Seasons of Fate (4 page)

  
‘I’m sorry if I’m asking something you don’t want to talk about but you seem scared and I just want to help.’ Again I was shocked, here was this guy a virtual stranger who seemed to see into me, why? I didn’t know so before I could stop myself I gave him a part of my story.

  
‘I recently lost my husband of seven years and I brought Lily on this trip as a kind of start over.’ He didn’t say anything at first then he spoke

  
‘I’m sorry for your loss’ I actually laughed out loud which from the look on his face confused him.

  
‘I’m sorry I laughed but you don’t need to be sorry, it was never a marriage, I was never in love and I was never loved. This trip was a sort of celebration, a new life for Lily and me, When we left the UK, we left and didn’t really look back at what we supposedly lost, so don’t feel bad, if you knew the half of it you would probably join my party.’   

   Without realising it I had given too much away and given Mason the opportunity for more questions, but he didn’t, he seemed to recognise something when he looked at me so changed the subject, and began to ask me about hobbies and things I really liked to do. I couldn’t give him much apart from, my love of reading and listening to music in the car, I told him about my fascination with beautiful lyrics and tracks that make you want to cry, he seemed happy with this piece of information and swiftly moved on.  Without realising it we had spent most of the day talking and before I knew it, John walked in with a sleeping Lily in his arms, he walked straight toward the bedroom. Lys had an armful of shopping bags which she quickly dropped to the floor before falling onto the sofa between Mason and me.

  
‘I’m so tired, walking around and keeping up with Lily is exhausting, how do you do it sweetie? And on your own, wow you deserve a medal and at the same time as putting up with that stupid bastard.’

   My mouth just hung open, it was like Mason was invisible she didn
’t filter anything before speaking. I blinked and looked straight into Mason’s anger filled eyes, so my only reaction to that was to burst into tears in front of both of them. John ran in hearing my sobs and was shocked into silence at my display, they had never witnessed this before and seemed confused, I was usually more reserved in showing my feelings, especially about somebody who had shown me no emotion except contempt, anger and hatred. So when I looked up again, the only person I saw was Mason who had reached out to me and started to pull me into his arms, I felt an amazing amount of gratitude at that point and something else stirring inside which I had never felt before, and couldn’t understand now. When I felt calm enough to look up we were alone, Mason looked murderous when he suddenly asked

  
‘What did he do to you Summer?’ I had never gone into details about my past with anybody not even my closest friends had all the facts but for some reason as soon as he asked me I felt the need to spill everything that had happened to, from my first smack, to the last time my so called husband had raped me and all the shitty details in between, by the time I finished talking, it was nearly midnight and I felt as light as air although Mason hadn’t said a word throughout my ramblings. When he did speak it was the most comforting feeling I had ever experienced.

  
‘He can never hurt you again, nobody will ever hurt you again, I’m so sorry you had to  live through that shit, but you’ve come out the other end and I’ll make sure you keep moving forward. Whatever it takes’

    A strange feeling came over while I listened to him comfort me, it was an urge to lean into him and take all the warmth he offered. He just kept surprising me, I was finding it difficult to pull away from the embrace we were in so Mason took the first step, he looked down into my eyes and the emotions I saw there were so different to what I was used to seeing. I couldn
’t distinguish them, but the warmth in his eyes was shining bright.

  
‘I haven’t talked about any of this stuff with anybody. Lys and John have some details but I have tried to keep most of it to myself, I’m sorry to have unloaded everything onto you, I mean you don’t even know me.’

He smiled and just pulled me in closer, then said

   ‘I’m glad you told me, it answers so many questions I have in my head, but most of all it shows me what an amazing woman you are, to have been subjected to that and maintained your sanity is proof enough’

  
‘I have Lily to thank for my sanity, without her I don’t think I would have carried on. She gave me everything I needed to keep trying’ Mason looked at me then smiled.

  
‘She is a little angel, I guess she takes after her Mom’ his eyebrow lifted and I couldn’t help but smile. When I eventually pulled away, Mason decided that he should leave before it got any later, I saw him to the door, and he left after kissing my cheek. It was a strange feeling but not unwelcome, I actually smiled as I watched him walk away, but held my cheek savouring the feeling he left behind.

   The next day I slept in while Lys and John helped Lily get ready for the day, John then came into the bedroom and sat on the end of the bed looking at me.

  
‘What’ I asked

  
‘It’s nothing I just wanted to ask you about Mason’ Ok, I thought ‘You know….he looks at you like something he needs to protect and treasure’

  
‘Shut up, he just feels obliged to help out of some misguided notion that I saved him, that’s all. There is nothing more to it’ I was trying really hard not to let him see how this conversation was effecting me but I wasn’t sure why. Dam my emotions were all over the place.

   
‘Yea, yea that’s just what you think, you’re not used to a guy feeling anything toward you and you don’t recognise it when a guy shows any interest in you. Trust me sweetie he wants you’ I was stunned

  
‘Don’t be stupid, he just met me and I unloaded a shit storm on him last night which would make a monk run for the hills, there is no interest there, he was just being nice.’ That’s it right, he was just being nice, who was I kidding I had no idea.

  
‘Your wrong hun, when a man sticks around even after he hears the worst things about you, he’s interested. Mason will be back, I guarantee it.’ Fine I thought

  
‘We will see. ‘

   Imagine my surprise when the knock at the door just happened to be Mason, he practically ran in to greet me, with another kiss on the cheek.

  
‘Good morning, how are you feeling today?’ He asked

  
‘I’m great actually. Listen I….wanted to apologise for telling you all that stuff last night, it wasn’t fair to you and I should never have opened that can of worms’ he looked totally pissed off.

  
‘Are you kidding me? I’m glad you felt that safe with me, I mean, enough to tell me that stuff anyway’ He blushed and I couldn’t understand why, I really need to talk to John about this stuff. We were interrupted by a cough and John giving me a look which I ignored, so he said he was taking the girls to Central Park and walked away. I decided to tell Mason how I was feeling about the things he had said.

  
‘Mason, I’m sorry, but I just….I wanted to explain how I’m feeling. I do feel safe with you, and it’s umm, its so comforting that I’m confused by the feeling. I’m just not used to being this open with anybody especially as we’ve only just met.’

   He looked happy with what I
’d said so I decided to leave it at that. Mason changed the subject and told me he had arranged for us to have breakfast in my room, and then asked if I wanted to just chill out with some of his favourite movies, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day so after breakfast we watched back to back movies until my friends returned with Lily. They all seemed exhausted so I went to run Lily a bath and left Mason to talk to my friends. Once Lily was tucked into bed I walked out toward the other room to laughter and the sound of my friends interrogating Mason, so I stopped to listen.

  
‘What kind of work do you do exactly?’ Lys questioned

  
‘I have my hand is a few different businesses but I love to write and produce music tracks, I do a lot of work with movies, you know soundtracks.’ Wow I thought, we would need to talk about this in more detail but I locked it away for now

  
‘What are your intentions toward Summer?’ Asked John, peeking around the corner Mason looked like a deer in headlights as they say so I continued to listen and finally he responded

  
‘My intentions are noble I assure you both of that, I would never hurt her or Lily. I know we only just met but I feel an incredible pull towards them both, so I would like to see where that pull takes me but I have no intention of causing her more hurt, I think she’s been through enough, don’t you?’ Lys spoke then

  
‘She told you? About her life, her family, the bastard she was handed to? Wow I never thought she would tell anybody about that. She hardly talks to us, I mean I know she trusts us but I have always understood why she keeps most things close to her chest, its just who she is.’ I had no idea that my friends had me pegged so easily.

  
‘Well I have to say it was hard listening to it all without wanting to rip something apart, I don’t think I have ever felt that type of rage but I can’t imagine how that felt for her.’ I was truly blown away, Mason really was a white knight, but should I let him be mine? I walked into the room and they all looked up and blushed like they had done something wrong, I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.

  
‘Lily’s out for the count. ‘  I sat down and looked at them all in turn, each trying hard not to make eye contact, but then Mason turned my way and I was caught, those amazing blue eyes staring back at me, I was helpless to turn away. John used that moment to excuse himself with Lys right on his heels. I looked into Masons eyes and all I could see was warmth, so I grabbed his hand and walked over to the window.

  
’I have been trying to imagine a view like this for so long, somewhere I could see everything. Watching real life, how it should be, you know the hustle and bustle and I finally get the opportunity but its so much better because I get to share it with you and I’m very grateful’ he smiled and squeezed my hand.

  
‘Well like I said it was fate.’

I wasn
’t sure about that but things did seem like they were falling into place. I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea to get closer to him, but it was like I was being pulled toward this man. He was everything I could imagine wanting, but could I really? I felt so broken, could I really allow that to seep into someone as good as him? Did he deserve that? Or was I just putting too much weight into the fact that I felt safe with him, maybe I was confusing that with something more. What I did know for sure is I had never experienced feelings like this and they were making me feel dizzy about a guy I didn’t even know.

Chapter 4

Summer

   The next few days went by in a blur, we seemed to have been in the States for months although it was coming up to a month, I had wondered about when we would leave to go back to the UK but decided we could stay for a while longer, making the most of everything this amazing city had to show us. Mason was a constant, always popping in and bringing over movies to watch. We talked about so many things, he was so easy to be around. I was starting to look forward to him spending time with us. Lily began to love Mason
’s visits and I worried about how it would affect her when we did have to leave but pushed it away for now.

   That night when everybody had gone to bed, we sat watching another one of his movie choices which seemed to be more romantic than usual, making me think he was choosing them for me rather than himself, it was at that point he decided to start asking me some more serious questions, which I
’m not sure I was prepared for.

  
‘Summer? I turned to look straight at him and he had a really serious look on his face

  
’Yeah.’ I said

  
‘I know you said that you never loved your husband but….have you ever been in love?’

Oh My God, did he really just ask me that?

   ‘No…. I have never been in love, I’m not even sure I would understand the feeling, why, have you?’ What, why did I ask him that.

  
‘No, I don’t think I have, I have known many women, but I have never found ‘the one’ I would want to settle down with. I kind of always hoped that when I found the right person I would know the instant we met,’ that’s a sweet sentiment I thought ‘what do you think about that? Do you think that you know when it’s the right person?’ Oh God, what to say

  
‘Umm, I have no idea, I would like to think that falling in love is just like its described in a romance novel, you know, when you can’t think of anything but that person, and you get butterflies inside, but I have nothing to compare that to.’ He sat staring at me then carried on.

  
’I know how much he hurt you but do you think you would ever be open to falling in love?’ Wow really, I can’t believe he just asked me that.