Bertrice Small - Sudden Pleasures

A fit of giggles overcame Ashley, and Ryan couldn't help chuckling himself.

"Oh, I'll never forgive us for embarrassing him like that," Ashley said.

"Sorry. I forgot myself for a moment," Ryan apologized to her.

"Oh, don't chastise yourself too much," Ashley said. "Once he was out of our sight I'll bet he ran all the way to the kitchen to tell Mrs. B. that we've fallen in love." She stopped, and then continued, "We have fallen in love, haven't we, Ryan? Or did I misunderstand you and make a dope of myself?"

Reaching across the table he took her hand and, raising it to his lips, kissed it. "You didn't misunderstand at all; nor did I. Yeah, I've fallen in love with you, baby. And I've never loved another woman before. Lusted after them, yeah. But never loved."

"And I love you too," Ashley said, tears in her eyes. "But I can't claim to have not said that before, because I have. But now I realize I didn't really know what the devil I was talking about. I didn't feel anything for Carson or Chandler or Derek that I feel for you, Ryan. I never thought about babies with them."

"You're thinking about babies with me?" His mouth turned up in a smile.

"Yeah, I am. A little boy with dark curls and big brown eyes like his daddy," she replied. "Crazy, huh?"

"How many babies?" he asked her.

"How many do you want?" she responded, smiling back at him.

"Three too many?" he said.

"Three's a good number," she agreed.

"Ashley?"

"Yes, Ryan?"

"I really do love you!"

"And I really love you," Ashley answered him. "Now eat your dinner, Ryan. Mrs. B. won't be very happy with us if we let this perfect roast of hers go to waste. And we won't be getting good corn like this much longer now that autumn's coming."

After dinner they made love again, and this time with such tenderness that Ashley cried when she came to climax. She was loved. She loved. Their crazy marriage of convenience had by some miracle turned into a love match. They were even talking about a family. She began to think that they would have to start thinking about a religious ceremony to formalize the love they admitted to having for each other. Lina would be so pleased, but first things first. She had two new shops to staff and open.

***

Ashley drove into town on Tuesday with her husband. They stopped at his apartment first. He introduced her to his doorman, explaining that his wife would be using the apartment now and again. The doorman, he knew, would spread the word to the superintendent and the other help in the building. Ashley already had a key, as they had had one made the previous day in Egret Pointe.

Her appointment for the city store was at eleven in the morning. Their car parked in his building's garage, they hailed a cab and headed back downtown. The contractor was a big, jovial fellow. Ashley had met him only once before. They had conducted most of their business on the telephone once she had hired him. He let them into the store, and Ashley's first reaction was delight. The fresh gray paint with its elegant white trim looked perfect. The pale silver-gray carpeting was plush. The display cases were ebony and glass. The lighting fixtures were discreet but for the elegant gold sconces on the walls. She checked the stockroom, the manager's office, the bathroom, the small lunchroom she had insisted upon for her employees. "What do you think?" she asked Ryan.

"It's good, but has the electric been upgraded to handle the computers, the register, and the security system?" he asked the contractor.

"I got the papers from the city inspector right here, Mr. Mulcahy," came the response. "The security system ain't hooked up yet, but the guy is coming next week."

"We're opening the first week in November," Ashley said.

"It'll be ready before then, I promise," the contractor replied.

"And the window painter for the shop's name and logo?" she wanted to know.

"Tomorrow. I wanted the best guy, and he's hard to get," the contractor explained. "You know about those things, Mr. Mulcahy."

"You know me?" Ryan said.

"My father knew your father," the contractor answered. "It's a small world when you're a woodworker."

Ryan nodded. "When can we see the mall store?"

"Tomorrow be all right, Miss Kim… Mrs. Mulcahy?" The contractor wisely addressed the question to Ashley. After all, she was paying him, not the husband.

"How about Thursday afternoon instead?" Ashley suggested. "Then we can just head out of town from there. Three o'clock?"

"That's fine with me, Miss Kim… Mrs. Mulcahy." He laughed. "I'll get it right eventually," the contractor promised.

"You had better," she said with a smile. "If these two shops do well I'll probably be opening a few more in the area."

"Yes, ma'am!" he responded with a broad grin.

Ryan left her afterward, and Ashley hurried to a luncheon meeting she had scheduled with Nina's friend Suzette. The two women met at Felicity's Tea Shoppe on Madison. Nina had reminded Ashley that the two women had met briefly when Suzette had visited Nina the previous year, and sure enough they recognized each other. They were seated, and as they ate lunch Ashley explained to Suzette what she wanted. Suzette assured her that she could handle the shop, asked some salient questions that impressed Ashley, and then the two women negotiated a salary. Ashley was rather relieved at what Suzette wanted. It was less than she had been prepared to pay, but as Nina told her later, Suzette's boss had had an investment retirement fund for his employees, and under the law Suzette had taken hers with her. She was comfortably fixed, and with Ashley picking up her medical insurance and adding to that fund, she could accept less of a salary.

"Do you want me to do the hiring for the shop?" Suzette asked. She was an elegant, well-spoken woman in her late fifties with stylishly cut short salt-and-pepper hair. Her makeup, Ashley noted, was flawless and natural-looking, her jewelry good. Suzette was just what Ashley was looking for. Nina was going to get a bonus for it.

"It would be a help if you did," Ashley replied.

"How many girls do you want?"

"Start with two. If you need more let me know. You might have to hire someone to temp for the holiday rush. I'm putting you in charge of the employees to start. Once you've learned the stock and what sells on the Upper East Side, then I'll probably ask you to do some ordering."

Suzette nodded. "I come from dresses and suits, but I learn fast," she said.

"Would you mind coming out to Egret Pointe soon? I'd like you to work with Nina and get an idea of the merchandise," Ashley said. "We're opening the first week in November. Hire your girls to begin the last week in October for paid training."

"No problem," Nina said.

Ashley spent the following day visiting the showrooms of some of her largest suppliers. She also found a new small showroom with some rather interesting and one-of-a-kind garments. She placed an order. On Thursday she and Ryan headed up to the suburban mall to meet the contractor and inspect the mall store. It was identical to the shop in town and in Egret Pointe. There were two women from a local employment agency waiting for her when they arrived. She interviewed them before the contractor got there, and hired one, a Mrs. Babcock, who had solid retail experience. She explained, as she had to Suzette, what her duties would be, and that she would be responsible for the hiring.

"You will have to come up to Egret Pointe shortly, along with the manager of the city store. I'll see you're both put up, and pay your expenses, of course."

"Certainly," said Mrs. Babcock, a slightly younger version of Suzette. "My husband is home every night, and the kids are in high school and presumably civilized. They can all manage without me for a few days."

Ashley was feeling very good as they returned home. Everything seemed to be going along perfectly. She was in love, and loved in return. Now all she had to do was face down her horrific in-laws. But with Ryan by her side she decided she could triumph over just about anything. And one day very soon her birth control pills were going to be dumped down the commode. Now that she had birthed three shops, she was ready to have that baby. And they were going to make such beautiful babies too.

The leaves had begun to turn, and Main Street in Egret Pointe was decorated once more to fit the season. The trees lining the street were surrounded with tall dried and colored cornstalks tied with wide bright-orange ribbons. Large, fat pumpkins in every possible shade a pumpkin could be grown, along with piles of green, yellow, white, and orange gourds, encircled the trees amid baskets of red and yellow apples. A large banner advertising the local Harvest Festival was slung across Main Street.

"We get to go on Sunday," Ashley told her husband. "We've got the harpies on Saturday. I'm going to ask your mom and Frankie to stay over."

"I thought we were going to have the rest of the weekend to ourselves," he complained. "Besides, Frankie won't be coming. It's parents' weekend up at St. Peter's, and she never misses one. And this is her last, as my nephew graduates in June."

"Can't I ask your mom?" Ashley said. "I like her, Ryan. I have only the barest memory of my own mother, because she died when I was fourteen. Oh, I've got a picture of her, but very few memories. And I missed having a mother. Your mother is cool. Look how she went to Ray to find a wife for you. And look how nice she's been to me, even if I wasn't quite the daughter-in-law she was expecting. Besides, do you want her having to ride home with the harpies and their husbands?"

"You're too softhearted, woman," he said, pulling her into his arms and giving her a kiss. "All right. Ask Ma if she'd like to stay. And call Frankie. She's been worried you'd be upset she couldn't come, but she didn't want to disappoint her kid."

***

The next day Ashley called her sister-in-law Frankie. "It's okay," she said to her. "I'll just deal with the harpies myself. I was going to ask you and your mom to stay over just to piss them off."

Frankie laughed. "Ma told me you called her this morning. She thinks you're sweet asking her to stay, and of course she's going to do it, because she had such a good time last time. I'm sorry to leave you with the harpies-well, not really, if you get my meaning-but my kid comes first, Ash. You'll understand when you have your own."

"So you'll come for Christmas with him and your mother, okay?" Ashley asked.

"Yes, we'll come," Frankie replied. She paused, then finally said, "You sound different. Really happy. I guess everything's all right with you and my brother."

"If that's your clever way of asking what's going on, I don't mind telling you. It seems that against all odds we have fallen in love," Ashley told her sister-in-law. "We're even talking babies, although I'm not quite ready to give up my birth control pills. I need to get these two new shops open and running smoothly."

"Oh, my God!" Frankie gasped. "I am so glad, Ash! For you and for my brother. He really is a good guy, and I want him to be happy. Does Ma know?"

"We're going to let her figure it out for herself." Ashley chuckled.

"Ashley, don't stop loving Ryan after you've met the harpies. Please!" Frankie said. "They'll start off semicharm-ing, but the mood will degenerate as the day goes on. It's the way they are. They've got the sibling-rivalry thing down pat, I'm afraid."

"I have to admit that I'll be glad to get it over and done with," Ashley admitted.

"I've got to go," Frankie said. "I've got a client coming in any minute. Good luck on Saturday, sweetie."

***

On Saturday morning they arose, ate a leisurely breakfast together, and then dressed to receive their guests. Ashley was wearing light wool slacks in a red-yellow-and-black Royal Stewart plaid, along with an off-white cotton cable-knit sweater with a round neckline. She had comfortable black leather boots on her feet. Ryan was wearing pale gray slacks and a taupe-colored Italian knit sweater in silk and cotton. He had expensive leather loafers on his feet. They were the picture of wealthy country casual.

At a little after eleven Ashley's cell rang. "This is Ashley," she said, picking up.

"It's Bill, Mrs. Mulcahy. We're five minutes out," a voice said.

"Thank you, Bill. After you drop my guests off, Byrnes will show you around to the kitchens, where you can get lunch and later dinner before you return to town."