"Family secrets" - читать интересную книгу автора (Woods Lew)

CHAPTER THREE

After Beverly left, Carter lay in bed and smoked a cigarette. He still lay there when his wife, Melinda, came home from her afternoon college classes. Melinda was aglow with smiles as she greeted her husband in the bedroom.

"Hi, honey," she began pleasantly. "What are you doing in bed at this hour?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Carter laughed.

It was true that Melinda probably wouldn't believe Carter if he told her the truth. She was a dutiful, almost subservient wife, despite the face that she had more education than Carter. In fact, she had always used her intelligence as a sort of compensation for her less than striking appearance. She was not ugly, but neither did she possess the raw appeal of her mother or younger sister. All her life she had harbored a secret jealousy toward them because of what she considered her physical flaws. It was only when she had met and mated Carter, who had been the object of many more beautiful women's affections, that she had had her revenge.

She wasn't sure why Carter had married her, but that was not important to her. The fact was that he had, and she loved him dearly. She was ready to believe the best of him and to do anything for him. She even had plans, after she received her degree, to go to work and support Carter if he wanted to quit work and go to college, too.

Melinda came over and sat on the foot of the bed near Carter. "Why wouldn't I believe you?" she probed.

"You just wouldn't."

"Try me," she coaxed, her pretty but plain face smiling eagerly at her husband.

"Okay, I will," Carter answered frankly. "I'm in bed because I just got through fucking your mother."

"Don't be silly, Carter," Melinda laughed. "Are you not feeling well? Can I get you something?"

"I feel fine," Carter said, "and I'm not being silly. I told you I just got through fucking the hell out of your mother. She was a damn good piece of ass, too. A damn sight better than you, that's for sure."

"Carter, please don't talk like that," Melinda begged. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"But I just told you. I knew you wouldn't believe it."

"What do you want for dinner?" Melinda asked, changing the subject. "Can I fix you something?"

"Steak and potatoes," Carter instructed. If Melinda was intent on dropping the subject, it was okay with him, he decided.

"Good," Melinda smiled. "I'll fix a nice dinner and then maybe we can go out to a movie or something if you want to. How's that sound?"

"Okay by me."

After dinner Carter and Melinda began getting ready to go out. Melinda looked in her closet for a dress to wear and noticed that her purple satin dress was missing. "That's funny," she said to herself.

"Carter, come here," she said to her husband, who was just across the room from her. "Remember that purple satin dress Mom got me for Christmas. It's gone. Do you know anything about it?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do," Carter began. "Your mother wore it home after I balled her a while ago. I tore her dress up when I ripped it off her, so she had to wear one of yours."

"Carter, please," Melinda pleaded. "Don't you think you're carrying this fantasy of yours a little too far? We may have been burglarized. Just to shut you up though, I'm going to call Mom and ask her about the dress."

"Go ahead."

Melinda went to the phone in the kitchen and dialed her mother. Soon she returned to the bedroom where Carter had remained. "Well, the mystery is solved," she announced. "Mom said she came by and borrowed the dress this afternoon to wear to a dinner tonight that she and Dad are going to. Why didn't you just tell me the truth to begin with instead of inventing a big story to insult me and get me all upset?"

"I swear I don't know what I'm going to do about you," Melinda commented as she resumed dressing to go out. "If I didn't know better I'd think you were going crazy."

"Just shut up and get dressed," Carter ordered.

"Okay, honey, whatever you say," Melinda apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you mad." Meekly she finished dressing, and she and Carter went out for the evening.

The next day while Carter was working and before Melinda had left for college, Cathy called from her high school to talk to her older sister.

"Hi, Cathy," Melinda greeted her sister. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter," Cathy responded. "What makes you think anything's wrong?"

"Oh, I just wondered why you would call me from school."

"I just wanted to talk to you," Cathy said.

"What about?"

"Your husband," Cathy said snidely.

"Carter?" Melinda said in surprise. "What about him?"

"I like him," Cathy teased. Just as Melinda was jealous of her sister's good looks, so Cathy was jealous of Melinda's age and intelligence and most importantly of Carter, whom she felt that her older sister did not deserve. Unlike Melinda though, her jealousy was often cruel and undisguised. She had little control over her strong teenage emotions.

"What are you talking about?" Melinda demanded.

"I'm talking about Carter and me."

"Cathy, would you please come off the secrecy act and just tell me what's on your mind?"

"Okay, Sis, I will," Cathy said. "Carter screwed me the other day when he brought Mom's hair dryer home. He said I was better than you, too. What do you think of that, sister dear?"

"Cathy, you're a lying bitch!" Melinda screamed into the phone. "You're all liars! Lies, lies, lies!" Melinda slammed the receiver down and burst into sobs. She walked to the living room and slumped down on the couch in tears.

"Oh, no," she said, her suspicion now aroused that Carter had not just been teasing her about him and her mother after all. "It can't be. It just can't be. Why have they done this to me? Why?"