his parents for the week, feigning sickness, because she honestly didn't want to have to deal with them and their questions about Daddy and when he was coming home.

  Such a huff about her tearing up his crazy little DNA testing paper. He didn't even know what the DNA results were and he had stormed off again. She didn't know what the results were either and to be honest, it had given her a few sleepless nights. She didn’t have enough time to read the results.

  At least Alisha must be his. Carlos had gotten a vasectomy years before their affair. Ariel she wasn't so sure about. She had had a stupid drunken one-night stand with a male model in Paris. She didn't even remember the guys name; he was Pietre, or Petre or something like that. The sex had not even been good. It had been over in no time. He had left her hotel room after and she hadn't seen him since. She doubted she would even remember who he was.

  She looked down at the paper. That was not an affair. That had been a huge mistake that she did not even want to think about.

  She stared at the picture of Brandon and Nadine. Why whenever he was with her did he look so darn happy and relaxed. He was staring at her as if she was the only woman in the world.

  He seemed to love her, and that was sickening to her.

  She recognized the wood railing and the sea in the background; they had been at the restaurant on the property in Negril where Richard owned one of those luxurious cottages. It was a nice place to go to unwind.

  Ashley gritted her teeth and read the headline: Local Celebrity Sheds her Squeaky Clean Image with a Bang. In lower case letters it read Nadine Langley has an affair with a married man.

  Ashley groaned. How could Brandon do this to her? He was crazy if he thought he was going to humiliate her in public with Nadine Langley.

  That was what he was doing, humiliating her with this. He had no moral authority now to talk to her about affairs.

  So there. Now they were even. Maybe now they could move on with their lives.

  Jaya came to the door. "Is it true, is Brandon having an affair with Nadine Langley? Is that why you two are breaking up? I can't believe I work for you and I have to find out the juicy tidbits of your life from a newspaper.

  "The article says that Nadine caused a breakup between you two and that Brandon was living in her apartment in Smoky Vale for a while and that his church pastor spoke to him and that he moved back home but he is still continuing his affair."

  "That's what it said?" Ashley asked incredulously.

  "Yes," Jaya came farther into the room. "There is also a piece about you being a longsuffering wife and that Brandon has cheated on you in the past. It even said that he has filed for divorce."

  "For the love of..." Ashley halted mid-exclamation. It suddenly dawned on her that the paper was making out Brandon to be the bad guy and she was the innocent wife who was being cheated on. She would have to peruse the article later and check to see if they mentioned the store. Now that would be a nice bonus.

  She adjusted her expression and smiled at Jaya sadly. "I didn't want my life to be splashed all over the papers. This is between Brandon and me."

  "And Nadine," Jaya pointed out.

  "And her." Ashley spat. "Do we have a number for her studio on file? Maybe I should call that home-wrecker and put her in her place."

  "You should," Jaya encouraged. "Or better yet, confront her. I don't care who it is, the other woman should not believe that she can just come and break up your happy home just like that. Just because she's a big singer, she thinks she can come and mess with you."

  "Yes," Ashley said, "you know what? You call her studio and find out if she is there. I can go there and give her a visit. I'll do so this morning."

  "You go, girl," Jaya said, getting up.

  *****

  Nadine was sitting in Tenaj's office while she shouted to whoever was on the phone line.

  "This is libelous. Nadine Langley is not having an affair. If you do not retract this stupid headline, I am going to make sure that you never print another word again. You hear me?"

  She slammed down the phone and looked over at Nadine, who was grinning.

  "What on earth are you laughing about?" Tenaj asked, exasperated. "Nearly a hundred thousand persons are reading this piece of trash and are thinking that you are a home-wrecker. You are now the source of gossip for hundreds of lunchrooms across Jamaica."

  "Which is not necessarily bad marketing. It's kind of funny, though," Nadine said. "At the time that picture was taken we were discussing how I am not going to be a home-wrecker. We ate breakfast together. We said our goodbyes. I left with the crew and Brandon said he'd stay in touch. He was going to spend the rest of the day vegetating in a hammock."

  "Well," Tenaj shrugged. "it's not necessarily bad marketing, but your reputation… I hate for this kind of thing to be associated with the Langley brand."

  "He's getting a divorce," Nadine said.

  "I'll believe it when I see it," Tenaj scoffed. "Married men always say that. What did Ashley do to make him run away like a chicken this time, buy the wrong brand of cereal?"

  "He didn't say," Nadine said, exasperated. "I don't think Ashley is the good guy in all of this, Tenaj. If you saw him, he looked so sad..."

  Before Tenaj could respond her phone rang. She held up her finger. "Hold that thought," and picked it up.

  When she put it back down, she had a look of shock on her face. "Well, speaking of the devil or angel, whichever way you want to look at it, Ashley is in the lobby area waiting to see you."

  "Me!" Nadine squeaked. "Why?"

  Tenaj raised her brow. "Because of the stupid article in Real News."

  Nadine grimaced. "I hope she is not out there to give me a beat down, because I can't fight and I am not having an affair with her husband."

  When Nadine walked to the lounge area, Ashley was sitting there looking pretty and dressed in a pink power suit and nude heels.

  She got up when she saw Nadine and towered over her in her heels. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"

  No greeting. Nadine nodded. "Sure. The boardroom is through here."

  Ashley followed her to the boardroom, her heels making dainty clicking sounds on the floor tiles.

  When they were in the boardroom she turned to Nadine. "Let's cut to the chase, Nadine. I don't know what Brandon has told you about me."

  "Nothing much," Nadine said. "We never really talk about you."

  "Is that so?" Ashley sniffed. "I guess when a man is having an affair, the topic of his wife would be a conversation killer."

  "We are not having an affair." Nadine shrugged. "The paper is rubbish."

  Ashley snorted. "I never believed it, really. Brandon told me that he loved you some weeks ago, though, and that is concerning for me."

  Nadine gasped. "He did? He said that!"

  "Yes." Ashley sat down in one of the chairs. "I wish to God he'd just have an affair with you and forget you
but no, he has feelings for you. That, to me, is unacceptable. It hurts. And he knows it would hurt."

  Nadine sat down on a chair across from Ashley as well. Brandon loved her. She loved him too. The situation would be perfect if not for this woman sitting before her.

  "I am going to ask you woman to woman," Ashley said earnestly, "just leave my husband alone, please." Her eyes filled with water and Nadine remembered how she had pleaded with Brandon to come back home on New Year’s Eve.

  "I have not troubled him," Nadine said softly. She was feeling a little guilty, though, because through the weeks when she had no contact with Brandon she had missed him fiercely, like a limb was missing. "We were doing a video shoot by Sea Wind Cottages and he was staying there. We had breakfast that morning. I haven't heard from him since."

  "Oh," Ashley said.

  "We, the whole crew, left at the same time."

  "Oh," Ashley said again.

  "Listen," Nadine said, "obviously you guys have problems. Brandon has never shared your problems with me."

  Ashley nodded. "I see. Yes, we do have some issues but it is nothing that can't be sorted out with time and attention. For Brandon to go and form new attachments outside of our marriage is so unlike him. I love him, you know. I always have, from the moment I saw him, and I think I always will. I want him back. I want my family back to where it used to be."

  It was Nadine's turn to nod. She felt like Ashley had thrown a heavy burden on her, like she was somehow responsible for her and Brandon breaking up. She knew that couldn't be true. When she had first met Brandon he had left their house.

  "Well then," Ashley said, "thank you for the talk."

  "You are welcome." Nadine walked with her outside. When Ashley drove away, she felt a sense of dread.

  "I didn't hear any scuffling," Tenaj said, "and I had my ears to the door."

  Nadine sighed. "Ashley said that Brandon told her that he loves me."

  "He did. What an inconsiderate husband," Tenaj huffed.

  "I think I am the reason that they broke up the second time around," Nadine said tiredly. "I don't want that, Tenaj. I can't live with being the reason that a man would leave his family but the truth is I am kind of happy too, because I love him, but now I can’t be with him."

  She inhaled roughly. "I can't be the reason. If we end up together I would forever be wondering what if he does it to me as well."

  "Oh come here." Tenaj hugged her.

  Her phone rang at the same time and she looked at the call display. It was an unknown number.

  She answered cautiously, "Hello."

  "Hi Nadine. This is Latoya, Brandon's sister."

  "Hi Latoya." Nadine tensed up for a cussing.

  Latoya laughed. "You say that so cautiously. Anyway, on Saturday night we are having a little send off party for Brandon. He leaves next week Wednesday for Canada, as you may know."

  "No, I didn’t." Her voice cracked. He was leaving. The thought gave her a pang of regret.

  "The party will be at our parents’ place. If you give me your email address I'll send the invite."

  Nadine cleared her throat. "Latoya, I can't. I don't want to intrude on Brandon's life any more than I have to."

  "It is no intrusion at all," Latoya said. "Alisha and Ariel are looking forward to seeing you. They insisted that you come."

  "Oh." Nadine closed her eyes. What harm would it do if she went to a party to tell Brandon goodbye, for good? "Okay, then I'll be there."

  "Good," Latoya said.

  "I am not having an affair with your brother," Nadine said hurriedly.

  "Oh, I know that," Latoya laughed. "I know my brother. Whoever wrote the article was painting Ashley as a saint. I found it more comical than serious. See you Saturday night."

  Chapter Seventeen

  Brandon reluctantly left Negril on Saturday evening. He knew he had to get back to Kingston and face the music, pack for Canada and do some last minute arrangements, but he was not looking forward to going back home.

  Home. Where was that, really?

  He had only had a couple days to get used to the idea that his life as he knew it was a sham. His wife was rotten to the core; his children weren't his. Every time he thought that, fresh pain lanced him. And he had thought about nothing but that for the five days he had spent in Negril. He couldn't even bring himself to call the children.

  He could imagine Alisha's stern face as she took him to task about not calling him for five whole days. He inhaled and then exhaled. He was no closer to a solution to his dilemma than he was when he went to Negril.

  He envisioned two scenarios: he gave up all rights to them and walked out of their lives without an explanation, cut off all links. He could quit them cold turkey. He would let Ashley figure out what to tell them, but somehow that didn't sit well with him.

  He could not do that to them. They depended upon him for a stable family life. He was really all they had. If he left they would be devastated.

  Or he could have them full time with him, without Ashley involved in their lives. That would not be anything new for them, unfortunately. He wanted to divorce Ashley and completely sever all ties with her.

  He wanted full custody of the girls. Maybe someday when he had calmed down and mellowed out sufficiently he could think of them visiting her but for now...no way.

  He would have to adopt them to have some legal foot to stand on, especially if he were going to migrate, because they were not his biologically.

  He couldn't for the life of him see any middle ground right now. He wasn't going to share custody or give Ashley maintenance money to spend on them.

  This divorce had to be done his way. If Ashley thought that she even had a foot to stand on or even made a murmur about anything, he would out her for the nasty piece of work she was.

  His anger fueled him all the way to Kingston. He stopped at his mother's house as his sister had requested and was surprised to see so many cars there.

  The place was dark, though. He walked up the steps, frowning. The door was opened when he stepped on the porch, the lights came on, and a sea of faces met him with a shout. "Surprise!"

  Brandon jumped. He was genuinely surprised.

  "Hey, little brother," Latoya came out of the crowd. "It's your surprise going away party."

  "I can't believe it." Brandon tried hard to put a smile on his face; he was not in the mood to party.

  When Alisha and Ariel made a beeline for him, he bent and picked them up. Weak, treacherous tears came to his eyes. When he hugged them he buried his face in Alisha's neck. They were his. He inhaled their scent, kissing them loudly on their cheeks.

  Scenario number one was out the window. He didn't know if he could love them any more, and he couldn't walk away from them. Not now. Maybe not ever.

  "Daddy!" Alisha looked at him her eyes wide. "You didn't call all week."

  "Come now, honey," his mother took Ariel, who was clinging to him like a limpet. "You will have your daddy for a couple more days."

  "It won't happen again." Brandon looked at Alisha solemnly.

  She looked at him for the longest while and then nodded, reassured.

  His mother carried the children away. "It's near their bedtime, but they had to see you."

  "I'll come and tuck them in," Brandon said.

  He was pulled around to the back of the house, which was set up for a party, twinkling lights with tables and chairs scattered throughout the lawn.

  He spotted people from church, his friends from school and Nadine.

  He blinked and saw that it really was her. She was in a yellow dress which fit her slim frame like a second skin. Before he could head in her direction he was stopped several times by several of his friends and acquaintances.

  Richard stopped him before he could drift nearer to her. "Did you see the headlines on Real News?"

  "No," Brandon frowned. "Didn't read a paper or watch the news these past couple of days."

  "Well, they saw you guys in Negril.
You were kissing her hand and they implied that the two of you were having an affair. Well, not implied—they said it out right."

  Brandon groaned. "Really?"

  "Yup," Richard said, "so if you see some of your church friends looking at you funny, that's why."

  Brandon chuckled. "How ironic."

  "I know." Richard slapped him on the back. "I think you need this time away in Canada to get yourself sorted."

  "I do," Brandon sighed.

  "Latoya was cut up that you wouldn't say why you left Ashley this time around," Richard continued.

  "Your wife needs to be less nosy." Brandon rejoined.

  Richard laughed.

  He finally made his way over to Nadine, who was surrounded by an adoring group.

  "Hi," he said.

  "Hey," she smiled but the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

  "What's wrong?" Brandon asked.

  "I'll tell you later." She inclined her head. "You look good. The couple of days in Negril was needed, wasn't it? You lost that haggard edge."

  "Yes, it was needed."

  The noise and talking and laughter around them ebbed, and Brandon spun around. The place was almost deathly quiet. He saw why when Ashley made her way through the throng, dressed in a virginal white sleeveless dress. She headed for him, a slant on her lips.

  She was planning to make a spectacle of them. Brandon could feel it, because he knew that Latoya would not invite her to a party that she had planned.

  He didn't have long to wait before the hysterics began.

  "Brandon, I can't believe that you are having a party and I was not invited but your mistress was."

  Brandon looked at Nadine, who looked as if she shrank a little bit inside. She was embarrassed.

  Ashley was playing to the gallery. And he was tired of it. He was tired of being the fall guy; he was tired of protecting Ashley and her reputation when she had no qualms with trampling over his.

  "Ashley," he gritted, "leave before I say something to this crowd that you'll regret."

  "What can you say?" Ashley's lips trembled. "I have not done anything wrong. I am the wife who loves you, while you carry out your little affair with Nadine behind my back."