Previously...

“Todd? Why am I crying? Samantha’s horse died…” she paused.
There was a bit of silence.
“I need you Todd. Can you home here?”
Again, there was silence.
“Thank You. Todd…!” she paused.
“I love you,” she said.
She waited a minute and hung up the phone.

***********************************************************************************************************

Early morning,
The Alton Summer home…

Téa had nodded off briefly over the night but was really too upset to sleep. She had wandered into Samantha’s room and watched her daughter sleep, knowing Todd was on his way, afraid to deal with the consequences of her kiss with Cameron. When morning came she left Samantha and wandered down into the dining room. Cameron was there pouring himself a coffee. He was dressed in yesterday’s clothes.

Téa sniffled.

“Want a cup?” asked Cameron.

“Sure,” she replied.

Cameron poured her a cup and they stared at each as they sipped on their cups, clearly uncomfortable around each other.

******************************************************************************************************

The kitchen…

Mrs. Tilton leaned over the countertop and addressed Eduardo, “You know what I saw last night?”

Eduardo wrinkled is brow, “I don’t know if I want to know?”

“Pissshaw…Mr. Alton and Mrs. Manning were kissing…” continued Mrs. Tilton.

Eduardo looked up, “Really?”

“Mr. Alton is crazy about her,” said Mrs. Tilton. She laughed.

“He’s in love with Samantha’s mother!!” she giggled.

“But isn’t she married?” asked Eduardo.

“I know what I saw. Mrs. Manning kissed him back. I wonder what her husband must be like for her to kiss Mr. Alton?” mussed Mrs. Tilton.

“Don’t think too hard about it. It’s really none of our business,” said Eduardo.

The doorbell rang. Mrs. Tilton raised an eyebrow and got up to answer the door. On the way to the front door, she spied Cameron and Téa staring at each other. She got to the front door and opened it.

A tall, well dressed man stood in front of her. He had shoulder length hair and incredibly expressive hazel eyes. He had a well-trimmed goatee and his arms were crossed.

“Is my wife here?” he asked a bit impatiently.

“Your…wife?” muttered Mrs. Tilton.

“Todd!!” cried Téa.

Todd pushed his way past the annoying housekeeper. He only took about two steps into the house but Téa was immediately in his arms. Todd wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. What struck him was the fact that Téa was shaking like a leaf. He’d never really seen her this…scared. He’d seen her nervous, he’d seen her said, but not this. Something more than her daughter’s horse dying must have upset her.

He took his hand and brought it up through her long hair, allowing its silkiness to flow through his hands. His hand then rested on her cheek and he tried to find her eyes but he couldn’t. They were evading him. And then she was kissing him. He was certainly surprised but he enjoyed the kiss and her attention. She broke it off and finally looked into his eyes. It was then he realized there was something else going on.

“What’s wrong Téa? You’re trembling…” said Todd studying her face.

Téa swallowed and glanced at the housekeeper.

“Could you give me and MY wife some privacy please?” said Todd sarcastically.

Mrs. Tilton left. Todd and Téa stood in the hall.

“What is bothering you Delgado?” asked Todd.

Téa couldn’t stand to tell Todd in the house, “Let’s go outside Todd…” she insisted.

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever,” said Todd.

Téa grabbed his hand and took him outside. The sun was all ready up and it was a comfortable temperature. She took him out back a small sloping cliff that over looked the ocean. Her pace had been quick but when she got to the location she desired she slowed down.

The view was beautiful and the air, while breezy, was comfortable. The tide was low and the waves slowly lapped onto the beach.

Todd didn’t know what to think. She seemed nervous and anxious. She stopped and turned toward the ocean, wrapping her arms around herself. The ocean breeze lightly danced through her hair. He walked up behind her and put his hand on her arms.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he said whispering in her ear. Whatever it was, he realized he needed to be strong for her. She was obviously afraid of something.

“Todd, I’m disappointed in myself,” she started.

“Uh-huh…” he didn’t really know what to say.

“You know Samantha adored her horse. It broke her heart to loose him. I stayed up later comforting her…” she began, her voice edgy.

“All right…” he said. He lightly rubbed her arms and whispered in her ear, “How’s Samantha now?”

“She’s incredibly sad…” whispered Téa staring at the crashing waves.

“So why is her mother incredibly sad?” asked Todd his face close to hers.

“Todd, I let you down. I let me down,” she said.

Todd noticed her body tense up in his hands.

“Samantha wasn’t the only one who was sad Todd. Cameron was too,” she started.

With those words Todd felt his own body tense up, “What are you saying Téa? You slept with Alton ‘cos he was sad?”

Téa turned around, she was shaking, “No. I didn’t sleep with him Todd. But I did kiss him.”

He pulled away form her and looked at her. His face betrayed his confusion.

“You did what?” he muttered.

“Can you…forgive me…?” she asked.

His face changed expressions and he hid his hurt with a hard, cold stare. He was shocked. Simply shocked.

“I told you not to come her with him! I told you he has the hots for you and you – YOU SWORE to me he meant nothing to you!!” spat Todd at her.

She hung her head in shame. She felt totally defeated.

“We made love Delgado!!” he exclaimed raising his voice.

At that, Téa quickly raised her head and looked at him, ready to fight for what they had.

“And I do love you Todd!! I do!! I don’t love him!! I don’t!! He was upset and crying and I was moved by it – by him. By how much he cares for Samantha…and I just wanted to…help…” she exclaimed.

“Help?! You call putting your lip on his FLITH help?” cried Todd. He was in shock and in pain at his wife’s confession.

A wife he was deeply in love with.

“Todd, I am so sorry…” she started.

“Don’t. You aren’t. You aren’t! You are supposed to be in love with me! What about this TRUST thing, huh?!” he said placing distance between them.

“I am!! I am!! I am in love with you!! I realize I violated that trust! And I’ve been beating myself up over it. And I knew I had to be honest with you, Todd. I could have lied and taken a chance you wouldn’t find out but I want to…rebuild what I screwed up,” she passionately said to him. She reached out to him but he backed away.

“You played me for a fool Delgado,” he said coldly, internalizing the pain of his breaking heart.

“Todd…I…” she stammered, “I’m sorry.”

“I never thought…you of all people…” he said. His feelings of disgust welled up within and turned around to walk off.

“Wait! Todd!! Where are you going? Don’t you want to work this out?!” she cried following him, running in front of him.

He paused, “There’s nothing for US to work out. You’re the one who kissed that sanctimonious slimeball. If he’s the one you want – because he’s such a good father – you GO TO HIM!!”

“I don’t want him Todd!! I want you!!!” she insisted. The fire in her eyes betrayed her passion for him.

“You have a funny way of showing it Delgado!!” said Todd walking off.

“Where are you going?” she asked again.

“Away from here…” he said, “Away from HIS house…”

“Let me go with you!!” she said placing a hand on his arm.

He shrugged her off, “I need to be alone Delgado. I need to be far away from you right now.”

He walked off to his rental car, got inside of it and drove off.

Téa fell to her knees and cried, freely allowing her tears to roll down her cheeks, hoping and praying that her honesty now, while extremely painful, had saved her marriage.

Todd drove out of the Alton estate at a high rate of speed but when he got clear of the grounds he pulled the car over and got out of it.

“You made a fool out of me Delgado!!!” he yelled. He walked to the back of the car and kicked the tires.

“A DAMN FOOL!!!” he yelled.

“ARGH!!”

And he collapsed, leaning his back against the car and dropping his head between his knees.

“But this damn fool still loves you…” he muttered.

TO BE CONTINUED…

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Copyright by DimWitt 2000. Published on “Violet’s TnT Fan Fiction Website.” Copyright owner provides the information on this server to anyone, but retains the copyright on all text. This means you may not: Distribute the text to others without the EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION of the copyright owner. You may: print copies of the information for your own personal use, store the files on your own computer for your personal use only, reference hypertext documents on this server from your own documents.

---

---

This page hosted by Get your own FREE Home Page