I.
Lucy sat at the vanity, fastening a pair of long, shimmering silver earrings to her ears. She placed her hands in her lap and stared in the mirror as Ricky walked out of the bathroom, straightening his tie and his cufflinks. He looked at her for a moment before speaking. "Lucy? Are you ready?"
She was shaken out of her thoughts by his voice. "Hmm? Yes! Yes, I'm ready." She stood up and turned around for Ricky. "How do I look?"
He smiled at her in the deep blue chiffon party dress that flared out from her hips and stopped just below her knees. As she turned, he caught a glimpse of the garter holding her nylon stocking to her thigh and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "You look beautiful."
Lucy sighed. "Thank you. We won't stay too late, I promise." She took Ricky's arm and they walked out through the living room and to the hall.
"Dun't worry about it," he assured her. "We had a nice time at the weddin' last year, remember?"
She nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's true. But we haven't seen my mother since then, so I don't know what to expect." She smirked. "I love my cousin, but I hope she doesn't make a habit of having a wedding-sized bash for every anniversary she has!"
Ricky turned to her with a smile as the taxi he'd hailed stopped at the curb. He opened the door for her. "It gave you a 'scuse to buy a new dress…as if you needed one."
Lucy slid into the taxi, allowing the hem of her dress to rise above her knee slightly, flashing her garter to him again. "You seem to like it, stop complaining."
He pretended to ignore her as he slipped next to her and gave the address to the driver.
II.
Ricky and Lucy walked into the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom; the very same where Lucy's cousin had been married the year before. They looked around for a moment and Ricky leaned over and whispered to her. "There's more people here now than at the weddin'!"
Lucy nodded. "I know!"
They walked through the ballroom and even Lucy struggled to find people that she recognized. But plenty of the people they encountered recognized Ricky. He no longer had the shelter of anonymity that he'd had the year before, thanks to his popularity of his nightclub act. Men would shake his hand and women were swooning. While he conversed with his fans, Lucy spotted her mother sitting at one of the tables, the only family member she'd seen so far.
She walked over to the table slowly. Her mother, Jean, sat alone and looked up as her daughter approached. Lucy bit her lip as she stopped near where Jean sat. "Hello, mother."
Jean folded her hands on top of the table. "Lucy, dear, sit down."
Lucy wasn't sure how to interpret her mother's tone. It was neither cold nor outwardly happy to see her. She sat in an empty chair next to Jean. "How are you, mother?"
"I'm very well, dear. And you?"
Lucy relaxed a bit. "I'm very happy."
Jean looked around them. "There's hardly any family here. It seems that Gloria's husband is running for office and he's using their anniversary to gather people who might help with his campaign."
Lucy's eyes widened. "Really?"
Jean nodded. "He's a smart man. Gloria married well."
Lucy's face fell. In one sentence, their interaction was coming full circle to what would continue to be the biggest roadblock to any type of peaceful relationship. She sighed. "Well…they're not having a very romantic first anniversary, then, that's for sure."
Jean scoffed and she seemed to be looking in the direction of where Ricky stood, surrounded by fans, many of them young women. "Romance…" She took a sip of water from the glass near her and looked back at her daughter. "How's Micky?"
Lucy folded her arms, unsure if the mispronunciation was an honest mistake or an intentional jab. "Ricky, mother. Ricky's fine." She looked over at him and smiled. "He's doing so well at the club, they've signed him indefinitely and he's working on an album!"
Jean was quiet for a moment, watching him. "He's working on the women at this party, also, dear. And right in front of his wife, too."
Lucy's instinct was to lash out in defense of Ricky as she always did. But from experience, she knew how the conversation would end, so she took a different approach, remembering the story that they'd heard from her aunt the year before about Jean's own affair with a Latin man many years before. "Mother, why do you dislike Ricky so much? Is it because of the man you went with before you married Daddy?"
Jean's eyes shot back to Lucy angrily. "That's none of your business. And I hardly remember it."
"I don't think that's true. I think you remember it very well and you're taking it out on my husband."
Jean straightened in her chair and looked at Lucy coldly. "Well, I'm sorry for trying to protect my only daughter from what is sure to be a miserable, poverty stricken existence."
"Oh, we're hardly in poverty." Lucy rolled her eyes.
"If you'd married that young man from Yale…or that marvelous boy from Harvard…you'd be living like a queen instead of in that cracker box."
Lucy touched the temple of her forehead, feeling the headache that this conversation was inducing. "But I wouldn't be happy!"
Jean threw up her arms in an uncharacteristically emotional response. "Happy?! How much happier could you be then when you're covered in fur coats and dripping in jewelry? You'd want for nothing! There's something to be said for that. What does that Latin give you? Good sex, I'm sure of that! But when he's done having his way with you, what's left? What will happen when you find out that his seed has been spread across the whole town? I'll tell you what you'll do then. You'll forget about love and happiness and romance and you'll marry a man who gives you some stability and has something of substance to offer you. Happiness, how ridiculous!"
Lucy sat in shock, unable to believe what her mother had just said. "Mother!"
Jean leaned forward. Lucy had never seen her like this before in her whole life. "You badgered me for the truth, Lucille, so here it is. I tried to protect you from this nonsense by bringing you up a certain way, but I see it didn't work. That young man I was so smitten with was a Latin, that's true. We spent a summer together in Florida and it was wonderful. We snuck away from the summer home where I was with my family and we made love every chance we got. He led me to believe that he loved me, he said he'd come to New York to be with me at the end of the summer. All of that was a way to get me to spread my legs for him…"
"Mother!" Lucy placed a hand over her mouth, looking around to see if anyone had heard.
"You're surprised, are you? This is why I took such great pains to raise you like a proper, fine woman. When that summer ended and I expected him to come back with me, he laughed and said I was stupid for believing him. He'd been with every fine young lady in the county. We were conquests. I was one of the lucky ones who didn't find herself in trouble by the fall."
Lucy was stunned silent. Jean leaned back in her chair. "I came back to New York and your father came courting. My parents approved of him, he was well off and well educated. For the sake of preserving a good future for myself, he never knew about my relationship with the Latin." She sighed. "It pains me to admit it, but I did not love your father. He was a good man, a good provider. I respected him. I bore him a child. But it was a marriage of convenience."
As quickly as the dark secrets of Jean's heart had spilled out, she sat straight and proper, the way in which Lucy was accustomed to seeing. She reverted back to a non-emotional, fine lady. "So you see, my dear, I know the road you're on."
Before Lucy could say a word, Ricky came up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Hello," he said politely.
Jean looked up at him. Something about the way he touched Lucy caused her face to soften. "Micky," she nodded.
Ricky raised an eyebrow at the mispronunciation of his name.
Lucy stammered. "Uh…oh, honey…sit down."
Jean rose slowly. "I'll be on my way. This is just a fundraiser."
Ricky backed away. "You dun't have to go because of me. I'll leave you alone."
Jean narrowed her eyes, the sound of his accent seeming to strike a nerve. "No. I'm going. Lucille, I'll speak to you soon."
Before either Ricky or Lucy could protest, she disappeared in the crowd. Ricky sat next to his wife. "What was that all about?"
Lucy looked around, still in shock. "She was right, this is just an excuse for my cousin's husband to raise money."
Ricky looked confused. "I dun't understand."
She smiled. "Don't worry about it. Ricky, I love you."
His face lightened. "I love you, too." He moved closer to her and his hand crept up her knee.
Lucy giggled. "I think things may be a little different with my mother from now on."
"Why? She din't seem to like me any more than before…"
"Well…she may not ever really be happy, but if the best I can expect is that she accepts you, I'll take it."
Ricky shrugged. "Whatever makes you happy."
"You make me happy." Lucy leaned close to him and kissed him gently. She felt the early throb of desire deep within herself as his hand flirted with the inside of her thigh.
When their kiss broke, Ricky looked at her with a glint in his eye. "C'mon." He stood up and Lucy took his hand and followed him. They walked through the throng of people. Many of them continued to greet Ricky and he smiled at them cordially. He continued to lead her to the other side of the ballroom and they slipped out of an exit into an empty hallway. Lucy recognized it immediately.
The sounds of the crowd faded behind them as they walked.
III.
Ricky led Lucy into an empty room at the end of the hallway. They had been there before and it was lit by a single, dim sconce on the wall. He walked casually over to an antiqued couch that was sitting on the far end of the room and he sat, crossing his legs and smiling. "Lock the door," he instructed her.
Lucy did as she was told and then walked slowly toward her husband. She stopped in front of him, waiting for him to tell her what he wanted of her. She was ready to oblige.
Without a word, Ricky reached out and touched the inside of her thigh, his hand slipping up and unclipping the garter. He caressed her bare, smooth skin and Lucy started to tremble.
Ricky uncrossed his legs and pulled her closer to him. "Sit on my lap."
She straddled him and his hands flew inside her skirt, circling the soft flesh of her backside. "Adoro cada pulgada de ti."
Lucy's breathing quickened with his touch and she felt moist heat flooding her center, ready for him as ever. "Take me, Ricky, please," she begged quietly.
He reached underneath her and ferociously opened his pants. She whimpered when she felt the hot, hard length of him against her thigh. "Ricky, before you take me, please tell me how much you love me. Really. Please."
Ricky softened and his arms moved around her waist. "You know how I feel," he whispered. "I love you so much that if I had to live without you, I couldn't. I'd rather die."
Satisfied, Lucy smiled and kissed his neck tenderly, driving him further into desperation for her. "I love you, Ricky. Take me now."
With that, he thrust into her hungrily and relentlessly. She lowered herself into him, allowing all of his thickness to reach the very depths of her. With each push, she released cries of pure ecstasy and her skin filled with goosebumps when Ricky found the zipper on the back of her dress and released her from the stiff fabric. She threw her head back with pleasure when he filled his hands with her freed breasts.
Ricky growled, holding back his release until she reached her climax. When her legs tightened around him and she arched her back with a cry, he allowed himself to flood her, his full erection filling her to her core.
As Ricky's softened and gently left her, she collapsed against his shoulder, out of breath as he caressed her back. She kissed his ear and laughed softly. "I lied. I hope my cousin has a party here every single year…"
