When Marshall woke up it had to be noon because the sun was blaring painfully through the windows when he opened his eyes. Regina’s head lay on his chest, as she slept and he smiled remembering their evening together. But suddenly, he felt a wall of doubt starting to build. It had been threatening for a while.
Things were too good. Things were too calm, too…everything. Everything was too perfect. While at the beginning they usually had some fights every now and then, rarely a very serious one, but usually were quick to make up. She didn’t complain about having to work. She was seriously talented. She wasn’t clingy or too possessive. She loved sex as much as he did. She was great with Hailie and respected his wishes about his daughter. She never brought up Kim, never talked about, “their future together”, never flipped out if some crazy female fan jumped on him and tried to kiss him, and she never complained about him spending some time with just the guys. So why the hell was he complaining?
He couldn’t have asked more anything else in a woman. Sports fan, rap fan, smart as all fucking hell, maddeningly funny, genius with words, natural with kids, quick tempered, amazingly sexy, proud, determined, tenacious, careful with her trust, competent, confident, he could continue to list the great qualities she possessed all day and night and still not list them all.
What scared him though was that he was starting to feel love for her and he couldn’t say it. Not only would he refuse to say it, but most likely she would have scoffed at the idea anyway. Oh he knew she cared about him, deeply so, but love was a touchy subject. Sex was one thing, spending time together, fine, living together, okay, love, hold the train and let them both off. Especially after only six months.
He didn’t know if she really cared that much about him. Would she fight for him to keep him? Though why he wanted to be something for her to fight to own, was another question that he couldn’t answer either. And how the hell could this be love? They didn’t have anything to base it on. They were comfortable. That’s all, comfortable. All the same however, Marshall would have felt a little better if she would have gotten jealous once in a while. Maybe it was time to pick up that “Jane Eyre” book and read up on Mr. Rochester’s technique, it had certainly worked for him.
His musing was broken by the small contented sigh from Regina as she shifted slightly and slowly started to wake up.
“You’re too good at this sex thing you know?” she asked, as she didn’t move.
“You’re not too bad yourself,” he replied.
“Good answer,” she laughed. The phone on the night table rang shrilly.
“Erg! Why can’t we unplug the damn thing once in a while!” Regina sighed, annoyed.
“I’ll get it Lyric,” Marshall said as Regina rolled over and buried her head in a pillow. Marshall sat up and relieved them both from the ringing and answered groggily.
“Hello?”
“Hey, uh, it’s Ricky, look, uh, I need to talk to Regina, there’s been a few phone calls, and well, uh, there’s something she needs to see. Don’t put her on the phone, she just has to see something.” Ricky’s voice was scared and jumpy.
“What’s going on?” she asked immediately. Marshall sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Ricky said there was something in the paper, that you’re not going to like, there’s been a couple phone calls he said, from who I don’t know,” Marshall replied looking over at her.
“Phone calls? Something in the paper?” Regina asked confused even as she climbed out of bed and quickly threw on her clothes. Marshall followed her and seconds later they were down the hall knocking on the door. Hailie let them in and Regina quickly scanned the room for Catalina and Ricky.
“Everyone okay?” she asked as she plucked Catalina off the couch and held her in her arms as she walked toward Ricky. She gave him a quick hard hug before he answered. Marshall was close behind her.
“Yeah, everyone is fine, it’s just, well,” Ricky stuttered.
“Who called?” Regina asked gently but firmly at the same time.
“Well, Mario for starters, then mom and dad,” Regina stopped at the name,
“Mario? He called? Why, what for?”
“Regina, I think you need to sit down and take a look at today’s LA Times,” Ricky replied. Regina furrowed her brow but took a seat at the table Ricky had been sitting at minutes before. Despite the fact that Regina had been in New York almost four months, she had made sure that she had the LA Times delivered to her daily. She had been reading it religiously since Ernelle had taken up a spot on their roll call of staff and looked forward to her article everyday.
Ricky dropped a copy of the day’s LA Times in front of her.
“Page twenty-one,” he said solemnly. Regina looked up at Ricky and then Marshall before she turned to the paper and flipped through the pages.
Marshall saw her body tense immediately as the pages fell open. Her spine went rigid and her shoulders stiffened. Her hands clenched into fists and her neck lengthened.
“Ricky, take Catalina and help her pack her things, then take her to your room and pack yours,” Regina said quietly. Ricky nodded and picked up Catalina carrying her to her room.
“Marshall, could you please call and have one of the assistants find out the times for a flight to LA,” Marshall didn’t ask why but did as he was asked and fished his phone out of his pocket and went into the bedroom to make the call.
When he returned Regina was sitting at the table, her forehead resting on one hand, while the other held her phone to her ear. She was speaking softly.
“Mario, I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why this is going on, but I’m working on it, trust me. No, don’t worry about it, I’ll have Paul call you with the details. No, I can’t talk to you right now about anything else. There is nothing to talk about. Yes, he’ll take care of you, goodbye.” Regina hung up the phone and set it on the table, looking over at Marshall.
“They’re working on it,” he said answering her question. She took a deep breath and sighed.
“It’s taking everything right now that I have, not to put my fists through the wall.” She said as she closed her eyes and shook her head. Marshall walked over and turned the paper so he could look at it. The headlines blared out at him.
“REGINA CONTINI, HER LIFE: HER BATTLE WITH AN ABUSIVE FATHER, A BAD MARRIAGE, A GAY HUSBAND, AND THE DEATH OF HER CHILD, THE EXCLUSIVE WITH ERNELLE WATKINS.” Below the titles and in prominence across the page and the next four pages were large color photos. A picture of that guy QT and who he guessed must have been Mario. Pictures of Regina’s family, and the most disturbing of them all, Regina holding a tiny baby girl in her arms, her smiling face next to the baby she’d just given birth to a few minutes prior. Another picture of just the baby was featured next to it.
Regina looked over to the paper and shook her head.
“That bitch,” she said with clenched teeth. The phone rang on the table next to her and she took it in her hand.
“Paul, just who I wanted to talk to.”