by KT Morrison
“Geoff…” she said and she touched her mouth as she stared at his work.
This was not childrens’ illustration. This wasn’t work for hire, this was real. This was her man. What appeared black from outside, now up close, was a moonlit landscape. A stormy sky, spiralling evergreens, snow, danger, infinite sky. Universe. Rugged, frightening Canada. A landscape she had never seen before but she knew it so well. It was widescreen, immense scale. It made her feel so small.
“My God, Geoff,” she said. Resisted the urge to hold him, supplicate herself to him in sorrow for the thing she had done to him. He’d healed without her. She didn’t need to dwell in the past, claw him back to the darkest of times. “It’s incredible. I mean it,” she said, looking above her as the painting loomed. “It is. It’s incredible.”
He was behind her, his body so close, and she wanted to fall back on him and feel his arms hold her.
“Thank you. These have been good for me.”
“You did more than this one?”
“Mm-hmm,” he said, pulling his beanie off and throwing it over the back of the couch, smoothing back his thick hair.
“What do you do with them?”
“Sell them. I have a gallery in New York that takes them. That’s why I was there.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Krista, from Sparrow House? Krista Falkenberg? She got me representation.”
He nudged her with his elbow, she saw him smile over her shoulder. He said, “Laetitia Lily bought one. Posted it on her instagram...”
“She did?” she laughed.
“Yeah,” he laughed. “I do them for myself still. They’re for me, but I...I’m...I don’t know...”
“In demand?”
He chuckled warmly, closed his eyes. “Yes. I’m in demand.”
“I’ve never seen anything like it, Geoff.”
“Mom, Mom,” Odie was calling her, “Come see my room...”
“Go,” he said to her and he touched her, his hand going over her shoulder.
She kicked her loafers off in the doorway, Odie waved to her with youthful enthusiasm, one arm clutched around the crystal rock her father found for her. She went with her daughter, Odie taking her hand and leading her into her bedroom. It was done in aqua blues and then the walls took a deeper, darker blue lower to the floor. Like they were under water. The pictographs Geoff had picked up at the AMNH for her were framed and arranged on her walls. Her bedsheets were crustaceans, she had a stuffed crab as a pillow. Nia laughed.
“What?” Odie said.
“It’s a nice room, O.”
“Help me,” she said, holding the rock to her chest between her hands. “Can you put it up on the top shelf, at the far right, and then lean my books on it?”
“Sure, baby.” She took the heavy rock from her and arranged it how she was instructed, smiling at the shelves while her daughter, hummed and hawed about the final result. When they had it right, Odie took her hand and she led her out to the kitchen. Nia paused at the doorway to the third bedroom. The one Geoff suggested they could fill with another life.
“Hold up,” she said to Odie. She leaned on the jamb and looked in the dim room. It was an office right now. A dim unused space of leftovers, put together as a place for Geoff to try and keep on top of his administration.
“Mom, come on,” Odie tugged her.
“I know, O, I know,” she laughed.
Odie brought her back to the kitchen, skipping and hopping but not travelling any faster than Nia was. “Mom, take your coat off, stay and have a cocoa with me.”
“Is that okay with you, Geoff?”
Geoff was walking around the other side of the island to the sink, the snowy lake beyond him. He frowned, and laughed, turned the water on in the sink and filled a kettle. “Of course,” he said. “Coffees. Hot chocolate for O.”
“I’ll take a hot chocolate too,” Nia said.
“Not a coffee?”
“Hot chocolate, please, like my little girl.”
“With milk, Dad,” Odie said.
“I know how to make your hot chocolate, O,” he said into the drawer under the oven as he pulled out a saucepan. He put it on the stove and filled it with milk from the fridge, turned the burner on.
She took her coat off and draped it over the stool on her side of the island. She was showing. Far enough along that her belly was quite round. She bit her lip as Geoff shuffled the pot and the milk started to steam. Odie went and moved a stool next to her mom, climbed up and sat with her elbows on the marble watching her dad. When he turned he saw Nia’s bump. His eyes lingered, then he sighed and he put his elbows on the counter and wrung his hands together. He looked into her eyes. She let her lip go, let it pop back out.
He cleared his throat, looked out the window at the storm. When he turned back he said, “It’s getting late, Nia.”
“I know,” she said, looking out now too as the snow picked up.
“You should stay for dinner.”
“Yeah, Mom!” Odie gasped, and she made a long and strange look of surprise, turning from dad then to mom and back. “Stay, mom...”
“Are you sure?” she asked him.
“I want you to stay for dinner.”
“I’d like that, Geoff.”
“Good,” he said. “Breakfast for dinner?”
“Yes, ple-ease,” Odie sang.
He turned to Nia, said, “There’s a farm down the road where I get the eggs. You have to try these.”
“I can’t wait,” she said and she hoisted herself up to the stool and she put her elbows on the counter across from her remarkable husband.
He kept her eyes, said, “O?”
“Yeah?” she said, sliding her tablet over.
“You go get Pippet? She didn’t come in.”
“Where’s she going to go? It’s an island...”
“Just go find her, please,” he smiled.
“Fine,” she gasped, slipping down. He kept Nia’s eyes while Odie pulled her warm clothes back on, and slipped into her boots.
“O, don’t go near that water.”
“Please, Dad? I was going to go swimming,” she said, pulling her toque down to her eyebrows, fuzzy pop-pom wiggling on top of her head.
“No swimming.”
“It’s so nice out, Dad, it would be so refreshing, can’t believe you won’t let me go swimming on such a beautiful day...” she mumbled with eye-rolling exasperation as she slipped outside and into the cold.
“She’s going to be a handful.”
“She’s a good kid,” he said.
Nia let her smile fall and she said, “She’s the best kid.”
He was quiet as he poured himself a coffee on the counter in front of her and she breathed in that wonderful caffeine. He turned and stirred the steaming milk while her hand slipped under her, easing along the folds of the coat she was sitting on and finding the seam of her pocket.
She’d thought, when he invited her for dinner, she might like to do this over dessert. Maybe when it was dark and they were lit by candlelight. She couldn’t wait another minute. She’d almost died today. A Jeep had scraped to a stop a foot from her as she clutched her daughter, turned to take the impact that probably wouldn’t have saved her anyway.
She found her treasure. Two sheets of paper. She took them out while Geoff’s back was turned to her at the stove and she flattened them out with the palm of one hand using the point of a finger to hold them in place while she made them presentable. One sheet was pristine. New paper, folded in three like it had arrived from the mail when she opened it a week ago. The other a little worse for wear. Tomato-stained and stitched together with Scotch Tape. Nine roughly torn fragments of paper pieced together telling quite an uplifting story.
That little girl playing with the black and white dog right now on the snowy beach was half Giannoppoulous. Half of that breathtaking little girl was Greek the other half was vague white European. She was Kane. She had zero Dragonieri in her. Odie was Geoff�
�s daughter. She was chock full of her daddy’s sweet goodness, his artistic spirit, his unlimited kindness. The universe was looking out for Odie like it looked out for her father.
Underneath that, the story told on the pristine sheet was a stranger one. A real Twilight Zone episode.
When she learned that Odie was Geoff’s she tempted fate one more time. The odds were impossible but she rolled those bones for a Natural. Two for two. That bright kicking life in her belly was Geoff’s as well.
She took a deep breath and she lifted his coffee cup and slid her gift to him underneath.
Greatest gift she could give Geoff was the truth. If it was good. She’d never tell him if it was bad. She would bury it deep inside her. It would have killed her to find out Odie was Dino’s, but she owed Geoff the truth. If she could gather the courage to face her suffering if it wasn’t the result she hoped. She couldn’t be selfish anymore. So she went away for a month. Got the fuck out of the same four walls. Got out of Canada. Sat in a resort in Myrtle Beach and got sun and drank water and ate healthy food. Treated herself and her growing baby right. Thought a lot about who she was.
Every night she would sit with Angie’s shredded remnants. A shoe-box filled with torn bits of letter and envelope fished from her garbage. Each night she got closer to doing what she had to do. It took three weeks. Then one night, presented with the scraps, all her trepidation was gone. Like she had caught it sleeping. Grabbing some z’s at its post after a long night of drinking, cap tilted over its eyes, feet crossed while it leaned back in its chair. The envelope didn’t scare her anymore. If Odele was Dino’s she would swallow it. Keep it hidden deep inside. She would learn the truth for Geoff.
Once decided, her shaking hands had scrambled through the box looking for an answer. Found it. Geoff was her daughter’s father. She cried. Then she screamed with joy. She laughed and cackled, lay on the floor and beat her bare feet on it, shaking her head and clapping her hands. Some asshole called Management. Fuck em. She was learning her lesson. Enjoying it. Glad to have it taught to her.
Maria never taught her a lesson. You could bang her head against the floor til she was dead it wouldn’t teach her a thing. Losing Geoff was her lesson. It had taught her everything she needed. She couldn’t have everything. Who the fuck did she think she was? So fucking selfish. Because she was pretty and she was sexy she was owed everything under the sun...
She would earn Geoff. Earn him back.
She could do without men like Rocco and Dino. She could go without sex with men like that. She could never do without Geoff. She could never give up his kindness, compassion, and love. If she could only have one man she would choose her Geoff one hundred times out of a hundred.
Now the universe was watching out for her. Giving her a second chance. Some of Geoff’s gifts transferring. She was bad. But the calamity wrought on them was pulled back. There were no permanent consequences to her infidelity. It was merely a warning. One she would heed forever. She had lied to her husband but the ultimate truth was she had lied because she loved Geoff and she cared about him. Not to deceive, but to protect.
Geoff worked at the stove, getting out cocoa and sugar. Preparing something amazing, she was sure, for his wife and daughter. Her hands clasped together, pressed to her cheek as she watched. She roared inside, I want to be good again, Geoff! Make me good again! Change me back! You made me better!
She whispered, “God, Geoff, all I ever wish was I was good enough for you.”
He turned, said, “Did you say something?”
She shook her head and smiled wide, her teeth clamped on her thumbnail pressed in her mouth.
He came to her, his eyes on hers. He drew happiness out of her. An almost overwhelming feeling that swelled her eyes. He pulled a stool close, the felt on its legs not making a sound against the warm tile. He sat next to her, facing her, his elbow on the counter. His coffee cup at his elbow. His release at his elbow. It got her chuckling.
“What?” he said. “What’s going on with you?”
She laughed, a tear crossing her cheek. She wiped her face with her hands and sniffed. “Ah, ha ha,” nothing she said, an another chuckle burst from her.
He looked good. He smelled good. His shock of sandy hair, messy and long, pushed back from his face. A flannel shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hand opened and she watched it, her bottom lip pulling under her teeth.
It settled on her round belly, the two of them looking where they touched. She put her hand over his. When she looked up his eyes were on hers again. They stared, wet and trembling, listening to each other breathe. He leaned in, his eyes turned down and she soared. Soared up a fuckin mountain. He kissed her. His lips soft, damp, they pressed her and her heart swelled painfully inside her, pushed the breath right out of her. She gasped into his kiss.
He pulled away, licked his lips and his blues roamed her face. He smiled.
Both his elbows went up and onto the counter and he sighed happily, watched out the window as their daughter played with their dog in the snow. They could live on this island. Their dream island. They could live here where no one could get them. just Geoff and Nia and the two babies that were entirely theirs. He took a sip of his coffee without looking down.
Jesus, Geoff.
“Wow, that snow is really coming down now,” he said, his elbow on the sheets of paper, coffee cup held in his gentle hand.
She laughed again, covered her mouth.
He turned to her and frowned, and she straightened her face up as best she could.
He said, “I don’t think you should go home tonight.”
“The roads?”
“Mm,” he sounded, his beard pulling up on one side with a gentle smirk.
“Stay here?” she sighed.
He said, “It’s for the best. I don’t want you out there.”
“I’d like that too.”
She took his warm artist’s hand between hers, the papers crinkling under him. His hands vibrated with his strength, his devotion. She stared in his eyes and fell deeper in love while the pot on the stove came to a roiling boil.
The End
Afterword
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Other Books by KT Morrison
MAGGIE Series
Tempting Maggie
Sharing Maggie
Secret Maggie
Exploring Maggie
Discovering Maggie
Max is a fourth year Government and Policy student engaged to wed the love of his life.
Maggie is a fourth year Art student and she can’t wait for the summer to come so she can finally tie the knot with the guy she fell in love with when they were Freshmen.
They’ve been together four years at their prestigious private college nestled in the Green Mountains of Vermont. This is the year they’ll graduate and set out into the world together as a couple.
But Maggie is surprised to find her desires set on fire by a gorgeous new figure model. She thinks she’d never cheat but she can’t stop thinking about him.
When Max learns her secret he’s crushed. It tears down everything he knows about her. But in the rubble he finds something shining: excitement.
Now, if he could just convince her it’s okay…
Learning Lessons
A Losing His Wife Novel
This long series is now one novel! A 160,000 word cuckold tragedy…
Pete and Jess Mapplethorpe have been married for seven years now. They’ve got two wonderful little boys and an Irish Setter. Everyone that knows them would say they are the nicest couple you’d want to meet.
Well, they might say that Pete can be a bit of a jerk sometimes—but Jess? Regional Grade Three teacher of the year, three years running. Pretty, polite, sensitive, kind and thoughtful…
It must have been black magic that b
rought them together…
Behind closed doors everyone would be shocked at what goes on. They’d never believe the dirty things that sweet Jess might do or say. Pete doesn’t think he has what it takes to please his beautiful wife and they fantasize about larger men taking her and making her happy.
She’s just starting to discover herself at thirty-five… She wants to make up for lost time.
They’ve found a handsome, well-built young man to play along. It’s better than they even imagined. Now that they’ve started will she be able to stop? What if she doesn’t want to?
Her husband loves enduring distressing levels of humiliation and she’s finding a crazy pleasure now in delivering it…
Losing His Wife 2 Series
Losing His Wife 2: Box 1
Losing His Wife 2: Box 2
Losing His Wife 2: Box 3
Geoff J. Kane is a successful children’s book illustrator. Ten years ago he married the girl of his dreams. She’d been his best friend and he’d helped her through tough relationships and gave her his shoulder to cry on many nights. Then after two years, she kissed him. Now they’re married and they’ve got a beautiful seven-year-old daughter.
Nia Kane was a wild one. She liked to have fun and she liked to cause trouble. Everything she did, in the end, blew up in her face, hurt her. One night she realized the best man in her life was sitting with her, telling her it was all going to be okay. She kissed him and it was wonderful and he’s always good to her.
Their daughter is growing up, she’s away at school now and it seems like it might be a good idea for Nia to return to the workforce. The city isn’t getting any cheaper. She gets a job offer from an old friend. The brother of her very hot ex-boyfriend. She cried on her husband’s shoulder a lot over this guy, back when Geoff was just her buddy.