Finding a Soul Mate (Meant to be Together Book 1)

by Ally Richards

  We quickly caught up on each other’s lives. The Warshawskys, Michelle and Danielle’s parents, were in good health. With their beloved son-in-law, Larry, running the family business, they had the time to be involved in many charities as well as being on the board of the local symphony. They were busier in retirement than they were before they retired.

  We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale after lunch on Sunday. By mid-morning on Monday, we were all getting ready to drive down to the Everglades. Ari always had difficulties getting acclimated to hot weather, and Florida’s tropical June heat was causing him headaches. When this happened, he would take aspirin, sleep most of the first day, and then usually feel fine.

  He was staying behind at Larry’s house instead of going on the Everglades trip. Leah announced, “Ari is sick from the heat and I’m going to stay with him.”

  Joan told her, “He’ll feel bad if you miss seeing the Everglades.”

  “And if I was sick, do you think Ari wouldn’t stay behind to take care of me?”

  We adults didn’t seem to know what to say, but my beloved Samantha did.

  “Of course, you should stay. Take good care of my brother,” She told Leah and began herding us toward the door.

  Joan looked at me and gave me a big smile that I knew meant, “That’s our Samantha.”

  When it comes to sensing other people’s feelings, she is the best, but I still wasn’t too sure. Then I thought back to the time when Joan and I were their age. I was certain I would have wanted to do the same thing for her. Honestly, I think those two feel closer to each other and more responsible for each other than Joan and I did at that age.

  I mentioned my thoughts to Joan who assured me, “They’ll be fine.”

  * * *

  The Everglades were fascinating to those of us from the Northwest. The creatures and terrain seemed positively otherworldly. Although Ari and Leah’s presence was missed, we all enjoyed the outing.

  After we arrived back to Larry’s, as day turned into evening, a cool ocean breeze came in from the Atlantic. Ari felt much better with the cooler air so he and Leah took Michelle’s twins for a walk. The twins adored Ari from the first moment they met him when Ari introduced himself as Schlep Kavorkapich.

  “Kavorkapich?” Ethan said, slowly repeating the name. “That’s not a real name.”

  “Okay, Fred,” Ari teased.

  “Hey, you’re silly,” David shouted.

  “Silly?” Ari yelled and picked David up, putting David’s little nose against his nose and saying, “I’m certainly not silly.”

  “Yes, you are,” Ethan giggled. Ari lowered David to the ground, picked Ethan up, and talked to him nose to nose. Playing right along as if they planned it, Leah picked David up and talked to him nose to nose too. The rest of the week, one or the other of the twins would insist on being talked to “nose to nose.” They never tired of the game, while Leah and Ari never tired of picking them up.

  At one-point Michelle told the twins they were being too noisy so they turned to Ari and asked him if they were being too noisy. He replied they needed to be more serious and he made a silly serious face while putting his hands on his hips. The twins, of course, imitated him.

  Ari told them they weren’t serious enough and they had to stand on one foot. The giggling twins followed Ari’s lead and stood on one foot. When Ari started rocking forward and backwards, as if he was losing balance, finally falling forward onto the floor, the twins, laughing hysterically, collapsed on top of him.

  And that’s how most of the week went. Ari, the twins, and Leah seemed inseparable, and the twins absolutely minded what they would tell them—there was always the threat if they didn’t do what they were told, they wouldn’t be allowed to spend time with Leah and Ari.

  On Tuesday morning we went to an incredible water park. Leah and Ari took care of the twins and I don’t think they went on more than a couple of rides for themselves. They seemed to be perfectly happy watching the twins enjoy their activities.

  “Look how happy my twins are,” Michelle said to Danielle. “They’ve practically attached themselves to Leah and Ari. I was worried they might not have anyone else in the family to do things with, but Ari and Leah are like a big brother and sister to them. Just like Ari’s dad was for me.” She looked at me and smiled. “Right, big brother? You really were so good to me during those high school years.”

  Michelle turned back to her sister. “I heard Leah and Ari ask Morris if they could take the twins sailing tomorrow. I was nervous at first, but when Morris showed me how the twins absolutely do what they are told by either Leah or Ari, I knew it would be fine.”

  “Yes, they do what their told,” Danielle added, “especially when Ari uses that stern tone like Meyer would use when you or I were acting childish.”

  “How well I remember that sound,” Michelle said laughing.

  Michelle smiled as she told us she was looking forward to having some time alone with Morris for the first time in a long time when Leah and Ari take the boys sailing.

  The next day was sunny and warm—perfect Florida sailing weather. The twins looked adorable dressed in matching t-shirts and water shoes. They wore hibiscus covered swim suits—red for Ethan and blue for David.

  Leah walked confidently around Larry’s Midshipman thirty-six-foot sailboat with the twins, reviewing safety rules and teaching them the names of the various parts of the boat. They laughed themselves silly when she told them that the toilet was called the head on a boat. And they collapsed became hysterical as Ari explained the origin of the name.

  Ari and Leah raised the sails, and sailed out onto the busy intra-coastal canal then into the Atlantic.

  After the sail, on the walk home, the four of them stopped to have lunch at a small outdoor cafe. Ari and Leah told us the twins could hardly finish eating as they were so tired after the morning’s sail in the bright Florida sunshine. By the time they walked the few blocks to Leah’s house, Ari was carrying sleeping David and Leah was carrying sleeping Ethan.

  They told us they had a great sail and the twins’ behavior was impeccable as they performed various sailing duties while Leah or Ari manned the helm. They let the twins take turns at the wheel and Leah showed them how to coil lines and tie a few knots.

  Ari apparently taught Ethan and David a few phrases so they could talk like pirates. As soon as he set David down, he woke up shouting, “Flim-flam the boson’s bottom!”

  A sleepy Ethan woke up, rubbed his tired eyes, and asked, “What does that even mean?”

  Ari grinned from ear to ear. “Who knows? All I know is if you say those words, you’ll sound like a pirate.”

  For the rest of the week, the twins would occasionally look off into the distance, and with one hand on their hip and the other shading their eyes, they would lean forward and yell things like flim-flam the boson’s bottom, or a-vast there, you salty caterwauling poltroons, or keelhaul Aunt Betty’s combat boots. This was followed by hysterical laughter from the twins and the rest of us, who couldn’t resist their infectious laughter.

  Once the twins calmed down sufficiently, Leah took them aside and told them, “You are learning to become real sailors. We are so proud of you.”

  The twins were glowing and thanked Ari and Leah for taking them sailing and for lunch.

  As Danielle, Michelle, and Joan watched Ari and Leah carry the twins into the house and lay them down for a rest, it was impossible to tell which of the three of them were prouder.

  After filling us in on the rest of the excursion, Ari and Leah found books to read and went out onto the shaded deck behind Larry and Danielle’s home. Joan watched through the window as they sat on a long rattan couch to read—their feet touching, she noted.

  I grabbed my own book and headed out to enjoy the beautiful weather for myself just as Michelle went out on the deck and told Leah, “I want you to know how much I appreciate all you do for Ethan and David, but I don’t want you two to miss doing things because you are spending so muc
h time with them.”

  Leah looked at her aunt and then at Ari, who was concentrating on his reading and seemed to be ignoring them. She smiled and said, “Aunt Michelle, Ari and I adore the twins, and believe me, Ari doesn’t do things he doesn’t like to do. Except if I ask him, of course. But it was Ari who suggested taking them around the water park and taking them sailing. We both get so much out of watching them have fun. And don’t worry, on Friday morning Dad is going to take some of us out on his new Magnum boat and he’s going to teach Ari how to drive it. Believe me, it will be the highlight of Ari’s trip. Besides, Ari and I are happy, as long as we are doing things together.”

  “You sound like your mother talking about your dad,” Michelle told her.

  That made Leah smile. “Aunt Michelle, when I see how happy you and Uncle Morris are, how happy my mom and dad are, and how happy Joan and Meyer are, I desperately want Ari and me to end up that happy.”

  “Be patient, Leah. The two of you are still young.”

  “I know—but when Mom tells me she knew Dad was the one for her when she was selling paintings at a mall, I think there is hope Ari and I are meant to be together. I mean, you and Meyer knew you weren’t. He still feels close to you, but big-brother close.”

  “You’re right, Leah. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up and then find out the relationship isn’t going anywhere.”

  “Aunt Michelle, would you please tell me how you met Uncle Morris.”

  Michelle happily told us the story of how she met Morris, and with her blessing, I shall tell it to you in her words.

  Chapter Fourteen

  ~ Michelle and Morris

  I was twenty-seven when I met Morris and I was beginning to believe I would never find anyone. Here I was, a proud PhD candidate and along came this young-looking guy with wild, curly hair and a scruffy beard. His body had all the shapely attractiveness of a fire plug. He wasn’t much taller than I was...but he had the most intense deep brown eyes. He stopped at my lab table and was looking over my work. Without so much as introducing himself he said, “You’re not going about this correctly.”

  I gave him what I’d hoped was my angriest look and said, “Listen, young man, I’ve been a grad student for three years and I know what I’m doing.”

  Morris smiled at me with this incredibly warm and patient look on his face and said in a quiet voice, “When you calm down, I’ll be happy to help you do this correctly.”

  With nothing but that warm smile, he completely disarmed me. What else could I do? I apologized for getting angry. Then I asked him to show me what I was doing wrong, and of course, he was right.

  “I don’t know your name,” I said.

  “Morris, Morris Kaplan. And you are?”

  I told him I was Michelle Warshawsky.

  It was midmorning when he came to my table. We worked together through lunch and didn’t stop until dinner time. As Morris thought that I needed to research more journal articles, we agreed to meet again the next morning in the library.

  I arrived at the library about ten o’clock and Morris was already sitting at a large table with numerous books and journals on it. He immediately started showing me a number of references that I could use. From all the material he had for me, he must have been in the library since the moment it opened. I remember thinking he had knowledge of the library and how to do research like Meyer. He also had a calm quality about him like Meyer—the one Meyer displayed when I became angry or frustrated, and it always calmed me down too. Although, Meyer did that with a serious expression on his face, but Morris did it with the warmest smile.

  Around lunch time, Morris announced he would be busy for a while and would be back around two thirty. And sure enough, he sat down next to me at exactly two thirty.

  I told him I was concerned I was taking an awful lot of his time.

  He was about to answer when a student stopped at our table. “Dr. Kaplan, could I work with you for a while? I’m getting confused about the properties of some organic polymers.” Morris told the student to get a specific book from the stacks and return with it. “One of my students,” he said.

  “Dr. Kaplan?” I asked.

  “Yes, I have a PhD in biochemical engineering.”

  “Morris, that’s a difficult field”

  “Not if you have a PhD in the mathematics of optimization,” he casually told me.

  All this time and I was thinking he’s just a fellow student. “You have two PhD’s?”

  He just smiled and said, “Please, we have lots to do. We can talk about degrees another time.”

  His student returned and Morris took out his slide rule to help the student work through some problems. I’d never seen a slide rule with so many scales. Morris’s explanations to his student had the student grinning and understanding within fifteen minutes, but Morris kept asking him questions until he was certain he knew the material. Then he told him to stay at our table and gave him a few problems to work through to reinforce what he had just learned.

  As the student began to work through the problems, Morris picked up one of the journals I had and walked over to the periodic index.

  His student looked at me and said, “Dr. Kaplan is the best. I was nearly ready to give up on my master’s degree in organic chemistry, until I took one of his classes. Nobody explains science like Dr. Kaplan. If he’s helping you with your paper, it will be a great paper. He insists we work hard in his class and he assigns a huge amount of homework, but you end up knowing the material more thoroughly compared to students who take the same classes from other instructors.”

  This was a side of Morris I knew nothing about even though we had been working together for the last two days.

  “And he’s funny,” the student said with a giggle. “He’ll be writing something on the board and put up a symbol or equation that’s completely wrong. All of a sudden, in the middle of the lecture people start laughing because they’ve figured out what he’s done. He makes you glad you took his class. He makes every student feel they’re like his favorite student. I can’t wait to student teach next semester. I will absolutely be teaching like Dr. Kaplan.”

  Morris came over with another journal and showed me an article that I could use.

  Wednesday and Thursday went the same way except I arrived when the library opened, but there was Morris, waiting each day to greet me with that smile of his.

  On Friday I was working in the lab again. Morris was sitting next to me going through some of his students’ papers. Into the lab walked a tall, thin man wearing an old army parka and looking angry. It was Charlie Gold. I had dated him for about three months and broke up with him. He seemed fun at first, but I had no use for his dark side when he drank.

  “Hey, you,” he called to me. “You could at least return my calls.”

  I ignored him and kept working until he came up behind me. He put his hand on my shoulder and began to pull me backwards, saying, “Look at me, bitch.”

  I started to yell at him to take his hand off me when, just like lightening, little Morris uncoiled like a striking snake. It was all a blur, but suddenly Charlie’s legs were kicked out from under him and his body was slammed to the floor. Morris’ hand gripped Charlie’s throat, his knee on Charlie’s chest. Morris said something to him in a quiet tone I couldn’t hear, but Charlie clearly did as the color drained out of his face. Morris stood up between Charlie and me. Charlie looked scared to death and quickly left the room.

  “Thank you, Morris.”

  “I’m from South Boston. We don’t let people talk to our friends like that. He won’t bother you again.”

  “What did you say to him?”

  “I just gave him a suggestion.”

  “What suggestion?”

  Morris turned to face me. With a somewhat embarrassed expression, he said, “I simply suggested, if he ever bothered you again, he would have to come to my office and look through my collection of formaldehyde-filled glass jars to find his reproductive organs.�
��

  I laughed. “Morris, you are wonderful.”

  “No, I’m just a geek.”

  “Yes, you are a geek, but from now on you are my geek.” I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him.

  He blushed.

  “Thank you, Michelle. You are without a doubt a wonderful woman.”

  He looked at the floor. Without lifting his gaze, he asked shyly, “I’m having some students over for Sabbath dinner at my place tonight. Would you like to join us?”

  I replied I’d love to. We worked together another hour and walked back to his apartment, arm in arm I might add.

  When we arrived in the hallway to his place, there was a strong smell of cooked fish in the air. It became stronger as he opened the door to welcome me to his home. Can you believe it? He had made gefilte fish from scratch.

  “Grandma Kaplan’s recipe,” he told me.

  A small bell rang in the kitchen and Morris announced, “Just on time, the Challah is ready.”

  I couldn’t believe it—he had made a Challah from scratch as well.

  “Also Grandma Kaplan’s recipe,” he said, beaming at me.

  We set a lovely table for the Sabbath celebration and around six thirty, eight students arrived—six guys and six girls. They looked like they were in their late teens and obviously excited to be there. They chattered like birds at a feeder.

  Morris had numerous Sabbath candleholders, so each of the girls and I could light a candle.

  “Everyone, this is my friend, Michelle,” he introduced. “Michelle, would you do us the honor of leading the blessing of the candles?”

  Believe me I blessed those candles in the sweetest tones I could manage. We had an incredible meal, but mostly I remember how the students were so excited to talk to him. When he spoke they became quiet and carefully considered every word. When he talked about the week’s Parsha, he had all of them making suggestions on what could be learned from it. Morris made sure that everyone’s ideas were welcome. Everyone obviously felt safe expressing their thoughts.