Contingency Plan by Lou Allin

Author:Lou Allin [Allin, Lou]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Mystery & Detective, General, Thrillers, Suspense, Family Life, crime, FIC022000, FIC045000, FIC050000
ISBN: 9781459801141
Google: quCz7tlIfBsC
Amazon: 1459801148
Barnesnoble: 1459801148
Goodreads: 15027863
Publisher: Raven Books
Published: 2012-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

“Bye, Mom. I’m going to Mandy’s. We’re planting a geocache at the old bridge. Then we’re making pizza.”

“Have fun. Be back by nine. School tomorrow.”

I watched my little girl as she bounced down the front walk toward the Sheftels’ minivan. How had she grown so tall so quickly?

That night I made a gourmet meal that even Joe couldn’t criticize. Shrimp cocktail, prime Alberta beef filets, creamed potatoes, Caesar salad, an Australian Shiraz that had cost fifty dollars, and chocolate cheesecake for dessert. Joe never questioned bills for our home, clothes and dining.

“Now that’s more like it, little one,” Joe said, his face relaxed and approving for a change as he cleaned his plate. He flashed an okay sign. “You got the steaks just right. Perfecto.”

I had also polished the silver and got the windows gleaming. How fake was my smile? What would he pick on next? What new rule would I break? It had taken a week of groveling to get back to this hell. But I had a good reason. Now I was ready to make plans.

“Cat got your tongue?” Joe asked after dinner. He played with a strand of my long blond hair as we sat on the sofa in front of the early news. I wondered if he was going to wind it around my neck.

We sat under the oil painting of me, based on a photo, that he’d commissioned. It greeted me from above the marble fireplace the day we moved into the house. “My last duchess, like the poem by Browning,” he had said. At first I thought the idea was charming.

Later, I’d found the lines in a book of verse. I wasn’t so stupid about literature that I couldn’t see the comparison. Another jealous husband. A young wife. End of story. As the Duke said, “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped…”

“Happy?” he asked as we finished our decaf. The cruel curve of his mouth froze me. The dimple on one cheek mocked all innocence. He was holding my hand so tightly that it ached.

“Who wouldn’t be?” That pleased him. I prayed that he couldn’t feel my heart breaking out of my chest.

“I keep my promises, darling. For as long as we both shall live. Remember that. You have a forever home. Good girls always do.” He gave my ear a playful pinch.

“And Jane?”

“Bright little Jane will be off to university in a few years. I think back east. They have a world-famous marine biology program at Queen’s. Then we’ll have more time for ourselves. Won’t that be wonderful?”

That night our lovemaking earned a solid-gold Oscar for me. For him, the usual silver star for excellence. My body responded in spite of itself. I was almost grateful. That helped the performance.

* * *

I started trembling as we lay like spoons, his favorite position. His arm pulled me closer. He read my fear as passion and began again. He’d had a shower earlier, but I could still smell his expensive cologne. Now it made me sick.

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