Wives and Champions (4 page)

But then those attributes
were strong contributors to his success as a powerful well-known
businessman with a track record of excellence. He’d proven himself
in the industry and he was a Champion – of course he wanted it all.
Babies included. But he loved Melanie. So when he found out about
her inability to have children, he went to her, consoled her,
professed his love and made it work. Unlike Scott, Dimitrius wasn’t
a quitter. A man wasn’t supposed to
quit
on a woman he was in love with,
come what may.

Imagine their surprise when
they found out the doctor was wrong. Melanie
did
become pregnant and though she
had to be watched closely, had more doctor appointments than the
average pregnant woman and even had to give birth to Grace a couple
months early, Grace had arrived safely – a precious little girl
with hazel eyes like her daddy.

“
I wonder if it’s going to
be crowded,” Dimitrius said, flicking on the right turn
signal.

“
It’s Saturday. The big
kids are out of school. Yeah, it’ll be crowded, but we’ll squeeze
in there.”

After driving a few more minutes,
Dimitrius pulled up to the museum, wading through the crowded lot
for a parking stall.

“
There’s one, Dimitrius,”
Melanie said, but you have to circle around.

He quickly drove around a line of
parked cars then came back around, backing into the parking
stall.

“
Nice driving,
babe.”

“
Thanks, sweetie. Now, give
me some lips.”

Melanie leaned close to him, feeling
his lips latch on to and pull hers. They both pulled back at
precisely the same time and smiled at each other.

“
All right. Let’s go before
we’re extra late.”

“
Let’s,” Dimitrius said,
opening his door. He opened the back door, took Grace from her car
seat while Melanie grabbed the diaper bag.

“
Mel, do you think we’ll
need the stroller?”

“
Umm…nah. We can leave it.
Grace can run wild in here.”

Ten minutes late, they rushed to the
entrance, registered, then proceeded to the auditorium to view the
presentation.

Dimitrius, still holding Grace, took
Melanie’s hand, leading her to the empty chairs in the back
row.

Melanie breathed a sigh of relief as
soon as they sat down. “We made it.”

Dimitrius let Grace stand up in his
lap so she could see the stage. And while she stood up, eyes
bright, she danced and wiggled her already wobbly legs to the
music. Dimitrius looked at Melanie and said, “Look at her
go.”

Melanie smiled.

Dimitrius grinned. “She must get that
friskiness from you.”

Melanie laughed. “Whatever,
Dimitrius.” She whipped out her phone and recorded Grace
dancing.

“
I think we have a future
ballerina on our hands.”

“
Me, too.”

* * *

When the presentation was over, they
dispersed with the crowd into the kiddie area of the museum.
Dimitrius lowered Grace to her feet so she could walk to whatever
play area that caught her attention. Her little legs stumbled
towards a red baby slide. She fell before she got there, but
instead of crying, she pulled herself up and continued. All
smiles.

“
Good job, Grace,” Melanie
said.

Dimitrius took his cell phone from his
pocket when he heard it vibrating. He looked at the display and
said to Melanie, “Sweetheart, I’m going to step outside and take
this. You got her?”

“
Yes. Go ahead. We’ll be
here when you get back. You know how much she loves the
slide.”

“
Okay. Be right back.”
Dimitrius headed for the exit, answering his phone at the same
time. “Just a sec, Dante.”

Once he exited the noisy building, he
placed the phone against his left ear and said, “All right…had to
get out of the building.”

“
What are you up to this
morning?”

“
At the children’s
museum.”

“
Oh, yeah?”

“
Yeah. You should see her,
man. Now that she’s a bit older, she enjoys it more.”

“
I bet. Ezra was the same
way. Hey, I was thinking about going to get a beer or something
later. You game?”

“
Ah, probably. I need to
check with Melanie though…make sure we don’t have any plans later.
I’m sure it won’t be a problem. I don’t think we have anything else
on the agenda.”

“
Okay. I’ll check with
Desmond, too,” Dante said.

“
All right. Well, I’ll see
you later.”

“
All right, Dimitrius.
Later.”

Dimitrius slid the phone back inside
of his pocket, then turned to go back inside. That’s when he saw
Melanie talking to a man – a man he recognized, but couldn’t quite
remember where he knew him from. He was about to find
out.

* * *

“
It’s good to see you
again,” Scott said.

Bastard had some
nerve…

Melanie tried her best to avoid Scott,
her spineless ex-boyfriend, but when he spotted her, he called out
her name like she owed him money or something, hollering across the
museum, startling innocent children.

Why was he trying to get her attention
anyway? Just the sound of him saying her name made her want to pick
up one of the building blocks in this particular play area and hurl
it at his face.

Don’t let him get to you,
Melanie. He’s a jerk. He knows that. You know that. Deal with him
accordingly.

She hissed displeasure
under her breath. She looked up at him, seeing that same cheap look
on his face – the same look he donned whenever they ran into each
other nowadays.
He
was the one who did
her
wrong and now he wanted to go out of his way to
speak like they were besties. Why was it the very people who
wronged
you
the
ones who took the initiative to speak first? Almost like they were
gloating for hurting you and getting away with it, or speaking just
to see if you’d speak back – using your reaction as a gauge to
determine if you were still pissed. If you spoke, maybe you were
over it. If you didn’t speak, then
you
were the one with the
problem.

Ugh. Should’ve just kept
walking.

At any rate, Scott was standing there
in front of her, staring. She didn’t have to say anything, but to
be respectful (not for him, but for herself) she said, “Hi.” And
that’s all she said. It definitely wasn’t good to see him. Not good
at all.

“
How have you been?” he
asked when really he wanted to know why she was at a children’s
museum when she had no children. Maybe she could’ve been there with
her friends. He knew she was an only child, so she had no nieces or
nephews. So…

Melanie couldn’t stop the small frown
that flashed in her forehead. “I’m great,” she forced herself to
say, feeling pressure build up and settle at the frontal lobes of
her brain. Returning her attention to Grace, she lowered her arm to
help her daughter climb up on the steps. “Be careful,
sweetie.”

After much trial and error, Grace
climbed up on the three-step ladder.

Scott looked at the little girl then
quickly looked at Melanie before he was back looking at Grace
again. He looked dumbfounded. Befuddled. The little girl looked
like Melanie. He frowned. “Is…is she y-your daughter?”

“
She’s our daughter,”
Dimitrius said before Melanie could answer. Now he knew who the man
was staring at his wife like he could jump her bones then and
there. Scott. Her ex-boyfriend. “Scott, was it?” Dimitrius
asked.

Confusion reddened Scott’s face. His
mouth opened, closed, then opened again, but he couldn’t form
words.

Anger turned Dimitrius’ face a shade
darker. Why was Scott talking to his wife? When did such a cowardly
man suddenly get balls? And why was Melanie entertaining this
nonsense? She should’ve dismissed him right where he stood, the
same way Scott dismissed her when he broke up with her.

And now, they were all standing there,
motionless, like time had stilled and they were in the middle of a
standoff. At a children’s museum…

Melanie turned her attention to
Grace.

Scott, still standing there, couldn’t
speak. He broke up with Melanie because she told him she couldn’t
have children, and here she stands with her husband and a beautiful
little girl. What was this? Had she lied to him? Was it all a test?
A game? For some reason, he felt like she owed him an
explanation.

“
There you are,” a woman
whom Melanie recognized from the last time she was unfortunate
enough to run into Scott. She was Scott’s wife, approaching him
while holding their son’s hand.

Dimitrius eyes narrowed. Why was this
man staring at Melanie like he had some unfinished business with
her? Scott’s wife and child were standing right behind him and he
didn’t even care. He kept his focus on Melanie.

Dimitrius finally had enough. “We’re
going to get back to our daughter,” he told them. “Enjoy
yourselves.”

“
Y-you do the same,” Scott
replied, seemingly coming out of a trance and recognizing that his
wife was behind him. Joining her and his son, he took a few steps
away from where Dimitrius and Melanie were standing.

Dimitrius looked at Melanie with a bit
of skepticism and asked, “What was that about?”

“
What do you mean?” Melanie
asked, paying more attention to Grace going down the slide than she
was to Dimitrius.

A frown flashed in his forehead. “You
didn’t see the way he was staring at you?”

“
You know Scott is my ex,”
Melanie said casually, hoping Dimitrius would drop it.

His frown deepened. Ripened. “Yes.
Your ex. I remember. What does that have to do with him staring you
down like that?”

Melanie shrugged it off. She didn’t
want to spend her morning discussing Scott or anything related to
Scott. Scott was dead to her. And now, she wished she would’ve kept
on walking when she heard Scott yell her name.

“
Well?”

“
Well, what,
Dimitrius?”

“
What did he want? You were
talking to him as I approached.”

“
He…” Melanie blew a
frustrated breath. “Can we just forget about it?”

She picked up Grace and headed over to
water-play.

“
Forget about it?”
Dimitrius asked, trailing Melanie. “I’m trying to have a
conversation with you and you’re dismissing me,
Melanie?”

She stopped walking and
turned around to look at him. “I’m not dismissing you, Dimitrius.
You’re my husband. I don’t
dismiss
you.”

“
Then talk to
me.”

“
About Scott?”

“
Yes. What was that back
there?”

Grace wiggled and squirmed to get out
of Melanie’s arms, ready to play in the water. Melanie lowered her,
took a little apron and tied it around her daughter.

Standing upright again, but still
keeping a motherly eye on Grace, she said to Dimitrius, “I tried to
avoid him, but he saw me…came over to talk. Don’t know why, but he
did.”

Dimitrius listened, soaked it in,
processed her words, then added, “You should’ve ended it then and
there. What does he have to talk to you about anyway?”

“
Nothing. Absolutely
nothing. I—” She took a moment to gather her thoughts. Dimitrius
was making her feel guilty like she’d done something unethical.
Something to slight him as a husband by speaking to her ex. “I
would’ve ended it but I was trying not to be rude. I’m
sorry.”

Dimitrius’ frown softened. He trusted
his wife, trusted what she had to say. What he didn’t trust was the
look in Scott’s eyes – the man looked like he had an agenda. “Okay,
baby. Forget about it.”

Melanie smiled.
“Forgotten.”

Dimitrius leaned forward to leave a
kiss on her lips. When they separated, Melanie happened to catch
Scott’s gaze from across the room. Why was he staring at her now?
Back then, he didn’t want her. Kicked her to the curb like expired
goods. Now, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.

Chapter Three

“
Sherita, sweetheart, it’s
time to get up,” Desmond said, stretched across the bed,
face-to-face with his sleeping beauty. She looked worn out,
completely exhausted, and she probably was. Lately, she was always
fatigued. Anxious. Jittery. Always taking care of the babies,
pushing her own needs, worries and concerns off to the side. Named
after Desmond’s parents, Celeste and Nolan was everything to her,
so much so that she dedicated all of her available time to her
six-month-old twins. There was no time left to allocate to Desmond.
Only the twins.

Desmond could complain, but what would
be the point of that? It would only cause more stress for her, and
that’s something he didn’t want to do. He wanted to be a tower for
Sherita, a good husband to her. Not a cause for worry and
stress.