The Perfect Mistress by Reshonda Tate Billingsley Read Free Book Online

father to snatch Vernon by the collar and throw him out of the house.
    But when he didn’t do that, she answered before Vernon could. “He’s a liar,” Joyce said. “He told me he’d fire her and he just kept screwing her.” Facing her husband, she added, “Vernon is a liar and a cheat!”
    Her father ignored her. Instead, he stared at Vernon until he finally replied, “Absolutely not, sir. I love no one but your daughter.” He turned his body totally toward Joyce. He spoke to her father, but his eyes were on his wife. “I love her with everything inside of me. I don’t want to lose my family.”
    â€œYou should’ve thought about that before you cheated on me.”
    â€œYou’re right,” Vernon said in a voice so low it could hardly be called a whisper.
    A heavy silence hung in the air before Joyce’s father said, “Son, is my daughter not enough for you?”
    Vernon shook his head. “On the contrary. She is everything I want and more.”
    â€œThen, why?” Joyce’s mother spoke for the first time. With a glare she said, “If you love her so much, why would you cheat?” Then, with a move that Joyce did not miss, her mother slowly turned her gaze to her husband. “I don’t understand how you could say you love her and then cheat on her like that.”
    While her mother kept her gaze on her husband, he kept his eyes pinned on Vernon. He was avoiding his wife’s silent condemnation, and Joyce had a terrible suspicion that she knew why. Her father? And mother?
    â€œI don’t know why.” Vernon lowered his head. “I don’t have an answer. I could try to make up some excuses, but they’d be just that, excuses. I just want her to give me another chance.”
    â€œI gave you another chance.”
    â€œHe’s said that he loves you,” Joyce’s father said to Joyce. “This affair, it doesn’t mean anything to him.”
    Joyce’s eyes widened. There were so many things shewanted to say to her father—like tell him that he should be coming to her defense, not Vernon’s.
    â€œHis affair had to mean something since he was willing to hurt me over it. Or are you saying that it’s okay to break my heart?”
    â€œThe bottom line,” her father said, leaning forward on the table, “is you two have a commitment to one another. You have a son. You made vows. For better or for worse. This is the worse. But you can get through this.”
    Joyce shook her head in disbelief.
    He continued: “Joyce, you know you are my everything, but I cannot in good conscience contribute to the breakdown of your family.”
    â€œWhat does that mean?” she asked sharply.
    â€œThat means, go in there and get your things, and go home with your husband.”
    â€œCharles!” her mother said.
    â€œNo, it’s settled.” He sat back, but he didn’t give Vernon a total pass. “You need to get it together, son. What you’re not going to do is continue to hurt my daughter.”
    Joyce felt a little relief. There was the man she’d expected to stand up for her. But still, he was sending her home and that brought tears to her eyes.
    â€œShe’s given up everything for you,” her father continued. “Her education, her career. My grandson needs his father. So go home and work this out.”
    The tears thickened in Joyce’s eyes, but Vernon wore a smile that was big enough for both of them.
    â€œThank you so much, Mr. Thornton. I promise, I’m going to spend my life making your daughter happy.”
    â€œGood,” was all that her father said.
    Joyce sat in a state of shock. This man had told her father that he cheated, and her father had basically said that she needed to get over it. That was not the way for a father to protect his daughter, so Joyce turned to her mother. But her mother lowered her head as if