Once we arrive in Ubud we have lunch and head over to the Royal Pita Maha hotel.
The pool is to die for. It’s like an artist handmade three incredible drop pools on the side of a huge ravine. They’re drop pools because they’re “stacked” one on top of the other as you descend the stairs down the ravine. They’re surrounded by infinite greenery and there’s even a horseshoe bend in the river way down below where rafters shout out their excitement from time to time as they pass by.
We start off with a swim in the big infinity pool on level one and then grab the tower elevator to the temple pool and take a dip in the sacred waterfall waters which are supposed to rejuvenate and replenish your youth. I’m all for that.
Then we walk down the banks of the Ayung River to swim in nature as the waiter brings us freshly squeezed mango juices as we relax in an area surrounded by the tallest jungle walls ever.
I can’t even imagine being at my desk right now filling out reports or dealing with clients. This is the life and I don’t want it to ever end. It’s like my prior life is long gone, not that it was bad or anything, I just never knew this kind of life was really possible.
And it wasn’t on my budget.
I try and pay for some things but Oliver insists. He says it’s a real man’s responsibility to take care of his woman and that means she’s not to work either, unless she wants to “for fun.”
I ask him what he means for fun and he describes me starting a passion project to enrich my life, but knowing that he’s making real money and there are no worries if my business fails or succeeds. He says the irony there is that without the pressure to grow quickly, answer to shareholders, and all the other things that normal businesses are accountable for that my business has a much higher chance of actually succeeding.
I listen intently, enamored by his voice and his desire to make me happy…if this kind of “work” would do such a thing and I would choose to pursue it. But he insists that it’s completely unnecessary. He’s a throwback and he takes pride in his woman not having to work unless she wants to for personal enrichment.
I imagine myself at my cubicle for the next thirty to forty years and it’s not a difficult decision to make.
The only real decision at this point is how I’m going to break this news to my dad.
I know Oliver and I know he’s sincere and this isn’t some holiday romance for him. He’s a busy guy and he doesn’t mess around, in business or in life. When he says I’m his then I’m his.
And that goes in every way.
But how do I explain this to my dad.
“Hey there, kids,” a voice comes from the restaurant. “I thought I might find you here,” my dad voice bellows through the ravine.
It looks like I’ve got about five seconds to figure that question out.
CHAPTER 13
Oliver
I set my drink down and quickly come to the realization that discussion that needs to be had needs to be had a lot sooner than I expected.
I planned to put a ring on her finger before her ticket had her due back, and I’ll still do that, but if I had that yes from her and she had my ring on her finger I think it would have reduced the chance of Carl putting up a big fight.
Too late for that now.
“Looks like you two are having fun,” he says.
“A great time, dad,” Charlotte says. I can see a little tension in her voice, but not much. I can feel that she’s as content with what’s about to go down as I am.
“I had a business meeting in Singapore and wanted to swing by and see what you were up to. I checked with the motorbike rental place by Oliver’s place and they said you headed this direction earlier today. I figured I’d try my luck here at the pool and I got lucky on the first try. Mai tai anyone?” he says.
“Would you like a Mai Tai?” the bartender asks.
“Better make that three shots of Patrón,” I say.
“Okay. Coming right up,” he says and begins pouring them.
“Patrón, huh?” Carl says. “You’re not messing around.”
“No, I’m not,” I say.
The bartender quickly pours the shots and places them on the bar. Carl’s still in a jovial mood from getting off the plane and getting here to this tropical paradise. I hate to ruin it for him, but we’ll have to see just how much longer it lasts.
“What are we toasting to,” he says as he passes a shot glass to Charlotte and then to me.
“Your lovely daughter and her vacation in paradise. Thank you for setting this up,” I say.
“It was nothing,” he says. “To my lovely daughter,” he says raising his shot glass.
“To your daughter,” I say. “And my soon to be wife,” I say and we all tip the shot glasses back.
Carl about chokes on his shot then starts laughing. “I thought you said my soon to be wife right before I tipped it back.”
“I did,” I say.
Carl just looks at me and my stoic expression. Then his face turns to Charlotte and she has a “this isn’t going to turn out well, sorry dad,” look on her face.
“Is this a joke?” he says.
“Not at all. And I have to tell you it wasn’t planned. I mean I just met her three years ago and I knew then she was the most special girl in the world, but when we bumped into each other here it was immediate fireworks.”
“Bumped into? This is your house. You knew she’d be here!”
“One of my homes that I rarely visit, and I didn’t know that. You didn’t tell me she was coming, remember? It’s completely by chance, but it’s the chance of a lifetime for both of us. It was meant to be, against all odds that we’d even be here at the same time.”
“Against all odds that you’re marrying her!” he says tossing his shot glass into the river.
“Let’s go, Charlotte!” he says and turns to walk back towards the elevator. “Let’s get out of here.”
I know this isn’t going to be easy for her, but I already know her decision and what she’s going to say.
“I’m sorry, dad…but I’m staying. With him.”
CHAPTER 14
Charlotte
“I really should give them two weeks notice,” I say.
“You worked for them for an entire year and they only gave you one week of holiday. Offering to work remotely for a week, or two if you insist, is fair enough in the times we live in.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I say, leaning into him as we arrive at Bali’s private jet airport, Ngurah Rai International Airport.
“And you don’t have to give them another minute of your time if you don’t want. Just remember that. You never have to work again as far as I’m concerned,” he says.
“Thank you,” I say. He kisses me on the top of my head as we prepare for our flight to Sydney.
He even sent a moving team over to my apartment to take care of my things and we spoke with my landlord over the phone about cancelling my lease. This was all too easy.
Less than an hour later our plane is taking off from this magical paradise and things with Oliver and I are about to get a lot more real. I’m not scared though. I know he has big plans for us and I’m looking forward to it. I just didn’t know how big his plans were until…
“Look out that window,” he says, placing his hand on the back of my neck. I feel the heat of his hand and know it’s the way he loves. He loves guiding me, sometimes even controlling me…possessing me. It’s his way and I’ve quickly learned to love it too. I don’t spend my day making tons of little decisions about everything or wasting one second. He’s in control of everything all the time and I can just sit back relax and enjoy. But I know once we get to Australia that will change. I’m not the type of person to lie around all day and I know I’ll want to make decisions of my own, and he already told me he’ll support me in whatever decision I do make.
I’m his, as he likes to remind me, but because I’m his the world is my oyster. He said he’s going to get more pleasure than he ev
er has in helping me navigate my way through life and provide guidance in ways he wished he’d had. He promised me I’d never hit a roadblock, a speed bump, or a pothole in life’s highway because he’s already hit them himself and he’s cleared the path just for me. And for us. His second time through.
He says being with me invigorates him. Makes him feel even younger than he looks and seems, to me at least. And that everything he has isn’t worth having unless there’s someone there to share it with.
And that someone is me.
“You see that?” he says.
“Yeah. It looks like the beach where we…got to know each other better.”
“It is. It was always just a beach where I surfed and had a home, but now it means so much more. People often refer to Bali as paradise, but now this exact spot is the true definition of paradise because it will forever be the place that I made you mine. And in every way. The physical. The mental. The spiritual. I’m not one for esoteric words or catchphrases, but I can say with absolute clarity and certainty that you are my soulmate and I am yours forever. And I want to show you, and the world, just how much you mean to me,” he says.
His hands reaches around the side of his seat and he removes a small black box.
He opens it and inside is a diamond engagement ring so big I have no idea how anyone would even be able to lift their hand if they were wearing it.
“We’re approaching the clouds now, but every moment with you I’m on cloud nine. Every second is like I’m in heaven. You and you alone make me this way. My head is in the clouds and I don’t ever want to come down. Stay with me, up here in the clouds…even when our feet find the ground our heads can be here forever. If you accept this ring to be my bride. Will you marry me?”
I look at the ring in awe. And then I look at him. “You want to keep your head in the clouds, huh?”
“Always,” he says.
“Well that’s where you’ve taken mine and I don’t ever want to come down either. I want to keep this dream going…with you. Yes!” I say.
He slides the ring on my finger and I immediately feel the weight.
He takes my face in both of his hands and kisses me hard.
“I love you,” he says.
“I love you.”
He reaches around the side of the seat and removes a champagne bottle.
“Congratulations you two,” comes over the airplane’s intercom.
I just smile.
“This is for you,” the pilot says.
I feel the plane bank and then move in some very curious positions.
“Oh!” I say as his quick turn sends me right into Oliver’s lap.
It’s like an amusement park ride, but a private one in the sky.
Is there anything that this man doesn’t make exciting? I know he surely planned this out with the pilot.
And after a few more movements that make me feel like we’re in one of those airplane aerobatic shows, the pilot comes back over the intercom. “Congratulations, boss,” he says.
“Thanks Dave,” Oliver says.
He points out the window and there it is.
Dave has drawn a big heart and a O + C underneath it in the sky using the plane’s exhaust.
And it’s right over our beach.
I look out the window and feel my eyes water up.
“This is so perfect,” I say. “Too perfect.”
“You’re so perfect,” he says wiping my tear away. “And nothing is too perfect for you, my fiancé.”
I bury my head in his chest and then pull back and lean back in for a hard kiss.
I feel the coolness of his hand that was holding the champagne bottle.
“Your hand is cold,” I say in-between sobs of joy.
“I have to take measures to cool myself down whenever you’re around. You make my heartbeat fast. Now how about that celebratory drink?” he asks.
“How ‘bout it,” I say.
He pours two flutes of champagne and we clink our glasses as we ascend to the heavens…together.
EPILOGUE
Charlotte
Three months later
“I’d like to place an order for a ton of copper,” the voice on the phone says.
There’s a lot of static on the line. The call must be coming from overseas.
“I’m sorry, but we just do small quantities. We handle the jewelry supply. My husband’s company handles the orders for industry and manufacturing.”
“Is there a way to schedule a sit down with the both of you? Maybe we can work something out.”
No. It can’t be. “Dad?”
“You still recognize your old man’s voice?”
“Oh my gosh. You know I’d never forget. Where are you?” I’m completely shocked that he called. I haven’t spoken to him or my mom since Bali.
“Does Oliver still keep that pair of binoculars in the top right drawer of his desk?”
“I don’t know. I never checked.”
“How well do you really know this guy?” my dad asks in a joking way. I laugh. “Can you go grab them and zoom in on the base of the Opera House?”
“Yes. Of course! Stay on the line with me.”
I run over to the adjoining office and burst in without thinking.
“Everything okay, beautiful?” Oliver asks.
“Dad,” I mouth as I point at the phone.
Oliver’s eyebrows raise and he nods before standing up from his desk.
“Do you have binoculars in the top right—”
Before I can finish he’s got the drawer open, has pulled them out, and is handing them to me.
I take them and then take him by the hand bringing him back into my office as we quickly move to the window.
I zoom in on the opera house and see two little figures there waving. And my dad has binoculars too!
“I see you,” he says into the phone.
“And I see you!” I say waving back.
“Right in front,” I say handing the binoculars over to Oliver.
He looks through them and then drops them to waist level just shaking his head in amusement.
“Let me put you on speaker,” I say.
“Charlotte?” comes over the line.
“Mom!”
“Oh honey. How are you?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“That good huh?”
“And that pregnant,” I say. “I just found out yesterday. I tried to call you but—”
“Oh we were on a airplane,” my dad quickly says.
“But now you’re here!” I say.
“And we’ve got tickets for the opera tonight. Four tickets. We were just wondering if there was a beautiful couple who might want to join us. Hmmm. Maybe you know somebody?” my dad says.
“I think we might know someone,” I say turning to Oliver. I give him a big hug.
“Come on up to the office, Carl. We’ll have lunch.”
“How about you come down here by the water and all four of us will have some fish right here by the water’s edge?”
“You got yourself a deal,” he says.
“No talking shop!” my mom says.
“We’ve got much more important things to talk about, Cindy,” Oliver says. “Like picking out a name for your first grandchild.”
“Oh Charlotte,” my mom’s voice hits me like a ton of bricks and I feel the waterworks already starting. “We missed you so much.”
“I missed you,” I say in between sniffles.
“We missed you,” Oliver says.
I hug him tight and then grab him by the hand and run toward the elevators.
Oliver is always in charge, but not right now. I need to get to them and share the news in person and I’ll drag him there if I have to.
But of course I don’t. I can see in his eyes that he’s just as excited as I am.
Possessive Australian_An Older Man Younger Woman Romance Page 4