Epilogue
Chance
Five Years Later
“Nat?” I called, from the balcony. “If we don’t leave soon, we’ll be late. The dinner cruise leaves the port at seven o’clock.”
“I know,” I heard her muffled voice call back to me. “Give me five more minutes.”
I smiled and turned back to the view. It was an idyllic summer day, and Paris had never looked more tranquil or more colorful. Natalie still loved the Parisian winters, but for me, nothing compared to the warmth and brightness of summer. It was the third year in a row that we found ourselves back in the city of love.
After our first trip to Paris, back when I was still Natalie’s teacher, we hadn’t revisited the country for three years. When we finally did return, it was on our honeymoon. After that, we had made it a tradition and come back for our first and second anniversaries.
“Natalie,” I called again.
“I’m ready, I’m ready,” she said, as she emerged from the bathroom.
“Wow,” I whistled. “You look beautiful.”
She laughed and did a little twirl for my benefit. She was wearing a thin, silk dress with an open back in a fantastic navy blue that made her blue eyes look a little lighter. Her hair was shorter now, falling to just above her shoulders in a stylish bob.
“Ready to go?” she asked.
We started our walk down to the pier where our boat cruise was scheduled to leave. It was a fifteen-minute walk, but both Natalie and I loved walking the streets of Paris. On the way, Natalie kept getting distracted with all the little corner stalls and shops by the street side.
“Tommy would love that,” she said, pointing to an intricate model of an old-fashioned tricycle. “Let’s stop and get it for him.”
I glanced at my watch and smiled. “All right.” I nodded. “You have five minutes.”
Except five minutes was never five minutes with Natalie. She kept seeing more items she wanted to purchase, and soon I was following her around the cramped little shop trying to rush her along.
“What do you think about this?” she asked, dangling a pretty star-shaped necklace in front of my face.
“I think we’re going to be standing at the port, watching our dinner leave without us.”
She shot me a stare. “Don’t you think Sophie would love this necklace?”
“You’ve already bought Sophie a gift,” I reminded her. “And anyway, this is our anniversary trip. We’re not really expected to bring anyone presents.”
“I like getting everyone presents,” Natalie said, turning back to the arrangement of necklaces. “Besides, you know Tommy and Annie will expect something.”
“That’s because you spoil them,” I said.
She rolled her eyes and ignored me. “Annie’s birthday’s coming up, too… We have to get her something extra special.”
“See?” I said. “There you go again, spoiling them.”
“Tommy’s my only nephew, and Annie’s my only niece,” Natalie defended herself. “It’s my job to spoil them.”
I sighed. “Fine, how about this for her birthday?” I suggested, pointing to a large ten-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.
Natalie looked at me as if I’d gone crazy. “She’s turning four, not forty.”
I laughed. “I’m going to turn forty by the time you’re finished here.”
She laughed. “Okay, okay, I’m done,” she said, heading towards the counter to pay.
We got to our dinner cruise just in time and were ushered in by a waiter who led us to the private cabin we had requested. The moment we sat down, I felt myself relax. I remembered the first time we had sat down to a dinner like this. It was during that trip that I realized that I had just unwittingly fallen in love for the first time in my life.
I reached out for Natalie’s hand in the same moment she reached for mine, and I realized she was experiencing the same sentimental feelings I was.
“Do you remember the first time we were here?”
“Of course.” I nodded. “It was winter.”
“That was over five years ago,” she said, shaking her head. “I was only twenty-one. I can’t believe it sometimes… It feels like life’s been going by so fast there’s barely any time for me to sit back and savor it.”
“You haven’t been able to savor it?”
“Well…not as much as I would like to,” Natalie corrected herself. “It’s just that, after, I graduated we moved in together. Then we spent that summer traveling…you remember?”
“Like it was yesterday,” I nodded. “A week in Indonesia, Thailand, and China. Then it was Belarus, Finland, and Sweden.”
“That trip was so exhilarating. It was life-defining for me,” Natalie said.
“Was it?” I asked. “What about it was defining for you?”
“I suppose I realized that my life had just begun and even if I never got to travel again for as long as I lived, it wouldn’t matter. Because I’d have you.”
I smiled. “I never thought I’d love anything more than I loved traveling,” I nodded, understanding where she was coming from. “Then I met you.”
She smiled. “After that trip, we got back home and settled into domestic life.”
“You say that like it’s boring.”
“It wasn’t for me.”
“It wasn’t for me, either,” I assured her. “I had as much fun living a mundane life of repetition with you as I did hopping from one country to the next.”
“Really?” she asked, with one raised eyebrow.
“Really,” I nodded firmly.
“Even that first year when I went through three different jobs and kept having neurotic breakdowns because I thought I’d never find anything I enjoyed doing?”
“Even then,” I nodded.
“Even the second year when I went back to school for my masters?” she asked.
“Even then.”
“Even the third year when I started working at the university?”
“Are you kidding?” I said. “I was looking forward to working in the same place as you. It certainly made the commute a lot more interesting for me.”
“You’re sweet.”
“No, I’m honest.”
Natalie leaned forward and kissed my hand. “That was the year you proposed to me,” she reminded me, in a soft voice.
“I remember,” I said.
“Do you see?” she pointed out. “That’s why life went by so fast. We moved in together; we started traveling. When we got back, you started work, and I started hunting for jobs. Then I went back to school and immediately after, I started working at the university, too. You proposed to me that year and three months later we were married.”
“Do you regret not having a longer engagement?” I asked. “Or a bigger wedding?”
“Not for a second,” she assured me. “I always wanted a small wedding, and once you proposed to me, all I wanted was to be your wife. I remember feeling those three months like they were years.”
“I felt the same way,” I nodded. “If it weren’t for the fact that our families would have been devastated, I would have just suggested we elope.”
Natalie laughed. “My parents would never have forgiven us. And neither would Sophie and the kids.”
“True,” I nodded. “Still, it was a good wedding.”
“It was perfect,” she smiled, and I could tell from her eyes that she was seeing that day unfold. “I looked through our wedding album just before we left for the airport.”
“I should look through it when we get back,” I said. “To be honest, that day is a blur to me now. There’s only one thing I remember with perfect clarity.”
“The food?” Natalie teased.
“You.” I smiled.
“Me?” she said, pretending to blush. “Was I really that beautiful?”
“More than beautiful,” I said. “I can still see you, walking down that wooden aisle towards me on the beach. That dress made you look like some ethereal creature from my dreams, and I realized just how lucky I was at that moment.”
She leaned forward and kissed me gently on the lips. “I’ve never really thanked you,” she said.
“Thanked me?” I said, with a confused frown. “For what?”
“For the life you’ve given me,” Natalie said simply. “It’s more than I ever imagined it would be. It’s bigger and brighter and happier than anything I could have achieved alone. I was born to be your wife, and every year we’re together, that becomes more and more apparent.”
I took her hand and kissed it tenderly. “I should be the one thanking you,” I said. “Before you, I had adventure but there was no meaning tied to it. But now… Now, I have a purpose. My life, my work, and my travels all have a purpose because you’re standing next to me.”
She smiled. “I feel the same way.”
“Good.” I nodded. “Because there’s something I wanted to discuss with you.”
Natalie’s eyebrows rose curiously. “This sounds serious.”
“I suppose it is.”
“Should I be worried?”
I laughed nervously. “I don’t know… I don’t think you should be.”
“Okay,” she said. “Now I really am nervous.”
“Don’t be,” I said, reaching across the table and taking both her hands in mine. “I’m just trying to introduce a new adventure to our lives.”
“A new adventure?” she repeated. “You want to plan another trip?”
“Uh… not exactly.”
Natalie smiled. “Darling, am I mistaken or do you actually look a little flushed?”
“I never thought I’d want this,” I admitted. “I always thought I was too…rigid and selfish to choose that kind of life.”
“What kind of life?”
“Sorry.” I laughed. “I know I’m talking in riddles.”
She smiled encouragingly at me. “Just come out and say it,” she said. “What do you want?”
I took a deep breath. “I think… I think I want children.”
Natalie’s eyes widened for a moment. There were a few seconds of shocked silence before she burst out laughing.
“Why is that funny?” I asked, joining in her laughter.
“It’s not,” she said. “I just… I didn’t expect that. I thought you were going to suggest something scary.”
“Well… I consider having children to be scary.”
“We’ve never really talked about kids,” Natalie said, as her tone softened into seriousness.
“No, we haven’t.”
“At one point, I was content to be a two-person family, traveling the world till we were too old to board a plane, no pets, no children, nothing to keep us tied to one place.”
“I thought that, too, at one point,” I admitted.
“What made you change your mind?”
“You did,” I told her. “Almost every single change of heart I’ve had in the last five years is linked to you. You make me feel safe and brave. You make me want things I never even realized I wanted. The only reason I want children is because you are my wife. I’ll have the best partner in the world to raise those kids with.”
“We won’t be able to travel as much when they’re young,” Natalie pointed out.
“No,” I agreed. “But having kids won’t be any less of an adventure.”
She smiled. “Well then… I suppose we should get to work as soon as possible. Making babies takes time.”
“You mean, you’re in?”
“I am completely, totally, and one hundred percent in,” she said excitedly. “Apparently, I wasn’t just born to be your wife. I was born to be the mother of your children, too.”
I was so overwhelmed that I grabbed Natalie and pulled her onto my lap. We sealed the deal with a passionate kiss and the unspoken promise that no matter what, our life together would always be an adventure.
That’s the end of the Professor’s Virgin. Below I included 4 of my previous books to read as a free bonus.
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EXCESSIVE
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
Chapter One
Hunter
The edges of the 12-gauge shotgun glistened before the curious eyes of my prospective customer. The look on his face was something like awestruck. I had seen it a million times before. Dilated pupils with a hint of astonishment. He was hard for the gun… Most guys were.
“You have pretty good taste, Mister. You picked one of the most accurate ones from the bunch,” the older man muttered.
It was an obvious fact. The precision and design coupled with the immaculate quality of the weapon would make anyone feel intimidated and a little overwhelmed. Even me, and I owed the place.
I ran my fingers along the silver, smooth barrel of the long range, power gun. I caught an opaque reflection of myself in the flawless steel of the gun. The reflection staring back at me resembled the man I was more than the one I had become. The guy in front of me muttered something about the gun being heavenly, and I came to my senses.
Cautious not to damage or scratch the gun, I laid the weapon on the clear display counter. “When I saw it, I felt it was special. That’s the reason why I chose it among the rest.”
Memories of my childhood danced through my mind’s eye. Those good old days reminded me of my passion for hunting. I smiled and tried to keep myself in the present. It would be easy to spend the afternoon in memory after memory. Life was easier back then.
“I learned to hunt just as early as I learned to hold a pencil and write my name. Guns were always the best use of my time, although my father used to give me those cheap plastic ones that were like toys when I was small. He would take me out into the woods and allow me to watch as he hunted for the big ones.” My voice resonated sincere nostalgia across the shop. It was a place where tough guys came, but we all had moments of reminiscing. Moments that softened us just a little.
“Since then, I got more interested in learning the ropes of hunting. Guns are my gems, and hunting is my game.” I took pride as I spoke, my customer nodding as if he totally understood. He glanced down and shook his head as he studied the expensive, top-notch shotgun below us.
“You are really good at this, Hunter. From what you said, it sounds like you’ve handled all the guns in this shop.” The man moved his fingers slowly along the tip of the gun, seemingly testing its sturdy structure.
I kept my eyes on him, focusing my attention on the customer upfront rather than the sweet past. “I hope I can teach my son the ropes someday. Perhaps this summer break, I’ll take some time off and hunt with the boy.” It was an impossible, hearty wish. The shop would need me there to keep the doors open. It was a ball and chain, and though I loved it, it had surely become my life. No time to take off or relax. At least not yet. But in the future. Hopefully.
“That sounds great. I hope you two have some good times and make some memories. I know me and my father did, as I did with my own boys.” The kind man yielded a sympathetic smile before tapping the glass between us. “All right. No way I’m letting this baby lie here any longer. I’m taking her with me. Ring it up.”
I chuckled and nodded. I totally understood. The only thing better than a new gun was the warm arms of a good woman. Something I hadn’t had in far too long.
Another happy customer always felt good, especially one who shared my same hobby. Seeing their satisfied expressions at the idea of trying out their newest toy was a bit exhilarating to me too. The business fit me well, and I it.
After the guy had settled the bill, I packed the gun in a secured, safe case. I was in a good mood and enjoyed our conversation, so to thank him, I grabbed a bonus magazine and added it to his stuff. As I lifted the heavy cargo, he took it with both hands, his frail frame struggling to carry the weight of both the gun and the case.
“Thanks, man. I hope to see you around.” The man smiled as a final goodbye, his hands fully equipped with what we all considered precious cargo. I watched as he left and let out a content sigh. Life was good. I was doing what I wanted most days of the week. It was my nights that suffered.
I turned to walk in the back and stopped short as a familiar, and annoying, voice rang out from behind me.
“Oh, poor Hunter. Got lucky once again.” I turned to recognize the nuisance’s arrival. Garren. A best friend, and the worst employee I’d ever hired.
He leaned on one of the shop’s columns, his arms crossed in a defensive stance. He looked bored with life, fed up with normalcy. He was looking for a fight or trouble, one or the other. The guy needed something to keep himself putting one foot in front of the other.
I shook my head in slow motion, emphasizing my loss of interest over what he was to whine about now. “You’re late. Get your ass in the back and get the window cleaner. You’re going to have a long day, buddy,” I kidded.
He smirked at me as he stood straight, walking closer to my desk. He was always giving me hell, but it was just part of his persona. I’d learned to live with it a long time ago. “If you’re running something as big as this gun shop, you better know everything about what you sell. You don’t gain a customer’s trust by simply drawing them in a heartfelt, dramatic story. That’s too weak of a strategy, coming from a man like you.” He pinned his name tag on the right chest part of his uniform and wagged his eyebrows at me. Asshat.
“Keep going, Garren. Acting like you know something.” I snorted. “People buy feelings, moron. Not plastic and metal.” I walked toward my desk and dropped down into my chair.
“Oh, really? What, are we all girls now?” Teasing me with his hand signaling for me to attack, I smiled, got up, and pounced on him. I popped him in the face, grateful that no one was in the store at the time. We played too much, but it was another reason I enjoyed my job so much.
“You better shut your smart-ass comments, especially if customers are around. They might believe your crazy ideas or you talking down about women. Your momma should whoop your ass for that.” I grabbed him and put him in a headlock, laughing as he tried to get out. After a few seconds, I released him and pushed his ugly ass away.
“Is that all you’ve got, Garren? What a pity.” His eyes were filled with excitement. We’d been fighting each other since we were big enough to walk on two legs. He circled me, and I turned, watching him closely.
He was desperate to get me down seeing that I’d been champion for a long time where our silly playful fights were concerned.
“Look who is the champ in hand-to-hand combat.” I raised both hands on my side, flaunting my victory.
Garren faked a few coughs in between his laughter. “Bullshit.”
“What?” I raised my eyebrows waiting for him to set up and get pounced on once more.
“Enough of this shit.” Garren rolled his shoulders and smiled sheepishly. “Everyone knows you’re the man. Stop walking around like a rooster, you idiot. You’ll have every woman in a ten-mile radius humping your leg.” He fist-pumped my hand and popped me in the chest. “Speaking of…when is the last time you got laid?”
“Ouch! You hit me right where it hurts most. Fuck you for that.” I winked and changed the subject. My love life was a closed book…more like an empty book. “Anyway, you missed out on one satisfied customer.” I got busy, taking a few crates behind the counter in the stock room. There were new deliveries already stacking up, and more crates coming in tomorrow.
Business was getting better and better, Texas being a prime location to a bunch of hunters and gun enthusiasts. Being the only one to provide bad-ass weapons and top-notch hunting companions in our area, my gun shop was known everywhere around the state.
“He looked pleased by your sales talk. Have you told him about Vince?” he asked, carrying a crate as he followed me into the stockroom.
“Yeah, I did.” I wiped the beads of sweat from my forehead before putting my crate down and walking back to the front of the store.
It was fully furnished with a huge variety of guns, so many that it was hard not to be a little overwhelmed. It was probably the largest gun shop I had seen, and I was glad as hell to be a part of it. Another memory swept through my mind of my father, showing me his gun collection. Life was easy as a boy. I prayed my son thought the same.
“You know how this shop began, Hunter. We both do. Your daddy had a dream, right, man?” I nodded, and he continued. “Hell, it’s been here as long as we have. Back when we were kids and shit, trailing along with our fathers during hunting season. Good ole’ days.” Garren had been one of those shy kids who came hunting with his dad during opening season, not fitting in at first. But we became fast friends because, just like me, he’d wander along behind his dad in awe, waiting to see the mountain of a man shoot another bird flawlessly.
“Yeah, your daddy was a natural. He would be really proud to see that you grew up to what he wanted you to be.” He gave me a stern look. “You know that, right? He’d be proud of you, Hunter.”
“Yeah. Thanks, man. You still suck.” I chuckled and leaned back in my chair as he started to arrange the guns that were on display inside the glass gun cases.
I just hoped that he was proud, indeed.
“So, Vince’s bus will be dropping him off here after school?” He changed the topic, seeing the sadness and quietude in my expression. I looked at him and nodded. I almost forgot about it.
“Hey, Garren. I’ll take the first lunch break, cool?” I wanted to buy something for Vince at the convenience store. Maybe his favorite chocolate bar or cookies? Chips. Damn, the boy loved chips.
Garren paused and turned to stare back at me. His playful sneer threw me off a little like the fucker knew something I didn’t.
“I guess that would pay off my tardiness.” He flipped me off and turned back around, continuing to arrange the guns in the cabinet.
“Something needs to.” I looked at the door as two customers walked in. Time to get back to work. I stood up and greeted them. God, I loved my job.
*
It was late afternoon, but the gun shop was still packed with customers. Garren was busy attending to them, while I was working on the necessary paperwork for those who were ready to purchase. I glanced down to stamp one of the contracts, the seal of release and authorization to own a gun, and heard Vince’s bus pull up just outside the store.
The little guy came running in a few seconds later. He was carrying his backpack and lunch box along with him, one dragging on the ground and the other flying wildly behind him. His face lit up as we locked eyes.
“Daaaad!” he screamed with excitement like we hadn’t seen each other in a month. I finished the last contract and gave it to the customer. Afterward, I stood up and spread my arms to welcome him. His tiny arms barely wrapped around me. It was the best relief I could find after a tired, busy day at work.
“How did you do in school today, young man?” I asked, holding his bag and lunch box as we went to the back office. He jumped on the couch, reclining back and letting out a long sigh as if the weight of the world was on his little shoulders.
“Today’s been a blast. Marion got caught cheating, Evan was the top scorer on the pop quiz, and Ashley shared some glazed apples with the whole class. You know Leila, Dad? She swung Tammy so high; she almost fell head first!” Vince’s eyes were shining in amazement, mesmerized by the things the world before him was to offer. I laughed at his stories and took out the package of chocolate cupcakes I had bought from the convenience store during my lunch break.
“Here’s your snack, son. I know you love this kind.” I served the chilled, moist chocolate cake on the small table together with a carton of milk. Vince looked happy to see his snack for this afternoon. He took one of the cupcakes, smiled at me, and bit into the thing as deep as he could, covering his face with it.
“My classmates were talking about summer coming soon, Dad. Some will go for a swim; others will go out of town. When they asked me what we will be doing, I told them my Dad would be up for something great and fun!” He was eating the cake as he spoke, his mouth full, but I didn’t care. He was too cute. Always had been. I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride, my heart smitten with my little boy.
“James even asked if I could tell stories about your heroic missions, but I told him that they were top secret.” He continued his meal, finishing the cupcake with a big grin on his face. His teeth were coated in chocolate icing, but it was all part of being a kid. I could not stop a hearty laugh as he tried to clean himself up and failed miserably.
Being a volunteer firefighter was another thing to add to the reasons why my son was proud of me. He thought of me as the town’s hero, being a strong man to face the fires. It was what a father hoped for. That was, for his son to become proud of him.
“Dad, can we go to the lake and fish? I miss our time together.” His face suddenly turned sober. Those cute, innocent green eyes were begging me to answer him yes. It was difficult to give him the words he hoped for because it would be hard to take him there and fish tonight.
“Hey, buddy, I really wanted to go fish tonight, but I’ve got a lot of work to finish up. You know I own this big old place. We’ll go as soon as I have free time, I promise.” I hated to disappoint him, but I was without options. It was me and Garren. We had a few part-timers, but the place was mine. All mine.
He replied with a slow nod, disappointed. He forced a smile and hugged me, looking more grown up than he should have. I couldn’t help but wish for some relief, so a bit of time to spend just with him, but it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
I’d been through a lot in my life and carried a shit-ton on my shoulders more times than I could count, but nothing was more difficult than being a single parent. Nothing.