The Ultimate Betrayal (17 page)

Maybe it was time for one of her infrequent migraines to appear. That would be a plausible reason to end the evening without too much intimacy. She would still have to endure Lara’s arms wrapped around her body in a protective, loving gesture. As much as she hated Lara right now, she was always very sweet and caring whenever Sophia got one of her debilitating migraines.

She’d work that out later. Right now, she would get dressed and leave Lara with a final remembrance of just what she lost, because by this time tomorrow their marriage would have already taken its last breath and died a dramatic death.

Chapter Eighteen

Rachel tossed and turned all night. She couldn’t get the vision of Lara and Sophia making love out of her head. She knew that a romantic getaway to Rosario Resort would probably mean that Sophia really didn’t have a choice if she didn’t want to ruin their plans to make Lara squirm before slapping her with the multitude of unpleasant documents.

Rachel didn’t know what bothered her more, the realization that Lara would be making love to Sophia or that Sophia would have to endure the intimacy that was clearly repulsive to her.

She finally admitted to herself that she cared about Sophia and didn’t want her to feel any more pain than she’d already clearly suffered.

Rachel began to second-guess the plan. Perhaps they should have just confronted Lara straight away. It had been her idea to prolong the agony and make Lara uncomfortable. They could have gotten the legal documents written up without sending Lara on a wild goose chase in an effort to keep Rachel and Sophia apart. Too late now, but the guilt began to nibble at her subconscious.

Rachel vowed to make it up to Sophia. She would whisk her away to get some much needed rest and relaxation.
Would going back to Rosario be a painful memory?
she wondered. Maybe they could stay in Victoria and enjoy the city for the remainder of her visit to the Pacific Northwest.

Rachel felt a spasm of pain at the realization that Sophia would be returning to New York. She would have liked to get to know her better. She already felt somewhat connected to her. A long distance friendship could work. She had a feeling that Sophia would make a good friend. Rachel had many acquaintances, but no one she could call a friend. She could use a confidant right about now. Rachel didn’t think her family would let her live this down. They already hated the fact that she’d married a woman and now that the marriage wasn’t even legal—well, that would be the cherry to push the cream over the top. She might as well find a private island to hide away on. Her life would suck now. An endless string of phone calls from her oh, so helpful, family would consume her life for the next several months. The
I told you so
would come in various forms—directly from her mother and indirectly from everyone else.

Rachel shook away her negative thoughts and headed off to the shower. For once, she would be on time. Just in case, she’d carefully rolled clothes that would last for at least two weeks into her trusty backpack. Rachel never liked the fancy luggage Lara bought for her—always preferring her comfortable pack.

Getting time off from work was a piece of cake since she had a boatload of vacation accrued. Convincing Sophia to stay and join her on a little rest and relaxation journey was an entirely different ball of wax.

Espresso was lounging on the bed when she came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her body. He placed a paw on her arm.

“Sorry, little bad boy, I have to go out of town for a little while. Damn, I know that you love your other mommy, too, but you are coming with me no matter what. Shit, it’s always the kids that get hurt the worst in adult transgressions.” Rachel stroked his soft fur as he stretched and then placed his paws over her shoulders in a kitty version of a hug. He began to lick the water drops on her neck as she giggled.

“Stop it you
lickapotamis
. I swear you have some kind of oral fixation. Probably weaned too early from your mom. You can give your aunty all the kisses you want. She likes it. Now, be a good boy for her, okay?”

“Meow.”

Rachel pushed Espresso off her shoulders and continued to get ready. She’d already picked out a comfortable pullover and her soft worn out jeans. She wanted to be comfortable in the floatplane.

Lara always preferred her in the fancier casual clothing she’d purchased for her when they first starting dating. It never felt completely right to her, but it was a small compromise if it made Lara happy. Well, now she would dress however she bloody well pleased. To hell with what Lara preferred. The more she thought about it, the more she felt like she’d been losing that part of herself that made her who she was. She felt like she’d somehow managed to change into something she was never entirely comfortable with. It was somewhat freeing to go back to her comfort zone again.

Rachel glanced at her watch. Perfect timing. She couldn’t believe that she was right on time. She grabbed her keys, threw the backpack over both shoulders, and walked out the door to pick up Joy. They would have time to spare.

†

Lara rolled and reached out for Sophia, but the space was empty. She opened her eyes and spied Sophia looking out the glass doors leading to the deck.

“Morning, honey. Are you feeling better?” Lara asked.

“
Mmm
hmmm,” Sophia responded without turning around.

“Listen, something seems to be off about your health lately. I think you ought to make an appointment with the doctor to check you out when you return to New York. I can’t put my finger on it, but I’m concerned.”

Sophia waved her hand. “
Pssh
. It was just a migraine. You know I get them on occasion.” She smiled. “I’m really looking forward to our trip to Victoria. I just have this feeling that everything is going to turn out perfectly.”

“I’m so glad you aren’t disappointed that we had to make a course correction mid-vacation. We can come back here another time,” Lara offered.

Lara kept feeling like something was slightly off-kilter, but now that she looked upon her wife’s smiling face, she decided she was probably imagining things or projecting her own stress as a result of the situation with Joy and Rachel. One problem at a time. First, she would wine and dine Sophia. Then, she would send her packing back to New York. After Sophia returned to New York, she would put things back on track with Rachel. It was a simple task of putting puzzle pieces into place to complete the picture the way she wanted it.

“It’s a good thing we didn’t fully unpack when we first got to the room. We should have plenty of time to have a nice breakfast and make it to the seaplane dock in time for our flight to Victoria. Unless….” Lara wiggled her eyebrows. “I suppose there are other things we could do to occupy our time.”

“You don’t mind if we have a nice big breakfast, do you. I didn’t eat much last night because my migraine made an early appearance, so I’m really starving right now.”

Lara tried not to sound too disappointed as she answered her wife. “No, of course I don’t mind. Would you rather eat here or go to the restaurant?”

“Let’s hit the restaurant. I heard they have a spectacular brunch. Do you mind if I shower first?”

Lara heard her phone buzz on the dresser and scrambled to retrieve the text message that she knew was from Rachel.

“No, go ahead. I’ll answer my text and try to get my staff to limit their communication with me. Sorry about that.”

Sophia waved her hand and walked into the bathroom.

Lara turned her phone and stared at the cryptic message.

Change of plans. Running late, I’ll fill you in when we arrive at our new destination.

“Well, fuck me, all that plotting and planning and now it looks like I didn’t even have to make those new arrangements,” Lara grumbled.

Lara had a fleeting thought that maybe she should just cancel those new plans and tell Sophia that the resort was able to work things out after all. She discarded that notion immediately. She’d had to scramble too much already and she wasn’t going to change things again at the last minute. Sophia might think she was going crazy. Hell, she thought she might be going crazy with all the impossible maneuvering during the past couple of days.

Oh the tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive,
whipped through her brain like an angry wind. She needed to get on the other side of this chaos and everything would return to normal. Recently her lying had reached a frenzied peak and it was exhausting keeping everything straight.

When Sophia exited the bathroom, Lara plastered a smile across her face and turned to focus on her wife. It was time to pour on the charm.

†

Rachel was enjoying the view from the front seat on the floatplane. Instead of one tiny window to look out, she got a one hundred and eighty degree panoramic of the vista before her. She smiled knowing that Sophia probably experienced the same exhilaration on her trip. She wondered if New York had the same breathtaking views that the Pacific Northwest offered. She didn’t think so, but she’d never been to New York as an adult and couldn’t quite remember the family vacation of her youth. All she had to go on was how Hollywood depicted the busy city. So many people chose to live there, so it must hold some appeal, she thought.

She turned around and looked at Joy who had her head leaning against the window with her eyes closed. Rachel chuckled. The plane was so loud that she couldn’t imagine anyone taking a nap on the short forty-five minute trip, especially when such a mind-blowing landscape appeared in all its glorious finery.

Rachel appreciated how much of a trooper that Joy had been this morning. Despite coming in at a late hour, she was ready to go when Rachel came by to pick her up. Not only was she ready, but Rachel sensed that she was eager to go on this journey if it meant ensuring that Lara got her just desserts.

She laughed to herself, thinking about the first time she’d heard that expression. She was ten years old and wondered why getting your just desserts was a bad thing, because she loved dessert. Her mom patiently explained the archaic expression desserts was a derivative of deserve and not her favorite tasty sweet.

As the floatplane landed, Rachel retrieved her phone so that she would be ready to send a quick text message. This would be the final droplet in their Chinese torture scheme before tracking Sophia and Lara down to finally confront her on her deception.

Once the pilot placed the bags on the dock, Rachel shot Joy an evil grin. “God, I wish I had a camera pointed at Lara in about ten seconds. I’d love to see her expression when she peeks at my text message.”

“I don’t suppose it would work to send a text to Sophia and have her discreetly use her phone to tape this historical moment,” Joy quipped.

“I wonder how she’s doing? It won’t be long now. I don’t envy what she had to endure last night—knowing what a conniving, two-timing skank Lara is,” Rachel remarked.

“If I know Sophia, she found a way to avoid that bitch.”

Rachel pushed the button to open her text message app and thumbed in the final jab.

Hey, babe. Landed in Victoria. That was our change in plans. Took Monday off. Heading to the Empress. Call me and I’ll fill you in.

“Done. Now we have to hightail it to the hotel. If Sophia is successful and was able to get her to high tea and keep her there, we’ll end the torture. If not, I can think up several new ways to yank her chain as long as Sophia is able to feed us updated information on their whereabouts. Lara might try to whisk her away to their room and keep her there, but that won’t fly too long. It would seem odd not to enjoy the city, especially since Sophia has never been to Victoria.”

“I’d vote for more torture, but then Sophia would have to endure further pain and I don’t want that for her,” Joy explained.

“Agreed. I’d rather get to the Empress and end the game.” Rachel frowned. “Do you think we should have just confronted her right away? I feel bad now.”

“No. We all agreed to make her squirm a little. Besides, we needed more time to get all the legal mumbo jumbo squared away. Sophia will be fine. You can cheer her up when we all finally intersect with one another.”

“We can cheer her up. It will be our job to get her to loosen up and enjoy a vacation in a beautiful city,” Rachel declared.

 
Rachel felt the buzz from her phone and looked down. Lara was calling. She decided to ignore the call for now. “Oh darn, cell reception is so persnickety here in Victoria.”

“Is that Lara?” Joy asked.

“Oh yeah, the rat is calling and most likely looking for a way to abandon ship.”

Rachel felt another buzz in her hand, looked down, smiled, and retrieved the text message from Sophia.

           
Direct hit. She’s in the bathroom now. Hopefully puking her guts out, but probably trying to devise an exit strategy. Hurry.

“Come on, oh faithful side kick, we have to hurry if we want to catch them.” Rachel began running toward the enormous hotel covered in lush green ivy.