Chapter 6- No Good Deed...
Margaret boxed Thomas in the toilet closet and stood there, feet set wide apart, arms crossed over her chest like a formidable Secret Service agent that was not going to let him leave, move, or otherwise get away from this catastrophe that was his life.
"What happened?" Margaret asked, but then rubbed her head as if her head hurt from just the act of speaking.
"I don't know," Thomas hissed, and then clutched his head from the pain, "All I remember is celebrating last night with you and Leslie. How much did we have to drink? Fuck! My head is splitting!"
"I don't know," Margaret mumbled, "I don't even remember drinking anything alcoholic other than that first glass of red wine. After that, all I had was cranberry juice with just enough champagne to make it bubbly. Still, it shouldn't have been enough for this kind of hangover."
"How is Leslie doing?" Thomas asked.
"How do you think?" Margaret replied bitterly, "I'm pretty sure pure rage cut through her hangover!"
"I don't understand," He moaned, "I have no idea how I got there. All I remember is making love to you and Leslie in the best menage a trois ever! Well, my only menage a trois ever..."
Margaret snorted derisively and opened her as if she were going to say something, then stopped.
He hung his head and rested it in his hands, the heels of his palms pressing at his eye sockets. Somehow the one pain seemed to lessen the other, marginally. He groaned, "I'm telling the truth, Margaret. I love only you, and Leslie! I have no idea what happened. I did not do what you think I did! I made love to you, and Leslie only! All night!"
"If that were the case then you would have woken up in my bed with me and Leslie, wouldn't you?" Margaret said in a prosecutorial tone, that also sounded like the verdict had been rendered.
"I..." He started to say that he didn't know again, but then a memory of Leslie flashed in his mind's eye and he said, "Leslie said that we should go back to her room so that we wouldn't wake you."
Margaret's eyes narrowed. Thomas could tell she was furious and skeptical. Closing the door to the toilet closet, she left. When she returned she tossed a shirt, pants, underwear, and socks down at his feet.
"Get dressed," She commanded.
He did so, and Margaret disappeared again then returned dressed in a tank-top with a western button-up shirt and a new pair of tight-fitting jeans. It all bulged in the front a little around her expanding belly. In her hand, she held his wallet, keys, and his motorcycle helmet.
Thomas looked at his few personal possessions, and then he looked at Margaret with tears in the corners of his eyes as he said, "You're sending me away? Margaret, please! I promise I didn't do it! I don't know what happened, but I know I love you. I love you, Margaret! And, I wouldn't betray that!"
Tears welled up in Margaret's eyes and ran down her cheeks, but her face remained firm, "I know Thomas. I want to believe you, but I think it is dangerous for you to stay here now. You had best go. Go back to Florida and deal with what's going on there, and maybe, it would be best if you just forgot about us."
"Margaret," Thomas begged, "No, please! Don't do this!"
"Please, Thomas," Margaret said, her tone cold and sad as she cast a glance back up the hallway, "Don't you think you've broken my heart enough today? Right now, we have to keep those girls safe, and if that means you have to go, then so be it. Leslie and I will investigate what happened. There are a whole lot of questions about last night, but in the meantime, we can't let it appear that we left a potential predator in the house and dismissed what happened. So, please. Please. Just go."
Thomas wiped his eyes. He put his wallet and keys in his pocket, and then he took a step toward Margaret to give her a kiss. She took a step back and turned her face away from him, and he let his hands fall to his sides.
"Fine," He growled bitterly, "I see now. This was how it was always going to be. I am so stupid to have believed that this could have been any different than before!"
"No, Thomas," Margaret replied grimly, "It wasn't Leslie or I who was caught cheating this time."
Margaret swallowed down her tears as Thomas's expression turned from pained heartbreak to cold fury. He pivoted on his heel and stomped out of the house. She heard him put on his boots, and then a few seconds later she heard him start his motorcycle. He revved it far higher than it needed then he tore out of the driveway as he accelerated quickly through the gears.
Leslie heard Margaret wailing as she ran past Cheyenne's room. The door to the Suite slammed closed, and Leslie's heart broke. It broke for her best friend, and it broke for her daughters. Why did this stuff always happen to them? Looking over at Cheyenne and Lauren sitting on Cheyenne's bed, she suddenly felt like all her motivation to keep living was pulled out of her and she collapsed unceremoniously to the floor and cried too.
----(!)----
Over the next week, Margaret and Leslie questioned the girls over and over. They rooted out as many details of what happened as they could. It left Margaret wondering how she could have been so wrong about a man, and it left her a shadow of herself filled with regrets. Part of her was so furious with Thomas, but then, there were so many unanswered questions, like their hangovers the next morning that just was not answered. Those unanswered details made her question everything, and that led to the largest part of her mourning Thomas leaving even though she was the one that sent him away.
The chores, the gardening, kept Margaret moving. They kept her sane. However, it all became robotic and by rote. She rarely smiled, and Leslie was beginning to worry for her. She was often found brushing Jasper or Evergreen down with a faraway look and a lost expression until Leslie finally came out to the barn and told her that she had been currying the horses for hours. Or, the girls would find her standing in the garden staring off at the trees and mountains, all while gently caressing her growing belly.
Her growing belly. She would always have reminders of Thomas now. Two reminders of her brief stint of happiness, and now, her incredible loneliness. As for Leslie, she was subdued. She worried for her girls but also found it curious that as soon as Thomas was gone Cheyenne and Lauren had acted like nothing happened at all. It made her doubt them, and then immediately berate herself for being a horrible mother for doing so.
She found herself missing Thomas too, but also feeling angry and betrayed. More than anything else though, she worried for Marg. Marg's relationship with Thomas had been a lot more profound than her own relationship with him. Her relationship had just really taken off whereas Marg had spent months living with him, falling in love with him. She had been so hopeful that finally, a good man loved her! She wanted so badly for Thomas to be her knight in shining armor. Her prince. Her savior. Oh, how it had all gone so wrong. How was it that monsters always found her, and her girls?
Nothing was ever the same again. It was like Thomas had somehow become the main gear by which everything ran and all of them, Marg, Leslie, and the girls had all orbited around, and now, without him, everything just seemed off. At night Leslie and Margaret still slept together. However, instead of lovemaking, Marg cried herself to sleep in Leslie's arms while Leslie silently wept and fumed over the colossal mess Thomas had left behind.
