Forever Waiting

by P. D. Stevens

  “Bring it on! I can teach a crumb snatcher a thing or two about life,” Shay said, trying to fix her hair.

  “God, you sound Like Tayla. My poor baby is going to be corrupted, and lord knows I have enough to worry about with Aaron as an uncle.”

  “Good God almighty, that dude is hot. I could show him a thing or two, if you know what I mean.” Shay said giving me her tiger eyes.

  “Hold your horses, there. I think he’s already spoken for, but the person involved is too dense to realize it,” I said, raising my voice in Tayla’s direction. “I know you’re awake, Tayla. You could never fake sleep, so why don’t you tell me what is going on between you and Aaron?” Shay and I both leaned forward and waited for Tayla to tell us what I already knew. I just needed to hear it from her mouth. She sat up and with a shy smile and swore us to secrecy.

  Just as she started to speak the doorbell rang. “You have got to be kidding me!” I screamed. I couldn’t believe that every time she started to tell me something juicy she got out of it. Getting up to answer the door, I pointed at her. “This conversation is not over.” I ran to answer the door.

  “Surprise!” Ryan said. He stood on the doorstep with a big bouquet of flowers.

  “Ryan! Oh my goodness, your mother is going to be so happy you’re here,” I said, giving him a hug.

  “Well I had to come. I heard there was a house full of people and I was making myself do work instead of being here with you guys. I figured it was time I took a break.”

  “Did Zaine know you were coming? He didn’t say anything,” I said.

  Ryan winked. “No, it’s a surprise.”

  Zaine came around the corner. “Ryan! I thought I heard you, man! Good to see you. Mom’s going to flip.” Almost on cue I saw Diane come in.

  “Oh my goodness, Ryan! My baby. I was just saying that I wished you were here because I would be able to see all my boys.” She was grabbing his face and kissing him all over. I for one thought it was cute—Ryan not so much, and now it was Zaine’s turn to laugh.

  I let the little family reunion take place in the hallway while I returned to the living room. “Okay, I’m back. Let’s get this over with before someone else interrupts us.” I looked at Tayla. “What’s going on with you and Aaron? I know there’s something, Tayla, so spill it.”

  “Can’t I have my privacy?” she complained, adjusting herself on the couch.

  “No!” Shay and I yelled at the same time.

  Tayla sighed. “Fine. Aaron and I are just having some fun, that’s all. Are you happy now?”

  “So you’re telling me all the secret meetings, all the blushing you do just talking to him, and the fact that you’re always together means nothing?” I asked, not believing it for a second. “He always has to include you in everything.”

  “He wants me around all the time?” Tayla asked anxiously.

  “Yes. He always asks if he should call you to join us for dinners and things,” I reported. A cheesy grin spread over her face. I eyed her, then said, “I see that makes you happy. So spill it! I know it’s not just fun.”

  She leaned in and lowered her voice. “Everything with us is scary for me. I want to be with him more than just to... well, have sex, but it’s like all we do is have sex. And, let me tell you the boy can handle his business just fine, if you know what I mean.”

  “No, tell us.” Shay said eagerly.

  I jumped in. “No, Shay, we don’t need any details. This is serious. Tayla might actually be in love! I’m so excited!”

  Tayla gasped at the word, and said “Love! No fucking way. Tayla does not fall in love.” I put an arm around her.

  “Listen Tayla, falling in love is not bad. It can be scary and exciting, but love should never be bad. You can’t sit here and say you don’t have any feelings for Aaron, but he’ll never know unless you tell him.”

  “If you don’t tell him I’m going to snatch him up. He is fine,” Shay said, humping the air.

  “I don’t want to scare him away,” Tayla said, pushing Shay down on the couch.

  “Listen, I didn’t say to run and tell him now. but some day you have to tell him. He might surprise you.” I gave my friend a reassuring squeeze. To both of them I said, “Now get yourselves together. Ryan is here.”

  “Ryan? Who is that?” Shay asked.

  “He’s Zaine’s younger brother,” I explained. “He’s nice. You’ll like him a lot.”

  “So this Ryan—is he single?” she asked with a sly grin.

  “As far as I know. Would you like to meet him?” I felt as if I were running a Brooks dating service. I knew what Shay was getting at. She needed some eye candy just as much as the next person.

  “Tayla, you can borrow some of my clothes if you want. That way you won’t have to go home to change, unless you planned on seeing Aaron in sweatpants,” I offered.

  “Hey, the man has seen me in way less, and he had no complaints.”

  My friends went upstairs to make themselves more presentable, and I joined the family reunion, which had moved into the kitchen. “Hey Babe,what have you been doing?” Zaine wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek.

  “Just making sure my girls were alive in the other room. I told them to get their asses in gear. They looked crazy,” I said. “What have you all been doing in here?”

  “Aaron is on his way over so can do some brotherly bonding. Do you mind me leaving you here with the troublesome threesome?” He grinned, poking fun at his mother, who grimaced. She was still feeling the headache from the night before.

  “Don’t worry, dear. I won’t drink too much today. I’m not as young as I used be,” Diane said while putting her coffee cup in the dishwasher.

  I smiled at her. “Trust me, I can handle myself. I think everyone needs to recoup from last night. But then again, I’ve been wrong before.”

  “Mom, you drank last night?” Ryan started to laugh to himself.

  “That’s nothing, Ryan. I have pictures of her passed out in the chair,” Zaine boasted. “They were having a good time in here last night.” Zaine reached for his phone and proceeded to show Ryan the incriminating pictures of their perfect mother. Laughter erupted from the brothers, and Diane stood back and watched as her sons made fun of the photos.

  “Now, now. It’s not that funny. A woman has to cut loose every once in a while. How do you think we stay sane while living with you men?” I laughed and gave Diane a high-five.

  Aaron showed up about an hour later, just about the time that Shay and Tayla made their way downstairs, looking fly as usual. Shay spotted Ryan, and when he turned to talk to Aaron she fanned herself behind his back for only my eyes to see. I smiled and shook my head.

  Zaine handed me a credit card and nipped at my ear from behind. “Ladies, what do you guys want to do today? It’s on me, so do whatever your heart’s desire.”

  “You’re so good to us,” I said, turning and giving him a swift kiss on the lips.

  “I want you to enjoy today with your friends and my mom. Go buys some clothes. I know you don’t want to admit that you need some more comfortable things for your growing belly, but it’s a fact,” he said as he rubbed my stomach.

  “You’re correct on that one. I’m feeling mighty fat these days, and hungry. Girls, we have got to eat. I’m starving.”

  “And we need some mimosas,” Shay said as she grabbed her purse.

  Tayla’s ears perked up. “Mimosas sound good to me ladies! What do you say, Diane? You ready for round two with us?” She did her happy dance, with her arms swinging in the air.

  “I’ll enjoy the day with you girls, but please, dear, don’t do that dance in public,” Diane said, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

  I kissed Zaine goodbye and gave him a swift slap on his ass, winked, and headed out to the SUV with the wild children in tow.

  We enjoyed lunch at a little cafe and then went to a small maternity shop so I could see if I could fund any cute clothes. “Oooh, this one is so cute
,” Tayla said, holding up a baby doll dress. “And it shows a little boobage. You have got to show those puppies off. They’re going to be gigantic!”

  “Do you always have to be such a pig?” I asked in mock disgust.

  “Hello, Lan! You’ve got to stay sexy.”

  Diane came running up with a pair of jeans and a cute top, and Shay came at me with a small, seductive black maternity dress that would be something I could wear now and keep growing into. “This is hot!” she said. “Zaine will love it.” I grabbed the dress and went to try it on. It was a charming one-strap mini dress that actually fit to my curves. My stomach was not that big yet, so I had to say I looked damn good in it. I walked out and my audience hooted and hollered. “What do you think? Is it too much?” I asked.

  “Oh Landrey, my son is going to love you in this. You look beautiful, dear. Why don’t you wear this one home?” Diane suggested.

  “Thanks, Diane. I think I will.” I was excited to see the look on Zaine’s face when I came home all dressed up.

  “My girl is going to get some ass tonight,” Tayla yelled, too loud for where we were.

  “Tayla!” Diane and Shay shouted at her simultaneously.

  “What? She looks hot.” Tayla said defensively. We gathered my packages, which came to a grand total of almost $3,000. I felt guilty for spending that much money but Diane assured me that it was nothing. She said I needed to get used to it if I was going to be with her son.

  Back at the SUV, Max asked, “Ladies, where are we going next?”

  “Let’s go to the spa,” Diane said. “I need a good pedicure and Landrey here needs to relax.”

  “Sounds good to me. Does this spa serve cocktails? I sure am parched,” Shay said, smacking her lips together.

  “Where we’re going they sure do,” Diane said, winking her eye.

  By the time we did our thing at the spa it was getting late. Everyone looked amazing. We’d all had our hair, makeup and nails done, and the girls had even brought little party dresses to change into. I thought that was strange, but knowing those two guessed that they had plans for the night. Diane looked nice also, having purchased a nice pants suit while we were shopping earlier.

  I called Zaine to find out where he and his brothers were, but the call went straight to voicemail. We decided to head back home anyway. When we got there the house was dark and the guys weren’t there yet. Max helped me out of the SUV, but no one else got out with me. “What are you guys doing? Let’s go in,” I said, confused.

  “We’re going to go to that new jazz club for a bit,” Shay said as she fixed her lip gloss. “You don’t think we got all gussied up just for you, do ya?”

  “Well don’t get into any trouble. Are you ready Diane?” I asked.

  “I’m going to go with them, love. It sounds fun, and I’m leaving in a few days so thought I would keep them company.”

  I couldn’t believe it my friends had totally corrupted Zaine’s mother. She was turning into a wild cat before my eyes. “Okay... I guess I’ll head into the house alone then.” I felt a little put out that I was being ditched after our nice day together, but I couldn’t blame them for wanting to have some fun. Leaning in driver’s side window, I told Max to keep an eye on them and walked up to the house and opened the door.

  It was dark inside but I noticed the glow of candlelight. I turned the corner and saw a trail of votives in glass holders lining both sides of the hallway. I looked around for Zaine, but he was nowhere in sight, and there wasn’t a sound in the house.

  As I followed the trail of light I saw something resembling a puzzle piece next to the first candle. I picked it up and read the word THE, then noticed that there was a puzzle piece next to each candle. I leaned down and picked up each one of them, reading every word. By the time I was done I had collected six. By the door to the pool, there was a little table with a note that said “To figure out the rest of the puzzle, go to the willow tree.” I rounded the corner behind the pool to where the willow tree sat by the lake. I stopped and stared, gazing towards the tree.

  On seeing the tree I covered my mouth and felt tears start to pool in my eyes. The tree was lit with what looked like thousands of white, twinkling lights hanging from the branches. Candles were floating around on the water behind the tree. The lights were all reflecting off the water, and the sky was still orange and pink from the sunset. It was one of the most breathtaking things I had ever seen.

  Remembering that I had a puzzle to solve, I spotted a table next to the tree, on which was a board shaped like a heart. There was another little note which said: “Fill in the missing pieces to my heart.” I started to get nervous as I placed the pieces into their spaces. When I was done putting the pieces together I stood back and read what it said:

  “The Missing piece to my heart is………..”

  There was a space for another puzzle piece. As I looked around on the ground by my feet for the missing clue, I heard his voice—the voice that made everything better, that made me feel safer and happier than I had ever felt before in my life.

  “Did you lose something?” Zaine walked towards me. I looked up at him and our eyes locked. I could get lost in those eyes so easily.

  “I was looking for the missing piece. I want to finish my puzzle,” I said, my voice shaking.

  Zaine smiled at me with his blue eyes and said, “What if I told you that I have the missing piece? You’re the missing piece to my heart, Landrey. You always have been. No matter who I was with I was thinking of you. No matter whose eyes I was looking into, all I saw were yours. It’s always been you. You’re my everything, the missing piece to my puzzle that is my heart.

  “You do the littlest things and it warms me. I never knew that love could be such a wonderful thing until I met you. Your smile, your beautiful eyes, the way you laugh, the crinkle in your nose when you’re mad. I couldn’t imagine being without you. I love you so much. You make it so easy to love.”

  There were tears falling down my cheeks. I had never felt so loved in my entire life, and I never wanted to be loved by anyone other than this man. Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small velvet box. He got down on one knee and took my hand. “Landrey, you are the most important thing in my life and I can’t imagine another day without you. You’ll never know how much I love you, but I promise I will spend the rest of our lives showing you. Will you marry me?” He placed the most beautiful diamond on my finger, a white gold princess cut with smaller diamonds surrounding what looked like a four carat stone.

  I wiped my eyes and smiled at him, and said, “Yes.” He jumped up, picked me up and swung me around. We kissed for what felt like forever. Suddenly he remembered something, and reached into his pocket to pull out another box.

  “Oh, I almost forgot” he said, and handed me the box. When I opened it I saw a pendant in the shape of a puzzle piece with the word YOU engraved on it. “I never want you to forget that you were my missing piece and now I am complete.” It felt like a dream and I never wanted to wake up. I kissed Zaine again, and we walked hand and hand back toward the house.

  “I can’t believe you did all of this,” I said, still dazed from the scene. “When did you find the time?”

  “You know how I said we needed brotherly bonding time? I had the guys set up the lighting while I worked on the puzzle, which took me some time. I wanted everything perfect for you,” he said, and squeezed my hand. As we approached the house I noticed that the lights were all on and I heard movement in the living room.

  “Who’s here, Zaine? Your mom went to the club with the girls and the guys weren’t here earlier.” He just smiled and continued to lead me into the living room.

  “Surprise!” I jumped at what seemed like a hundred people shouting as I entered the living room.

  “Holy shit! You all scared me!” I looked around me and saw Tayla,Shay, Diane and the boys all dressed up and running up to hug us.

  “You guys tricked me! I thought you were going to the club,” I whined ha
ppily.

  “Oh, we just had a couple of drinks in the car with Max,” Tayla said. “And now we’re going to have a whole lot of drinks celebrating a wedding.” Everybody cheered.

  Zaine came up behind me and said, “I have one more surprise for you, babe.” I turned to look at him, wondering what else he could possibly surprise me with. “I know we’re all here, and that’s important to you, but there’s someone missing and I know you miss her dearly.”

  Tears welled up in my eyes and I nodded. “Mom”, I said. “I wish she were here for this.” I held back the sudden tears that sprung up at the mention of her.

  “I’m right behind you, honey.” I turned and there she was! My mom was all dressed up and holding a tissue up to her nose.

  “Oh my God, Mom! How? I mean, when did you get here? Where is grandma? How did you get away?” I was so excited I couldn’t stop blubbering. I hugged her so tightly. She meant everything to me and had always been there for me when I’d needed her.

  “The dashing man who’s going to be my son arranged for a nurse to come take care of your grandmother so I could come out here for a few days to celebrate with you,” she explained. The she leaned in close and whispered, “He’s something special. Now I understand why you were so lost without him all those years.”

  Zaine looked at me, and with a crooked smile he said, “So you talked about me to your mother too?”

  I smiled sheepishly. “I did, all the time. I told you—I’ve never really thought about anyone else.” He gave me a slow, passionate kiss in front of everyone.

  “I love you so much, Landrey.”

  “I love you too,” I said breathlessly. “And thank you so much for bringing my mother here. I missed her so much.”

  “All right, enough with the sappy shit. Let’s party!” Shay said, shaking her hips. Everyone went back outside. The pool bar was all set up and stocked, and Aaron hit the music to make things lively. “You really planned this out didn’t you?” I said to Zaine. What he had done for me was amazing. Everyone started to dance the night away, enjoying the special occasion.