Falling for Your Madness (7 page)

“I’ve never thought of it that way.”

“The problem for women though, is finding a man worthy of exaltation.” He signaled the waiter for the check. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m getting rather bored with Indian food.”

Friday, September 28, 2012

332 Babcock Street

Brookline, Massachusetts

10:17 p.m.

It was a warm night, and I held David’s arm as we walked home. Tonight was the first night that he held my hand in the crook of his elbow. This moment, in the dark, was my absolute favorite moment of the week. After a Friday, a Monday tea looked pretty disappointing, but that was the way the rules were. Perhaps it was to make me look forward to this moment. Anticipation, I had found, was half the fun of being with David.

He patted my hand. “And so your sisters? They’ve all settled?”

“My older sister, Molly, is married to Derek. They’re moving from California back to Chicago in a couple of weeks. They just lost their house to foreclosure. She’s having baby in March. This is the wrong kind of economy to be an entrepreneur.”

“Oh my. That’s dreadful.” He stopped and faced me with a look of horror. “That must be very painful for everyone involved. What about your other sister?”

“Amy is getting married Thanksgiving weekend. She’s two years younger than me, so now the pressure’s on.” The thought occurred to me that I had power. All I had to do was say the word, and I could get married. To David. Laura Bowles. Mrs. Laura Bowles. Mrs. David Julius Arthur Bowles. Then I remembered how badly I wanted that goodnight kiss, and I had no idea how I was going to bring up the subject.

“What does your new brother-in-law do?”

“He’s a high school science teacher.”

“Excellent! An educator! So you’ve proven to me that the Adamsky women marry for love and not money. They are patient, long-suffering women who are probably all just as beautiful as you. That is very reassuring. Now it’s time for us to say goodnight.” He stopped and turned to me. I trembled.

“David, I want to say something first.”

“Of course, what is it?”

There was a man on the sidewalk behind me. I wanted to wait until he walked by. I couldn’t believe how nervous I was. I hadn’t been this nervous on a date since high school.
But the man didn’t walk by. He stepped behind David. He said something. He grabbed David’s arm, and he said something else I didn’t hear.

Then I realized.
We were being mugged.

“I said, give me your wallet, or I’ll cut you.” I heard him then.

“Laura, step back. Do not be afraid.”

I gasped. “He’s got a knife!” The man was wearing all black. I couldn’t see his face. He was as tall as David, but wider. I thought I was going to faint. I threw my bag on the ground and looked at David. He was stone-faced. Was he frozen in fear?

“Give me your wallet!” the man hissed. He held on to David’s shoulder.

David reached into his pocket for his wallet. But when he did, he popped his elbow into the man’s ribs. The man stumbled back. David spun around and swung at him with his left hand. The man lunged at David with the knife and stabbed him in the shoulder.
David was stabbed!
David kicked the guy in the knee. Blood stained David’s jacket. The mugger bent over forward. Then David took the man’s head with both hands and head-butted him. Then he head-butted him again. The man fell to the ground, David stepped back to gain his balance. He shouted at me, “Step back, Laura!”

The man got up and ran down the street.

David fell to the ground. The purse and the wallet were on the sidewalk.

“Are you insane? You could have been killed! You’re bleeding! Oh my God, David! We need to get you looked at!”

“No, please. Merle should be here. He’ll take me where I need to go. You, you’re not injured? Are you harmed in any way? He didn’t get your purse, did he?”

“No! Take off your jacket. I’m just scared to death. It’s your shoulder!”

“What? Really? This?” He stood. “Oh dear.” He grabbed my arm to keep from falling. “I think his head was made of iron. A gentleman never head-butts, but I’ve always wanted to try it. Now I wish I hadn’t.”

“You have a cut on your head too. Come inside. We’ll call the police.”

“No. I can’t walk on this foot. I may have broken my toe when I kicked him. I’ll just stand here; no, no, maybe I’ll sit and wait for Merle. Where is that blasted magician?”

“No. You need to stop the bleeding. Come in with me.”

“Only if your roommate is home. She is home, right?”

“I don’t know. I doubt it. It’s Friday. Let me help you up the steps. I can’t believe you took that guy out. Wow. You are full of surprises.”

“I can’t go in there with you. Ow.”

“Nonsense. You’re bleeding. We need to clean you up. It will take five minutes.”

“Five min…” He swooned, and I grabbed both of his arms. He could get up the steps if I helped him. I got him into the lobby and into the door of my first-floor apartment. He slumped into a kitchen chair.

I was worried about him, and I didn’t know if I should call an ambulance or not. I held his face in my hands and wiped those curls away. “Don’t pass out on me. I’m going to get ice for your head, and we need to look at your shoulder.”

“I must go back outside. Merle can’t see me in here.”

“Take off your jacket.” He looked at me like I was speaking another language. I had to practically wrestle it off him. The right side of his shirt, at the shoulder, was covered with blood. I gasped. “You may need stitches. Take off your shirt.”

He tried to stand. “I’m not taking off my shirt! I’m not! I’m already in your apartment and I … oh, that hurts!”

“Stop being such a baby! Take off the shirt and show me! Oh, thank God! It’s almost nothing.” The injury was just a cut, not serious, but deep enough to bleed badly. He squinted his eyes shut while I wiped the blood away. Every time I touched him, he seemed to flinch.

“Does it hurt that much?”

“Hardly at all. It’s just a flesh wound.” He tried to stand again. “I need to go now. I am quite sure Merle is outside. Ow!” He slumped back down in the chair again. “My foot!”

“Take off your shoe and sock.”

“Are you mad? Please, let me go. I promise you Merle will take me to the doctor.”

“You are the biggest baby!” I kneeled down on the floor and took off his shoe and pulled off his sock. His foot was long and thin and pasty white. One toe was badly bruised. Then something came over me, like I had made an error, like I shouldn’t be doing this. He sensed it too.

“Can you wiggle your toes?”

He did. “Yahhh! Ow! See, nothing broken, just very bruised. Now, please don’t touch me anymore.”

“Can I at least see your head?” I wiped the blood off with a washcloth. None of these cuts were deep either. He looked up at me. I found myself wanting to find more injuries. I wanted to kiss him so badly. “You didn’t have to do what you did. It was stupid. I could have just given him the purse.”

“No. He threatened you. I protected you.”

“You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“It would have been my greatest moment.” He stood up and held my shoulders to steady himself. “Now, I really, really, need to go. I thank you for my treatment, but I imagine that Merle is out there now looking for me and … ”

“You’re not going anywhere. Come to the couch. That way, if you lose your balance and fall, it will be softer.” I held his arms while he limped to the couch and sat down.
“Okay, please Laura, stay in the kitchen until Merle comes. No, go outside and stay there until you see him.”

“No, I want to get you some ice.” He sat down. I felt so bad for him. He was in great pain. He had done it for
me
. “You took that guy out. He was afraid of you.” I stood over him.

He reached to touch my face. “Nobody will ever bother you while I’m around.”

I stroked his hair.

He closed his eyes. “Please, lovely, please stay in the kitchen, or go out and wait for Merle, but please, please, do not touch me.”

“
And let you pass out on me? Nothing doing.” I kissed his forehead. A specific point on the northern hemisphere of his heroic face. This wasn’t exactly how I’d envisioned the evening to end, but it wasn’t bad.

He pulled me down so that I sat on his lap.
Yes, please.
He stroked my face. “I shouldn’t be here. You need to get away from me.” He winced.

“What are you afraid of? I’m not going to bite.”

He stroked my neck and kissed me. It was so tender. Just like I had hoped. “Please. You are so very beautiful. Go to the kitchen while you can. I can’t go after you.”

David! Gentleman, chivalrous David! In his arms with his lips on my ears and neck! He kissed me again. Oh, this is what I had wanted even tonight at dinner. I had never in a million years thought he would do this with his shirt off. It was time to be sweethearts. Now to tell him in between kisses. It was my call. I had the control.

David tilted me backward. I fell on the couch, and he was on top of me.

“Oh no!” he said. He said it in such a way that I thought he was hurt again. “I am so sorry. This isn’t how I pictured this at all.”

He pinned my arms on the couch, and I couldn’t move. “David, that’s too rough. Move over for a minute.” Didn’t David once say there would be no making out? What was going on here? This wasn’t how I’d ever expected him to act.

“You are so beautiful. You are so soft.”

“David, now stop it. Hey! Keep those hands in the northern hemisphere!” He kissed me again, and I nearly stopped breathing. “Please get off me.”

“Don’t you like me?”

Didn’t he realize that he was so much bigger and stronger than me? Why was he holding me down like this? “Ow! Yes! Hey, now! I do like you, but we’re moving kind of fast.”

“What’s wrong? I want to please you. I want to make you happy.” He kissed my neck.

“Then get off me! You’re not respecting my boundary!”

He stroked my hair. “You kissed me first.” He kissed my ears. “You haven’t stopped touching me since I came in here,” he whispered. “I told you I had to go, but you made me stay, so I just thought …” He kissed me again. This time is was a little too forceful. “You’ve been saying yes all night. Why are you saying no now?”

I dug my fingernails into his shoulders. I was especially firm on the one that was injured. “Because you’re not acting like a gentleman!”

“Ow!” He sprung up off me and clutched his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

I had hurt him. Good.

I felt sick to my stomach.. For the first time in knowing him, I felt like I was out of control. I felt afraid.

Then I heard the click of the lock. The squeaky door swung open. David looked up at the other side of the couch. “Oh, thank God! It’s your roommate! She’s here!” He tried to stand, but instead he fell over, hitting the other side of his head on the coffee table.

It was Ruby. “Oh, sorry. Want me to leave for a while?”

“No!” David and I both yelled at her unison. Behind her was Merle. That stupid driver! Where had he been?

Merle stormed in and went right to David. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you!” He pulled David to his feet. “Good God, what happened? You’re bleeding!”
Merle looked at me for an explanation. “Why did you bring him up here? You know the rules. He can’t be alone with you!”

David struggled to put on his jacket and yelled at Merle, “She did nothing wrong. Nothing. It was all me. All of it! I can’t tell you, Laura, how disappointed I am in myself. But I need to go to a doctor.” David held his head. “Laura! Please! Forgive me! I’m sorry!”

Merle pulled him out of the room and down the hall, outside, into the Crown Victoria, and they drove away.

Ruby and I watched them go. “So, that’s David. The impeccably dressed gentleman who keeps his hands to himself? That’s the guy?”

“That’s him.”

“Are you okay?”

“I am a stupid idiot. An hour ago, I was ready to marry the guy. What am I going to do? He’s just like all the others.”

“Hey, look at this. Lover boy forgot his shoe.” She held it out. “Lord have mercy, you could rent this thing out to a family of seven. Did you see this? This is Italian. Look at this stitching. This shoe is bigger and nicer than our apartment. Oh, and here’s his sock. It’s cashmere. Cashmere! I’m keeping this.”