“I never do anything without planning it out first, but I just got in my car and started driving. I probably looked like a nut because I started talking to God the minute I got behind the wheel and didn’t quit for almost two hours. But, when I did stop talking, I didn’t have a clue where I was at.”
“You were lost?” I quipped. He had a navigation system in the car, but he evidently didn’t bother to turn it on.
“Yeah—I was lost, but I ended up in the most beautiful place.”
I smiled, “Tell me about it.”
“I went up I-95 and cut over on highway 192 and somewhere in the middle of nowhere, I turned down a dirt road and ended up at a huge lake. It has massive, old oaks, and the lake is lined with cypress trees—I swear it was like I had driven all the way home to Louisiana.”
“Sounds beautiful.”
“It is—I want to take you there tomorrow. How about a picnic?”
I kissed the inside of his arm and then tipped my face up to him, “Romantic. But, do you know what sounds even better?”
“What?” he whispered.
“Your voice right now. You sound genuinely happy, Micah—and I love that sound more than anything else. I take it your prayer time really helped?” He wasn’t answering me, but I could hear the sound of tiny bubbles being caught in his throat. I knew it well because I’d experienced it many times as emotions would tangle midway in my neck and block my ability to speak. I reached up and put my fingers against his struggling lips. “You don’t need to talk, baby. It’s coming through loud and clear from your heart.”
We spent a long time holding each other, and I was about to drift to sleep when he finally spoke. “I want to go home this week. I’ve got business to take care of—and I’d like you with me.”
That was a surprise. Those two parts of a sentence never came out of his mouth together. He never wanted me involved where his ‘business’ was concerned.
“Of course I will. What are we going to be doing?”
“How about we call it a mortgage burning party?”
My eyelids were heavy, but I still managed to lift my sleepy head toward him and give him a very puzzled look.
“Go to sleep, Leese,” he whispered, “I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”
I blinked long and slow, my eyelids feeling as if it took every muscle in my face to pull them back open. But the effort was in vain as his lips came softly to my eyes, forcing them closed as he tenderly kissed each lid and stroked my cheek. Sleep would be deep and relaxing tonight.
When morning came with unusual brightness, I woke with a little confusion as to where I was, but then I looked out at the light reflecting off the pool and remembered we were in the apartment. Micah’s eyes were open and he was giving me that unnerving solid stare.
“What?”
“Are you ready to marry me again?”
“I’d tell you I’d race you upstairs to see who can get ready the fastest, but I’m afraid, given my—pregnancy, I wouldn’t stand a chance.”
“If I carried you, it would be a tie.”
“No carrying me—but to answer your question, yes I’m ready.”
An hour later, with sunglasses and baseball caps, we stood at the counter of the clerk of the courts office and completed another marriage license. I brought our counseling certificate that Pastor Anderson had given us the first time we got married and, although the lady seemed to think it was odd that the certificate was nine months old, it was still valid so our marriage license was immediately effective. Once again, I was a Gavarreen.
We stopped at a local gourmet food shop that specialized in all kinds of gift baskets, as well as picnic baskets, and had a terrific lunch packed for our trip to Micah’s little Louisiana. He was right about the property. When we pulled down the dirt road and wound back through the growth of old Florida, I began to see the similarities. But the real show stopper was when the woods gave way and we were in a large area under a canopy of giant oaks in an area free from undergrowth that led to the lakeshore.
“Oh, Micah, I see what you mean—it’s gorgeous.”
He pulled the car within a dozen yards or so from what appeared to be an area for launching boats. There was no concrete ramp, but I knew (especially being back in the woods this far) that southern boys didn’t need a ramp; they would just back their trucks into the water.
The first place I wanted to go when I got out of the vehicle was down to the water. It was a sand bottom lake and the water was clear with a very light brown, tannic acid tinge. I slipped my foot out of my black flat and dipped my toes to feel the temperature. It was sufficiently cool enough that I was sure the lake was spring-fed. I felt Micah’s hands grip my arms and pull me back slightly.
“Don’t go sampling the water without me, baby. I want to be sure there aren’t any alligators around.”
“Oh. Yeah, I didn’t think about them. That could spoil a picnic pretty quick, huh?” I gave a little laugh as I began scanning the water’s edge for hungry eyes.
Micah had already popped the trunk and had the blanket and basket sitting behind the car. He took my hand and walked me away from the water and grabbed up our picnic supplies and headed toward one of the largest trees. We weren’t speaking at this point, but that was fine with me because my mind was racing a million miles an hour as I decided that, if for sale (and everything can be, if the price is right) I would buy this for him. We’d started looking for houses in Palm Beach, again, because the house we had our sights on back when we married had long ago been sold, but I had never thought about building—until now. I was getting excited as I considered that we could make the house anything we wanted it to be. Every aspect would be designed by us and for us. I could almost picture a southern style, grand house with a full length veranda facing the lake. Our children playing in the yard, swinging from swings suspended under the oak branches—
“Baby?”
I had slipped so far into my daydream that evidently Micah had been speaking to me and I was not paying him a bit of attention.
“Huh?”
“Sit down. What are you thinking about? You’ve got a huge smile on your face?”
“I’m just taking it all in—it’s—it’s so perfect. How big do you think that lake is?” I was still standing, but he had already seated himself on the blanket.
“I don’t know, pretty big though, maybe a hundred acres. Sit down, Annalisa. I know you’re hungry.”
I sighed and lowered myself to the blanket. “So tell me about the ‘business’ you want to do when you go home. I know you don’t have any mortgages—not after Remake anyway,” I laughed.
“You realize I’m worth more money than you now, right?”
I laughed harder.
“What?”
“Does that mean I can say I married you for your money?”
He smiled. “As long as we’re together, I don’t care what reason you give.”
“Good, because I think I’ll just say it was for the sex.”
His eyebrows went up as his smile grew larger, “And all along I thought it was love.”
“Nah, sex and money, in that order should do a really good job of finishing off my rep,” I teased.
His smile flat-lined. “We’re fixing that. You don’t deserve any black marks on your beautiful record. Eat. It’s past your normal lunchtime,” he bossed me, handing me a paper plate of goodies.
I wasn’t going to argue; I was starving. I placed a cube of cheese in my mouth, slipped off my shoes, and then laid down on my side with my head propped up by my right arm. “So tell me about this mortgage we’re going to burn.”
Micah followed my lead and stretched out as well, laying his plate next to mine as he faced me. He pulled a grape from the bunch and held it for me to eat. “It’s a lot of mortgages actually—I’d like you to be with me when I burn my files—my target files.”
I stopped chewing the grape. I wasn’t sure if I swallowed that the grape would make it past the forming lump in my
throat.
“Pastor Anderson was right about making an effort to leave my old life in the past. I don’t want to look back years from now and know that with just the tug of a drawer, I can see what my life used to be—those reminders need to go up in smoke. I also called my boss yesterday.”
“What did you tell him?” I asked, the grape still hadn’t gone down.
“The truth. I said I have to make a change and that means that the best I can offer him is to be an advisor on how to fix D’Angelo’s nightmare.”
“Did he agree?”
“I never thought he would, but it was what I felt God was leading me to do, so I did it. I had no confidence that he would agree—he doesn’t even seem to like me all that well, but to my surprise, he was willing to listen and consider what I wanted. He said we would give it a try.”
I felt like a chipmunk with my horded grape tucked into my cheek, but I was on the edge of crying and I really didn’t want to choke on it. I sat up and, as lady like as possible, spit it out.
“That wasn’t very nice,” he teased as his hand came to rest on my back. “The first woman I’ve ever wanted to feed grapes to and you spit them out.”
I wanted to laugh, but it was more of a strangled sob as the tears came flowing down. He sat up beside me and wrapped me in his arms kissing my temple and telling me how much he loved me.
“Promise me, Micah,” I cried out. “Never again—unless it’s self-defense—please tell me this is the beginning, and that you won’t ever kill anyone again. Promise me, please.”
“That’s a tall order for me, but I want the same thing. This is a new beginning for both of us and I don’t plan on screwing it up by doing something stupid.”
I looked at him with my watery eyes and asked for the definitive answer, “Promise me, Micah. I want to hear you say it, baby.”
“It’s over, Annalisa. I promise you, I won’t kill anyone else.”
I wanted to talk. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him, how happy I was with his commitment to change his life, how beautiful he was to me, but I could only cling to him and weep.
He rocked me gently as my crying subsided and then wiped away my tears, “If I try feeding you grapes again, do you think you could actually eat one this time?”
I gave a small laugh and then turned my face up to his for a tender kiss, “If you don’t make me cry, the grapes will go down.”
“Other than happy tears, Annalisa, I never want to be the reason that makes you cry.”
I was still cradled in his arms when he pulled off another grape, but this time it went to his mouth. He held it with his teeth and lowered his face to mine. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do, but I was finding it extremely sexy as our mouths met. I gently took the exposed half and bit the grape in two as he finished placing the soft kiss on my mouth.
“I want to do everything together from now on,” he whispered as we finished our small piece of fruit.
I picked up a grape and made the same offer to him as he lowered his mouth to mine. I was smiling as he pulled away.
“What?” he asked as he studied my expression.
“This is going to make eating a very long experience,” I quipped.
He rolled me onto my back as he cradled my head in the crook of his arm and allowed his free hand to slide down to places that caused my heart to race.
“Here’s to a lifetime of long experiences,” he said as he nuzzled against my cheek. “I wonder just how private this place really is?” he breathed hot against my skin as he popped the snap loose on my shorts and began sliding down the zipper.
As much as I wanted him to make love to me at the moment, I wasn’t sure I cared for the idea of doing this outside, in the open, on the ground, and under a tree.
“I don’t feel safe doing this,” I whispered.
Before he could open his mouth to rebut my fears, we both heard an approaching truck. He smiled as he returned my zipper to its proper placement. “Not private enough, I’m afraid.”
I fixed the snap as we sat up, trying to look innocent. An older, banana-cream colored pickup truck pulling a small boat, with a long-tongued dog in the bed, backed around the Vet and down to the water. Micah rose and offered me his hand to help me up. The driver appeared to be in his early twenties as was the young woman in his passenger’s seat. The dog jumped from the bed before the truck got too far down into the water and bounded toward Micah and me. Micah closed up the picnic basket before the dog came close enough to stick its nose into it. At least the dog was friendly as it approached with its tail tucked and its head ducked low. It came to me first.
“Shelia! Leave them folks alone and get over here.”
I scratched the indention between her eyes and then progressed to behind her ears. We’d never had pets growing up simply because Mom kept us so busy that we wouldn’t have had time for them, but I was starting to think, once we had a permanent place, our children would live a slower lifestyle, and pets could definitely be a part of the family.
Micah approached the man, offering to give him a hand launching the boat.
“Great, that way Jeanie doesn’t have to get her feet wet. Hi, I’m Trent Nickels,” he said, offering Micah his hand.
Micah introduced the two of us as the young woman climbed down from the truck.
“Hey,” she said as she reached for my hand.
“Your dog is friendly—what kind is she?” I asked as its muzzle kept nosing up under my hand.
“She’s a hound mix—basically a mutt, but mutts make the best dogs.”
Trent tossed Micah the bow rope and backed the trailer far enough into the water that the boat began to float. Micah waded out about knee deep, giving the boat a push and sending it floating away as the truck pulled the trailer from the lake. I was considering the fact that Micah was wearing his Italian leather loafers, but it didn’t appear to bother him that he just ruined them.
“Sorry we disturbed your picnic,” Jeanie said with a little blush.
“Yeah, ya’ll looked pretty cozy when we pulled up,” Trent remarked, looking over and winking at Micah. “Jeanie and I have a place on the other side of the lake that we like to picnic—no one to interrupt us.”
“Shut up, Trent,” she blushed, again. “We have too gotten interrupted over there before—and we were butt naked.”
“Do many people come out here?” I asked, trying not to laugh over what she said.
“Nah, just a few of us locals,” she began. “Most folks don’t know this lake is back here. It’s one of the few left that hasn’t been named. You know you look so familiar to me—I know this is gonna sound stupid, but you haven’t been on TV before, have you?”
Evidently my blonde hairstyle didn’t fool Jeanie. “Actually, yes—I was a contestant on Re—”
“Remake!” she shouted before I could finish. “Oh, my Lord! You’re Annalisa, aren’t you? Trent, oh my stars, this is the girl I was voting for on Remake! I really thought you should have won,” she said, dropping an octave. “And you must be…” she looked at Micah and decided it best not to finish her statement. If she recognized him then it was from the cover of the tabloid that named him as a possible father, but also said he was involved in the mafia.
“Yes, I am,” he finished her unanswered question as he reached out and shook her hand.
She suddenly appeared nervous and giddy.
“Can I get your autograph?” she asked turning back to me. “My mother is never going to believe I met you.”
“Sure…” I started to say as I watched Micah stiffen, his face losing all friendliness immediately. When I turned to see what caused the sudden shift, I saw what he saw. Trent was pulling a shotgun out from behind the pickup’s seat. Micah began moving toward me, but we both realized, with relief, that he was heading for the boat with the gun.
He must have noticed the look on our faces. “Alligators,” he said as he laid it down. “They don’t usually bother us, but dogs are one of their favorite snacks.”
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“Are there very many?” Micah asked, clearly relieved now that he knew what the gun was for—especially since he was unarmed.
“I’ve never seen more than two or three out on the lake, but I don’t like taking my chances with them—I had a buddy lose his arm to a gator last year.”
The men vaulted into a conversation about what type of shotgun and what type of shells he was shooting, target practice, and eating alligator meat, while I got to ask Jeanie more important questions.
“So who owns this property?” I asked as she gave me a notepad and pen so I could give her an autograph.
“I’m not real sure, right now. It used to belong to one of the big farmers around here. It was kind of his private hunting and fishing retreat. He had a cool house built on the other side of the lake, but it’s all closed up now. Then, when real estate went sky-high, I think he sold it to a developer who wanted to put in a golf course and a housing community, but that went bust.”
“I’m glad. I don’t mean for the developer’s luck,” I added, “but I’d hate to see all this destroyed for another housing community—Florida has enough of those to last a while.” I tried handing her back the paper and pen.
“Could you do another one for my mom?”
“Sure. What’s her name?”
“Trixie, T-R-I-X-I-E,” she spelled it out. “Can I ask you something personal?”
That was a loaded question, but I nodded slightly.
“The stories about your baby, I mean is he the—” Her face went to a deep shade of red.
“The tabloids didn’t have any of that right. Micah is the only man in my life.”
“But what about Ryan? I mean they showed you two together on Remake. Surely you and he—” She stopped once again, apparently embarrassed but too curious to prevent asking.
“He’s my best friend and no, even Remake didn’t get that relationship in the right light.” It seemed so funny to me to be discussing Ryan with a complete stranger and what was even odder was the look of total disappointment on her face.
“Oh,” she said slowly. “He was just so sweet and, oh my stars, that hair and those blue eyes, but I can definitely see why you’re with Micah, he’s…” she was giving Micah an honest look-over which I didn’t exactly like, and at the moment, Trent was looking toward us and he apparently didn’t care for her doing that either. “Anyway, it’s really cool to have met you. Are you two thinking about buying around here?”
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