Before Sunrise Read online

  “Yes, Phil. You tell me every day.”

  “Sometimes I feel guilty.”

  Kennedy frowned. “Why?”

  “Because of how…how we came together. I mean, I could have never predicted this future.”

  Kennedy had to look away. She immediately grew uncomfortable. She didn’t want to be, but any mention of Liam always cooled any desire she had for Phil. “It’s okay, babe. Life takes people down strange paths. But, um, let’s not go there.”

  “Exactly. I want to make love to you.” He changed gears in a flash. He captured her face between his palms. “Then I want to fuck you, and make love you to all over again.” Before she could respond, his mouth covered hers. He turned her to the bed. He was on her in a hurry. Making love with Phil always seemed rushed, as if he felt he had to touch and get inside of every part of her, as if he’d never get enough. She lifted her arms to his neck and let him walk her back to the bed while sharing his kiss. He was her husband, after all.

  ***

  Angelina called her sons inside from their jungle gym in the backyard. Her boys wore distinctive colors to tell them apart. Joey wore red. Joshua, blue. “Upstairs, now,” she said, exhausted to the point of tears. She wasn’t this big when she carried the twins. Anthony joked that this time it must be a girl. Angelina didn’t care. Three was her limit. She wouldn’t ever consider going through this again.

  “Why we got to go upstairs, mama?”

  “Daddy called. He’s on his way. Get cleaned up.”

  “Yay!” the boys sang, racing for the stairs. Closing the sliding door, she smiled at the thunderous sound of their little feet thumping up and over her head. Her hubby hadn’t been home in four months. Four long, torturous months of nights without her man. She needed him now.

  Humming to herself, she picked up two handfuls of Legos and a Tonka truck on the way to the kitchen to check on the roast. She thought of maybe calling Kennedy to finalize the plans for Mackenzie’s Christmas-birthday party. She’d found a great company that would actually send a clown out on Christmas Day. But it could wait a day. She decided to get ready for her man’s arrival instead.

  ***

  Liam was the first out of the truck. The sight of Kennedy and her new family haunted him. His anger and disappointment weighed heavily in his gut. He had half a mind to turn on his cane and put an end to his misery right then and there. But he didn’t trust himself anymore. The darkness in his head kept fanning the flames of his anger.

  Vasquez skirted around Liam and got to the door first. He unlocked it and stepped through, with Liam following. The warm smell of a home-cooked meal filled the air. Liam inhaled deeply. He came all the way in, dragging his leg behind him. His coordination always grew worse when he exhausted himself.

  “Baby!” Angelina shouted from the kitchen.

  “Daddy!” Vasquez’s sons bolted down the stairs. Liam observed it all from the door. It felt good to watch his best friend reunite with his family. The boys were tall for their age and identical. Liam had to smile to himself at what little men they’d turned out to be.

  Vasquez lifted his sons in his arms as they pelted him with questions.

  “All right, all right, boys,” Angelina said, coming out of the kitchen. She wiped her hands against her apron. “Give Daddy a—”

  She stopped, froze, and screamed.

  Liam met Angelina’s stare. She hadn’t changed much. She was as radiant and spicy as he remembered, except for her huge middle section. Vasquez hadn’t told him he would be a father again. Or had he? His head was such a fog lately, he barely held onto facts.

  “Oh, sweet Jesus,” Angelina gasped. Putting a hand to her belly, she stumbled back and knocked a fern from the hall table with a loud crash. Vasquez quickly lowered his sons to the slate floor and went for his wife. He steadied her on her feet, and then helped her into the nearest chair.

  “Hi, Angelina,” Liam said softly. “Good to see you again.”

  Liam stepped forward on his cane. The twins stared up at him, confused.

  “No. You can’t be…oh, sweet merciful God. Tony? What…who?” she cried.

  “Calm down, sweetheart.”

  Angelina shot her husband an incredulous look. “Is he real? Is this real?”

  “Afraid so.” Liam said.

  Angelina’s sobs broke from her in a strange rush of tears and of laughter. Borderline hysterical, she grabbed her husband for strength and rose from the chair. Her sons were overwhelmed by their mother’s response. Each went to her, trying to touch and comfort her.

  “This can’t be happening. Thank you, God. Thank you,” she moaned. She rose despite her family’s attempt to hold her back, and stepped straight into Liam’s arms.

  “Liam…oh my God…Liam, it is you. It’s you!”

  Liam held her. He dropped his cane to hold her tight. She buried her face into his chest and laughed and laughed. She couldn’t stop laughing.

  “Angelina, you have to calm down,” Vasquez said.

  She released Liam and hugged her husband. “You found him. I can’t believe it, but you found him.” She lifted her head from Vasquez’s shoulder. “We thought you were dead…we all thought we lost you, Liam…oh my God…oh thank you, God!” She began to weep in earnest.

  Vasquez knelt down to his boys. He ran his hands back through their curly ’fros. “I need to talk to Mommy for a minute. Will you go upstairs and play for ten minutes, and then I’ll come get you for your turn?”

  They stared doubtfully at Liam for a long moment, then nodded solemnly to their father. “Okay,” they said in unison. The usually boisterous twins were quiet as they walked off for the stairs.

  Angelina looked from Liam to her husband, her hand to her chest. She was still panting with excitement. “How long have you known, Tony?”

  “Let me explain,” Vasquez began.

  Angelina’s eyes went wide. “Oh no…Kennedy.” Her hand went up and covered her mouth. She turned her gaze back to Liam. “Have you seen her?”

  “From a distance…I didn’t approach her yet.” Liam didn’t hide the bitterness in his voice.

  “This can’t be happening. This will kill her.”

  “I guess my return home isn’t something Kennedy will be too excited over.”

  “What? No. I didn’t mean it that way. Liam! Are you kidding? You have to see her, right now.”

  “She’s with her husband. I bet she’s fine.” With difficulty, he knelt to pick up his cane. He shuffled around them to the sofa. Angelina began to talk fast in Spanish, her voice elevated. She marched over in a huff. Then she wheeled on Liam again.

  “Kennedy is still in mourning.”

  Liam scoffed.

  “It’s true. Some wounds don’t heal.”

  “She has another man in her bed, so I’m sure she’s found a way to cope.”

  “Sweet merciful God, this is a mess. And you, why didn’t you at least tell me?” she demanded of her husband. Vasquez removed his dress jacket and hung it over the newel post at the bottom of the stairs. He stared straight ahead at the wall.

  “You know I couldn’t.”

  “Huh? This is Liam and Kennedy! Our closest friends. What do you mean you couldn’t? You think I would put it on the six o’clock news?”

  “Calm down, Angelina. In your condition—”

  “How long have you known?”

  Vasquez looked over at Liam. “Almost three months.”

  “Three months?” Angelina shouted. “In my condition, you’re lucky I don’t kick both your asses!”

  “Angelina…I was sick when they found me. It took some time for me to get well.” Liam tried to give his friend some bargaining room. This homecoming and his presence would cause his boy nothing but aggravation. He should have gotten a hotel room.

  Angelina stepped before Liam and glared at him sideways. He found himself relieved that her big belly kept her from getting right in his face. She crossed her arms and tried to speak calmly.

  “Every min
ute of every day that my best friend believed you to be dead, a piece her has died. I’ve watched her mourn you over and over again, to the brink of insanity. I’ve tried to help her be strong. But nothing did. The only reason she is able to move on is because of Mackenzie. I don’t give a damn what you think you saw or what you were told, I know her. I know how much she loves you. You should have called. Someone should have called!”

  “I lost her, Angie. She married Phil, of all people.”

  Angelina frowned. “She loves you…trust me on this.”

  “Then how could she marry him?” he snapped.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  Vasquez stepped over to his wife, taking her arm gently. “Angie, please…this is tough on everyone.”

  “Kennedy needs to be told now! Right now, damn it. You two were wrong to keep this from her.”

  “NO,” Liam commanded in a calm tone. “I’ll tell her in my way. Make no mistake, she’s my wife. I haven’t forgotten that fact, even if she has. I will get my family back. But I need to do this the right way. You won’t call her in the middle of the night to tell her that her dead husband is in your living room. Do you understand me?”

  Before Angelina could speak, the doorbell rang. All three heads jerked up at once. Liam struggled but managed to scuttle out of view of the sidelight windows. “I don’t want anyone to know I’m here. Not yet.”

  “I won’t keep this from her. Not after shouldering the guilt of making her give up on you. I won’t do it, Liam.”

  He started up the stairs. Vasquez quietly told him there was a spare guest room next to the one the twins occupied. As he turned the corner into the upstairs hallway, he heard the door open below.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Angelina demanded.

  “Hello, Angelina. Good to see you again,” came the voice of Alexa Sinclair.

  ***

  Kennedy lay on Phil’s sweaty chest, listening to his beating heart. Naked, tired, she had done her very best to make her husband feel secure. Because deep down inside, she knew the real reason for the unexplained trip to the fair and the bedroom workout. He only let her escape to feed and bathe Mackenzie. As soon as her little girl was asleep, he had her cornered in the shower, feasting on her breasts, and making love to her up against the shower wall.

  “I think tonight is a fresh start for us,” Phil whispered, running his lips feather-light over her forehead.

  He squeezed her and she resisted the urge to cry. She smiled and lay wrapped in his arms. After several long minutes, his hold on her went soft and a light snore escaped from his mouth. Kennedy lifted gently from him. She moved over and rolled onto her side. Alone with her thoughts and his seed sticky between her thighs, she stared at the drapes and the soft moonglow beyond. In that moment she had to admit to herself the truth. Liam would always be the love of her life, and no matter what time did to her heart, that feeling would never change. Kennedy drifted to sleep on the memory of their first meeting.

  July 24th 2004

  “Sierra, who is he?” Kennedy whispered. Both girls leaned back on the railing of the fire escape. The honking sounds of car horns and screeching tires of the traffic drifted up.

  “Who’s who?”

  “Him.” Kennedy nodded over in the direction of the three guys lingering. One was Chauncey White. He was about nineteen, a tall, thin black guy with lips Sierra loved to suck on. He’d been recruited to start for the University of Miami; the party had been thrown in his honor. The other guy next to him was Heath McBride. Heath was older. Kennedy thought him to be somewhere in his mid-twenties, a white guy she knew little about, with freckles that covered his face and a never-ending supply of marijuana. Kennedy avoided him, mostly. Heath always arrived at the gatherings she went to, delivering party favors.

  “Oh, you’re talking about Liam. He’s Heath’s cousin from Chicago. Heard he’s staying with him now.”

  “He’s a drug dealer,” Kennedy said, disappointed.

  Sierra laughed. “I don’t think so. Maybe. He is kind of hot.”

  Liam cut his eyes their way. Kennedy immediately dropped her stare. “He’s looking over here, isn’t he?” she whispered.

  “Aww. Kennedy, you got a crush already? Girl, you a mess.”

  “Stop teasing me. Is he looking over here?”

  Sierra sucked her tongue. It was pierced with a small, shiny silver ball that usually made all the boys stop in their tracks. “No, he isn’t looking over here, silly.”

  Kennedy sighed. “Good.”

  “He’s walking over here.”

  “Huh? What?”

  “W’sup, ladies?” Liam stepped between them.

  Kennedy wanted to die. She looked up into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. She never approached boys, and despite Sierra’s worldly influence, remained so inexperienced she didn’t even know what her type was, if she had one. But one look into Liam’s sparkling eyes and she knew he could definitely be the one for her.

  “Hey,” said Sierra.

  Kennedy watched as she gave Liam a warm smile along with her patented back-arching, rack-lifting move.

  “You girls from around here?”

  “Nah. Connecticut.”

  Liam frowned. “Really. Rich kids.”

  “Not everyone in Connecticut is rich.” Sierra rolled her eyes.

  “True, but I can tell by the diamonds in your ears and the way you’re dressed, you from that scene.”

  Kennedy wanted to join the conversation. She opened her mouth but no words came out. Then, to her horror, Sierra made her move, the one where she heaved her C cups right up in a guy’s face and talked with her tongue, exaggeratedly slow, so she could show off her piercing. Sierra Schoenstein was Jewish with olive skin, flowing dark brown hair and the body of a runway model. Both their dads were investment bankers at the same firm. They’d grown up together. Even though Sierra was two years her senior, she was by far Kennedy’s best friend.

  “So what you drinking?” Sierra eased up against Liam so the side of her breasts rubbed against his bicep.

  Liam sipped from his red plastic cup, his eyes trained on the silver ball in Sierra’s mouth. Kennedy couldn’t be more crushed. It had been rare to find a guy she liked, and even more rare she’d given thought to how to make him hers. Now she stood in her friend’s shadow once again.

  Besides, he’s probably not even into black girls. She’d met a few boys who weren’t and it didn’t bother her. She didn’t like ignorance or tolerate prejudice in her life. Her father taught her to see people for who they were, and weren’t.

  Not able to stomach the show, she tried to step around. Liam’s hand shot out and drew her back. Kennedy blinked up at him, surprised. Later, she’d remember the heat in his touch.

  “You still haven’t told me your name.”

  “Um, Kennedy.”

  “Cool, but you’re too pretty to be a Kennedy. I think I’m going to call you Kay.”

  If she were fair-skinned, she’d have turned scarlet red. Instead, she grinned stupidly up at him, unable to look away. He sipped from his cup and then winked at her.

  “You girls have fun,” he said, then sauntered off.

  “Oh my GOD!” Kennedy exhaled. She’d been reduced to a fit of giggles. Sierra chuckled and shook her head.

  “I think he liked you, Kay,” she teased.

  “He is so cute. Look at his butt.”

  They both tried to, but he disappeared into the pack of gyrating bodies dancing to the house music. “He’s going to be my boyfriend.” Kennedy grinned.

  “Huh? He isn’t in high school. He’s probably twenty-two or three, and I hear he’s got a temper. Remember that kid Bryan? The one that goes to Gaylor?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Heard he beat him up pretty bad over something trifling. I can’t remember, but I think it was over a pack of cigarettes.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, remember our rule? We sneak out to have fun, but we just look, never touch. Beside
s, you can do better than that loser,” Sierra huffed.

  Kennedy ignored her. The just-looking rule seemed only to apply to Kennedy. Sierra touched anyone she wanted, as many times as she wanted in a night. She was overly protective, as most everyone in Kennedy’s life was. Besides, in Liam’s case, Kennedy suspected Sierra had grown salty because he’d turned down her flirt, especially since it was the first time anyone in this crew did. Kennedy lifted on her toes to look for him. But he was gone.

  Kennedy smiled to herself. She’d see him again soon. She’d find a way.

  ***

  Angelina blocked Alexa’s entrance. “I asked you a question.”

  “Right. I see.” Alexa stepped back from the door and cleared her throat dramatically. “Good evening Mrs. Vasquez. I’m-so-sorry-to-bother-you-at-this-late-hour-I’m-here-on-official-business-with-the-major-is-he-available?”

  Vasquez hustled to the door and rested his hands on his wife’s shoulders. “Hi, Alex. What are you doing here?”

  Angelina, obviously annoyed with her husband, shook off his touch.

  “Let me guess. You’re here to see Liam,” Angelina snipped.

  “Sweetheart, please.” Vasquez pulled her back inside.

  Angelina whirled on her husband. “I want her out of here. And unless you want the fight of your life tonight, you’ll make it happen quick.” She stormed aside, hand to her belly.

  Alexa sneered. “I see your wife is as charming as ever.”

  “It’s not a good time, Alex. Liam already went upstairs.”

  “This isn’t a social call. Can I please come in?”

  Vasquez sighed, weighing his options. Angelina paced the floor behind him. He stepped aside. She shot her husband a withering glare when he allowed Alexa to walk inside, then turned and marched off to the kitchen.

  Alexa looked up to the stairs. “Can you get him to come down?”

  “No. He’s wiped.”

  “So I take it the reunion didn’t go well.”