Chapter Forty-Nine
Daphne
“I think I like this one the best,” Carla said, holding up one of my and Jace’s wedding photos. I took it from her hand and looked at it. It was one with her in the background, making a face. I laughed and tossed it back at her.
“I’m looking for one to have framed and hung over my new mantle.”
“I know, I think that one is perfect,” she said with a wink.
“I think we’ll keep looking,” I told her with a smile.
I looked around my and Jace’s new house and sighed contentedly. I love him so much. I love our house. I love our life.
We got married down at Columbus Park under the lit arbor just as the sun was going down. The photos all have the harbor and the glorious sunset in the background. It’s like the day was designed just for us. I knew that’s an entirely narcissistic view, but on this point, I didn’t care.
I was brought back to the present by my oh-so-direct friend. “So, when are you going to start popping out kids?”
I laughed. “We’ve only been married for a month. Slow down there, skippy.”
“Yeah, but you’ve been doing the nasty for two years. Come on, you’re behind. I’ll be a fabulous auntie.”
“I’m sure you will be, as long as you don’t say things like ‘doing the nasty’ in front of my child.”
She was crazy, but I loved her. She went on to say, “Maybe you two aren’t doing it right. Is Jace ramming that hard…”
“Carla!” I stopped her there. I love her, but I didn’t want to discuss my husband’s hard anything with her. My face was bright red, I could feel it.
She laughed. “You still blush like a school girl every time I mention sex. You need to read some trashy novels, get some ideas. You two are probably still doing it missionary, aren’t you?”
With a giggle, I said, “Trust me, we have plenty of our own ideas.”
“Oh, really? Tell me more. Have you done it all over the new house yet? Does Jace like doing it doggy style?”
“Carla! Stop,” I was laughing. Jace and I had no problems in the bedroom. As a matter of fact, it was quite the opposite. Some days we did it like rabbits all over the house and, yes, in different positions.
I was still not comfortable talking about it, though, and Carla knew that. She loves to tease me. She likes to call us “The virgin duo.” Little did she know, there was nothing virginal left about either of us.
“Here it is,” she said, suddenly. She was holding another photo from the pile of wedding pictures. When she handed it to me, I saw that this time, she wasn’t kidding.
Jace and I were facing each other holding hands. The water from the river could be seen in the background and the sun was glinting off of it as it lowered, casting a golden glow around us both. That was beautiful, but even more so was the look in our eyes as we stared at each other. It was going to look perfect above the mantle.
“I love it!”
“Yeah, me, too,” she said. It was the first serious thing she’d said in 20 minutes. “You know after you have kids you’ll have to take it down, though, right?”
“Why?”
“Please, you’ll have so many pictures of the kid, you won’t have room to hang your own. Just think about how gorgeous that kid will be with the two of you as parents.”
I smiled and tried to picture our baby. I hoped he looks just like Jace.
“Yeah, I bet he will be a looker,” I said.
“He?”
“I just think since Jace has two brothers, maybe the boy thing runs in his family.”
“Maybe, but I’d like to order a niece, too.”
Before I could respond to that, I heard Jace come in the front door. He came in and found us still sitting on the couch looking at our wedding pictures. He said hello to Carla and kissed me.
He was all dirty from work in his jeans and t-shirt with his big arms showing underneath the short sleeves and his hard chest outlined by the cotton material. I would take him down and eat him up right there if Carla wasn’t here. Even after two years, just looking at him excites me.
“What are you ladies doing?”
“We’re picking one out for above the mantle. What do you think of this one?” I held up the one Carla picked out and as I looked at it again I realized that part of why it was so beautiful was that it was a day that neither of us thought we’d ever see. You could see the love in our eyes in it.
“I love it.” The look in his eyes described the way I felt about it without words. He leaned over and kissing me again.
“Hey, Jace, I was just asking Daphne when the two of you were going to start making babies,” Carla said.
He laughed. “Whenever she’s ready. I’m going to leave that up to her.”
He wasn’t just saying that. It’s what he’s told me from the beginning. We both want kids, but he said it was important to him that we wait until I feel ready to do it, without being stressed or anxious. It should be a beautiful time in our lives, not a worrisome one.
He’s so sweet that he even questioned if I thought we should take some parenting classes, since neither of us had an example to go on. I honestly thought we’ll be okay. I’m definitely not my father and he is the most incredible, generous, big-hearted, nurturing person I’ve ever met. Our baby will be so lucky to have him.
“I volunteered to show you guys some new positions, but wifey is getting all embarrassed about it. You wouldn’t mind if I tagged along one of these days and just made sure you two virgins were doing it right, would you?” Carla asked him.
“Shh! Carla!” I laughed again. Thank God Jace was used to Carla. He was laughing, too. She has no filters, but she has a good heart and she loves me and Jace knows that. It’s all that matters to him, and I love him that much more for putting up with her.
He winked at me and said, “I’ll leave that up to her, too, Carla. Appreciate the offer, though.”
I looked at Jace. “I told her we were completely fine in that department.”
“She’s is right about that. We may have started out virgins, but I think we’ve got it mastered,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows.
“Are you sure? You know you don’t always have to be on top. Sometimes it’s fun and more productive to have her sit right down on your lap and you can kind of like…” She flexed her hips up and screwed up her face. Jace laughed and shook his head as he went into the kitchen to get a drink. I scolded her again, jokingly.
“I want to wait a year or two. I just got this nursing job, and I’d like to work for a while first.”
“Yeah,” Carla said, “I guess that way you can build up some leave. Don’t take too long, though. I want a baby to play with.”
“Why not have your own?” Jace asked her.
She looked at him like he had two heads. “Bite your tongue. I don’t even have a regular man yet. I’m not cut out to be a single mother.”
“You take your time, honey,” I told her. “You’re still young and beautiful. Have fun.”
“Hey,” Jace said, pretending to be insulted. “Are you saying being married to me isn’t any fun?”
I got up and went over to where he was sitting. I sat down on his lap and kissed him. We forgot Carla was there as we kissed passionately. I could feel him growing hard underneath me.
Carla cleared her throat and said, “Um… I think I’ll just be going.”
We laughed and apologized. “Sorry, we just get carried away,” I told her.
She snorted and said, “Newlyweds,” but she was grinning. “I really have to go. See ya, Jace.”
“See ya, Carla.”
I got up and walked her out. I gave her a hug before she left and promised I’d call to let her know how the new job goes. I’d just finished two years of nursing school and I got a job at the University Hospital. I was really excited about starting.
Jace had been so helpful and supportive while I was in school. I couldn’t wait to start making money and contributing to our lives. He said that part doesn’t matter, and I believe he means it. But it will make me feel better. He works so hard. I want to be an equal partner.
After she left, Jace showered while I put away the wedding pictures. We went out to dinner. Now that we’re living in Boston, we eat out once a week on Fridays. The rest of the week, we take turns cooking and on Sundays after church, we have dinner with his brothers.
We started going to a new church. It’s still Catholic, but no one there knows our history and it’s more comfortable for us there. We’re both still very devout, practicing Catholics. What has happened in the past is between us and God, but we both still feel strongly that we did the right thing and God is on our side.
Tonight, we went to a place near the Harbor called Legal Sea Foods. It’s one of our favorite places to eat when we’re in the mood for shellfish. The manager knows Jace from a job his company did for him last year, so he always starts us out with a huge shrimp cocktail.
We sit upstairs when we’re in the mood for quiet elegance, but tonight I wanted the two-pound lobster, so we had to sit downstairs for that. It’s a lot louder downstairs because that’s where the bar is at and a lot of college kids hang out there.
While we were eating, Jace looked over at the bar crowd and said, “Do you ever feel like you’re missing out?”
Confused, I said, “On what?”
“You’re about the same age as those kids at the bar. They’re just having a great time without a care in the world. You just finished school and you have a house and a husband to take care of. Do you ever wish you could go back and do it the way they’re doing it?”
I glanced over at the kids. I thought about high school and even if you factored out my horrible father, you couldn’t pay me to go back. It was fraught with constant anxiety over what to wear and who was talking about who and what boys were going to want if I went out with them.
Being a child of sexual abuse could have sent me over to the promiscuous edge, but instead, it sent me in the other direction. I never accepted dates because of my fear that the guy would want sex. I was a senior before I had my first real relationship. He was the one who ran when he tried to get me in bed and I told him about my dad.
I looked back at Jace and thought about how when you change one thing in your life, it often alters the course of it, and I said,
“No, not even a little bit. Mostly because had I done things differently, I would not have met you. Look at me now!” I giggled.
He smiled. “Yeah, look at you now. Happy looks so good on you. It’s hard to imagine the different courses our lives would have taken if we’d never met.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Do you think you would still be a priest if we’d never met?”
He nodded and popped a piece of lobster in his mouth. “Yeah, I think so,” he said, after he swallowed. “It wasn’t terrible. I was never really content with it, but until I met you, I really thought it was where I was supposed to be.”
“Are you ever sorry you gave it up?”
“Not even a little bit,” he said, copying my words with a grin. “I love you, Daphne. I love our life, and I think God and I are okay these days.”
“Good. Me, too.”
“You too what?”
“I’m good with God.”
“What about me?”
I knew what he was fishing for, but I liked messing with him sometimes. “You just said you’re good with Him too.”
“But what about how you feel about me?”
“Oh! I’m good with you, too.” He made a sad face and I smiled. “I love you more than life itself.”
He grinned and said, “I knew that, I just wanted to hear it out loud.”
******
When we got home that night, Jace looked at the couch and with a grin he said, “You know something?”
“What’s that?”
“We made love on my old couch and on your old couch, but we haven’t done it on our new one yet.”
I went over and slid my arms around him. He kissed me deeply, and I said, “Do you think we should christen it?”
“I absolutely do,” he agreed with a grin. He flexed his hips into me, and I felt him already growing hard. He kissed me again and as he did, he pulled my dress up to around my waist. I broke the kiss and raised my arms so he could finish pulling it off. I walked over to the couch, saying,
“Let’s do this.”
He laughed. “I think I want you on this side,” he said. He was standing near the back of it.
I raised an eyebrow, but went around next to him. He grabbed my face in his hands and gave me another hard kiss as he released my bra. He flipped me around so I was facing the couch and pulled my panties down. I stepped out of them and felt his hands roam down across my backside, over the curves of my butt and dip between my legs.
“Mm, my baby is always so responsive.” I turned back around to face him and we kissed again. God, I love kissing him. I could do it all day. He had other ideas as he growled and buried his face in my breasts. While he was doing that, and doing it very well, I unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. I slid my hand down inside and found his now rock hard cock. I gave it a squeeze and felt him shudder into me.
“Take them off,” I told him. He reached down and put his fingers against my outer lips again and said, “Mm, so wet baby…”
“That’s because you’re so sexy, you make me that way.”
He reluctantly let go of my breasts and pulled his hand away from my pussy. I watched as my gorgeous husband stripped off his clothes. I could also just look at him all day. He grinned again and said, “I think I changed my mind. I think I want to sit on the couch, with my beautiful wife in my lap.”
“I like that idea,” I told him. He finished getting naked. God, he’s gorgeous, I’m so lucky. He sat down on the couch and I straddled him.
We kissed for a long time with his hands rubbing my back and shoulders. I loved it when he touches me like that. I loved everything he does.
I reached down and took him back into my hand. I lifted up on my knees and while his hands found my breasts and began to massage and caress them, I lined him up with me and sat down on his cock. God…there is no better feeling in the world than being filled up with my husband.
I started to move up and down. He was still licking and sucking on my nipples, using his teeth to graze them lightly because he knows how much I love that. I arched my back so that I could take his cock even deeper inside of me and I rocked back and forth on his lap. His thighs were hard and tense as he used them to bump my butt up and down as he flexed his hips so that he could thrust up into me.
He kept a breast in his mouth while he reached down between us and found my clit. I moaned at his pinch. I leaned back even further to give him better access, and he began to rub it with two fingers while he continued to pound my pussy.
Each time he bottomed out inside of me, he would round his hips, grinding up into me hard and deep. I’ve never felt anything like the way this man makes me feel and I’m sure that I never will. The sex is fantastic, all the time, but I believe our emotional connection feeds that and makes it so much better.
I rode him hard and fast until I felt his breaths begin to shorten and I knew he was ready to come. I squeezed my pussy muscles, clamping down on him like a vice and that sent him hurtling over the edge.
I felt the warm liquid fill me up as he held me down tightly against his lap. He was moaning and making primal sounding grunts as he milked himself into me. When he finished coming, he didn’t stop moving. He’s a generous lover; never stopping until I come.
He kept flexing his hips and rubbing my clit with his fingers. He brought the other hand up and pinched and rolled my nipples. I felt the orgasm washing over me and tightened every muscle in my body as I came.
Jace kept rubbing lightly until my body stopped shaking and I collapsed into him, breathing heavily. He put his hands on my back then and began to rub my back and run his hands through my hair. He was kissing the side of my face and telling me he loved me over and over.
When I had the strength I pulled my face up and looked at him. “I love you, Jace. I never imagined being happy like this.”
He smiled. I still melt when his smile is just for me. “I thank God for you every day, Daphne. I love you more than I can ever put into words and I am so grateful we found each other. I look forward to discovering new things with you every day for the rest of our lives.”
I kissed him again and I thought, who would have ever imagined that two abused kids who at more than one point in their lives thought they could never be happy would find each other and change that?
I know that I’m where I’m supposed to be and Jace tells me he knows this is where he belongs to. I’m going to hold onto him forever, and I know in my heart that it’s only going to get better and better.
INVESTIGATED BILLIONAIRE
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Claire Adams
PART 1
Chapter One
Delilah
“So what exactly are we supposed to do at one of these things?”
“Mattie, it’s an art show. We are supposed to look at the art.” I tried not to roll my eyes at my best friend.
I loved coming to art shows and had been doing it for years as a kind of release. Sometimes, I thought I could have been an amazing artist myself, and other times, I just enjoyed looking at the hard work the artists had put together. It was a way of relaxing for me, and luckily, I’d been able to convince my friend Mattie to tag along this time, even if she didn’t like art all that much.
“You’ll have to excuse Mattie; she’s not as cultured as the rest of us,” Mattie’s boyfriend, Markus, said as he obnoxiously held his pinky out while sipping on his rum and Coke.
“Come on, guys; this is a great place for me to recruit people for Dating the Rich. You know we have that huge summer bonus going on right now, and I could really use that extra cash. Plus, these paintings are amazing. Can you even imagine how much time and effort goes into making one of these?”
“Delilah Hunter, are you using us to help you get more referral bonuses for work?”
“Yes, Mattie, and you get free alcohol and an evening of class and art. You know you can get the bonus referrals, too, if you would just grab some of the cards when human resources is handing them out.”
“Barf. I have to talk to people enough on the phone all day. I don’t want to do it outside of work, too.”
“Come on, it’s not that bad. Look at that painting over there; it has beautiful colors. Don’t you think?”
It was terribly hard to get Mattie to go to any events that I wanted to go to. She didn’t like running, the theater, or art shows. So, the best we could do was alternate who got to pick the event for the night. I wasn’t thrilled she had dragged Markus along with us, but I didn’t want to go alone, so it would have to do for the evening.
Art shows were the perfect place to recruit for Dating the Rich and I really did need the bonus. The men and women at art shows like this one were exactly our target clientele. Although I worked in the computer department, not marketing, I had heard about the bonus opportunity and couldn’t turn it down.
Basically, I just had to hand out cards with a link to our website on it. I had a personal link attached to my name and if they used it to sign up, then I got the bonus. It was an easy way for me to earn a little extra cash while hanging out at an art show I wanted to see anyway.
“Del, six o’clock,” Mattie said quietly as she nodded toward a man who was coming our way.
“Wow, he’s cute,” I whispered back.
“Hey, doll, you want me to buy you a drink, baby?” the man asked in a thick, Brooklyn accent.
I really had nothing against people with a Brooklyn accent. In fact, I’m fond of people with accents different than mine. The guy was decent looking, for sure. His large biceps bulged out of his dress shirt and his deep, brown eyes were mesmerizing. Unfortunately, calling me baby and asking to buy me a drink at an event that served free alcohol really wasn’t a great way to pick me up.
On the surface, the cute guy would have been exactly the type of man I liked to date. He was clean cut, dressed well, and obviously took care of himself physically. The exterior package was not everything, though, and I really had learned that over the last year of trying to date. I would much rather date a decent-looking nice guy than a drop-dead-handsome jerk of a guy.
“Nope. Enjoy your night,” I said as I pulled Mattie with me and fled the scene.
Markus followed obediently behind us as we went over to the large painting I had pointed out earlier. Standing up close with such a large painting made each detail come to life. From across the room, it had looked like just some paint splattered onto the ten-foot-tall canvas, but here, I could see words and pictures embedded into the paint. In the red, there were words of hate and as I read them, my heart raced and my emotions stung. I quickly moved over to the blue paint with words of kindness and love and felt my heartrate slowing down as I reviewed the rest of the painting.
The blue in the painting really looked more like waves from an ocean and the red like the sunset, although I wasn’t exactly sure what the artist was trying to portray. Art was one of those things where if you saw something meaningful, then it was a significant painting to you. Another person might not see the same thing and wouldn’t be willing to pay the same price.
To me, art was just another expression of what was on the inside of someone. Music and theater were some other art forms that really showed the soul of the artists. That was why I loved the arts so much: the emotions and pure feelings that artists, singers, and actors put into their work were incredible to see.
Sometimes, I’d thought I really wanted to be an artist when I grew up, but then I became a mother and realized I had to have a job that was more responsible.
“One million dollars!” Mattie exclaimed so loudly that everyone in the room turned to look at us.
“Shhhhh.”
“Del, they are seriously selling this painting for one million dollars. How on earth did I not become an artist? If this is how much money they make for putting globs of paint onto a canvas, I seriously need to rethink my profession.”
“Come on now, this painting took a lot thought and work, look closely,” I said in defense of the artist. Although, I couldn’t imagine anyone would pay that high of a price for artwork, either. It seemed pretty astronomical.
“You just like it because it looks like something Connor would paint for you at school,” she laughed.
“I have to agree; it does look a lot like one of his paintings. Except he doesn’t charge as much for his artwork. I could make a real killing if I started marketing his school artwork. Maybe I should get started on that.”
“How is Connor doing in kindergarten?” Markus asked.
“Really good. I like that he doesn’t have to go to daycare all day. The school day is much better because he really loves to be busy, just like his dad. I don’t think he ever sits down.”
The mention of my late husband quickly had both Mattie and Markus quiet. Anytime I mentioned Spencer, people didn’t know what to say. It was as if I had set off a bomb in the room. First, total silence; then, a quick change of subject so no one had to talk about the dead husband or that fact that I was officially a widow at only twenty-seven years of age.
“Do you think anyone will buy this?” Mattie asked as she changed the subject to avoid being uncomfortable. “It seems like a lot of money for someone to pay for one painting. I mean, not even a rich person would want to pay this much, right?”
“I don’t know, probably. There are a lot of really wealthy people here, and art is so subjective. Maybe the painting will mean something to the person who purchases it. You just never know.”
“It blows my mind that there are people in the world who have an extra million dollars to just buy spattered paintings. I mean, think about it: if they can afford a painting like this, it means they’ve paid for all their bills, all the fun extra stuff, probably have a summer house and tons of extra money. You don’t just spend this kind of money if it’s your last million dollars. The person who buys this is going to be so filthy rich, they literally think this is just a fun purchase. That’s mindboggling to me.”
“A lot of our clients at work are this rich. That’s why it’s called Dating the Rich, Mattie,” I laughed.
“Technically, I know that, but it’s always an abstract thing since I’m just on the phones for customer service issues. Really, most of my conversations are with ditzy girls who are trying to set up their profiles and can’t figure out how to upload their scantily-clad photos. It’s odd to me that these girls end up landing the rich guys. I mean, come on, do they have no shame, at all? These guys are actually just looking for a piece of ass.”
“Yep, that’s basically what we do. Hook up old, rich men with beautiful, young women who want their money,” I said, and we both busted into laughter.
The dating criteria some of the men from our website had seemed a little ridiculous. Many of them were simply looking for a pretty girl to show off and didn’t actually care if she was smart, career oriented, or had any goals in her life. There were some guys who seemed to be looking for a real partner and love match, but they were much fewer than the other type of guys.
“Excuse me, ladies,” a young man said as he walked past us to put a sold magnet over the placard for the painting we were looking at.
“It sold? I can’t believe that,” Mattie exclaimed.
“Yep, we only have a couple paintings left; they are over there, if you’re interested.”
“Okay, thanks,” she replied as she tried to play off her shock as being upset because she was just about to buy it. I could hardly contain my laughter and turned away so the worker couldn’t see me. “I’ll go take a look. Thank you so much.”
“Hey, doll face,” the handsome Brooklyn man said as I turned almost directly into his chest. If I hadn’t stopped quickly, I would have run smack dab into him.
I had to admit the firmness of his chest was very appealing. It had been months since I had been laid, and although that wasn’t a driving factor in choosing a date, I was starting to consider the benefits of a one-night stand with this guy. With a babysitter in place and a whole evening to myself, it did seem like a waste not to at least have some sex.
“Are you enjoying the art show?” I asked in an effort to test the waters and see if I could handle an evening with him.
If I wasn’t looking for a guy to actually date, I could settle for someone a little less than perfect. This guy was handsome. He would probably be fun in bed. I started to play over the possibility of bringing him home with me, but first, I’d have to at least have a full conversation with the guy.
That was my problem when it came to one-night stands. I had this crazy notion in my head that they needed to be able to hold a conversation. It was certainly a woman-type of criteria for a one-night stand; I doubted guys worried if their women could hold a conversation before they brought them home for a night full of fun.
“Sure, man, this is on point. I love art shit.”
“Will you be buying any of the pieces?” I ventured to guess he wasn’t wealthy enough to purchase one of the paintings, but you never knew what someone had in their wallet.
Money wasn’t all that important to me, though. I didn’t plan on settling down with any man in the near future, so I was only asking as a form of reference to see why this guy was at the art show. If he was there to purchase something, at least I’d know we had art in common.
“Yeah, I might,” he said unconvincingly. “You think I should buy some of this painting crap?”
That was it: I couldn’t pretend to like this guy long enough to sleep with him. I could hardly stand having a conversation with him. This was exactly why my life as a one-night stand type of woman was so limited. I couldn’t sleep with someone I didn’t at least like, even if it was only going to be for one night.
“Well, I need to get back to my friends. It was nice talking to you. If you’re interested, I work at a high-end dating site and they are always looking for good-looking guys to join. Here’s a card,” I said, as I started to turn back to my friends.
“Hey, don’t leave yet,” he said as he grabbed my arm.
I turned back slowly and looked down at my arm and then up to him. My mouth pressed tightly in anger, and I waited to see if he would let go on his own or if I was going to have to punch him in the face. I really had no qualms about punching the guy right there, in front of everyone.
Guys who grabbed women like he did didn’t deserve the time of day. There wasn’t an excuse for it. Sure, I understood if a guy gently took my arm to get my attention; there was a difference, though. A guy who was just trying to get your attention was soft, gentle, and let go when you turned around. This guy had not gotten the memo on how to treat a woman – that was very clear.
“Sorry, babe, I just wanted to talk some more. Don’t be such a bitch about it.”
“Not going to happen,” I said as I tried to control my anger and not get too noisy in the middle of the crowded room. “Now, are you going to let go of my arm?”
“Um, yeah, sorry, darling,” he said. “No harm, no foul.”
“Don’t touch a woman like this again. It’s not okay. Do you understand?”
“Whatever,” he said as he stormed off.
As I turned back to my friends, an inkling of misery flashed through my mind. I certainly wouldn’t be having a night full of unadulterated sex. My prospects were getting slimmer and slimmer as I got older; now I understood why some women ended up being single all their life.
Once you passed that age where you were willing to compromise, you moved into an era where you were self-sufficient and lame guys just weren’t needed. I was definitely self-sufficient, and as good as an orgasm sounded, I wasn’t that desperate for one.
“Another drink?” Markus asked Mattie and me.
“Yep, keep them coming. No reason to turn down some free liquor. Plus, if I get a few more in me, maybe I’ll be able to get the rest of these referral cards handed out,” I said as I held out a stack of a dozen cards.
“Del, seriously! Are you really going to hand all those out?”
“Yep, we get a five-hundred-dollar bonus for anyone who signs up with our referral. I could really use the money. There never seems to be enough.”
“Isn’t the house paid for, after…you…know? I mean…”
“Yes, Mattie. After Spencer died, I used the life insurance to pay off the house, and I still had a decent amount left. But it’s been four years and we have dwindled the remaining money away. Luckily, I get paid a decent salary or we wouldn’t be able to keep the house. I pay two thousand dollars a month just for taxes and insurance; there’s no way I would have been able to stay there if we had a mortgage payment.”
“I’m glad you guys got to keep the house. That’s an important part of stability for Connor,” Mattie said in one of her brief, real moments of talk about my life after the death of my husband. “Should we go find Markus? I think he’s lost.”
“Sure, let’s go over to the bar in the front. There was a pretty bartender there,” I laughed.
As much as I loved Mattie, I didn’t really like her boyfriend Markus much at all. I knew we were going to find him talking to some pretty girl and it would break Mattie’s heart. I’d urged her to leave him so many times, though, that it wasn’t even funny anymore.
“Hey, he only cheated once; he’s not going to do it again,” Mattie said. “We’ve talked about it.”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I was only joking. I’m sure there is just a big line,” I said, although I didn’t think that, at all.
Sure enough, as we strolled over to the bar, there was Markus chatting up the model look-a-like redhead who was talking way more than she was making drinks. My heart sank at the idea that Mattie was staying with this guy. Of course, I couldn’t tell her to leave her boyfriend anymore; I could only hope that someday she’d be confident enough to be alone.
So many people told me I was strong for being a single mom. I never really thought of myself as strong. You just did what you had to do in situations where you had to step up. What were my other options? Sulk away and give up on parenting my son? Obviously, I wasn’t going to do that.
Sure, times had been really rough right after my husband’s car accident. I had been home on extended maternity leave and to be honest, wasn’t planning on going back to work. Dating the Rich was a new company, and I worked as a secretary straight out of college. I had only worked there a few months when I got pregnant, and as soon as I had Connor, I knew I wanted to stay home with him. Luckily, Spencer was agreeable to my plan.
But everything changed one warm July night. Spencer had been driving home to Los Angeles from San Francisco. He had stayed late to help a client, and from the accident report, it sounded like he had fallen asleep at the wheel before he drove off the road.
Nothing could have prepared me for being a single mother and I certainly hadn’t ever thought I would have to be one. It was harder than I could have imagined, not having another adult around to help out with the day-to-day things.
I certainly couldn’t imagine what Mattie would have to deal with if she stayed with Markus and got married like they were planning. Nope, I wasn’t planning on getting married anytime soon – if ever again. I was accustomed to my single life, and it suited me just fine.
“Don’t say a word,” Mattie said as we walked up to Markus. “You are one hell of a guy. You think I’m just going to keep dating you when you do stuff like this?”
“Oh, babe, nothing was happening. I was just getting your drinks,” he said, yet he didn’t have a single drink in his hand.
“I’m going to get going, Mattie; I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said.
“It’s okay, Del; we just need to talk for a second and then I’ll go look at the art with you,” Mattie said. “I’m sorry. It will just take a minute.”
“No worries. I’m going to walk around. We can talk about it tomorrow at work,” I winked. “Take care of yourself.”