The Real Deal(7)
Ohmigod! I hadn't realized that it's been since January since I've updated. The inspiration just hasn't been there but I finally managed to get a full chapter completed so here it is. Thank you to everyone who reviewed chapter 6 and I promise to TRY not take three whole months to update again.
"Do you think Shawn and Laurel will have everything in order by the time we get back to your place?" Harley asked as she nervously bit on her bottom lip.
"Yes, I do so will you please stop all your panicking? You're starting to make me nervous," Mark said watching Harley pace back and forth.
She and Mark were standing in the airport waiting for Havilland's plane to land. Harley had been a nervous wreck all morning and it was all Mark could do to keep her from having a breakdown.
"And another thing, if we really are going to make this work you are going to have to start referring to my place as our place, got it?" Mark said taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze.
"Our place, right. I can remember that," Harley said unlatching her hand from Mark's so that she could continue to pace.
"I think your mom's flight just got in sweetheart," Mark said about twenty minutes later causing Harley to turn as pale as Mark had ever seen a person turn.
"Come on Harley we can do this, just take a few deep breath's and let me handle the infamous Havilland Cooper, ok?" Mark said pulling Harley close to his side and once again taking her very slender and now very sweaty hand in his.
"You can't handle my mother Mark, no one can," Harley said barely above a whisper as they watched the passengers depart the plane. Havilland was one of the first to exit the terminal and Mark could feel Harley tense the moment she saw her.
"Just breathe baby. Just breathe," Mark said trying to soothe her as Havilland stepped in front of them.
"Hi, Mother," Harley said hoping she sounded like she was happy to see the woman that gave birth to her.
Havilland came toward her, hands outstretched. "Let me look at you. Oh dear, I always forget what a big girl you are."
Their hands met briefly, her mother's cool and dry, Harley's damp. She resisted wiping her palms on her dress. As always, in Havilland's presence she felt gangly and plain and as though she took up too much space. She despised her own reaction to this beautiful stranger who was her mother. Havilland was soft, pale, and more petite that Harley could ever dream to be. Smoky eyes skimmed Harley from head to toe, swiftly and expertly Harley aloging to the last cent what each item of clothing had cost.
"My goodness, Harley, are you still shopping at those dreadful discount stores? And those high heels are absolutely hideous."
Mark came up behind Harley and slipped his arm around her waist. "I think Harley is the sexiest woman to ever live, and with her impeccable taste, she could shop at the flea market and still look gorgeous," His hand felt warm and solid on her middle. So did his defense of her. Bliss.
"How sweet," Havilland said with a vague smile. "You must be Mike?"
"It's Mark, Mrs. Cooper," Mark corrected with a lopsided smile.
"My word Harley look at your hair. I see it's just as unruly as ever, you should have it straightened and cut immediately," Havilland said ignoring Mark.
"She's not cutting one inch off her hair," Mark said flatly. He looked down at her, his arm still around her waist. "Are you, Harley?"
"Nope," Her mother would have given the hairdresser strict instructions,
Harley knew. She'd been caught unprepared only once. Then she'd found herself with an oddly avant-garde asymmetrical do that made her feel like a lopsided Little Orphan Annie until it grew out. There was no use arguing with her
mother now. Harley was not cutting her hair just to satisfy a woman who didn't really even like her.
"How are you, Mother? " Harley said quickly changing the subject.
"I think that now we're both adults, you should call me Havilland, don't you, darling?" She smiled, showing straight, beautifully bleached white teeth. Husband number five had been a dentist. "We can pretend we're sisters.
Won't that be fun?"
Great, Harley thought wryly.
This was the first time in living memory that her mother's darts completely missed there mark. Startled by the realization, Harley knew she was seeing Havilland through Mark's eyes. It was a revelation. Like a cartoon character with a light bulb blinking overhead, she saw her mother as a sad, lonely woman
who filled her life with loveless marriages and buying sprees because she couldn't bear to spend a moment alone. The fact that Havilland was a petty, selfish woman filled with her own self-importance had nothing to do with who Harley was. The knowledge came as a shock. For years she'd felt as useless and unattractive as her mother told her she was. Havilland's perception was not reality.
"Should I go get your bags for you now, Havilland?" Mark asked, still glued to Harley's side. She was grateful for his strength.
Both his arm and the moral support he provided. However she tried to rationalize, she always felt battered around her mother. "Or do you have your own people to do that for you?" he added sarcastically.
"Yes, thank you, darling. I have three big Louis Vuitton bags dear. I brought you a present Harley. I bought it for you in Paris, darling," She eyed her daughter the only way Harley had ever seen her mother look at her. Critically.
"Although now I look at you it might be just a teeny bit snug around the hips.
You have packed on a little weight, haven't you? And my Lord, what have you been doing to your poor skin? Must you persist on going out in the sun and getting all freckled? Darling, I insist you use that cream I sent you."
"No she doesn't need it. But if she does, in thirty or so years when
she's your age, she can also have her face extensively excavated and remodeled, of course, but maybe by then you'll be married to a plastic surgeon. Easy come, easy go," Mark said with a shrug.
Harley almost choked. She couldn't look at Mark in case she started to laugh.
"Gracious, Mark. You know, I was only twenty-one when I had Harley. I was practically a baby myself," Havilland had slipped up and gotten pregnant at twenty-nine, not twenty-one. But for as long as she could remember, Harley had been blamed for the inconvenience. Her beautiful mother couldn't frown
anymore, she noticed. Havilland must have had those Botox shots to kill the nerves in her face. It was rather odd to see the expression in her mother's eyes but not see the wrinkled brow that should have accompanied it.
Mark grabbed Havilland's bags and headed out to the truck. He watched as Havilland frowned when she realized that she would have to ride in a pick-up truck. He winked at Harley who was stifling another laugh as he placed the bags in the back of the extended cab.
When they arrived at Mark's Harley turned to her mother and smiled. "Welcome to our home moth…I mean Havilland.
"Well I must admit that this is pretty impressive. What do you do for a living Mark? It must be lucrative if you can afford a place like this," Havilland said as Mark got her bags and headed for the door.
"Mark used to be a professional wrestler. He retired a few years back," Harley informed her mother.
"A professional wrestler?!? Well that is definitely…interesting."
"That's right and I enjoyed every single year that I was able to compete and as you can tell by the home that I am able to provide for my wife I made plenty of money doing it," Mark said putting Havilland and her snooty attitude in their rightful place.
"Come on Harley show me around this place and then I want to show you that dress I bought you," Havilland said quickly scampering out of Mark's sight.
As Harley was giving Havilland the tour of the house Mark put her luggage in the downstairs guest room. He realized within seconds of meeting her that he did not want that woman sleeping across the hall from him and Harley. In fact he did not want that woman anywhere near Harley, mother or not.
"And this is the room you will be sleeping in," Harley said as she opened the door to the upstairs guest room and gasped. Laurel had definitely put a feminine touch on the house from the bathrooms to the bedrooms and this room wasn't any different. She had substituted the dark blue comforter that once covered the bed with a yellow and white one with matching pillows and curtains. She had also hung some of Harley's paintings from home in there.
"Hey darlin' I decided to put your mother in the downstairs room, I mean I wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable during the night. You know I can be insatiable and how loud you scream during your orgasms," Mark said causing Harley to about swallow her tongue.
"Mark!" Harley exclaimed turning beet red with embarrassment, but Mark only smiled before walking over and kissing Harley playfully on her lips.
"What, I am sure your mother knows how much work goes into making a baby, isn't that right Mrs. Cooper?" Mark asked winking at her.
"Mark is right dear the downstairs room will work just fine," Havilland said although she was obviously uncomfortable with the present conversation.
"Now why don't we head on down so that I can show you that dress," Havilland said eager to leave the latest topic behind.
"Isn't it absolutely gorgeous?" Havilland gushed as she pulled the garment bag away and held up the dress. If nothing else, her mother had impeccable taste. The gown was a slim, floor-length column of flame colored silk. There was no embellishment whatsoever, just flowing fiery silk jersey, expertly cut on the bias.
"Interesting color choice," Mark observed blandly.
Havilland tilted her head as she held the dress up in front of Harley. She eyed what was certainly a one-of-a-kind designer gown with a small pout. "I thought the color would be quite striking with Harley's coloring, but now…"
Not in a trillion years, Harley thought without hostility. There was no way on God's green earth her mother had ever thought this color would flatter her.
"You were absolutely correct," Mark said with mock admiration. "This will look dynamite on Harley. Admittedly, not everyone could pull off wearing this dramatic hue. For instance, it would completely drain all that hectic color right off your face, and make your hair look a little like straw, wouldn't it? It only works because of Harley's youth and beauty. And of course, the stunning deep red color of her hair."
Harley jabbed Mark in the ribs with her elbow. "How are Hannah and Harrison?" she asked quickly, before the giggle in her chest could burst free.
"They are fine, they said they will figure out a time to visit to meet you darling," Havilland said to Mark before going back to the dress. "Well, I did my best. Just suck everything in while you're wearing it. It should be just fine. I must bid you au revoir for now as I would like to shower and call Chandler."
Harley wondered if Havilland called everyone "darling" simply because she couldn't remember their names. Probably.
"I have invited our friends Shawn and Laurel over for dinner, Havilland, you can rest up until then," Harley said as she and Mark left her alone in her room.
"Well that was a real nightmare," Harley said as she and Mark made their way into the den.
"I think it went very well myself," Mark said with a devilish smirk.
"You know I don't think anyone has been able to fluster my mother they way you have done in just an hour. She may have tried to act like she was cool as a cucumber but I could tell you had her out of her element," Harley admitted with a laugh.
"I told you I could handle it," Mark said winking at her.
"When you started talking about us having sex I thought she would die right there in your guest room and I must admit I loved it. Thank you," Harley said hugging Mark tightly around the waist.
"You, sweetheart, are very welcome," Mark said bending down and placing a very light kiss on Harley's lips. "But if you are really thankful you can show me just how much tonight when the lights go out," Mark said winking at Harley causing her to blush.
"I am going to go call Laurel and tell her how you were able to one up Havilland Reynolds-Cooper."
"I'll whip us up some lunch, going toe to toe with your mother really has me famished," Mark said swatting Harley's ass as he turned to walk to the kitchen.
"I knew I liked Mark from the moment I met him," Laurel said through her fit of laughter. "Man I wish I could have been there to witness that."
"Laurel when I say that Mother has met her match I am not kidding. Mark had her so out of sorts I almost peed my pants from the site of it all. I told her that you and Shawn would be joining us for dinner tonight and maybe Mark will put on another performance for us," Harley said as she too began to laugh uncontrollably.
"We are so there girl," Laurel said. "So tell me about last night," Laurel said prying.
"What are you talking about?" Harley said purposely playing dumb.
"I found the condom wrappers this morning," Laurel told her.
"But we made sure to put them in the outside trashcan so mother wouldn't find them!" Harley said in total shock.
"Ha! I caught you, you little slut! I was so totally bullshitting about condom wrappers. I just wanted you to come clean," Laurel admitted.
"Then how did you know?" Harley asked confused.
"Only one bed was slept in doll and I put two and two together, Shawn thought I was just being overzealous but I knew I was right," Laurel said and Harley could hear the smile in her voice. "So now that I know I was right I am going to need for you to give me every single dirty nasty detail."
"Later, Mark fixed lunch and I am starved. We will talk tonight if we can find a few minutes to be alone," Harley said knowing that Laurel would only pester her until she spilled the beans.
"Oh we will find the time, Harlz, you better believe that. See you tonight," Laurel said sweetly.
"Bye Laurel I'll see you tonight," Harley said before clicking her phone shut.
"So Shawn and Laurel are coming by tonight?" Mark asked as he took a bite of his turkey and cheese sandwich.
"Yea Laurel is just dying to see you in action," Harley said and then blushed when she saw Mark raise his eyebrow at her. "Not that kind of action Mark, I mean she wants to see you torturing my mother with your rude and very inappropriate comments," Harley explained.
"I see," Mark said smirking.
"Do you have any request for dinner?" Harley asked as she washed up their dishes.
"I have a very good idea of what I want but I guess it will have to be more like dessert," Mark said with that sexy grin that made Harley's knees weak.
"Mark…"
"What?" Mark asked innocently.
"Keep your mind out of the gutter please and help me plan out tonight's meal."
"Fine, why don't we order pizza and I will go buy the beer," Mark said seriously.
"You're not funny," Harley said with a pout.
"Who's joking. Come on Harley that would probably freak old Havilland out to the point that she scurries on back to her nice comfy uppity North Carolina life don't you think?"
Harley thought about that for a few minutes before shaking her head at Mark, "As great as that sounds I will not force her to leave, I want to prove to her that I am not a loser remember? Scarfing down pizza and chugging beer is not the way to successfully do that."
"You're right, darlin', so I have a better idea; instead of you cooking tonight we will take your mother to be priciest restaurant in Houston and show her that you are better than flea market rummage sales and hideous high heel shoes. Why don't you go call Laurel then head over to Uptown Park and do a little shopping," Mark said pulling out his wallet and extracting a Black Card.
"Mark I'm not going to take your credit card," Harley said refusing to take it from Mark.
"I insist," Mark said taking Harley's hand and placing the card in her palm.
"You've already done so much for me, I can't spend your money too," Harley said still protesting.
"I'm your husband, you're supposed to spend my money it's the American way," Mark said winking at Harley. "And besides I really want to see you all dressed-up again. Maybe this time instead of black though you could get something in red," Mark said wiggling his eyebrows at Harley.
"We're not really husband and wife, remember?" Harley said leaning in close making sure that she wasn't overheard.
"Stick to the script woman! For now you are my wife and I want to spoil you so just take the damn card and go have a good time."
"Oh alright, if this really means that much to you," Harley said with a sigh as she finally gave in. "I'm going to call and see if Laurel is free," Harley said walking out of the kitchen.
"And Harley?"
"Yes Mark?" Harley said turning back around to face him.
"Don't just buy one dress buy as many as you please. If you like it get it and don't forget shoes, make-up, jewelry, perfume and definitely don't forget about some lingerie," Mark said winking at Harley.
"You're getting kind of bossy there aren't you Calaway," Harley asked with raised eyebrows.
"I told you I want to spoil you," Mark answered with a shrug. "Now get the day is wasting away and I know how you women get when you shop," Mark said laughing.
"I am not like most women, Mark Calaway, remember that," Harley said with a mock hair flip as she left the kitchen.
"You, Harley Cooper, are definitely not like most women," Mark said as he watched her walk away.
