She squealed in excitement. ‘Aw. While I’ve been here having contractions you’ve been out there having all the fun.’
‘But wait there’s more…’
‘Tell me, tell me.’
‘It’s about the wedding,’ I said.
‘Did it happen?’
I nodded my head gravely. ‘I got there too late to stop it.’
‘Why aren’t you devastated?’ she asked sympathetically.
‘It wasn’t real,’ I said.
‘Not real?’ she asked in confusion.
‘Nope. Fake. A radio stunt.’
‘Oh my God. That’s great. But, if it was a fake, why didn’t he ring you?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. I felt my good mood evaporating slightly, but then I remembered the two missed calls and the magazine article in my bag.
‘But look at this,’ I said pulling the copy of Travel Abroad out and handing it to her.
‘Romantic Rajasthan,’ she read. ‘That’s a beautiful photo.’
‘Look closer,’ I said.
‘Is that you?’
‘Uhuh.’
‘So this article is about you?’
‘Sort of. It’s about finding romance in the middle of India,’ I said.
She looked for a minute like she was having another contraction, but then I realised she was crying. ‘It’s the hormones,’ she explained. ‘They make me so emotional. I’m really happy for you, honey.’
‘Is that why you’re crying?’
‘Tears of joy.’
And then she did have another contraction.
It was the wee hours of the morning by the time I finally got home. Bad Bunny was happy to see me and hopped straight to the fridge, where he sat thumping his back foot impatiently until I got his dinner. We sat on the couch together while I had a cup of tea and scratched his furry belly.
Lil had been amazing. She said it helped that all her muscles had been stretched by the six previous labours, but it was still awe-inspiring watching her give birth. To think that she had created life – that this tiny being had grown from a single cell inside her. It really was miraculous. Maybe it was the lack of sleep or the day’s events finally catching up with me, but I had wept as I watched the dark head, followed by the perfect little body, emerge from within her; so tiny, so pretty, so delicate. She had reached out her little fist and clasped my finger while she stretched and yawned. I had been instantly captivated and it had reawakened my own yearnings for a child that I had repressed all those years ago.
‘There’s no hurry,’ I said to Bad Bunny as I put him to bed with his teddy bear. He promptly mounted the bear and began to hump him.
‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,’ I told them drowsily as I drifted off to sleep.
* * *
The phone woke me the next day. It was Elaine. ‘Quick, get up and put on Channel 7,’ she barked down the phone.
‘Good morning to you too,’ I said, as I crawled out of bed and flicked on the television. I stopped talking when I saw Matt being interviewed. I felt my breath catch in my throat at the sight of him, and could feel a tingle on my cheek where he had brushed his lips yesterday.
‘And so you just came back from India?’ the reporter asked him.
‘Yes, I only arrived back a couple of days ago.’
‘That’s weird,’ I said to Elaine, ‘we got back weeks ago.’
‘Well, actually I got back weeks ago,’ he continued, ‘but then got asked to go back and write an article on Mumbai after the terrorist attacks. I’ve been helping with the rebuilding, and I wanted to check on two special little orphans.’
‘So he was in India the whole time,’ Elaine said to me.
‘That would account for the bad phone reception.’
Just then my mobile phone rang. It was Nat. ‘Are you watching the tele?’
‘Yep. Elaine beat you to it.’
I sat on the couch with a phone pressed to each ear while the interview continued.
‘And your latest article – Romantic Rajasthan, I’m guessing that’s about someone special to you?’
‘This guy’s a regular rocket scientist,’ said Elaine.
‘Yes, very special,’ replied Matt.
Nat and Elaine both squealed into my ears.
‘Hang on,’ said Nat, ‘my mobile’s ringing.’ Her voice went muffled as she said, ‘Hello,’ then she was back. ‘It’s Dinah.’
‘And can you tell us the name of this special woman?’ the interviewer continued.
‘Not at the moment, no,’ said Matt.
‘Did she know about the radio wedding competition?’
‘Unfortunately I had been signed into a secrecy contract before I even met her. So no, she didn’t know.’
‘I’m guessing that didn’t go down too well,’ said the interviewer.
‘Not really.’ Matt smiled.
‘Will you be seeing her again?’
‘Hopefully really soon I’ll get the chance to take her out to dinner and explain the whole thing.’
There was a knock at my door.
‘There’s someone at my door,’ I told Elaine and Nat.
‘There’s someone at her door,’ I heard Nat tell Dinah.
‘Answer it,’ said Elaine.
I backed to the door not wanting to miss any of the interview. Christ, I hoped they weren’t about to show footage of me with a swollen tongue, or mention my relationship to Jake.
I stuck one phone under my chin and opened the door. Matt was standing there with a bunch of flowers in one hand and my missing reef sandals in the other.
‘My shoes,’ I said, ‘they turned up.’
‘Not quite the initial response I was hoping for,’ he said.
I looked from him to the television with a confused expression on my face.
‘It was filmed yesterday,’ he said. ‘I called in a favour.’
‘She’s opened the door,’ said Nat to Dinah.
‘Who is it?’ I could hear Elaine asking.
‘Tara, what’s going on?’ asked Nat.
‘Excuse me for one moment,’ I said politely to Matt.
‘It’s Matt. At the door now,’ I hissed into the phones. ‘Gotta go.’ I hung up on both of them and stuck the phones in my pockets.
‘Sorry about that,’ I said.
‘Quite all right,’ he said, and then nodded towards the television. ‘So how about it?’
‘How about what?’ I asked stupidly.
‘Dinner, to let me explain, and to say I’m sorry for putting you through that.’
‘Do I have to wait that long?’ I asked.
‘For an explanation or for the apology?’
‘No silly, for a kiss.’
He smiled a sexy, slightly-relieved smile. ‘So I don’t even need to grovel?’
‘Grovel if you want. But can you do it really quickly so we can get to the kiss and makeup part. That’s my favourite.’
‘Mine too,’ he said as he pulled me into his arms. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘S okay’ I mumbled as I buried my head in his chest and sucked back a few sniffles that were attempting to break free. ‘I should have trusted you.’
‘I should have told you, but I was signed into a confidentiality contract, and to be honest, when I was with you I totally forgot about it. I never wanted to do it, but I owed my mate – who’s the station producer – a favour. Ratings have been a little low, and he thought this would help.’
He pulled back a little and studied my face. ‘How’s your mouth?’ he asked me.
‘Perfect, why?’
‘It’s just that I don’t want to hurt you,’ he said.
‘I’m going to hurt you if you don’t get on with it.’
He laughed his wonderful full-bodied laugh and said, ‘I’ve missed you so much.’
And then he kissed me – a deep, long kiss that went on and on as we pulled each other closer and closer. Eventually, he broke away and I smiled up at him with what I am sure was a dazed
expression on my face.
‘Ahhh, Tara,’ he said.
‘Hmmmmmm,’ I said dreamily.
‘There seems to be something attached to my foot.’
I looked down to see Bad Bunny with his front paws wrapped around Matt’s ankle. He was giving the tip of his shoe a right ol’ rogering.
I reached down and scooped him up. ‘Free shoe shine with every visit,’ I said. ‘Would you like the other one done?’
‘Maybe later,’ he laughed, ‘but right now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to shine your shoes.’
‘Be my guest,’ I said, opening up my door a little wider. ‘You know how much I love my shoes.’
9
18 Months Later
I gazed at my reflection in the mirror. My hair – now shoulder length – was piled on top of my head in curls. There were little diamantes sprinkled through them. Tristan had out done himself. My makeup was perfect, my gown was beautiful, and I wasn’t even nervous. I turned to Nat.
‘You look gorgeous, ‘ she said in a slightly teary voice.
‘And you,’ I said, ‘look so ravishing that I doubt Ricardo is going to make it through the vows before he kisses you.’
She blushed a deep shade of red. ‘I can’t believe I’m getting married.’
‘I know. I can’t believe how much has happened in the last year and a half.’
Nat’s Mum entered the room. ‘They’re ready dear,’ she said, kissing her carefully on the cheek. Nat’s Dad hovered behind her Mum, looking emotional.
We looked at each other, both trying not to cry, and then the music commenced and I was walking down the aisle, with Nat and her Dad behind me. I could see Ricardo standing at the altar – looking gorgeous of course. He was obviously nervous because he was playing with his bow tie.
Right next to him was Matt. My Matt. Looking extremely yummy in his suit.
I was still shocked by the intensity of my desire for him. Seeing him standing there, I just wanted to rip off his suit and have my wicked way with him. I’m sure the minister would not approve at all. Maybe I had been spending too much time with Bad Bunny, who had finally managed to wear out teddy beyond my abilities to repair. I had bought him a stuffed black rabbit, Bonny, whom he was crazy about.
I could see Elaine snivelling around a tissue she was holding up to her eyes in an attempt to catch the tears before they ruined her makeup. Her left hand, with its simple wedding band, lay across her bulging belly. She and Alistair were expecting twins in only eight weeks. Benny was in for a huge shock.
Next to them were Dinah and Gloria, still madly in love. They had bought a house together, which my Mum had happily filled with psychologically deranged animals.
I could see my Mum and Dad in their best outfits. Dad hadn’t even complained once about having to get suited up for the wedding. They were sitting over on the groom’s side. When I had asked why they had decided to sit there, Mum had informed me that they had wanted Ricardo to feel that he had some family here. Nat had cried when I told her.
Tristan was sitting next to Dinah and Gloria with his new boyfriend, Richard. They had been together for nearly a year now and we had high hopes for the two of them.
Matt and I were off tomorrow on a month long holiday. We were doing a camel camping trek in Morocco, which Matt assured me I would love. (I wasn’t so sure about the whole camel thing, what with all the spitting and everything. It had disaster written all over it.) From there we were heading to Spain for ten days before finally meeting up with Nat and Ricardo on their honeymoon in the Greek Islands.
I had packed plenty of spare shoes.
****** THE END ******
Thank You
Thank you for reading The Seven Steps to Closure. If you liked my story I would love for you to give me the gift of a review on the site you purchased it. It doesn’t have to be gushy or flowery or even very long; I just ask that it is honest and fair. Thank you so much for your generosity and time.
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About Me
Hi there, I’m Donna Joy Usher. I started writing my first novel when I was seven. With no idea about plot or character development (I mean I was only seven) my storyline quickly disintegrated into a muddled jumble of boring dialogue between two horses. Disillusioned, I gave up writing stories for quite a while after that. Instead, I concentrated on my studies, eventually graduating as a dentist.
After many years of ‘drilling and filling’ I turned to writing in an effort to escape the seriousness of my day job. During that time I created my first book, The Seven Steps to Closure, and discovered that I love nothing more than making other people laugh. Well that, and my husband and two miniature schnauzers, Chloe and Xena.
I currently live near the Swan River in the beautiful city of Perth. When I am not working or writing, I love to kayak, ride my bicycle, and sip chai lattes at the local cafe.
You can connect with me on Facebook ,Goodreads and my website www.donnajoyusher.com.
What To Read Next...
I’ve got two series that you may be interested in:
The Chanel Series is a cozy mystery series about Chanel, a clutzy, loveable girl who accidentally joins the New South Wales Police Force. More interested in fashion than felony, Chanel staggers through training and finds herself posted to the forces most notorious crime hot spot – King’s Cross, where she becomes entangled in a case of the worst kind. A serial killer targeting young women.
Book One, Cocoa and Chanel, won the 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Ebook Fiction Category and the 2014 National Indie Excellence Awards Humor Category. You can get it for FREE on the next page, or click on the book below to go to my website where you can view some box set options. (Alternatively, type http://donnajoyusher.com/cozy-mystery/ into your browser.)
Feel like something a bit different? The War Faery Trilogy has been attracting rave reviews from fans. Book One, Faery Born, won the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards – E-Book Fiction and the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards – Science Fiction/Fantasy Category. Click on the book below to go to my website where you can view some individual or box set options. (Alternatively, type http://donnajoyusher.com/fantasy-4/ into your browser.)
FREE BOOK OFFER
Hey there, I’m so glad you’re going to read The Seven Steps to Closure. It’s a book that’s dear to my heart and I had a heap of fun writing it. As a thank you, I’d like to give you Book One in the Chanel Series, Cocoa and Chanel, for free. If you like chicklit and cosy mysteries I know you’ll enjoy it. (Type http://donnajoyusher.com/get-cocoa-and-chanel-free-2/ into your browser if the button doesn’t work.)
[2012] The Seven Steps to Closure Page 35