| |
I was sitting next to the driver of the patrol car, where I was being transported to the police station.
The police officer who found me crying hysterically on the side of the highway, didn’t leave me there. Nor did he allow me to drive to the police station in my car considering it was clear that in my state, I was a danger to other drivers.
So when he told me he would take me to the police station, after having embraced him for comfort and passing the alcohol test due to him thinking I was drunk, I got into the patrol with what little dignity I had left.
I was not going to let him take me in the backseat.
Although, I had already fallen quite low allowing a police officer to find me in the state I was and in addition to that, I was tested like a drunk.
I had never experienced anything like it in my life! And I wasn’t even drunk!
The officer glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.
-Do you want me to tell you my story?
He lifted his shoulders amused.
-After hugging me and telling me I look a lot like him, the truth is I'm curious to know what happened to him.
I sighed defeated. What more did I have to lose!
I told him my whole story with James.
Everything, just like we had known each other all our lives.
“Have you officially realized it?” I asked when he opened the car door for me to get out at the police station. He had also refused to take me home, because it did not seem prudent for me to be alone in this state. Just like a girl. “I lost the man I love. Definitively”
We entered the police station and I noticed the exchange of glances between the officers behind the counter and the one accompanying me.
Surely, those looks meant: ‘Here comes the crazy woman. Prepare to listen to this story’
“Yes, the truth is it seems I lost it.”
So he told me, without further ado. Men were insensitive and basic, no doubt.
He realized I had not fallen for his sincerity when my lips began to tremble again and my eyes filled with tears.
“But surely everything can be fixed,” he said with a hint of smile, trying to mend the idiocy he had just spouted.
I already knew I had lost James, nobody had to rub it in my face and less, a curious stranger who feels sorry for me now.
Idiot.
“Do you have a file Mrs.?” Asked a uniformed woman.
“I'm not a criminal,” I answered defensively.
“No,” the officer accompanying me replied. “Sit here.” He pointed to some chairs in a waiting room. “Who can we call to come for you?”
Nobody. I was not going to make Holly and Steve drive more than an hour from Tower Lake to come get me like a teenager who just committed a crime.
And Rick, it was not an option either.
“I have no one.”
“Well,” the officer replied again.” So, sit there and when you calm down, I'll take you home.”
“And my car?”
“I immediately sent someone to look after it.”
“Thank you.”
I sat in the waiting room.
Apparently, I was going to live in the police station because I started crying again at the song when I remembered how James looked when our gazes crossed.
***
Ten minutes later, I was still crying, but my brain struggled to think logically while letting me dominate my emotions.
I had to call Rick to look for me and take me home where I could sink into my depressed state as long as I liked. In pajamas and eating mountains of chocolate.
I took my phone out of my bag to make the call. Suddenly, a call came in that made my pulse quicken, my heart beat uncontrollably and my hands trembled nonstop.
It was James.
Without thinking, I answered.
I needed to hear his voice.
“Where the hell are you?” He asked concerned. He sounded almost hysterical.
The words didn’t come out. All I did was cry.
“Good God, Jen! Tell me what happened to you? Where are you? Why is your car abandoned on the highway?”
I broke down crying. I was grateful the police officer kept his eyes on me, because immediately, he snatched the phone and spoke with James.
A few minutes later, James entered the police station.
I did not expect his reaction.
He barely got through the door when he saw me. He ran to where I was, lifted me by the arms and hugged me.
He repeatedly kissed my head while I took refuge in his chest.
His breathing was accelerated.
“We're going home.”
I didn’t put up any resistance. I let myself be taken home by James.
However, on the way, I could not help asking where we were going considering the route he was taking was not to my house.
“Let's go to my house,” he answered taking my hand.
***
When we arrived, he helped me out of the car. I was still sobbing but had managed to stop crying. My eyes hurt and felt very swollen.
We went up an external staircase leading directly into the second floor of the house.
He turned on a small lamp sitting on a table near the door where he let all the keys and his wallet rest.
I remained motionless watching his every movement.
I was with James, in his house.
After so much time.
Even after thinking I had lost him and also seeing him embrace another woman.
My senses became alert.
“What are we doing here?” I asked in a trembling voice.
He rested his hands on his hip, staring at me with a sweet smile painted on his face.
“We are clarifying things between us, Jen.”
I sighed.
“You were dancing with another woman James, you looked so happy together... Tell me, with sincerity, what are we going to clarify? If you are going to tell me there can’t be anything between us, that you have found happiness with someone else, I—”
He came up to me and hugged me again. He cradled my face in his hands and lightly kissed my lips.
“I'm happy with that woman because she is Angelina, the mother of my daughter.”
I stared at him in surprise.
“She... but... like...” —I couldn’t seem to formulate a coherent sentence.
He smiled.
He gave me another kiss and took me to the bathroom inside his room.
He filled the tub with water.
My whole body trembled. It was as if I were in the North Pole dressed in a bathing suit.
“I want you to relax” he said affectionately as he took off my dress. I couldn’t move.
The steam coming off the water was generating an atmosphere my body appreciated.
He removed my bra and panties. He tied up my hair and finally, he bent down to take off my shoes.
He took my hand and helped me into the tub.
“Stay there for a while. Just relax. I’ll be right back.”
What was happening? I didn’t understand anything. How was it possible destiny played with us like this?
An emotional whirlwind swept through me and all I could do was unleash my tears once more.
My makeup must look terrible. The mascara I used was water proof but it could not withstand continuous crying.
I took some bath gel and washed my face.
The hot water was beginning to take effect on me. My muscles were no longer tense and the tremors were waning.
James returned with a cup of chamomile tea. He had changed his clothes. He was wearing blue cotton pants with a white cotton shirt.
He was barefoot.
“Thanks,” I said taking the cup between my hands.
I took a sip and sighed.
He sat on the toilet looking at me with compassion.
“How is it we have arrived at this strange coincidence?” I asked.
He lifted his shoulders.
“Yesterday I read the email you sent me a few days ago.” He smiled at me beautifully. “It is impossible to describe how I felt after reading it. Maybe, rage, was my first emotion. For having acted so impulsively that night when you didn’t come to the party in which I wanted you to meet my family.”
I wanted to interrupt him so I raised my hand.
“I have a lot to say, Jen.” He kept eyeing me. Let me finish. He paused briefly. “At the time, I felt nothing was going to make you stop interjecting things that allowed you to commitment to take a serious and stable relationship with me. What angered me most that day, was my daughter's reaction to knowing you wouldn’t arrive after I had been telling her all day that she was going to meet the woman who would make daddy twice as happy as he already was.. Even at her young age, that night, she asked me what will happen now, daddy. She started crying because she thought I couldn’t be happy,” he huffed. “There are few things in the world that make me angry and seeing my daughter cry because she was worried about my happiness” —he smiled—, “or whatever it is, makes me mad as hell. I can’t stand to see my daughter cry. When you called me that night, I had just left her asleep in her room, after having to calm her down and explain that daddy would always be happy because he had her.”
He paused again.
My body was regaining some tension after hearing James' words.
“So that night, you called at the worst moment and I let out the worst of me. I was tired of fighting your fears. I knew they were justified by the bad experiences you had gone through but, I thought I could make you trust me and you would realize I really loved you.”
A big lump rose in my throat I couldn’t control.
He loved me, in the past.
More tears escaped me.
He smiled sweetly.
“Today I'm discovering I also turn into the devil when I see you cry” —he approached me kissing me on the forehead—. “Don’t cry anymore, please, it breaks my heart. I still love you, Jen. Relax.”
I saw it in the eyes. I breathed a sigh of relief. I nodded.
The words were still trapped under the knot in my throat.
“Let's go to bed.” He took my hands to help me out of the tub and wrapped me in a white bathrobe.
We lay on our sides on the bed, facing each other.
He stroked my face gently.
“After that night,” he continued, explaining, “I took refuge in work. I didn’t want to think about you anymore and keeping busy, would help me to forget you. It was impossible to get out of my mind. You were nailed so hard, that in all this time, I haven’t gone a day without thinking about you.”
“I called you many times.”
“I already know. I didn’t want to talk to you because my intention was to forget you.”
He sighed.
“I thought distance would help also. All this time I have continued traveling to Hawaii for new projects. And in these last days, I was so busy I didn’t have time to check my emails.”
He sighed again.
“Until yesterday, I finally had a break before boarding the plane and I sat down to read everything” —he showed me the lopsided smile I liked so much—. “You can’t imagine how I felt. I wanted to run around the airport shouting in the wind that you still loved me and the first thing I would do after getting off the plane, would be to go to your house to kiss you until you were exhausted.”
He smiled
“And that is what I did. I had enough time to give you a good kiss and arrive in time for the party Angie's boyfriend's mother had organized.”
I was surprised by the last part.
“You went to my house?”
“Yes, I rang the bell several times but since you didn’t open the door, I figured you were in the shower and you had not heard the knock on the door. I didn’t have much time to wait. Angelina had asked me to be very punctual because Carlota had asked her.”
I laughed
“My God!” —I was very surprised with all the strange coincidence—. “It’s a small world. In fact, I was in the tub when you rang the bell. I didn’t open the door thinking it was the same man who had come last Saturday to sell me an annual gardening service. I had told him to come back another day.”
We both smile.
“When I saw you at Carlota's party dancing with Angelina...” —I sighed remembering the unpleasant moment and how important it would have been for me to know who the woman with whom he was dancing— you both looked so happy, like a couple in love.
He stroked my face again.
“That's what everyone says” he smiled with shame. “Our relationship is like that. We have always been happy being together. Thank God, she ran into a good man who understands that she and I are united by the happiness of being Sienna's parents.”
“Poor Carlota, she must have thought I was crazy when I ran out of the party.”
He smiled funny.
“She was very worried, but her son was quick to divert everyone's attention to what was important at the party. I had to interrupt their wonderful moment because after seeing the panic on your face when you saw me with Angelina. You ran away, all I wanted was to run after you. It took me just a few minutes to explain who you were and I apologized to her and her boyfriend for my absence because you, at that moment, were the most important thing to me. I was afraid in the state you were in, something would happen to you on the way home. You can’t imagine the shock I felt when I saw your car parked on the road and I didn’t find you inside.”
“The poor officer who found me,” I said amused. “I told him our whole story.”
He laughed out loud.
“I just hugged him when I saw that he was blond and looked like you. I hugged him saying: ‘You look so much like him’ while crying inconsolably. Can you imagine the poor man's face?”
“I now understand why they took you to the police station.”
“Pfff. Until he did a Breathalyzer test, he thought I was drunk.”
“I would have thought it too, darling.”
“I'm sorry I scared you.”
He pulled me to him and put my head on his chest.
“I don’t regret anything that happened between us, Jen. Not even the time we didn’t know each other. Everything had to happen the way it did so we realized how much we love each other and that this is an opportunity we can’t let go.”
I hugged him tightly.
I raised my head peering into his eyes.
“Everything will be different from now on,” I said. “I love you. And I love you that you are in my life and my world. I want to meet your daughter, your mother, everyone. I want to be part of your life.”
Then I saw it. James pursed his lips, swallowed thickly and his eyes reddened.
I approached and kissed him.
A deep but calm kiss. Sweet, full of magic. The magic of love.
***
“Daaddyy!” —I woke up after hearing the shrill voice of a little girl and blow to the bed.
I jumped up scared. When I reacted, I witnessed the best scene ever.
James laughed out loud while he hugged Sienna and tickling her on the bed.
“Oh my God!” Exclaimed with surprise an elegant elderly woman who stood paralyzed in the doorway of James' room after seeing he was not alone. “I'm sorry, I didn’t know...” she was so embarrassed. “It’s that you told me to bring Sienna early and...”
James was still tickling the girl, I was still watching everything happening and trying not to panic.
Yes, I had told James everything would be different but I didn’t expect to meet his daughter and his mother like this. I closed the bathrobe I was still wearing a little tighter. I had fallen asleep in it next to James.
I was ashamed his mother found us like this, although it was clear all we were doing was sleeping.
“Easy, mom,” he said smiling and getting up from the bed going to where she was. He hugged her very tight and gave her a loud kiss on the cheek and then said something in her ear.
“Oh!” his mother smiled at me sweetly looking into my eyes and I understood from whom James had inherited his.
Sienna was sitting next to me observing me with analytical eyes.
“Are you Jen?” She asked bluntly. She was beautiful. Her hair was curly and blond like her father's. The almond-shaped eyes covered with long lashes I deduced were from her mother because James didn’t have eyes like that. Although she had inherited the same blue color from James's eyes and the mischievous look that was so characteristic of him.
I nodded smiling. I was as nervous as if I were in an interrogation with FBI agents.
“Are you here to make my daddy doubly happy?” I was surprised by the question and remembered when Holly’s children were small. She always told me children had memories like an elephant.
“Excuse the boldness of this little girl,” said James's mother. “I'm Anna Maria, by the way, and we're going to leave you alone so you can finish waking up without feeling like you’re in an interrogation. Come on, Sienna.”
“Hello, Anna Maria,” I greeted properly. “I would have liked to meet you in another situation...”
My voice shook.
She smiled at me.
“I'm glad that finally, I can meet the owner of my son's heart.”
She embraced me with affection, taking me by surprise.
“Come on, Sienna,” she repeated to the girl when she let me go.
The girl crossed her arms in the middle of the bed, in front of me, she continued to stare at me with an inquisitive look.
“I’m not moving from here without first hearing if she's going to make daddy doubly happy.”
I breathe deeply.
I smiled nervously.
“Yes, Sienna.” I extended my arm to take her hand. “Nice to meet you, I'm Jen and I'm here to make your father doubly happy.”
“Nonna!” Exclaimed the girl, looking at her grandmother. “I am the happiest girl in the world! Finally daddy and mommy found the people to make them doubly happy.”
A lump grew in my throat. I wasn’t going to cry, there had been enough tears even though those, wanted to escape due to happiness.
“See, darling?” Said her grandmother. “We all find happiness at some point.”
“Are they getting married? Like my mommy with David” —the girl looked me with joy. “Yesterday they got engaged at the party. My mommy is going to wear a white princess dress. You too?”
I looked James in the eyes.
He was smiling amused with his hands resting on his hip.
He raised his eyebrows, indicating he was anxious to know how I was going to respond to that.
I peered at Anna Maria in anguish, I think I was begging her, in some way, to save me from answering that important question.
The woman, also looked amused.
How had all this happened?
Was James proposing to me?
I left all the foolishness behind. I took a deep breath and risked being impulsive-positively-for the first time in my life.
I smiled at Sienna.
“I'll wear a white princess dress, only if you help me choose it.”
That was the best moment in my life.
The little girl jumped on me, hugging me sincerely and said:
“Only if you let me wear one like yours, like my mommy and I will do at her wedding.”
She separated from me and went to her grandmother.
“So much happiness aroused my appetite Nonna, can we make pancakes for breakfast?”
“And Bacon?” James gave a pleading look to his mother. “A lot of Bacon.”
She smiled at both of them and gave that beautiful smile to me too.
“We'll be waiting for you downstairs for breakfast.” She winked at me and left the room with the little girl.
James went directly to his closet, opened a secret compartment exposing a safe.
He entered the code and the safe door clicked open.
He pulled something from inside it, closed the safe again along with the secret compartment.
He approached me with his hands behind his back.
My nervous system became very alert.
James sat next to me on the bed.
He looked me in the eyes and smiled.
“I had a plan for this but, considering my daughter's spontaneity and how happy I was to hear your response, I want to do it now.”
Oh! NO!
It was too much for me!
My heart accelerated uncontrollably.
James showed me the small black velvet box he held in his hands.
He opened it so I could see its contents.
A beautiful engagement ring
“Oh James!” I covered my mouth with one hand. My hands were shaking. There were too many emotions in such a short time.
I hugged him.
I extended my hand for him to place the ring on the corresponding finger.
He started to laugh nervously.
Tears of happiness slipped from his eyes.
He wrapped his hand around my neck and kissed me.
How I missed his tongue crashing into mine desperately! The magic of love gave way to the desire and warmth of James mouth. It was creating the moisture in my intimate parts I missed so much.
“James, we're not alone,” I said as he took off my bathrobe.
“They're in the kitchen and I locked the door.”
He took me by the neck again, seductively kissing me while massaging my breasts at the same time.
“I need to make you mine,” he whispered in my ear. “I need it now.”
I took off his shirt.
The contact of his skin against mine made me shudder. He kissed me with desire as his hands explored my body. His mouth left a trail of kisses as his tongue moistened everywhere it touched.
I kissed his neck while stroking his back just as he liked for me to do. I was delighted to see him amusing himself by licking my nipples, while his hand made the moisture in my sex grow.
I laid him on his back and took off his pants. There he was, the erection I so desired. He placed a pillow under his head so he could watch all the pleasure I was producing in him.
His phallus throbbed hard inside my mouth.
He clung to my hair and let out small guttural sounds signaling me, I was doing it the way he liked.
I straddled him allowing his cock to find the entrance to my wet cavity.
I arched my back when I felt him enter me completely.
He reached out his hand, grabbing me by the neck.
“All this time I was wishing for this-he kissed me again while caressing my breasts as his hip crashed hard against mine.
My body didn’t take long to reach the perfect climax. I explode in continuous tremors as I felt James erupt inside me.