Chasing Circumstance
Page 23
“What about the neighbors?” The music was so loud, I was sure they could hear it.
“Fuck ‘em! Let them get their own wine!” We laughed together and spent the rest of the night just hanging out, talking and laughing. It was exactly what we needed.
Sunshine poured in through the living room windows and woke me up. It was nearly noon. We had passed out sitting on the couch. The coffee table was littered with empty water and wine bottles, an empty box from the pizza we had delivered, and a half full package of cookies. We had really made a night of it.
I got up and went upstairs to shower and change my clothes. Entering my bedroom, I noticed a box sitting on my bed and walked over to it to see what it was. There was a red ribbon around it with a card attached. I took the card from the box, opened it and read it. It was from Jo.
“My Dearest Amia,
Though I will see you all the time, I’m going to miss you so much. I’m grateful for the time we lived together and will hold the memories of that time close to my heart. Here’s a little something to help you keep the memories as well.
Much Love,
Jo.”
I untied the ribbon and pulled it from the box. Opening the lid, I pushed back the tissue paper and saw a beautiful, leather bound photo album. Taking it from the box, I opened it and the first page held a picture from when Jo and I first met. Tears leapt from my eyes as I paged through the album.
“Do you like it?” Jo stood in my bedroom door.
“Oh, Jo, I love it!” I sat the album on my bed, jumped up and hugged her. “Thank you so very much! I can’t believe you did this!”
“I love you, Amia. You’re the little sister I never had and always wanted. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” Her returned hug almost pushed the air from my lungs. “Now, get in the shower, get dressed and go buy a house!” Her tears rolled down her cheeks and flowed around her smile.
“You’re right. Chace will be here in two hours to pick me up.” I went into my closet to pick out some clothes. I chose a smart looking black and white pinstripe skirt suit with a white shirt and black pat and leather heels. “Do you think this is alright? I’ve never been to a closing before.” I walked out and showed Jo the outfit.
“Oh no, Hun. That’s too much. That looks more like something you would wear to work, not to a closing. Pick out something more fun and casual. Like, how about those awesome leggings you have with the design down the side, and your pretty, long, white sweater?” I could always count on Jo for an honest opinion.
“Oh, okay, with my white leg warmers and black boots?” I went back into my closet to take out the clothes she had suggested.
“Yes! That will be perfect! I’m going to go downstairs and fix us each a cup of coffee. I’ll see you when you’re finished.” She turned around and went downstairs to do what she said she would.
Quickly, I showered and dressed before sitting down to do my make-up and hair. I hurriedly braided my hair and wrapped it into a bun on the lower back of my head and pinned it in place. Pulling my make-up from its basket, I put on my usual colors, sprayed on some perfume and was ready to go. Looking at the clock, I thought to myself, ‘How did that take me an hour?’
I ran downstairs and joined Jo at the breakfast bar. “Here ya go.” She slid a cup of coffee across the counter to me.
“Thanks, Jo, and thanks again for watching Connor while we go take care of this closing.” I picked up my cup and inhaled the tantalizing vapor wafting from the top of it.
“Are you kidding me? It’s my absolute pleasure! I just love that little guy!” She looked at me with a huge smile on her face. “Anyway, I bought him some new clothes and want him to try them on.”
“You spoil him.” I laughed at her enthusiasm.
“He’s worth it!” Her smile got even larger with each word spoken.
We sat chatting about the new campaign she was working on. One of the local department stores had hired the firm to do a campaign for their toy drive. It was supposed to be a huge event, and Jo was in charge of making sure the world knew about it.
“Anyone home?” Chace walked in the front door carrying Connor.
“We’re over here.” Jo called out in answer to them.
“Hi, Jo!” Chace sat Connor down and he ran up to Jo, hugging her tightly.
“Hello, Connor! How are you?” She picked him up and held him while she sipped at her coffee.
“I is good! How you?” He kissed her cheek.
“I’m better now that you’re here. Come on, I have some things for you.” She stood up and started walking down the hallway to her room. “Hi, Chace, bye, the two of you.”
“Hi and bye, Jo! Bye, Connor. I love you both.” He waved down the hall. “You heard the Boss Lady. We need to get going.” Chace walked up and kissed me.
We stood up to walk out the door, and I grabbed my purse off of the floor near the front door. I shut it behind us and we were off to Tracy’s office to sign the paperwork.
Two hours later, we walked out of her office, keys in hand and the invigorating promise of tomorrow in our hearts. The moment we stepped outside, Chace swept me up in his arms and twirled me around. My feet lifted from the ground and I held tight to his neck as he spun me. Sitting me down, he wrapped his hands in my hair and brought my lips to his in a deep, passionate kiss. “Thank you, Amia, thank you for loving me.”
I didn’t know what to say. I looked into his eyes as they filled with tears. Reaching, I wiped the salty water from his cheeks as it began to fall from his eyes. “I love you, Chace. It is you that I should thank. Thank you for rescuing me from myself.” I returned his kiss.
“Let’s go pick up Connor and Jo and go see our house!” He took me by the hand and we left to go pick them up.
We prattled on about all the remodeling we wanted to do to the house as we drove to Jo’s. We were going to paint every room, put in new carpet in the bedrooms, and buy new drapes for the living and dining rooms.
After we picked up Connor and Jo, we headed over to the house. Chace put the key in the lock and asked Connor to turn it. “That’s it, Buddy; open the door to our new home. This is where we’re going to live now.” Chace was excited to show Connor our home.
“Like dis, Daddy Chace?” He turned the key and looked up at Chace.
“Yes, exactly like that.” Chace turned the doorknob and let Connor in first. Connor stepped through the front door and froze in his tracks. Putting his hands to the side of his mouth, he yelled, “Hewwo?” He started laughing as his voice echoed back to him. “Did you hear dat, Daddy Chace? Dat’s my voice saying Hi.” Connor ran in and headed up the stairs. “It’s so big! Whe’s my woom?”
Chace took Connor upstairs while I showed Jo around the main floor. We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the house and making plans. We even ordered in a pizza and ate it picnic style in the middle of the living room floor.
It started getting late, so Chace dropped Jo and me off at her place so we could finish packing my things. “I’ll see you tomorrow for the big moving day. I love you.” We said goodbye and he took Connor home to get him ready for bed.
Jo and I worked into the late hours of the night to finish packing my belongings. I left some of my art there for her as a going away gift. We laughed, talked and cried through the night. When we finished packing, Jo went to bed and I sat in my now almost empty bedroom with my laptop on my bed and wrote in my blog.
“Dear You,
How often do you find yourself making promises you can’t or don’t keep? Especially ones you make to yourself? “This year, I promise I’ll eat healthier.” “Next time, I promise I won’t spend so much money.” “Should it happen again, I promise I won’t get so angry.”
We all do it, but how often do we pay attention to it? The promise of tomorrow is never truly a promise at all. We are only given today and should live each moment as though it were our last.
So tonight, dear readers, I leave you with this thought…
~ Amia”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
“This Court finds, by a preponderance of the evidence entered, the following Decree of Adoption places Connor Lee Donaldson with Chace Douglas Cavanah, and from the date of the entry of this Decree herein, the said minor is declared adopted for life by the petitioner, and said child shall henceforth be known by the name of Connor Lee Cavanah.” The judge banged his gavel on his desk and it was over. Chace was now legally Connor’s father.
A collective sigh went through the courtroom and then a loud cheer as Chace picked up Connor and held him tightly. “It’s official, Buddy, you’re my son.”
“I know, Daddy Chace. Court no av to tell me dat.” Connor wiped the tears from Chace’s face. “Why you cwy?”
“Because I’m happy. You’ll understand someday.” He reached for me and crushed us to his chest in a group hug.
“Let’s go to the pub and celebrate and then go and buy the biggest Christmas tree we can find!” I picked up Connor’s jacket and put it on him. “All of our friends are waiting for us.”
“You heard her, Son, let’s go celebrate!” We walked out of the courthouse with Connor between us, each of us holding one of his hands with Jo at my side.
The drive to the bar was full of happy chatter. We couldn’t stop talking about our plans for Christmas. When we were finished at the pub, we were going to go out as a family and pick out our tree. Connor was excited to get it home and decorate it. Admittedly, so were we.
We started to pull in to the parking lot in front of the pub, but I asked Chace to pull around back, so we didn’t have to take Connor through the bar part of the pub. He did as I asked and we parked in the rear.
Walking through the kitchen, all of the employees offered their congratulations and shook our hands or hugged us. Connor loved all of the attention and giggled with glee.
As we entered the dining room, Chace saw the sign from the front of the bar sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. “What happened?” He walked over to the sign and looked at it.
“It just came down, Boss.” Max answered him. “I guess you should go outside and take a look.” He winked at me behind Chace’s back and I returned the wink.
“What? I don’t get it! That sign has hung there for thirty-five years!” Chace handed me Connor and we followed him outside.
We walked out to the front parking lot, and I watched as Chace turned around to look at the front of the bar. He stood there with his hands over his mouth and crocodile sized tears running down his cheeks. In the place where his uncle’s sign used to hang, was a new one I had custom made in the same design as the old one that read, “Brady’s and Son.”
“Amia, did you do this?” He pulled me close to him.
“Yes, I did. I hope it’s alright. I didn’t…” Chace grabbed me so tightly that we almost squished Connor between us. As his lips met mine in a tearful, passionate kiss, a cheer rose from the crowd that had filtered out from the bar.
“It’s otay people, dey wuv each utter.” Connor waved his hand at the crowd and they all started clapping and laughing.
“You’re right, Connor, I love her, and I love you too!” He took Connor out of my arms, set him next to us, dipped me and kissed me. My foot popped off the driveway, and I wrapped my arms tight around his neck, savoring the moment.
As he stood me back up, he looked at the crowd and said, “Now, let’s go celebrate!”
We followed the group of people back into the pub and shared a free buffet styled lunch with them in the dining room. These people were a part of our family and it wouldn’t have been a true celebration without them. Looking around, I knew I was beyond blessed.
When the party was over, we held true to our promise and went out on our search for the perfect Christmas tree. We looked at three different lots before we settled on a ten foot tall, Colorado blue spruce. Connor loved the color of it and I loved its scent. We had it tied to the top of our car and were off to set it up in our home… Our home. I smiled a contented smile at the thought.
The moment we pulled into the driveway, Connor started clapping when he saw all of the decorations and lights in our yard and on our house lit up. When we parked, I carried him inside, sat him on the couch and went outside to help Chace bring in the tree. Our boots made crunching noises in the snow as we carried it and I almost slipped but caught myself. Connor stood up on the couch and bounced when we set the tree on the floor and cut the twine that bound it.
“I guess we should get the decorations out of the closet.” Chace turned to Connor. “Want to help me lil’ man? Maybe Miss Amia will make us hot chocolate while we get the boxes.” He turned to smile at me.
“Yes, Daddy Chace!” He grabbed Chace’s hand and pulled him toward the closet. Stopping, he looked at me and said, “Pwease av ot chocate?”
“Of course!” I went into the kitchen and made a huge pot of hot cocoa while my guys dug out the Christmas decorations. I put marshmallows in each cup, poured the warm liquid over them and then topped it with whipped cream and a dash of cinnamon. Placing the cups on a tray, I added some sugar cookies and carried it out to the living room.
All of the boxes were on the floor and Chace and Connor were pulling out the decorations when I returned. “Wow, that’s a lot of decorations!” I sat the tray on the coffee table and joined them on the floor to go through everything.
“We should start with the lights and go from there.” Chace took the lights out of their boxes and began to spread them over the floor.
“Sounds like a good plan. Here ya go, Connor, be careful. It’s really warm.” I sat Connor next to the coffee table and handed him his hot chocolate. “Blow on it first, Sweetie.” I watched as he blew on his cocoa and took a sip. I giggled when he looked at me and had a face full of whipped cream.
“Yummy!” He rubbed his stomach and licked his lips before going back for another drink.
Chace and I hung the lights on the tree while Connor drank his cocoa and ate two cookies.
“Alright, Lil’ Man, it’s time for you to help us hang the ornaments.” Chace reached for Connor’s hand and gave him some plastic Christmas balls to hang on the tree. “Here ya go. Hang them wherever you like.”
We stood back and watched as he started to hang the ornaments. “Wait! We need pictures!” I ran to get the camera out of the kitchen and then went back to the living room to take photos. “This is something to put in the scrapbook!”
After taking a bunch of photos, Chace and I finished decorating the tree while Connor watched classic Christmas cartoons. When we were finished, we saw Connor fast asleep on the couch. Chace scooped him up and carried him up to his room to tuck him into bed. We stood in the hallway, side by side and just watched him sleep for a little while. He looked so precious all curled up with his favorite blanket and teddy bear.
“Well, should we head downstairs and finish decorating? He’ll be so surprised when he comes downstairs tomorrow morning and sees all the decorations.” Chace couldn’t contain his excitement.
“Sounds lovely. I can’t wait to see his face when he sees it.” I took Chace by the hand and we headed back downstairs to finish up. Two hours later we completed the task at hand and were piling the boxes inside one another to put back in the closet.
“Hey, we forgot something.” Chace held up a piece of faux mistletoe.
“Oh, we can’t forget that!” I stood up and joined Chace in the doorway between the kitchen and living room.
“Do you remember the first time we were in this doorway?” Chace pinned the mistletoe to the top of the threshold.
“How could I forget?” I ran my fingers down his chest, looked up at him and smiled.
“You know, we’re under the mistletoe, we’re supposed to kiss.” He scooped me into his arms and kissed me. Moving his hands down my back, he grasped
my hips and pulled me tight to him. I moaned into his mouth as he worked his hand down the front of my yoga pants and began to push his fingers against my panties. I lifted my leg and wrapped it around his thigh to create more room for him. He pulled back the elastic band of the cotton and slid his hand down to the wetness between my thighs. My legs trembled and I felt my limbs grow weak as he rubbed his finger against my swollen ridges.
Feeling the quivering of my legs, he picked me up and carried me to the living room floor. The Christmas tree lights blinked causing shadows to be cast over our bodies as we lay on the carpet, intertwined in each other’s arms. His breath was warm against my neck as he whispered, “You are my greatest weakness. I need you.” Sitting me up with him, he pulled my t-shirt over my head and tossed it next to the sofa. “My god, you are beautiful.” His words were buried into the soft curves of my breast as he took one nipple firmly into his mouth and then the other. His hands moved up my back, and he pulled me closer to him. There was such a passion in his kiss that I felt myself reeling backwards from it. Slowly, I stood up and removed my yoga pants and panties. Standing naked before him, he rose to his knees and pressed his face against my stomach. His hands raced up the back of my thighs as he worked his tongue in small circles across one hip bone and then the other. Moving his hands to the front of my body, he slid his thumbs between my cleanly shaved lips and parted them, exposing me completely. Closing his eyes, he breathed me in deeply, and I felt his tongue move against my clit. I shook with pure ecstasy and felt his hands on the back of my legs. He lowered me back to the carpet, his mouth never leaving me. Spreading my legs wide, he settled in between my thighs and drank from me as though he had been lost in a desert, and I was a mirage offering him life saving waters. His fingers plunged deep inside me, and he moved them back and forth, matching the rhythm I set as I rocked against him. I sat up on my elbows and observed him as he quenched his thirst. Reaching, I pulled his hand from me and he watched as I sucked his fingers into my mouth, tasting myself on them.