IVY RIVERA’S APARTMENT
Arthur wasn’t happy he got rejected again but he had to let things slide. He didn’t was to be the one to pester Ivy Rivera to do what he wanted. “Okay.” He mumbled.
“I am sorry, Arthur. Don’t worry I will make things up to you.” Ivy apologized.
“If you want to make things up to me then have dinner with me whenever you are free.” Arthur chuckled.
“I will think about it.” Ivy responded with a smile on her face.
Alright, bye Ivy.” Arthur disconnected the call.
“Aren’t you suppose to be at your engagement party? Everyone especially your bride will be -”
“You look good.” Ace cut in trying to ignore the question.
“Yeah I guess this place agrees with me than my home town ever did.” Ivy replied and then silence fell between them.
Ivy dropped the glass of wine and phone on the stool nearby.
“His name is Leroy.” Ivy said quietly when the silence got to be too much.
“That’s a nice name.” Ace commented.
“I think so. It was a friend’s name.” Ivy pursed her lips and continued after some seconds of silence.
“I left home on the very day I found out I was pregnant. When I left my town and moved here, Leroy help me to get settled and learn my way around here. And he even drove me to the hospital and waited while my boy was born. Leroy died after battling with lung cancer and I really don’t know how I would have survived without him.” Ivy narrated.
“I would have been the one to be there to help you if only you had stayed a bit back at the beach house.” Ace mumbled rubbing his palms together.
“Well is that how you remember it?” Ivy snorted.
“Well things would have turned out fine between us and that’s how it would have been. I would have been with you. I would have stick with you every step along the way.” Ace responded with a sincere look on his face.
“Is that so?” Ivy snorted again.
“You left me at beach house after we made love without saying anything! I felt like a fool the next morning I couldn’t find you! I felt like I have been used by someone who isn’t worth it! And now you sit right there and tell me you would have been there for me?! No, I doubt you would have accepted me!” Ivy was breathing hard by the time she finished.
“Are you blaming me? If you had told me your real name back then I would have been there for you. And talking about who is not worth you -”
Ivy stood you her feet. “Get lost! Get out of here!” she grimaced in anger.
Ace furrowed his eyebrows. “What?” He gasped, rising slowly so that they stood face to chest.
“I said leave!” Ivy repeated with annoyance clear in her tone.
“Look! You can’t do this! I have every rights when it comes to my son.” Ace countered.
And his words made Ivy angrier. He hasn’t been there all this years and now he want to claim right over his son. Ivy pushed his chest. “Right? What right do you have over him? You lost them the day you used me and left without a word! Right? You are nothing but a sperm donor!”
She tried to hit him but Ace caught her hands before they could land on his chest. He saw the pain in her eyes and she was all wrong about everything that happened ten years ago.
“Ivy.. No..” Ace said in a low tone. “You got it all wrong. I came back to the beach house. I swear I came back for you.” He inched closer.
Ivy stepped backward, tears welling up in her eyes but she fought for control. She wasn’t going to cry.. Never!
“Believe me, Ivy I came back to the beach house to find you.” Ace repeated.
“That’s a lie.” Ivy shook her head in disagreement.
“It is true.” Ace protested.
But Ivy refused to believe him despite the sincerity in his tone.
“I did searched for you. I was looking for Bethany instead of Ivy. I even had it in mind to bring you with me.” Ace tried to explain in a calm tone.
“You are a pathetic liar!” Ivy gritted.
Feeling frustrated Ace turned away from her.
“I came back to the beach house after I left in the evening. The next morning I was there to get my necklace but the house was already locked. And when I found out I was pregnant, before I left town I came back to the hotel where you worked but I was told that no one with such name has ever worked there. I was thrown out in the end.” Ivy recounted the events from ten years ago.
“Necklace?” Ace recalled that he had brought one along with him. “You mean this?” He took out the necklace he had picked on the porch. “Look at this, I found this laying on the porch when I came back to the beach house.”
Ivy stared at the necklace dangling in the air and she then relaxed a little. He did came back for her.
She swallowed hard. “Why… why did you leave? You made me believe that you lived in that town with your family.” A single tear slipped down her cheek but she wiped it off immediately.
“Listen, I had to rush back to the hotel because of my daddy.” Ace explained the whole truth to her without hiding anything.
It was true Ace came back to the beach house. In the end he was telling the truth but at first she had doubted him.
“Ivy let’s just forget about the past. What’s important right now is our son, Leroy and where we go from here.” Ace concluded.
Ivy collected the necklace from him. It was one of her most precious stuff because it was the first gift someone ever gave her. Aunt Julia had given it to her on her sixteen birthday as a present to console her because her parent had not remember her birthday not to talk of throwing a party like the way other parents do.
“So where do you see this going?” Ivy asked.
There it was, the question he had been asking himself since he got to meet Leroy that afternoon. He had turned it over in his head a million times.
“I want to be part of his life.” Ace answered.
Ivy thought of Leroy’s face earlier when he had realized his father was within reach and when he had asked her if his father was truly getting married soon and she had said yes. The seconds stretched endlessly flowing like an ocean.
Ace spoke up after a few minutes, his voice deep. “Aren’t you going to say something?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.” Ivy admitted and moved back to sit back on the chair.
“I am sure you do but you just don’t want to say it.” Ace replied as he turned to look at her.
He was right. She has a lot to say to him.
“You want to be part of Leroy’s life but you are getting married soon.” She started off.
“Leroy is my son and I want to be a part of life. So let’s leave my wedding out of it.” Ace pleaded.
Ivy rubbed her palms together, his wedding was her greatest concern at the moment. “I am not going to let you near my son yet. You are getting married to Anderson’s heiress, I don’t want my son getting hurt in the end. He deserve better than that. And I won’t let you hurt him so you better think about how you expect this to end up.”
Ace sighed in frustration. “Don’t try to push my away from my son. We both know I could get a court order demanding you let me see him.” Ace stated in a slightly raised tone.
Ivy’s head snapped up to look at him. “Is that a threat?!” She snapped.
Ace ran his hand through his hair trying to relax so he won’t get Ivy angry again. “Of course not. I am not threatening you, but I want to see my son. I want to get to know him. I have missed a lot. I have missed nine years of his life and I don’t want to miss anymore.”
Ivy shook her head. “You want to go to court? Then fine! But I will never let you get near my son! I will never let you take him away from me! Never! Just leave me and my son alone and stick to your wife to be! You can go ahead and get married.. I don’t care!” She stood up and would have walked inside if he hadn’t grabbed her elbow and whirled her around to face him.
“What’s wrong with you? I am trying to stay calm to settle things but you keep talking about my wedding. Are you jealous?” Ace questioned.
Ivy raised her eyebrow. “Jealous? Do I look like I am jealous?”
“Yes.” Ace replied.
Well he was right, she was actually annoyed that he was getting married while she was still nursing her broken heart. Ivy tried to free herself but Ace wouldn’t her go.
“No I am not jealous!” She jerked free aggressively from his hold.
Ace breathed out. “Listen Ivy, we are old enough to to sort and settle things out. I am not going to court and I am not going to fight with you.”
Ivy didn’t respond but she only turned away from him.
“Ivy, I am really sorry.” Ace apologized.
He had to apologized because he knew he had hurt her so much. He couldn’t imagine how much she must have been through raising a child alone.
“I am sorry for hurting you.” Ace apologized again hoping to hear a response from her.
Ivy calmed. Ace body relaxed and his heart hitched when she sighed softly then walked back to the chair again. And the idea that despite a past filled with women, she was the first woman who looked so lovely. The first woman to make him apologize and beg to let him have something he wanted so desperately. The first woman to touch his soul on so many levels that he couldn’t even name all of them. The first who made him want and need a connection that he had always thought he could and would live without and the first who made him fall totally in love.
“When will you be chanced?” She said finally.
“Let’s meet up tomorrow.” Ace replied feeling a bit happy that she was coming around.
“What time do you want to meet up?” She asked.
“Tomorrow afternoon, how about we meet by two?”
“Okay.. I will let Leroy know about the meeting. And where should we meet?” Ivy asked again.
“Bella’s restaurant, it’s not far from here.” Ace answered.
“Alright.” Ivy stood up to leave.
“Good night, Ivy.” Ace mumbled.
And Ivy just simply nodded her head in acknowledgment before walking into the house.