Chapter 17
Victor had been summoned to the doctor’s office at 9:00. He hadn’t wanted to leave Fantasy, but they said he really needed to be there. He was glad he had gone; the worst-case scenario that had been described to him wasn’t his case. But they would be going forth with dialysis the next week. It turned out that his percentage of damage was not as severe as they had thought. Still, he was far from well. How his body responded would depend largely on his state of mind and his overall health otherwise. There would be diets to follow, and rest was needed, as was just cutting back on the stress and giving his all to recuperating. That really was the mandate these days for any illness. He knew that state of mind goes very far in recovery. Armed with what he had to do and some dates, he headed back toward Tyson’s Corner. It was barely 12:00, so hadn’t been away from Fantasy all that long.
In a few days she would be returning to Durham, and he wanted to make the most of every moment. Victor had even thought about asking Fantasy to marry him, but he knew she would turn him down. He wanted her to be over what had happened, but deep down he knew she wasn’t. He also didn’t peg her to be someone who really did anything on a whim, especially not something as serious as marriage. Oh, she was trying to be all risky and acting as if she was okay with no agenda, plan of action, or direction in place, and yet, like him, everything they did was planned down to the second. Even what they would watch, how long the movie would last, what they would do right after that, and how long it would take to get from here to there. Victor smiled to himself. But she tried, and he gave her an A for effort. He would allow her to grade him in that area later.
“When you said that you wanted us to get in touch with our youthful side, I didn’t think we would be doing that at the zoo.” Fantasy bent her head a little and looked out the front window as they pulled into the parking lot of the National Zoo.
Victor circled around a few times, trying to find a parking space that wouldn’t require them to walk a great distance just to get to the front gate. There would be enough walking once they got inside.
“I think it will be fun. I haven’t been to a zoo since I was in elementary school.” It was true that he hadn’t been anywhere near a place with lots of animals. But he was thinking it would be a carefree way of spending the afternoon. He was even excited.
“It’s not the mall or one of my favorite eateries but I will give it a whirl.” Fantasy glanced over at Victor, who acted like he was a kid and getting ready to go into the candy store. “You know what, Victor? I haven’t been to the zoo since about that long either.” The first year she had moved in with her grandparents she had traveled to this exact zoo on a school trip. She remembered being so excited.
By the time they found a parking space and walked the distance to the front gate hand in hand, they were both excited. They exchanged stories of their zoo experiences and he talked about a time in the future when he hoped he could bring his grandkids here. That, of course, caused the conversation to slow, because again his child was not Fantasy’s child, and her conception she now knew for sure was the cause of their end.
The zoo was packed. They had spied several buses that obviously had kids there on school field trips. They strolled along, stopping, looking, and enjoying. Victor had also snuck his camera along and had been happily taking photos.
“How was your meeting this morning?” Fantasy looked up at him. The weather was actually great for this type of outing. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cool. The temperature was somewhere in the middle and she was enjoying the feel of it.
“Oh, my appointment.” Victor was careful with his words. He didn’t like not telling her, but he didn’t feel they were solid enough for him to share yet. Of course, he couldn’t explain being solid enough to consider marriage but not solid enough to share information about his illness. It was because he didn’t want to be a burden or to have her worry about him. It was totally not selfish; it was all about her. “It went well. Didn’t last as long as I thought. That’s why I was back to the suite before you finished your morning workout.”
“Oh yes, and what a morning it was. The workout was awesome. I had so much energy I was bouncing off the walls.” She cleared her throat as they stopped to look at the monkeys. “I can imagine why I’d been all worked up.”
“Likely it’s the same reason I have been. If I thought working out would help, I would have jogged my butt down there last night, the night before that, and the night before that.” He grinned wide. He had been worked up, and even in this atmosphere of sun, fun, yelling kids, and animals he was still worked up. How could he not be? Fantasy was glowing, and her beauty overwhelmed him and consumed all of him. She was all he could think about and all he really wanted to think about.
She was dressed in a beautifully printed sundress that flowed down her body. It covered almost everything, but left bare her shoulders, a small section of her back, and her arms. As with everything he had seen on her so far, it dipped slightly in the front and her ample bosom was pushed against the fabric. “I did enjoy it, and the spa was heavenly. It was worth every penny.” She leaned against the fence for a second and looked at him.
“Everything you do this week is on me.” Victor said it and hoped that the way he said it was okay. He didn’t want her to spend money on anything.
“That’s not necessary. I know how to let a man treat me, and I’ll accept some things but not all. I got a little nest egg.” She winked at him and started walking again. Fantasy didn’t get upset about his offering. He was tactful in his approach to the money subject and that’s really all she wanted.
“All righty, then. Handle your business, Ms. In Charge 2010.” Victor let her hand go and stopped walking.
“What are you doing?” Fantasy turned around quickly and he snapped the photo.
Victor laughed so hard at the look on her face and how she was all ready to snap that he bent over. “That was priceless.”
“And that wasn’t fair.” She walked back to him and hit him on the arm. “No more pictures for the next two hours.”
“What? Man.” Victor looked at her and pouted his lip out. The pouting was a tactic that always worked when Niya wanted her way with him. “Okay, no more pictures.”
Her face softened and she looked in amazement as a clown nearby was making balloon animals. “Oh look.”
She ran over to get a closer look and she enjoyed what she was seeing. Victor watched from a short distance away. She giggled, smiled, and talked to the little kids who waited for balloons. Fantasy was totally in a different element. She seemed to be so at ease with it and so happy with the moment she was in right then. He raised his camera to his eye and took several shots of her with the clown and the kids, and she didn’t even notice. She had become so engulfed in the clown and his entertaining and the conversations that were being exchanged so effortlessly. A few kids had started pulling on her hand to get her attention when she was talking to another, and she would turn and give her undivided attention until another one of them desired the same.
Fantasy finally looked up and saw Victor grinning from ear to ear. She knew what he was thinking and he was entirely correct. She was enjoying the attention. It was so much better than crowded press conferences, interviews with people who cared for readers who couldn’t care less, media conferences, news, news, and more news. The sad part was that much of the news wasn’t as newsworthy as they thought. No one was catching the real essence of life. Rather, they were catching bits and pieces of gossip and making them stories. Life was right here in the faces of these kids, and in the face of the clown who was touched by creating artistic rubber just to put smiles on the tiny faces of the kids who surrounded him in awe. And life was watching the man she cared for and loved for a lifetime and knowing that he loved her just as much. She could see it in his eyes and it meant the world to her. The moment weighed so much more than a thousand uncertain yesterdays.
It was time to fully let the past go. It was time to tell Kam and Victor about each other, and time to tell her grandparents about the father of their grandson. They had never forced her to say and they never pressed the issue, but they shared in the responsibility of helping her raise Kameron and they deserved the truth. Their love and loyalty to her definitely had no limits. All of this needed to happen if she was going to truly live. She looked at Victor and waved her hand happily. When the kids saw her waving and who she was waving to, they all laughed and giggled and waved too.
Victor laughed while shaking his head. Kids, he thought. He waved back to the kids and blew a kiss at Fantasy.