Chapter 10
Marissa had an early morning flight so she left the house before the sun was even up. Scott stirred in the bed, but she kissed him on the cheek and told him to go back to sleep. The last thing she wanted this morning was a long goodbye, it would only make the guilt she was feeling that much more intense; this way she could leave without telling Scott any more lies. Slipping out the back door, she got in the car and began the long drive back to Los Angeles, wishing for once that she could let herself use the private plane her father owned.
Scott rolled over feeling the empty place in the bed. Marissa had only been gone a few minutes and the pillow was already cold. Pulling the pillow close to his nose, he inhaled, catching Marissa’s scent in the soft down. Breathing deeply, he tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t seem to shut his mind down again.
He finally got out of bed and went to the kitchen to make some coffee, he’d just have to start his day earlier than he’d planned. When he walked into the kitchen he saw that Marissa had left one of her bags by the back door. Going over to pick it up, he wondered if he’d be able to get her on her cell phone, but only got her voice mail when he tried. Finally, he decided to call her assistant. She’d be able to get a message to Marissa, but when he finally got the woman on the phone, she seemed to know nothing about Marissa’s trip.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Terrell, I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about,” she’d said right before he thanked her and hung up.
He went to their room where Marissa had left a copy of her itinerary for him and checked the information. It clearly said that she was flying into Houston later that morning, but her flight was a few hours later than what she’d told him. He was instantly suspicious. Even after they’d had that wonderful afternoon the other day, she’d been acting strange. She was hiding something, and he was going to find out what it was.
Throwing some clothes into a bag, he headed for the car and Los Angeles determined to beat Marissa to Houston and follow her. He took the first flight he could and was waiting in baggage claim when she came off the plane. It wasn’t hard to follow her, but he was shocked when they arrived at a run-down apartment building in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Using a key she pulled out of her purse, she let herself into the building.
Scott was completely baffled. What would Marissa be doing in a neighborhood like this? It just didn’t make sense. He thought about going in the building and confronting her right then but decided to wait and see what happened next. After a few hours, he’d all but decided that confronting her was the only way when a young man rang the buzzer on the outside of the building.
As he watched, a woman came out. She was wearing a loose pair of black pants and a brightly colored shirt, her hair covered by a scarf wound around her head. She gave the young man a hug, then arm and arm, they walked down the street. Scott was about to turn away when he noticed that the woman looked a lot like Marissa. Then as he watched closer, he was sure. She was walking exactly like his wife.
Jealousy flaring hotly in his blood, he got out the car to follow them, not sure why he wasn’t confronting her right then. They walked several blocks down the street then through the doors of a soup kitchen. Scott stood looking at the sign wondering what was going on. A woman having an affair wouldn’t do it at a soup kitchen, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation as to why she’d be in disguise. It had never occurred to him that she might have been involved with someone else. In fact, he’d never even question her about it.
Determined to get to the bottom of the situation, his jealously barely under control, he walked into the soup kitchen looking for Marissa. But she was nowhere to be seen. He felt very out of place in his nice clothes at first, but then he noticed that most of the people in the room weren’t what he was expecting. The looked like regular people out for lunch. Before he knew it, a young girl had swooped down on him and put a tray in his hands, filled it with food, and found him a seat.
He ate everything on the tray, surprised at how good the food was, nothing like he’d imagined it would be. When he’d finished, he moved to a table against one wall to watch for Marissa who he hadn’t seen yet, but he felt sure she was in the building. It seemed unlikely she’d leave out the back door even if there was one. Finally, he got tired of waiting and decided that it was time to check out the back of the building.
He walked through the doors to the back as if belonged there, but there was no one in the kitchen. He could hear voices down a hallway to his left and the sound of water. Assuming Marissa wouldn’t be washing dishes, he took the other hallway that opened off the kitchen, following it down a dark corridor to a closed door. He hesitated outside the door, hearing the soft murmur of voices through the door, then leaned in a little closer hoping he wouldn’t get caught.
“You did what?” a young man’s voice asked.
“You heard me. I got married.” Scott recognized Marissa’s voice at once.
“But why? I mean who goes through with an arranged marriage these days?”
“I guess I do. I had no choice, Matt,” she said, exasperation in her voice.
“Well, where is he? You didn’t tell him about us did you?”
“No, not yet, but I will when I get back,” she said, then gasped when Scott burst through the door.
Hearing the man refer to them as us had burst his carefully held control. Visions of the two of them together overriding his better sense. “You can just tell me about it now,” he said.
Marissa jumped to her feet. “Scott, what are you doing here?”
“Well, you forgot one of your bags and when I called your assistant to get her help getting a hold of you, she didn’t know anything about this trip so I followed you. What the hell is going on here? Who is this, your boyfriend?” Scott was so mad that he was tempted to grab the kid and punch him right in the face.
“Matt, go out front, I’ll be out in a few minutes,” she said, giving Scott a fierce look.
Matt scampered out of the room, then Scott very slowly shut the door. “I know that this happened fast, but you could have at least told me you were involved with someone, I deserved at least that much,” he said, through clenched teeth. “What are you doing here? This is a dangerous neighborhood, you have no business being here.”
Marissa took a deep breath and sank down into her chair. “First, Matt is my not my boyfriend, he’s my brother, so you can just wipe that nasty thought from your mind. I thought you knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t do something like that,” she said, rubbing her temples.
“But you still lied to me and I don’t like being lied to. What are you doing here? Can you explain all this to me?” he said, gesturing to her outfit.
“It’s a long story. I was going to tell you when I got home,” she said, pleading in her eyes.
“Well, why don’t you just tell me now?” he said, putting his hands on his hips.
She opened her mouth, but just then there was a quiet knock on the door. “Marissa, the crew is done and ready to go home,” Matt said, through the closed door. “Should I tell them you’ll see them tomorrow?”
“Yes, that’s fine,” she said. “Look, Scott, this isn’t really the place to have this discussion, I’ll only be a few more minutes. Can you meet me at my apartment? I assume you know where it is,” she said, getting to her feet.
“I’ll be waiting,” he said, opening the door and practically running over Matt, shooting him a dirty look as he pushed past him.
Marissa waited until she knew he was gone before sinking down into the chair again. She was fighting tears and a few escaped and rolled down her cheek. Matt came in and sat down across from her not sure what to say, this was not the strong in control person he was used to. He waited until she’d gotten herself under control then handed her a tissue.
“What’s going on, Marissa? He was really mad,” Matt said, getting up and putting his hand on her shoulder. “I thought this was an arranged marriage, but it seems like more than that.”
“I think I messed up really bad. I just wanted one more trip. It was selfish I know that, but I wanted to tell the rest of the family about the marriage. I don’t know, I guess everything happened so fast it was like I was still holding on to that one piece of me that mattered the most.”
“Why did you marry him?”
“Dad threatened to cut me off and a lot of my money goes to the charity, I couldn’t let that funding disappear,” she said sadly.
“But something happened,” her brother said, looking at her. “You love him, don’t you?”
“I don’t know how it happened so fast, but I do. Now, I’ve probably ruined any chance we had to be happy,” she said, tears rolling down her cheeks when the full impact of what she’d done began to set in. “I’ve always been stubborn and it’s worked for me, but this time I think I pushed it too far.”
“Marissa, go talk to him. You taught me that facing our mistakes head on is the only way to fix them, it’s time to take your own advice. I’ll be here for you no matter what happens, but I think he’ll understand. If he doesn’t then maybe he’s not the man for you,” Matt said, sounding much older than his twenty years.
“I know, but I’m scared. How is it possible to love someone so much in so short a time? I don’t want to lose him,” she said, getting shakily to her feet.
Matt called her a cab, not wanting to walk her home knowing that Scott was waiting at the apartment. On the way home, she stopped and grabbed a pizza knowing that there wasn’t anything to eat at the apartment. When she walked through the door, Scott was sitting on the broken down couch in the living room watching television. He didn’t even look at her when she set the pizza down in front of him.
“Go change out of that ridiculous outfit,” he said, still staring at the screen.
Marissa did as he’d told her, but as she pulled on a tank top she began to get mad. It wasn’t her fault that he’d show up in her life and turned it upside down. She’d been perfectly happy just the way things were. She had her own life and could basically do as she pleased, now he was demanding answers like he was her father.
She stomped back into the living room ready to do battle with him. No man was going to make her feel like a misbehaving child. But when she flounced down next to him on the couch, he turned off the television and gave her his full attention.
“That’s better,” he said and kissed her, deflating all the anger she felt at his gentle touch. “Look, before we even start, this isn’t about me controlling your life, it’s about me sharing your life. I’ve been sitting here thinking about the last few months and I guess I can understand what happened, but, Marissa, I care about you and it hurt me to find out that you lied to me.”
Seeing the genuine hurt in his eyes, she cursed herself again for being selfish. “I’ll tell you the whole story, but I promise you when I’m done you’re going to say something like you can’t do that anymore,” she said, settling back against the couch.
Scott took her hand in his and said, “I’m listening.”
“I guess you know that my adoptive mom died when I was twelve,” she started, thinking it was the only place to begin her explanation. “When she died, it was just my father, Clarissa, and me. He had no idea what to do with us so he pushed us away and hired a nanny to take care of us. Clarissa did okay, but I was lost in my grief, thinking that I must be the only girl in the world who’d lost not one but two mothers. We’d never been that close to my father. I often felt that he’d only agreed to adopt us because my mother wanted to.”
“But that can’t be true,” Scott said.
“The thing is I was right. One night, when I was fourteen, I overheard him talking to wife number two. I actually liked her, she seemed to care about us, they’d already had several fights about the way my father treated us. He flat out told her that he’d be happy to pay whatever was necessary to see us raised properly, but he had no real interest in actually participating himself. I don’t think either of them ever knew that I was outside that door, but I’ve never forgotten it, not long after that I started making his life miserable. He was always happy to believe the worst in me, so I let him.”
“That’s why he thinks you’re such a wild child. You’ve been letting him think that for a long time,” Scott said, a few things falling place. “But why the big charade with the disguises and everything?”
“That started out innocently enough. When I turned eighteen, the first thing I did was start looking for my real family. I’d tried to talk to my father about it when I turned sixteen, but he wouldn’t talk about it. Now, I realize that he was embarrassed about where my sister and I came from and I’m not entirely sure our adoption was even legal. In the end, with a few well-placed bribes, I was able to find my family,” she said, remembering how excited she’d been, a few tears leaking out of her eyes at the memory.
“Where are they?” Scott asked, forgetting about Matt.
“Well, you met Matt today. He’s my half-brother. My mother’s been gone for a long time, that’s why the family had to let my sister and I go. My mother died and there was no one to take care of us, my dad was just a kid and my grandmother still had a house full of her own children. I guess they tried to track us down a few years after the adoption, but we’d disappeared. Matt says that we were never supposed to be adopted in the first place.”
“Oh, Marissa, that’s awful,” Scott said, pulling her into his arms, unable to stay mad at her.
“I spent a week here getting to know the family that was left. I wanted to help them get out of this neighborhood, but they suggested that there were many other people who needed help more than they did. That was when I made my first visit to the soup kitchen. Matt introduced me by another name that day since I was so worried that my father would find out where I was. He’d been known to have me followed back then.” She rested her head on his chest for a moment, gathering her thoughts.
“Pretty soon, I was coming here every month and posing as that person. I told them I represented a charity that wanted to become their major donor. From there, it became a game to me, using my father’s money to go into some of the worst neighborhoods and do some good. Even today, I use a good portion of the money he gives me every month to fund what I do,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
“That’s why you agreed to get married,” Scott said, the pieces all fitting into place. “That must be a good sized chunk of money.”
“It’s nothing to sneeze at. It’s amazing what someone will do when they feel guilty,” she said, not even trying to hide the contempt in her voice.
“But I still don’t understand why you didn’t tell me,” he said, then thought for a second and added, “I would have let you come here. You wouldn’t have even needed a disguise.”
“You say that now, but let me show you a list of the places that I support. They’re all over the country, I left off the ones in the rural areas,” she said, handing him a piece of paper that she’d put together before she came home.
Scott looked at the list, his eyes getting bigger and bigger. “Are you crazy? Now I know why you didn’t want to tell me about this,” he said, pushing her off of him and pacing around the little living room. “When I think of all the things that could happen to you. I...”
When he’d finally calmed down a little, she said, “See, I told you. The next thing you’re going to say is that I have to stop.”
Scott looked at her and opened his mouth to disagree but then sat down heavily beside her instead and said, “Yeah, you’re right. I was going to say that. But, Marissa, you can’t keep doing this, it is dangerous.”
“But that’s not your decision to make any more than it should have been my father’s,” she said, waiting for his reaction.
“I disagree,” he said. “I care about you and I’d hate to see you hurt in any way. That makes it my business.”
Marissa felt like she was trapped between her feelings for Scott and the duty she felt for the people she’d promised to help. “I need to finish this trip, I can’t just walk away,” she finally said, hoping he wasn’t going to fight her on this one.
“But I’m going with you,” he said in a voice that made it clear his mind was made up.
Marissa looked at him, then started laughing. “As much as I’d love to have your company on this trip, it’s going to look pretty strange when I show up with a huge white man. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Just let me finish my trip, say my goodbyes, and when I get home, we’ll talk about it, I promise.”
“I have a feeling you’re going to do what you want so I’ll agree, but don’t think this is the end of this discussion,” he said. “I’m going to bed, it’s been a long day. Are you coming?”
“Not yet, I still have a lot of work to do,” she said, frowning when he opened his mouth to protest. Then she added, “You weren’t supposed to be here, remember? I still have things to finish before tomorrow. I’d like you to come with me thought.”
Scott considered her offer. “Won’t they wonder who I am?” he said sarcastically.
“No, everyone here knows who I am. There was no way to hide the fact with my family right in the neighborhood,” she said with another shrug of her shoulders. “I’m the safest here thanks to Matt.”
“I’ll think about it,” he said grumpily as he walked down the hall to the little bedroom.
There was nothing else Marissa could do tonight. She’d put her cards on the table, now it was up to Scott to try and understand her side. Dragging her computer out of her bag, she booted it up wondering if all this turmoil was worth it. She cared about Scott, but it seemed that caring about him only added stress to her life. But later that night, when she went to bed and he pulled her against him in his sleep, she closed her eyes relishing the feel of his arms wrapped around and knew that it was worth it.