by Beth Rinyu
Chapter 37
___________________
Rose
WITH EACH PASSING DAY, Alex and I were growing closer. This was all so new and exciting to me and at the same time scary. I tried to keep Aunt Kate’s advice in the back of my mind when I’d feel myself falling a little deeper, but it was hard. The days turned into weeks and in those weeks, my feelings were turning into so much more. We never came out and said anything to our coworkers, but I was pretty certain most of them had guessed it but were keeping quiet about it. The only people who were bold enough to ask were Lucy and Marisa, and I couldn’t be anything but honest with them about it.
William was still hanging in there, and Audra was making frequent trips up to visit, which made my heart happy. He finally seemed at peace, like the part of him that had been missing for so long was finally found, and I was so happy to have been a part of that discovery.
I had a big night ahead. In addition to it being my birthday, my parents had flown in to celebrate with me, and Alex was going to be meeting them for the first time. I wasn’t sure why I was such a bundle of nerves over it. I knew without a doubt, they’d approve of him. After all, he was the first guy I’d ever been with that they were meeting. That alone earned him some points. After getting myself together, I ventured to the other guest bedroom in my aunt’s place that my mom and dad were staying in.
“Hey.” I tapped lightly on the door, watching my mother as she dabbed some powder on her nose.
“How do I look?” my father asked.
I stood on my tippy toes and adjusted his tie.
“Handsome as ever.”
He leaned down and planted a kiss on my forehead. “And you look beautiful, my darling daughter.”
“Charles, you promised no work calls this weekend,” my mother scolded when my father’s phone began to ring.
“I know, this will only be a second.” He ran out of the room with his phone in hand before my mother could protest.
“Nice to see things haven’t changed since I’ve been gone.” I smiled at my mother.
She waved her hand, dismissing my father’s workaholic attitude she’d grown so accustomed to. “I wish I could do something with this hair,” she complained as she ran a brush through her shoulder-length locks.
“Want some help?” I asked.
“That would be wonderful!”
I bent over and plugged in her curling iron. She took a seat on the bed, and I sat down next to her as we waited for it to heat up.
“I’m really excited to meet this special guy in your life.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty excited for you guys to meet him too.”
“My beautiful girl is finally in love.” She smiled and took my hand.
“Why does everyone keep saying that?”
“Wishful thinking, I guess.” She shrugged.
“I like him a lot, I really do, oddly enough, if you could have seen how much we hated each other when we first met.” I laughed and shook my head, remembering all the times Alex and I would go at it, but maybe that was a defense mechanism on both our parts to mask how we were really feeling about each other.
“They’re the best kind of love stories. Like anything in life, it’s more special when you work for it, especially when it comes to love, because then you’ll appreciate what you have together even more.”
I stood up and tapped the curling iron with my fingertip. “Did you have to work for Daddy’s love?” I asked as I wrapped a strand of her hair around the barrel.
She let out a loud laugh. “No, quite the opposite. He had to work for me.”
“Really?” I looked down at her and grinned.
“That’s not to say we didn’t have to work for each other after we were married.”
“What do you mean?” I removed the curling iron from her hair and backed away in alarm. The thought of my parents having anything less than a perfect marriage scared me half to death.
“Nothing of concern, Rose. Just normal things married couples go through, but it only made us stronger and where we are today.”
I couldn’t help but think of Alex’s mother and the confession she had made to me about her husband’s affair. What if my dad had cheated on my mom, and I never knew about it? I’d be devastated. Could that have been one of the things they’d gone through in their marriage? “Are you sure?” My voice cracked with emotion just thinking about it.
“Rose, honey, you’re getting yourself upset over nothing. I promise you, our marriage is rock-solid. Now will you please finish doing my hair?”
I nodded, and our eyes caught each other’s. She flashed me a caring smile, the kind she’d displayed my whole life whenever she knew I was worried over something, the kind that would let me know everything was going to be all right. Funny how when you’re eight years old such a tiny facial expression could put your mind at ease—at twenty-five years old not so much.
***
My heart fluttered when I caught a glimpse of Alex and his uncle entering the restaurant. I glanced at Aunt Kate and her reaction seemed to be the same as mine. “Hey there!” I greeted as they stepped into the bar area where we were waiting.
“Henry! So good to see you!” My father stood up and pulled Mr. Andrews into an embrace while patting him on the back.
“You, too, my friend,” he replied, then leaned over and greeted my mother with a kiss on her cheek.
I gripped Alex’s hand in preparation for the big introduction. I had never been so nervous in my life. “Mom, Dad…this is Alex.”
My mother was grinning from ear to ear, looking like she almost wanted to cry from happiness.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Alex.” My father greeted Alex with a firm handshake.
“And you as well, Mr. Perkins,” Alex responded.
“Please call me Charles.”
“Hi, Alex, I’m Linda.”
“Hello.” Alex smiled and gently took my mother’s hand.
I smiled inwardly after catching the peck on the cheek Mr. Andrews had given to my aunt. Alex squeezed my hand and shook his head, somehow reading my thoughts.
“What can I get you two gentlemen to drink?” my father asked.
After a few pre-dinner cocktails we took our seats at the table.
“No, Dad.” I redirected him just as he was about to take the empty seat next to Aunt Kate that I had purposely left vacant for Mr. Andrews. He looked at me strangely, taking the seat on the other side of my mother instead.
“So, Alex, how has your father been? I haven’t seen him in years,” my father asked.
I creased my eyebrows in confusion. I knew my father was good friends with Alex’s uncle, but not his father.
“He’s doing well,” Alex responded.
“Dad, I didn’t know you knew Alex’s father.”
“Yeah, we all go way back,” Mr. Andrews replied.
That was good to know. Maybe my parents could provide some insight into the history between Mr. Andrews and my aunt.
“I’m surprised you didn’t follow in your old man’s footsteps and practice law,” my father remarked as he looked over the menu.
Alex’s posture stiffened at my father’s words.
“Yeah, well, not everyone has it in them to be as cutthroat as my brother.” Mr. Andrews rushed to Alex’s defense, obviously sensing his discomfort over the topic.
“He’s damn good at what he does, that’s for sure,” my father replied.
“That he is,” Mr. Andrews muttered.
My father raised his glass. “To old friends, to Rose’s new friend, and to a very happy birthday to my little girl.”
I went along with the toast but was wishing they would stop making such a big fuss over Alex and me. The last thing I wanted was for him to feel like he was being pushed into something neither of us may have been ready for. He reached for my hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze, erasing all my doubts but fueling a new set of worries. For the first time ever, I felt like I was in a real relation
ship, and I was scared to death of losing my heart if it ended badly.
Chapter 38
___________________
Alex
“THAT WAS A LOT more fun than going to some boring old jazz club with them, don’t you think?” Rose asked as we lay in my bed with our naked bodies intertwined.
“You’re the birthday girl, so whatever you want…but yeah, I’m in total agreement, a lot more fun.”
She smiled and kissed my chest.
“Oh, speaking of your birthday.” I got out of bed and slipped on my boxers, walking over to the dresser drawer where I had her present. “This is for you.” I placed the box on the bed, and her emotion-filled eyes widened in surprise.
“Alex, really. You didn’t have to do this.” She seemed genuinely shocked and almost terrified that I had acknowledged her birthday with a present. She clearly wasn’t lying when she said she had never been in a real relationship with a guy before, if this was the way she acted when she received a present.
“Okay…maybe I did it because it’s your birthday, and I wanted to. And if it makes you feel any better, consider it an apology for being such a dick to you when we first met.”
“I-I…” Her voice shook along with her hands as she stared down at the box.
“Will you just open it, please?”
She nodded, still a little hesitant, like she was unwrapping a bomb instead of a present. She carefully removed the paper, and her eyes filled up with tears. Obviously that blue box from Tiffany’s was instantly recognizable to her. “Alex…why?”
“You didn’t see what it is. You may not even like it.”
She slowly lifted the lid and caught her breath when she gazed down at the earrings inside and tried to hold back a sob.
“If you don’t like them you can take them back...you don’t have to cry about it,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
She feverishly shook her head, wiping her tear-soaked face with the back of her hand. “No one…” She tried her hardest to pull it together. “No one has ever done anything like this for me before…they are absolutely beautiful.”
I knew what she meant by no one—no guy. I didn’t understand her. For someone who seemed to have their expectations set so high when it came to men, she sure didn’t expect much from them. Her hands were still trembling as she took the earrings out of the box and put them in her ears. She hopped out of bed and stood in front of the mirror, lifting her hair from her face to get a closer look at her ears.
“I love them.” Her voice faltered. As she turned back around, I couldn’t stop my eyes from moving up and down the perfection of her naked body. Moving closer, she stood over me and lowered her lips to mine. “Thank you so much,” she said as my hands moved up her back.
I pulled her down on the bed next to me, and we lay down together. With her back pressed against me, I drew her closer, feeling so at ease as her fingertips gently glided up and down my arm that was tightly wrapped around her.
“Alex,” she whispered.
“Hmm,” I replied, half asleep.
She turned around to face me, and I opened my eyes. “That day when we were stuck in the elevator playing icebreaker. Do you remember the doors came open before I could tell you what my lie was?”
“Yeah.” Sometimes, she’d come out with the most random things. I fought my tired eyes, willing myself to stay awake long enough to listen to what she had to say.
“I love Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I hate lemon meringue pie…and my biggest fear is having my heart broken.”
My ears perked up and my eyes opened a little wider.
“There, I said it.” She let out a relieved sigh.
“Why are you saying it now? Is that what you’re afraid is going to happen?”
She nodded and for the first time since I’d known her, she seemed so weak and vulnerable. “It’s just…I mean, I know we never established exactly how we’d classify what we have together. But…” She paused and let out a frustrated breath. “I don’t want to say the wrong thing because I don’t want to freak you out.”
“I’m not freaked out.”
“That’s because you don’t even know what I’m gonna say.”
“You feel like we’ve gotten past the point of casual and moved on to something more serious. So, if you’re asking me if I’ll ever break your heart, I don’t like to make promises I’m not a hundred percent sure I can’t keep.”
She looked away, and I placed my hand under her chin, redirecting her gaze back to me.
“The same way you can’t promise me you’ll never break mine. We can’t see the future.”
“I would never—”
I placed my finger over her lips to stop her. “Things can change in the blink of an eye. Things we never saw coming. I’d like to think that everything will be perfect, but I know firsthand sometimes life doesn’t work out that way.”
Her big brown eyes were full of emotion as she stared at me intently.
“But I will tell you this…I promise I’ll do everything I can to try and never hurt you, and I hope you’ll do the same.”
“I promise,” she whispered, tracing her finger over the scar just underneath my eye. The scar that would always be a reminder to me of just how much life could change.
My body tensed up, hoping she wouldn’t ask any questions about it. That was a part of my life I still wasn’t ready to share with her, just like my prior marriage was. So many things I had yet to reveal, and I knew if I was going to make good on my promise to her, I was going to have to tell her everything. But for now, I didn’t want to dwell on the past or worry about the future. Instead, I wanted to enjoy the present with my arms wrapped around this beautiful woman I once lived to hate and who now with each passing day, I found myself hating the thought of living without.
Chapter 39
___________________
Rose
ANOTHER MONTH HAD PASSED, and Alex and I were still going strong. I tried my hardest to take it slow, but it was so difficult when I wanted to be with him more and more. I was spending a lot of nights at his place and pretty much everyone at work knew what was going on. Still, we didn’t flaunt it at the office. Outside of work when we’d get together with coworkers was a different story.
Lucy and Declan were also still hitting it off, and I was pretty certain theirs would be another one of my success stories. I had become Marisa’s pregnancy person. I was so ecstatic when she invited me to her first ultrasound appointment. It was the first time I’d ever witnessed anything like that, and it truly was a miracle. I was even more honored when she asked me to be her Lamaze coach. The thought of it was a little nerve-wracking, but I was taking the job very seriously, reading up on everything I could about pregnancy and attending Lamaze classes with her as the time got closer.
Everything in my life was falling into place. I’d opened up to Alex about my dream of one day owning my own clothing boutique and my quest to become more independent. He aided me with taking my first baby step to reaching that goal by helping me get my first credit card that wasn’t in my father’s name. Little by little, I’d prove to my father I could do this on my own. Funny how this wasn’t my intention when I first came to New York, but thanks to Lucy, Marisa, and most of all, Alex, I was starting to see things so much differently.
As expected, William’s health was deteriorating. It was so sad to watch it happen, but he seemed to be at peace. Audra was a permanent part of his life, spending all her free time up here and allowing him the opportunity to finally meet his grandson. Alex and I continued to help out when she wasn’t around. Sadly, I couldn’t help but wonder how much longer before he would be back in the hospital for good.
Alex and I never talked about the past, and we rarely planned for the future. I kind of liked living in the present and enjoying the here and now, but at the same time, I was hoping he would have opened up a little over some of the things his mother had let slip out to me. But he was like a closed book where that was concern
ed, and I didn’t want to open any of those pages with my questions and potentially piss him off. The only time he vaguely mentioned it to me was when he told me how he’d gone back to school to obtain his bachelor’s degree after he’d gotten out of the military.
There was no doubt he was a brilliant guy, and part of me was lost in that same wonderment as my dad the night when he questioned him about not following in his father’s footsteps. But after breaking down those initial layers of his personality, I had learned Alex was a very stoic guy, who stood up for what he believed in strongly. So, it didn’t surprise me he’d do something as honorable as forgoing the college life to serve his country. I just wished he felt comfortable enough to share some of his experiences with me. After a little perseverance on my part he was taking his education further by taking some evening and online courses to obtain his master’s degree.
“Did you know right now Marisa’s baby is about six inches long and weighs about four ounces?” I looked at Alex as we sat in bed. Me reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting and him studying for an exam.
“Wow, that’s interesting,” he teased, clearly having no interest in pregnancy talk.
My smile broadened, and I was unable to look away from him. How had we gotten to this place? Just a few months ago, we were at each other’s throats. Now here we were sitting in bed like an old married couple.
“What?” he asked, taking his attention from his reading material as I continued to gaze at him.
“Nothing. You just look really cute when you wear your glasses.”
“Cute or sexy?” He pressed his forehead into mine.
“Hmm…maybe a little of both.”