by June Bowen
“I guess she’s okay. She’s just crying a lot.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. You’re in trouble.”
Out of the mouths of babes. He stood the boy back on the ground and squatted down to his eye level.
“How much trouble?”
“Lots.”
“Yeah. I did a pretty bad thing.”
“Whatcha gonna do to make it better?”
“Well, first I’m going to tell her how sorry I am. How wrong I was. After that, I’m not so sure. That’s as far as my plan goes. I guess that depends on what she says next.”
“That’s good, but do you really feel sorry?”
“Yes, I do. Very much.” Curiosity got the better of Rafe. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, when I’ve been bad, Mommy says only to say you’re sorry if you really mean it. Otherwise it’s lying. If you been bad but you aren’t sorry, you’re just supposed to say you were wrong. When I hit Jimmy Jordan, I wasn’t sorry. He’d been picking on me and other kids in my class. He’s two whole grades older. I wasn’t sorry I hit him, but I knew hitting was wrong. So I said I was wrong.”
Rafe was amazed at what a powerful lesson the boy had learned. Not only had he been wrong, but he was truly sorry. He’d have no difficulty truly saying that.
“After I said that, I also told him it was wrong to hit other kids, especially those younger than you, and if he did it again, I was going to be wrong again and hit him another time.”
Rafe tried to muffle his laugh.
“But my teacher said for me to tell her. That it was her job to discipline the kids. Not mine.”
“Has Jimmy hit anyone younger than him?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I’m glad it all worked out well. Do you have any other ideas for me?”
“When I get into trouble, I sometimes make a card. That seems to work.”
Rafe thanked his nephew and went to the door. Not even Hallmark would have something to cover this.
He knocked on the door. No response. This time he tried the bell.
“Coming,” he heard Janie call from the depths of the house.
When the door opened, Janie didn’t appear to be surprised to see him. Must have been the peephole.
“Rafe.”
“Hi, Janie. I came to see Kelly.”
“Who said she was here now?”
Rafe nodded to Jeremy playing ball in the driveway. “Little ships have loose lips.” He twisted the old saying.
“Who’s to say she wants to see you?”
“I’d understand if she didn’t want to see me, but I hope she will anyway. I have a lot of apologizing to do, and I might as well start now.”
Janie gave him a fierce look. “You’ve devastated her. She’s been in love with you since forever. Why should she give you another shot?”
“I’d understand if she didn’t. But shouldn’t you give her the opportunity to refuse?”
He could tell by the look on Janie’s face that he had her there.
“Wait here until I ask her.” Janie then promptly closed the door in his face. All in all, it wasn’t as bad as he thought it might be.
* * *
Kelly came into the foyer from the living room.
“Well, what do you think?” Janie knew she’d heard the entire conversation.
“I might as well face him now.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Lawyers could handle everything you need. You’re not going back to that stupid arrangement, are you?”
“No. My love can’t fix his problems.”
Kelly could see the relief in her sister’s face. “Let him in.” Kelly went back to the living room and sat in one of the overstuffed chairs.
“She’s in here. I’ll be in the kitchen. If I hear a sound I don’t like, I’m coming with a serrated-edged knife. That was Lorena Bobbitt’s mistake. You want tearing on the edges so they can’t sew it back on.”
Kelly had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. Janie could be one tough cookie.
Rafe cleared his throat. “I’ll take that under advisement.”
“You do that.”
Kelly looked up at the rap on the door facing. There stood Rafe. As handsome as ever, but definitely not at his best. She wasn’t the only one who’d been having a rough time. Good. “Rafe.”
“Do you mind if I have a seat?”
She thought about making him stand, but decided not to. This was too serious for such childish behavior. “Of course.”
He settled on the matching chair across from her. He put his elbows on his knees and looked down at his hands for a good while. She wondered if he, too, was praying.
He looked directly at her. “Kelly, I’m sorry. I know those are simple words, but I say them with powerful meaning. I know everything I claimed you did was wrong. But even worse, I just accused you. I never really gave you a chance to defend yourself.”
Kelly was sure all the heartbreak was plain on her face. Well good. He could see what he did to her. She glanced down, and the twinkle from her wedding rings caught her attention. She pulled them off her finger and handed them over to him. “I forgot and left with those still on.”
He accepted them and slipped them in his pocket. All hope of them ever having a relationship died in her in that second. He clearly had no intention of them getting back together.
“When I got back in the office, Ben and Carol explained what happened, after both of them let me know what an idiot I was. It seems that the computer virus struck again. This time updated to selectively send out our bid to the competition.”
“I thought Carol updated the firewall to catch it?”
“She did. It was an internal job. After scanning all systems and the entire network, they found evidence of it on Mike Rutland’s computer.”
Kelly shook her head at the name. She knew something had been off about him. Once it all sank in, she started laughing. Concern broke out on Rafe’s face.
“How circular. The computer virus that basically brought us together was the very thing that broke us apart. That and your stupidity.”
“I’d like to say it was just stupidity. You had seemed bothered by something and then when I confronted you, you had such a guilty look.”
Kelly could feel the blush working its way up her cheeks. “I was trying to find a way to tell you that I was not that experienced in bed. I’d used your computer to Google search ways to be a better lover. What came up just made me that much more nervous.”
Rafe shook his head. “What a comedy of errors.”
“Well, I’m not laughing. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to.”
“In addition to the stupidity was fear. I realized that night that you’d managed to get past the barriers I’d erected to protect my heart. I found I’d fallen in love with you. Letting myself believe you’d sent the email was a last-ditch effort of protection.”
Kelly quickly rejected his assertion. “I’m sure you do have some feelings for me, but I don’t think it’s love. At least not the kind you can build a lifetime on.”
“I certainly have given you every reason to believe that. What happens now is totally up to you. But I want you to have this.” Rafe pulled out a jewelry box from his pocket. He came over to where she was sitting and knelt down. “I want you to know that it’s my desire to make this a real, forever marriage. But no matter what your answer is, the ring is yours.” There, nested in the velvet, was the most gorgeous ring Kelly had ever seen. It was a beautiful solitaire accented with baguettes on either side.
“It was my mother’s, and I want you to have it. My mother was the last woman I really loved until now. Over the years it came to symbolize my heart. That’s why I didn’t give it to you in the first place. But my heart is yours. You hold it in your hands figuratively and now quite literally.” With that, he slipped the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit.
Tears filled Kelly’s eyes. “That’s what I’ve been waiting
to hear. I love you, too. I want this to be a real, forever marriage.”
Rafe scooped her up and kissed her. “I’m so, so sorry that I was so stubborn and for all the pain I’ve caused.”
“I was afraid that you thought you had made a mistake.”
“I think I made the best decision of my life when I asked you to marry me.” Rafe kissed her thoroughly. “So, do you remember anything from your Google search?”
Kelly laughed. “I might. But would you mind terribly if we waited until we were back at Barefoot Bay? I’d like the wedding night I was cheated out of.”
Rafe playfully groaned. “All right. Maybe it would be safer there. I’d like to put some distance between me and Janie’s serrated-edged knives.”
“Ooh, good thinking. That could make producing a child more difficult.”
“Whether we have children or not, you’ll always be my baby.”
Epilogue
Kelly felt so drained. She didn’t know it was possible to feel this tired. Another pain started to build.
“Doctor, the baby’s vitals are dropping.”
“Okay, Kelly. You’ve got to clear the shoulders and then you’re home free. You can do this. Big, big push this time. Let’s get it done and then you can rest.”
Kelly looked over at Rafe and could see the concern on his face. She couldn’t fail him. She couldn’t fail the baby.
“You can do this, honey,” he urged.
When the pain reached its peak, she pulled every bit of energy she had left, all the way from her toenails to the roots of her hair, and pushed. She felt intense pain and then instant relief.
“That’s it. You did it. And we have a girl.”
Rafe kissed her and rubbed his cheek against her. He must have been crying because he left wetness behind. She tried to get a look at the baby but the room faded out and exhaustion took over.
When Kelly woke, the room had been converted back to look like a normal one. All the equipment was now hidden behind cabinets. Rafe sat in the corner, rocking a bundle. “Ten fingers and ten toes?” Her voice cracked as she spoke.
Rafe walked over. “I’d like to introduce you to our beautiful daughter, Maria Beatrice Martinez.”
Kelly peeped at the beautiful bundle. Her daughter. Her beautiful daughter yawned, already tired from the adoration.
“Let me hold her.” Kelly cradled her baby. Unable to resist, she undid the blanket to do her own inspection. She was amazed to see the small diaper. She had forgotten what they were like in the beginning.
“You don’t think Eduardo is going to be disappointed that he has a sister, do you?”
“No. I called him while you were sleeping. He informed me that he was relieved. Evidently our generous son had been secretly worried about having to share his toys.”
Kelly laughed. “That sounds just like a four-year-old.”
Rafe sat on the bed and pulled her into his arms, careful not to disturb the baby. “You scared me. I was afraid of losing you. Of losing you both.”
Kelly’s chest tightened. “I’m not that easy to get rid of.”
“All my life I avoided pain by refusing to give my heart to someone. After everything turned out all right today, I realized I would rather be in pain the rest of my life before I’d give up one second with you.”
“Oh, Rafe. Me, too. Me, too.” Kelly angled to kiss him but was interrupted by a knock on the door. A nurse stuck her head in.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you’re getting quite a crowd out here. There’s an aunt, an uncle, a tia, and a Marilyn Monroe look-alike who wants to be known as the Godfather with a capital G. Do you mind if I send some of them back?”
Kelly laughed at the title Bernie selected for himself. She quickly kissed Rafe. “Bring on the circus.”