Rifling through her closet, she finally found it, a sleeveless top of silver and black sequins that shimmered when the light caught them. She slid into a tight-fitting black satin skirt, just above the knee. Chanel. The phone rang. “Bonjour? C’est Adelyn?” she answered, her voice ending in a question.
“Now, are you askin’ or tellin’?” Howard’s gravelly Texas drawl filled her ear and most of the room. “‘Cause I know who I’m speakin’ to, and sure as hell hope you know who you are. You comin’ tonight?” He paused, and before she could reply with some remark equally clever, he continued, “I’m not even askin’, cause I’m comin’ to get you now, so be ready. Ten minutes.”
Her heart lifted not from his outrageous flirtation, but from the solidness of his affection for her, a salve on her wounded heart. “Merci, mon ami. Of course, I wouldn’t miss Josephine Baker for anything.”
“Now, darlin’, you better say you wouldn’t miss the opportunity to be with me.”
“Is there any doubt?” Her face flushed, and she sensed he could hear her voice quaver.
“None.” He hung up. She knew he lived nearby in an apartment on the Champs-Élysées, and hurried to be ready, feeling the blood surge through her and her pulse quicken.
When Howard arrived, Adelyn saw the more sedate, polite Howard, the tall figure in white shirt and tails entering the living room. She stood outside his vision to watch him with Trey, the toddler wrapping his hand around the big man’s finger. He looked up in his handsomeness as she walked in slowly so that he might prolong his connection with her baby.
“Little soldier.” He cooed at Trey who slobbered all over his hand.
“Howard, let me wipe that up.” Adelyn hastily grabbed one of the clean diapers piled high on a credenza. “This apartment looks more like a nursery every day. I apologize.” She blushed at the disarray that a baby brings to any living quarter.
“Nonsense, Miss. I almost said ‘Ariel’, because you are a creature more than human and seem to float more than walk.” Howard took her hand as she wiped and she felt a tremor of shakiness. He’s in love with me; this young man loves me.
“Why, as a matter of fact I do.” He pulled her close. “Your eyes betray you, and you are magical, because I’ve had a straight line into your thinking from the start.”
Unhinged, Adelyn bent her head as she continued to wipe the baby’s spittle from Howard’s hand, and feared he would see her entire and senseless situation, the bruised heart her husband had left her with.
“Let’s go.” He whispered in her ear and caressed her face with his own cheek as he moved away. Trey continued to gurgle his appreciation for all the tactile connections that flowed from them to him and to one another.
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