Ruby Island

by Anita Rodriguez

  "That's something you will have to think about, too," Bill said with regret. He pulled over so he could look directly at Amy, and she melted a bit under his full gaze. He was fantastically put together and his chiseled everything drew her in like a moth to a flame.

  "Amy, I think we can build something wonderful together. There is a reason you crashed on my island."

  "We didn't crash. Matt landed the plane."

  "Okay, whatever. What I'm saying is, let's do this. Let's give this a go, Amy. You know we are great together, and I love spending time with the boys too, and they like me. We can be a family. The sky is literally the limit with me. You know that. I’ll take care of you and the boys, and I will protect you and the boys."

  Amy was frustrated with herself for not falling into his arms that very second. He would take care of her and the boys, and his life could be her life. She would have estates to travel to and enjoy each year, and a staff to assist her with any need. The boys would go to great schools and she could be a stay-at-home mom for them. She would want for nothing.

  Bill was looking into her eyes, and Amy could tell that he was truly sincere, and she knew that she should feel the same way. Still, there was something in her mind calling her away from Bill just as it had last time.

  "I admit that the last time we dated you helped me through a really hard time when I lost my dad, and maybe that was part of the emotion there, but this is different, Amy. This is just you and me."

  "And William and Steven and Benji."

  "Of course, you know what I mean."

  Amy felt so grateful in the moment and so drawn to Bill, and maybe Gary and Charley were right and she just needed to choose. She leaned in and kissed Bill on the lips and felt the familiar safety in his kiss. His fans would not be disappointed, Amy thought, as she pulled him closer. A minute passed and she leaned back and then she smiled. The driver who had been following them had pulled alongside and he was staring into the car. Amy laughed, breaking Bill's spell.

  "I think he really wants me to take that ride," she said as she unbuckled. She took Bill’s hand and looked straight into his eyes. "I heard you, Bill, I really did, and I will consider everything you said.”

  "Let's go spend some time back on the island, Amy. It will be good for the boys."

  Amy nodded as she got out of the car. "That sounds wonderful," she said. "I'll talk to Mabel to make sure she can live without them for a little while. Call me tonight.”

  Bill winked and put the car in gear, speeding out between two cars that would have been too tight for anyone else to even try. Bill Ruby, fearless and wonderful, she thought as she got in the back seat of her waiting ride.

  When Bill drove away, Amy texted Lucy that she was coming over. She was losing her mind and needed to talk to her friend and confidant. When the door opened to the three-story townhouse mansion, Amy smiled at the housekeeper and was led inside. It was strangely quiet as the housekeeper led Amy out the French doors in back to the brick terrace where Lucy was sitting and sipping lemonade.

  Lucy stood and gave Amy a peck on each cheek and then turned seriously to the housekeeper who was waiting instruction. "Miss Kretz, you make sure the boys stay out of our way and also that this pitcher does not run out." They smiled tight smiles at each other and Miss Kretz nodded and turned to leave.

  "She's new," Amy said as the housekeeper moved inside.

  "She's wonderful. She's from Germany. She's very formal, and she's fair but strict with the boys."

  "I see that," Amy said, impressed. "What happened to Veronica?"

  "Oh, she's still the boys' nanny and tutor, but when Veronica isn't around, Miss Kretz has them set straight. It's wonderful. You might never see me with the boys outside this house again unless I can get Miss Kretz to chaperone them. That's why it's so quiet right now. The boys are hiding from her." Lucy chuckled and offered Amy a lemonade.

  "Tell me it's spiked," Amy said, thinking of her own boys and taking a long drink from the cold glass.

  "But of course," Lucy answered, refilling both glasses. "What’s going on? You don't drink before noon."

  Amy downed a second glass and tried not to lose it as she told Lucy everything, from her dinner with Matt to her meeting with Charley to her kiss with Bill Ruby in the car just thirty minutes before.

  "Wow, you get around girl," Lucy said, refilling Amy's glass, but Amy let it be for now.

  "Lucy," Amy moaned, and Lucy chuckled.

  "We both know you have never gotten around, Amy. That was me. How do you think I got all this?" Lucy spread her hands at the larger than usual and impeccably manicured New York City backyard.

  "Well, if I remember correctly, you had what you thought would be a one night stand with a guy from the bar, who you fell in love with in about a day, and he turned out to design the next big app. And you thought you were slumming it."

  "I know, right?" Lucy said. "Jackpot! Now what are we going to do about you?"

  Amy leaned forward and put her face in her hands, mumbling through her fingers. "The boys are at home with Mabel, and I just don't know what to do next."

  "You'll have to enroll them in school, or home school them if you think they aren't ready for the full immersion."

  "Oh my God, I hadn't even thought about school." She felt the alcohol warm her and took a deep breath in. "I'm such a bad mother. I'm more worried about Matt and Bill than I am my own children."

  "Well, you have a life too, my dear."

  "Do I?" Amy asked. "What is it? Tell me what to do, Lucy."

  "I will if you want me to. I think it's an easy decision, really."

  "You do?"

  "Of course, sweetheart. Let Bill get his way. Allow him to sweep you off your feet. The boys like him, and he has the means to take care of everything. You can't tell me that doesn't sound wonderful."

  Amy bobbed her head as though she couldn't decide to agree or disagree. "A month ago you were telling me to go for it with Matt. Now you think I should date Bill."

  "A month ago, Matt was a catch and you were crazy about him. Now, Matt is a deadbeat dad who won't even acknowledge his sons’ existence, and although he kissed you in the street, he hasn’t called or followed up. While Bill is an ex-boyfriend who is still in love with you, likes your kids, and he wants to take care of you. What's the choice here, Amy? Your mind has been made up for you. Go with it!"

  Amy blushed. Everything Lucy said was right and yet it was impossible to make up her mind. Choosing Bill Ruby meant letting go of her two-year crush on Matt, but she had to come to terms that the daydreaming was over and reality had her in a stranglehold. Even if the crazy miracle of their boys hadn't happened, Matt was engaged to Sarah Robinson, and he was off limits.

  "You're thinking of Matt again, but that's a fairy tale and that ship has sailed," Lucy said softly.

  "More like that plane has crashed." Amy gulped back tears and then clinked glasses with Lucy. "Thanks, lady. I knew I came here for a reason."

  Matt couldn't stop thinking about the kiss with Reynolds. It was their first kiss, but it was so familiar. It had kept him up at night. Maybe they were really stranded together on that island, and maybe they had fallen in love. Matt didn't know what to believe anymore. He spent two days writing his book and thinking about Reynolds and ignoring Sarah's phone calls. His reverie ended with a knock at his front door.

  It was Blondie again, the one who had stabbed a needle through his tuxedo jacket in the tailor shop, and Matt flinched involuntarily.

  "G'day, mate," Gary said flashing a movie star smile.

  "Is it?" Matt asked, ready to close the door.

  "Sure, might be the best day of your life," the man said, and he slapped a large envelope into Matt's stomach. Matt grabbed the paper and before he could slam the door in the guy's face, Blondie had turned and gone.

  It wasn't the best day of Matt's life, though. The envelope held the paternity tests for all three boys, and they were positive, depending on which side of the aisle you were st
anding. It was official; Matt was a father. He had already been coming to grips with this fact after seeing his own school photo and realizing the similarity between he and the older boy was uncanny.

  Matt had heard of divine intervention before, but he wouldn't actually believe in it until he looked back on this moment some years later. As soon as he'd opened the envelope and saw the results, his doorbell rang and rang until he answered. It was Sarah at the very worst possible time.

  "I will not be ignored, Matt," she said as she stormed by him into the apartment. Matt thought that it was strange to see her here since she had stopped spending time at his apartment, insisting that he come to hers instead.

  When he closed the door and turned to her, she was standing with her arms crossed, tapping the toe of her high heel on the floor. She hated losing her cool, Matt knew, and his two-day hiatus must have been too much for her ego to bear.

  "Where have you been?" she snarled.

  Matt sighed heavily and played out several ways this conversation could go in his mind. He was riding a high and a low all at once. Writing his novel had been the best time he'd spent in years and he didn't know how to express that to his fiancé, but the insanity of his paternity, combined with the fact that Matt just didn't know if he was supposed to marry a girl like Sarah anymore, drew him down.

  "I've been writing my novel, finally," Matt said with a smile.

  "You're writing a novel?"

  Matt's head jerked back. Had he never told Sarah that becoming a fiction writer was his dream in life? It wasn't possible.

  "Well, yes, I'm writing a novel."

  "Okay," Sarah said, and he could see that she was trying not to condescend to him, but that was tough for Sarah, especially when she felt indignant in her anger. "So you couldn't answer the phone?"

  Matt cleared his throat. He could defend himself all day, but as much as he loved Sarah, there was only one tack to take.

  "What do you think of having children?" Matt asked.

  "Out of the question," Sarah retorted, turning to admire herself in the mirror on the dining room wall. Then she turned back to Matt. "I'm not saying never, I'm just saying maybe in a few years depending on how things go at the network. Is that's what's going on? You want children? Jesus, Matt, we're not even married yet."

  He could see that she was about to really lose her temper, but he had to push on.

  "How about stepchildren?" Matt asked.

  "Are you telling me that you are going to have kids with someone else?"

  Matt pulled out the paternity test and put it on the table. "I don't remember it, but apparently I already do."

  Sarah snatched the paper from the table and read Matt's name along with "positive" and had seen enough. She threw the paper down. Matt watched her face for a reaction, and Sarah had pressed her lips tightly together. She was trying not to overreact, but Matt knew she was about to explode.

  "So you have a son."

  "I do," Matt said, glad that she hadn't flipped through the report to see that there were actually three sons. She would find out eventually, but he didn't want to rub salt in the wound just yet.

  "And did this happen while we were together?"

  "Not technically. He's over five years old."

  Matt could see Sarah's shoulders relax once she was secure that he hadn't cheated on her. He was ready to explain the entire situation depending on her next move.

  She looked over in the mirror again and then moved to the window, and Matt gave her space to mull it over.

  "So, what do you think of being a stepmother?" he asked.

  Sarah walked to Matt and took his hands. "Matt, sweetheart, do you believe in divine intervention?"

  Matt shrugged.

  "I'm not going to pretend to understand why this happened, but it did, and that's that.” She smiled sweetly and Matt smiled back, surprised at her acceptance of the situation. Sarah ran her thumb over the dimple on Matt’s chin and sighed.

  “I have a career to think about, and things here just got way too complicated for me." Sarah pulled the large diamond engagement ring off her finger and held it out in front of her. "A memento," she said, slipping the ring into her pocket as she turned and walked out the door.

  Amy was packing for the trip to Ruby Island when a messenger dropped off a large envelope late in the evening. She was surprised to see a manuscript from Matt inside. There was a note card that simply said, "Who says I'm not a writer? - Matt".

  Amy put the boys to bed and couldn't help herself. She stayed up all night reading the thriller, and at four in the morning she finished. She was very happy for Matt who had finally finished his first novel. The story was fast-paced and exciting, and the characters had a surprising level of depth.

  Amy felt a sense of finality in the work, and she found herself wiping away tears. She was taking the boys back to Ruby Island for an undetermined length of time. She'd told Bill that she needed time and space and he seemed to understand, and he'd invited her to go to the island to take as much time as she needed. He would begin shooting another sequel next week anyway and wouldn't be around, and that would give Amy the space she needed to figure things out.

  Amy knew that she'd left Bill with an inkling of hope that they might have a future, but she felt in her heart that it wouldn't work out. She wasn't looking back anymore, and both Bill and Matt were in her past. She needed to focus on her three boys.

  Amy made fresh coffee and then went to the desk in her dark room where she opened up her laptop and sent Nicole the article she'd written in Matt's name. She sent it with a note that Matt wanted Amy to fact check the article since she had a "thing" with Bill these days. She read over the email, and when she decided it sounded plausible, she hit send.

  Nicole responded immediately with kudos to Matt for finishing the article, but Amy didn't respond. She didn't want Nicole or anyone knowing that she was going away, and she figured they’d hear about it because she was sure that Little Dan Dougie would find a way to get photos.

  Chapter 18

  Amy had finished packing for herself and was waiting for the boys to wake up so she could get their things together. She was looking at the pictures from a lifetime she couldn't remember when William came in.

  "Hi, mom," he said, and he walked around the counter to see what she was looking at. It was a picture of Matt and William at around Benji's age.

  "Chucky," William said, pointing at the makeshift doll that he held.

  "What?" Amy asked.

  "You made me that doll and dad named it Chucky and you guys used to laugh about that.”

  "I made that?" Amy asked, leaning in to take stock of the doll. It was palm fronds and several bits of material from clothing with button eyes and a threaded smile. Amy had been horrid at crafting, and she couldn't believe that she had made the doll.

  "You did a lot of things you don't remember," William said, moving to the next picture. Amy watched him as he took in the images, and she could see that he was enjoying the memories. She'd seen that same smile on Matt's face and the likeness was undeniable.

  "You and Dad used to talk to us sometimes about being stuck on that island. You both said that God made you crash there so that you could have the family you never would have. You said you were already in love with Dad, and he said he needed a big bump on the head to figure things out."

  "I was in love with your dad," Amy said, truthfully.

  "And he loves you, Mom, he just can't remember." Amy squeezed William on the shoulder. "Do you want me to hit him in the head?" he asked.

  "Maybe," Amy laughed. "William, we’re going to go back to Ruby Island for a while. Not with Bill, just you and me and your brothers. I think it's time we talked about how we want to live now that you made it back to the real world. I hope that's okay."

  William nodded. "Can Auntie Mabel come?"

  "Not this time," Amy said, because she had no intention of letting her mom anywhere near her getaway. "But I'm glad you like your grandmother, and we will
come back soon. Call it an extended vacation."

  "That's what you used to say on the island," William reminded her, but as hard as Amy tried, she couldn't remember.

  Amy was sitting in front of a large basket of Godiva chocolates that Mabel had bought for the boys. She was on her fourth piece when Mabel came into the kitchen and poured herself some coffee.

  "This won't help your figure."

  "It’s helping my brain though," Amy replied as she put the last piece down on the table, clearly having eaten way too many chocolates.

  "Mabel, I've decided to take the boys back to Ruby Island for a while."

  "What about their father?"

  "What about him? He hasn't been much of a father for the past month."

  Mabel took a long sip of her coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. "It's a funny thing when you learn how to dance a dance. A woman learns all the steps to the dance, and a man learns all the steps to the same dance, but a woman innately knows not to put her foot down right away, even if she is certain of the steps. She learns to feel the man's movements, and react. You learn to follow him, and even though it's a millisecond difference, it's there."

  "Mom," Amy said, hoping that would distract Mabel from whatever it was she was trying to say.

  "You know what I mean, Amy. Even in a simple waltz with your father, you didn't put your toe on the ground until you were certain he'd taken his full step."

  Amy thought about it, and Mabel was right about dancing.

  Mabel looked at Amy and waited for her daughter to meet her eye. "Don't put your foot down yet, Amy. Just wait another second to commit your step. You never know what might happen."

  "But Mabel, you're missing the whole point. Matt's not dancing with me. He's dancing with someone else completely."