The church services were really something: they made a major production out of it. After the services had been completed Hank’s aunt said she would remember that day forever and ever. Needless to say, for her, “ever and ever” wouldn’t be a long time. Meanwhile, Bonnie and Hank had agreed that they had shared the past two days with his aunt with sincere gratitude for having been included in the proceedings.
Everyone was invited back to the hotel to enjoy a hefty brunch and continue their “meaningful mingles.” Bonnie and Hank agreed that they would like that; however, they wanted to stop along the way back to the hotel and just relax a bit and enjoy their shared enthusiasm for each other.
They were in the car, Hank had revved up the engine, and was ready to pull off, when he spotted Frank and the girl with whom he had left the party the previous evening. Bonnie and Frank had never met each other, and Hank had not mentioned either one to the other. He stopped the car, turned off the ignition, and told Bonnie there was someone he wanted her to meet.
He yelled to Frank, as he was about to enter his rental car. Frank grinned and grabbed the girl’s hand as he motioned for Hank to come over to him.
As Hank approached him, they both smiled and said simultaneously, “I’ve got someone I want you to meet!”
Then they both said, again simultaneously, “Ok, You first!”
Hank stepped forward and addressed the woman he had visually admired at the gathering the previous evening and said, “I admired you from afar briefly last evening. Let me introduce myself: I’m Hank and this is Bonnie, the woman I Love as much as life itself. Frank and I have been lovers for more than…”
As soon as Hank said, “Frank and I have been lovers…” Frank’s mouth dropped open and he could see the woman recoil. He chuckled and added, “…I guess I shouldn’t have put it quite that way. Let me put it this way: we have been as close as any two people could be, except for sex, for the past over a half century.”
Frank stepped toward Bonnie, grinned as he wiped his brow, and said, “Bonnie, is it?” She smiled and nodded. “Let me introduce you to an extraordinary woman whom I first met last evening. This is DiJana, and we have been inseparable since we first met. How about we go some place so we can talk and get acquainted in a manner that’s appropriate to the closeness that Hank and I have enjoyed during these past many years.”
He turned to DiJana and added, “That Ok with you ‘D’?”
DiJana said, “I’d love to, but if it is Ok with the three of you I’d like to change into something a little more comfortable first.”
Bonnie and Hank looked at each other and nodded, Bonnie said, “That’s an excellent idea. How about we meet in the lobby of the hotel and decide where to go for this ‘get acquainted’ meeting. Will two o’clock be enough time for everyone?”
Frank and Hank said almost simultaneously, “Sounds good to me! We’ll see you at two.”
When Bonnie and Hank got back into the car, he turned to her and said, “You are incredible. You make me feel so good I could… I could… I don’t know what to say. I just feel like I want to shout out to the world that I am extremely happy, and that you are the reason for it.”
Bonnie looked at him and lightly caressed the back of his neck, she said, “I feel the same way.” Then she said, “DiJana is a gorgeous woman isn’t she, and her complexion is incredible.”
Hank said, “Yeh, someone mentioned about her complexion last evening and she said maybe it is because of her Bulgarian ancestry. She really is a gorgeous woman. From what she was saying at the festivities last evening, I get the impression that she is as gorgeous on the inside as she is on the outside.”
“I hope so,” said Bonnie, “Frank is the one I want to see more of, I’m looking forward to talking with him. I think the more of your friends I meet; the better I will get to really know you.”
Bonnie was quiet for quite some time; in fact, they had arrived at the hotel before she said anything else. As they stepped inside the door to his room she said, “Hank, there is no doubt in my mind that I love you and I have loved you since that first time we met in Chicago. I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about you, it is as though everything you say and do seem to fit in with all my needs and desires.”
Hank was astonished when she said those words because that was exactly what he was thinking. As he moved to embrace her he said, “You are echoing my thoughts, my dear one. My only regret is that I was responsible for wasting all those years of happiness because of one half-true statement.”
Bonnie said, “What do you mean?”
“Well,” he said cautiously, as he moved her to the sofa and moved closer to her as they sat down, “two or three months after we saw each other the last time in Chicago, Dad asked me about you and I responded that you were ‘alright,’ and that you were great in bed but that you had this hang-up about this black and white race-relations thing, and so forth.”
He couldn’t see her eyes and he didn’t know what she was thinking or how she reacted to those words, nevertheless he continued, “As I look back over the years, I think Aunt Anita probably asked him to find out if I was sincere about my protestations of Love for you. Instead of trying to appear like a ‘macho man’ to him, I should have told him the complete truth: that I Love you with a passion that knows no bounds.”
“Ma’ Dear had cautioned me,” said Bonnie retrospectively, “to be very careful about my emotions, especially having been newly in and out of a marriage. She said I was too close to the situation to see clearly, and she suggested I step back and give our relationship a little more time to develop.”
“And that was good advice,” Hank countered, “however, it did not ring true in our case because we really would have been a dynamic duo, the two of us. And I’ll tell you why: Dad and Aunt Anita, as brother and sister, were really inseparable and I Loved and admired my Dad; plus, I liked and admired Aunt Anita. You obviously held the same perspective with regard to her and Dad.”
“For as long as I can remember,” he softly echoed his regretful thoughts, “I had wanted to enjoy being an adult and sharing my adult life with Dad. I already possessed a job that I Loved, and my future, plus my future earnings, promised to be unlimited. Add to that, the woman that I Loved with a passion that was boundless, plus add my Dad to the mix, and one individual could not have asked for more in a bunch of lifetimes.”
“That’s true,” Bonnie said longingly.
He continued, “Do you know when I realized I really loved you? I mean… not just that I Loved you, but that my Love for you was totally different than any I had thought of prior to meeting you? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way. It was when I looked at other women and they did not interest me in the least. That’s when I chose, right beside, ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,’ my second theme song to celebrate our Love, ‘I Only Have Eyes for You.’”
“And it is true,” Hank continued, “You are the only woman in my entire life that caused me to not notice other women. And I love to look at women because I love the symmetry and the flow of the female form; however, after I met you, I still enjoyed looking, but only for the reason that I Love the look of the female form. It is as though I said to myself, ‘I’ve got my perfect woman, no need to look any further.’”
“Last evening in the hotel lounge,” he reminded her, “you said you had wanted to be everything I ever wanted in a woman. You were that, and in my mind nothing has changed, unless you have changed dramatically, you are still everything I have ever wanted in a woman. I appreciate that fact much more now than I ever could have forty years ago.”
Bonnie commented in a low, barely audible voice, “That answers some of the questions that had been floating in my mind all these years.”
Then she sat up and looked him dead in the eyes and said, “This is probably not the time to say this, Hank, but I’ll say it anyway because it is on my mind. Three years ago my husband passed away suddenly and I was devastated; he was generous in many ways,
he was gentle and kind, and he was one whale of a father to our son, plus I Loved him. In fact, I still treasure the memory of him.
“I came here this weekend,” she continued, “to celebrate your aunt’s birthday; I also came, hoping against hope, I might add, that I would see you. I have never stopped Loving you, Hank, and I kept inside me the memory of the times we spent in Chicago and Detroit. However, there is questionable baggage that sometimes accompanied that memory.”
The first part of her comment about still loving him softened the blow, but he still was apprehensive about the “however” as he silently sat there.
“I knew you Loved me,” she continued, “I knew it! However, what caused me a great deal of confusion and concern was the question of why you never contacted me after my second visit to Chicago. The possible answer to that question never failed to confuse and bother me.”
“Hopefully, I can clear that up for you,” he said, “and give some reasonable accounting of my actions, or inaction as it were.
“I really did Love my job and my company,” he continued, “and I had been newly appointed as office manager of our district’s Customer Service department. Plus our district was breaking up to form two separate districts where there had been only one, so as to make it more manageable. That was one aspect of my life.”
“The second thing that happened is that I called your number several times and never got an answer. I didn’t think to call Aunt Anita or Dad to ask for their help.”
“I had forgotten about that.” Bonnie countered pensively, “Phyllis obtained her masters and landed a job out East, so she moved out and I couldn’t handle the rent alone. Since I was no longer married, I moved out and moved back in with Ma’ Dear.”
“I remember that September,” he could see it so clearly; “I joined a new racquet club in Chicago and began playing tennis. That’s when I tried again, unsuccessfully, to contact you. God, I wish I could turn back the clock!
“If I had the opportunity,” he added wistfully, “to change anything in the past in my life, I would select just one thing -- only one. I would have been completely and totally honest with Dad, and everything else would have fallen into place.
“Isn’t that something,” he wanted to kick himself in the rear just thinking about it, “just one little stinking innocuous statement of half-truth changed my whole life and robbed me of nearly forty years of happiness. I would have had you, I would have had Dad, and because of that I would have made a total progression in my job -- I would have had it all.”
“I don’t wish to upset you, my dearest,” Bonnie intoned, “but you sound as though you are whining, and that is certainly not like you.”
He acknowledged her comment and said, “I’m sorry about that, and you are right, it is not like me; however, that thought has been part of my insides for quite a number of years. At least now I have said it and dispensed with it. And most importantly, I have you again.”
“You are right,” she agreed, “We have each other again. Somehow it seems that we belong with each other: everything seems so right when I am with you.
“Anyway,” she continued, “you have answered questions that had plagued me for years, and I am completely satisfied with your account of the source of my concern.”
Then she awarded him with the grandest smile and changed the subject, “Right now it’s about time we went downstairs to meet Frank and DiJana, so let’s get changed.”
“You’re right, time’s awaistin’ and the day is getting short,” he said. “I think I’ll just take off my tie and jacket and I’m ready to go. How about you?”
Bonnie was at a disadvantage because all her clothes were at Hank’s cousin’s house, she said, “I guess I don’t have much of a choice, unless you want to take me to Inkster to change. Are we going to stay here at the hotel?”
Hank said, “That would make the most sense. I don’t know where DiJana is staying, but I know Frank is staying here at the hotel, and of course, I’m here. Plus, they are serving dinner here later on this evening to close out the weekend ceremonies for our ‘birthday girl’ and her guests.”
Bonnie had a gleam in her eyes as she moved over to Hank and said, “If that’s the case, we can stay here in your room a little bit longer, can’t we.” Then she put her arms around him and gave him the sweetest kiss the world has ever known. He was smokin’!
As they continued to embrace, he caressed her hips and nibbled her ear, and then he said, “Why did you do that?”
Bonnie released him and stepped back as she looked in his eyes and said, “I know we have a date and we should be downstairs in the lobby right about now, but I just felt a tremendous urge to touch you and hold you and tell you I Love you. Is that alright with you?”
The look in her eyes was so soft and glowing, so sensuous and appealing, and so tantalizingly fresh that he nearly lost it. What he wanted to say was, “Forget about Frank and DiJana, let’s go cuddle from here to eternity.” Instead he said, “That’s more than alright with me,” as he stepped forward and they embraced again.
After a few minutes of silence he said, “You are an incredible woman. I had hoped, but I never really believed that I would see this day with you in my arms again. I feel so fortunate, and the satisfaction I feel right now… there is no way anyone could know how good I feel at this very moment.” Then he added, “We’d better get on downstairs now, because if we don’t do it now we will never get out of here.”
Bonnie said, “You’re right, let’s go.”
Chapter Seven
Getting To Know Them
When they arrived in the hotel lobby they saw DiJana, but Frank was nowhere in sight. They asked her if she had forgotten something, she smiled and said, “No, no. Frank got impatient and went to call your room. He’ll be back shortly… There he is now.”
“Well, excuuuse me.” Frank was smiling as he walked toward them, “Sorry to rain on your parade, big man!” Then he addressed Bonnie and said, “You actually put up with this guy, Bonnie? He’s always late, he smells bad, his hair needs combing, and on top of that he’s ugly!”
“And I Love him,” Bonnie smiled and grabbed Hank’s arm, “so lay off, you big bruiser.”
“Just kidding.” Frank walked over to DiJana and she moved toward him at the same time. They both put their arms around each other’s waist and he more or less addressed himself to her as well as Bonnie and Hank when he said, “What do you folks want to do? You want to go some place, or you want to stay here at the hotel?”
Hank said, “Bonnie and I had talked about maybe staying here at the hotel. They are serving supper sometime around six in the ballroom, and they want everyone to be there for the ‘birthday girl.’ I understand they are going to have another surprise for her. If we went anyplace else we would probably have to rush back here in order to make it on time.”
Hank looked at Frank and DiJana and they were nodding approval, so he continued, “You’ve got that big suite, so how about we order up some snacks and refreshments to your suite and the four of us just relax and get to know each other better. That sound Ok to everybody?”
Frank was the first to move toward the elevators as he said, “Sounds Ok to me. Let’s make it happen.”
When the elevator arrived, several people got off, however no one else got on except them. As soon as they began their ascent Frank asked if they had a preference of the kinds of snacks and refreshments to share. All agreed on cheese balls, sandwich wedges, soft drinks and a good wine.
As soon as they entered Frank’s suite, he walked to the phone and called the desk to order the “snack-tray.” The hotel had provided an excellent seating arrangement, it was as though they knew ahead of time their plans to just sit and chat.
Bonnie was the first to open the conversation, she said, “DiJana, you are a lovely woman, and your complexion is extraordinary. Hank said you are from Bulgaria, is that right?”
“Not quite. My parents immigrated to here from Bulgaria, but I was born her
e. As for my complexion, I always attribute it to my Bulgarian heritage. Many people ask me how I maintain such a marvelous tan, and actually it’s not a tan, it’s my natural un-tanned complexion.”
Frank ran his hand through her hair and pulled her closer to him, he said, “She is lovely isn’t she, and she’s tough too, both mentally and physically. This morning she ran me into the ground jogging over to the park and back, I thought I’d never make it, but she kept egging me on.”
DiJana smiled and sort of snuggled up to him even closer; then she leaned back, looked him in the eyes and said, “You did all right for yourself, young man. In fact, at your age, I thought you were phenomenal, if I may say so myself.”
“You may say so yourself,” said Frank, “but what does age have to do with it? I’m only sixty-eight, and I take care of myself, both mentally and physically. I am as virile and potent as many men half my age.”
The three of them said in unison, “But what does age have to do with it?”
Frank acknowledged their coup and said with a smile, “Touché, to each of you.” Then he said, “Bonnie, may I ask you a personal question?”
No one said anything, and Bonnie looked at Hank with a smile before she said, “Sure. I may not answer, but sure, you can ask me anything your little heart desires, Frank.”
Frank looked at Hank and then Bonnie and said, without further hesitation, “Anyone can see that you and Hank are more than just fond of each other, you are obviously really and truly in Love with each other. My question is, how long after you got to know each other before you slept together?”
Bonnie was quick to answer. Still smiling, she said, “I don’t know you well enough to answer that question, Frank. Apparently, you and Hank are extremely close or you wouldn’t even consider asking such a personal question of me. However, I’m not Hank and I believe it is inappropriate for me to answer that question at this time.”
End of the Rainbow : There Lies the Portrait of My Love Page 5