Second Chances

by Nicole Andrews Moore

“Can this be enough for you, Hannah? Can you be happy here, with me?” He had to be sure.

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. There would be so many demands of me…”

  Gavin sat up. “How do you figure?”

  Hannah sat and faced him. “You’re helpless. You couldn’t do this without me. Hell, you have a history of failure, even.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  No one had ever suggested he might be a failure before. “How do you figure?” He was practically spluttering as he struggled to control his anger.

  “Look. You couldn’t even complete your revenge plot against a helpless woman. I’m taking a huge risk sticking around.” She smirked at him.

  And for the first time the entire conversation, Gavin realized she was teasing him. He started to laugh but decided instead to keep playing along. “Well, you have a bit of a history of running off and falling off the grid. How do I know I can count on you?”

  “I guess that’s just the risk you’ll have to take,” Hannah said with a raised eyebrow.

  “I don’t know. I think I’d feel better if we had some kind of agreement.” He watched her roll her eyes so hard that her entire head bobbed. “I mean…I want strings, lots of them. Or maybe in our case, it would be more fitting to have rope.” And with that, he held open his hand.

  Hannah leaned over and clapped a hand over her mouth. “What is this?” She asked as she picked up the ring.

  It was custom made, that was for sure. The platinum ring was designed to look like a Flemish knot. And where the ropes crossed, there was a diamond. A big, serious, sparkling diamond.

  Gavin looked at her seriously. “Hannah, you remember what I told you about the Flemish knot? The beauty of it is that it can be used again and again. It doesn’t have to be cut out. You don’t have to start over. You can simply fix the positioning, fix the location. And it holds, Hannah. Man, do these knots hold.”

  He took the ring from her and slid it onto her finger. It fit perfectly. It looked stunning. And Hannah’s eyes were tearing up.

  “Will you say it, Hannah?” He looked at her, full of hope and love.

  “You only have to ask.” She stared at him, then the ring, then him.

  “Please marry me?” He kissed her hand.

  “Okay, but only because you asked so nicely.” They embraced once more.

  It was nearly dawn, but neither one of them were sleepy. They would be paying for this later, but for now, they were running on adrenaline. Gavin passed Hannah one of his shirts and pulled on some shorts. “Let’s go watch the sunrise.”

  They went topside and snuggled together. “Oh, I almost forgot.” He had a bottle of wine. The moment Hannah saw it, she laughed.

  “Well, I guess I don’t need to ask the occasion.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “You went with a bubbly, I see.”

  It was a beautiful sunrise. And then, just after 7am, her phone rang. “Oh, look,” she said. “It’s Rick.”

  “I’ve got this,” Gavin said smoothly. He took her phone and answered. “Rick…she can’t come work for you. She’s going to marry her sugar daddy.” And without waiting for a response, he hung up. “There.”

  “Nope,” Hannah sighed. “Here. Living in the moment, together, forever.”

  To my second chance,

  my husband, my love, the man who made me believe in

  happilyever after.

  Thank you for making all my

  dreamscome true.

  Jack Parker had been her second proposal. Isabella’s first proposal happened her last year of high school from her first real boyfriend. In her heart she had hoped they might be together forever, but the moment his quarter carat solitaire rolled around on her tiny finger, she knew they were doomed.

  “Don’t worry, baby,” he had said affectionately. “We’ll make it fit.”

  So the ring had been sent back to the jeweler and returned to her two weeks later, sized to perfection. Unfortunately, there was no relationship store, nowhere to send a relationship that didn’t fit. In less than a month the couple had parted ways.

  A mere two years later, she had been proposed to again. Isabella could cite any number of reasons why she had accepted this time. She was desperate to escape her mother. She wanted a change. She had hopes and dreams of a fairy tale ending. And probably to be most honest, Isabella was eager to create the loving family that had always eluded her. In the end, the reasons mattered little. None of the signs swayed her from her course. When Jack slipped the half carat diamond ring surrounded by another dozen channel set diamonds on her offered finger and it rolled to expose its 14 carat gold setting, she simply bit her lip and sailed onward.

  Sure, there was momentary pause, an instant where those closest to her heaved a collective sigh of relief, believed her to have come to her senses, to have regained something of the spirit that was Isabella. She canceled the wedding for all of a month, but since she hadn’t the sense to sever all ties, she had been too easily cajoled into going ahead with the ceremony by Mr. Parker, a former drill sergeant.

  It was too late now anyway. The wedding was less than a day away. Her meager pile of belongings was quickly being loaded into the bed of her almost father-in-law’s truck for transport to the apartment that would be their first place. Activity abounded around her, but Isabella took a moment to study Jack. With all of the changes taking place in her life as of late, it had been a while since she had paid much attention to him. He was just... Jack. Now, however, she studied him in a different manner. After all, starting tomorrow night they would be married and living together. She knew that he was tall with a slight build, muscular, lacking even a spare ounce of fat. And of course there was the way he deftly handled each of her boxes, making them appear light though Isabella knew otherwise. Jack’s wavy brown hair had been cut since she last saw him in honor of the auspicious occasion at hand, which was good since the back was becoming frighteningly close to a mullet. What she noticed was…obvious and ordinary.

  She felt compelled to examine him, peel back the layers, delve deeper. How well did she really know him? Would he even make a good husband? Hmm, she pondered, I wonder if he can cook? Just then, Jack wheeled around as though he was aware of being watched. He winked one of his hazel green eyes at her and focused on tying down her mattress. She sighed. Nothing. She had watched so many females all but swoon when he did that. Here she was, about to become his wife, and she didn’t experience so much as a flutter.

  Soon, her younger sister attracted her attention. Angelica was leaning seductively against the truck, flipping her long sandy blond hair over her shoulder, and contorting her sixteen year old body into any position that might emphasize her best feature: her chest. Isabella shook her head. Angelica always wanted what Isabella had. She hugged herself. The apartment would be a nice change.

  Sadly, Isabella returned abruptly to her task at hand: the mental checklist of what needed to be done before she left. The house had been dusted, vacuumed, and straightened. She had spent days in the kitchen preparing a week’s worth of meals which were in the fridge and freezer with detailed cooking instructions taped to the lids of each container. Was there anything she may have forgotten? No, even the bathroom had been scrubbed to her mother’s exacting standards. Isabella was almost free!

  She grabbed her leather jacket and felt around the bottom of her purse for her car keys. Confident that everything was settled and it was safe to head to the church for some last minute preparations, Isabella headed out the door and down the driveway with a light smile on her face, only to encounter her mother who was standing next to Isabella’s car wearing a sour expression. Her smile quickly faded. Isabella opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted before she even began.

  “Can’t wait to get out of here, huh?” Her mother began maliciously. “First you drop out of college, then you move out on us.” She waited, but Isabella didn’t flinch. “So who will take care of things now? I have to work, you know.” Hands on hips, foot t
apping, her mother waited for an answer.

  Isabella inhaled deeply, trying to remain calm and speak in as even a tone as she could manage. “Angelica is perfectly capable of taking over for me,” she responded.

  “Angelica is just a child,” her mother spat.

  That did it. Isabella squared her shoulders, preparing for the fight. “Angelica is four years older than I was when I began doing all of this,” she stated through gritted teeth, her arm sweeping the house and yard. “She’s bigger than I am, almost always has been. So now what’s your excuse for letting her get away without contributing around here?” She leaned forward, slightly, daring her mother to respond, feeling the courage that came from knowing she had one foot out the door.

  With her eyes narrowed angrily, her mother turned on her heels and marched back toward the house. Isabella studied her as she walked away. What her mother lacked in size, she made up for in stature. She could hold herself amazingly erect, especially to glare a person down. Her dark eyes would then seem a frightening shade of black, making the pupil almost indistinguishable from the iris. Her black hair was slowly becoming streaked with gray, an effect that should soften a person’s appearance, possibly even to the point of making the individual seeming fragile. Her mother, on the contrary, was fast taking on the appearance of many villainous movie stepmothers.

  It was then that her mother paused, catching Isabella off guard, lost in thought and turned to face her daughter once more. “You will regret this decision, Isabella. Mark my words. You are happy now. You think this new life is going to be so much better than your life here?”

  Yes, Isabella’s mind screamed. Yes, it has to be.

  In that brief moment her mother’s mood changed completely. She laughed, a sound closely resembling a cackle. “It may seem that way now.” She moved closer to Isabella with every word, until at last they were virtually nose to nose. Then she hissed, “You will experience pain and hardship unlike anything you could ever imagine.” She nodded her knowing head slowly. “You’ll see,” she continued to warn as she walked away. And lower still, “you’ll see...”

  Thursday night had been Girl’s Night for as long as Isabella could remember. It had begun six years ago at the start of her marriage. Jessie, who had become Isabella’s best friend on the very first day of sixth grade, had insisted that as long as their friendship had endured, no man was going to come between them. In the end, the reasonable thing to do was to create a special time just for them. Isabella had felt guilty at first, until she was reminded that Jack had his bowling night, and his dart night, and stopped for drinks after work more often than not, a habit that caused him to nearly miss Rebecca’s birth five years ago. Jessie even insinuated he had other hobbies, which, following a particularly vicious argument between the couple had resulted in Kyle’s conception two years ago.

  What a rousing Girl’s Night that revelation had provoked. Isabella had just graduated with her bachelor’s degree and their previous gathering had ended with her ready to pack up her photography gear and take the world by storm.

  “Remember all that hope I was filled with the other day?” She had asked her best friend and confidante over a late dinner. “Remember how I was ready to conquer the world?” She had picked at her stuffed chicken breast lazily.

  “Yes,” Jessie had responded nervously. She waited in silence knowing that if she was just patient long enough, Isabella would divulge the source of the problem.

  “It looks like I’m going to have to conquer the maternity ward, first.” Isabella had looked Jamie in the eye and waited for a reaction.

  There was a brief gasp. Jessie wasn’t sure how to react. “Are we happy about this?” She was always quick to lend a shoulder, an ear, or plan the celebration once she had some direction.

  “We’re in shock about this. Good call going with the generic gasp.” Isabella’s eyes were downcast. She had always hoped she would be thrilled if she ever found herself pregnant again. But somehow, this wasn’t the time. Her life was in a state of turmoil that she had hoped with the realization of a small portion of her dreams, and the completion of her degree, would have her on the right track. Once again, however, she found herself taking a detour, feeling lost and alone.

  “So how did this happen?” Jessie had asked seriously.

  Isabella smirked. “Well, when a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…” She paused for dramatic effect and continued once she heard Jessie’s giggle. “Or in our case, when a mommy and a daddy have a really big fight and want to reassure themselves that their relationship can pull through it, sometimes the daddy plans poorly and the mommy thinks that maybe it won’t hurt just this once…”

  “Wow,” Jessie said. “Which fight?”

  “Oh, that would be the night that I confronted him over the rumors that he was having an affair with my hair dresser.” She sighed.

  “And the rumors were…” Jessie asked tentatively.

  “Neither confirmed nor denied.” She looked around the restaurant then, wondering who might be eavesdropping on their conversation.

  “Stalemate, huh?” Jessie sounded sad.

  “As usual.”

  “So, what are you going to do?” Jessie had asked with concern.

  Isabella sighed. “I’m adopted. Even in the worst of situations, abortion would not be an option.” She swirled her ice water with her straw. “I know I’m having the baby. I know I will love it. And I know that my chances of getting a job now are shot.”

  The rest of the conversation that evening had centered on their plans for the future, which Isabella found most reassuring since she had suddenly doubted what her future might hold. In the end, Jessie had managed to convince her that she should return to graduate school as soon as she had given birth. And as improbable as it had seemed at the time, Isabella had held onto that thought.

  So much had changed over the last two years. And as always, Jessie had been the catalyst. Isabella, who had felt so frumpy and ugly after giving birth a second time, had been introduced to Tae Bo classes at the local gym. As a bribe, Jessie managed to incorporate spa treatments into those excursions. The best part was that Isabella was able to pay for them and gain some semblance of independence because of a job her graduate professor, Dr. Pam, had helped her attain. Once again she was becoming the woman she used to be, strong and confident, vivacious and witty, as attractive as she was intelligent.

  Drawn back to the present, Isabella sighed. It was April first, and they were still eagerly awaiting spring in the Adirondacks. Most importantly, it was Thursday. All she could think about was finishing up her day so that she could relax with Jessie. They had decided to meet at The Leaning Pine and enjoy a light dinner in front of the stone fireplace that was sure to be in use on such a chilly evening. And all that was standing in the way of her coveted girl time was one last photo shoot.

  She and her new boss, Christopher, were finishing up looking at some proofs, killing time before the last shoot of the day when the phone rang. “Blair and Webber Photography, Christopher speaking,” he had said into the mouthpiece using his most professional voice. There was a pause. “I just need to verify that you are genuinely serious about canceling your appointment this evening. Understand that I can be closed in thirty minutes after we hang up.” He smiled and gave Isabella a ‘thumbs up’. “So, we’re rescheduling for next week instead.” He made a face at Isabella. “Certainly. We will see you then.”

  The two jumped around doing a happy dance. A heavy burden was lifted from her shoulders. In twenty minutes she would be free. The two of them scampered around the studio, straightening up and preparing for the next day. Getting to leave early was an incredibly rare experience in their line of work. More often than not they would be running late.

  “Want to call Jessie before I lock up?” Christopher asked with a knowing wink. He understood about Girl’s Night and approved whole heartedly.

  “Thanks,” Isabella said with a giggle. She often felt like the only person on
the planet who didn’t own a cell phone. Due to her currently limited finances, the choice had been between the cell phone and the spa time. The phone, no matter how cute or practical, didn’t really stand a chance. Her fingers skated over the buttons of the business phone and she listened for the ring.

  “I have bad news,” Jessie began sadly on the other line.

  “Oh?” Isabella said quietly. Already her stomach was knotting. She knew the direction this conversation was taking.

  There was a sigh. “Well, you know how Jeff can be a tad over-protective?”

  “Yes?” Isabella’s disappointment was evident in her voice.

  “He doesn’t want me to go. After that freak storm last night…and he knows how we get talking and lose track of time…” She let her voice trail off so that Isabella could come to the proper conclusions.

  “I understand,” she said dejectedly. Instantly, her shoulders slumped and she hunched over the counter.

  “We’re on for next week, right?” Jessie tried to sound cheerful and certain. She knew how much Isabella had come to rely on their time together.