Phillip was six feet two inches tall and appeared quite thin. He had hazel eyes and very long eyelashes, and the last time she’d seen him, he’d had short, neatly styled sandy blonde hair. As he stood at the entrance, scanning the room for Lane, she noticed that his hair was now silver. She saw him speak to his companion, a man who was a couple of inches shorter, maybe about six feet tall. The companion, who must be Ralphie, carried a few extra pounds and had longish, rather shaggy, light brown hair with blonde highlights. She saw Phillip nod in her direction and the two men walked toward them.
Ben noticed Lane tense a bit and followed her gaze to the two men walking toward their table. He squeezed her hand and whispered, “Ti Amo, mia Bella.”
Ben stood as the men neared their table and held Lane’s chair as she stood. Lane took Phillip’s hand, and did formal introductions.
“Phillip, this is my husband, Ben Bellini. Ben, Phillip Parker.”
Phillip shook Ben’s hand and introduced Ralphie, “Lane, this is my fiancé, Ralph Easterbrook. Ralph, my ex-wife, Lane and her husband Ben Bellini.”
Ralphie went around the table and pulled Lane into a hug, “I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you.”
Ralphie released her and reached for Ben’s hand. He stood back as he shook Ben’s hand and looked Ben over closely. Ben was six feet four inches tall and had a muscular physique under his very expensive custom made shirt and Brioni suit.
Ralphie released Ben’s hand, looked at Phillip, and smiled, “She’s beautiful.” He glanced at Ben and then back to Phillip. “But then, so is he,” he said turning toward Ben and winking.
Lane had caught the wink and noticed that Ben seemed completely unaffected as he gestured to the chairs. “Please, let’s sit.”
Ben held Lane’s chair as she sat, and waited for their guests to sit before taking his own seat. He and Lane sat adjacent to one another and Ralphie took the seat next to Ben, across from Lane, leaving Phillip the seat next to Lane and across from Ben.
Nearly immediately after Phillip and Ralphie sat, the wait staff descended on the table. On the one hand, Lane and Ben were used to this kind of attentive service, but that was in Kansas City where Ben was sort of famous; they weren’t sure what was going on here, until Ralphie explained.
“I’m the head chef here. I hope you don’t mind if I order for everyone.” Ralphie said as he ordered dinner and wine for the table. He ordered a bottle of Merlot from L & B Vigneto and looked from Lane to Ben. “It’s from a small vineyard in Sicily. They have marvelous wines; we just started carrying them. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.”
Ben smiled, he was sure he would too, after all, his sister Marie Terese was an excellent vintner. He wondered whether Ralphie knew it was his family’s label or perhaps it was merely a happy coincidence.
Lane didn’t want to waste any time and decided to jump right into the reason she and Ben had come to Chicago.
She smiled at Phillip. It was true that the way he left had been very difficult to deal with, but that was eighteen years ago. She’d had a lot of time to get over the shock. She really felt no anger or animosity.
“Congratulations on your engagement. I know you and Ralphie want the kids there, and I’ll pave the way for you the best I can. But, there’s something I need to tell you.” She took a breath. There was no easy way to say this. “Jamie isn’t your son.”
Phillip looked at his ex-wife. During their years together, he’d never had any reason to doubt Lane’s fidelity, even for an instant. Was she telling him now that she’d been unfaithful?
Phillip looked at Lane, “Lane, don’t be ridiculous. You haven’t got an unfaithful cell in your body.”
Ben gave her hand a squeeze, “What she’s saying is that she got pregnant with Jamie after the two of you split up.”
Lane nodded, “Yes, it really doesn’t matter how it happened, but I got pregnant with Jamie after you left.”
Phillip was processing the information. He was an accountant and everything was about number crunching with him. Lane had given birth to all of their children before her due date and he had never thought there was a need to do any math concerning Jamie. Besides, the child support settlement had been determined for just two children, Jake and Jess. After she found out she was pregnant, Lane hadn’t asked for any more money. Thus, there was no reason at all to discuss this. He’d run the numbers and could see no impact to anything.
A tone of annoyance clearly in Phillip’s voice, he asked, “And why are you telling me this now?”
Lane suddenly remembered Phillip and his need to bottom line everything and replied, “The bottom line is that I just found out and felt you had a right to know.”
“Very well, now you’ve told me.” Phillip replied somewhat dismissively as he reached for his glass of Merlot.
He hadn’t asked anything about Jamie’s biological father. The truth was that he’d had very little to do with his children after he’d gone to Chicago to be with Ralphie and Lane wasn’t sure what else there was to say on the matter. She leaned toward Ben and whispered, “I wish I could speak Italian.”
She looked at Phillip and excused herself to use the restroom. Ralphie jumped up and offered to go with her.
He smiled at Phillip. “You know we like to go in groups,” he said as he stood and motioned for Lane to follow him.
Ben stood and helped Lane out of her chair.
Phillip had sized Ben up immediately and had decided that he was much younger than Lane. Despite his expensive looking clothing, Ben was too attentive toward Lane. Obviously, Bellini was a gigolo of some sort. Just have you gotten yourself into, Lane? He thought, and as he swirled the wine in his glass he asked, “Tell me, Bellini, what is it that you do?”
Ben had known for years that Phillip was an ass; he just hadn’t known how much of an ass he was. Ben smiled his mega-watt smile. “I’m an attorney.” Furthermore, you pompous ass, I can play this game much better than you can.
*****
Lane followed Ralphie’s directions as the two of them made their way toward the rest rooms. She opened the door to the Ladies’ room, half-expecting Ralphie to follow her. But, as she pushed the door open, she heard Ralphie say, “I’ll wait here to escort you back to the table.”
Hadn’t he said he needed the restroom too? The door closed behind her and she found herself in a luxurious lounge. She pushed through the second door and entered the restroom. She pushed through a third door and entered one of the bathroom stalls. Pregnancy made her feel like her bladder was about the size of a walnut. She quickly finished her business, washed her hands and left the ladies’ room, as usual without even bothering to check her hair and makeup.
As promised, Ralphie was standing outside the door waiting for her. He took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his elbow, and patted it as he spoke. “You mustn’t mind Phillip. He loves the children; he’s just not good at showing how he feels. Surely you remember how reserved he can be.”
Dear Lord, it’s been eighteen years. She thought, as she nodded. Sure Ralphie was in love with Phillip; had been for nearly twenty years. And, maybe he had learned something, which either she never knew or had forgotten, about pertaining to Phillip’s complete and utter lack of emotion. No matter, she was happily married to a wonderful man who had no problem at all in showing her and telling her how he felt.
“I notice you aren’t drinking.” Ralphie said as they made their way back to the table. “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” He asked giving her hand a little squeeze.