What About Charlie? (28 page)

“Going up and down the stairs will be good exercise though I’ll have to go slow. Besides, I think your mother would be heartbroken if we didn’t stay in this room.”

“I think you’re right. I’m sorry for what she said. Sometimes she says the most embarrassing things. She doesn’t mean any harm.”

“If my father were alive, I have no doubt that he would be constantly mentioning that we need to have children. Though, I suspect he would not have divulged where I was conceived.” Charlie laughed.

A slight blush rose in Evan’s cheeks. “Sex is something you don’t want to think about your parents having.”

“I know what you mean. After my mom died, my dad saw women but I could never, ever think about his having sex with any of them. It wasn’t a loyalty issue. Sex is a natural thing between a man and woman, but your parents having it is another thing.”

Evan took two steps toward her and lightly clasped her hands with his. He searched her eyes. “Charlie, we can have children together. It’s not as if we can’t. We’re both healthy adults.”

Because you don’t love me
. She wanted to shout it at him, but her pride wouldn’t let her. She wasn’t going to beg for something he wasn’t capable of giving her. She didn’t want his pity.

“Very well,” he said stiffly. “I’m going to go downstairs and wait for father to come in. You can go ahead and get to sleep. You’ve had a long day.”

***

The situation between Evan and Charlie didn’t improve after their argument. Over the next few days, they barely spoke to each other and at night Evan slept on his side of the bed, Charlie on hers, as if an invisible wall had been erected between them. In the company of his family, they were perfectly civil with each other, perhaps all most too civil, but in the privacy of their room, they hardly acknowledged each other’s presence.

Saturday morning, their fourth day there, started with promise. Charlie had arranged to go Christmas shopping with Evan’s mother and Evan was going with Michael to meet up with some old college friends. It all began when Charlie awoke curled around Evan. The early morning air in the room was chilly, the fire that had been roaring in the fireplace when she went to bed had extinguished some time during the night.

Charlie, under the down comforter, was pressed against Evan, who was lying on his side, her was arm draped around his midsection. She was warm and relaxed, drifting in and out of sleep for the next half hour.

Then she felt him move and roll over onto his back, causing her head to come to rest on his shoulder. She lifted her arm to move it, to disengage herself from the whole awkward situation.

Her eyes slipped from his, focusing on his chin. “I just thought that was something that you’ve done with a lot of women, something you wouldn’t remember.”

His fingers touched her chin. Charlie’s eyes darted to his. “Charlie, I never did that before. Whenever I was in bed with a woman, I had much baser things on my mind. Lying in bed with her holding her in my arms and not doing anything else was something I did not care to do.”

“Why?”

He stared up at the ceiling for several seconds before speaking. “It would have been too personal, to intimate.” Then his eyes shot to hers. “But with you it felt right, Charlie. It felt as if we were supposed to be lying there like that.”

“Yes,” she said huskily, her defense weakening, giving into her longing and desire. It was too damn lonely being noble. “I want it to be more, too.”

Evan’s lips lightly brushed hers before he reluctantly pulled away. The kiss had been so brief, so light that it was as if it had not happened at all.

Her eyes found Evan’s. Upon seeing the passion and desire along with a regret that they had been interrupted in their green depths, Charlie knew it had been real. He had felt it too.

Resting his forehead on hers, he said, “I wanted to kiss you. But damn it, I can’t concentrate when my mother is standing outside my bedroom door calling my name.”

****

After breakfast, with Charlie gone on her shopping trip, Evan sat at the breakfast table with his father drinking coffee. The kitchen was quiet, Elise was in some other part of the house.

“She’s been having difficulty adjusting to life with a cane and to the possibility that she may have to use it the rest of her life. Understandably, she’s been very disheartened.”

Sutton nodded. “You know, Evan, I have very rarely butted into your personal affairs, and I have refrained from doing so because you’re a grown man more than capable enough to handle his own problems. But sometimes, no matter how educated or ‘grown up’ we are, we come across situations that we are at a loss in which to deal. And for you this is one of those times.”

Evan shifted in his chair, letting his back come to fully rest on its back. “So now, all of a sudden, you’re an expert in the ways of love.”

“Expert – no. More experienced than you? Hell yes. I want to see you and Charlie happy. I want to see the light in both your eyes that was so evident on your wedding day. I want to hear the pitter-patter of my grandchildren’s feet on these hardwood floors.”

Sutton nodded. “I’m not going to ask for specifics. You’re a grown man and so very much like me. Private. Reserved. Reluctant to share your true feelings with anyone, especially with those closest to you. Be open with her, be honest, tell her how you feel. Tell her you love her. Believe me, that will go a long way.”

Evan searched his father’s eyes. “Is it really that easy?” Perhaps they could start anew. This morning may have been the first step.

“Simple, yes. Easy, no. Sometimes the simplest things in life are the hardest to do, like saying I’m sorry or saying yes or no to a question. It’s not the actual answering you fear, but the reaction you may receive. That’s what makes a person a successful adult, the willingness to face such reactions for a greater purpose. It’s hard as hell, but it shows you have character and that you have guts. That’s the type of man I raised you to be. That’s the type of man you are.”

Long after Sutton had retreated to his study, Evan remained seated at the table, nursing his now cold cup of coffee. As much as he resented his father’s intrusion into his life at times, this particular occasion had been welcome. He’d been at a loss, but his father gave him much food for thought. And he had a lot to digest before he did anything. He had decisions to make, carefully thought out decisions that literally had their happiness hanging in the balance. He sure as hell didn’t want to throw in the towel. He was many things, but one thing he wasn’t was a quitter. He couldn’t give up on her. He loved her, and he didn’t want to lose what they could have. He was going to have to work harder on this than anything else in his whole life. It was a heavy burden, but a burden he would nonetheless accept. For himself. For Charlie. For them.

****

Charlie was disappointed to come back from shopping to find Evan gone from the house. He’d gone with Michael to see some old friends. She wished her were here! She had so much to share with him. She wanted to tell him about her day with his mother, how well they got along. She wanted to show him the presents she’d purchased for his family. And yes, she wanted to see him.

Their morning had started out so wonderfully, and she was anxious for it to continue.

By eight o’clock, Charlie had given up watching the clock. By nine, she was beginning to worry, though she knew she shouldn’t. Evan was with Michael, visiting old friends. He’d told her he might be late. But she’d hoped in light of their morning together and what was to come tonight that he would have been home early, as eager for it as she.

She stepped out the glass veranda doors into the private garden. The air was chilly, though not as chilly as it had been the night before. She’d hoped the fresh air, the sight of stars and the moon would settle her. But the city lights were far too bright to see the stars and the moon was too low on the horizon, blocked by the high walls that surrounded the garden, to see.

Suddenly, a deep, sharp pang of homesickness struck her – the wide-open spaces, the quiet, the bright moon and stars. She wished she were on the farm this very moment.