One Wild Night

Anita pasted a smile on her face as she watched Lisa and her husband walk down the stairs to join her in the living room where she had been waiting for them since the housekeeper let her into the house.

"Hello, Anita. It's been a while," Lisa's husband greeted cheerfully.

"How is my favorite brother-in-law doing?" Anita asked, and Ron grinned.

"Don't let your mother hear you. I'm certain if she had her way she would want even my angel to hate me and probably divorce me," Ron said, and Lisa slapped his arm playfully.

"Don't say that. Mother doesn't dislike you that much," Lisa said in her mother's defense.

"Oh, yes she does. And we all know that the only reason she tolerates me is because I'm not poor. If I were poor she would never let any of her daughters smile at me," Ron said, and both sisters giggled.

"That's true," Anita said, bending her lips to the side.

"That's why you are my favorite sister-in-law. By far the smartest too," Ron said, and Anita grinned at him.

"I know, right?" She asked as she glanced at her wristwatch. She couldn't deny that she was no longer as enthusiastic about the family lunch as she had been earlier. She knew without a doubt that their mother would find out about what had happened soon enough. That was if Tiffany had not informed her of it already. And then she was going to be scolded and talked down on the whole time. No, she wasn't looking forward to that.

"Make sure you take care of my angel. No alcohols. Make sure she eats healthy, and bring her back home early enough. She gets easily exhausted lately. Also…."

"Calm down, Ron. It's just for a couple of hours. I'm not going to spend a week there," Lisa cut in with a grin, and Anita smiled as she watched them.

"I know. I'm just worried. I'm not there to look after my babies, and…"

"You would be there to look after your babies if you didn't choose to stay back home," Lisa pointed out with a pout.

"Let's not get into that, darling. You know very well, that I can't stand your mother and elder sisters. They can't stand me either…."

"Guys will be there. Adam and Jack will be there…."

"I don't exactly roll in the same circle with those two either," Ron said with a wince.

"You don't get along with anyone in my family…."

"I get along quite well with Anita. Isn't that right, smartie?" Ron asked as he placed an arm around Anita's shoulders, and she grinned at him as she patted his hand fondly.

"True. We get along really well," Anita said, and Ron pecked her cheek.

"Good. So take good care of your sister, alright? Call me if she so much as complains of a muscle twitch and I'll be there faster than the speed of light," Ron said as he moved away from Anita to kiss his wife.

Lisa sighed, "I will be fine. It's not even close to my potential day of delivery yet," Lisa said as her husband led them outside.

"Two weeks is close enough. The doctor said so," Ron said, and then turned to Anita with a grin.

"I will be a dad in two weeks," he said with a proud smile, and Anita smiled back.

"And I will be an aunt. Make sure you call me when it's time to go to the hospital. I will love to be there," Anita said, and Ron gave her a nod.

"Sure, I will. I will need someone to pour some water on me if I pass out after all," Ron joked, and all three of the laughed as they got to Anita's car.

Ron held out the driver's door for Anita to get in, before leading his wife around to the passenger side. He kissed her lips, "Be good, alright?" He said as he opened the door and she gave him a nod.

"Yeah. And try not to miss me too much," Lisa said, and Ron stuck out his lower lip.

"I miss you already. Make sure you have fun and don't let your mother talk you into leaving me no matter what, okay?" He said, and she giggled as she got into the car which Anita had already started. 𝙗𝙚𝙙𝙣𝙤𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝙢

"She is not that bad," Lisa said, but Ron said nothing as he shut the door.

He knew enough about her mother to know she was that bad. But there was no reason to tell her that. He didn't like the woman, but he loved the woman's daughter, and for that reason, he wouldn't tell his wife just how well he knew her mother and what she was capable of.

"I love you," Ron called to his wife as Anita drove off.

"Do you think mother hates Ron?" Lisa asked after she had fastened her seatbelt and Anita shrugged.

"I wonder why they don't get along despite the fact that he is rich. Or perhaps she doesn't like him much because she didn't choose him for you herself?" Anita asked, and Lisa shrugged.

"I don't know. It bothers me at times. You know, going to family gatherings like this without Ron," Lisa said with a sigh.

"Well, if it's any consolation, what you have with your husband is beautiful. And it's better to have a wealthy husband that dotes on you the way Ron does than to have one who doesn't care about you, yet shows up in family gatherings," Anita said, and Lisa smiled.

"That's true. I'm hoping you will put that into consideration when settling down too. Don't just sit back and allow mother to choose your man. Your happiness is your own responsibility," Lisa advised, and Anita nodded without saying anything.

"Are you okay?" Lisa asked after a while as she looked at Anita's face.

Anita bobbed her head, "I'm fine," Anita said, flashing her a false smile, but Lisa was not convinced.

"Okay. Tell me. What's wrong?" Lisa asked, and Anita raised a brow.

"Why do you think anything is wrong? I'm fine," Anita assured her.

"No, you are not. I saw the fake smile on your face when I came downstairs. And your voice has a tinge of something… should I call it worry or sadness?" She asked with concern, and Anita smiled.

This was the reason she loved Lisa the most among her sisters. Lisa was more attentive, thoughtful, caring, and considerate. She knew without a fact that if it was Lisa who had followed her to the spa, Lisa would never have left her behind. Lisa would never have let any of that happen in the first place.

Anita's lips wobbled as she tried to find the right words to tell Lisa all that was going on with her, "Pull over," Lisa said when she noticed the distress on Anita's face.

"We will be late," Anita said, and Lisa waved it off.

"I don't care about keeping them waiting. I want to know what's wrong with you," Lisa insisted, and then joked, "We can just lie against the baby if you're scared mother will scold you. Tell her the baby delayed us," Lisa said, and Anita's lips twitched as she pulled over by the roadside.

Once she parked the car, Lisa took her hand, "What is the problem, Annie? You can talk to your big sister and I will make it alright," Lisa said with concern that made Anita break into a sob.

"Oh, dear!" Lisa exclaimed softly as she unfastened her seat belt and turned in her seat to embrace Anita.

Anita wasn't one to easily give in to tears, because their mother had raised them to believe tears were a sign of weakness, and the only time they were supposed to use it was as a weapon to get what they wanted from the opposite sex. So seeing Anita cry, told her that something was really wrong.

Lisa didn't ask her any questions as she allowed her to cry, and after she had cried to her heart's content, she pulled away and looked at Lisa, "I'm sorry," she said with a sniffle when she noticed she had stained Lisa's peach-colored dress.

"It's fine. I need to start practicing having stains on my clothes for when your niece comes," Lisa said with an easy smile as she patted Anita's hair fondly. Perhaps it was her pregnancy, she was feeling maternal towards her kid sister.

"Talk to me. What is the problem?" Lisa asked, and Anita took a deep breath before telling her what had happened at the spa.

She tried to be as honest as she could despite knowing that Lisa would scold her, and by the time she was done, Lisa sighed deeply.

"And Tiffany? What did she do?"

"She left without a word."

"I can't believe that Tiffany left you there after creating such a mess for you," Lisa hissed in annoyance.

"She didn't. She only tried to help, and I was the one...."

"Oh, Annie! You are still so naive if you don't realize what happened there. Tiffany would never do anything that mother didn't ask her to do. Don't you already know that by now? Do you think mother asked her to take you there only because she wanted you to look your best? Mother is always calculating. She does nothing without thinking of a way to get something else out of it, believe me. Isn't that the same salon Tiffany overheard them talking about Tom and Lucy the first time? Didn't she say the source was one of Tom's employees?" Lisa asked, and a confused line formed on Anita's brows.

"Yes. Why?"

"If Lucy and Tom had not been there, or if the news had not gotten to them and they reacted the way they did, what do you think would have happened? Don't stress your brain, I will tell you. The news would have spread like wildfire, in the same way, Ron's ex-fiancee spread the news of her breakup with Ron by accusing me of snatching him from her. And the news would have eventually gotten to I-Global and caused a lot of damage to Lucy at the company. Do you know how people treat ladies that snatch other people's men? I wasn't even friends with Ron's ex-fiancee, yet I was treated so badly and mother knew all about it. Now can you imagine how it would have been for Lucy, who you claimed was your friend?" Lisa asked, and Anita narrowed her eyes.

"You think mother asked Tiffany to raise the subject there?" Anita asked since she had assumed that Tiffany had brought up the subject simply because the ladies there had been singing praises of Lucy and she had wanted to make her feel better.

"I don't think. I can assure you that is exactly what happened. And when we get to Benny's you will find out for yourself," Lisa said confidently.

"But if that was the case why didn't Tiffany inform me she planned to do such a thing? Why didn't mother say anything?" Anita asked, and Lisa scoffed.

"Since when did mother need your permission to do anything?" Lisa asked, and Anita sighed.

"Now listen, you were wrong in doing what you did. I've told you countless times, leave Tom and Lucy alone. If you are wise, you would apologize to them and be on good terms with them. You don't have to be friends with them since I doubt they would want to be friends with you, especially after this nonsense you did. But I think you should apologize to them and make peace...."

"But...."

"Just listen to me! No buts! You can't afford to have them as your enemies. Tom is your boss..."

"I'm quitting my job," Anita said, and Lisa looked at her with disapproval.

"So?"

"So it doesn't matter if they're my enemies or not. We won't be seeing each other anymore," Anita said matter of factly.

"And why are you leaving your job?"

"Are you seriously asking me why? I can't possibly keep working for Tom after everything. I planned on quitting before now, and today's incident has only reinforced my conviction. I can no longer work there," Anita said, and Lisa shook her head, feeling very disappointed and sad at the same time. She wished their father was alive. Anita would never had turned out this way under their father's watchful eyes. Or maybe not. Seeing how Bernice and Tiffany who were the oldest had turned out.