Bad Blood Ch. 02 - No Rest for the Wicked

The next night when we were out to dinner at Bobby's Seafood Bistro in Old Town Sacramento. Ironically, it was located next door to Sutter's Mill, the bar where Steven and I met Darlene all those months ago. I'll be honest, the phrase 'returning to the scene of the crime' crossed my mind.

The six of us were sitting around the table making small talk, when Misty asked, "So, Janelle, what's your secret to being happily married to Andrew so long?"

Mom leaned over and gave Dad a kiss before answering, "I think it all boils down to Andrew being a good husband. He's treated me like a queen ever since we met. I've always trusted him completely, because I know he loves and respects me, and more importantly, he shows me that every single day. I hope Steven and Brad are doing the same for you two girls."

Misty and Darlene answered simultaneously, "He does." Whew! Misty then asked, "Don't you guys ever argue?"

Mom patted Dad's hand, "Oh, sure, we have disagreements about things, but we always keep it about the issue and never ever insult each other. We have no desire to hurt each other's feelings. Also, over the years we've learned how to compromise. I'll tell you one thing though, girls, my husband never sleeps on the couch, ever. Even if I'm upset with him, after all these years I still love having him in bed with me. Making him sleep on the couch wouldn't just punish him, it would also be punishing me! Why would I do that?"

It was interesting to watch Misty and Darlene soak in the lessons our mother was teaching them. It was clear she'd earned their love and respect, and they hung on her every word. Looking at Dad, I think he was enjoying it too. It was plain to see by the look on his face that he still adored Mom.

The rest of the meal and conversations went well, then coffee and dessert were served. As we sipped our cappuccinos, I sent a quick text, "Now."

That was the signal for four men dressed in tuxedos to walk up to our table. One of them, a tall guy with a deep bass voice, spoke up. "Hello, we're members of the Sacramento City College Acapella Group, and we have a message for Darlene. Is there a Darlene here?"

Everyone but me were wide-eyed, not knowing what was going on. Darlene raised her hand a little, "I'm Darlene."

"This is a message from Brad." The group began to sing the old Joe Cocker song 'You Are So Beautiful', then during the final notes they transitioned into 'Stand By Me' by Ben E. King, with a slight change - they switched the lyrics "darling, darling stand by me" to "Darlene, Darlene, stand by me," and that was my cue - I got down on one knee and held up a small box with a ring in it.

It was a two-carat princess-cut diamond solitaire ring in 14k white gold. Only I knew it cost me $15,000, but spending that particular amount gave me a weird sense of satisfaction. It seemed karmic.

The singers faded out and everything got quiet. I began to speak, "Darlene Chantelle, I've been an idiot. My Dad was right, this has taken me way too long. You're the woman I want to spend my life with. Please forgive me for the delay, and say you'll marry me."

Darlene began to cry, big heavy sobs, but nodded her head and managed to squeak out "Yes," then I stood up and took her in my arms and pulled her in close for a kiss. My family and most of the patrons began to applaud. Misty and my Mom were also in tears as they clapped.

Dad and Steven shook my hand and slapped me on the back. I was truly in love and felt like I was back in control of my life again. Yeah, I know, thinking I was in control when it involved a Chantelle woman was just wishful thinking, but man can dream, can't he?

++++++++++

In the car on the way home, Mom and Darlene sat in the back discussing wedding ideas while Dad and I sat in the front. Dad was unusually quiet at first, then after a few minutes he said "I'm proud of you, son. She's a fine woman, and your mother adores her."

I wanted to say, "Yeah, and I know why," but instead smiled inwardly and just said, "Thanks, Dad."

"I hope you're as happy as Janelle and I are," he commented. "What your mother said at the restaurant is true, by the way. Unless I was travelling by myself on business, she and I have never slept apart. She's as sexy now as she was when we first got married, and I love to..."

"Ok, Dad, thanks but you're oversharing."

"No, I mean it, she's 60 years old and still really sexy, I mean just look at her -"

I hissed, "DAD! Please! That's my mother you're talking about!" and shook my head. My father was proving himself to be a 62-year-old horndog, albeit one with the hots only for my Mom. It was embarrassing, but also pretty cool actually.

When we got home, as we said goodnight Darlene hugged Mom again, said "Thank you," and held on to her for 30 seconds or so. My fiancée didn't need to say anything, I could tell their relationship was going to be a special one going forward. No toxic mother-in-law stuff for my bride, that was for sure.

When we got into the bedroom, I took Darlene into my arms and said, "Well, hello future Mrs. Bradford Montello." I rubbed her stomach. "How's our baby tonight?"

"The baby and the momma are both very happy," she said, "my dreams just came true."

"I want you to know, future Mrs. Montello, that I'm taking my mother's advice and treating you like my queen from here on out." Before she could respond, I kissed her, moving her backwards so we toppled together onto the bed.

She whispered, "Do y'all want to kiss my boobies?" Oh, man, when that sexy New Orleans drawl crept into her speech, I knew my woman was about to become dangerous.

"Why yes ma'am, indeed, I do," I remarked, and unbuttoned her blouse. Beneath the cups of her silk bra, her breasts bulged. "Looks like I'm going to have to take my queen shopping for more bras," I remarked, "or you can just go without. So long as it's just around the house, I'd have no objections. Never in public though. I don't want anyone else ogling my sexy fiancée."

She giggled, "I like when you're jealous, baby."

"We're engaged now, so get used to it." Since Darlene was tired, we undressed and snuggled until we fell asleep. I didn't mind. My pregnant princess needed her rest.

++++++++++

"Brad! Wake up, I heard noises."

Consciousness slowly seeped into my brain, and I opened my eyes to the sight of Darlene inches from my face, her eyes wide. I groaned, "It's probably Mom or Dad going to the bathroom, sweetie." I moved forward to kiss her, but she pushed me away.

"No, Brad, I heard loud noises. I'm scared!" This was odd. I'd never known Darlene to be afraid of anything, but maybe she was affected by pregnant hormones. Steven told me Misty would get weird sometimes.

"OK, baby, I'll go check." I reluctantly got up and put my bathrobe on and grabbed my phone. It had a flashlight function, but more importantly, the security camera app. I looked back and saw Darlene's worried expression. To reassure her, I said, "I'm sure it's nothing, I'll be right back, sweetie. Keep the bed warm for me."

I stepped out of our bedroom and softly closed the door behind me. Then I heard some noises coming from the guest bedroom. Against my better judgement, out of morbid curiosity I called up the security app and clicked on the guest room camera.

The video feed showed Mom straddling Dad cowgirl-style, making sexy talk as she rode him, "Do you like our new daughters-in-law, lover? Do those pregnant bellies get you excited? Do you want to see me pregnant again? Come on, lover, knock up your horny wife! Fill my belly! Give me what you got!"

Dad groaned loudly, his hands reaching up, covering Mom's boobs... and that's when I shut my phone off.

Wow, there was no way I could un-see my parents fantasizing about making Steven and me a new sibling. Not that I wanted to have sex with my Mom or anything - that would be sick and gross - but the way she was goading Dad to make her pregnant was way better than a porn video. I quickly tip-toed back to the master bedroom and slipped under the sheets, my dick now iron-hard.

Darlene whispered, "Did you find out what it was?"

I told her, "Yeah, believe it or not, seeing you and Misty pregnant got my Mom and Dad fired up, and those noises you heard were my parents trying to make a baby. They can get loud sometimes."

Darlene giggled, looking very relieved, and asked, "Make a baby? At their age, that's impossible, right?"

"Oh, I'm sure it is, but that wouldn't stop them from trying. My Dad was telling me in the car he still thinks Mom is super-hot," I said, running my hands up and down her abdomen, "and speaking of super-hot, there's a woman in my bed who matches that description."

I leaned in and began peppering her neck with butterfly kisses as I moved my hand down between her thighs and cupped her mound. I could feel her wetness, and murmured, "I want you, baby. I want you now, and I'm going to want you when we're in our 90s."

Darlene took my face in her hands and kissed me passionately, then whispered, "You'd better, Mr. Montello, because I'm never leaving you." I rolled her onto her left side so and moved a pillow to make sure her baby bump was resting comfortably. I moved behind her, and she lifted her right leg. I reached around and caressed her breasts while my rigid member slipped in easily, and we made gentle love.

No crazy animal passion this time, just two people being loving and intimate. She had a small climax, and I followed suit a few seconds later. As we lay there intertwined afterwards, I felt a level of happiness I hadn't known before. The Darlene who'd played me for a fool and taken my money had been replaced by the Darlene who made me feel complete.

The next morning, Mom was in the kitchen making breakfast when I woke up. Dad was seated at the kitchen table, enjoying his coffee. We walked in to the wonderful smell of bacon, eggs and pancakes; as Darlene moved to sit at the table, I pulled out her chair for her and kissed the top of her head.

"That's the way to do it, son," Dad said, "never stop treating her like she's your treasure." He looked at my Mom and winked.

Darlene teased, "You must have slept well, Janelle, you look almost glowing! Are you sure you're not pregnant too?" I looked at her wide-eyed. She may have turned over a new leaf, but my fiancée was still a little scamp!

Mom laughed out loud, "No, definitely not, but it's not for lack of trying. Isn't that right, Andrew?" She blew my Dad a kiss.

Dad blushed, then laughed. He moaned "Yes, dear," acting henpecked, but fooling nobody. Andrew Montello was exactly how and where he wanted to be, happily under his wondeful wife's spell.

++++++++++

The fact that Darlene was rattled by my parent's noises the previous night was in the back of my mind, nagging at me. What was it that had her so jumpy? I found out soon enough, and it wasn't good.

Because my parents were visiting, I came home from work early that day. Darlene's Volvo wasn't in the garage. That was odd. I went inside and asked Mom where Darlene had gone, and she told me my fiancée had said she needed to go shop for some groceries. This was also odd, as we'd just gotten groceries over the weekend in preparation for my parents' arrival.

My suspicions aroused, I went to the third bedroom and looked in the closet for that old red gym bag I'd found a while back. As a sign of trust, I'd put it back after Darlene and I discussed it. To my shock, the bag was gone!

Now I was really worried. Did Darlene have some crazy urge to run away again? I called her but my calls went straight to voicemail. My texts went unanswered as well. Fortunately, I had one more way to find out.

Sacramento overall was a safe city, but there were spots here and there you had to be careful. When we'd leased the Volvo, I had the dealership install one of those anti-theft tracking devices in case the car ever got stolen.

I'd told Darlene, but she was so excited about her new car I don't think she was listening. I opened up the app and the good news was, I located the Volvo right away. The bad news? It was located in the last place I wanted it to be: the Buenos Amigos Mobile Home Park.

When Darlene and I first got together, she was living with Honor in a double-wide mobile home in the Buenos Amigos Park; in fact, I'd spent quite a few nights there having crazy drunken sex with Darlene before the two women moved into my condo and took it over. (Thinking back, that trailer was probably where our baby was conceived!)

After Honor skipped town, I assumed she'd gotten rid of the mobile home but apparently I was wrong. Now I was heading back to where my nightmare of last year started. My adrenaline was pumping from anger at the possibility Darlene hadn't changed after all, and was betraying me, but part of me was worried that she might be in trouble. It could have been the fear of her mother coming back that was making her so jumpy. Either way, I needed to get to the bottom of this Chantelle bullshit, and right damned now!

I drove slowly through the mobile home park, and sure enough, Darlene's Volvo was parked on the concrete pad next to their old trailer. I found a guest parking space about 10 yards away, then called Mom and let her know where I was before I headed to the trailer. I would have hated to somehow disappear and not have my parents know where to start looking for me. I mean, I couldn't see Honor as a murderer, but I'd been fooled before. As cold-blooded as she was, at this point I wouldn't put anything past the sneaky bitch.

The midday heat hadn't dissipated; when I approached the mobile home, I saw the main door was open, with the screen door closed so a cross-breeze could help cool the interior. I could hear women's voices, but they weren't in the living room.

Luck was on my side; as I gingerly turned the knob on the screen door handle, I found it was unlocked. I took off my shoes, then I gently opened it and quietly crept inside in my stocking feet, easing it closed again.

In this particular trailer layout, the living room was in the front, with the hallway down one side leading to the kitchen and then the bedrooms. The voices were coming from the kitchen, so I knelt down on the other side of the living room wall and eavesdropped to see what they were up to, and how badly Darlene had fooled me.

I heard Darlene's voice first, "Momma, let me go! Why are you doing this?"

Then I heard the voice that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up: Honor Chantelle.

"Relax, Darlene, I just slipped a little Ketamine in your coffee so I could get you to sit a while and listen to me. I'll untie you soon enough, but you need to listen to your momma now. You need to come back to New Orleans with me. There's a wealth management convention for venture capitalists in two weeks at the Morial Convention Center, and I'm sure there will be some sheep to shear if we play our cards right."

"Momma, I'm near to 6 months pregnant! Nobody's gonna want me anyway!"

"Hell, girl, that don't make no difference! We put you in some loose-fitting fancy clothes, with that pretty face of yours nobody will hardly notice. Besides there's some men what love pregnant women, the fancy word for it is 'maiesiophilia'. One way or another, we'll fleece 'em good! It'll be you and me, just like old times again."

"No Momma, I don't want to! I'm living with Brad now and I love him, I don't never want to leave him! Just take that money I give you and go!" I could hear scraping noises, like Darlene was struggling, tied to one of the wooden kitchen chairs.

Honor snorted, "That damned fool? You can't be serious! We cleaned him out good, and he was still stupid enough to take you back! Come on girl, we got enough out of him, they's no sense in going back to the well twice. We got lucky the first time, thanks to Misty. If we try to fleece him again, he might call the police on us!"

"No, Momma, I don't care about his money. He already done proposed to me! I love him, and I want him to love me and be a daddy to his baby."

Honor snorted derisively, "Aw, come on, babygirl! We can sell that ring of yours for a pretty penny. You know nobody loves you like your Momma! Just stop with that foolish talk and get this through that empty head of yours, you can either come back on your own, or I'll handcuff you and take you back by force. You'd best be acceptin' the fact that one way or the other, y'all be coming with me to New Orleans, and that's that."

"What you said ain't true, Momma, it ain't true at all! Brad loves me, and Brad's momma loves me too! She told me so herself!"

I could hear in her voice Honor was really getting pissed now. "Shit, Darlene, sometimes I wonder if y'all really are my daughter, 'cause you can be such a stupid cow. Some rich bitch you just met don't know shit about you. If she knew how you'd fleeced her son, she'd throw your ass out in a heartbeat."

My fiancée spat right back, "She knows, Momma. I done told her, and you know what? She says she don't care! She loves me anyway, and she wants me as her daughter-in-law. She says I make her son happy, and that's all she cares about! She don't care about none of the bad stuff I did!" Darlene's voice was the angry one now. I could feel my manhood stiffening. I hated to admit it, but my red-haired baby momma was sexy as hell when she was pissed off. (OK, yes, I'll admit to being a horny pig, but come on, Darlene was really hot!)

Her anger now in full form, I could literally hear Darlene strain against her restraints as she loudly unleashed her fury. "What do YOU care about Momma? If you cared about my happiness at all, you'd turn me loose and tell me to stay put because I'm happy being here with Brad! Why ain't you doing that, Momma? Why don't y'all care about me being happy? Because y'all are a selfish bitch, that's why!"

I thought Honor was going to slap Darlene, but instead she tried a different tactic, "Aw, come on, babygirl, you know I care about you, I just ain't never been good at showing it!" Darlene seemed to buy it, I could hear her calming down a bit, but then she was back at it.

"What about your grandchild? Don't it deserve a loving daddy like I never had?" Hearing that, I began to have some empathy for what Darlene's issues were. If I hadn't had my old man with me when I grew up, I knew I never would have been as successful as I was.

Honor responded by shoveling a bullshit excuse back at her, "Now, Darlene, that ain't right, your daddy Silas loved you in his own way, but he's like me, he just ain't good at showing it!" Thankfully, Darlene wasn't fooled.

"Yeah, he loved us so much he divorced you and run off with Misty's momma. Is the old bastard even still alive? I ain't heard from him since I was 10! Not a damned birthday card, or a gift when I graduated high school, nothing! Hell, Brad's daddy loves me more than that! He hugged me and told me I was pretty, and glad I was gonna be his daughter-in-law!"

At that last remark, Honor had reached her limit, and slapped Darlene. That's when I came out from my concealed spot and stepped into the kitchen. "If you ever hit her again, Honor, I'll swear I'll break your fucking arm."

Sure enough, there was Darlene sitting in a wooden chair, her ankles and wrists tied with rope to the arms and legs. "Are you OK, Darlene?"

Darlene's eyes were wide, and tears began flowing. "Brad, sweetie, I'm so sorry! I only come to talk to Momma, I swear I wasn't running out on you!"

"Yeah, sweetheart, I know. I was worried when I couldn't find that old gym bag, but I heard most of your conversation. It's over now, I'm taking you home and your mother just better back the fuck off."

Honor wasn't intimidated. She opened a drawer and pulled out a 12" chef's knife. "Is that so, Mr. Bigshot?" She held the blade close to Darlene's face. "You take another step, and I'll cut this stupid bitch's nose off, how you like that?" Darlene's eyes were wide; I thought Honor was bluffing, but then I wasn't the one with a blade pressed against my cheek. I stayed put and held my hands up.