Chapter Seventy Two
Dave stared at her, surprised, “After all we’ve been through….. okay just sign here.” he said with a low tone.
Maria stared at him, she heard the disappointment in his voice, and it saddened her, but she wasn’t about to change her mind. It had only been a couple of months since they both got out of disastrous relationships. It was too soon to get hitched, and if they did she wouldn’t have an easy way out if things got bad.
“What’s this?” she asked, looking away from Dave. “They are custody papers. We’ll have joint custody of our kids. To make medical and all other legal matters easy for Michael and of course change his name to Greer.” Maria stared at him with a raised eyebrow, “Just because you don’t want to carry my name doesn’t mean he shouldn’t, and besides, he already is.”
She was about to argue, but she let it go. She would give him this and there would be no harm in it, and the upside to all of this was she was legally gaining a daughter, there was completely no harm in it, “All these papers for adoption?”
“Yes, it’s a complicated procedure with a lot of work.”
Maria chuckled, “Oh, I can see Amy’s face now.” she perused the papers and wondered why there were so many pages just to say, ‘I’m adopting this child to be mine.’
“Red hot with steam coming out of her ears.” Carol laughed, “Dave you have to let me be the one to tell her.”
“Why not.” Dave noticed Maria’s hesitance and a small panic filled his stomach, “What’s wrong?”
“Something tells me to read them, but…” she paused and stared at him looking for a hint of mischief. She’d been with Dave long enough to be suspicious of everything he did, there was always an underlying motive, “I trust you; I just hope this won’t come back and nip me in the ass.” she spoke as she signed.
When she was done, Dave excitedly took the papers from her and handed them to Todd, he signed, then passed them on to Carol who did the same, “Remember when I told you lawyers were liars?”
“Hmm.” she said absently, all her attention taken by Izzy.
“They are also very tricky SOB’s.” Todd and Carol laughed.
“Wait, what?” Maria asked. She didn’t understand the joke, if there was one.
Dave whispered in Michael’s ear. His face brightened up and he began jumping up and down on the bed. When Izzy saw that, she too got up and began jumping up and down, her shrilly laughter filling the room.
“Guys stop that, what’s going on?” Maria asked even more confused, “Dave what did you tell him?”
Carol stepped forward with two small boxes and handed them to Dave, “Congratulations!” she shrilled, keyed up.
The silly smiles they all had and the kids loud shrills and bouncing was beginning to give her a head ache, “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?”
“Congratulations!” Todd yelled.
“For what? Dave?” she was getting agitated by the mystery and the congratulations. Dave opened the boxes and took out two rings, one was completely covered with diamonds all round and the other had small diamonds in a single line in the centre around the platinum band, then took Maria’s left hand.
She pulled it away fast as she blankly shifted her gaze from the shiny crispy clear crystals he was holding, to his face, “What are you doing? Didn’t I just say no?” Even as she said no, she felt her throat constrict, how she could turn down such beautiful clear cut diamonds that must have cost a bundle was beyond her comprehension, and Dave, he was worth more than both the diamonds.
She must have been hit on the head a few too many times, that could be the only explanation.
“You can’t say no anymore.” he took her hand and slid them on her finger then picked another from the box and handed it to her, “Your turn.”
She held her hand up and looked at her shimmering finger, “Could someone please tell me what’s going on?” her voice sounded scratchy as it came out of her dry throat.
“Well, they are congratulating us on our marriage of course,” he smiled, “congratulations Mrs. Greer.”
“Wait, what?” her throat drying out even more. “Always read before you sign.” he took her blinged out hand and placed a ring in it. It was similar to her ring, with the single diamond line at the centre of it, and then held out his finger.
“You tricked me.” her pitch was high, echoing her shock, “I should have known something was up, how could I not suspect you would pull something like this on me.” she slapped his shoulder, “you cheat!”
Dave winced and grabbed at his shoulder, “Ouch Maria, I got shot!”
“That will be nothing once I bury you alive!”
“Mama would you just put it on!” Michael screeched impatiently.
“Maria.” Dave began signalling for Todd and Carol to take the kids. They picked them up then stood at the edge of the bed, “I love you; you love me and we love each other’s kids so why exactly don’t you want to marry me?”
“Dave, it’s too soon.” she pushed her hair back with her free hand, the other still frozen with Dave’s ring in it.
“It’s been months since we met, Amy and Ricky are no longer in our lives and there is nothing else stopping us.” his lips pulled to the side in half a smile, “And considering what was about to happen before we were interrupted I know that’s not the problem.” his smile faded, “Maria are you scared of me? Do you think I’ll hurt you?”
“No, I don’t, it’s just…” she tried to think of something, all her excuses were already made inadmissible. Dave was right, there was nothing stopping her from completely being happy, “Mama isn’t going to be happy about this.” She took his hand and slid the ring on his finger, “Congratulations Mr. Greer.” she laughed, happily shocked by what had just happened, “I can’t believe I just did that!”
“We’ll have a church wedding later on.” Dave hugged her tight and kissed her deeply, “And yes, you just did.” He hugged her tight, “You just made me the happiest man on earth.”
Todd and Carol let the kids loose. They rushed to their parents and joined in the hug, “Give them a quick hug, then we’ll go out for ice cream.” Carol said, wiping a tear away before it fell.
“Ice cream!” they yelled and rushed back to Todd and Carol.
“We’ll let you guys go back to wrestling.” Todd said, closing the door behind him.
“Wait, I want to wrestle.” Michael’s voice came through the door.
“No, that’s adult wrestling, but we can play video games later.”
Dave laughed then turned to Maria. Her eyes and cheeks were wet, and she held a hand over her mouth. His expression changed to worry, he thought something was wrong. Giving her no option, but to be married to him, may not have been a very good idea.
“Maria if you don’t want to you don’t have to…”
“No, it’s not that.” she interrupted him. She moved her hand from her lips to his cheek, revealing a beautiful gentle smile, “For the first time, I’m crying not because I’m sad or in pain or despair, but because I’m happy, I’m truly happy.” She pulled him to her and locked him in a deep kiss, “If this is a dream please don’t wake me up.” she whispered on his lips.
“It’s not, I promise you it’s not.” he laid her down and carefully climbed on top of her, determined to continue where they left off, “The dark cloud is gone and it’s clear skies from now on.” he whispered, planting kisses along her neck and down to her chest.
Maria felt her skin burn where his lips left. She felt like she was suffocating, like the pleasure was slowly killing her and she welcomed it. She had never felt this good, this desired by anyone nor this kind of attraction for anyone. Having Dave kiss and touch her erased every touch and kiss Ricky had assaulted and molested her with. He was repairing all the damage Ricky had caused and she loved it.
Dave stopped when he heard yelling outside, it sounded like Amy and Carol going at it.
“We are never going to be rid of her are we?” Maria asked exhaustedly, “So much for clear skies.”
“I’m not going to let her ruin our happiness.” he kept kissing her, “And besides Carol and Todd can handle her.”
“Are you sure because I can…” she tried to get up, but he pushed her back down.
“No, you don’t I’ve waited too long for this and I’m not going to let her ruin this for me.” he moved up to kiss her soft lips.
“We have the rest of our lives Dave.” she pulled his vest over his head then lightly stroked his bandage before she rested her hands on his back.
“And it starts right now. Be quiet and kiss me Mrs. Greer.”