Crossing the Railroad...preview...New book coming from Marie Rochelle

Prologue

The woman stood silently in the shadows as she watched the two people inside the bedroom. She couldn’t believe after she had practically threatened him to stay away from that slut he hadn’t listened to her. Why did he want to embarrass her? She had spent most of her life in love with Bill Richardson. Hell, she had even tricked him into marrying her right after they finished college. Because when she first laid eyes on him she couldn’t imagine a time that he wouldn’t be in her life. .
She had struck with him all through those long, drawn out law school classes and gave up her dream of being an English teacher just to help him study for his dream. Bill actually thought back then she had been doing it for him, but he was wrong. She had set her sights on him the day he gave the speech to the entire student body the second week of school.
Anna Richardson’s gray eyes hardened into cold steel as she listened to her husband’s rich baritone voice whisper repeatedly how much he loved the mocha skinned beauty he was having sex with in their bed.
How could he possibly want Danielle Simmons when he was married to her? Sure, she only stayed with him for the past fifteen years because he was one of the most salt after attorney in Georgia. She had gotten tired of his hands being on her body years ago, but how dare he disgrace her with their housekeeper?
Sure back in college she noticed the black women Bill dated when she was setting her sights on her, yet she didn’t think much of it. Didn’t everyone break out and do different things when they left home? Drink a little more, experiment with lifestyles that they didn’t under their parents’ roof? However, after a person graduated all of that stuff fell into the background as their adulthood approached.
She continued to hide in the dark hallway while her husband made love to Danielle. She had hated Danielle the second she laid eyes on her. There was just something so sweet and alluring about the younger woman. Why hadn’t she stood her ground and fired the housekeeper? She wondered how long this had been going on. Hell, she didn’t want Bill anyone. Honestly even before Danielle entered the picture her husband had been asking for a divorce, but she wasn’t going to let him leave her. She wasn’t the best years of her life for him and he owed her big time. If she was miserable in their marriage then she was doing to make damn sure he was too. No, there wasn’t going to be an out for her dear old husband.
However, the more she thought about it the writing was on the wall about her husband’s feeling for Danielle. Bill had always found ways to be around Danielle since the first day she started working for them. When she confronted her husband late last year about his eagerness to help their attractive housekeeper Bill just blew her off, but she wasn’t crazy. Her husband was in love with that woman he was now in their bed with. Without a doubt, she knew it was the truth because Bill never sounded like on the rare occasions they had sex.
She wanted to be more upset about Bill was cheating on her. Feel the need to run in there and jerk his perfectly tanned body off Danielle’s, but truthfully she didn’t give a damn. All she wanted from her husband was the life he accustomed her to.
“I’m not going to let that tramp take away my wealth. It took me years to get here and I’ll do anything to make sure that it doesn’t happen,” she promised. Anna took one last look at the couple in bed and then made her way down the stairs and out the front door.
Chapter One


Bill Richardson’s collapsed next to the beautiful woman next to him as a moan of ecstasy slipped through his lips. He couldn’t believe how quickly he had fallen in love with Danielle, but he didn’t want things to end between them. In reality, he only wanted to make them better and there was only one way to do that. Reaching down at the end of the bed he covered them with a light sheet and reached for the woman he had made his life better since she walked through the front door.
“I’m going to divorce Anna,” he whispered kissed the side of Danielle’s neck pulling her sweaty body closer to his damp one.
Danielle snuggled closer and ran her slim fingers through his chest hair. “You know that she’ll never let you leave her for me. We just have to enjoy what we have.”
“No,” he shouted and then lowered his voice when Danielle flinched in his arms. He never wanted her to be scared of him. He cared about her way too much for that. “I want more than an hour in the afternoon with you. I’m in love with you and I’m going to marry you,” Bill insisted stroking Danielle’s smooth back with his fingers. He loved how silky her skin was. She was everything he wanted in a wife.
“Bill, you’re living in a dream world. You’ve been married to Anna since you graduated from college. You’ve built a life with her. I know you’re attracted to me, but that’s it.”
He heard the sadness in Danielle’s voice and it tore at his heart. How could she think he wasn’t madly in love with her? Anna wasn’t a wife to him anymore. All she wanted to do was throw parties and spend his money her snappy attitude towards him had gotten old years again. He was pushing for a divorce every day and she wasn’t having it. Something had to come to and end and soon because their living arrangements was getting old.
“Don’t you want to be my wife?” he questioned.
“Of course, I do,” Danielle replied quickly staring into his eyes. ”But we need to be realistic about this and our situation. I’m your housekeeper and I’ve a child from a previous marriage. How will your family, friends and co-workers think about you leaving Anna to be with me?”
How could Danielle doubt his feelings for her? Hell, he was concerned about what anyone else thought about them being together. He only thought was about if she wanted to be with him and if she was willingly to wait until he made it happen.
“You know that love Joy like she was my own daughter. She’s such a sweet little girl. After I divorce Anna I want to adopt her legally as soon as we get married,” Bill insisted.
Danielle raised up and gawked at him. “Are you serious?” she stammered.
“I’m not playing with you Danielle Simmons,” Bill grinned. “I love you more than anything in this world. I’m going to have my lawyer change my will so everything will be left to you and Joy.”
Soft fingers pressed against his mouth, “I don’t want to hear about that. I’m not thinking about anything happening to you. It would break my heart if you weren’t around for our baby.”
Baby?
Bill removed Danielle’s fingers from his mouth and sat up in the bed, “Are you pregnant?” He whispered staring to pair of killer hazel eyes. He honestly believed Danielle’s eyes were the first thing he fell in love with when he interviewed her for the job.
“Yes,” she replied in a soft voice, “Are you happy about it?”
He was lost for words. How could she think he wouldn’t be out of his mind with happiness? “Baby, I’m more than happy about this. You’ve made me feel like I’m finally going to have the family that I deserved,” Bill exclaimed pulling Danielle against his chest.
“I was a little worried,” Danielle confessed in a low voice against his heart.
Moving Joy back a little, he brushed the hair out of her face so he could look down into her gorgeous face. “Why would you be worried?”
Shit, he was the one always troubled Joy would drop him for a man closer to her own age. God, he would be forty-two in a couple of month and Joy was just twenty-five. Why would she want to stay with someone as old as him and to make matters worst he wasn’t going to get any younger?
“You’re married and sleeping with your black housekeeper. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Baby, you’re more than the housekeeper,” he corrected. “You’re the woman I’m in love with. How many times do I have to tell you that?” Bill exclaimed. Reaching out, he placed his hand on Danielle’s still flat stomach. “I want to be there for every moment in our child’s life.”
Danielle placed her fingers over his and smiled. “I want the same thing, but are you sure Anna will let you leave her?”
“Anna isn’t going to have a say in anything that I do after today. She made her feelings about me clear a long time ago. We haven’t been in love for years and I’m beginning to think she never loved me in the first place,” Bill sighed removing his hand. “We better get dressed. It’s almost time for Anna to come home. I don’t want you to be here when I talk to her.”
Tossing the light sheet off his body, Bill climbed off bed and watched Danielle as she slid out of bed and proceeded to get dressed. “You’re so gorgeous. I can’t wait until you’re my wife.”
Fixing her clothes, Danielle came over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. “Do you know how much I love you?” The sincerity in her words warmed his heart.
“I think I do because I feel the same way,” he smiled then moved back from the tempting woman in front of him. “You really better go. I need to change the bed and remake it before Anna comes home. I’ll call you later after I finish talking with her.”
“Are you positive that everything is going to be okay?” Danielle questioned as he walked her to the door.
“Baby, I’m sure Anna wouldn’t be pleased, but she’s strong and with a nice settlement from me she’ll leave us along.” Bill walked down the steps with Danielle at his side. Pausing by the front door, he gave Danielle one last kiss and then opened the door. “Stay home tonight. I’m pretty sure Anna will toss me out and I’ll need a place to stay.”
“You’re more than welcome to stay with me. Joy knows that we’re in love and she’ll love to have you over there. She loved it the last time you read her a bedtime story.”
Danielle walked out the door and glanced at him over her shoulder. “I love you.”
“I love you too, baby,” Bill whispered then closed the door.
* * * *
Sitting down at her kitchen table, Danielle watched as he her eight year old little girl playing on the floor with her Baby Alive doll. Bill had brought it for her birthday last week and Joy didn’t go anywhere without it.
Sometimes when she looked at her daughter she saw traces of Joy’s father. Chris had loved their little girl from the second she was born. He did everything with her until the day he died. What healthy twenty-eight year old male dropped dead from a heart attack driving home from work?
Joy had been five years old when her father died and her daughter had handled it better than her. After Chris’ death she had to find a job, but she hadn’t worked field for so long that getting a good job was near impossible.
For a couple of years she had worked odd jobs until landing the one at the Richardson’s as their housekeeper. The second Bill Richardson opened the door the attraction sizzled between them, but she ignored it for the longest time.
She never wanted to be labeled the other woman, but late one night her car wouldn’t start in the pouring rain and he offered her a ride home. Joy was spending the night with her grandparents, but she wanted to be home just in case her little girl called and wanted to come home earlier.
After Bill had gotten her home safely, she offered him a cup of coffee as a thank you for giving her a ride and he accepted before the words were completely out of her mouth.
She’ll never forget how their relationship began. She was at the kitchen cabinet reaching for two coffee cups when Bill wrapped his arms around her waist and started kissing the back of her neck. It turned out to be the best night of her night. She shouldn’t think that away, but she couldn’t help it.
“Mr. Richardson, we can’t do this. You’re married and I work for you,” she moaned turning her neck to give him better access.
“I’ve been separated from Anna for the past five years. She won’t sign the divorce papers.” Bill whispered as his fingers unbuttoned the front of her white shirt.
“This isn’t right.”
“Yes, it is.” Bill disagreed as his fingers worked on the front clasp of her bra. “We both feel it and it would be a shame not to act on it.”
Danielle flung her head back against Bill’s shoulder when the pad of his thumbs played with her swollen nipples. “Please,” she panted brushing her butt across his thick erection.
“Please what,” his hot breathed whispered in her ear. “Do you want me to stop?” Bill removed his hand off her breast and had them hovering above her throbbing nipples.
Grabbing Bill’s hands Danielle placed them back on her heaving breast. “Please don’t stop,” she begged.
“Sweetheart, I plan on loving this beautiful body of yours all night long and well into the morning,” Bill promised spinning her back around. He quickly stripped her out of her clothes until the only thing she was wearing was a pair of black high heels.
As she tried to remove them Bill pushed her hand away, “Don’t. I’ve fantasies about making love to you in those for months.”
“Really,” she exclaimed watching Bill strip until he was a naked as she was.
A light dusting of brown hair covered his body going down to the huge cock that was pointing right at her. “Mr. Richardson, I can tell you’re more than ready.” Danielle purred brushing her thumb over the tip.
Bill’s erection jerked and swelled even more, she raised shocked eyes to him. “Wow.”
“What can I say? He likes you.” Bill uttered removing her hand. “But if you don’t stop touching him, he won’t make it much longer.”
“Baby, I’m sorry,” she apologized wrapping her arms around his neck and gave him a long wet kiss. “Is that better?”
Growling in the very back of his throat, Bill picked her up and laid her down on the island behind them. “I can’t wait until I learn every inch of this brown perfect paradise that you call your body.”
Danielle leaned back on her arms and looked up at Bill noticing the heated look in his bluish-green eyes. “We can’t make love here. It’s too out here in the open.”
“No, it isn’t,” he whispered covering her softer body with his hairy one. “I want to see all of your gorgeousness when I want make love to you.” Spreading her legs, Bill slipped the tip of his thick erection inside of her.
“Damn, sweetheart, you’re so tight,” he panted adding another inch.
She couldn’t think as Bill kept going deeper and deeper inside of her wetness until he was balls deep. Sweat dripped from both of their bodies as he thrust in and out of her at a pace she didn’t know was possible.
“Danielle, you feel so good. Once isn’t going to be enough for me.” Bill swore as he wrapped her legs around his waist increasing his speed even more. The only sounds in the kitchen were the sweat covered bodies coming together again and again.
* * * *
“Mommy, what’s for dinner? Joy’s asked cutting into her memory snapping her mind back to the present.
“How about pork chops?” She suggested smiling over at her daughter. Joy was such a pleasure to be around. She couldn’t ask for a better child. Joy was the kid most parents dreamt about having. She never caused her any problems and was always there to help out anyway she could.
“With apple sauce on the side and macaroni and cheese,” her daughter’s young voice asked hopefully.
“I think I can do that.” Danielle agreed as she got up from the table.
* * * *
Bill was going more pissed by the minute back at his house. Why was Anna making this so hard for him? He knew that she wanted out of the loveless union as much as him probably more. Yet, she was fighting for it like their marriage was the best thing it the world.
“I’m not giving you a divorce, so you can marry that woman. I don’t care if you’re sleeping with her, but Danielle will never be your wife.”
“Anna, we aren’t a couple anymore,” Bill flung back, hoping to get fall break through what ever wall his wife was trying to build up. When would Anna understand that their marriage ended years ago? “I want to move on with my life. Danielle is pregnant and I want to make a family with her, Joy and our baby.”
“That bitch is pregnant with your child!” Anna yelled lunging for him. “She isn’t taking anything from my child.”
Stunned, Bill moved back from the hate shooting from his wife’s eyes. “You’re pregnant?”
“Who’s the father?” As far as he knew Anna wasn’t dating anymore.
“Honey, you are,” she smirked as she ran her hand over her washboard stomach. She was looking at him like the cat that swallowed the canary.
Anna was lying! He hadn’t spent a moment in her bed since Danielle came into his life. She was the only woman he was making love to and Anna knew that.
“Anna, why are you lying to me?” Bill demanded. “We haven’t been together for years.”
His wife’s thin lips kicked up into a nasty sneer. “My dear husband, you honestly don’t remember us having sex?”
“No, because it’s a lie,” he snapped. “I haven’t been sexually intimate with you in years. You aren’t my type and you know it. I’m in love with Danielle and I’m going to divorce you so I can marry her. We have talked about this before. Why are you trying to lie now to hold on to me? I’m not going to fall for this like. Why don’t you stop now before you dig a hole that you can’t get out of?”
“Bill, don’t you recall that vivid wet dream you had about two weeks ago?”
No, this can’t be happening to him! Shit, this wasn’t real. Falling down into the chair behind him, Bill felt his heart as it dropped to his knees. “I thought I was making love to Danielle,” he groaned. “I was sick with a high fever and the flu. You took advantage of me.” “I did no such thing.” Anna denied. Her voice practically had a magical sound to it as she came clean about her deceit. “I’m your wife and I want to make love to my handsome husband. There was a time that we did enough our time in the bedroom with each other. Sure, we were still in college, but like a said there was a time.”
Bill wasn’t paying attention to a word coming out of his wife’s mouth. His mind was too focused on Danielle and what her reaction was going to be about this. She was going to be distraught when he told her about this. She was already fragile but so lovingly when it came to him and their relationship. This might be the thing that ended the romance he was trying to build them the two of them.
“I can’t stay here. I’ve to go and tell Danielle about this,” he uttered jumping up from the couch. “God, I hope that I don’t lose her over this.” Bill made a speedy exit from the door before Anna could stop him.
* * * *
“Danielle, please listen to me,” Bill begged reaching for the woman that he loved but she slapped his hands away.
“Don’t touch me you bastard,” she cried brushing the falling tears away with the back of her hands. “I believed your deception. You don’t love me. You just wanted to see how it would feel to fuck a black woman.”
“Stop saying that right now,” Bill demanded wrapping his hands around her arms and gave her a small shake. “I love you and our baby. That’s why Anna did this to us. She was scared. She knew I was on my way out of that house. I still want to be with you and only you.”
”Anna isn’t going to let you go now that she’s pregnant,” Danielle sighed slipping out of his arms. He senses her immediate withdrawal and it scared the hell out of him.
“She doesn’t have any control over me. I’m going to do what I want.” Damn it to hell, he wasn’t going to lose the love of his life. Not after it too him so many years to find her.
Moving away from him, Danielle opened the front door. “Bill, you need to leave and please don’t come back. I can’t afford the stress. I’ve my daughter and now this baby to think about.”
Bill saw that he was fighting a losing battle at the moment. He wasn’t going to push her too much tonight. Because Danielle was right he had just tossed a lot at her. She needed time and some rest to process all of the details.
“Okay, I’m going to leave but I’m not giving up on us. You and Joy will be my family along with the new baby. We’re going to get through this. I love you.”
Before Danielle could shoot him down he planted a soft kiss on her mouth. He poured all the love he felt for her into it. Ending it, Bill ran his thumb over her full bottom lip. “Do you love me?” he asked moving back so he wouldn’t crowd her.
“Yes,” she answered in a low voice.
“Good. Get some sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow,” he promised. Bill turned and left with ways to win back Danielle’s trust running around in his head.
* * * *
Later that night the sound of banging on her front door woke Danielle up out of deep sleep. She flung on her robe and hurried to the door before the loud noise woke up Joy.
Without bothering to look through the peephole, she opened the door and froze. Two police officers were standing in front of her and the gloomy expression on their faces made her realize instantly the news wasn’t going to be good.
“Are you Mrs. Joy Simmons?” the young blond asked her.
“Yes,” she answered as a familiar sinking feeling started to set in. This was like a flash of her past when she got the news about Joy’s father.
“We have some bad news fro you ma’am,” the younger officer continued. “There was a shooting tonight at a local convenient store and your boyfriend was shot. We found you name listed as his emergency contacts in his wallet.”
Tears poured down her cheeks as she held onto the doorframe so she wouldn’t faint. She shook off the bad feeling. She wasn’t going to think the worst. Bill was fine there wasn’t anything wrong with him. “Is he okay?” Bill wouldn’t leave her alone like Chris had. No, he promised they would be a family.
“Ma’am, we’re so sorry. He was shot during a robbery and he died instantly,” the other officer filled in.
Her knees buckled and Danielle gripped the door even tighter. “He’s gone?” She choked out.
“Mrs. Simmons, are you okay? Do you need for us to call someone for you?” the young blond officer asked concerned in his deep voice.
“No, I don’t and thank you for your kindness,” she whispered moving back as the initial shock was wearing it. Bill was dead. He wasn’t going to see his baby grow up.
“Thank you for coming by officers,” she muttered then closed the door before they could offer her help again.
The second the door closed behind her she collapsed to the floor. “Lord, why did Bill have to die?” Danielle screamed at the top of her lungs as her grief took over. She lost track of time in those early morning hours. She cried until a pair of small arms wrapped around her shaking body.
“Mama, please don’t cry. It will be okay. You still have me and the baby. Mr. Richardson wouldn’t want you to be upset. He loved us.”
Sucking up the last of her tears, Danielle pulled her little girl's body into her lap. “How did you know I was going to have a baby, Joy?”
“I heard you and Mr. Richardson.” Her daughter replied playing with the buttons on her robe. “Is Mr. Richardson in heaven with daddy?”
Kissing the top of her child’s head, she hugged Joy closer to her body. “Yes, baby he’s in heaven with your daddy.”
“I like that,” Joy replied snuggling closer. “Now daddy wouldn’t be so lonely.” Danielle blinked back a fresh set of tears as she held her beautiful daughter in her arms. Joy was going to make a wonderful older sister when the time came.
“Mama, can we name the baby Dymond if it’s a girl?”
“Why Dymond?”
“I had a dream about the baby and her name was Dymond.”
“Okay, if it’s a girl that will be her name.”
“Mama,” Joy said again.
“Yes, sweetheart,” Danielle answered closing her eyes. She rested her head against the front door. A single tear slid down her cheek and dropped on her shoulder.
“I’m going to be the best big sister in the world. Plus when I get older I’m going to get a good job and take care of all three of us.”
“Really,” Danielle whispered as she tried not to break down in front of Joy.
“I promise,” Joy uttered right before she fell asleep in her lap.

More to come soon....