| Regrets. Reva Shayne Lewis Lewis has a few. And one of them is named Kyle Sampson. "He was a heck of a guy," Reva says dramatically. "He was just messed up in his head." But not in bed. Of Kyle's performance, Reva says, "He was an intense lover. When we made love, I knew it! I always sensed there was something different about that boy," Reva ponders. "I do not know if it was because his mother was a madam or not, but he sure learned some nice tricks!" she exclaims as a look of yearning crosses her face. But that was yesterday and yesterday's gone. With it went Kyle. "All he cared about was himself," says Reva, explaining the reason she broke up with Sampson. "The only time he was a human being was when he was with me and I could not be held responsible for that. I could not live with a man whom I could not trust." He was a liar, Reva says. "Everything with him was based on a lie," she states flatly. "And he did terrible things to my sister Roxie when he first came to Springfield. He was blackmailing her because of her old ways. She was dabbling in...you know," Reva hesitates before taking the plunge, "she was trying to be a prostitute. She wasn't," Reva quickly clarifies, concerned about her sister's reputation, "but he was trying to let her think that she was. I am real sorry that things with Kyle did not work out." You'd never know it. Seemingly minutes after the couple's second attempt to get married ended in failure, Reva had another man in her bed and not so coincidentally his last name was Lewis. Lewis men are nothing new for this Tulsa, Oklahoma charmer who (along with her sister Roxie, father Hawk and brother Rusty), makes her home in Springfield, one of ten cities across the country which has yet to be pinpointed on a map. Reva is a pretty woman with soft blonde hair, clear blue eyes and a ready smile. A woman of strong passions, Reva has an ear splitting laugh and cries a lot. "I have big tear ducts," she explains. This day she looks all warm and cuddly in white sneakers, white ribbed knit slacks, topped with a pale blue, loose fitting sweater. Maybe it's her southwestern drawl that attracts the oil rich Lewis men or maybe it's her curvaceous figure but whatever it is, Reva has had them all. She started with the youngest, Joshua (Josh for short) to whom she lost her virginity at age 17 in Cross Creek. The pair broke up when Josh went away to Southern California to attend college. "His education was more important than me," Reva says, sounding slightly fretful. "I wanted to live like a Lewis, so then I started to set my sights on Billy," Josh's older brother. "All he ever wanted to do was to have a good time. He always thought of me as his good old gal. That is why it never was really love. It was more of a physical, let's have fun kind of relationship. And that is why it didn't last." The pair married following the death of Billy's wife and inevitably, they divorced. Billy moved to Springfield and in the meantime, Reva ran out of money which is why Alan Spaulding and the $25,000 he offered her persuaded Reva to move to Springfield to prevent Billy from marrying wealthy Vanessa Chamberlain. If there was one person who could split them up, Reva says, "It was me. I thought I was God's gift at that time," she says with a touch of pride. "And I succeeded in breaking them up by saying that our divorce was never legal. Then Josh shows up on the scene," Reva says, recounting her rather convoluted past, "and my heart goes back to Josh so I give up my plot against Billy and Vanessa. They get married, and Josh and I, we get back together again only to have H.B. (Billy and Josh's father) want me. Must be my shampoo or something," Reva says with a laugh as she tries to understand the Lewis men's obsession with her. To be fair, Lewis males aren't alone in their fascination with Reva. Just about every man who walks by Reva becomes infatuated with her. "It must be the Beth Raines syndrome," Reva says with a hoot, acknowledging this strange power she has over men and referring to Springfield's other feme fatale, who before she disappeared, also had a host of men falling at her feet. "I am starting to get sick of it, to tell you the truth," Reva continues. "I do not know what it is. If it is not my shampoo, it must be my dazzling smile," she says grinning. Though she is a flirt, to her credit, Reva doesn't lead on her admirers. She is definitely a one-man-at-a-time woman. "I must say," Reva notes modestly, "that I commit to relationships. If the fire is there, I will pursue it." Well, it's there when it comes to Josh, the man who so quickly replaced Kyle in her heart. Actually, it was inevitable that the couple would reunite, especially when Reva began thinking about him again after he hadn't crossed her mind in almost two years. In towns like Springfield, residents have an uncanny ability to think people into existence --- even if the object of their thoughts died years earlier. Rather than the, "I think, therefore I am" theory of life, these towns operate on the "I think, therefore you are" philosophy. In Reva's case, out of the blue she began recollecting what things were like when Josh was around and, abracadabra, there he was --- in Cross Creek, where Reva had gone to ponder her existence following her broken romance with Kyle. She didn't do too much thinking there because soon after she and Josh laid eyes on one another, they were in the sack making up for lost time. Reva and Josh had last been lovers when Josh followed his family to Springfield. As mentioned earlier, the sight of Josh caused Reva to drop her plan to split up Billy and Vanessa and embark upon a sex-filled romance with him. However, H.B. put the brakes on that affair by blackmailing Reva, whom he didn't think was good enough for his son. Unless she gave up Josh, H.B. threatened, he would tell him the real reason Reva had journeyed to Springfield. Well, as it always happens in these cases when there's a big horrible secret, Josh discovered the truth about his beloved, read her the riot act and walked out on her. Then he changed his mind only to discover (yikes!) that Reva was now married to his father, H.B. (Sounds a tad kinky, doesn't it?). Anyway, disappointed by love, Josh did the only thing he could do. He rushed out in a blind rage and promptly got into a car accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down. "I felt bad for Josh's accident," Reva says with a sad look on her face. "But," she adds pertly, quickly recovering, "the power of my love does these things to men." Though you can bet that Reva panted after Josh's muscular, youthful frame (some people think he's a stud), she remained faithful to HB and the pair conceived a child. Unfortunately, Reva suffered a miscarriage after being hit by a car drive by Vanessa (that's another story). What with Reva having had all the Lewis men, an obvious question arises. Which of them is best in bed? "Best physical lover? Joshua," Reva says without hesitating. "Emotionally, the best was H.B., and the most fun in bed was Billy. Billy and I hated each other's guts, but we sure had fun in bed together," she says with a knowing look. "As a matter of fact, it was like, anything goes." H.B. and Reva's marriage ended when Reva fell in love with handsome newcomer Kyle Sampson. After trying unsuccessfully to hold onto his young, luscious wife, H.B., ever the gentleman, bowed out gracefully. Reva was happy at last --- for about a minute. Then, she discovered Maeve, who had a one-night stand with Kyle, was pregnant with his baby. This revelation drove Reva to the bridge and to a suicide attempt. "All I was thinking when I jumped off that bridge was that I wanted it all to end," Reva says. "I just did not see a future for Kyle and me. I knew how important it was for him to have his child and I liked Maeve. I did not find her repulsive," she says generously. "She was an okay gal. I felt sorry for her; she was a wimp. Everything in my life at that point was just off, though I cannot believe I did it. I never would have done it, but something clicked inside of me that just said life is not worth it, so end it." However, the water was too cold, Reva says and so she pulled herself out. Since then, Reva has changed. For one thing, after years of devoting herself to the Lewis family, Reva has found another job. She's a professional photographer. And she has mellowed. n fact, Reva is told, she has become downright nice. "I know!" she exclaims. "Bummer. Josh did that to me. That s...! And Kyle did it to me. And H.B. did it to me. I don't know what happened after I got to Springfield," Reva says, clearly not at peace with her present state of being. "I think it is in the water or something. It happened to Vanessa, too! Now, she's a sweetheart of a gal. Got to stop drinking the water." While Reva may have softened around the edges, one thing about her hasn't changed: Her passion for men. "I am addicted to love --- as long as your last name starts with L. Although," she remembers vaguely, "I had an S in there." |