Summary: John and Evangeline have been best friends most of their lives. When their feelings start to change for each other, will they give in? Or will they try to ignore it?
Categories: Fantasy Characters: None
Genres: Romance, comedy
Warnings: None
Challenges: Series: None
Chapters: 23
Completed: No
Word count: 49038
Read: 25438
Published: 09/18/2005
Updated: 03/04/2006
1. Barbequed Evangeline by jovanangel87
2. I'm FAuning In Love With You by jovanangel87
3. Brothers and Sisters by jovanangel87
4. Heaven Must Have Sent Your Precious Love by jovanangel87
5. She's Got Her Poker Face On by jovanangel87
6. Negril, Jamaica by jovanangel87
7. Catalyst by jovanangel87
8. The past is in the past...or is it? by jovanangel87
9. Confessions by jovanangel87
10. Heartbreak and Alcohol by jovanangel87
11. Can't Get You Out Of MY System by jovanangel87
12. Moonlight Sonata by jovanangel87
13. I've Got Love On My Mind by jovanangel87
14. The Wedding Singer by jovanangel87
15. Lunch at the Palace by jovanangel87
16. Ne Me Quitte Pas by jovanangel87
17. Party Time by jovanangel87
18. She's What? by jovanangel87
19. Merry Christmas Baby by jovanangel87
20. Ultrasound by jovanangel87
21. New Year's Eve by jovanangel87
22. Real Estate by jovanangel87
23. Ocean Pacific by jovanangel87
Barbequed Evangeline by jovanangel87
(Evangeline’s POV)
I sit back in a deck chair as I watch my friends and family happily conversing, dancing and eating. I glance over to the grill where my oldest brother Andrew is arguing with John over the merits of soy “hot dogs”. Andrew recently went on some retreat and decided to cut out all red meat out of his diet. This is a big step for him, because previously, his idea of a great meal was a large hamburger or a juicy T-bone steak.
And while they’re arguing, the real hamburgers on the grill are getting burnt. Shaking my head at their oblivion I get up and walk over to the grill, grabbing the spatula out of Andrew’s hand and start flipping the burgers myself.
John finally notices and starts cracking up, but Andrew is still going on, completely oblivious.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Your sister is going to kill you.”
“Damn! The burgers!”
It’s only then that he realises that the spatula is missing. I grin and kiss him lightly on the cheek.
“I won’t kill you this time Drew, but please pay attention. I don’t want people complaining because all of their food is burnt.”
“Shouldn’t I be the one bossing you around since I’m the big brother and you’re the baby sister?”
I put my hands on my hips and look at him silently.
“Or, I could just do what you told me to do.”
I grin. “Right. You do that.”
As I’m about to walk away, John smirks and asks, “What, no kiss for me?”
“No, but I’ve got a kick for you.”
Before I can do anything, John swoops down and grabs my right leg. As I try to catch my balance, I thank God for 15 years of ballet training. I meet John’s defiant grin with a glare, but he just shrugs.
“Preventative measure. The last time you got mad and kicked me, I had a bruise for a month.”
“John,” I growl, “Let go of my leg!”
“Nope!”
I try to free my leg from John’s grasp, but he’s got a tight hold on it. I glance over at Andrew, who’s trying very hard not to laugh and realize that he’s not going to be very much help. I’m pretty much on my own here.
“John, let go!”
“You really want me to?”
“Yes! You numbskull!”
“Okay.” John lets go of my leg just as I’m trying to pull away yet again. So of course I go flying backwards, and land with a resounding thump, getting a huge grass stain on my previously dazzlingly white shorts.
“Damn it John! You made a mess of my shorts.”
He turns me around so my back is facing him. “Lemme see.”
I spin back around and face him with my arms crossed. “There’s a humongous stain back there.”
“Small stain. Nice, big view though.”
My mouth drops open and I stare at John as he grins wider and wider.
“John. Dylan. McBain. You. Are. A. Dead. Man!”
Andrew turns around from the grill and says, “She used the middle name man. You better run.”
John takes his advice and begins to run, with me in close pursuit. And he runs straight to the pool edge, which I have to say, is pretty dumb. I stop in front of him and grin, while he shakes his head no.
“Evangeline, don’t. Anything but that. I’ll never tease you ag“”
He’s cut off short as I push him into the pool. Almost nobody looks up at the splash, since everyone we know is pretty used to this by now. John and I have been best friends since the first day of first grade and since then we have been inseparable.
I can count on John for anything, including annoying the hell out of me. Summers have always been special, fun times for John and I. There were always the huge family cook outs at either my mom’s house or Eve’s. Now that we’re older, I get the Labor Day barbeque, which is what I’m hosting now, and John had the Fourth of July.
And then there was camp. Co-ed sleep-away, so John and I went to the same one. We were known for always pulling pranks on each other. The most memorable one was when John replaced my citrus shampoo with lemon juice. Three hours in the sun later, and my hair was an odd shade of red- brown. I had to dye my hair dark brown until it went back to normal.
In retaliation, the next time we went into town, I bought one of those kits for bleaching facial hair. Theat night, when every one was asleep, I carefully bleached John’s eyebrows to a nice, honey blond colour. The fact that John sleeps like a dead person helped me considerably.
Our pranks haven’t ceased, even though we stopped going to camp years ago. Instead they just got more and more elaborate. My mother says that John and I act less mature than some of my nieces and nephews. Not one of them is over the age of seven.
While I’ve been off in LaLa land, John has resurfaced and swum to the ladder where he pulls himself out of the pool. He walks over to me, dripping copious amounts of water onto the deck.
“Alright Evangeline, how about we call a truce?”
He holds out his hand, and stupidly, I take it. In a second, he has his arms wrapped around me in a hug so tight, there’s no way for me not to be wet.
As I’m about to ream him out, Eve steps through the gate leading from my kitchen garden to the backyard, and both John and I rush over to greet her. We were worried she wouldn’t be able to make it and neither of us has seen her in a while, so we’re both pretty excited.
“Mom, I’m so glad that you could make it!” John reaches to hug her, but Eve skillfully sidesteps him.
“It’s obvious Evangeline fell for that, but I’m not going to. Go change into something dry and you can get all the hugs you want.”
John hurries to do his mother’s bidding. That’s one thing I admire a lot about John. He’ll joke around with her, but there is nothing his mother can ask him to do that is impossible. He’d do anything to make her happy, which has helped me out in the past. Eve and I are very close and she’s been very good friends with my mother for almost the same amount of time that John and I have been friends.
“Evangeline, every time I see you, you get more and more beautiful.”
“Thank you eve. You look wonderful as always.”
John comes back wearing a dry pair of jeans and dark blue T-shirt and immediately gathers his other in a hug. I can’t help but tease him a little.
“You’re such a Mama’s boy, John.”
He reaches around Eve to lightly tug on my ponytail. Eve shakes her head and says, “John, when are you going to stop pulling chairs out from under Evangeline and start pulling them out for her? You both need to get together soon before Lisa and I are too old to enjoy our grandkids.”
I’m quite shocked when instead of his usual comment about how wrong that is, he just looks at me with a small smile. Our families make comments like that all the time and they’re not joking. My nieces and nephews all call him Uncle John, because according to my older sisters Chelsea and Daniella, when John and I get married, the kids won’t be confused. We try to ignore them.
Eve scans the backyard and turns to me. “Where’s Lisa?”
“The last time I saw her, she was out here.”
“She’s in the kitchen,”John answers.
Eve goes back into the house and I turn to John.
“What’s she doing in there?”
“She said that you’re out of fruit salad, she was making another one.”
“I’m going to go see if she needs any help in the kitchen. You coming?”
“Even though I know that she’s going to hide all the knives the minute she sees me?”
“Well, you did almost chop your thumb off trying to cut cheese.”
“It was years ago, and I was drunk.”
“Yeah well she doesn’t know that. I know how to keep a secret. You coming or not?”
He shrugs. “Whatever.”
We enter the kitchen to find both of our mothers peeling and cutting up melons. We offer to help, but they say they’ve got it covered. It may be my house, but it’s my mother’s barbeque. No matter how much I tell her to relax and enjoy the party, she can’t help taking over hostess duties. It doesn’t really annoy me that much anymore. And sometimes I do give her reason to doubt my maturity.
After everyone has eaten and rested for a while, I try to talk everyone into a game of water volleyball. My sisters and cousins agree to play and I force Michael, Marcie, Shannon, Nora and Antonio to play also. When we’re choosing teams, I drag Antonio and John over to my team. I’ve played with them before, and since they almost succeeded in beating me, I know they’re good. Unfortunately, my mother calls a foul.
“Evangeline, let the other team have John. It’s not fair to anyone else if you play on the same team, and I’m sure that the separation won’t kill either of you.”
Without thinking, I whine, “But I want John.”
Michael raises an eyebrow and smirks at me. “How about you just make do with a McBain?”
“Michael, I love you, you know I do... but you suck at volleyball.”
“Yeah, I’m really feeling the love right now.”
Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?
John and Michael switch sides, and surprisingly, we annihilate John’s team. Andrew said it’s because I’m a sore loser. I threw the volleyball at his head.
After a while, we realize that it’s getting late and people start to leave. Amidst a whirl of hugs, kisses and reminders to call them, out mothers finally leave John and I alone in the dark. We sit in silence for a while, examining the bright patterns of the stars in the night sky.
“John, do you remember when we were at camp, on really hot nights, we would all take our sleeping bags down to the beach to sleep there? And we’d play that game where we’d try to name as many constellations as we could in a minute?”
“Um-hmm.”
Now that may work on some people, but I know John. And that um-hmm means that there is a lot going on in that handsome head of his.
“What’s wrong? You’ve been quiet all night.”
“Nothing.”
“John...”
“Evangeline, I said there’s nothing wrong. Okay?”
Ouch. Somebody’s in a pissy mood.
“Something is bothering you and I only ask because I think I can help.”
He nods. “You ever get tired of this dance we do? You always seem so afraid of change. You live in this world inside your head where we’re still 9 and we don’t have anything to worry about. And those may have been good times, but it’s hard for me to try to pretend to be a kid when I’m dealing with grown-up feelings and problems. And you need to grow up and stop pretending that things haven’t changed.”
“John I wasn’t asking you to pretend any thing. You do that of your own volition.”
“This is why I didn’t want to say anything. I knew that you’d get all defensive.”
“Only because this is coming from no where. And you’re one to talk about living in the past and being afraid of change.”
Very quietly, John asks, “What is that supposed to mean?”
I know I should stop right now, before I say something stupid, but right now, I’m too mad to care. “How long has Caitlyn been gone John? You don’t date anyone, you work obsessively and you do all of these things for Caitlyn. You think that’s gonna bring her back? Maybe you need to grow up and stop pretending.”
He stands quietly. “Or, maybe I should just go home.”
“Maybe you should,” I shoot back.
“Good night Evangeline,” I says politely. He turns to look at me and I see such a range of emotions in his eyes, Anger, sadness and something else that I can’t exactly identify. I feel bad, because I know that I’ve really hurt her feelings, but since mine are also a little hurt and confused, and my stubbornness knows no bounds, I’m not apologizing.
With a final glance, John disappears into a sea of darkness, leaving me to ponder the strange turn of events that just took place.
I'm FAuning In Love With You by jovanangel87
John’s POV)
It’s been a whole week since Evangeline and I fought and a whole week since I’ve seen her. I know that she’s purposely avoiding me, because we live next door to each other and we normally eat at least one meal a day with each other. Normally when we argue, we go to our separate corners, cool down and apologize to each other. Either Evangeline just doesn’t want to apologize to me (she’s good for it) of she’s still mad and doesn’t want me to apologize to her.
All I know is, it’s been hell. Not that I’m going to let anyone know that.
“John quit being so stubborn. If you really wanted to talk to her, you know where she lives and works.”
I flash Michael an annoyed look. “Thank you Dr. Feel Good.”
“Hey man. All I’m saying is that you obviously miss her and you’ve been a grouch without her. So apologize already.”
“I’m not apologizing first Michael. What she said was far worse than anything I’ve ever done to her.”
“Including the time you hit her?”
“Michael, I was 7. It was years ago. Twenty three to be exact. As I recall, that was the only time that Dad ever raised a hand to either of us. Told me he tear my butt off if he ever saw me raise my hand to a woman again. I think I’ve paid my debt to society. I doubt Evangeline even remembers that.”
“Are you kiddin bro? She remembers everything, She can still tell me what she wore her first ever day of school. She’s forgiven you, but she hasn’t forgotten. I’ve got work to do, you’ve got work to do. Let’s cut to the point. You have feelings for her. And the sooner you admit it to yourself, the better.”
“I do have feelings for Evangeline. Friendly ones.”
Yeah. Very friendly feelings as of late, as in I want to be more than just friends. I just didn’t think that I was so transparent.
“You’re trying to tell me that you feel the same way about Nora or Antonio?”
I stare at him for a few seconds before saying, “Michael, I have a lot of work to do, so if you would excuse me...”
“I got it. I just want you to think about something.”
“What?”
Why, oh why God, couldn’t I have been an only child?
“Maybe Evangeline said what she did because she was jealous. Because maybe she thinks that you are still in love with Caitlyn. And maybe you won’t admit that you have feelings for Evangeline because you think that would be betraying Caitlyn, but she would want you to be happy. Think about it.”
Before I can react, Michael walks out the door.
(Evangeline’s POV)
“Please Evangeline. Admit it. You’re miserable without John.”
I give Nora an exasperated look and sigh. “Nora, John and I have been best friends for 23 years and this is the longest we’ve ever gone without speaking to each other. He probably hates me right now for what I said.”
“Now you’re just being melodramatic. John could never hate you, he loves you to much.”
“Loving me is different from being in love with me. I want you to remember that Nora.”
“Well, he’ll come around, you two have been friends for over two decades as you said.”
“Mora the man lives right next door to me. How is it that I haven’t seen him in 7 days. He’s avoiding me.”
“Okay, so maybe he is mad at you still. But you shouldn’t have said what you did, and you know it. So maybe you should apologize instead of moping around. And while you’re at it, could you tell him that you have feelings for him?”
I glance at Nora as we enter my office building. Nora would fit right in with my family, blurting out the most embarrassing of things at the top of her lungs in public. Even Matthew knows better than that.
“Do we have to go over this again? Wasn’t torturing me twice for the day enough for you?”
We walk past my assistant’s desk, barely noticing the mysterious grin that she gives me. But when I open my office door, both Nora and I are struck into complete silence. A hard feat for us.
There are about half a dozen large flower arrangements in the room, all of them my favourite flowers. White and pink roses, calla lillies, and orchids. Onmy desk sits a huge honey-coloured teddy bear holding a card, an assortment of Godiva truffles and a single tiger lily. I pick up the card and read it outloud,
“Evangeline
Here are some beautiful gems for a rare, once in a millennium friend. Know that no matter how many stupid things you may say or do, you are never far from my mind or out of my heart. -John. PS. I’m sorry for not talking to you for a week and I promise to never ever do it again.”
Nora finally recovers, which is more than I can say for myself, and says, “Well you know how you were saying that John only had friendly feelings for you? You might want to take your foot out of your mouth.”
I flash Nora a look and move towards a flower arrangement, fingering the petals of an orchid.
“I can’t believe that John did this.”
“Well you’re important to him and I think that’s what he’s trying to let you know.”
“That doesn’t mean the he has feelings for me.”
“Now I’m going to go, so you can call John and giggle like a hormonal teenager about your friendly feelings for each other.”
I roll my eyes. “Bye Nora.”
A few minutes later, I pick up my cell phone to call John, but my office phone rings.
“Evangeline Williamson.”
“Hey, it’s me.”
“Hi John, what’s up?” I try my hardest to sound nonchalant, but I don’t think it’s working.
“Nothing much. Did you get he flowers I sent you?”
“Yup.”
“Um.Okay.”
We’re both silent for a few seconds before I finally snap out of it and say jokingly, “I guess since you took the first step and sent me flowers, I shouldn’t make you beg for forgiveness?”
“That wouldn’t be very nice.”
“I love the flowers and the teddy bear and the card and the chocolates. And I am sorry for saying what I did. Not only was it wrong, but it was stupid.” Sorta like the huge grin on my face right now.”
“And I’m sorry I attacked you out of nowhere. I don’t know what got into me.”
I laugh. “What, are we going to out apologize each other?”
“I guess not. So what are you going to name your teddy bear?”
“Well all of my stuffed animals are named after my favourite people. And I don’t have a John yet, so, I guess I’ll name him after you.”
“I’m touched.”
I grin. “I thought you would be.”
“So are we okay now, Evangeline?”
“We’re definitely okay now. I just have one request.”
“I have a feeling that I’m going to regret this, but go ahead.”
“Please, please, please do the dink tank with me tomorrow at the LPD Carnival? Pretty please with a cheeseburger on top?”
“A cheeseburger? Make it a cheeseburger, fries, a funnel cake, cotton candy and a pretzel and we’re on.”
“It’s a wonder that you don’t look like the Good Year Blimp.”
“You should talk. You can out eat me any time.”
“So, pick me up at ten?”
“Sure. Just please don’t wear your “I’m with stupid” T-shirt. Last time, you had it pointing to no one and you looked pretty silly.”
“Okay, ten is fine. I’ll see you then.”
“Later.”
I hang up the phone and bring a rose to my nose, inhaling its heady fragrance.
Brothers and Sisters by jovanangel87
(Evangeline’s POV)
“John, you ready to go?”
He looks up from the TV with a genuinely confused look. “Where are we going?”
“Sunday dinner at my mom’s. And don’t even try to get out of it by saying you have too much work to do, Eve said that she better see you or it’s not going to be pretty. And Mom says that if you don’t come, she’s not sending leftovers back for you.”
“Can’t you fall off the stairs again so I can say that I’m taking care of you?”
I stare at him incredulously until he looks ups and grins at me. I punch him in the chest as hard as I can. I wouldn’t have fallen down them if he would take off his wet shoes at the door instead of tramping around the house in wet shoes.
“Stop being such a jerk and turn off the TV.”
“Evangeline, it’s the bottom of the ninth inning and bases are loaded. It’ll be over soon, let me just see what happens.”
“Both teams are tied, this might go on for longer than nine innings. Let’s go now.”
With a sigh and a doleful look, he picks up the remote and turns off the TV. “I’m telling Lisa that you beat me up and boss me around.”
“Nothing she doesn’t already know. Now come on.”
Reluctantly, John gets out of the couch and follows me to the front door. As I’m stretching to take my purse, without warning he just swings me up into the air.
“Jesus Christ John! You want to give somebody warning before you decide to act like a damn neanderthal?”
I turn my head to glare at him, but immediately turn back as I find our faces are perilously close to each other. Close enough for me to feel John’s cheeks rise in a smile.
“Then I wouldn’t be being a neanderthal, now would I.”
Keep in mind, I’m still being held six feet in the air. “Let me down you“ you dingwad!”
“Dingwad? I’ll let you down when I’m good and ready.”
And true to his word, despite the fact that I bit him on the shoulder more than once, the only reaction I got was him saying my name in a warning voice. When we get to the car, I’m so annoyed with him by the time he does let me down that I just get into the car without saying anything.
OK. I’m going to stop lying before I get struck down by lightning. As my darling baby sister Layla always says, that was damn hot. I don’t think that I can quite find my voice yet.
John must be glad though, since that saves him from arguing over which one of us gets to drive. As he drives onto the highway, I grab the arm rests tightly. My heart isn’t even in my throat anymore, it jumped out a long time ago.
“John, you think you could slow down a bit?”
“I’m not going that fast. It’s one under the speed limit.”
“You drive like a damn drag racer.”
“You think you could use different terminology? I don’t think I like the term ‘drag racer’ Evangeline.”
I laugh at his implication. Good ole’ John, always knowing the right thing to say. I’ve always been the one who puts her foot in her mouth.
After about an hour of comfortable silence, John laughs to himself, and I glance at him inquisitively.
“What’s so funny?”
“This girl we picked up for a DUI> She was so drunk that when we brought her to the station, after she got processed she asked me what she was arrested for. And before you start lecturing me, we told her why she was under arrest when we Mirandized her. Well anyway, I told her again and she blurts out that not only is she drunk, but she’s “sky high”. And those were her exact words.”
He starts laughing some more, but I only shake my head.
“Come on, that’s funny.”
“She’s sixteen John. And her family is suing the station because she says that you guys interrogated her without a lawyer and that’s why she admitted to being high. And this isn’t the first time that she’s been busted on drug charges, so they’re fighting hard. And I’m the lawyer that they hired to represent her.”
“Well, you can’t take the case now.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m your best friend and the arresting officer. I’m probably going to be called to the stand if it get’s that far, it’s a conflict of interest.”
“No it’s not,” I say, thinly veiled annoyance creeping into my voice. And he says that I’m the bossy one.
“Yes it is.”
“Tell me something John. Are we married?”
“No.”
“Engaged?”
“No.”
“In any kind of sexual relationship?” Remember what I said about putting my foot in my mouth? I think I just ate both legs.
There are a few seconds of shocked silence before John quietly mutters, “No.”
“Okay then.”
With that one question, any chance that I may have had with John is kaput. If this were the movies, I would look at John, and he would look at me and heat would travel from our eyes. Then he would pull the car over and we’d start making out in the back seat and...what the hell? Did I really just think that? That’s a little twisted.
I make a silent vow to myself that the next time I have a thought like that, I’m committing myself to St. Ann’s. But then again, it might be harder to break out of cluttered basement than St. Ann’s.
The rest of the car ride is spent in silence, this one quite uncomfortable. The tension is so thick, I can slice it with a dull knife. When we pull up to my mother’s house, my older sister Chelsea is opening the front door. After parking, John and I both get of the car and slam the doors. Stalking right past me, John gives Chelsea a hug and a kiss on the cheek and goes inside. When I get to the front door, Chelsea is smirking at me.
“What?”
“You two have another fight?”
“What so you think Chels?”
“Well sorry for caring.”
I look at my sister and smile. She’s only two years older than me, but we’re the same height and we look so much alike that we used to pretend we were twins for kicks. Even today, the only way to tell us apart just by looking is the fact that Chelsea has the ends of her hair dyed scarlet. She’s the wild child, Daniella’s the corporate bombshell fashionista, I’m the tomboy/Diva and my little sister Layla is the superstar. Ever since she was little, we all knew she was destined to fame, and now she’s out in LA to make her dreams come true.
My twin brothers Andrew and Eric are the oldest of us all, but they make me and John look like grown ups. Luckily their wives Clio and Aria are completely sane and extraordinarily patient. Andrew and Clio have two little girls, Jade who’s five and Kai, who’s two. Eric and Aria have a eleven month old, Winter, who we can tell is going to have mouth on her. She skipped a first word and went straight to her first sentence. “God damn.” Apparently, she learned it from Eric, and Aria was not pleased. Daniella and her husband Roberto have six year old twin boys who we call the twin terrors. The only thing keeping Daniella from giving them away is that Travis and Troy are so cute. And they’re actually quite sweet when they’re not trying to Crazy Glue people to chairs. And Chelsea is going to be married in three months to her college room-mate’s brother Micah. Nora jokes that my family is like the UN, because Clio is Chinese-American, Roberto is Brazilian and Micah is Jamaican
“Sorry Chelsea. You know I get sarcastic when John stresses me out, which these days seems like all the time. I don’t think John and I have ever fought so much in our entire lives, and that includes when I was dating RJ.”
Chelsea and Layla are the only ones in my family that knew I was dating RJ last year, and so they both got the late night phone calls from both John and I when we argued every day for a month until I couldn’t take anymore of RJ’s drama, especially since it was creating drama for me, so we broke up.
“I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is, John will get over it. The bad news is, John will get over it.”
“Yay.”
We walk into the house, and the first thing I see is Daniella on her cell phone yelling at someone. After a few mintes, she stops speaking abruptly and hangs up.
“Hey Dan.”
“Damn Evangeline. Do you really think that’s appropriate for Sunday dinner? If your top were any lower, you’d be flashing nipple!”
I look down at my outfit with some confusion. I’m wearing a jean skirt that stops mid-thigh, along with a light blue scoop-necked T-shirt that says “Bite me.” If she’d said something about the phrase, I couldn’t say anything. I could have probably chosen a more appropriate T-shirt, but it isn’t that low. Daniella just has a habit of being super dramatic.
“You know what Chels and I always say, Daniella? If you’ve got it, flaunt it.”
“You two must have major insecurity issues if you think that you have to parade around half naked to get a mn to notice you. Maybe that’s why neither of you are married yet.”
“I’m engaged, remember? Why don’t you take the pole out of your behind for just a second? And don’t think that we forgot that the first time you met Roberto, you were in a two piece string bikini and he was wearing trunks. We were there, so we know. It was lust at first sight,” Chelsea ribs.
I snort... it’s unladylike, or so I’ve been told. Chelsea and Daniella look at me and within seconds, we’re all laughing.
“Your outfit is fine Evangeline. I guess I was just reflecting my frustration with those damn idiots at the office. They messed up a whole shipment of silks, told the manufacturer that I wanted only black and white when I just told them to make sure that they include black or white. So now we have to send them back and hope I get the correct shipment in time.”
“No problem. So where are my nephews and my brother in law? And where is Micah? I don’t see his car?”
“Roberto took the boys to visit his mother, I opted to stay at home. I swear that lady hates me.”
“And Micah is in the backyard with Andrew, Kai and Jade. You didn’t see his car because he got a new one. Eric and Aria haven’t gotten here yet and I suspect that John is in the kitchen with Mom, Eve and Clio. She’s showing them how to make peach cobbler.”
“Good! I was hoping Mom would make some. I’m going to see if she needs any help.”
“With John in there,” Chelsea asks. I shrug. It’s my mother’s kitchen, and it’s peach cobbler. I’m not going to be deterred.
I go off, leaving Chelsea explaining to Daniella what happened. I greet every one in the kitchen with hugs and kisses, and go into the backyard quickly to say hi to Andrew, Micah and the girls. Micah crushes me in a tight hug and the girls bombard me with stories, even though John and I babysat them yesterday. Andrew just looks a little pissed, because I interrupted a game of soccer. I told him it wasn’t my fault everyone loves me so much and went back into the kitchen.
The first time I went into the kitchen, John disappeared for a few seconds, but this time when I go back inside, John mumbles something under his breath and storms out. And I know he has no plans of coming back as long as I’m in here. Eve, Mom and Clio smile at me, bemused.
“What? I don’t know why he’s being that way.”
“Evangeline, whatever you said to him really hurt his feelings,” Clio says gently.
“My feelings aren’t hurt!” John yells from the living room.
“Stop eavesdropping!” I yell back. “And stop being so bossy and annoying and such a know-it-all while you’re at it!”
John shuts up and Mom and Eve roll their eyes.
“John, you thirsty baby?”
“I’ll come get something to drink when I’m ready, Lisa. Thanks.”
Mom tilts her head and gestures towards the living room. I get up and get two glasses from the cabinets, putting ice in it before pouring guava nectar into the two glasses. Right about now, I could do with a really dirty martini, but I’ll have to settle for this.
I go out into the living room and set the glass down in front of John and sit beside him in the couch. He doesn’t even so much as glance at me, though he does move to the far side of the couch.
“John you can’t stay mad at me forever.”
Silence.
“Are you really going to ignore me for the rest of the night?”
“More like the rest of our lives.”
“Well at least you’re talking to me.”
John glares at me.
“Okay. So you’re still mad. I am sorry though.”
“Oh yeah? What for?”
I stare at him and he laughs ironically. “Do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”
“Do you even know why you’re mad at me?”
“This is about you, not me.”
I nod and smile triumphantly. “That’s what I thought.”
“You say the dumbest things sometimes. What you said in the car made me uncomfortable, was unnecessary and more than a little rude.”
“Like I said, I am sorry. But you’re not faultless either. You need to stop telling me what to do. I’m a grown woman and I can make my own smart decisions, thank you very much.”
“Fine. I’m sorry for bossing you around. I do think that I’m entitled to care, I’ve more than earned the right. But I will try not to tell you how to live your life.”
“Aww, c’mere you big lug.” I reach over to hug him, but he pulls away.
“Don’t touch me!”
“What now? I’m only apologizing once.”
“You’ve got cooties, and I can’t afford to catch them. I have very low cootie immunity.” I can’t help but laugh at John. He’s been so serious lately, so it’s good to see him joking around and having fun.
After a while, I get up and go back into the kitchen to finish helping with dinner. When I walk in, Mom, Eve, Chelsea, Clio and Daniella all look at me like they know something that I don’t know.
“Why are you guys grinning at me like that?”
“You and John made up.”
I give Chelsea a weird look. “Your point being...”
Eve gets up, sticks her head out the kitchen door, turns back around and stage whispers to my mother, “Lisa, my son is actually grinning! I didn’t know that people could grin so big.”
“So you think it’s time for another bet? I’ll put fifty dollars on any day in the next two weeks.”
I stare at Chelsea, flabbergasted.
“What are you talking about?”
Clio laughs and says, “Don’t you know yet? They’ve been betting on you and John for years now.”
Eve and Mom laugh and I turn to them. “You guys are in on this too?”
“We figured if we had to be tormented waiting for you guys to get back together, we might as well have some fun.”
“Vangie, me and my 10 pairs of Manolo’s would like to thank you for being completely clueless for the past six years.”
Now it’s Mom’s turn to look flabbergasted. “Chelsea Marie Williamson! You spent all that money on shoes?”
“Not all of it Mom. It’s okay.”
“Wait a minute. John and I have never and will never get together. So how do you win any money Chelsea?”
“We’re not stupid Evangeline. We’re not going to tell you everything.”
I suppress the urge to stick my tongue out at Daniella and say, “I’m telling John on you guys.”
“Telling me what?”
I turn and meet an amused pair of baby blue eyes.
“Nothing.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Because you my friend have major trust issues.”
“If you’re going to tell me that our family makes bets on us, I’ve known for four years.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you would have made them stop. It’s sort of funny.”
“You are insufferable!”
Out of the corner of my eye, I can see every one getting up and exiting the kitchen as quietly as they can.
“Yeah well, that’s what you love about me.”
“Stop being so cocksure of yourself!”
He grins lazily at me. “You know you love it though.”
Funny, that sounds strangely like innuendo. I shake my head and go through the back door. Immediately John joins in the soccer game that’s going on, but I have other things on my mind. I haven’t eaten all day, and we have to wait for Eric to get here before we eat. The peach tree in the back yard is laden with fruit, but all the ripe ones are at the top. I can’t climb a peach tree, but the one next to it is sturdy enough to hold me up while I lean over to pick the peaches.
I scale the branches easily since John and I used to spend hours up here when were little, pretending we were spies. We were forced to stop when I fell out and broke my left arm. I was happy, since I’m left handed, I didn’t have to do homework for months.
Before I can pick one peach, Andrew spots me and says, “Girl you better get out of that tree before Mama looks out the window and sees you.”
“I’m old enough to take myself to the hospital if I fall.”
“John can you talk her out of the tree please? I’m taking the girls inside before they get any ideas.”
Andrew goes inside with Jade and Kai, and Micah follows a few seconds later, probably to make sure my nieces don’t rat me out. Andrew would let them do it too, just for kicks.
“Evangeline, climb down please. You’re starting to make me nervous.”
I look down and have to grab a limb to keep from swaying. I did not think that I was that high up, and now I don’t think I can get down by myself.
“I changed my mind. I wanna stay up here and live with the squirrels off of peaches.”
“Yeah right. You’re scared to climb down now because you looked down. Just jump, I’ll catch you.”
“No you won’t. You’ll drop me.”
“No I won’t. I’m going to catch you.”
“Promise.”
Geez. I sound like such a wuss right now.
“I have always caught you and I promise that I will always catch you. Now come on.”
He holds out his arms and I close my eyes and jump. Almost immediately, I feel his strong, secure arms around me. I take a deep breath and open my eyes, staring at John. For the second time today, I find myself in his arms, within kissing distance. So I do what any damsel in distress does to her knight in shining armor. I kiss him.
On the cheek of course.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
He lets me down gently and we walk back into the house. I go straight into the living room, but John makes a detour to wash his face with cold water as per my suggestion. He’s blushing bright red.
After Eric and Aria finally arrive, we settle down for a wonderful dinner of mashed potatoes, fried chicken, 3 bean salad and corn bread. After we help to clear the dinner dishes, John and I leave, since we have a six hour drive ahead of us.
The drive back to Llanview is much more comfortable than the drive to my mother’s house. The back seat is laden with left-overs from dinner, including a whole peach cobbler. Luckily for me, John hates peaches in any form. We sing along to the songs that play on the radio and honk at all the people who have “Honk if you...” bumper stickers. We used to do that on our cross country road trips with friends when were on summer breaks from college. The fact that people don’t actually want us to honk makes it doubly funny.
We pull into my driveway and John turns off the car. He grabs a few bags and brings them inside, depositing them on a kitchen counter.
“You know I had a lot of fun today.”
I smile. “You love my family way too much. We’re all nuts, you know we’re nuts, and yet you keep coming.”
“Imagine how much crazier it would have been if Michael and Shannon weren’t busy. Besides, I don’t have much choice, you’re my best friend.”
“Always will be.”
He smiles then, a smile so warm that I can feel myself melting, my gaze transfixed on his aqua coloured eyes. As suddenly as it began, the moment is over.
John glances at my vintage Felix wall clock, the one that I completely decorated my kitchen around. The stove, fridge, dishwasher and sink are stainless steel, the counters are black marble, the cabinets are black wood and the floor and part of the walls are tiled with black and white.
“It’s late, I’m going to ho home and go to bed.”
“Okelie-dokelie neighbor.”
John rolls his eyes. “Night Ned.”
“Night.”
I turn to finish unpacking the food into my refrigerator.
“Evangeline?”
“I thought you left already. What’s up?” I ask as I turn back around.
And there’s that look again. Nut instead of saying anything, John steps up to me and strokes my cheek lightly before kissing me. His kiss feels like fireworks, curling up in front of a warm fire on a blustery night, a silky rose petal and ocean waves gently lapping at my back.
All too soon, it’s over. John pulls away from me, and I stare at him through heavy-lidded eyes, slack jawed, my mind unable to form coherent thought. He looks at me once more before going out the door.
All I know is, lips like his should be outlawed.
Heaven Must Have Sent Your Precious Love by jovanangel87
Chapter 4
(Evangeline’s POV)
Three days. It’s been three days since John kissed me. It’s been three days since John and I have had a conversation about anything more serious than what TV show we were watching. And it’s about three seconds until our next real conversation.
I’m sitting in John’s living room, watching his chest rise and fall steadily. He sleeps with his lips slightly parted and one arm is thrown over his eyes. It’s ridiculous that he likes to sleep in the couch since he has a perfectly good bed in his room. I should know, I’m the one who picked it out for him. As a matter of fact, I designed practically the whole house, just going with basic scheme of what John said he wanted. If I didn’t go to law school, I would have been an interior designer.
“John!” I yell, right next to his ear. I sit back and smile in satisfaction as he startles awake, his hand reaching immediately for his gun on the coffee table.
“I’m just warning you John, if you attempt to shoot me, you’re going to have a big mess to clean up. And you will no longer have me to come over and help you clean your house. So think wisely.”
I know that it’s a weird thing to say, even for me, but I can’t exactly think straight. John stares at me with his mouth still slightly opened, his blue eyes darkened with sleep and confusion.
“What are you talking about?”
“So how about that kiss huh? What the hell was that about?”
“What kiss?”
“This one,” I respond, as I lean in towards him and kiss him back. I try not to laugh or smile, since I don’t want John to know that I’m enjoying this very much and I’m actually quite pleased with myself. But I’m still mad at him. I have to remember that.
I pull away first and stare at John, who wipes his lips and says, “I still have no idea what this ambush is about.”
“I’m going to blame your stupidity on the fact that you’re always a little dumber when you just wake up.”
“Do all our conversations have to include all those insults to my intelligence? I’m starting to get a complex.”
“So think of how I must feel. Why would you kiss me in the first place, and then just walk away like that? And then for three days you act like you kiss me like that all the time and don’t bring it up.”
He stares at my mouth and I start to squirm under his gaze. Not lifting his eyes away from my lips he murmurs, “I always wondered what they would taste like.”
It’s nice to know that I was his cannibalistic experiment. Really nice.
“You kissed me because you wondered what my lips would taste like. Why does that sound really weird?”
“They tasted like honey and strawberries and butter pecan ice cream, among other things. I think that is very interesting.”
I give him an incredulous look. “Are you perhaps on some illegal substance John? If you’re not going to be serious, I’m going to leave, because you’re already giving me a headache.”
“I am not on drugs if that’s what you’re concerned about. And I was being serious. I was making a valid observation even if it was a weird one. I kissed you because I always wondered what it would feel like.”
“Go experiment on someone else asshole.”
He looks genuinely taken aback. Good.
“What is your problem, Evangeline?”
“See I normally don’t just go around kissing men for no reason, even if one of them is my best friend. When I kiss someone, or let someone kiss me, it’s because I trust that it means something to them and because it means something to me. You completely took me by surprise when you kissed me, but I let you do it because it meant something to me. So forgive me if I’m upset that I meant little more at that moment than an experiment.”
“It did mean something. It does mean something. I never said that it didn’t.”
“Ok. Why don’t you articulate the whole reason why you kissed me?”
“It seemed so natural to do it. Everything I do with you feels natural, even when I get mad at you or you get mad at me. It’s like whatever happens between us isn’t up to us, but up to some higher level.”
“So you’re telling me that God made you do it? I guess that’s better than the Devil right?”
“No, I’m trying to tell you that I did it because I wanted to. I wanted to kiss you because I felt like it. Look, you’re making me confuse myself. Why do I have to explain myself to you?”
“Because you kissed me.”
“And you kissed me just now. Explain yourself then.”
“Pay back.”
He grins and sits up in the chair, and out of force of habit, I sit next to him, putting my legs up in his lap. When I realize that I’ve done it, I sigh quietly because I don’t want him to get the wrong idea. At the same time, it was a natural response, something I’ve always done. Like when I just called him an asshole. John is the only person in the world that knows how to get under my skin sufficiently to make me curse at them. No one else knows me like he does.
“I don’t believe you. You wanted to do it.”
“Maybe I did.”
“I don’t even remember what exactly spurred me to kiss you. But it was something.”
“Do you ever remember anything important?”
“I remember the first thing I ever said to you.”
I raise my eyebrows. “What was that?”
“It was the first day of kindergarten, and you walked through the door with your hair in two pigtails that came down to the middle of your back. You were wearing a pink and yellow sundress and white sandals. And your fingernails were painted shell pink for the first day of school. I walked up to you and said....
Flashback
“Hi. My name is John Dylan McBain. What’s yours?”
“Evangeline Eden Williamson. My daddy says it’s the most beautiful name in the world.”
“You’re pretty. I’m going to marry you some day, but we have to wait until we’re at least 18. That’s how old you have to be before you can get married, my mom says. But that’s a gazillion years from now, so we can be best friends until then.”
“Well you’re the most handsomest boy in my class, and you’re nice, so I guess so. But I get to have a girl best friend too. It’s allowed.”
“You can have a girl best friend if you want, but you’ll always be my only best friend. Then when we get married, you can be my only wife and my only best friend, and that will make it specialer.”
****
I stare at him, my mouth once again wide open. I seem to do that quite a lot in his presence of late.
“What’s the matter now?”
I fight back tears threatening to spill and say, “I can’t believe that you remembered that.”
“Well when you propose to a girl that you just met on the first day of school, your family tends to never let you forget it. But I do remember everything we said to each other as if it were yesterday. We’ve been best friends for a very long time, Evangeline. What we have is special, and I don’t want anything to get in the way of that. But neither of us are good at romantic relationships, and I don’t know that pursuing one with each other will be good for our current relationship.”
“John are you giving me a kiss off?”
He turns to me, an intense look on his face. “Does a kiss off sound like what I just said?”
“I don’t know John. When I’m around you lately, I can barely have a coherent thought. It scares me. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and I don’t want to lose that. Everything that you are to me is something that I look for in the ideal person to spend my life with. I’ve had three days to think about things and I realized to myself that every person I’ve ever broken up with was because he wasn’t you. I’m not saying that I’ve been in love with you all my life, I haven’t and I’m not exactly sure that I’m in love with you now, but there is the potential. But there is no one in this world that has the same exact qualities and flaws that you do, it’s what makes you special to me. I’ve broken up with perfect men who were wonderful, except that when I teased them they wouldn’t tease me back. Not like you do anyway. That’s a very weird requirement for any one to have. So you tell me if this is a kiss-off so I can stop turning away perfectly good men if it is.”
In response, he reaches over and kisses me again. While the first one was more sugar and spice than fireworks, this one is totally electrifying, and yet still manages to be incredibly tender and soft.
“Can you just this once give me a one word answer to a question? Do you think I’m giving you a kiss-off?”
“No.”
“Good.”
We resume kissing until the insistent ringing of the telephone interrupts us. John picks up the phone and puts it to his ear.
“Hello? Oh, hi Chelsea, how are you?”
He listens for a few seconds before handing me the phone. “She wants to talk to you.”
I run my hands through my hair and attempt to straighten my shirt. We were only kissing, and at the risk of sounding juvenile, hadn’t even gotten to second base yet, but John can make a mess out of anything. Well not kissing; he’s not a sloppy kisser. John laughs and whispers, “She can’t see through the phone Evangeline.”
“Hey Chels, what’s up?” I stick my tongue out at John in response to his earlier statement.
“If you and John are busy, I can call back later Evangeline.”
Well you stopped us from potentially getting busy, which I think is a good thing at this point.
“Um, no, we were just talking. What’s the matter? You sound upset.”
“Micah and I had a fight.”
“What about?”
“It’s a long story.”
Well with Chelsea and Micah, it always is a long story. They match each other in temper and in passion. I actually knew Micah long before Chelsea did. Chelsea and his sister were room-mates at Northwestern, while Micah and I went to Stanford. He was in most of my classes and his point of view on things intrigued me. He’s the same height as John, with cafe au lait skin, light brown hair, and long, thick eyelashes framed his green eyes. His eyes were odd in the sense that, depending on the light, they could be the deepest of emeralds, or so light that they looked almost yellow. It could be unnerving at times, because it made him look like a cat. All the girls in our classes spent their time mooning over him and trying to attract his attention, but he pretended not to notice. He said that he wanted to concentrate on his education before worrying about any relationships. When we graduated, I introduced him to Chelsea, but it was not love at first sight. Micah thought that Chelsea was a spoiled princess and she thought that he was stuck up and boring. Without any one’s knowledge, Chelsea’s room-mate Zarina was setting them up on a blind date, and when they saw each other at the restaurant, they tried to get out of it, but Zarina was not having any of that. They dated for six years before Micah proposed about a year and a half ago.
“Ok, so tell me what happened, that is why you called.”
“We were listening to some CD’s and Micah out of the blue says that we have to name our first daughter Marley, after his hero, Bob Marley. I have nothing against Bob Marley, but seriously, Vange. You and I named our kids when we were little. So I said to him that we would see, but I had ideas about what I wanted to name our kids too. So he starts going on and on about how he doesn’t want our children to have common names, he wants their names to mean something and all that jazz. So I got mad and told him that maybe we just shouldn’t have children if we can’t agree on a single thing like a name.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. This is what you call me about, instead of talking to Micah?”
“He’s really mad Evangeline. He’s talking about calling off the wedding. There’s only two months left to go. I want to marry him Evangeline, I just said that in the heat of the moment. And I actually never said that I don’t want to marry him.”
I glance at a clock. “You guys have pre-marital counselling in three hours. Tell the pastor.”
“Micah cancelled our session for the day.”
I sigh and roll my eyes. “Okay. Where’s Micah?”
“Living room.”
“Give him the phone.”
I hear her call his name and then a clunk. From the expletive I hear Micah mutter, she must have thrown the phone at his head, which she does frequently when she’s mad at someone.
“I heard that Micah, and it wasn’t very nice.”
“Well your sister isn’t exactly being an angel herself. I’m telling you, she has a mouth on her worse than a sailor’s and twice as bad as a ballerina. And I know she doesn’t get it from your mother.”
When Micah is very upset, his accent becomes much heavier and he says a lot of things that I don’t understand. He calls them Jamaican old time sayings. They’re creative to say the least.
For example, he calls John and I Batty and Bench, because you rarely find one of us without the other. John got the more dignified of the names, Bench, and Micah does actually call us that occasionally.
I can tell that Micah isn’t that angry because I completely understood his metaphor and his accent is light, adding melodic tones to his voice.
“Well she told me about what you guys were arguing about. What’s this I hear about calling off the wedding?”
“I’m not calling off the wedding. I love Chelsea, you know that. I was pissed so I said that. She never usually takes me seriously.”
“Well she did this time. Why don’t you guys talk to each other instead of talking to me?”
“I can tell you don’t like me very much Evangeline. Your sister just threw a phone at my head, and you want me to go into a room full of stuff for her to throw and talk right this minute? I think I can wait.”
“Just make sure you guys talk, okay? All you have are wedding jitters, but for the love of God and all that is holy, will you stop picking fights with each other? If not for yourselves then think of the fact that I paid for my dress, airplane tickets, and hotel accommodations in Jamaica already and I’ve done a very good duty as maid of honour in helping to plan this wedding,” I say with a grin.
Micah laughs. “I’ll remember that. Thanks Evangeline.”
We hang up, and I turn to John, who’s smiling at me.
“What?”
“Is there anything that you can’t do?”
“No I think I’m pretty much perfect.”
He pulls me closer to him to I’m sitting with my head resting on his chest. He strokes my hair absentmindedly and says, “This is weird isn’t it?”
“Weird, and new and exciting and...right. This is right. We’d know if it wasn’t.”
“Yeah. So can I see what you look like in your bridesmaid’s dress?”
“One: I’m the maid of honour. Get it right. And two, nope.”
“That was three. Learn to count. And why not?”
“You’ll see it when you escort me down the aisle, since you’re the best man. I don’t know why though. You’re pretty annoying.”
“Ha. Ha. Very cute. Well he’ll be in the wedding when you and I walk down the aisle for real.”
I nod my head, hoping John won’t catch the alarmed look on my face and the sudden hammering of my heart.
She's Got Her Poker Face On by jovanangel87
Chapter 5
(John’s POV)
One minute I can see Evangeline running towards me with the ball, but after turning around for a few seconds, she completely disappears. A few minutes later though, I can smell her perfume as she attempts to sneak up on me. I expected her to grab me from behind, but I was not expecting her to grab my behind, so I jump about ten miles into the air. And Evangeline laughs.
“You know, I’ve never appreciated until now what a truly nice butt you have.”
“You scare me half to death and then tell me that my butt is only nice? You’re going to have to do better than that.”
“We’re in public, I’m not about to go into explicit detail about how much I love your body parts.”
I turn around in her grasp and smile. “Well if you’re concerned about outing us then you might want to consider unwrapping yourself from around me. All we need in for Nora, Marcie or Shannon to walk into the park, and the whole of Pennsylvania will know about us.”
“Are you ashamed?”
I give her a long look. “You can’t be serious. You’re the one that insisted that we keep this under wraps for a while. So we can get used to each other, as if I’m not used to you and all your weird tendencies by now.”
“I was joking, you can calm down.”
“We have a game of football to finish. If I remember correctly, I was winning.”
“Not for long. McBain, you’re going down.”
I scoff and she smiles at me, a determined glint in her eyes. Unfortunately, I win the game, which puts Evangeline into a funk. Okay, so I tricked her a few times, and once I picked her up along with the ball to score a point, and that is technically cheating, but still, there’s no reason for her to be that mad about it. An hour later, we’re eating lunch at the Diner and she still refuses to talk to me.
“Evangeline, come on. It was just a game of football.”
“But you cheated.”
I sigh. It really wasn’t that serious, I would have won anyway. “Okay. But I cheat at football all the time and you never get this mad. What’s the problem?”
“Would you ever cheat on me?”
A response flies to my mouth, but I clamp it shut before I can say something truly stupid.
“Where is this coming from?”
She pushes her half full plate away from her, a sure sign that she’s upset. She may have a big appetite, but she can’t eat when she’s mad. And she doesn’t cook when she’s mad, she says the food won’t taste right with all those bad vibes.
“If you would cheat at football, would you cheat on me?”
“Those are two completely different things.”
“WOULD YOU JUST ANSWER THE FU“ ” she looks around at the startled faces of the other diners and lowers her voice. “Just answer the question yes or no.”
I reach under the table and grab her hand. She tries to pull away from me, but I hold fast. She responds by turning her head away from me and staring out the window. She seems lost in her own little world right now, recessed into herself as she does quite often when the big relationship topics come up in our conversations.
“Why don’t we leave and go back to my place, or your place and talk about this, okay? The Diner isn’t exactly the ideal place to have a private conversation.”
“I’ll meet you at my place then,” she says woodenly, pulling her hand out of my grip and standing up. Before I can respond, she walks out the diner. I pay the tab and get the rest of our lunches to go before following her.
When I get to Evangeline’s apartment, I ring the doorbell. When she doesn’t answer, I use my key to let myself in. She’s nowhere on the bottom floor, so I go up the stairs two at a time, calling her name.
“Evangeline, where are you? I know you’re home, your shoes are on the floor downstairs.”
I walk into her bedroom, knocking lightly on the door first. The shower is going in the adjoining bathroom and so I sit cross-legged on the floor until she emerges in a fluffy blue robe, towel drying her hair.
“When did you get here?”
“Why were you crying Evangeline?”
She averts her gaze and says, “I wasn’t crying, okay?”
“And I’m a baboon’s ass. “
I stand and walk closer to her, cupping her cheek with my hand. She closes her red-rimmed eyes and I kiss each closed eyelid softly.
“Why is this so hard for us? Why can’t we just be like normal people? Why does everything about our relationship scare me?”
I rest my forehead against hers and shake my head. “I don’t know. But to answer your previous question, I would never cheat on you. Not in a million years. I value our relationship too much too ever do that to you.”
“Good. I wouldn’t either, you know. And I’m sorry for the little freak out scene okay? Trust me when I say that you had nothing to do with it.”
I grin. “I know.”
She laughs and kisses me softly on the lips. “Okay, now go downstairs. I’m completely naked under this robe and I have to put some clothes on.”
I reach around and tweak her butt. “You little tease! I think I’ll stay and enjoy the show.”
“I think you won’t. Now go downstairs.”
I follow her directions and go downstairs, flicking on the television as I flop on the couch.
Evangeline confuses me so much sometimes. It’s been a month, and we still haven’t had sex. Which is not what confuses me. I can understand why it makes sense to wait until we’re both ready for it, but Evangeline is the queen of mixed messages. We’ve gotten close, so close, and most of the time, Evangeline is the one that initiates it, but then she’ll just suddenly stop and slide out from underneath me, or from on top of me. Evangeline doesn’t seem like a person with intimacy issues, but she has major ones.
Which is another thing that confuses me. For as long as I’ve known her family, they’ve been so supportive and loving of Evangeline. The love was so... I can’t even find a word for it. Evangeline’s parents had the perfect marriage. They always said ‘I love you’ and they were always doing something special for each other. Because Dad was a cop and Mom was a lounge singer, they had irregular work hours and Michael and I often spent afternoons at the Willisamon’s. I remember this one time, for Lisa’s birthday, Mr. Williamson got all of us kids to help him set up a romantic dinner for her. And when she got home, he gave us all money to go to the carnival in our elementary school parking lot. There was always spare love to share in that house, even if there was nothing else.
Evangeline comes bounding down the stairs, fully dressed, and pulls her sneakers back on.
“Where are we going?”
“We aren’t going anywhere, we’re going to play a game that I know we’ll both enjoy.”
“Oh yeah? What game?”
“Strip poker.”
Why, God? Why?
Six losing hands later, I’m staring at a useless hand and I’m sitting here in my boxers. Evangeline hasn’t even taken off a sneaker yet, and she’s staring at me with a smug grin.
“Evangeline, how about I just completely strip and save myself the humiliation of losing?”
“Stop being such a baby. You still have your watch on, when you lose this hand, you can take that off. I’m not quite that eager to see you naked.”
I clutch my chest theatrically. “You wound me deeply.”
“Stop trying to distract me.”
“I fold.”
“Take it off! Take it all off!”
“As I recall the rules were that I got to take off one article at a time, so I will not be taking it all off. And by the way, since you are getting your own private show right now, there’s no need to have strippers at Chelsea’s bachelorette party.”
“Micah put you up to that one, right?”
“Yes, but I agree. If any one’s gonna be shaking it but not breaking it for you, it’s gonna be me.”
Evangeline laughs so hard she almost falls out of her chair. Meanwhile I think over what I just said. Shaking it but not breaking it? What is Evangeline Williamson doing to me?
Negril, Jamaica by jovanangel87
Chapter 6
(John’s POV)
The next day, Evangeline and I step out of the airport, taking in the sights, smells and sounds of Jamaica. Despite the fact that I never went to sleep last night, and only got three hours of sleep on the airplane, I feel ready to go exploring. Evangeline insisted that we check into the hotel and have a nap before coming back to get Chelsea and Micah from the airport. At the last minute Evangeline decided to change our travel plans so we came in earlier than they will, but I’ve decided not to say anything about it, because commenting might end in us arguing.
We secure a taxi, and I help the driver load our luggage in the trunk. There are 8 bags in all, and 3 of them are mine. Evangeline has never discovered the meaning of packing lightly. I help Evangeline into the taxi and get in myself.
“My name is Billy and I’d be more than happy to take you to any location on this island.Where you headed?”
“ I’m Evangeline, and this is John. Can you take us to Sandals Negril please?”
I look over and smile at Evangeline as the driver starts the car and drives off. Evangeline seemingly doesn’t notice since she’s too busy taking in the scenery, but a few minutes later, she smiles and says, “For goodness sakes, stop staring at me. And while you’re at it, stop biting your nails or you’re going to be coming with me to get my nails done.”
I pull my pinky out of my mouth and try to ignore the annoying hangnail. The taxi driver laughs and asks, “Are you two here to get married?”
I laugh and Evangeline answers, “No. We’re here for my sister’s wedding.”
“Oh, so you’re married already.”
I laugh harder, and Evangeline shoots me an annoyed look, which only serves to egg me on. Billy is my new hero. Seriously.
“No, we’re not married. Why do you ask?”
“You sound like my wife. We’ve been married for six years.”
“And she bosses you around as much as my girlfriend does?”
Billy chuckles when he hears the sound of Evangeline smacking me in the back of my head. I stick my tongue out at her and move across the seat. I’d like to get to the hotel in one piece.
“Trust me, it only gets worse after you get married, but you’ll love every minute of it.”
Billy and I converse for a few minutes more until Evangeline falls asleep and starts snoring lightly. I reach across the seat to wake her up, knowing that she’d kill me if she found out that I let her snore in front of a perfect stranger.
“Evangeline wake up.”
“You know you can let her sleep, it’s a pretty long ride to the hotel.”
“I know, but if I don’t wake her up now, she’s not going to want to get up when we get to the hotel.”
He smiles but doesn’t say anything, and since after the initial snoring there isn’t anymore, I let Evangeline sleep until we pull up to the hotel. But now, she really won’t get up.
“John, leave me alone.”
“We’re at the hotel Evangeline.”
“No we’re not, I just closed my eyes a minute ago. Stop shaking me.” She slaps at my hand, but I move away in time. I don’t see why certain people are so mean when you try to wake them up.
“Just open your eyes for one minute. And if we’re not at the hotel, you have my permission to kill me.”
She smiles and opens her eyes. My own smiles grows to epic proportions when I see the look on her face and hear her gasp.
“Oh, my goodness. It’s beautiful! I know that I saw the pictures online and everything, but it’s so much more beautiful in person.”
“Like you.”
She blushes, but doesn’t say anything as she digs through her purse until she finds a compact mirror. She flips it open and regards her reflection for a few seconds, then closes it with a snap.
“Never let it be said that I’m a vain person.”
“Are you forgetting that I’ve known you most of my life? Of course you’re vain.”
She smiles and gets out of the car. After saying goodbye to Billy, we go up to the front desk to check ourselves in.
“Good morning! Welcome to Sandals Hotel. What can I do for you today?”
“Hi, we’re checking in.”
“A honeymoon suite?”
The receptionist looks taken aback as Evangeline sighs and rolls her eyes, then runs her hand over the top of her head, a sure sign that she’s getting frustrated.
“Sorry about that. We’ve heard that question a lot in the course of one morning. No, we have separate rooms.”
I glance at Evangeline and she hands me the print-out from our reservations.
“Two grand luxe beachfront suites, right?”
I smile at the receptionist. “Yes, thank you.” I hand her the appropriate identification and after checking them, she hands it back, along with our room keys.
I hand Evangeline her key with a smile. “Here you go princess.”
“Was that a dig?”
“Did it sound like a dig?”
“It sounded like you were making fun of me.”
“Did you need to book the grand luxe suites? It’s a little extravagant, don’t you think?”
Evangeline puts her hands on her hips. “I haven’t had a vacation in three years, I think that I deserve to be able to be a little extravagant, thank you very much.”
I hold my hands up in defense. “Okay. Forget I said anything.”
We get a bell hop to help us take our bags to our rooms, which are right next to each other. We tip him, and as he smiles at Evangeline and leaves, I eye her speculatively.
“What John?”
I cross my arms and grin. “Oh, nothing.”
“What!”
“I can’t believe you were flirting with that guy right in front of me.”
Her eyes widen and she smiles. “I was not flirting with him.”
“Oh yeah? What was that smile about?”
“Hey, you were flirting with the receptionist just a few minutes ago.”
“All I did was smile.”
“Exactly.”
When am I ever going to learn? Evangeline Williamson has always and will always be able to get the best of me.
I playfully push her in the direction of her room. “Go unpack your wardrobe, hopefully you’ll be done in a few hours.”
“Yeah, at least in that time, I’ll have done something more substantial than figure out how to open my room door.”
We retreat into our separate rooms, and I immediately flop on the bed. A few hours later, insistent knocking on the door wakes me up. I walk up to the door and open it.
“Hey.”
“You ready to go? We have to pick Micah and Chelsea up from the airport.”
She looks refreshed and rested in a turquoise halter dress that brushes the top of her knees and matching wedge espadrilles with laces that tie around her long and shapely legs. Her hair is up in a flirty ponytail and a pair of sunglasses rest on her head.
“Yeah just give me a few minutes to get tidied..”
I get cleaned up and we leave the hotel. I somehow managed to talk Evangeline into letting me hold her hand, after promising her multiple times that we wouldn’t run into anyone we knew on the way to the airport. Funny enough, we don’t.
“So if we’re here early to help Micah and Chelsea finalize the wedding plans, when is everyone else getting here?”
“Well the Sibs and their families are coming along with Mom and the rest of the wedding party next week. And all the rest of the guests, out of town family and friends are arriving two days before the wedding.”
“That works perfectly.”
Evangeline looks like she’s about to say something, but then she spots Micah, Chelsea and Layla walking towards us. Micah quickly separates himself from Chelsea as the three sisters shriek and hug each other.
“That was a smart move man.”
“I can’t afford to get a black eye two weeks before my wedding, and you know how they get when they see each other. Especially since Layla came out earlier than expected, and they haven’t seen her in a while. I see you and Eva got out here without killing each other.”
I smile wryly. “There were a few close calls.”
Micah laughs knowingly, and Evangeline propels her sisters towards us. I hug and kiss both Layla and Chelsea and then we head off to baggage claim. Micah and I know by now that it is not a good idea to comment on the weight and amount of the ladies’ bags when we’re outnumbered by the Williamson sisters. When they get together...watch out world.
Micah decides that renting a car might be better than taking a taxi, especially because we’ll be running a lot of errands in the next two weeks. As we’re loading up the car, Chelsea exclaims, “Damn it!”
“What?”
“I think I left the stove on at home.”
Chelsea looks bewildered as Micah, Layla, Evangeline and I burst into laughter. Chelsea is culinarily challenged to say the least. She can even burn water. It works in her favour that Micah owns his own restaurant, and is a very good cook. Otherwise she would probably starve, because she also hates fast food.
“Micah Cooke, you better not be laughing at me?”
Micah gives her a placating kiss on the forehead. “I’m sorry baby. But be serious. The last time you turned on the stove was three weeks ago.”
“Alright, you got me there. But it really isn’t that funny.”
As we’re driving along, Evangeline looks up with a start and says, “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you! There’s this place in Negril where you can go horseback riding on the beach, and the trails are absolutely amazing! Especially during sunrise. We have to go.”
“Evangeline, why do I get the feeling that you’ve been here before?”
I look around the car confused, as everyone suddenly becomes eerily silent.
“What’s the matter?”
Chapter 7
(Evangeline’s POV)
“Evangeline, why do I get the feeling that you’ve been here before?”
Suddenly, everyone in the car shuts up, making John suspicious.
“What’s going on?”
“Nothing. I’ve been here before. It was only for three days though.”
John raise his eyebrows. “For work?”
“No. I just needed to get away from some stuff for a few days. It was a while ago.”
“Okay.”
I discreetly kick Layla in the shin to get her to start talking. Right about now, I’m glad that I just got away with that half truth that I fed John to say anything. John would see right through me.
“So John, guess what I’ve been doing for money in LA?”
John smiles indulgently at Layla. She has always been his favourite of all my sisters, probably because she used to worship the ground he walked on. Even today, only he and Mom are still allowed to call her Birdy, a nickname she earned by being the pickiest eater in our house. That and the fact that she was so thin that her shoulder blades stuck out and resembled wings.
“If you tell me stripping, I’m going to have to hurt a lot of men in LA.”
While John is distracted with Layla, I lean forward slightly and flick both Micah and Chelsea. The snap out fo whatever stupor they were in and begin a conversation of their own. I turn back to John and Layla, eager to hear about my sister’s latest exploits.
“I’ve been modeling for bridal magazines. Hey, maybe this is a sign that I’ll be the next one of us to get married.
“Don’t you have to have a boyfriend first Lay?”
“Touche, Evangeline. We’re in bright sunny Jamaica, famous for it’s white sand beaches, among other things. I can snag quite a few men looking as fine as I do in a bathing suit.”
“You better be talking about a one piece,” John teases.
“Tell you what. I’ll wear a one piece if you’ll wear swimming trunks.”
“Deal.
Chelsea, John and I laugh at her taken aback expression. She totally didn’t see that one coming, as she’s been trying to convince John to wear trunks for as long as she’s known him. But she loves her string bikinis too much to hold John to that promise, and he knows it.
I’ve been so busy trying to catch up with Layla that I only just noticed that Chelsea has done something new with her hair. Gone are the scarlet tips and now there are streaks of blue runnning through her hair.
“Oh my God, Chels! What did you do?”
“You like the new color?”
“It’s nice, but it’s two weeks from your wedding day! It’s never going to wash out by then.”
Laughing, Chelsea pulls out some of the blue hair. “Relax. They’re hair clips, they can come out. I’m not stupid, Mom would kill me for dying my hair this close to the wedding. Regardless of the fact that it’s my wedding. She already warned me that she doesn’t want to display wedding photos of me with any other colour hair than the colour she noticed when I was born.
“Hey are you guys hungry?” Micah asks. There’s a chorus of ‘yeses’, so he pulls up to a storefront, stops the car and goes inside. He returns some minutes later with a loaf of bread, a few bottles of ginger beer and some foil wrapped packages. Chelsea opens the door for him and he slides in.
“Okay. You have a choice of either roast pork or jerk pork.”
We all chose jerk pork with the exception of John, who has long since learned that any food containing the word ‘jerk’ in it’s name has pepper, something that he has a strong aversion to.
Everyone but Micah watches as he opens his package of roast pork and puts a piece in his mouth. I stifle giggles as John hastily swallows, then chugs half his bottle of ginger beer. But the look on his face when he realizes that drinking the ginger beer has only made it worse does me in, and pretty soon, Layla, Chelsea and I are laughing uproariously while Micah shakes his head at us.
“You three should be ashamed of yourselves. I can’t believe that not one of you stopped him from doing that, and you all know better. Will somebody please give the man a slice of bread before his tongue burns off?”
I pass John a slice of hard-dough bread, saying, “Here you big baby.”
“Thanks a lot BFF,”he responds sarcastically. Someone’s been watching a little too much Veronica Mars lately.
“Don’t ever call me that again. It’s disturbing that I’ll know you forever,” I joke.
Unfortunately, John takes me seriously, and his eyes darken as he stares down at the remains of his lunch.
I sigh heavily, and Micah looks back at me sympathetically.
“Why don’t we go stretch our legs for a little bit? Chelsea and Layla, you two can take some of those landscape photos around here.”
I flash him a grateful smile as the get out of the car, leaving John and I.
“John you can’t possibly think that I was serious.”
“I don’t know Evangeline. It sounded that way to me. The idea of permanently being with me seems to bother you on many levels. And I’ve been patient, but it’s really starting to piss me off.”
“It was a joke, okay. The thought of knowing you forever makes me feel safe. And very happy.”
“Okay.” He smiles. “I want to tell our families. About us.”
“No!”
Even I’m inclined to be shocked by the violence of my outburst, and I try to recover some face.
“Sorry John, but we spoke about this. Now is not the right time to announce any news. After the wedding, we can tell the world. But until then, we wait.”
“For some strange reason, I get the feeling that this wedding that we have to wait for to be over is the one that we are never going to have because you don’t want to be saddled with me forever, only on your terms for as long as you want, until you get tired of me.”
I stare at John, shocked. This is the first time in all the time that I’ve known him that John has ever remotely sounded resentful towards me. The defeated look on his face completely tears my heart to shreds, especially knowing that it was me who put that look there.
Pretty soon, everyone returns to the car, and we restart our drive to the hotel. For the remaining hour of the trip, John stares straight ahead. I reached out to touch his arm lightly, but he jerked away from me so violently that I quickly turned to the window so no one would see the sudden tears that sprung to my eyes. After a while I closed my eyes, because looking at the perfect, cloudless, bright blue sky makes me think of John’s eyes, and the hurt look in them right now.
When we get to the hotel, we part our separate ways, with the promise to meet in the lobby a few hours later for dinner. John and I walk silently to our rooms, and when we get there I hesitate slightly before saying, “John..”
He looks at me and walks into his room, slamming the door. Wearily I walk into my own room and sit on the bed. As much as I’d like to cry, I know that I can’t. This time I’m the one that messed up. By keeping this secret from John, I’ve hurt him in ways that I never thought I would. I can only pray to God for the strength to do what I have to; I cannot continue to hurt John this way.
I get off of the bed and pace for a few minutes, making sure that I really want to do this, because once I leave this hotel room, there’s no turning back. I walk out the door and knock on John’s.
“What the hell do you want?”
“To talk to you.”
“In case you didn’t get the hint the first time, I don’t particularly want to talk to you right now.”
I give him a pleading look. “John please. I need to explain to you why I’ve been acting so strangely these past few weeks.”
“Well this, I’d love to hear.”
He opens the door wide and steps aside, granting me entrance. I take a deep breath and step inside.
The past is in the past...or is it? by jovanangel87
Chapter 8
(Evangeline’s POV)
I walk into the room and take a seat in the chair at the desk, while John sits on the edge of the bed. For a few minutes I can do nothing but chew on my nails nervously and tap my feet on the floor. John reaches over and tenderly takes my hand out of my mouth and rests a staying hand on my knee.
“You’re giving me a headache.”
“Sorry.”
“The view is beautiful, don’t you think?”
He must have mistaken my staring towards the French doors as looking out them. But for the past few hours, I haven’t been able to see anything other than that look in John’s eyes. I haven’t seen that look in years and I never thought that I would ever see it again.
“Yes it is. That’s why I wanted the beachfront rooms.”
“Are you thirsty or hungry or anything? You never finished your lunch I noticed.”
“I’m fine, thanks,” I manage to force past the huge lump in my throat. I can’t stand this politeness with each other. John and I are never polite with each other, we’re comfortable and we tease each other, and make really inappropriate jokes, but we’re absolutely never polite.
“Evangeline, you said you wanted to explain. So can you please start explaining whatever it is?”
“I- I thought you should know....”
“What? You thought I should know what? That I’m good enough to be your best friend, but not good enough to present to your family as your boyfriend? Is it because you’re so allergic to committing that you’ve convinced yourself that dating for almost two months does not make me your boyfriend? What happened to the Evangeline that I know? The Evangeline that is so sure of herself and her place in the world that it borders on cockiness? Where is the surety that everything that you touch is perfect, and the surety that there is no way for you to do anything wrong? At the risk of sounding selfish what happened to selfless Evangeline? When did she get so selfish and self absorbed?”
I stare at him blankly, not knowing what to say to him. Not knowing what to say to myself. Can I tell him that the Evangeline he knew smothered to death under the weight of the secrets that she carried? The always happy, always carefree Evangeline that didn’t care what the world thought of her, as long as the people she loved knew the truth went on a trip a long time ago. A part of her still is me, I guess. That Evangeline is my outside mask, the face that I show for people that don’t know me. And my inside mask, only a few people are privy to that. And even then, only a part of it. John was one of the only people that knew everything about me. And then little by little, I started to shut him out.
“You remember how we were right before we moved to Llanview? How pathetic we were? And yet, somehow, we found a way to be there for each other?”
I look at John and nod, my eyes filled with tears. We moved to Llanview five years ago. Six years ago, my father died. I had just won my first case, and I was so proud of myself and my whole family was so proud of me. We were all out at dinner celebrating; John and Caitlin were there as well, when Daddy just had a heart attack, right there at the table. In the middle of toasting me. As a matter of fact, we thought he was being theatrical, complaining about his little girls getting all grown up. On the way to the hospital, he coded twice, but he pulled through. The doctors got him stabilised, and he called us in one by one to talk to us. He said that he knew he wasn’t going to live past that night, and he wanted us to take care of ourselves and Mom and live our lives to the fullest. To this day, I don’t know what it was that he said to John. All I know is that when John came out he was crying, crying as hard as he did when his own father died.
Daddy called Mom in last. They had the longest talk of all; later Mom told us that they looked back on their times together, and Dad reassured her that this was the way he was supposed to go. When Mom finally came out, her face grey and drawn, as if she had aged in the space of two hours, we knew that Daddy had died. My sisters all started crying, but I waited until I got home to let out all of my rage and grief. John took me home, and I took one look at a picture of me and Daddy at my law school graduation and I lost it. I was the youngest in my class, because John and I both went to college at sixteen. Daddy was so proud of the both of us, and those memories, and the anger that he would no longer be there to share any more made me mad at whatever being that would take him away from us. I completely totalled my apartment. By the time I was done, there wasn’t one piece of glass, save for the windows, that wasn’t broken. Most people would have stopped me, but John understood my need to do it. And when I finally stopped, John carefully cleaned my cuts, as if me cursing and crying and screaming like a banshee was completely normal. Then he put me in a tub with all my clothes on, and adjusted the temperature before leaving me in there. The water ran for two hours before I finally stripped out of my clothes and took a shower. John fed me, and held me and wiped my tears, as well as made sure that every one else in my family was okay. And Caitlin.... she was so understanding of the bond that John and I shared. She would come over and keep me company while John was at work. I had really gotten to be great friends with her seeing as how she was the woman that my best friend planned to marry.
Which was why when she was killed five months later, I was devastated. Still dealing with my own grief, I moved in with John to help him deal with his. We were chronic insomniacs and every thing that went bump in the night scared us, especially John. I finally had to hide his gun because he had almost shot me too many times to count. We ate cereal in our underwear at five o’ clock in the afternoon and wouldn’t clean or go out, or eat anything that involved more than five minutes of preparation. Maybe separately, John and I would have ignored our grief, but together we gave into self pity. But one day our mothers came to visit, and they were appalled. They opened the curtains, which nearly blinded us, threw out all of our food, made us put on real clothes and go outside. They had finally had enough of us, and so they insisted that a change of pace would do us some good, and getting out of New Jersey was exactly what we needed. Luckily for John and I, we found our houses when they were just getting built in a renovated section of Llanview, so they were actually quite affordable. After moving to Llanview, we both went to grief therapy and started to get on with our lives, and we’ve lived next door to each other since then.
The tears that had pooled in my eyes spill out, and I swipe at them angrily.
“John, we’re still here for each other. Or at least I am. It’s just hard for both of us.”
“No dammit! It’s hard for you! You make it hard for me.”
“Well I’m sorry I have relationship issues okay? And I’m sorry that I have intimacy issues! But I should be worth it to you. I’ve gotten over so much being with you, you’ve always been the best thing that ever happened to me.”
John sighs tiredly and rubs his hand across his face. “Maybe this is hard because it’s not what we’re supposed to be doing. Maybe we’re fooling ourselves, thinking that we can be happy together.”
“Or maybe this is hard because relationships are hard.”
“We should just give up now, Evangeline. Before we ruin our friendship.”
I reach over and take John’s hand, squeezing it gently. “John, can’t you see that I love you?”
“I love you too Evangeline, nothing can change that. I also love Chelsea and Daniella and Layla, but doesn’t mean that any of us are meant to be together.”
“You’re not listening to me John! I’m in love with you and it’s scaring the hell out of me.”
John looks shocked for a few moments, but then he regains his voice. “If you’re in love with me, why not just tell me? Why push my away? You’re scared that I’m going to hurt you, when in fact you’re the one that’s hurting me. You initiate intimate moments and then you completely detach yourself from me. I’m willing to wait, you know I am, but it’s as if you change your mind in the middle of your actions. You’ve made my life heaven and you’ve made my life hell in the past month. Why can’t you just let me? Why won’t you tell me what it is that makes you look at me and start to cry? Or makes you cry for hours at a time at night when you think I’m asleep?”
“You really want to know?”
“Would I ask if I didn’t?”
“Okay.”
I take a deep breath and open my mouth, but no sound comes out. John leans towards me and asks me beseechingly, “Evangeline please tell me what’s going on with you. I can’t fix this if I don’t have the right tools. What is it that’s keeping us...you from being happy?”
“I’m married.”
Confessions by jovanangel87
Chapter 9
(John’s POV)
“I’m married.”
She’s married. Okay, it’s not a big deal that I didn’t know that my best friend was married. It doesn’t even matter that we’ve been dating for a month or that we’ve almost committed adultery about a hundred times already. No, her being married is not a big deal.
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU”RE MARRIED?”
Okay. It is a big deal.
“I’m married. I’ve been separated for much longer than I’ve been married, but all the same I am a married woman.”
I jump off of the bed and start pacing, running my hands through my hair. “Stop saying that.”
“What? That I’m married? I wish it weren’t true. Believe me John when I say that I do, but I am.”
“Stop saying the God damn word, okay! Just don’t say it.”
‘I’m her best friend. Before anything else, I’m her best friend. Best friends are always supportive’ I keep trying to remind myself, but the boyfriend part of my head keeps taking over. Dating for a whole month, and in the space of a month I’ve poured out my heart to her, done everything that I could to make her happy, and now she tells me that she’s married.
I sit down on the bed and put my hands over my eyes. The sunlight that I was so glad to see when I stepped on the plane, is suddenly a nuisance, aiding in making my piercing headache worse.
“Do you love him?”
Evangeline looks taken aback. “What?”
“Do you love him?”
“No. Not any more. Not for a very long time.”
“How long have you been married?”
“I got married three months before college graduation.”
I study her for a few moments before asking, “Were you pregnant?”
Almost immediately, she becomes defensive. “Why the fuck would you immediately jump to that conclusion?”
“One, don’t curse at me. And two, don’t you dare get defensive like you’re the one that was wronged. You decided to drop this on me, you deal with the consequences.”
Evangeline hunches her shoulders and looks down at her hands in her lap. “Sorry.”
“I’m sure you are. So I can guess that you weren’t pregnant, right?”
“John, can you stop asking questions? Please? I think that it would be easier for me to tell you what happened if I can just tell the story without interruptions.”
I sit back on my bed. “Go ahead Evangeline. Anything to make your life easier,” I snipe. And yet it’s true, I would do anything to make her life easier.
She gives me a wounded look and then sighs. “I guess I deserve that.”
“Why are you taking shit from me Evangeline? It’s not you.”
“After everything that I’ve put you through? I deserve whatever I get.”
“Tell me about what happened, I’m not in the mood for the Evangeline Williamson pity party.”
“I remember the day that I first met Max Malo. He used to be one of Micah’s closest friends, and Micah was the one who introduced us at a study session. My first impression of him wasn’t all that great. Although he was undeniably handsome, he was a selfish, arrogant, rich, snobby, spoiled brat. Had I gone on my first impression, I would have been a whole lot happier today. The only reason why I bothered to talk to him was that he and I shared the same views on the child molestation laws in the United States. After the study session was over, we made plans to meet for coffee to further discuss our views. We went, and he was funny, and flirtatious and smart, and a perfect gentleman. The only problem was that even though I said that I was treating us to lunch, he insisted on paying, and became enraged when I refused.
“Over the next couple of months, he wined and dined me and pretty much swept me off my feet. He was possessive of me, and somewhat of a control freak, but it never bothered me that much, because he pretty much let me do what I wanted as long as everyone on campus know that I was his girlfriend. One Friday, right before a three day weekend, he proposed in the middle of a crowded class, and I said yes. The nest thing I knew, we were flying to Vegas to get married. And immediately after that, we went on a short honeymoon to Jamaica. I thought that we were going to be so happy, but I was completely wrong.
“The first thing that he did when we went back to school was have my belonging moved to one of his houses. I told Mom, and she and Daddy warned me not to sacrifice my independence for the sake of love, but I didn’t listen. He showered me with gifts of clothing, jewelry, cars and everything that most women would want, but he spent no time at all with me. I kept trying to get through to him, to let him know that I didn’t want all of those things. I wanted a husband who would love me and spend time with me willlingly. I told him that I didn’t want to be a trophy wife, but that only enraged him. By that time I had graduated already, and I wanted to go on our annual road trip with you, but he refused to let me go. He said he didn’t want me spending two months with another man, that maybe I would be tempted to cheat on him. Which was ironic since I knew for a fact that he was cheating on me. Women called our house at all times in the night asking for him, and he made no attempts to pretend that he wasn’t. You may ask me why I didn’t leave him then, but I loved him and was somehow convinced that it would get better once we really adjusted to being married. But I couldn’t ignore the truth any more when a woman came to our house with a baby. A beautiful baby girl that looked just like Max. She was a few months old, which proved that he cheated on me when we were still dating, and yet decided to propose to me.
“I confronted him later that week when he came home from a business trip. We got into an argument about it, and I called him a lying, cheating bastard. He got mad and back-handed me. A lot of things I might have taken in the name of love, but there was no way in hell that I was going to let him hit me. I took off my wedding and engagement rings, backed all the clothes that I had before I met him, took everything out of the house that I brought from home, and took a flight back to New Jersey. I was just starting law school and I couldn’t deal with the stress of trying to get a divorce at the time, because for whatever reason, Max was contesting. I dropped the suit and went on to finish law school. When I contacted Max again to tell him that I was suing for divorce, he laughed.
“He knew that I would have waited to finish school to go through with the divorce. At that point I was looking for a job with some of the most influential law firms in the country. Max claimed that he had photos of me that could completely ruin my career, and if push came to shove, he had friends in very high places. I had never posed for a picture of any kind while I was with Max, so I told him that I needed proof. The pictures were of course fabricated, but even if I could prove that, there was still the matter of being blacklisted out of the career I’d dreamed of since I was a little girl. So I stayed married to him. For Max it’s a control thing. I dared to defy him, so he’s getting me back. I’m miserable while he has houses around the world, and he has a girlfriend who apparently doesn’t care that he’s married as long as he showers her with presents and money.”
Finished, she looks at me, I guess to permit me to speak.
“So that’s the whole sordid tale?”
“Yes.”
“And why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”
“John, you’re my best friend, and I couldn’t bear it if you judged me. So many of my other friends said that it was something that I brought on myself, and I couldn’t stand the thought that you might think the same thing.”
“You know what I can’t stand Evangeline? I can’t stand that you’re such a coward. Before today, if anyone had asked me to give a description of you, the second thing that would come out of my mouth was brave. But you’re not. One man hurt you. He took your love and used it to feed his own ego, and I get that. But that is not an excuse to not let love in. Just so you don’t have to experience love again, you let the man that hurt you in the first place keep you from it? With something as stupid as a bunch of pictures? So every time you date a guy and you feel that you’re starting to get close you say, ‘oops sorry I forgot. I’m married’? That’s pathetic.”
Evangeline looks at me guiltily, and I know that’s exactly what she has been doing. The rational part of my mind is telling me that she told me this secret because she wanted to, but the irrational part of me is threatening to take over.
“What am I supposed to do John?”
“There’s this thing you do when you know you shouldn’t be married to someone anymore. It’s called getting a divorce. Maybe you should try it.”
“And risk my career? Everything that I’ve worked for? And besmirch my father’s name?”
“Stop it with the SAT words, okay? You say you love me, right? You have to decide if our love is worth it to you.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Deadly. Get a divorce or we’re over. I can’t be happy with you if I can’t someday make you my wife. So you better decide who you want to be married to more. Max Evil or me.”
I get off of the bed and stalk into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. A few seconds later, I hear the sound of the outer door slamming and I breath a huge sigh.
God give me strength.
Heartbreak and Alcohol by jovanangel87
Chapter 10
(John’s POV)
After a few minutes, I turn on the pipe and splash some cold water on my face. I have no idea how to process this information that Evangeline just gave me.
And I don’t know what hurts me more: her not telling me a month ago when we decided to pursue a romantic relationship or her not telling me initially when it happened. It hurts to think that after all these years she doesn’t trust me, and it hurts even more that she’s been going through all this pain by herself for almost ten years, and I’ve only just noticed.
Well come to think about it, I did notice small things, things that I wrote off as just being Evangeline. Every single relationship that she has had in the past few years, she predicted would end up messily. She’ll dump a man in a minute if they start getting closer to her than she wants. And there are times when she’ll get really sad, but she never told me why. And I guess that I found out today.
I walk out the bathroom to answer the phone, which is ringing insistently.
“Hello.”
“Hey John, we’re waiting in the lobby for you and Eva. What are you guys doing?”
I glance at the watch on my arm and just realize that they’ve probably been waiting for us for the past fifteen minutes.
“Sorry Micah, I didn’t realize it was so late. You can call Evangeline’s room to see if she’s there, she isn’t with me.”
“John her room is right next to yours, why can’t “ you know what? Never mind. I’ll call her myself. Just make sure you get down here soon.”
Well there goes my shower. Not that it’s a big deal, I’ve already showered twice for the day, but travelling always leaves me feeling dusty.
I hang up the phone and after grabbing my wallet and my room key, I head out the door, locking it behind me.
I walk over to the main building, where Micah, Chelsea and Layla are sitting in the chairs waiting for Evangeline and I.
“Hey guys sorry I’m late. I lost track of time.”
“What were you and Evangeline doing? She sounded funny on the phone. You didn’t dunk her in the water, did you? You know how much she hates that.”
“I didn’t dunk her in the water. As a matter of fact, I haven’t gotten a chance to see the water yet Chelsea.”
She raises her eyebrows at me, but says nothing.
“John. Don’t look now, but I think that lady is totally checking you out,” Layla stage-whispers.
Of course I turn around and see the lady that was sitting next to me on the plane. We struck up and interesting conversation about Nina Simone while Evangeline was conked out on my shoulder. I smile and wave, and she smiles and walks towards me.
I introduce her to everyone and after they all say hi, they subtly wander away. Well except for Layla, who whispers, “Make me proud.” and winks as she’s walking away.
“It’s such a coincidence that we’re staying at the same hotel.”
“I know. This really is a coincidence.”
Okay, so I repeated a word. But she’s starting to make me very uncomfortable.
“So where’s your girlfriend?”
“Excuse me?”
“The woman that was asleep on your shoulder. Or is she just some random stranger that you called Tigger?”
I can’t believe she heard that. Evangeline would kill me if she knew, she hates it when I call her that in public. I gave her the nickname because when she was in high school, she collected all things Tigger. She still does... she has a thing for cartoon cats. And she really is like Tigger most of the time, a great friend, bouncy, smart, funny and altogether very lovable.
“Oh, she’s a friend. A very good one in fact who I’d like to keep, but she’d never talk to me again if she found out that I called her Tigger while she was sleeping, so...”
“I get the point. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. Listen... you know, you never did tell me your name.”
“I’m sorry. It’s John.”
“And I’m Vivian.”
“Nice name.”
“Thank you. So listen John, I have to get going right now, but I’d love to meet up with you for lunch while we’re here. We can continue our conversation from the plane.”
“Sure thing. Here’s my room number,” I say, writing it down. “Call me when you want to set it up, but I might not be able to make it, I’m here for a wedding, and I’m supposed to be helping out.”
“No problem. I’ll see you later Johnny Mac.”
“Bye.”
It’s only after she walks away that I realize that I never called Evangeline Tigger during the flight, nor did I refer to her as such. And I didn’t tell Vivian my whole name, so how would she know to call me Johnny Mac?
My thoughts are interrupted by Evangeline’s arrival. I knew it was her before I looked towards the entrance, she is probably the only woman in this resort that could cause everyone in a busy hotel lobby to become quiet with awe.
She changed again for dinner. She’s wearing a pale pink sundress and a pair of high heeled silver sandals. Her hair is wavy, one side tucked back with a jeweled comb, and the other side is loose, with her bang falling sexily over one eye.
Evangeline walks right past me without a word and goes to talk to Chelsea. They share a short animated conversation before Evangeline backs off and goes over to where Layla and Micah are laughing over something. They’re probably people watching and making fun of people, something that they like to do when they go out. Chelsea in the meanwhile, walks over to me.
“John, what did you and my sister fight about?”
“You were just talking to her, why didn’t you ask her then?”
“She stormed away before I could. Please don’t tell me that you’re still mad at her about that comment in the car. It was a joke for Pete’s sake.”
“No, that’s not what we’re fighting about.”
“Well you two are going to have to put your drama aside for two more weeks. And I don’t see why you can’t at least be civil to each other. You guys are too old and too miserable by yourselves to stop talking to each other.”
I look at Chelsea with a mix of amusement and surprise.
“I never said I wasn’t talking to Evangeline.”
Chelsea puts her hands on her hips and regards me solemnly. “Well talk to Stormy over there, she seems to think that you two aren’t currently on speaking terms.”
Laughing to herself over her ‘Stormy’ joke, she walks over to everyone else, and after a few seconds later, I follow her.
“Evangeline.”
“What?”
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“You already are, and I’m not enjoying it.”
“Evangeline, come one.”
“The last time you said that and I listened, I almost got arrested in Mexico. I think not.”
“Sis, don’t be bitchy. While I enjoy having a man grovel at my feet as much as the next girl, cut the man some slack.”
Evangeline shoots Layla a dark glower and stomps away from everyone.
“Evangeline, why aren’t you talking to me?”
“You’re the one that’s not talking to me.”
“When did I say that?”
“When you gave me an ultimatum. You were pretty pissed, and I was feeling pretty bad, and quite heartbroken having just poured out my heart to you, only to get it stomped on. Then you locked yourself in the bathroom, a clear indication that you don’t want to talk.”
“Just because I gave you an ultimatum doesn’t mean that I’m not talking to you.”
“Really? That’s too bad, because I’m not talking to you. As a matter of fact, after dinner, I’m going to get really hammered and then Layla will walk me home to make sure that I don’t bust my head open on the way to my suite. And then when I wake up in the morning, I’ll have a really bad hangover, having just ingested copious amounts of hard liquor the night before, giving me one more thing to hate you for.”
“You can’t possibly believe that alcohol will help you feel any better.”
Evangeline shakes her head and smiles at me wryly. “No. If every time my heart was broken I got drunk, I would have died years ago from alcohol poisoning.”
I stare at her as she walks away from me, unable to think of anything to counter that statement. I think those are words that will haunt me till the day I die.
Can't Get You Out Of MY System by jovanangel87
Chapter 11
(Evangeline’s POV)
After dinner, Micah and Chelsea get up and start to dance to the music from the band, so John, Layla and I slip away as quietly as we can. Not that they notice anyway. When they’re together like this, all the world slips away and it’s just the two of them. That’s how I feel when it’s just John and I.
He makes me feel so safe and sheltered. And I know that he would do anything for me. Which is why I can’t understand his outburst this evening.
It’s not as if I didn’t expect him to be upset. I knew that he would be. But I didn’t expect an ultimatum. I love John, I do, but I also love what I do. I should, I worked so damn hard to get to where I am today; the best and most sought after attorney in Llanview. The only reason that I’m still practicing in Pennsylvania is because I can’t think of a life far away from John or my family. For John to try to force me to give up what I’ve worked so hard for breaks my heart.
I walk back to my suite, taking off my heels at the door. They’re cute, but they are also uncomfortable, which should stop me from wearing them, but doesn’t. Besides, the heels make damn good weapons.
I slip a Musiq Soulchild CD into the in-room stereo and peel out of my dress, changing into a bright pink tank top and a pair of oversized LPD sweatpants that I took from John before he even got a chance to wear them. Even when I roll the waist down three times it’s still long, but since I’m not going anywhere, it’s not a big deal.
I go over to my bags, looking for my journal but for the life of me, I can’t find it. I’m almost positive that I packed it in my bags, since I never leave my house without it, but maybe in the four hour frenzy of packing my bags, I left it on my bed. But I remember scribbling down a poem during the plane ride. I just woke up from my nap and John was talking to the lady in the seat next to him, and his head was turned away from me. And fool in love that I am, I wrote a page long poem about his jaw. Maybe John took my journal up when I drifted off again; I ‘d much rather he saw the poem than I left it on the plane.
*Knock knock*
I look towards the door, and with a shrug and a sigh, I abandon my bags. I’ll probably find it sooner or later.
“Hold on, I’m coming!”
I open the door and there standing in all his glory is the Devil himself. John McBain. I glare at him for a few long seconds before he decides to talk.
“So I was sitting in my room thinking about how long we’ve been friends and how great our friendship has been. And I was wondering if our friendship would last this, when I suddenly realised that in all my years of knowing you, every time that I challenged you, you took me up on it and did exactly what I said you couldn’t do. So I’m taking my ultimatum back.”
I put on my brightest smile and clap my hands together. “Really? You’ve decided to stop being a wingbat dingleberry dipshit? What’s that phrase they use for jerks like you? Too little too late.”
I fling the door shut and turn on my heel. After that whole getting buzzed comment, I decided not to order any alcohol. The last time I drank to spite someone, I think I came out the loser. Hangovers tend to make you feel like crap.
I nearly jump out of my skin when John puts his hand on my shoulder. I opt for smacking his hand off.
“What is your problem John? I made it quite clear that I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
We both thought it was cool to cross the line
And I was convinced it would be alright
“I think you do want to talk to me, but you’re just scared that I’ll actually convince you that hiding from love and ultimately life isn’t going to make your life any easier.”
Where does he get off? Acting like he knows what I think and how I think.
“Were you reading my journal?”
“I’m a jerk not an idiot.”
I roll my eyes and suppress the urge to smirk. It sucks that I can’t effectively insult him because he insults himself.
“John, what you said to me today really hurt. You gave me an ultimatum, as if my telling you that I loved you wasn’t proof enough that I do. You’re supposed to be the person that won’t hurt me, and you did anyway.”
Now things are strange, nothings the same
And really I just want my friend back
John spins me so that I’m facing him. “How am I supposed to feel Evangeline? Being friends with you was easy. I teased you, I helped you, I protected you, I annoyed you, I shared with you. There’s almost nothing that I know about myself that you don’t know about me. It hurts me that you went through all of this and you didn’t tell me. Imagining you going through all that pain, knowing that you let your feelings for someone get in between our friendship, it all hurts.”
And my mind's gone half crazy cause I can't leave you alone (oh can't get you out of my system)
And I'm wondering if it's worth me holding on
John’s right. We should end this right now. We’ll still be best friends, and we can fall in love with other people. And love is highly over-rated anyway. Why would anyone in their right mind want to walk around with the fuzzies in their stomachs all that time? Or worry about losing the love that you’ve found?
When Daddy died, Mom tried to hold it together for us. She had just lost the only man that she had ever loved and probably would ever love and she had to push her grief back to deal with hers. It’s been years since his death and every time Mom forgets at Sunday dinner and sets his place at the table and sends one of us to go call him, the look on her face when she realizes anew that he’s dead makes me want to curl up in a ball and wail. Sometimes she doesn’t even make it to her room before she breaks down and starts crying.
I thought I found love a long time ago. Maybe I did. On any account, I lost it and the pain that I went through was literally crippling for a time. Even though I don’t love Max anymore, I still have bouts of melancholia when all that pain comes rushing back. I don’t know that I’m strong enough to go through it again.
I pull away from John and retreat to the bathroom. When in doubt, flush. That’ll always shut him up, and it hides the muffled sound of me choking on my sobs, for a time anyway. A few seconds is all I need to have a good cry, I can’t indulge too much or I’d never get anything done. And I’d probably drown.
I open the bathroom door and walk back out into the main area, right up to John. I gaze steadily at him for a long moment, then wrap my arms around him, burrowing my head in his chest.
“You broke your promise to me,” I whisper, taking in the subtle, clean scent of his cologne. It’s one I bought for him, and it took me forever to find a cologne that was named HERO and smelled good too.
John leans back so he can see my face. “What promise did I break?”
“You said that you would always be there to catch me. But you let me fall in love with you.”
Without a word, he bends down and kisses me, and I welcome the kiss. I’m tired of fighting this, and I’m tired of hiding from life. When we separate, I laugh lightly and wipe my lipgloss off of his lips.
“I thought maybe just this once you would benefit from the fall.”
I sit on the bed and pat the space next to me, giving John a serious look. “Sit. We need to talk.”
He does as I say and takes my hands.
“You were right John. You may have been wrong about the way you handled it, but you were right. It’s not fair to you for me to expect you to be okay with me being married to another man while we’re in a relationship together. That’s not giving you an even chance and it’s certainly not giving us an even chance. So as soon as I get back to Llanview, I’m beginning divorce proceedings. Of course I’ll have to do some research and dig up some dirt on Max, not that it’ll be hard. But I’m going to stop putting restrictions on our relationship and I’m going to enjoy being in love.”
John grins and pulls me into his arms so that my back is resting against his chest. “At the risk of sounding cliche, you have no idea how wonderful it is to hear that. You light up my life and I’m glad that we’re going to be together in every possible way,” he says, grinning even wider and raising his eyebrows at me.
I laugh and hit him in the shoulder. “Lech!”
“You know you secretly like it.”
I shake my head. John can be crazy, obnoxious, funny, sweet, smart, dumb, caring and an overall jerk. He pretty much is a walking, talking oxymoron, but that’s what makes him MY John.
Moonlight Sonata by jovanangel87
Chapter 12
(Evangeline’s POV)
All day, I’ve been basically twiddling my thumbs and counting down the hours until 9:30 PM. At the realization that we’ve never been on a real first date, John said that he was setting something up for us.
Since Chelsea and Micah are visiting Micah’s family all day, and Layla had plans to shop and sit on the beach watching for hot guys, and everyone else is probably planning on going sight-seeing since they just came down here, I’m pretty much on my own. Over twenty family members and friends are on this island, and they all have plans because they assumed that I would be exploring the island with John, which is what happens most of the time that John joins us on family vacations.
I spend most of the day reviewing the final plans for the rehearsal dinner of the wedding. I have to arrange for transportation since the actual rehearsal is at the hotel, but the dinner is at Micah’s uncle’s restaurant, Boney’s, which is all the way in Black River. It took me the whole day to find a way for the whole wedding party to travel together. The rest of the day was spent with me giving myself a new manicure, doing my hair and finding the perfect outfit. The last time I spoke to John, when I asked him if I should be dressy or casual, he told me dressy casual, which wasn’t a big help at all. He just doesn’t understand how much work it takes to look as beautiful as I do.
By 9:25, my hair and make-up are done, and the only thing left for me to do is to get dressed. I put on my lavender slip dress that hits me mid-thigh, admiring the was it hugs my curves and then flares out at the ends. I’m buckling my last sandal when there’s a knock at the door. John is standing there in a pool blue long-sleeved shirt and bone colored khaki pants.
“You look amazing Evangeline.”
“Thank you. You look yummy yourself.”
John smiles and rolls his eyes, kissing the tip of my nose lightly. “You always could find a place for food in any conversation.”
“What can I say? It’s a talent.”
“You ready to go? We have to leave before everyone comes back and we run into them. Because you can’t lie to your sisters or to your mother.”
“I’m ready.”
John takes my arm and leads me out of the room, locking it as we leave. We walk down the beach to a very secluded spot. Under a tree, a very intimate table for two is set. There are small white candles throwing light in a circle around the table, and the reflection of the stars and moon on the water is breathtakingly beautiful.
“John this looks amazing. I don’t know how you pulled this off.”
“Well you deserve the best Evangeline. I’m just glad that I have to opportunity to give it to you. Now sit. I know you must be starving.”
“I’m hungry, but I’m not sure if I can eat that much. I have a swarm of butterflies in my stomach.”
John pulls out my chair for me, and after I’m seated, he pushes the chair closer to the table, then takes a seat across from me.
“Why are you so nervous? I’m the same old John that you’ve known since forever. Except now we kiss each other.”
“Is that all that’s different between us John?” I ask with a raised eyebrow.
“No. There are other things that are different between us. But the point I’m trying to make is that although I’m now your boyfriend doesn’t change the fact that I’m your best friend. I’ll still tease you, but now I’ll be smarter about it. And we’ll still have the same traditions.”
“About that? How about we trash the one where every time we go to a club we bet on how many people hit on us? I find that I’m a pretty jealous girlfriend.”
“I was going to suggest that myself.”
“Just making sure. So what’s on the menu for tonight?”
John smiles and lifts the plate covers off to reveal two large platters full of cooked crab legs.
“I would have gone fancier and gotten lobster claws, but I know you like crab better.”
“That I do. Let’s dig in.”
The only sounds for the next fifteen minutes are the waves, calypso in the distance and us cracking the crab legs. On a regular first date, not talking would be a big no-no, but not with John. We have non-verbal communication down to a science, and for the most part, I can read John like a book. When all that’s left of the crab legs is the shell, John wipes his mouth. “You ready for the next course?”
“I’m stuffed, I don’t know if I have enough room in my stomach for anything else.”
“Not even for dessert?”
Immediately I straighten up.
“What’s for dessert?”
“Guess.”
I pretend to think for a while before saying, “Could it be? John McBain and cheesecake?”
Laughing, John stands and goes to a side table that I just noticed. He returns with two plates, one of which he sets in front of me. In it is a slice of cheesecake with caramel drizzled over it.
“So you got one wish?”
I put a forkful of cheesecake in my mouth and regard John carefully. Suddenly, his cheesecake seems to be more interesting than my face, because he looks down.
“And my other?”
“We talked about this Evangeline. We can take that next step when you get a divorce.”
Have I mentioned lately that I hate Max? I really, really do.
“Why John?”
“Because I want our first time to be special. And I don’t want anything between us that will make you feel guilty afterwards. You should be wined and dined and wooed with flowers and candy and gifts and beautiful poetry written just for you. And I fully intend to do that.”
“John, I’ve been wined and dined before, by Max, and look how that turned out. I don’t need it. You give me flowers and candy all the time and the best gift that you give me is your love. And nothing I can do with you can ever make me feel guilty. Besides, I’ve heard your special poetry. It’s horrible.”
We both laugh and then settle into momentary silence.
“John I don’t want to wait. And I know you don’t either.”
“If you’re sure...”
I stand and tug on John’s arm until he stands as well. I look him straight in the eye and say, :Do these look like the eyes of a woman who’s unsure of anything?”
“They look like the eyes of a woman who is trying to prove something.”
Annoyed, I pull away from him and turn around. I take my sandals off and I hold them in my hand as I walk out towards the water. I wade out into the water is swirling around my calves, then I stop. I can feel John’s presence behind me.
“I’m not trying to prove anything.”
He walks closer to me and pulls me towards him, wrapping his arms around me.
“I know.”
I turn my head and kiss him on the corner of his mouth. He reciprocates, pulling me closer towards him, and kissing me softly on the lips. As his tongue slips into my mouth, I turn towards him, deepening the kiss and pushing him back to the shore. He stumbles backwards and laughs into my mouth as he pulls me down on top of him.
“Is our first time really going to be on a beach?”
“Yes,” John answers distractedly as he trails butterfly kisses down my neck and across my exposed collar bone.
“What if someone sees us?”
“Do you care?”
I arch my back, giving him more access to my neck. “No, not really.”
John flips us so that he’s lying on top of me, and I close my eyes as he pushes the straps of my dress down over my shoulders and nibbles at the exposed skin. I pull his face towards mine in a searing kiss, trying to unbutton his shirt. My fingers fly over the buttons, popping some off of the shirt in frustration. It doesn’t help that I’m being distracted by the feeling of John’s erection against my thigh, it only fuels the fire that’s blazing between my legs.
John releases a growl as he tries to remove my dress. I slap his hands away and slide out from underneath him, reaching behind me to unzip the dress. If I let John keep at it, he definitely would have ruined the dress. I turn my back momentarily to slide the dress down over my body, then turn back around to face John with a mischievous grin.
“You’re not wearing underwear.”
“I’m glad you noticed.”
“You planned this.”
“Well not the argument, but once again, I’m glad you noticed.”
“You have a smart mouth, Evangeline. We’re going to have to come up with a way to keep you quiet.”
I walk back over to him, and lower myself on his still fully clothed body. “Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?”
He grins. “Come closer and I’ll show you.”
I move my face closer to his, my cheek grazing the rough-stubble of his jaw as I nibble his ear. “This close enough for you Lieutenant?”
He darts his tongue out, licking that soft, sensitive spot behind my ear, then blowing on it gently, which cause me to shudder involuntarily. God, the things this man does to me...I stand by my earlier thought that his lips should be outlawed. John gives me an odd look and asks, “Did you just...?”
“Sorry, bud, it’s going to take a lot more work than that.”
“Good.”
Laughing, I unbutton his shirt, sliding it over his shoulders and off of his arms. I pull back, ever so slightly, so that I can fully appreciate the fineness that is John McBain. The tattoos on his muscular arms are illuminated in the moonlight and his skin is lightly tanned from all the time we’ve spent at the beach for the past four days. I press small kisses to his chest, while unbuckling his pants urgently. He helps by pulling the pants down his legs and throwing it somewhere behind me. His boxers soon follow and my eyes widen at the sight of him. He laughs.
“Impressed?”
“More like scared out of my damn mind. You’re...well endowed to say the least.”
“Is that a problem?”
“More like a challenge. But you should know by now that I never back down from a challenge.”
John runs his hands up my back and over my shoulders to cup my breasts. He kneads and kisses them, making my close my eyes and close my mouth to bite back the cries that are threatening to escape. Much like our first kiss, my brain is over-whelmed by the sudden rush of emotion and sensations and I’m barely able to form a coherent thought.
I kiss John passionately, our tongues fighting against each other for control as I raise my hips and plunge down onto his shaft. It’s as if we are a puzzle, and in completing that action, we’ve put the final puzzle piece into place. One look into John’s eyes and I know that he felt it too.
John bucks against me, and I roll over onto my back, bringing him with me. He thrusts his hips, rhythmically, first slow and languid, then with increasing speed and intensity as he kisses and licks every piece of skin that he can reach and runs his hand through my half tangled locks. When he trails his hand down and massages my leg, I know I’m a goner. Gently, I run my fingernails over his back, pressing him closer to me and tightening my walls around him.
Our actions become more frenzied, and with one final thrust, John and I find release at the same time. Damn! We’re definitely going to have to do this more often.
Slowly, John pulls out, then lies beside me in the sand, with his head resting gently against my breast and his finger tracing small circles around my navel. I run my fingers through his hair as I stare up into the sky.
“You okay, Tig?”
“Well at least you’re smart enough to know not to call me that before you got some.”
“So you’re okay. Good.”
“I’m more than okay John.”
“That’s even better.” He raises his head to look me in the eye. “I love you.”
I kiss him softly on the forehead. “I love you too John.”
After a few minutes of silence, John sits up and so do I. I locate John’s pants easily, they’re safe and dry to the side of us, but my dress is a heap of sopping fabric.
“Shoot! My dress!”
John gets up and retrieves it, wringing out the fabric. “It’ll dry.”
“It’s dry clean only.”
“Well then I’ll get you a new one just like it.”
“That’s really sweet baby, but it’s a $200 dollar dress. You don’t have to.”
“I want to, you’re worth it to me. I’d get it if it was a $2000 dollar dress.”
I raise an eyebrow at him. “Seriously?”
“Probably not.”
While we’ve been talking, John has located his underwear and put that on, as well as his pants. I locate his shirt and put it on. As I’m buttoning the last button I smile and say, “You wouldn’t be the same old John if you weren’t cheap.”
I spring away from John as he starts towards me. “I am not cheap! I’m going to get you for that!”
I run away from him, stopping momentarily to scoop up my sandals. “You’re gonna have to catch me first.”
“I’ll catch you.”
“Please.”
“You’re cute when you say please.”
By now, John has chased me back to my suite and he’s slowly advancing towards me. I can’t get in, because my room key is in his pants pocket, so I’m pretty much trapped. He pins me against the door and kisses me, but I squirm and move away from him when he starts to tickle my ribs.
“John stop!”
“Open the door.”
“I can’t, you have my key.”
I put my hands in his pockets, searching for the key. He jumps slightly when I squeeze his butt as I’m pulling it out of his back pocket.
“That’s a very naughty thing to do Evangeline.”
I giggle and peek at him from over my shoulder as I open the door. “Oh yeah? And how are you going to discipline me?”
“I’ll think of something,” he says with a grin, as he bends slightly and literally sweeps me off my feet while kissing me. I reach behind him and push the door shut before turning my full attention back to John.
And it’s on to round 2.
I've Got Love On My Mind by jovanangel87
Chapter 13
(John’s POV)
As the bright sun filters in through the large French doors leading out to the verandah of Evangeline’s suite, I glance down at my sleeping angel and admire the way the sun brings out the glow in her skin. Sleeping angel...that’s the only time she’s anything close to an angel. But that’s the way I love her, so who am I to complain?
I watch her back rise and fall in perfect sync to my breathing in and out. Maybe it’s because she’s laying on my chest, but I have never experienced this sort of love before, the kind when you breath in and out at the same time as the person you love. Evangeline has always been extremely important to me, and we’ve always been eerily close.
I loved Caitlin more than anyone could ever imagine, but to some extent deep down I knew that Evangeline was the only soul-mate that I was going to get. I wasn’t in love with Evangeline while I was with Caitlin; I would never treat either of them so disrespectfully. I think I realized that I may have been in love with my best friend this past winter.
My family and Evangeline’s went on our annual ski trip over the Christmas holidays, something that we’ve been doing together since Evangeline and I started middle school. As we were skiing down a slope, I snuck up behind Evangeline and frightened her, which caused her to twist her ankle. After apologizing profusely, and dodging the well aimed punches that she threw my way, I gathered her up and took her back to the ski lodge. And I was pretty much her slave for the rest of our trip, but I noticed so many things about her that I never noticed before. Like the way she tucks her hair behind her ear and tilts her head when she asks me a question. Or when I say something stupid, even if she doesn’t actually do it, I can see in her eyes that she wants to beat the crap out of me or cuss me out or both. It took me a while to figure out that maybe if she was flirting with me, she was interested in me the way I was in her, but that’s mostly because Evangeline sometimes flirts without realizing it.
She shifts on top of me and raises her head, propping her chin on my chest. I smile down at her, which she responds to with a huge grin of her own.
“Morning Evangeline.”
“Morning love slave. Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, I order you to ravage my body again, like you did last night. And early this morning. And early this morning again. And a little less early this morning.”
I’m laughing so hard that I’m literally rolling, and Evangeline slides off of my chest to lie next to me, wearing a perfectly serious expression.
“As much as I would love to carry out that order, we need to get up and get ready to leave. We’re supposed to go over to your Mom’s rented villa, everyone is going to be there and we’re going site-seeing later on.”
“You’re no fun McBain.”
“That’s not what you were moaning last night. And early this morning. And early this morning again. And a little less early this morning.”
She blushes as my gaze travels down the length of her naked body, then she pulls the thin sheet over herself. Grinning, I pull it off of both of us so that I could get a better view of her. Evangeline glances down at me, and emits a small squeak as she looks away quickly, which makes me laugh.
“What? Are you still scared of it?”
“Ha. Ha. Since you’ve ogled me for as long as you’ve known me, this isn’t much different to you. But since I spent maybe five seconds before a few months ago admiring your body, I’m still a little unused to it. Excuse me for not being an exhibitionist.”
“No, being an exhibitionist would be going down to that nude tourist beach that they have here. I’m merely proud of my assets.”
“Get your proud ass out of bed and go take a shower then, since you’re so eager to leave.”
I roll over on top of her and kiss her briefly before going into the bathroom. As I turn the shower on, I hear the bathroom door open and close and the rush of water coming from the pipe.
“Are you going to join me in the shower?”
She laughs and says, “See I’m laughing because it’s funny. And it’s funny because I’m not that stupid.”
If I pretend that I don’t know what she’s talking about, will she buy it? “I have no clue what you mean by that.”
“The answer is no John. I actually want to have breakfast and if I get in the shower, we won’t eat until lunch time.”
“Maybe you do have a point, because this amazing temptress wore me out last night.”
“Hmm. We’ll have to meet sometime,” she says, sounding supremely preoccupied.
I pull back the shower door slightly and look out at her. She’s staring at herself in the mirror with a weird expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?”
“I look different. I don’t know what it is, but I look different.”
I’m going to put that one down as miscellaneous Evangeline behaviour.
“Oh. You look beautiful though.”
She smiles and turns so that she’s facing the shower. “So I was thinking. Maybe it’s time to introduce my family to my new beau.”
“Beau?”
“John...yes or no?”
“Was I really that good?” I ask her with a cocky grin.
“I’m taking that as a yes. Hurry up and get out of the shower and don’t use all the hot water.”
In a way, I’m actually glad that Evangeline opted not to join me in the shower, because just the thought of her naked and wet in the shower is enough to cause a seizure or black out from sensory overload. After a few more minutes, I rinse the soap off of my body and the shampoo out of my hair. It’s only as I’m wrapping my towel around my body that I realize that my hair smelling like Evangeline’s is going to be a dead give away.
When I walk out the bathroom, Evangeline is on the phone with her mother, so I sit on the bed next to her, and keep quiet.
“Mom, I want you guys to meet my new boyfriend, is it okay if I bring him with me?”
Lisa must have asked her why he was in Jamaica because Evangeline responds, “He has some business in Jamaica too, so he came down. And before you ask me, yes John has met him and he does approve, not that it mattered that much before. So we’ll you see you then, okay Mom?”
She listens for a few seconds and smiles. “I love you too,” she says, before hanging up.
“So, judgement day for John McBain.”
“Not if we have a little fun with them first.”
We grin at each other understandingly. More than we like to make jokes out of ourselves, we like to pull pranks on our families. They either are extremely gullible and fall for everything, or they just don’t care.
An hour later, we pull up to the Beaches Family Resort, where everyone but me, Evangeline, Chelsea and Micah are staying. Evangeline walks ahead of me, and I get a chance to admire her from behind. She’s wearing a shimmery copper halter top that leaves her back bare, and highlights her skin perfectly, with a denim miniskirt and copper gladiator sandals, that lace up her legs. She let her hair air dry and pushed her sunglasses up on her head, so that they are holding her curls back. Gentle breezes blow her hair across her face as she turns her head to grin and wink at me. I blow her a kiss, which she pretends to lose momentarily, before plucking it out of the air and pressing it to her cheek. We walk up to the door, and Evangeline knocks on it, smiling back at me one last time before Lisa opens the door.
(Evangeline’s POV)
Mom opens the door, peering around me to see who’s behind me. The disappointment on her face when she only sees John makes me laugh.
“He’s behind me.”
“What?”
John discreetly pokes me in the back before I go into a giggle fit. “He was behind me, I guess he got a little lost. He’ll be here soon.”
Mom walks back inside after hugging John and I, and we follow. Mom must have told them that I was bringing a “guest” because everyone is congregated in the living room quietly, and my family and our friends don’t tend to be very quiet people. I kiss Eve on the cheek and greet everyone else, paying little attention to what John is doing. Unfortunately, Layla is. She walks up to me and whispers, “Vange, why is John grinning at you like...OH MY GOD!!!”
I clap my hand over her mouth and drag her outside. “What is your problem Layla?”
“You and John! I knew it! I just knew that it was going to happen.”
I put my hands pn my hips and roll my eyes. “Don’t go blabbing to everyone, don’t forget that I know who you’ve secretly been dating for a year.”
“But I’m telling everyone today, so if you tell everyone, then it won’t be a big deal.”
“Well John and I were planning on telling you guys today, but we want to do it on our own time. There’s no need for you to blow up our spots.”
Doing an improvised jig, Layla bounces and kisses me on the cheek. “Isn’t love great!?”
“You’re making me nauseous Layla! I am so glad that you two finally decided to come clean, because now you can annoy Chels and Dani with your mushy gushy I’m in love crap.”
Completely ignoring my faux annoyance, Layla hugs me, before darting inside. With a sigh and a huge grin, I follow her.
We all settle down on a huge verandah to the back of the villa to eat breakfast, while all the kids play on the beach in front of us. I can’t help but laugh as one of my devilish nephews, Travis, chases Jamie Vega with a bucket of sand. I swear he’s had the hugest crush on her since they met. He’s the more sensitive one out of him and his brother, and Troy is in this phase where he thinks that all females have cooties. He won’t even let Daniella kiss him.
“You having fun?”
I jump as I hear John’s low, husky whisper right behind my ear. Without turning around, I nod. “Yeah.”
“Is that all you can say?”
I can hear my heart thumping loudly as he blows gently into my ear. In a strangled whisper, I reply, “If you don’t stop, I’m going to do something really indecent. So please do.”
With a grin, John moves his head back, and comes around to sit down next to me, while I try as hard as I can to ignore his unnerving stare. After a few minutes, I get up abruptly to go help Mom with the breakfast dishes. We work in silence for a while, until I notice the furtive glances everyone in the kitchen are throwing my way. Finally, I decide to say something.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Evangeline, you’ve been here for over and hour now and your new boyfriend is no where to be found. Are you sure that he got lost?”
I completely forgot that I told her that, and now Mom looks so troubled for me. I glance at Layla, but she starts to laugh, much to everyone else’s indignance.
“How can you laugh at your sister like that Layla? That’s really mean,” Eve says, shooting her a glare.
“Evangeline knows why I’m laughing.”
I don’t say anything else, and pretty soon, everyone just shrugs and goes back to what they were doing. Since there’s so many of us helping, the dishes are done soon after, and we go to join everyone else on the beach.
“Hey, can I have everyone’s attention please? I have something important to tell you all,” John says, standing up. Layla gives him a thumbs up and I smile faintly at him, while everyone else looks at him curiously.
“For the past month and a half or so, I’ve been seeing someone. She’s smart and beautiful and I feel as if we’ll be together for a lifetime, which is a good thing, because I love her very much.”
I stifle a giggle as Andrew, Roberto, and Eric roll their eyes and pretend to gag. Eve smiles at her son and asks, “Who is this mystery woman?”
He looks towards me and smiles, and I wave at my family. “That would be me.”
And then, all hell breaks loose. There’s so much shrieking from Daniella, Chelsea, Clio and Aria, that I think I’ll be deaf in one ear forever. Mom and Eve look like they’re in shock and the guys are all clapping John on the back. Even Eric and Andrew, which is a little weird, if you ask me. They’re supposed to be threatening to beat the crap out of John if he ever hurts me or whatever it is the used to tell all my other boyfriends.
As the excitement dies down a little, Antonio clears his throat a little and says, “I don’t want to upstage John and Evangeline’s good news, because I’m extremely happy for them. They are two of my closest friends and I’m glad that they’ve found love with each other. But I did have this planned to do today, so I’m going to go through with it.”
He pauses and this time it’s me that gives him a thumbs up. I literally bounce in giddy anticipation.
“So, umm, speaking of secret relationships with the Williamson sisters, Layla and I have been dating for a year. And in that year, I’ve come to love her in a way that I never though possible. And more importantly, she loves my little girl, and Jamie loves Layla immensely. Which is why I want“ wait a minute, I’m not doing this right.”
Everyone, but me of course, since I was in on the whole thing, watches in shocked and fascinated silence as Antonio gets down on one knee in front of Layla. Jamie scrambles out of Layla’s lap and comes over to me, wordlessly climbing into mine. I hug her to me with a smile.
“Layla Janae Williamson, will you do me the supreme honour of becoming my wife and the mother of my child and my children to come?”
She nods silently, with tears running down her cheeks as Antonio slips the 24 carat gold ring, with a pear shaped diamond on her ring finger. It should fit perfectly, I had to go around New York City with him to almost every jewelry store there, trying on rings, until we find the perfect one.
I burst into laughter upon glancing at Mom and Eve. I guess all the good news must be getting to them, because they’re sitting a few feet away from me, boo-hooing on each other. As Antonio and Layla kiss, everyone cheers and claps.
“Man Antonio, you really had to show me up this time, huh?” John asks, clapping Antonio on the back and hugging Layla tightly.
Antonio is John’s sergeant and they are continually trying to outdo each other. When we go to the gym, they compete over who can go faster on a treadmill. As a matter of fact, Antonio has a small scar on his chin from hitting it on the edge of a treadmill when he put it on a speed that was way too fast for him. John narrowly escaped the same fate by jumping off of the treadmill at the same time that Antonio fell.
“Congratulations Antonio. And Layla. I’m glad that my baby sister has someone that I love as much as you.”
Antonio hugs me and kisses me on the cheek, while Layla covers Jamie’s chubby cheeks with big kisses.
After a few minutes, Eve and Mom collect themselves and come over to congratulate Antonio and Layla, as well as John and I.
“Evangeline, you don’t know how glad it makes me that you and John are together. I’ve always wanted the best for my son, and as much as I loved Caitlin, I always thought that you were who was best for him. You two are good for each other. Now if I can just get the knuckleheaded younger son of mine to ask Marcie to marry him before it’s too late, then I can die happy.”
John comes up behind us and drapes an arm around my waist, smiling at Eve. “You’re not going anywhere Mom, don’t even talk like that.”
“Are you sure that Michael is going to make it down here in time for the rehearsal dinner? We have to practice his toast.”
Eve smiles at me. “He’ll be down here by tomorrow, he had a patient that was critical, so he wanted to stay as long as he could until the patient was out of the woods.”
“Good.”
“So are we all ready to go?”
I turn to look at Mom, who has the hugest grin on her face. She’s been worried about Layla and I, since after Dad died, we pretty much stopped dating at all, and we threw ourselves full force into our careers. So to find out in the same day that the both of us have found love must make her ecstatic.
“I’m ready. I can’t wait to see if Rose Hall is really as scary as Micah keeps telling me it is, or if he’s just being a big wimp.”
“Hey! You don’t hear me calling your man a wimp do you?” Chelsea exclaims.
“Mind your own business and you won’t hear things you don’t like,” I retort.
Mom rolls her eyes. “Come on girls, everyone is probably waiting on us, you don’t need to make them wait any longer by getting into an argument. Let’s go.”
She walks away and after sticking her tongue out at me, Chelsea follows. I turn to John and grab his hand, which makes him blush and glance at Eve.
She smiles and says, “You’re holding hands with her John. Not having sex. Now that would be embarrassing.”
Holy Mother of God, we’re in for it now.
The Wedding Singer by jovanangel87
Chapter 14
(Evangeline’s POV)
“Okay, here’s the deal. I know that weddings make everyone feel all romantic and everything. But you can not, under any circumstances sneak away. No making out with your husbands, boyfriends, paramours, whatever you want to call them. Weddings make women cry and men horny. So stay away from them.”
I look sideways at Aria, who is wincing and shifting uncomfortably and whisper, “If you think this is bad, you should have heard the birds and bees talk. Mom traumatized me so much that I vowed never to have sex in my whole life.”
“Well then I guess I can thank God that this isn’t that bad,” she whispers back.
I stifle a giggle as Mom finishes her speech, kisses all of us on the cheek and leaves the room after whispering something in Chelsea’s ear. With fifteen minutes until we need to be on the beach, we rush to begin our wedding ritual of giving the bride her something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
“Okay, I get to go first,” Layla pipes up, handing Chelsea a long, red box. “I know that you’re not wearing shoes, so I found and anklet with pennies welded in.”
Chelsea kisses her on the cheek and sits on the bed to fasten it around her ankle.
“We all chipped in for your something new,” I say, handing her another jewelry box. She opens it, pulling out a winding bracelet, meant to go on her upper arm. Her eyes mist with tears as she exclaims, “You guys are the best sisters in the world. The bracelet is beautiful.”
“Don’t you dare start crying Chelsea! We don’t have enough time for us to all fix our makeup,” Clio says with a smile, dabbing the corners of her eyes carefully. She’s our resident “hardass” even though she’s almost always the first one to start crying at a sad or sappy movie.
“And besides we have more goodies. We know that you already have your something blue, but you don’t have a garter, so we got you one trimmed with a blue ribbon.”
“And you can borrow my love knots,” Daniella says, offering Chelsea the small earring box. “Can you just take them out before the honeymoon? Because if they end up in Micah’s mouth, I’m going to have to melt them down.”
We all laugh at the expression on her face and I wink, knowing that she said that so we wouldn’t all start boohooing. Chelsea puts the earrings in her ears and looks at herself in the full length mirror.
Her bronze skin is glowing and complemented by the light, gauzy white dress she’s wearing. The skirt ends midcalf, and there are at least three anklets on each ankle. Her hair is loose and wavy so that she can easily pin her wreath of white tea roses on as she’s about to go down the aisle. Since the ceremony is going to be outside, with the sun beating down, all the flowers are made of fabric. But Mom made sure that it was high quality fabric so no one could tell the difference.
All of the rest of us are wearing identical dresses to Chelsea’s except that ours are a light pink. Since we’re not going to be participating in a foot washing ceremony, we’re all wearing flat, white leather flip-flops with leather flowers on them. We have our hair half up and half down in cascading curls with a white lily pinned above our left ears.
We’re all making last minute adjustments to ourselves when Mom knocks on the door and comes in. “Okay ladies, you have a few minutes left. Jade, Kai and Jamie are going down the aisle and then the twins and then it’s showtime.”
Chelsea looks away from the mirror and smiles. “Okay, Mom. I’m more than ready.”
“All of my girls are so grown up. I’m so proud of all you and I’m so happy for you Chelsea.”
They both grin at each other so hard that I’m amazed their cheeks don’t burst. “I’m happy for me too.”
“Okay, it’s about time to go now. Are you all ready?”
We file out the door in order and line up behind a screen until we hear our musical cue to start walking down the aisle. We walk down the seashell lined aisle, our path clearly marked with a trail of rose petals.
The men all look handsome in white linen suits and I grin as I see John eyeing me appreciatively. As I take my place beside Layla, I wink at Micah, then turn towards the back. The music stops and Pachelbel’s Canon in D begins to play as Chelsea, escorted by Eric and Andrew, makes her way down the aisle. If it weren’t for our brothers leading her, she would have definitely tripped by now, because her eyes are only focused on Micah’s. Likewise, Micah’s eyes are trained on Chelsea’s and I don’t think that he even notices the tears that well up in his eyes.
Eric and Andrew stop in front of the altar, placing Chelsea’s hands in Micah’s as he moves closer to her. I take her small bouquet of flowers from her and wipe away a tear as both Eric and Andrew kiss Chelsea on the cheek and whisper to Micah to take care of her. They turn towards Micah’s sister, Zarina and wait for the music to stop playing to begin the ceremony. She became a senior pastor of a Baptist church in New York a few years ago and they specifically asked her to officiate at the wedding.
“Now before I start with the ‘Dearly beloved’ stuff, I just wanted to share an anecdote. Thanks to the maid of honor, Chelsea’s sister Evangeline, I can’t take the credit for introducing these two together. But I did set them up on a blind date. And if you had asked me seven years ago to today if I thought that I would be officiating at their wedding, I would have laughed. The way those two argued with each other all throughout the meal, it was a surprise that they didn’t kill each other. But by the end of the night, I was wondering if I knew these two people at all. They fell in love in the space of a song, and I can honestly say that I feel blessed to have witnessed it. And I feel even more blessed to be marrying them today.”
Okay. I’m not about to go down like this, I have to at least hold out until the vows. I look at John, who’s crossing his eyes and try my hardest not to laugh. Only he would do that in the middle of a wedding, not even thinking about the fact that he might end up looking like that in a picture. But at least I stopped getting so teary.
“I don’t need to explain to you two how important the sanctity of marriage is. At least I hope not, because I’ve never been married. But I will draw on the knowledge of my parents marriage to offer you some words of wisdom. Micah, your wife is always right. And if she’s pregnant, she’s definitely always right. And that’s all I have to say about that.”
We all laugh and then she continues, “Seriously though. Respect each other and love each other. And always tell each other the truth, and you should both be fine. Now it is time for the exchange of vows. Micah, you begin.”
Grinning bigger than a child on Christmas morning, Micah turns to face Chelsea and says, “I Micah James, take you Chelsea Williamson to be my wife, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together. And I promise to put my clothes in the hamper because I know that not doing it annoys you. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.”
Chelsea wipes at a few tears frantically, because she stubbornly refused to wear waterproof mascara, insisting that she wouldn’t cry.
“I Chelsea Williamson take you Micah James to be my husband, my partner in life and my one true love. I will cherish our union and love you more each day than I did the day before. I will trust you and respect you, laugh with you and cry with you, loving you faithfully through good times and bad, regardless of the obstacles we may face together, but I will not cook. I give you my hand, my heart, and my love, from this day forward for as long as we both shall live.”
“Do you have the rings?”
Troy and Travis pass the pillow to John, and he passes the pillow to Zarina. The hands Micah the ring meant for Chelsea and he slips it on her left ring finger, saying, “ I give you this ring as a symbol of my undying love to you.”
Chelsea does the same and Zarina says, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may“ “
Micah and Chelsea moves towards each other and she holds her hands up, much to the amusement of everyone else. “Wait I didn’t finish. Just give me three more seconds. You may kiss the bride.”
As they kiss, I reflect on how oddly happy I am. I thought that it would be hard for me to be in this wedding, this being the first wedding of one of my siblings that I’ve been in since Max and I separated. I didn’t think that I would be able to be fully happy for my sister, knowing that she was marrying her real one true love, and knowing that she will always have his love. It was a little selfish I suppose, but sometimes you can’t help your feelings. But instead, I feel so happy. Not only for Chelsea and Micah, but for John and I. Because now I know that I’m with my one true love and that we may not always be happy, but we’ll always be in love. And that is an exciting, exhilarating feeling, but also a comforting one.
******
(John’s POV)
I watch with a smile as Evangeline mingles with her new in-laws, laughing and conversing with them. Technically, the whole wedding party is supposed to me mingling with the rest of the guests, but I’m not a mingling sort of person. Evangeline looks up with a grin of her own and excuses herself, making her way over to me.
“Hey there.”
“Hey. Enjoying yourself?”
“Yes. Are you enjoying being tucked away in this little corner all by yourself,” she asks, sliding into the empty chair next to me.
“No one can see us. It’s the perfect place to make out.”
Evangeline laughs and shakes her head. “As much as I’d like too, we are at my sister’s wedding and it wouldn’t do for the maid of honor and the best man to get caught making out in some corner. And my mother already forbade me too. As a matter of fact, I’m supposed to be staying away from you.”
I look up as someone taps on a microphone to see that it’s Micah’s father, who’s the MC for the night.
“Before the new married couple have their first dance, the maid of honor would like to give them a special gift, so if everyone would please take their seats, it would be appreciated.”
I give Evangeline a confused look as she slides her hand out of mine and goes to the dancefloor where there’s a mike set up for her.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. As you probably know, Chelsea is my sister and Micah was a friend from college. I love them both dearly and I can’t think of any two people more suited for each other. Sometimes when you are looking for it the least, love grabs you by the horns and takes you on a wild ride. And you might end up feeling a little disoriented, but there is also this feeling of wild exhilaration. I know I’m probably not making much sense, but what I really wanted to say is, cherish the love that you have and grow in it together. I wrote this song based on the experience I’ve had with true love and what I’ve seen of my parent’s marriage, the marriages of our siblings and more important to you, Micah and Chelsea’s relationship.”
Layla nudges me in the side and grins, and it feels good now that our relationship is out in the open that people realize references to me and our relationship when Evangeline talks. And it feels even better that she feels the same way about our love that I do. It is real and beautiful and enduring and built to last through all things.
But as she opens her mouth to sing, tears bite my eyes, because I feel as if she’s speaking straight to my heart.
One day, I’ll say your name
Without a doubt or question in my soul
In your way, you’ll feel the same
We’ll reach that place together I know
In my heart it has come true
‘Cause you’re standing here beside me
The way no one has stood for me before
This time
With a sudden revelry
And a rush of pure emotion
Today I come to know
That you stand, for me
And I, look at you and wonder who you are
How have perfect strangers come so far
From where we started
Then you, you look at me
And I come to believe
See sometimes it is wise to be naive
Love is ours if we’re tenderhearted
We take this leap of faith
Tomorrow is forever and all my life for you
‘Cause you stand, stand for me
Everyone applauds, and blushing, Evangeline makes her way back over to the head table to sit beside me. I lean over to whisper in her ear, “I’ve never had a doubt or question in my soul when it came to you.”
She grins. “Neither do I.”
tbc....
Lunch at the Palace by jovanangel87
Chapter 15
(Evangeline’s POV)
As I’m sitting in the Palace restaurant waiting for John to meet me for lunch, I look over some files for the impending divorce proceedings. Since John and I decided to stay in Jamaica for a few extra weeks, just us by ourselves, we just got back to Llanview a few days ago, and I still haven’t gotten a chance to file for divorce. But I am going to do it.
My phone starts to ring, and I start digging through my purse to find. I finally pull it out from the bottom of the bag, and flip it open.
“Evangeline Williamson.”
“Vangie darling, where are you?”
I make a face at the ‘Vangie darling’. Either Layla has consumed too much chocolate, or she’s trying to stir up trouble to amuse herself. Whichever reason it is, I’m not exactly in the mood to play around.
“I’m at the Palace waiting for John to meet me for lunch. Why?”
Instead of an answer, I get peals of laughter. Great. Because that was really the funniest thing I’ve ever said.
“Guess where John is?”
I roll my eyes. If the man were anymore stubborn, he would have been born to Lisa Williamson. Which makes me double glad that he’s not more stubborn than he already is. “He’s at Rodi’s isn’t he?”
“I knew there was a reason we sent you to Stanford.”
“You mean you know there was a reason why Stanford payed me to attend their school, right?”
“Kick rocks.”
“Love you too. Tell John I’ll meet him at Rodi’s in fifteen minutes. Bye.”
“Kisses. Mwah, mwah.”
Shaking my head, I hang up the phone and start to gather up my files when I hear a deep, masculine voice say, “Excuse me.”
I turn around and there’s a very attractive man standing over me, his dark brown eyes twinkling with mischief.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been watching you from across the room since you came in, and I just had to come over here and tell you that I think you’re a very beautiful woman.”
“Thank you.”
He seems surprised that I didn’t say more, but I see no use in flirting right now, not even for fun.
“And such a beautiful woman shouldn’t be dining alone, so I was wondering if you would like to join me at my table for lunch.”
“I’m flattered, really, but I actually need to get going. Thank you for the invitation though.”
“You’re a lawyer I presume?”
I nod, and he continues. “Well actually I asked the waiter who you were. But anyway, lawyers have to eat too, don’t they? I noticed that you hadn’t gotten a chance to order before you got that call. I’m sure your client will understand your need to eat.”
I resist the urge to make a face. What kind of person just dives into what he presumes to be your personal business, after knowing you for a total of three seconds? And he has the nerve to sound annoyed that I won’t have lunch with him.
“Well actually, I’m involved with someone, and I’m supposed to be meeting them for lunch at a different restaurant. So if you would please excuse me...”
I stand, and try to move away from the table, but he steps in front of me.
“Well then your boyfriend never even has to know that we had lunch. It’s all innocent right?”
I roll my eyes, and I’m this close to rolling my neck. I hate doing it, but sometimes you have to show some serious attitude before people get the message. “I’m in a serious, committed relationship, so the answer is still no.”
“If it’s so serious, then why don’t I see a ring?”
Before I can respond, I hear Todd’s voice from behind me saying, “Because I’m having a ring specially designed for her. Now get lost before I have to leave a black ring around your eye.”
Muttering under his breath, the man leaves and I turn to Todd with a smile.
“You’re a lifesaver Todd. Thanks.”
“Well actually I owed you one.”
I shake my head. “No, you owe me more like a million. I’ve gotten you out of a lot of trouble, you’re going to have to save me from a lot of creeps before we’re even.”
“So are you really dating someone, or was that your way of trying to get booger brain dweebo over there to get off your case?”
“I’m really dating someone Todd. So you can stop trying to set me up in your head with people you know. I can tell by now when you’re doing it.”
“So who’s the mondo lucky guy?”
When John and I got back from Jamaica, we decided that we weren’t going to out and tell people that we were together, that we’d let them figure it out for themselves. That was mostly because it seemed like telling people would be making a big deal out of us getting together, as if it were extremely unlikely and unusual. But John would probably be glad about me telling Todd, because he seems to think that Todd has a thing for me, despite the fact that he is very happily married to Blair.
“John.”
“As in John McBain, your best friend in the world, save for me of course?”
I nod and Todd starts laughing so hard that tears are running out of his eyes and he’s coughing. It seems that John and I are very entertaining as a couple.
“What’s so funny?”
“I see you two got hit in the head with a few coconuts, and regained your senses. Finally.”
“Ha! We were dating long before we went to Jamaica.”
“And you didn’t tell me? You wound my tender heart.”
I excuse myself as my cell phone rings again. Seeing on the caller ID that it’s John, I answer, “I know, it’s been fifteen minutes. I’m on my way.”
“You are a spoiled brat. A very, very sexy spoiled brat, but one just the same.”
“Can I ask why I’m a spoiled brat?”
“Because you insist on getting to choose where we go to eat. And what movie we get to see. And what brand of breakfast cereal we get to buy.”
“That’s not being a spoiled brat. That’s being a control freak. And you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself without me. But that’s okay, because that’s who I am, and that’s part of why you love me. Where are you?”
“Outside the Palace. I’m coming inside in a few minutes.”
“I love you!”
He chuckles and replies, “As always, you’re only really nice to me when I let you have your own way.”
“Sometimes I’m nice even when you won’t let me have my own way. Hurry up and get in here, I’m starving, and I just gave up my favourite table, and someone is eyeing my second favourite.”
Laughing, I hang up and go out on the balcony. It’s actually my favourite table, but I would never tell John that. This year for my birthday, he gave me his mother’s pearls as a gift out here. He didn’t tell me the story behind them, and when I asked Eve, he said that when he was ready to tell me the story, he would. And he did eventually tell me, when I was getting dressed one day and needed his help fastening them around my neck.
The waiter places two menus on the table and I smile slightly at him. As he’s leaving, John walks onto the balcony, and my smile grows into a huge grin. He comes to the table and bends over to kiss me lightly on the lips. As he’s moving away, I pull him back towards me with a chuckle and kiss him again. It’s sad, I know, I can barely contain myself around him. But seriously. It’s John McBain. Who could, and even more importantly, who would want to?
Ne Me Quitte Pas by jovanangel87
Chapter 16
(John’s POV)
Turning my key in the lock, I push open Evangeline’s side door and call out jokingly, “Honey, I’m home!”
When there’s no answer, I call out her name. “Evangeline, where are you?”
I know that she’s home because her car is in the driveway and both her car and house keys are on the kitchen counter top. And her briefcase is leaned up against the side of it. I look up to see Evangeline approaching me with a smile.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Visiting my girlfriend. What’s wrong?”
“I- uh have a visitor.”
“You like company. What’s the big deal?”
“It’s Max.”
Immediately, my chest tightens and I have this incredible urge to hit something, so I clench my fists tightly. “Where is he? I’d like to smash his face in a few times.”
“If you’re going to start, then just go home until he’s gone. He’s here to talk about the divorce, and we’re going to talk about it like adults, and if you can’t control yourself, then you don’t need to be here. And I’m serious.”
I sigh. “Sorry. It’s just that whenever I think about what you went through because of him, I want to beat him to within an inch of his life.”
“And so do I, but we’re trying to be as civilized as possible. So are you coming or not?”
“I’m right behind you.”
She walks out of a kitchen, and after a few seconds of hesitation, I follow her. Sitting in one of the sofas is a tall man with curly black hair and a face set with determination.
“Max, this is John.”
He stands and holds out his hand, which I shake. “I’ve heard a lot about you. You were all Evangeline talked about back in California.”
Evangeline rolls her eyes and I smile slightly. “Well, I can’t say that I’ve heard that much about you.”
“I’m sure none of it was good.”
“Well that’s no one’s fault but your own. Look, you two talk about whatever it was you were talking about before I got here. I’m just here to make sure that if you say something to Evangeline to upset her, you get your ass kicked.”
Evangeline glares at me and sits in the chair across from Max. I take a seat all the way across the room from them, making sure that I was still close enough to hear what was going on. Grabbing a a travel magazine from the magazine rack beside me, I sit back and start flipping through it. Let’s see what Mr. Malo has to say for himself.
(Evangeline’s POV)
I look over at John, who’s flipping through a magazine, looking pretty pleased with himself. While I appreciate the fact that he’s trying to protect me, I really wish that his only method of doing so didn’t involve threatening bodily harm. Max turns to look at John as well, and feeling our eyes on him, John looks up and blows me a kiss. Forget about threatening bodily harm, I’m just going to kill the man.
Shaking my head, I turn my attention back to Max. “How’s your daughter?”
“She’s fine, Evangeline. Getting bigger every day. She’s the only person in my life that I can count on.”
“Well that’s no one’s fault but your own.”
“Why do you want to divorce me, Evangeline?”
I blink at Max, shocked. He can’t possibly be asking me that. “Are you serious? You cheated on me, you had a daughter by a different woman while we were still married. I don’t know what I was thinking when I put up with that, but I vowed that I would never allow a man to put his hands on me. And you knew that and you hit me anyway. Besides, we’ve been separated for years, and this is not the first time that I’ve filed for divorce. You threatened to ruin my career the other times, but I’m not going to let you intimidate me.”
“You say that you left me because I hit you. Funny enough I don’t remember you protesting when I hit you under other circumstances.”
John moves to get out of his chair, and I fix him with a “look”, and he sits right back down.
“I never participated in any of your kinky little games Max, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t confuse me with your many whores.”
Max looks at me confused. “I wasn’t confusing you with anyone.”
“Start with me Max, and I will sic John on you.”
“Oh, is he your guard dog?”
“No, he’s my boyfriend.”
He looks taken aback and he doesn’t say anything for a few seconds.
“You don’t honestly think that I haven’t dated since I left you?”
“I haven’t.”
“And I’m the Queen of England.”
“Well then long live the Queen.”
I stare at him, and he laughs. “Evangeline, you may not believe me, but I loved you very much. Problem was, when I had you, I loved trying to control you even more. I didn’t realize how much I truly did love you until you left me. Which is why I kept finding ways not to sign the divorce papers. I was trying to buy myself time to win you back.”
“You did a great job of doing that by threatening my job prospects.”
“I’m a rich man, Evangeline, you know that. All my life I was taught to think that my money would get me everything in the world that I wanted. Including love and happiness. You were the exception. No matter how much of my money I threw in your face, you wanted to get to know Max the man, not Max the bank. You used to talk about your family, and I would get jealous. You weren’t as rich as I was, but you were rich in other ways. Your family loved you no matter what. You described them as if they were the Huxtables or something. At the time, I never realized that my money would never by me what I wanted the most in life. It gave me control over everything that I wanted to control in the world, except for love. Except for you.”
“Max, why are you telling me all of this. If you feel so bad, sign the damn papers and let me live my life. Let me be happy, and maybe you can finally be happy.”
He shakes his head sadly. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you Evangeline. I’m dying. I’m dying and my daughter is going to lose her father. I don’t even have family that I could leave her to. The only person in the world that ever cared about me that much is you, and you hate me now. The happiest day of my life was the day I met you and I wish that my daughter had been yours. I’m a hard, bitter man, incapable of loving very well. But if she had you, at least she’d have unconditional love.”
“I don’t know what to say Max. I’m very sorry, for you and for your daughter. But I can’t really do anything about it. She has a mother anyway.”
He scoffs. “Some mother. She doesn’t want anything to do with Katrina, she just can’t wait for her to come into her inheritance. That’s not what I came here for though.”
“Then why did you come?”
“I have two months to live. I have a brain tumor, it’s inoperable, and I’d rather spend these last few months with my daughter, creating memories instead of puking my guts up so I could live for six. I want to right as many of the wrongs that I’ve committed. I know that it’s selfish, but I want to be able to die with a lighter heart. And want my daughter to be able to ask about me and hear that I may not have always been the greatest person, but towards the end, I came around. It’s just too bad that it took me until I found out that I was about to die to realize that life isn’t about money and control. It’s about the simple things. I’ll give you your divorce Evangeline. I know it’s what you want, and what I should do, even though, after all this time, I still don’t want to. But if I can give you a chance to experience the happiness that I couldn’t provide for you, then maybe I can go happy. I can only hope that one day you might forgive me.”
“I do forgive you Max, and for the record, I don’t hate you.”
“You can’t hate me because you feel bad for me Evangeline. You always were a softy, and I’m glad to see that you still are. I really hope that you find the person you’re supposed to spend the rest of your life with, and I hope when you find him, he treats you well and realizes what a lucky man he is.”
I smile softly at John and say, “I already found the man I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with. Turns out he was under my nose the whole time. He treats me very well and I’m just as lucky as he is.”
Max turns to look at John and says, “You hurt her and I’ll haunt your ass forever.”
“I have no intentions of hurting Evangeline.”
He turns back to look at me with a smile, and I take a deep breath, trying to hold back tears. “You picked a good one. You know I still have the scar.”
Now it’s my turn to be confused. “What scar?”
“The night I hit you, you hit me over the head with a lamp. I still have a scar, and I showed it to Kat. I told her what happened, and I told her that if a man ever put his hands on her, she was to do the same thing. Just so you know, I will eternally be sorry that I ever did that to you. The best thing that happened to me was being told I was going to die, because in that few seconds, everything fell into perspective and I realized what you were trying to tell me all those years ago. Love is what makes you rich, not money. And if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. I’m a better man because I loved you and I’m a richer man because I have my daughter’s love.”
A few tears slide down my cheeks as he stands and hugs me briefly and kisses me on the forehead.
“Bye Evangeline. Take care of yourself and that beautiful heart of yours.”
I nod numbly, and John stands and walks to the door behind Max. I can hear John telling him to take care, and then the opening and closing of the door. John comes back over and sits in the couch next to me, and I bury my head in his chest, letting hot, salty tears flow freely. I don’t know how long I cry for, how long John rubs my back and holds me, but when I finally do open my eyes, it’s dark outside.
“Are you okay?”
“John I was married to him for almost nine years. I may have hated him for most of those nine years, but I also loved him. I stopped being in love with him a long time ago, but still, I care about what happens to him. I can’t believe that he’s dying.”
John puts his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eyes. “Evangeline, Max didn’t fly all the way across the country to tell you he was dying. He could have done that by phone. He came to tell you that you touched his life. And that is what you should come away with. We touch the lives of all we meet, be it good or bad, and the only person that can decide what impact you’ll make is you. You made a positive impact on his life, Tigger.” We smile at each other and he continues. “Be glad of that.”
Party Time by jovanangel87
Chapter 17
(Evangeline’s POV)
John and I stand outside of Mom’s house and ring the bell, huddled together and bouncing slightly. I know it’s the middle of December and all, but it’s extremely cold. John rubs his hands up and down my waist, probably an attempt to keep his hands warm, because before we left, he insisted that it wasn’t cold enough for gloves. I think that when it’s 6∘ outside, with the wind chill making it feel like it’s 20 below, it’s cold enough for gloves.
The door swings open and I can see Layla and Daniella grinning wildly at me.
“Our sister dear!! And her boyfriend too!”
I look at them weirdly as I walk past them and John kisses them each on the cheek. “Does Mom know that you two are drunk?”
“We are not drunk! Okay, maybe Granny Williamson slipped us some of her peach brandy. But it’s potent stuff,” Layla protests.
“And don’t bother telling Mom, Gran’s the birthday girl, so she can’t get in trouble. Not that she’d get in trouble anyway. And don’t even go anywhere Evangeline, you’re coming with us.”
I look at John and then back at Daniella. “I’d like to say hello to my mother first. And maybe my grandmothers, who I haven’t seen in weeks. Can I do that first?”
“If your last name is Williamson, or was once Williamson, you wear a bra, and are under the age of 50, then you need to get your tush in the kitchen pronto.”
Layla and Daniella bounce off and I turn to John with shrug. “Can you tell Mom that I wish I was an only child, and because I’m not, I’ll have to come talk to her later? And kiss Gramma and Gran for me.”
John smiles and kisses me lightly on the lips twice. “Sure thing. And please don’t get into that peach brandy too, your sisters are right, it is potent.”
“Okay. I’ll come find you in a few minutes when my sisters stop interrogating me.”
I walk towards the kitchen, stepping inside and smiling at my sisters, who smile back at me expectantly.
“Soooo, what’s new in your world?” Chelsea drawls, grinning big and winking at Clio and Aria, who are sitting on either side of her.
I sit in the empty chair between Layla and Daniella and nibble on a piece of cheese that I swipe from Layla’s plate.
“Nothing’s new in my world? What is this ambush about?”
“I beat you at tennis yesterday. Not that I wasn’t glad that I beat you, but I never have. And I haven’t gotten better. And you are definitely walking funny today. So what’s going on? Is John really putting it on you that hard?”
I stare at Layla with my mouth wide open until Daniella reaches over and presses my mouth shut. “That’s nasty Evangeline. No one wants to see your chewed up cheese.”
I swallow quickly and say, “See this... this right here is the reason why you all think I’m boring. Because you guys are always in my business, I make a point to have none. Why do you want to know?”
“Well if it’s because of John, I know that I can continue my winning streak. I’m being purely selfish here, not nosy.”
Aria busts out laughing and says, “Like hell! You may not want to hear any gossip, but I spend all day with a bunch of stuck up people in an office and when I get home, I spend most of my time with two babies. I need to hear something juicy.”
“Ri, you only have one child.”
“Plus your brother?”
“Okay fine. You guys wanna know? My sex life is great. As a matter of fact, it’s more than great. And you wanna hear a secret?”
They all lean closer to me to hear what I have to say. “No only is John putting it on me, I’m putting it on him. Anywhere I see fit.”
I smile smugly as they all erupt into laughter. “Damn Vange! You go on with your bad self!”
Just as suddenly as they started laughing, they stop, and I turn around to see why.
“Hey Gran, how’s your birthday been so far?”
“It would have been better if my granddaughter had come to wish me a happy birthday before congregating with her sisters. What are ya’ll talking about anyway?”
“Nothing much, just girl stuff,” Clio answers.
Gran puts her hands on her hips and eyes every one of us, the same way she would when we spent time at her house and we got into something we shouldn’t have. “Um-hmmmm. Well I’m a girl today, you can tell me.”
“Nothing much Gran, Evangeline was telling us how she told off this guy the other day.”
Gran hmphs, and stares at us for a few seconds more, until she thinks that we’re not going to say anything more. “Well then, as your sisters said, go on with your bad self baby.”
She walks out the kitchen and I turn back to them. “Shit! Do you think she heard us?”
In answer to my question, Gran calls , “Evangeline baby?”
“Yes Gran?”
“I know you grown and everything, but the next time I hear you cussing, it’s gonna be me and your behind. Okay?”
I glare at my sisters, who are giggling silently so she can’t hear them and answer, “Sure thing Gran.”
“And the same goes for the rest of you girls, don’t think I can’t hear you. I hear everything.”
I smirk as they all stop laughing and chorus, “Yes ma’am.”
“And ya’ll come on out of there. You can’t just abandon my party like that. Besides we’re about to cut my cake. If they can figure out how to light 90 candles without burning the place down.”
We laugh and file out of the kitchen behind her. Over at the banquet table, Mom and Auntie Tai are trying to put the candles in the cake without messing up the wording. So far, they only have five on it. I hand Mom the pack of number candles that I grabbed out of a drawer before leaving the kitchen, and she smiles at me gratefully.
After we sing “Happy Birthday” to Gran, including the Stevie Wonder version, which she loves, and she cutes her cake, we all mingle with the crowd. Everyone is exclaiming over how good the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is, and I grin proudly over my mother’s baking abilities.
John walks over to me with a plate of cake, wearing a troubled expression. “Hey Stormy, what’s wrong?”
“You know I love your grandmother, right?”
“Which one would that be?”
“Well I love both of them, but I was talking about Granny Williamson.”
“Okay, yes I know that you love Gran. What’s wrong?”
“She’s freaking me out. She keeps looking at me weird.”
“Oh yeah, she overheard a conversation about how good you are in bed.”
John’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. “Evangeline, she’s like a grandmother to me.”
“Well I guess you’re more like a booty call to her than a grandson.”
John shudders and glares at me. “That was evil. I officially hate you now.”
Laughing, I kiss him lightly. “That’s okay. I love you too.”
Shaking his head and muttering, he walks away from me and I walk over to Mom and Antonio. They both turn and kiss me on the cheek.
“Hey you two, what are you up to?”
“Nothing much. Hey, did you and Layla have lunch yesterday?”
I roll my eyes back , trying to think. “Yeah, we ate at the country club. “
“What did Layla have?”
“Why not just ask her Antonio?”
“I did, but she says she doesn’t remember. But she came home and threw up all night.”
“And baby, you said that you were sick all night too,”Mom reminds me.
I shrug. “I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t a big deal. We both had salads, there’s not that much in a salad to make you sick.”
“If you say so chica. Where’s John?”
“I was messing with him, so he wandered away. He’s somewhere around here.”
“Okay, I’ve got to go ask him something about a case. I’ll talk to you later.”
“When you find John, can you tell him that I was just joking. Before he decides to get a lobotomy or something to erase his memory.”
“It can’t make him any dumber, right?”
I laugh as he walks away, and then notice that Mom has ‘the look’ on her face. Not the one that means I’m in trouble, but the one that says she knows exactly what I’m up to. Except, I’m not up to anything.
“What’s with the look?”
Mom smiles and shakes her head. “As if you don’t know.”
“No Mom, I’m pretty sure I don’t.”
“Well then you’ll find out soon enough,” she says as she walks away, leaving me completely confused.
She's What? by jovanangel87
Chapter 18
(Evangeline’s POV)
“Lay, where are you? I seriously wish you would answer your phone. It might occur to you that you don’t need a phone if you never use it. Hurry up and call me back. Bye.”
I drop the phone in my couch and resume my previous task of pacing around the living room and biting my nails. I hate watching people biting their nails. I think it’s a very bad habit. And yet, when I’m really stressed, my nails somehow end up in my mouth.
I jump about a foot in the air when the doorbell rings, and I race towards the door.
“Hey Vange. I’ve got ice cream. And...are you ready? BAD BOYS!!! So get ready to salivate and laugh until you almost pee yourself for two hours.”
I grab Layla by the arm and pull her into the house, slamming the door shut. “Where have you been? And why haven’t you been answering the phone?”
“I had to go get a new copy of Bad Boys, Jamie figured out how to tape over it. And I brought ice cream. What is your problem? Okay, I know I’m possibly digging my own grave, and I’m going to sound like Antonio, but are you PMSing?”
“No, and I won’t be for another nine months!”
Layla stares at me for a few minutes. “Oh! Vange I’m so sorry! I completely forgot. Why didn’t you wait for me to take the test?”
“Because you took four hours to get here! I can’t believe you Layla, I was going nuts over here. And then John called and he asked me what was wrong. You know I can’t lie to that man! I don’t even know what the hell I told him. You should have been here to run interference!”
“Listen Evangeline, I’m here now. So why don’t we go in the living room, let me take off my coat, and then you can cry on my shoulder for a few hours. The tables have really turned in this relationship, haven’t they? Normally it’s me crying on your shoulder because I’m in a fix.”
“Don’t call my baby a fix!”
“Okay, so I guess I don’t have to ask you if you want the baby.”
I drop myself on the chair, and Layla sits down next to me.
“ That’s why I’m confused, and more than a little scared. I want this baby possibly more than anything in this world. But John and I just started dating, and I doubt it that we’re ready for a baby right now.”
Layla snorts and rolls her eyes. “Girl, that’s not confused, that’s just stupid. John will make a great father, you said so yourself. And you will definitely make a great Mom, you’ve had lots of practice. And you know what the best thing about you being pregnant is?”
“What?”
“We can do all those cool pregnant lady things together. Eat ice cream and get fat and then blame it on the baby. And we can lose our minds and everyone will still have to humor us.”
“You’re pregnant too?”
She nods. “I have one word for you. Jamaica.”
“Yeah, me too. Whoever said that you can’t get pregnant your first time really messed up.”
“Dumbass, that’s your first time ever. And since when do you listen to myths?”
Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “I was joking. But seriously, we both get knocked up at the same time, and both our boyfriends, or fiance in your case work at the police station. What the hell are they drinking down there?”
“It’s all the coffee. Makes the little swimmers really happy and hyper. They probably shoot right out.”
I shift as I feel my stomach turning in knots, and put my hands up to my ears. “Those are words that I never want to hear out of your mouth ever again.”
She giggles and we sit in silence for a few minutes before Layla says, “Wait’ll Mom finds out. Both of us pregnant at the same time, she’s going to go through the roof.”
“She’s the reason why I even took a pregnancy test. Trust me, she already knows that the both of us are pregnant.”
Layla shakes her head. “Only our mother.”
I laugh. “Okay, so are we watching Will Smith and Martin Lawrence blow up cars and pigging out on ice cream or not?”
“Is that a trick question? Of course we are!”
Layla gets the DVD and pops it into my DVD player, while I run into the kitchen to get two spoons. I briefly consider bowls, but ice cream is always less fun when it’s in a bowl. It doesn’t taste as good as when you’re shoveling it out of a carton, or when it’s dripping down your arm from a cone.
As our favourite scene comes up, Layla and I start reciting the lines, which we know by heart now. I especially love to watch Layla do them, she really gets into the character, and it’s hilarious. When we finally stop laughing, Layla turns to me and says, “Don’t you think it would be cool if we were both having twins?”
“Why? Travis and Troy are cute and everything, but I’d probably want to give them away after a while. The two of them are just too much to handle sometimes.”
“But Mom was a twin and she came out normal.”
“I wouldn’t call Mom normal. And besides, she didn’t grow up with a twin, she died when they were young.”
Layla folds her arms and says, “Well I still want twins. Twin girls though, so Jamie can have two little sisters.”
“You want me to write a letter to the stork for you? Maybe you’ll get your special request filled,” I snark.
She hits me with a pillow in retaliation, and I grab a pillow from behind me and clobber her with it. Before our pillow fight can get too far though, I hear a male voice saying, “Girl on girl action! That’s what I like to see.”
There is only one man in Llanview who would say that. Rex Balsom. Since we started working together on a few cases, we’ve become pretty good friends. Which John hates, because he can barely tolerate Rex. But behind the smart ass facade and the dumb ass actions, Rex is pretty sweet.
“Rex, what the hell are you doing in my house, and how did you get in?”
“I’m here because I’m your private dick, remember?”
I hold up a leg in warning. “I will kick you where the sun doesn’t shine if you keep it up. I’m not in the mood for the wisecracks today, especially since they aren’t that wise.”
“I was joking! Jeesh, you think with a best friend like John McBain, you’d be able to take a joke. Ah, but here’s a Williamson who knows a good joke when she see’s one. Hey Layla.”
“Hi Rex. I think I’ll excuse myself, let you and my sister do the work thing.” She pauses the DVD and goes into the kitchen, where I hear cabinets slamming, so she’s probably looking for something to snack on. I turn back to Rex, sho grins, and sits in the couch next to me, throwing his muddy, botted foot up on my cherry wood coffee table. I shoot him a death glare and kick them off.
“You know better than that Rex. What’s up?”
“Didja miss me?”
“Up until a few minutes ago, yeah. What do you have?”
“Okay, so deadbeat Dad left the country, he’s in Bermuda living it up. The beaches, the chicks, the nightlife, you know the deal. He’s got a lot of money, I don’t see why he can’t just pay the child support. Just don’t have sex if you’re not ready to deal with the consequences.”
Yeah. Really wishing we would have had this conversation a few months ago. Not that I’d be dumb enough to listen to Rex Balsom about matters of the heart.
“I have a new case for you. I’ll tell you about it when I get back to work, for now, I would like to spend some girl time with my sister.”
“Come on, I have nothing to do. I can be one of the girls, you can do my hair and paint my nails. I’m bored and desperate. Don’t make me beg.”
“We’re not having that kind of girl time. Do you like Bad Boys,” Layla asks, walking out of the kitchen.
“I love that movie. Hi Julie, what have you been up to the last couple of days? Oh nothing, just hangin' out, handcuffed to steering wheels.”
“We’re not up to that part yet.”
“Can I stay? Please?” Rex turns to me with puppy dog eyes and I have to laugh. I’ll let him stay. Not out of the goodness of my heart. But because he amuses me.
Merry Christmas Baby by jovanangel87
Chapter 19
(John’s POV)
I smile to myself, and pull Evangeline closer to me, until she raises slightly and settles herself on my lap, molding herself to the shape of my body, and leans forward to grab my steaming mug of hot chocolate off the coffee table. She drank hers while it was still piping hot, and since I don’t like drinking things while they’re hot enough to cook my tongue, she’s obviously decided that she’ll drink mine for me.
“Give me that Evangeline, you had yours already.”
“Come on, just one sip, please?”
“Evangeline your version of a sip consists of drinking half the mug. Besides, you had yours.”
She turns to face me, and gives me a pout. “Pretty please? Pretty please with lacy red underwear on top?”
I take the mug out of her hands and place it behind me on the coffee table, where she can’t reach it, unless she climbs over me, and I’m not going to let her do that.
“It’s way too early in the morning for this Evangeline, my head is too foggy and I can’t resist your advances right now.”
She gives me a devilish grin, and presses a few kisses to the inside of my neck. “You can never resist my advances.”
I pull her away from me gently. “Okay you demon, where is the super cool and super special Christmas present that you promised me when you woke me up 5 o’clock this morning?”
“Stop calling me a demon!”
I smile. “I love you.”
“Stop calling me a demon, or I’m going to seriously hurt you. If you let me open my presents first though, I might be willing to forgive you.”
“Go ahead. I labeled all of the ones that I gave you.”
She jumps off of my lap happily and goes over to the tree, scattering the presents all over the place until she finds the ones that I bought her. I can’t help but laugh, Evangeline has always been this way during the holidays. She insists on putting decorations up the day after Thanksgiving, she starts baking cookies and making egg nog as soon as December starts, and she never goes to bed on Christmas Eve. She normally drinks coffee all night, but this time, she was naturally so excited that she stayed up all night without the coffee. And then woke me up as soon as the clock struck 5. She’s probably going to nap during the drive to her mother’s house for Christmas dinner.
Evangeline starts opening the packages from biggest to smallest, ripping the paper and ribbons off gleefully. She crows over the blue and white leather jacket that I got her, along with the snow white newsboy cap that she’s been admiring for a while. She gets to the two small jewelry boxes and stops momentarily, and looks up at me.
“John, what is this?”
“You would know if you opened them. Come on, hurry up.”
She opens the first one, which is a gold charm bracelet that I had specially made for her. All of the charms have some significant meaning to us, and it almost wasn’t ready in time, because I decided that I wanted a charm that looked like the Jamaican flag added.
She fingers the charms and smiles slightly, brushing a tear from her cheek. “John, this is beautiful, thank you so much. I know that you took a lot of time to think this out, and it means even more to me because of that.”
“You’re more than welcome Evangeline.”
“Would you help me put it on?”
I nod, and she comes back over to me, carrying the other jewelry box, the bracelet, and a slim gift wrapped package, which she sets down on the coffee table, and kneels beside the couch. I fasten the bracelet around her wrist, stroking it gently.
“Okay, now open the other one.”
She pulls the ribbon off of it, and opens the lid, turning to look at me with tear filled eyes. “John, this is too much.”
“Evangeline, you deserve the world. Nothing is ever too much for you. These pearls aren’t heirlooms like the necklace was, but I thought that you would like them. And I know that you love to collect earrings, so now you can add these.”
“You are an incredible man John McBain. Here, open your present.”
She hands me the package from the coffee table, and gets back up in the couch to watch me expectantly. Evangeline wraps gifts so beautifully, you almost don’t want to open them, but I’m very eager to find out what it is she got me. I open the box, and nestled in a bed of white cotton is an antique watch, very much like the one that my father used to have. His father gave it to him, and I was supposed to get it for my eighteenth birthday. But it was one of his most prized possessions, and since he died before he could give it to me, I insisted that he be buried with it. I noticed this watch in the window of a pawn shop months ago, but I didn’t think that Evangeline actually noticed.
“How did you know?”
“Are you kidding me? I had to pull you away from that window. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what had you so captivated. Open it, there’s an inscription inside.”
I do as she says, and open it. On one side, engraved into the metal lid, is, “For the world’s greatest friend and father, Merry Christmas.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I was going to get lover inscribed too, but I figured that in the chance you want to give this to our baby, that might be a little awkward.”
“What baby?”
“John, I’m pregnant.”
I stare at Evangeline, trying to process what she just said, but all I can concentrate on are the little men in my head jumping up and down and screaming “Yay!”
“I don’t know what to say.”
The expectant smile on her face slides off and she gets out of the chair and turns her back to me, walking over to the window. “Then don’t say anything!”
I stand, and walk up behind her, watching the falling snowflakes, before snaking my arms around her waist and pulling her closer to me.
“I don’t know what to say because there isn’t a word to describe how incredibly happy I am about this. I don’t know why you would think otherwise, we talked about having children. We talked about you having my children, and now you are, and that makes me way more than happy.
She rests her head against my shoulder. “Really?”
“Really. Merry Christmas Evangeline.”
“Merry Christmas John.”
*hours later***
I glance over at Evangeline, who’s fast asleep in her seat. After we exchanged the rest of our gifts, we took a shower and bundled up, to have Christmas breakfast with Nora, Bo and Matthew. It took everything that I had in me not to blurt out our news, but Evangeline and I discussed it previously and we decided not to tell anyone before we told our families. So now we’re on our way to Christmas dinner, and as I expected, Evangeline has been sleeping from since before her head touched the back of her seat.
I pull into the driveway, and shut off the car.
“Evangeline, wake up sweetie.”
I nudge her lightly, and she opens her eyes. “I wasn’t sleeping...”
“I know you were just resting your eyes. Go ahead and go inside, I’ll carry the presents in.”
She smiles. “You’re cute.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You don’t want to let me carry anything.”
“I never let you carry anything. I’m trying really hard not to go overboard and start being overprotective and everything.”
Evangeline um- hmm’s me, and I roll my eyes. I hate it when she does that.
“You make me carry my bags when I go shopping.”
“Evangeline, that’s when you have fifty bags of shoes and clothes, and I’m carrying about forty eight, so I make you carry two. That doesn’t count for anything. You want to help me carry the presents?”
“No. It’s cold outside, I think I’ll go in, leave you out here struggling to get all of them out of the car.”
“I knew that there was a reason I loved you.”
She kisses me on the cheek and gets out of the car and rings the bell, while I get out and try to stack all the presents so I can take them in at once. Evangeline was right, it is really cold.
When I finally get all the presents out of the car and go inside, I can hear Evangeline squealing and I know that Cristian is here. Sure enough, when I set all the presents down and go into the living room, he has Evangeline off the ground, spinning her around, while hugging her tightly. Since his paintings and photographs have been gaining so much popularity, he’s been travelling around the world, so we don’t see him very often.
“Hey Cris, you want to stop spinning her before you scramble her brains?”
He sets her on the floor carefully, and laughs. “You’re the one with the scrambled brains McBain. Come over here you big lug.”
He hugs me tightly and pounds me on the back. “It’s good to see you man. It’s been a long time.”
“So Cris, what are you doing here?”
He turns to Evangeline with a smile. “And miss a Williamson family Christmas? It wouldn’t feel like Christmas. Mami is here, and so are Tonio, Layla and my angel of a niece. And you guys are here, so why not spend Christmas with my family?”
“That’s real sweet Cris. I missed having you around,”Evangeline says, grinning widely.
“If you missed having me around so much, how come you decided to fall in love with that blue eyed devil? My old brown eyes not good enough for you?”
I roll my eyes as he winks, hugging Evangeline to his side.
“So where is everyone?”
“Either in the den or the kitchen. But they’re probably all in the kitchen, your mother just put a batch of cookies in the oven a little while ago, and they should be done soon.”
“Well then what are we doing out here then?”
*******
(Evangeline’s POV)
As I look around the table at our family and friends gathered together, I can’t help but tear up a little. As a child, I loved Christmas less for the presents and more for the fact that all of our family came to visit, and we were all together for a whole day without any arguments. All of our grudges were put aside, and we were just grateful that we had spent another year with each other. And because John’s family was relatively small, they always came over for Christmas. Even today, I still feel the same way. Some people may be gone from our celebration, but there are new faces, new lives, and even more love. And the thought that our baby is going to grow up surrounded by all this love makes me feel supremely blessed.
“Evangeline, I’ve been asking you to pass me the ham for the past minute. What’s wrong m’hija?”
I smile at Carlotta and pass her the platter with the ham on it. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“About what?”
“How good it feels to be surrounded by family and friends today.”
Carlotta gives me a weird look and shrugs. John puts his hand on my knee, and I nearly jump out of my skin.
“What’s up?”
He leans towards me and whispers, “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, why do ask?”
“Your eyes are teary.”
The poor man is going to go nuts in a few weeks if he worries every time I tear up. It happens about ten times a day. And that’s just on a normal basis.
“It’s Christmas, of course I’m teary. I’m fine, really. Stop worrying before you give yourself a heart attack.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so.”
When we’re finished with dinner, Layla and I help Mom, Carlotta and Eve clean up a little, then we go into the den to join everyone else and open presents. For someone who was worried about me overdoing it, John looks really comfortable playing cards with Cristian and Antonio. I kneel in front of the tree, and take up the presents that Layla and I went shopping for for Mom, Eve, Carlotta and Antonio.
“Okay, Layla and I have presents for you, but you have to wait and open them at the same time.”
Layla takes the ones for Antonio and Carlotta and gives them their presents, while I give Mom and Eve theirs.
“Okay, people you can open them.”
Layla and I sit next to each other on the couch, holding hands, while they rip through the packaging. Antonio is the first to see his, because I think he unwrapped it upside down, and so he saw the lettering on the shirt first. He jumps up and hugs Layla, speaking very fast in Spanish, and I really don’t think that he can make sense of what he’s saying. He’s speaking so fast that he’s tripping over his words. When Carlotta, Eve and Mom see how Antonio is carrying on, they race to see what their presents are.
“My grandbaby loves me? I don’t get it,”Mom says, staring at Layla and I. Wow, even our mothers are slow. This is not looking good.
“We got you those shirts because both Layla and I are pregnant, Mom. So Eve is going to be a grandmother for the first time, You’re going to be on for the billionth, and Carlotta is going to be one for the second time. Jamie should have gotten a big sister tee shirt, but....Layla’s an idiot.”
“I am not an idiot. It would have ruined the whole climatic element if Antonio had to help her read the shirt. I’m actually quite smart.”
“Will the two of you please shut up? You dump big news like this on us all and then go on like business as usual. This is not the time,” Eve says, rolling her eyes. The funny thing is that she actually seems sorta pissed that we’re not having mini heart attacks, like everyone but John is. Cristian, Michael, Marcie, Shannon, Chelsea and Micah are all pretty much speechless. Jamie is watching some Christmas special, completely unaffected by what’s going on.
“Mom aren’t you happy? It’s your first grandchild,” John says, sticking his tongue out at Michael. He insists that giving Eve her first grandchild will make him her favourite son, he doesn’t believe me when I tell him that if Eve had to choose favourites, she wouldn’t choose them. They’re both a bunch of knuckleheads.
“I don’t even know what to say. How far along are you Evangeline? And Layla, do you know?”
“Neither of us know yet. But we will soon. Carlotta, what do you think?”
“I’m so happy. For both of you girls. I’m getting two new grandchildren not just one.”
Layla and I reach over to hug both Eve and Carlotta, but Mom is still not saying anything. That’s how she gets when she hears news. No matter how exciting, she holds it all in for a while, and then when everyone has forgotten or calmed down, she starts to react. It’s actually really funny.
Everyone congratulates Layla, Antonio, John and I, and Cristian, being Cristian, had to make the first smart comment.
“Evangeline, you actually had sex with cousin It?”
Before I can smack him, Carlotta does, in the back of his head. “Behave yourself. And say you’re sorry.”
Rubbing the back of his head, he mutters, “Sorry Evangeline.”
“To John m’hijo. You know who I meant.”
“Sorry John.”
John folds his arms and pretends to be thinking about it. “I don’t know man, you hurt my feelings.”
“Evangeline you had sex with a girl?”
I kick him in the leg. “That wasn’t funny. Behave, before I make Carlotta beat the crap out of you.”
“Oh My Lord! My babies are having babies!!”
I jump nearly a mile in the air, and turn to look at Mom, who has just had an epiphany, and laugh. Layla leans towards me and says, “When I have this baby, I’m running away from the crazy people. You wanna come?”
I shake my head. “Layla, we are crazy people. There’s no escaping that, so why even try? I for one like us just the way we are.”
And why wouldn’t I? My family is loud. Obnoxious. Crazy. My friends are the same. But they love me and they support me, and I always have way too many shoulders to lean on. Now with me bringing a new life in this world, what more could I possibly want?
Ultrasound by jovanangel87
Chapter 20
(Evangeline’s POV)
“Okay, so explain to me again? Both you and your sister are pregnant at the same time? What do John and Antonio do down at the station?”
I laugh at Nora’s surprised expression. It’s two days after Christmas, and we’re having lunch at this funky little Indian restaurant before my first OB appointment. John is supposed to meet me later at the hospital, since I wanted a chance to talk to Nora and get her caught up to speed with what’s been going on in my life/
“That’s almost the exact same thing that Layla said.”
“I can see why. Evangeline, sweetie, I’m so happy for you and John. And for Layla and Antonio, but I told them that already. How far along are you?”
“I don’t know exactly. But I figure about two months. I have a doctors appointment in a few hours.”
“Wow. A baby. Things are really moving fast for you and John. You sure you’re okay? Because I know you, and you let little things bother you until they turn into big things, and then they start to gnaw away at you.”
She rests her hands on mine, and looks me dead in the eye, and I have to fight the urge to roll my eyes, because I’ve been asked that so many times.
“Nora, John is it for me. I’ve known him long enough to know that he’ll be a good father, and that our relationship will only change for the better. I was worried for a total of a few hours after I found out that I was pregnant. But then John came home, with a bag full of groceries to make chicken noodle soup from scratch, for me. Because when he left for work I was sick. And I realized that I had nothing to worry about, because John will go to the ends of the world and back to make sure that the people that he loves are well taken care of and comfortable. Our child will be spoiled by him, but at least the baby will never feel unloved. And that’s what’s important.”
Nora smiles at the waiter as he delivers our meals and then turns back to me.
“Trust me, I’m glad about that. As long as you’re happy, and you’re comfortable, then you’re okay.”
“Well now that we have that out of the way, can we eat? I’m starving.”
I start to dig into my platter of shrimp tandoori, ripping off a piece of poori to accompany the tangy, pungent shrimp to my mouth. I sigh in delight as I savor the mix of the succulent shrimp and the sinfully flaky fried dough on my tongue. Nora watches me with an amused smile and I swallow hastily and ask, “What?”
“I don’t know how no one caught on before. You’re glowing. Pregnancy becomes you.”
I smirk. “Ha! You should see me after I ‘ve been tossing my cookies for more than a half hour, off and on. Every night like clockwork.”
“Sometimes eating a few saltines and laying down for a while can make it more manageable.”
“That’s what Eve and Mom told Layla and I. So John has packs of saltines all over the place. But I wish I could just stop puking in general.”
I laugh as Nora wrinkles her nose in disgust. “Hello, language. We’re eating here.”
“Sorry Nora, I keep forgetting that not everyone has an iron stomach like John. And besides, you’re not the one that got me pregnant, you shouldn’t be subjected to this while you’re eating.”
“Oh, you catch on quick. But John has only known for a few days, how much can you gross him out in that space of time?”
I grin. “You don’t even wanna know. Trust me on that.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
Nora and I finish our lunches, giggling, joking and drawing stares from nearby tables. We split the check and Nora and I leave together. Nora has court in a half hour, so I go with her, I figure I can stop by the station to hang out with John for a while.
As I walk into the bullpen, various officers stop and congratulate me, offering hugs and kisses on the cheek. Apparently John has been spreading the news. As I’m hugging Officer Cerutti, I see John approaching from over his shoulder.
“Cerutti, get your paws off of her and get back to work.”
“She doesn’t seem to have a problem with it Lieutenant.”
John good-naturedly boxes him in the shoulder as he comes closer to me, and Cerutti goes back to whatever it is he was doing. He kisses me lightly on the lips, rolling his eyes at the whistles coming from the officers standing around.
“I thought you were having lunch with Nora?”
“Hello to you too. We finished lunch early, she has to prepare for court. Are you busy?”
“Not really. Come on, we can hang out in my office until your appointment.”
I walk towards his office, and he walks behind me, slipping in front momentarily to open the door. I grin.
“You know, had I known being pregnant with your child would make you so polite, I would have done this a lot sooner.”
He laughs. “That is wrong on so many levels Evangeline. Come on and sit down, tell me about your day.”
Instead of saying anything, I grab him by his lapels and tug, until he bends his head and his lips meet mine. I suck lightly at his bottom lip, tugging ever so slightly with my teeth. I can feel his lips curl into a smile as he pulls me further into his office, kicking the door shut with his foot, and tries to unbutton my bottle green blazer. I shrug it off of my shoulders, yelping slightly as his cool hands slip under my cream blouse, and turning, he pulls us both down on the couch that sits against the wall. We’re really starting to get into it when I feel familiar stirrings in my stomach, and I pull John’s hand from out of my shirt, and hop off of him.
He sits up confused, as I walk rapidly across the room, and hastily try to open the window. Sometimes a bit of fresh air eliminates the nausea.
“What are you doing?”
“Too much aftershave. I feel nauseous.”
“I’m wearing too much aftershave?”
“Not you John. It’s just that all the guys who hugged me were wearing aftershave and you are, and that’s just too many smells right now. I don’t want to lose my lunch.”
John walks over to his desk and opens up his bottom draw, pulling out a pack of crackers, which he hands to me, ignoring my indulgent smile.
“Okay, try these first. It might keep you from throwing up.”
I take a few more gulps of air, and turn back around. “No, I’m okay now. You wanna continue?”
“It would be completely gross if I said yes, right?”
I nod and laugh. “Just a little babe.”
(John’s POV)
I can’t help but marvel and stare at Evangeline. The way she’s glowing and grinning, with that gorgeous twinkle in her eyes. She catches me staring and asks, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I reach over and stroke her cheek gently. “You’re beautiful.”
“Sorry John, but nothing you say is going to convince me to have a quickie in your office today.”
“What if I promise to go real slow?” I ask, pulling her close and nibbling her neck gently.
“Well we’ve got the time, why not?”
*****later******
(Evangeline’s POV)
I stare at John reproachfully and examine my collarbone with my compact.
“I can’t believe that I let you talk me into having a quickie right before my OB appointment. Now I’ve got teeth marks all over me.”
He grins. “She won’t be paying any attention to your neck.”
“Yes, but she’ll notice the five million that you left on the inside of my thighs.”
“There were three. I counted.”
I roll my eyes. “You would, you perv.”
“No see, if I was being a perv, I would be trying to convince you to have sex right here and right now.”
“John, what am I going to do with you?”
He smirks and raises his eyebrows. “A lot.”
I don’t get a chance to respond, because Dr. Sante walks into the room.
“You’re all changed and ready, right Evangeline?”
“Right.”
“Okay, before the ultrasound, I’m going to give you a quick examination. Mr. McBain, would you mind leaving the room for a few minutes?”
“No problem Dr. Sante. And call me John.”
He leaves and I settle down on my back, counting slowly as I try to relax. When she’s done, I close my legs and sit up. I steal a glance at Dr. Sante, who’s biting her lips.
“It’s okay to laugh if you want.”
She grins widely and shales her head. “I wasn’t going to laugh. It’s good that you have a healthy sex life. When I was pregnant with my son, I kept having problems with how my husband smelled. Suddenly, the aftershave that I loved was making me sick. He must have tried a million new ones, all of which I hated more than the one he was using.”
I grin. “Well we find ways around things like that.”
“I’m sure you do. I’m going to call John back in here, and go get the ultrasound machine, okay?”
I nod, and she goes outside the room, and John comes back in.
“What did I miss?”
“Well my doctor now knows exactly how healthy my sex life is, and how insatiable you are.”
“So is she going to do an ultrasound or what?”
“She went to get the machine. Come sit next to me, “I say, patting the chair that is placed next to the bed. He comes over and sits, taking up my right hand from where it lays across my stomach, and stroking my fingers. We look up when the door opens, and Dr. Sante wheels the ultrasound machine into the room.
“Okay Evangeline, I’m going to drape the lower half of your body, so that we can expose your belly. And the gel is going to be cool, unfortunately, there isn’t much that I can do about that.”
She drapes a sterile sheet over my legs, and sitting up slightly, I pull my gown up, so that my stomach is exposed. Glancing down at my flat stomach, I smile to myself. Never have I been eager to see my stomach grow round. As a matter of fact, my fear of that is why I exercise so much. Running, yoga, kickboxing. The works.
John runs his hand gently over my stomach, and I turn to him and smile. I suck in my breath sharply when Dr. Sante spreads the gel over my stomach.
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, I was warned.”
She places the probe on my stomach and switches on the machine. I squint as she moves it around, but all I can see is grey.
“Okay, the baby is really small, so you’re not going to see it as of yet, and you can’t hear the heart beat, but you can see it. It’s right....there.”
Her finger touches the screen, and I’m inclined to believe that she just picked a random spot. My sight is really good, and I can’t see anything. But all the same, John and I nod and smile.
“You seem to be about two months along Evangeline, and this is one of the most important months in the life of your baby. All of it’s organs are being formed right now. Would you like pictures?”
“Yes, I think we’d appreciate that.”
“Okay, well I’ll go print them out for you,” she says, wiping the gel off of my stomach. “You can put your clothes back on, and when I come back, we can discuss any further questions that you have.”
As she leaves the room, John looks at me, his eyebrows knitted together.”Could you see the heartbeat?”
“No. Could you?”
“No. That’s okay, if we put a picture under the microscope you have at home, we might be able to find it.”
I laugh. “Okay, let me go put my clothes back on.”
I grab my pile of folded clothes, and go behind a screen in the room to put them back on. I re-emerge fully dressed, quickly running a brush through my hair. Dr. Sante comes back into the room, and hands John the pictures while I take a seat on the bed.
“So do either of you have any questions?”
“I have one. Is it okay for me to exercise throughout the pregnancy?”
“Well right now, it’s okay as long as you don’t ever-exert yourself. Later on, it might be hard to continue, because after the baby begins to grow, it may be harder to breath, and balance. But pre-natal yoga can help with your balance, so you might want to pursue that.”
“Okay, thank you Dr. Sante.”
“Well, I’ll see you two in a few weeks then.”
She leaves, and I turn to John. “Okay, McBain, are you ready for seven more months of me mauling you, yelling at you, crying randomly, and making you go out in the middle of the night for soursop ice cream, among other things?”
Smiling, he leans towards me and kisses me on the forehead softly, them presses his forehead against mine, staring into my eyes. “I’m ready for all of that, and so much more with you Evangeline.”
New Year's Eve by jovanangel87
Chapter 21
(Evangeline’s POV)
“John, would you stop bouncing her in the air before she throws up? She just finished eating.”
John settles Winter down in the couch next to him, which immediately turns her high pitched giggles into high pitched shrieks. Eve, who had previously warned him that that would happen, starts to laugh, and shake her head, but John doesn’t think that the situation is so funny. He turns to Eric and says, “Aren’t you going to do something? She’s crying.”
“You made her cry, you fix it. Consider it a crash course in parenting.”
Aria and I glare at Eric, and I pop him on the arm while Aria goes to pick the baby up. Our whole family is gathered at my house for New Years Eve, and since Eric, Andrew and Daniella were at their in-laws for Christmas, they’re just finding out that Layla and I are pregnant. Well actually, Daniella, Aria, and Clio all knew, because we called them to give them the news after Christmas, but Eric and Andrew are just finding out. And they haven’t been taking it very well. No I should rephrase that. Eric hasn’t been taking it very well.
“Eric, stop being so mean. I don’t know what your problem is anyway.”
“He got you pregnant, that’s what my problem is.”
I stare at him incredulously. “Antonio got Layla pregnant, I don’t see you acting like that with him. And besides, I was there. I’m pretty sure that it was consensual.”
He crosses his arms and glares. “Hmmph.”
Andrew comes up behind me and hugs my shoulders. “Listen shit-for-brains, keep your unhappy self quiet and stop messing with John and Evangeline.”
“You can’t make me do anything.”
“But I can beat the living daylights out of you, until it’s too painful to talk,” I threaten. At first the pouting was sorta cute, but now, I’m this close to really knocking his lights out. It’s not like I’m not allowed to have sex or anything.
“Hey, don’t make me have to start knocking your heads together. Stop fighting and carrying on like that, what kind of example are you setting?”
I can’t help but laugh a little, leave it to my mother to threaten violence to keep us from getting violent with each other. All the kids are laughing because we got in trouble with Grandma, but we all know that she’s not going to do anything. Mom and Dad weren’t big on spankings or anything, despite the disapproval of their parents.
I stand up and walk over to the couch where John is sitting, and sit down beside him, pulling my legs up next to me, and resting my head against his chest. He strokes my hair gently. “You okay?”
“Boys suck. They really, really do.”
“Hey. That’s not nice.”
I look up and smile. “You don’t count.”
“Thanks. I think.”
“I didn’t mean you. Eric sucks. I like most other people of the male species.”
“That’s good to know. But you know that your brother is just looking out for you. That’s all.”
I snort. “Eric has known you for a very long time. What’s there to look out for, you would never hurt me. He just hates that I’m not the 11 year old who thought that besides Daddy, he and Andrew ruled the world. But he’s going to have to get over it. Because now I rule my world.”
I blink rapidly as the flash of a camera goes off in my eyes, and when I can see again, I glare at Micah, who grins. I don’t know whose bright idea it was to give him a camera, because everyone knows that you give him one at a family gathering, and you pretty much can’t eat, because he’ll take pictures of you with your mouth full of food.
“Micah, you think you can give someone a little warning before you start snapping pictures of them?”
He laughs. “Are you serious? So you can take a year getting all fixed up, as if you don’t already look beautiful, and then you’re going to pose in the picture? You and your sisters are all like that. The only way to get any real pictures of any of you is to do it when you’re not paying attention.”
“How about a picture of my strangling you with the film?”I snark.
“No film, it’s digital. Get with the times little sis.”
“I hate it when you call me that. My mother did name me at birth you know.”
He smiles, and sits on the other side of me in the couch. “What? Little Sis?”
“Stop calling me that!”
“Awww, does the baby need a little nap?”
“I really don’t like you sometimes. I really don’t. Can you do me a favour? Pour me some ginger beer please?”
“Evangeline, that’ll give you heart burn,” John interjects, giving me a concerned look.
“Oh, see man, you just don’t listen. She’s a woman. And she’s pregnant. And she’s grouchy. She’s always right.”
“Yeah. I’ll try to remember that one.”
As Micah walks away, I smile at John. “Sarcastic much?”
“Grouchy much?”
“I’m entitled. In a few minutes, I’ll feel like hugging everyone. It all balances out in the end.”
“Well I’m glad for that at least.”
“Hey can one of you turn on the TV? The ball is gonna drop in two minutes,” Daniella calls from the kitchen. And I can guarantee she’s going to be in there up to the last thirty seconds, but if no one turns on the TV now, she’s not going to stop nagging. I stand and turn the TV on, I know that I won’t know where the remote is, no one ever does when they actually need it.
Everyone gathers around the living room, their eyes glued to the TV as the people in Times Square start to count down from thirty, and their noisemakers primed and ready.
“Five.....Four....Three......Two......One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!”
I clap my hands over my ears, because John is bellowing Auld Lang Syne at the top of his lungs, completely unaware that my ears are less than a foot away from his mouth.
“John! You think you could pipe it down a little? You’re killing my ears here.”
He smiles and stops singing. “Sorry. You want me to kiss it better for you?”
“That might make me feel a little better.”
I giggle as he kisses my ear lightly, then my jaw, my cheek, and finally, my lips. After a few seconds though, he pulls away and glares.
“What’s so funny?”
“My ears are ticklish.”
“Your ears are ticklish? I was kissing you, I would think that you’d be concentrating on that.”
I shift so I’m lying fully on top of him, and rub my forehead against his. “Trust me, I was thinking about you doing more than kissing me. But that will have to wait until later.”
“I for one can’t wait.”
*********
(John’s POV)
After all of our family leaves, Evangeline goes upstairs, saying that she’s going to start getting ready for bed, while I stay downstairs, cleaning up what little mess is left. It only takes fifteen minutes, and then I go upstairs.
Evangeline is curled up on her side, snoring lightly. I stand over her and run my fingers down her arm. She has her hand resting over her stomach protectively, and I smile at that. She’s going to be such a good mother, and I can’t wait to see her stomach grow slowly with our child.
I step away from the bed and peel out of my clothes, until I’m down to my boxers, and crawl into bed next to her. Just as I’m starting to fall asleep, Evangeline’s foot connects with my shin. Thinking that she’s just fooling around, without opening my eyes, I reach down and grab her foot. The way that she desperately jerks her leg to get away from me without a sound causes me to open my eyes in alarm. I sit up and look over at her, confused. Tears are coursing down her cheeks, and she’s mouthing something, but making no sound at all. Before I can reach out to touch her, she opens her eyes and looks at me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Evangeline, you just had a nightmare, don’t you remember anything that happened?”
She closes her eyes for a few seconds and reopens them, shaking her head. “I didn’t have a nightmare. I don’t know why I was crying, but I didn’t dream at all.”
I smile, hoping that I can mask the perplexity on my face. “Okay, well if you can’t remember, you might as well go back to sleep.”
She closes her eyes again, and within a few minutes, she’s asleep again. What the hell is going on?
Real Estate by jovanangel87
Chapter
(John’s POV)
“John, give me the remote! I’m not watching Smackdown,” Evangeline growls, as she straddles me and tries to lunge for the remote.
I laugh. “You know, we’ve been fighting for the remote for over twenty minutes. In that space of time you could have just gotten up and changed the channel.”
“Hello, I’m not dumb. You can’t do that with satellite TV and you know that. Stop fooling around John. I want to watch something and it starts in ten minutes.”
“Evangeline, I don’t want to watch Emeril yell BAM! at me for an hour. Give me one good reason why I should let you get your own way. You got to watch what you wanted last night.”
She pouts and I know that I’m pretty much doomed to give in. That pout is the worst thing in the world. Every time she does it, I say yes to whatever it is that she’s trying to convince me to do.
“I’m going to get to watch Emeril because Smackdown is brainrot. And because you love me. But mostly because I’m carrying your child. So give me the damn remote.”
Rolling my eyes, I turn the TV off. “Or, we could just sit here and talk to each other. How about that?”
“No see, when you suggest talking, that means that you want to talk to me about something.”
Putting my hands on her waist, I move her from off of my lap. I can’t have a serious conversation with her constantly moving around like she’s doing now.
“I want to talk to you about those nightmares that you’ve been having Evangeline. One was bad enough. But you’ve had one every night since then, you wake up crying and mouthing something, and you can never remember what happens. This is serious. And not good for you or the baby, you’re not getting any sleep.”
She sighs. “I’m getting enough sleep. I take a million naps a day. And having unsettling dreams can be normal for a pregnant woman. It just means that I have some insecurities about being a Mom.”
She sits back and folds her arms, and I know that’s all that I’m going to get out of her for tonight. Even though I know that she’s bothered by this as well, but when Evangeline has a problem, she has to work it out in her head before she can let anyone help her deal with it. And that’s only if she wants help dealing with it.
“You know what? I know just the perfect thing to relax you. Hold on for just two minutes, okay?”
She nods slightly and grabs the remote as I get up, changing the channel to the Foodnetwork. Minutes later when I come back downstairs with my arms full, she’s completely transfixed.
“Hey, would you like me to leave you two alone?”
Laughing, she turns the TV off. “That’s funny. Very. What’s all of this?”
“This is a game of Monopoly. Which you like to beat me at. And I’m pretty sure that I’m resigned to losing at. And what’s behind my back is a surprise for later if your nice.”
She pulls the box out of my hands and begins setting up the game board on the coffee table. “Ok, I’m the banker.”
I put the small bottle down beside the chair and sit on the floor next to her. “Why do you always get to be the banker?”
“Must we go over this again? Because I really think that you already know the answer to that one.”
“Whatever. Just give me my money so I can attempt to win just this once.”
She hands me a small stack of bills and laughs. “Many have tried, few have won. I’m the Mistress of Monopoly.”
“You know what job would perfectly fit that name? A dominatrix.”
“Me as a dominatrix? I don’t think so.”
“Well there is that all leather outfit you have. You know with the bustier and the short leather skirt. And then there is your affinity for stiletto boots that come up to your knees.”
Without saying anything, she climbs over me and grabs the bottle of massage oil that I set down next to me when I came downstairs.
“How about we skip the game and go straight to the massage?”
I smile. “If I had known that calling you a dominatrix would turn you on, I would have done it a long time ago.”
Actually, that’s not exactly true, it’s not the first time that I’ve called her that. We spent the whole day on the internet a few months ago, Evangeline insisted on finding me a male stripper stage name. Unfortunately, that day ended with me in bed, alone. Well not alone if you call the ice pack on my forehead. Pillow fights are much more dangerous than everyone gives them credit for.
“Well I’m pregnant, isn’t that what pregnant women do?”
“Not yet they don’t. I did my research too.”
The doorbell rings loudly, startling the both of us, and I get up to go answer it.
“Hey there blue eyed love of my sister’s life, can we come in?”
I glance at Antonio, who only shrugs. No one gets Layla. Not even Layla.
“Sure, you guys come on in.”
I lead them both into the living room, where Evangeline is sitting on the couch again, with the TV on Lifetime. I hate it when she does that, waits until I leave the room to change the channel to something she knows that I hate.
“What are you two doing here? I know Layla generally tries to stay out of the “un- chic” part of town unless she absolutely has to,” Evangeline says, flashing her sister a mischievous grin.
Layla pulls off her coat and gloves and sits in the couch next to Evangeline. “We were looking at houses. And why are you watching this sappy stuff anyway? I don’t feel like crying right now, turn it off.”
Evangeline surprisingly does it, and shocked, I turn to Antonio. “Why are you guys looking for houses over here?”
“Because the loft was already too small for Antonio and Jamie. Now it’s definitely too small with me living there permanently, and with a baby on the way, we finally decided we need a house. And we, actually I, because Antonio is too nice to want to put people out of their way, was wondering if you would let us have your house John. Since you don’t live in it, and you probably don’t even remember where the key is for it, because you use it so seldom since you and Vange got together.”
I have to laugh. Only one of the Williamson sisters would ask for something as big as a house like they were asking for the last slice of pizza or something.
Evangeline turns to me with an excited gleam in her eyes. “Come on John! We practically live together anyway, and we’ve talked about this, and it’s not like we can raise a baby together in two separate houses. And I’ve always dreamed of living next door to one of my sisters. Please say yes?”
I look back at Antonio, who is silently watching me get talked into this. “Don’t you have some closing remark as to why I should give up my own house?”
“You do what you want to do. I personally don’t really care that much...as long as Layla and Jamie are happy.”
“And it will. Come on John, I bet you don’t even have anything in your cupboards or fridge but dust. Please?”
“Wait a minute? Evangeline’s house is almost the same as my house, why don’t you two want her house?”
Evangeline looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind. “Because my house is decorated perfectly the way I want it, and painted the way I want it, and why should I move next door to do the same thing, and have this house changed, when I can keep this house and they can have yours?”
“I don’t see what the big deal is. You decorated my house too.”
“Yeah for a man. My den has comfortable leather couches. Yours has La-Z-Boys. Your bedroom is all dark wood and masculine, and mine is very serene and can be for anyone.”
I shoot Antonio a “thanks for helping” glare and shake my head. “Normally people aren’t just talked into selling their houses like I just was. But I don’t use it. So you can have it. I’ll have Evangeline draw up the papers and whatever other stuff that needs to be done.”
Evangeline and Layla both jump up and down, hugging each other and screaming. One would think that since I’m the one who’s giving up my house, I would at least get a hug. Antonio comes over to me and claps me on the back.
“We can talk tomorrow about price, but thanks man. This obviously means a lot to Layla. And so it means a lot to me.”
“We’re not going to meet tomorrow to talk about price. Tomorrow you better be at work, telling everyone about the great wedding present that you just got. It’s a gift. Enjoy it.”
Antonio shakes his head, and Layla and Evangeline stop shouting and dancing around to stare at me.
“John, that house is worth a lot of money. You can’t just give it to us.”
“Well then you can’t have it. That’s my only condition.”
They share a glance, and then Antonio nods at me. “Thanks bro. That’s a really generous gift.”
“No problem. You guys are family, right?”
Layla hugs me tightly and kisses me on the cheek, before bouncing back over to Antonio. I smile at Evangeline, and she grins back in a way that makes me want to hustle Layla and Antonio out of the house right now.
Antonio spots the half set up game of Monopoly on the coffee table and goes over to it. “Hey, we should play! We haven’t hung out in a while, and I know Evangeline is a shark at this, but I’m pretty confident that I could win.”
I have to laugh at the look on Evangeline’s face. I know that if Antonio so much as touches that game, he’s going to come back without a hand. And not because he challenged Evangeline’s ability to win.
“Uh, I’d love to, really I would, but John and I were playing a different game that I’d really like to continue if you guys don’t mind,” Evangeline says, her stare unwavering from my eyes.
“Don’t be coy Vange, say you two want to get it on. Trust me, we’ll be out of here in a flash.”
“Ok. John and I want to get it on. Kisses. Hugs. Bye.”
Layla practically had to run to keep up with Antonio, the way he lit out of here. I go to close the door, and return to Evangeline, who’s grinning like the cat who at the canary.
“Ready for your massage?”
“I changed my mind again. No massage, at least not now. I’ve got better things to do with my time.”
I smile. “Do you really? Why don’t you show me?”
Taking my hand, she pulls me behind her to the stairs. “I plan on showing you.”
“You know, I’m a bit of a slow learner.”
She looks over her shoulder at me and laughs. “That’s okay. I’ll show you over and over until you get it.”
Ocean Pacific by jovanangel87
Chapter 23
(John’s POV)
I can hear drawers slamming and the upstairs door opening and shutting repeatedly as Evangeline goes from one room to the next, packing her bag to go to Max’s funeral. Normally I would care that she’s mad at me, and I actually do now, but no amount of tantrum throwing is going to make me give in to Evangeline this time. Especially not this time.
A few days ago we got the call that Max had died peacefully in his sleep, and we immediately made plans to fly out for the funeral. This morning, when it came time to pack, Evangeline started listing every reason under the face of the sun why I shouldn’t come with her. When I shot them all down, she just came out with it and said to me that she wanted to go by herself. So we had an argument, in which Evangeline called me a pigheaded ass, because I refuse to let her go by herself, and she insists that I should let her.
“Hey.”
I turn around to see Evangeline standing behind me, her eyes swollen from tears, but still wearing that angry, stubborn glint.
“You talking to me?”
“No to the chair,” she snipes sarcastically.
“Oh, okay then. Have fun.”
I go back to making sandwiches for lunch, ignoring her sighs and mutterings until she says, “I know that you know that I was talking to you.”
“Yes, I did know that, but you said that you were talking to the chair. You see how we can both work at this being belligerent thing?”
She turns to walk away, and I reach out and take her hand, pulling her to me. “Forget it John. Let go of me.”
“What did you want?”
“I was gonna ask you to not put pickles on my sandwich because I’ve been getting heartburn lately.”
I immediately forget that I’m mad at her, and jump straight into worry mode.”Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
“Because it’s heartburn? It’s a pretty run of the mill pregnancy discomfort, no need to freak out. And you’re mad at me, remember? I’m being stubborn, and mule headed, and crazy, and now belligerent. I’m going upstairs to finish packing.”
She pulls away and goes back up the stairs, and I return to making lunch. After a few minutes, I call her back down and when she doesn’t answer, I go upstairs to see what’s keeping her from coming back down. I open the door of the bedroom slowly to see Evangeline lying across the bed, fast asleep. One hand is over her eyes, and another is placed protectively over her stomach. Her legs are crossed at the ankle and a sheet is lightly thrown over her body.
I stand at the door watching her for a few minutes, until she starts to stir. I start to walk out of the room and close the door, when she calls out to me.
“John, I know you’re standing there, you might as well come back in here.”
“Hey, I wanted you to come down for lunch, but since you were asleep, I was just gonna wait until a little later.”
“No, it’s okay, I have to get up, and finish packing, my flight leaves in a few hours, and I’m going to have to find a place to park my car where it won’t get all messed up while I’m gone.”
I start to say something, but the look in her eyes makes me change my words. “Why are you so dead set against me coming to the funeral with you?”
She sighs. “Look John, I understand that you want to be with me, because this will be hard for me. But you also want to be with me because this is Max, my ex husband who hurt me. The thing is that he may have hurt me, but he loved me at some point, and the fact will always remain that for years I didn’t bother to get divorced from him. But then we got together, and you were important enough, and our relationship was important enough that I made him sign those divorce papers. I chose you over him, and I don’t regret it, to me there was never even really a choice. But to Max, bringing you to his funeral would be the last thing that he would want for me to do. You’ve got me for the rest of your life, that I promise you. Just this one last time, it should just be me, saying good bye to Max. And I’m sorry if you can’t understand that, but that’s how it’s just going to have to be.”
I walk further into the room and sit down on the bed next to her. “I wish that I had the compassion that you do. I guess I’m just being selfish, I don’t want to have to share your time. But I understand where you’re coming from, so finish packing and come get some lunch so I can drive you to the airport.”
Evangeline smiles, then kisses me lightly on the lips. “I love you so much John, even more so when you’re being reasonable.”
“I love you too Evangeline.”
I go back downstairs, and after a few minutes, Evangeline joins me. We have lunch together and then we drive to the airport. I almost break my toe when I drop Evangeline’s suitcase as I’m taking it out of the trunk. She’s only going to be gone for a few days, but she packed like she’s going to be gone for months.
“Evangeline, I’m worried about you carting this thing around while you’re in California. Get someone to carry it for you or something, but I really don’t think that you should carry it. It can’t be good for you, especially since even without being pregnant you have no balance whatsoever.”
Laughing, she punches me in the arm. “Thanks a lot John!”
“No, thank you! I think you just gave me dead arm.”
“Yeah well you deserved it.”
When we go to get her bags checked, the airline worker who picks her bags up raises his eyebrows at her, and all she can do is shrug sheepishly, while I try not to snicker. After we get that done, go off to the side to say our goodbyes since the next point is security, and I’m not allowed past there without a boarding pass.
“So I made sure to charge your cell phone for you. I know you can’t leave it on during the flight, but as soon as they say you can turn your cell phones back on, I want you to call me. And when you get to the hotel. If you have any of your nightmares, you should definitely call. You know what would be better? If you just call me every hour that your gone.”
“Awww, you poor thing. I’m not calling you every hour. As for my nightmares, I haven’t had any in two days, and I won’t have any in the next two days, so don’t worry about that. I’ll call you every time I miss you though, if I don’t run out of battery...my cell phone can only last so long.”
“That’s okay, I dropped your charger in your bag.”
Smiling, she hugs me tightly and steps back. “You just think of everything. Don’t worry so much John, I’ll be fine, the baby will be fine. We’ll all be fine, and trust me, you won’t even have time to miss me too much.”
I kiss her on the forehead, staring into her eyes. There’s so much grief, and a little bit of guilt, and I wish I could take that away from her; I wish she would let me. I worry that she’s going to be away by herself, and she’s going to be at the funeral by herself. And while I don’t completely understand why she feels she must do this by herself, I can respect that and let her go. Even if I’m going to worry every second that she’s gone.
“Just make sure that you gets lots to eat and drink and a lot of sleep so that both you and the baby will be okay.”
“I will. Don’t be so nervous. I love you, I have to go now, the line for security is getting really long. I’ll be fine, I don’t want to turn my phone back on and find ten messages from you on my phone. Don’t let Layla convince you that you should have come with me, she’s a little addled from reading too many romance novels where the guy always saves the day. I am sad, but there’s nothing that you can do about it, so don’t obsess. And seriously! I’m only going to California, and it’s only for a few days. We should be able to spend a few days away from each other. So I’m going now.”
Despite the fac that she says that, we stand talking to each other for another ten minutes before she finally goes. I watch her go through security, then turn to leave the airport. When I get back home, I check the answering machine, even though I know there won’t be any messages. This is going to be a long week.
*******
(Two days later)
“John you have got to be kidding me! What do you know someone in every police station in every state in the US? And do you think I’m completely incapable of taking care of myself? How much trouble do you expect me to get in? What is wrong with you?”
Muffling my sigh, I rub my face. After three minutes of listening to her yell questions, I had somewhat given up on her actually stopping. Especially since every time I tried to interject, she yelled at me to be quiet until she told me to talk.
“Evangeline“ ”
“I don’t think I said you could speak yet! John do you know how alarmed I was to find out that I had some strange man following me? You’re trying to keep me safe I get that, but did you ever even stop to think what seeing someone follow me for hours would do to me? I almost had a heart attack. Have you completely lost your mind? Or do you just really need a good pop in the head? What, don’t you hear me talking to you? Answer me for goodness sakes, and you better have a damn good reason why I shouldn’t kill you or skin you alive when I get back home!”
“Uh, I love you? And I’m dumb? And I’m a man...we do stupid pre historic things to keep the women we love safe. Or to do things that we think will keep the women we love safe. And my excuse to keep you from killing me...you are carrying a child that is a symbol of our love for each other, do you really want to kill me before our child get’s a chance to meet me? You’d feel bad.”
I can hear her trying not to smile on the other end, but all the same, I can hear the smile in her voice as she says, “This time I won’t kill you, but you had me thinking I was gonna get killed or something. Next time, if you’re going to have someone “keep an eye on me”, i.e. stalking me, then at least have the brain power to tell me so I don’t freak out. And mostly, you’re lucky I love you and I miss you right now. What are you up to right now?”
I look around at the three beer bottles on the coffee table, my breakfast plate with the uneaten toast next to them, and the crumbs that somehow got themselves all over the place and reply, “I’m cleaning up a little.”
“More like you’re reminding yourself to clean up before I get home...use the car vacuum to get the crumbs out of the sofa..”
“I will. So how did you sleep? Any nightmares?”
She’s quiet for a few seconds before answering, “No, I didn’t.”
Evangeline is a horrible liar. She refuses to believe it, but she is. Or at least she is where her feelings are concerned. And she has just never been able to lie to me. I can read her better than I can read a book. And I get the feeling that I can read pretty well. And lately, when she tries to lie about the nightmares, her voice gets really defensive. Like it is now.
“You had one didn’t you? Evangeline, I’m worried. Did you remember what this one was about?”
“I don’t know what they’re about John. I wake up many nights with my heart racing, crying, and feeling like someone just ripped my heart out and is trying to squeeze all the blood out. I’m scared too John. I know it’s hard to watch me fo through this, but I can guarantee that it’s scarier being the one who goes through it. I wish I could remember but I just can’t. I just want it to stop John, I wouldn’t even care why I had them, if they would just go away, so we can enjoy this pregnancy.”
Hearing the tremor in her voice makes me sorry that I brought it up, but at least I found out how she truly feels about the nightmares. She’s been so flippant about them that I was truly becoming worried that they didn’t bother her. Now I’m worried, because if they bother her as much she said, then they are also much worse than I thought they were.
“I wish they would go away too Evangeline. You want me to change the subject? I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Tell me something normal. Something you would tell me, if I were sitting right next to you.”
I think for a moment, until my eye falls on the stack of mail that I was going through when the phone rang. “Well Layla and Antonio are coming over for dinner tonight and we got our first piece of non-bill couple mail.”
“Really? Who’s it from?”
“I don’t know, there’s no return address, but the envelope is all fancy, and the paper is really heavy and creamy, and there’s a wax seal.”
“Open it! We’ve got fancy couple mail, and all you can do is tell me about it? Open it and read it!”
Laughing, I reach over and pick up the envelope, taking my keys out of my pocket to open the seal. There’s a folded piece of stationary in the envelope, and I take it out and open it.
“Okay Evangeline, here goes. Dear John and Evangeline. The handwriting is all fancy, like that stuff you do invitations in, when you have nothing better to do with your time, what’s it called again?”
“Stop being such a smart ass John. It’s calligraphy, and it adds a nice touch. Keep reading.”
While she’s talking, I start to skim through the letter, and realise that it’s not something that I want to read to her. I’ll show it to her when she get’s home, but there are certain things that you just can’t read to someone over a phone line. Take for example this letter. It seems harmless enough, but it’s not, and what’s more, it’s completely baffling.
Dear John and Evangeline,
You don’t know who I am. Actually, you only think you don’t know who I am, but if you really think about it, you do. You have something that belongs to me. Something I really care about and cherish, and I want it back. I’ve been watching you both for some time now, and I know that you have what I want. I’m not going to do anything about it right now. I just want to you both to know that I know you have it, and I’ve been watching both of you and your families. Cute.
A friend
“Earth to John! John McBain, where’d you go?”
“Uh sorry, I drifted off a little. Couldn’t sleep much last night without you in my arms.”
“You sure that’s what’s wrong?”
No. “Yes, I’m sure. All I need is you back in Llanview and I’ll be fine. I just hope you know that that’s the last time that I’m ever going to let you talk me into letting you go away by yourself.”
“Letting me go? You better tell me that you went to the doctor and he told you that you had Tourett’s or something like that? You don’t let me go anywhere. What did you fall and hit your hear some where or something?”
Closing my eyes briefly, I put the phone on speaker and set it down next to me as I go over the letter again. I knew that saying what I did would set her off, which is much better at this point than worrying her. Somehow, I’m getting the odd feeling that things are going to get a lot worse before they even start to get better.
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