by Kathy Bosman
Chapter Fourteen
Ross sat before the firing squad except they had pretty curls, batting eyelashes, and the only guns were their penetrating gazes and sheepish grins. Now what?
“We’ve come to ask you something of great importance.”
Andrea’s voice reminded him of his least favourite teacher from school who gave him pages of homework and pop quizzes when he least expected or wanted it. School hadn’t been his favourite time in life.
Maybe they needed help with Exact Match. What more could he do? Why didn’t Ella come to him? He hadn’t seen her since that memorable night when she came over to his place to talk about the magazine article and had kissed him. He’d waited for her to contact him but nothing had happened. He wasn’t going to chase after her.
Despite the commanding tone, Andrea’s smile and light brown eyes held warmth and a little tease. “Ella needs your help.”
“I thought as much. Why didn’t she ask—”
Carol held up her hand and leaned forward on his settee. “No, she mustn’t know that we came here.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Pauline sat near to him. He felt more comfortable with her than the others seeing he’d had time to get to know her during all those hours working at Ella’s place. He also appreciated that she’d gotten the message he wasn’t interested and not taken offence to it. She had character and poise and grace. A lot like Ella but not as vibrant and get-right-under-your-skin as her.
“As you may have figured out by now, well, we hope so, and we’re pretty darn sure—Ella loves you.”
The room became still for a long, hot minute and their faces blurred before his vision. He couldn’t think, couldn’t speak; his heart only remained buoyed by this new hope that made his pulse hammer like crazy in his ears.
“What?” He eventually refocused on their faces, apparently very pleased with themselves for discovering this fact and for relaying it to him. How would this help, really? It couldn’t be true. Could it?
“Yes, I know it sounds crazy,” Carol continued. “She sure doesn’t show it, but we know. We’ve actually suspected it for some time but always pushed the idea away because you were too close to home and she didn’t seem to want anything like that.”
Carol bit her lip and cocked her head to the side, obviously a bit embarrassed at how personal the conversation had gone. So was he.
“How can you be so sure and how does it help me?”
Pauline spoke softly and a little hesitantly. “Well, I know you love her. I can see it.” Her face turned red. “I saw it when we worked together.”
He nodded, a little embarrassed how obvious his feelings for Ella had been.
“Ella wants to leave.” Andrea broke the haze. “She’s moving to Durban.”
“We don’t want her to,” Carol added.
“And you’re the only one who can stop her,” Pauline said.
Moving to Durban?
“How the heck can I stop her? She’s a free spirit.”
“She is?” Andrea said.
“Well, she certainly doesn’t want me to control her.”
“Yes, that’s true.” Andrea rolled her eyes. “Stubborn as a mule.”
He grinned. “And usually cautious, but lately, she’s been very impulsive.”
Andrea nodded.
“Please, Ross, it wasn’t easy for us to come here and invade your space,” Carol said. “We would really like you to tell Ella that you love her and make her want to stay.”
“I’ve told her that already. It made her want to run rather than stay.”
“Yes, you’ve told her, but you haven’t told her how much.” Pauline raised an eyebrow.
“As you well know just as much as we do, Ella has had a rocky relationship history. She’s tired of being burned and wants to settle down. If you can offer her something more concrete than a love confession, like a marriage proposal, she may decide to stay.” Andrea sat back and rested her head on her hands. “It’s our last chance.”
“Why do you want her to stay so badly? Maybe we should let her go.”
Why was he saying that? It’s just that he had a feeling this was all going to blow up in his face like the last time he’d spilled out his guts to her.
“Because we know she’s running from true love and we don’t want her to miss out on it. We’ve all been searching for it for so long and it’s been staring her in the face for years but she’s been too blind to see. When she told us she was leaving, we got together to try to find a way to make her stay. We all felt that she would end up being more miserable if she ran away. The only thing we could come up with was you. You have to do something. You have to convince her that your love is strong enough. We think it’s something to do with her father divorcing her mother when she was twelve.”
He narrowed his eyes at Carol. “What makes you so sure she loves me?”
He looked at Pauline, hoping to find in her open and compassionate face an assurance they spoke the truth. He could see in her eyes that she believed it.
“We just do.” Andrea shrugged. “If we could use The Album, we would. Ella’s not allowed to use it on herself.”
“Why do we need to use The Album?” He sat up straighter. “If Ella loves me and I love her, we’ll stick with one another no matter what. I mean, we’ve stayed friends through many rough times. Now, the feelings I have for her are stronger than friendship; they’re pretty powerful. I would give her the world if I could. I want her to be happy and I want to be the man for her so she doesn’t have to go through all these heartbreaks from idiots. I don’t believe anything can come between us. Yes, maybe my love will be tested in years to come but I’m willing to stand through those tests no matter what it takes. She’s the most important person in my life and I don’t think I’d ever be happy without her.”
The girls stared at him, tears glistening in their eyes, Pauline’s lips quivering as she seemingly held back some emotions. Good thing they didn’t squeal and go all giggly on him. They would have five years ago.
“Well.” Carol coughed. “Seems you just have to tell Ella that and she’ll come round.”
“She will,” Pauline added, sniffing and blowing on a tissue. “I know she will.”
“Thanks, ladies. But I’m not so sure.”
“Please.” Andrea pierced his soul with her dark eyes. “We’re depending on you for this. The Album and our community need her. She’s about to give up on The Album, too. Don’t let us down.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“That’s not good enough.” The muscular and tight-skirted woman stood up. “You have to promise you’re going to do something.”
He stared at Andrea and her persistence and smiled. If he wasn’t so amused by their mission to come to him and also touched by how much they cared for Ella, he would be annoyed by her pushiness. Ella deserved no less than their friendship and their closeness through the years. She also deserved someone like him. Specially seeing her closest friends believed he was ‘it.’ That bolstered him.
“I promise.”
“Thank you.” Carol jumped up and gave him a hug. The other two nodded and showed gratefulness in their eyes.
Once they’d left, he slumped down onto his couch and wondered what on Earth he would do to convince her. That task would be the hardest in his life yet. He had an idea where to start.
And could he let go of his fear of losing her once and for all?
Because the fear had held him back for way too long.
He didn’t have a choice. Ella had always lived in their hometown. He’d relied on having her nearby to turn to, to talk to. She was the only one he could confide in, truly. And now, he loved her, longed to kiss her, hold her, do so much more to her, take her as his wife. Yes, he was ready for that. They didn’t need a courtship. He knew her like the back of his hand. Although how come he hadn’t picked up her apparent ‘love’, and how come she’d suddenly decided to move towns? Why hadn’t he seen that coming?
Actually, he had, in a way. He’d been under a heavy cloud ever since the last kiss. Like he’d had a feeling it was over. Especially the way she’d disappeared in a flash, leaving him empty and angry.
He took in some tight breaths. He had the power to change things. Or at least, try. It felt like he had to prepare a speech for school again. In front of Miss Redwood. Heck, it was like his matric exams. Fear of failure loomed like a dark cloud on the horizon. This time, more than his career depended on how he presented himself. His whole future did. Because where would he be without Ella?