A Promise of Forever (10 page)

“The first time I saw him, was at Kevin’s wedding.
Do you remember me telling you stories about Kevin’s college buddies?
Gianfranco was one of them,” she said smiling, as she recalled the three musketeers.
She remembered fondly the nickname they were given all through college and it was a well-deserved metaphor.
They were always together, one as rogue as the other.
She could see that Rosa realized who Gianfranco was.
After all, she had stared at those pictures in the hallway for years.
Gianfranco was the third musketeer that, she hadn’t yet had the pleasure to meet.

“It was funny that, as fate would have it, Kevin came home from school during the early years of college on many occasions and would bring his friends with him.
Gianfranco and Jake would come to our home but, for one reason or another, I wasn’t around when Gianfranco was there.
I did get to meet Jake on two or three occasions during that time.
It was accidental but I think fate had a different kind of meeting in store for us.
Our paths crossed, for the very first time, at Kevin’s wedding.”
Katelyn drifted off into her own private memories for a second before continuing her story.

“He was Kevin’s best man at the wedding and I was one of Sylvia’s bridesmaids.
Jake was a groomsman and, actually, my partner.
I had arrived just in time to take my place in the wedding procession.
I had just flown in from meeting with representatives from Berkley College in California.
I had big plans for my future back then.
Up until that point, my plans were set in stone and I wasn’t going to let anyone or anything derail me until the night I met Gianfranco Broccolini,” she said.

Katelyn recalled the dress she wore keenly.
She remembered how it made her look older than her eighteen years.
It was a very pale sea foam green, long silk flowing gown.
The front of the dress draped over the bust giving the illusion of modesty, yet making her look fuller than she actually was.
The most dangerous part of the dress was the back; it dipped quite low.
She remembered the way Gianfranco made her feel when he stared at her.
She could still feel his stare now all these years later.

“I have to admit, the gown that Sylvia picked out for the wedding party was very sexy; it looked great on each and every girl, regardless of size and shape.
It was during their vows to each other that I felt eyes on me.
He stood right next to Kevin; I looked up and I could feel his eyes burning through my skin.
No one else noticed what he was doing because it was ever so subtle.
At first glance, I thought that I had imagined it; he was so dangerous, so good-looking.
He could have had any woman in the room and, in the end, he wanted me.”
Rosa was captivated by the story of love and lust and listened intently.
She was beginning to like this guy and somehow she knew that the story of Katelyn and Gianfranco wasn’t complete.
She knew they needed to find a way back to each other again; maybe when they did they would better understand what had kept them from each other this long.

“I tried, time and again during the wedding, to turn my focus away from him but it was almost as if he held me in a trance with those ebony eyes of his.
We were in a room full of people and yet to me it was like being trapped in a cocoon that he had created for us.
I couldn’t believe the way my body was betraying me.
He was a complete stranger and I was totally, uncontrollably, wanton-like in his presence.
It was terrifying to me and intriguing at the same time.
At eighteen, I wasn’t ready to deal with someone so sophisticated and worldly but I couldn’t back away from the challenge either.”
Katelyn went on tell Rosa how he had awakened a desire so deep within herself that she thought she would faint with the embarrassment of it all.

“I’ll never forget how flushed I became.
One of the other bridesmaids became concerned for me and thought that I was ill.
I don’t think I ever believed in soul-mates before that night; but what we shared was bigger than the two of us.”
She wasn’t so sure she believed in soul-mates any longer though.
Her feelings were a bit more one-sided these days.
She continued to pour out her story; Rosa was shocked and saddened at how naive Katelyn had been in the past.
Of course, her age had a lot to do with that.
She wondered about Gianfranco;
with all his worldly experience back then, what was he thinking?

“I was so stubborn and I didn’t want to back away from his challenge, no matter who he was.
I glanced over at him during the vows and I saw in his eyes that he was accomplishing exactly what he had set out to do.
He knew he had awakened wantonness in me that I had never felt before.
He also knew that I was questioning what I was feeling. I remember he smiled smugly, as if to say he’d finished what he set out to do and, for the time being, he would leave me alone to bask in my new feelings.
At least, that’s what I felt,” she added.

“Rosa, I had thoughts about him that I had never allowed myself to think about before.
It was strange; he had done such a complete job of captivating me, I was surprised he had retreated so hastily.
I knew he was dangerous and that I should keep my distance but I was compelled to find out who he was and what he wanted from me that night.”

She pushed her drink aside, leaned back on the couch and continued her story, in complete detail.
“After the service was over, we went to the reception hall and the bridal party was asked to join in the first dance.
Jake and I were partners; he led me out to the dance floor and together, along with the rest of the bridal party, we danced.
It was then that I found out that Gianfranco Broccolini was the third musketeer; the one I hadn’t met until that moment.
The man who had captivated me only moments before in the chapel was about to be introduced to me, by Jake.
He introduced us as we were all dancing.
Jake said that both he and Kevin were kind of embarrassed that Gianfranco and I hadn’t had an opportunity to meet sooner.”

Rosa smiled at the innocence of the teenager she had been and thought about how that young girl transformed into the woman she became later.
She couldn’t help being curious about Gianfranco Broccolini.
He had to know that Kevin would be upset if he hurt his sister.
Somehow, she chose to believe that there was more to the man and his feelings for her friend than Katelyn was leading her to believe.

“Jake went on and on at the wedding, telling Gianfranco how proud he was of me and all my accomplishments.
He told him that I had received a scholarship and was going away to college that fall.”
Katelyn went on to explain how Jake continued to talk to Gianfranco while dancing with her and when the song ended he hugged her affectionately and said that he was going to leave her because he was on the prowl for a loose woman.
Gianfranco saw this as his chance to join her on the dance floor.

“While we danced, he took the opportunity to apologize for not being able to make my parent’s funeral and further explained his absence; he’d had urgent business that had kept him out of the country.
I told him that Kevin had already explained it to me but he felt the need to explain it again personally.”

“While Jake was off flirting with another bridesmaid, he had his eye on earlier, I stayed with Gianfranco and we talked and danced.
Later in the afternoon, they made an announcement that the bridal party was needed outside for pictures; this time Gianfranco led the way.
He put his hand on the naked flesh of my lower back and his touch awakened a sensual being in me that I hadn’t known existed, until that second.
I had never in my life wished more fervently that my body were covered with gorilla-like clothing as I had at that moment.”
Katelyn smiled as she recalled how embarrassed those new feelings were to her.

“Gianfranco must have sensed my unease when he noticed what his touch was doing to me.
He offered his jacket to cover what was exposed for everyone to see.
I became openly aroused and he enjoyed being the savage who had caused my momentary lapse in judgment.”

Rosa was mesmerized, almost choking as she begged her friend to continue.
This story was better than a movie and Katelyn’s love for this man was evident in the way she spoke about him.
“Don’t stop now, this is getting interesting.
I want to know what happened next,” she said as she stood up and offered to put their glasses in the sink.
It was then that Rosa remembered this story didn’t have a happy ending.

“After the photographer had taken all his pictures, and polite conversing with everyone, we were all ushered back into the reception area.
I didn’t see much of Gianfranco again until after all the toasts were done and the cake was cut.
He came over to me and asked me to dance the final dance with him.
Before he had a chance to lead me out to the dance floor, my brother and Jake practically pounced on him.
Kevin said something to him in private and Jake seemed to concur with him.
When I asked Gianfranco about it, he simply said they told him who I was and warned him not to take advantage of me or hurt me.
I remember feeling as though they all knew something I didn’t.
Kevin thought I needed his protection and that angered me, but, I guess, given what history has uncovered, he might have been right.”

Katelyn thought about their first dance together and his thoughtful whispers into her ear as he told her she would always be safe with him.
Gianfranco asked her what her plans were for the future and, at the time, she didn’t want to seem as if she were inexperienced or unsophisticated so she rattled on about her plans for college and how she wanted to travel the world afterward as a journalist.

“I tried to sound worldly and confident when, in actuality, just the opposite was true.
All my life I wanted to have a family and if I could have stayed at home and raised a couple of kids that would have made me happy.
My parents were great role models; I wish you’d had a chance to meet them.
My mother taught us both to go after your dreams.
Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t have something or can’t do something.
She always said that even the impossible was possible.
My dream was to have a family of my own.
I miss them, I’m glad we had them around during the important years of our development but it doesn’t make it easier.
Kevin and I were lucky to experience the love they felt for each other and us, even if it ended too soon.”
Her mood had suddenly become melancholy as she remembered her parents.

“I stretched my story out to impress him and I went on and on about becoming this famous journalist one day and how those plans didn’t jive well with having a family.
I don’t know what possessed me to say that.
After all, I was an old fashioned girl and raising a family was high up on my to-do list.
I wanted a career, but I also wanted a husband and partner to share it all with me.”
Katelyn stood and moved around the apartment a bit before continuing.

“Gianfranco held me in his arms and we danced that last dance as if our lives depended on it.
It was hard to think of myself in anyone else’s arms after that.
I wanted more from him but I was afraid; I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be with him, in every way.
The heightened pleasure I experienced up to that point was coming just from dancing in his arms.”

Rosa was speechless.
This was her friend who rarely went out and if she did it was usually with a friend.
“This is so insane.
It’s like I don’t really know you.”

“The music was still playing when he led me out on to the verandah after our dance.
I remember looking up at the stars and silently asking my mother what she thought about him.
Somehow, I knew even then that he was going to change my life.”
Katelyn was silent for a moment as she slipped back in time and let her memories consume her.
She could still hear the music in the background as she turned her attention toward the man who was leading her down this path.

Continuing, “He asked me if I was afraid of him and when I told him I wasn’t, he said I should be.
I can still feel what I felt that day so vividly.
My body was experiencing such sensual turmoil and it was all at his hand.
To say that I wasn’t afraid was an understatement.”
Katelyn knew that her knowledge of desire had come from Gianfranco because to this day she had never felt it again. She recalled bits and pieces of their conversation.

“I would never hurt you,”
he said as ran his long, masculine fingers down her arm.
“I’ve waited so long to touch you.”
He hastily pulled his hand away from her body as though it burned to touch her and she could see he was fighting some kind of war within himself.
She, at the same time, was trying to make sense of what he had admitted to her.