Sleepless Nights in the Hills by Ausin Mitchell - HTML preview

Chapter Four

 

That Friday night there was a party being kept in Keswick. At about ten o’clock that night when it was in full swing, Gail went over to where David was dancing with Lovett. She was drinking a sorrel beer.

“Lovett, David doesn’t want you. He’s just using you. Why don’t you go back to your husband?”

“Val, is all right, he has found another woman and doesn’t need me again.”

“He has a right not to want you again, after what you did to him with David and with other men.”

Lovett pulled out of David’s arms and came to face her.

“Come out of my business, Gail. And please to leave me alone.”

“You won’t get rid of me until you leave David alone.”

He had to forcibly take her home. He returned and started dancing with Lovett.

“You encouraged me to leave Val and I did. Now that I have done so, why are you refusing to leave Leta? I thought the plan was for her to return to Mark and you to me.”

“He’s proving to be very wild, and she’s refusing to leave me.”

“I heard that all of his women are returning to him. Is that true?”

“That’s the big rumor doing the rounds.”

“If Leta comes to the party and see us dancing together, she might try to pull us apart.”

“She can’t do that.”

“I will continue to go out with you. I will also continue sleeping with you. She has to make up her mind as to what to do, but she can’t stop me again.”

Mark was also at the party with Hazel. He was surprised to see David there with Lovett and he had to take another woman, Gail, out of the party and take her home. He knew that the man was a womanizer and probably had women that Leta didn’t even know about. He and Hazel were dancing. He had told Nadene, Madge and Rhea that he would take Hazel to the party. He wondered what had happened to girls like Yasmin and Corine. He would look them up one of these days. Rhea was at the party dancing with the same man she had always gone partying with, Jake. He and Hazel went to his house at about two o’clock that morning. He dropped her home at around eight o’clock as her mother was now staying with her.

***

That morning he called Corine.

“Hey Corine, what’s going on?”

“Mark, is that really you? I heard that you had returned home, so you finally decided to call me. I’m living in OId Harbour now. I have two children. I heard that women were fighting over you. Is it true that Leta has left her husband and you’re going back to her?”

“Nothing like that has happened.”

“I’m tempted to start over with you, but I just don’t want to be in any fights over you.”

“I’ll keep calling,” he told her and ended the call.

***

When he called Yasmin, she didn’t sound all that happy to hear his voice again.

“Mark, it’s good to hear from you. Where are you calling me from?”

“From out here, I’ve returned home nearly a year ago.”

“Well, I’m married. My husband and I have three children. He’s a lawyer and I work in his office.”

“You’ve really made a lot of progress.”

“Yes, and thanks for calling me,” she said and ended the call.

***

Saturday afternoon, David and Leta were having it out.

“You slept with Lovett last night. Do you want me to go over to her house and fight her over you?”

“I was out with her, and I slept at her house. But that doesn’t mean anything.”

“It means something to me and I’m sure it does to her. Do you want me to start going out and sleeping around?”

“Mark is full up, because of the amount of women running him down.”

“I look better than all of them. I look better than both Gail and Lovett. I also look better than both Hazel and Rhea.”

***

Saturday night, David turned up at the party with Gail.

“David, it’s time you choose between me and Lovett.”

“Gail, you will just have to accept things as they are. Leta and I just live together, but there is nothing going on between us. I want to be along with both you and Lovett.”

“Why does it have to be that way? Why don’t you let her return to her husband and Leta to Mark?”

“You’re a very stubborn girl. Val now lives with another woman. You know about Mark and the whole heap of women running him down. I will give you and her money each month, but I don’t want any fighting between the two of you and with you and Leta.”

He drank some more of his rum and boom before continuing.

“I’m almost certain that Leta will return to Mark. Lovett has agreed to the arrangement. At forty years of age, I’m still a very virile man, but I don’t want any more children.”

They continued dancing together.

“Gail, I’m telling you and I’ve told Lovett the same thing. If you find a man who’s willing to offer you a better deal, you can always back out of the one, I’m offering you.”

“I wanted both Leta and Lovett to leave you so that I can have you for myself, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.”

“You just have to have patience. Everything will be sorted out soon. You don’t have to worry.”

At about one o’clock they left for her house.

***

Mark was at the party and was surprised to see David there with Gail. He was dancing with Rhea.

“I’ve heard that Leta wants you back. Is any of that true?”

“It seems as if David is leaving her for either Lovett or Gail. But she’s certainly not on her way back to me. I certainly didn’t return home to be along with her.”

“Well, I suppose she has always fancied herself as a beauty queen. She should have no problems finding a new man if he really leaves her.”

They continued dancing.

“It’s time you choose between me and Hazel.”

“Rhea, you know it’s you I want. You already know the answer.”

“I want to know what are you doing with Madge and Nadene?”

“Nadene is my baby mother and Madge is a former girlfriend of mine. I just talk to them, but there’s nothing going on between me and them.”

They left the party at two o’clock that morning and went to his house to sleep.

***

David and Leta were quarrelling that Sunday morning. Outside, light rain was falling.

“You’re sleeping with both Lovett and Gail. Those two women are always quarrelling with me whenever they see me. By sleeping and going on with them, you’re giving them more ammunition to fight me. Even the children are asking me about what is going on.”

“Neither of them means anything to me.”

“I know that Lovett wants you. She wants me to leave you so that she can have you. She told me that there was an agreement where she would leave Val, for you and you would leave me for her.”

“I wasn’t part of that agreement.”

“Just who made it though? She couldn’t have made it alone.”

He shrugged his shoulders, went to his vehicle and drove away

 

 

David and Leta were quarrelling that Sunday morning. Outside, light rain was falling.

“You’re sleeping with both Lovett and Gail. Those two women are always quarrelling with me whenever they see me. By sleeping and going on with them, you’re giving them more ammunition to fight me. Even the children are asking me about what is going on.”

“Neither of them means anything to me.”

“I know that Lovett wants you. She wants me to leave you so that she can have you. She told me that there was an agreement where she would leave Val, for you and you would leave me for her.”

“I wasn’t part of that agreement.”

“Just who made it though? She couldn’t have made it alone.”

He shrugged his shoulders, went to his vehicle and drove away.