The Leaves 03 (Nico) (27 page)

“You want some company from the bride?” Teensy asked.

“Hey, T. You look beautiful. The dress, the hair, just beautiful.” I tipped the glass to my lips.

463/510

“She’ll come around, Nico. I have my min-ions working on her,” she said and shoved her shoulder into me.

“Don’t bother, T. I want her coming to me on her own, not because someone told her to. She was with someone who did all the thinking for her. In some ways, she’s such a strong woman. But when it comes to knowing her own mind, it’s like she’s afraid to make the wrong decision.”

“Can you blame her, Nico? Really?” she said gently. “From what you told me and the little she’s said to me about her past, the first man she ever loved and trusted killed her mother. Then she took a chance and trusted another man who ended up being a controlling asshole… who cheated on her. And now, you have her sister basically, who’s been a constant in her life, trying to be an advocate for her. Even if what Dee is doing is totally misguided, she isn’t doing it because she hates you. She’s doing it because she 464/510

loves her. You are totally inconsequential.

But Nico, she’s never forgotten you, the little-boy-you, and when she discovers the truth, she isn’t going to hate you… she’s never going to let you go. Ever. You’re her strength.”

“No, Teensy,” I said and looked at her,

“she’s mine.”

“Oh Mistress!” Zack called out in a sing-song voice.

“Over here, pet.” She held my hand tight.

“Don’t give up, Nico. Get her alone, fight for her, tell her your heart. If it worked for Zack, it’ll work for you.”

I followed them back in and watched as they cut the cake. It matched Teensy’s dress almost exactly. The only difference was the blood red interior. With such a small gather-ing of people, there was nowhere to hide when we were called to the dance floor alongside the bride and groom. I had no idea what song Zack and Teensy chose, but when 465/510

I heard the first familiar chords, I knew it was going to kill Lark to dance with me and pretend like everything was all right. I held out my hand for her, and her manicured fingers took it. The waltzing rhythm, the haunt-ing voice of Michael Hutchence, her body against mine, I could feel her cry, her face hidden in her beautiful blonde curls. Then I made the first good decision I had in days.

“I’m taking you home, babe,” I whispered.

“Let’s go.”

I pulled her through the door, not bother-ing to find out where she left her bag. I had walked to the restaurant, so I hailed a cab, but she suggested, “Let’s walk, Nico.” Only a block away, I heard Dee as she yelled and tried to catch up to us. I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. I didn’t turn around; I just waited for her to arrive.

“Don’t go with him, Lark. Don’t go,” she cried. Then I knew it. Teensy was right. It 466/510

had nothing to do with me. She was worried for Lark.

“Nico, tell me what happened with that woman. Tell me now, in front of Dee. I’m sorry to do this to you, but I need to hear your side of the story, and I think that’s the only way I can keep walking down this road with you.” I knew she didn’t mean Pacific Coast Highway either.

I didn’t hesitate. “Last night, Tawnea came to see me. I hadn’t seen her since the day in the studio, babe. As far as I knew, she was in New York, working for that magazine. It was dark, but I knew she was naked, except for her bottoms. But Dee only saw her from the back and you obviously didn’t hear what she had to say. Did you?” I asked Dee.

“No,” she said and shook her head.

“Then she grabbed my hands and put them on her breasts to which I told her to fuck off, basically. But she didn’t have breasts. She was post-op from a full 467/510

mastectomy. She came to me to ask me to give her a tattoo, like I did for my mom. And yeah, I did kiss her. But it wasn’t passionate.

I kiss—”

“All your birds,” Lark added.

“Yeah,” I said. “I hugged her and told her I would help, and she left. So, that was my big fuck-up, Dee. You have no idea what I went through to find this woman standing in front of me. None at all. And I’m about to take her home and tell her everything else.” I squeezed Lark’s hand. “But I have to believe we’re gonna make it because, what she and I went through that night, it bonded us in a way we weren’t even aware of. And all this time, we didn’t know and we still managed to find each other.”

“Nico, what—” Lark began to ask.

“Just a little longer, babe,” I told her. “So, please,” I said to Dee, “give us this chance to make it right, not for me, for her. If after tonight, she doesn’t want me, hate me all you 468/510

want, but I never lied, and I never cheated, and no matter how this turns out, I am going to love her ‘till the day I die.” I turned away from Dee and didn’t even bother to look at Lark. I just started to walk.… and Lark came with me.

Chapter 21

When we started to walk up the steps in front of the studio, I looked in the shop window out of habit, and the safe was closed.

“Fuck me,” I said.

Lark looked toward the shop as I continued up the stairs with my hand at her back,

“What’s wrong?”

“Frodo didn’t do the deposit. Doesn’t matter. I’ll do it tomorrow.” I began to step up, but she didn’t move.

“Nico?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“I never thought you cheated. Even with what Dee said had happened, I knew there had to be another side to the story. But I’m so emotional these days, I just couldn’t think 470/510

with her always talking, always telling me to open my eyes. My eyes were open. I thought they were. But she said there’s something else, something big, and it’s going to be un-forgivable. So whatever happens up there, whatever it is, you have to tell me, right now, my heart is screaming that it doesn’t break us.”

“Come on, babe. I hope it won’t either.” I kept my hand at the small of her back and guided her up the steps.

I had played out this scene so many times in my head, thinking how I would do things, what I would say, but now that the moment was here, I didn’t have to think. I closed the door behind us and lit the huge candle she had on our kitchen table. The cake mom made sat proudly just in front of it. “Have a seat.”

“Did you bake?” she asked, surveying the cake.

471/510

“No, but I do have skills.” I smiled and took the seat across from her. The long sat-iny gown flowed around her, and I couldn’t stop myself when I reached over and moved a finger up and down the soft skin of her arm.

“Nico, before you tell me anything else,” she reached out her hands and held them open for me, “tell me, right now, if you didn’t cheat on me, did you do something… illeg-al?” She looked at the table and slowly raised her eyes to me, dread written all over her face.

I shook my head in disbelief. “What?”

“I mean, if you did something really bad, I’ll do my best to stand by you. I’m different than Dee. I’m not as… stuffy and conservative. But you know me. Do you really think I’m going to walk away from you, from this?” She squeezed my hands and continued.

“From the little boy that held me in his arms all night on the absolute worse day of my 472/510

life?” Her eyes spilled over and my heart, once again, was just about ready to explode.

I managed to choke out the words. “You knew?”

“Georgie is gone, Nico. When you had that nightmare, I wanted to give him to you and tell you about that night once and for all, tell you that this little boy gave him to me with a story about bad dreams going into his paw and coming out as good ones, and then it hit me. I don’t know how we didn’t figure it out before?”

I leaned down, opened the box, and put Georgie and the journal on the table. I wanted to talk, I wanted to tell her everything all at once, but I knew I was gonna cry like a fucking pussy if I did. I opened it to the last entry and put it in front of her.

Dear Dish,

The little girl with dishwater-blonde hair; I
found you. The person that makes me feel
473/510

like anything is possible with her by my
side. The woman who knocked the wind
right out of me. The woman who, when she
feels pain, I feel it right alongside her, because I want to, not because I have to.

Now I know why I haven’t had a real relationship until now. I have been in love
with the same girl since I was seven years
old. If thirty-three years has done nothing
to dull those feelings, nothing ever will.

Till the day I die.

All my love, Lark…

Nicolas Grant

Her tears spilled onto the words as she looked up from the page. “So you didn’t murder somebody or sell government secrets or kill my dog when I was ten? We never did find out who poisoned Jack.” She smiled.

I smiled back at her, my eyes equally wet, and answered, “No babe. I’m not a criminal.

I just look like one.”

“Nico?” she asked.

474/510

“Yeah, babe.”

“No more white flags,” she said. “All this could have been avoided.” She pushed back her chair and let go of my hands. Her mood changed from relief to pissed in a matter of seconds. She stomped into the kitchen and slammed open a drawer, cutlery clinking together like a smashed wind chime.

“Babe?” I started to get up from the table.

“Don’t you dare move!” she screeched.

I waited a minute, thought about what to say while cupboard doors opened and slammed shut, much in the same way as the drawer. “Can I help you find something?”

“Where are the dessert plates? Argh!” she yelled and went to the next cupboard over.

I got up, and, as she searched high, I went to the shelf low, because I knew exactly where they were for some reason. I handed her two and asked, “You wanna tell me what’s going on? Because, and I’m just saying, we should be celebrating.” 475/510

“I’m so stupid! You know, she has never liked you. From day one she told me you were bad news. And you know what else?” She walked with a butcher knife, went to the cake, and stabbed the thing like there was a chance it might attack first. “She always does this. It all started when Kyle Wolkowski gave her a Valentine in third grade, but ten years later asked me to prom instead of her. He and I were in the same year; she wasn’t. And, I put out. She was a goody-goody. Then, when I was giving him a blowjob in the back of the car—”

“Babe?” I interrupted.

“Hang on, I’m almost done,” she said and shoved a piece of cake, bigger than the plate at me.

“Be done. It makes me go crazy when I hear about you with another guy,” I said and stabbed my fork into the cake.

476/510

“Right, well, she told Hank and Ramona.

Hank came out, furious. I got the car taken away for two weeks. Two weeks!” I closed my eyes and chewed. The cake was fuckin’ delicious. Then I stopped and watched her take her own first bite and said,

“Babe?”

“What?” she snapped.

“Babe,” I said softly and reached for her hand. “As soon as I knew, I should have told you. I shouldn’t have hesitated, but I was so worried about how you’d react, so scared I might lose you… I did exactly what I said I wouldn’t; I let other people get involved. I’m fucking pissed as hell at Dee, but she did this because she loves you. She knows what you went through as a kid. She told me you didn’t start talking until she did.”

“I did talk. I talked to you,” she said with a mouth full of cake.

“What? What do you mean?” 477/510

“You were my imaginary friend, kinda. I talked to Georgie, but I pretended he was you. Then, when I was older, I kept a diary, and instead of writing ‘Dear Diary,’ I wrote,

‘Dear Boy’. It’s under the dress in that box.

This is the best cake I have ever had in my entire life.”

“I’ll be damned.” I smiled and put down the fork.

“I told you I kept a diary,” she spoke and chewed as discreetly as possible. I’d never seen her eat like that.

“Babe, you all right there?” I smiled.

“What?” She held her hands up.

“You don’t usually go for sweets and you’re going for it.”

“Are you saying I’m fat?” Her brow furrowed, she put down the fork, and gave me her big, sad eyes.

“Jesus, Lark no—”

“Gotcha,” she said and smiled, chocolate purposefully all over her teeth.

478/510

“Oh, you are going down.” I got up and pushed her chair back. I sunk to my knees in front of her and moved my hands up the back of her smooth legs.

“Seems to me you’re the one going down, my friend.” She reached out to hold my head in her hands. I stopped what I was about to do and looked up at her beautiful face. “This, all this mess, this will never happen again, Nico. I’m wearing this necklace and this ring because, in my heart, I am married to you. I understand why Dee was worried, but what she didn’t know was that you helped me to find myself again. I tried to tell her that, but I think she was more upset with her parents than anything else. I knew she wasn’t talking to them, but I didn’t know why. Just keep loving me.” She brushed her thumb across my lips. “Don’t change anything. The one thing I kept wishing for, growing up in Hank and Ramona’s house? It wasn’t to have my 479/510

mom back, I knew that wasn’t possible, it was to have you, Nico, and I do. I finally do.” I moved up to her face, stared into her eyes, and told her, “I thought I was going to lose you, babe.”

“Nope, not gonna happen. Kiss me now before I start crying… or eating.” She laughed.

I let my tongue meld with hers and drew my hand down her side, over her ribs to her hip. Slowly, I gathered up the fabric between her legs and discovered… no panties.

She

shrugged.

“This

fabric

shows

everything.”

“I keep saying it, perfect woman.” I grinned.

Her light laugh sounded nasal from all the crying she’d done, and not just the last twenty minutes. I knew the last few days had been hard for her, and the last few months.

So much had happened, but we were through 480/510

it, fuckin’ finally. I wished I had never doubted her, us, in the first place.

I sat down in front of her, pulled her to the edge of the chair, and said, “Lean back, babe.”