“I wanted a woman who would be my partner. Someone smart, and funny, and beautiful. I wanted a woman who would make me want to be a better person. And I stopped looking the day that I met you. I knew from the very first moment I saw you that you were the one. I had never felt that way about anyone before you, and certainly no one since I met you.”
“Suze, you are perfect for me. I adore absolutely everything about you.”
I stopped briefly for one gentle kiss on the back of her hand.
“I know it has to be a bit unnerving for you to see the way that some women act around me. And I won’t belittle you and tell you that I don’t get propositioned on a daily basis, because I do. But maybe it would help you to know how I what I am thinking about as I go through each day.”
“I would really like to know, David.”
“Every day I wake up and look to make sure that you are still beside me. And when I have seen your face for the first time each day, I say a prayer thanking God for bringing you into my life and I ask him guide me in making sure that every day of your life is better than the last. And then I go out into the real world following my most important and only ironclad rule: to be completely devoted to you. Every action I take, every decision I make has to meet one simple threshold. Will this make Susan proud of me?”
“I am not a saint, Suze. And I am definitely not a monk. I appreciate beautiful women as much as the next horny bastard. But I know this, no woman has ever turned me on the way that you do. Every conscious thought I have, that isn’t distracted by the mundane tasks of day to day living, is about you, about your body, and my need to possess you. It is an act of will that allows me to break away from you each morning and another to not ravish you when I come home. I won’t ever get enough of you, Suze, and I don’t want, nor will I ever need, anyone else.”
“As my dad used to say, ‘I think this goes without saying for you, but it never hurts to make sure.’ Suze, I can make you this promise on my parent’s graves: I will never cheat on you and I will never do anything that would embarrass you or make you feel ashamed of me. Ever. And someday when you honor me with children I promise to treat them with the same love, devotion and respect that I have for you. It’s the only way I know how to live, Suze.”
“It goes without saying, David.”
Her eyes were on fire now. I had been watching them throughout my little speech. Her sparkling blue eyes had gone from concerned, to touched, to loving, to red hot, a sure sign I was about to get lucky. This fire in her eyes was a look I had never seen, but I liked it.
The look stayed with her as she moved around the table and crossed the distance between us. She left her skirt and panties on the ground about half way through her journey. As she leapt into my lap and plastered her body to mine, she caught me off guard and almost sent us crashing to the ground. I could hear her begging. She had urgency in her voice that she let out between heart stopping kisses.
“Give me your baby, David. Love me and make our child. Fuck me and take what’s yours. Breed me, David. Use me. Please. Please, David. Give me what I need.”
I am not sure if it took that very first time or if our first child was conceived during one of the other dozen times we coupled that weekend. But, those 48 hours were filled with love and purpose, and some of the hottest fucking sex I have ever experienced.
***
Maggie was the one who called me. She was in her first year of practice, back in Chicago.
“David, you need to come home.”
“I miss you too, Maggie, but I wasn’t planning on coming home until Christmas. It has been almost seven years, Mags. It will hold for a few more months.”
“Today, David. You need to come home. Today.”
It sounded like she was on the verge of tears.
“Maggie, what’s wrong?”
“Oh, David! I’m so sorry!” She was crying for sure now.
“Whatever it is Maggie. I’ll take care of it. You tell me what’s wrong and I will fix it for you. Anything at all. No secrets, no worries, Maggie.”
“Oh, David. I love you. So much. But it is not my problem, honey.” She stopped talking for a long time. “David, your mom and dad were killed in a car accident last night.”
“What? Mags, I think I misunderstood.”
“They’re gone, David. I am so sorry.”
I was a zombie from that moment on. Susan told me later that I hadn’t said a word for almost two hours. And then I only mumbled, “Going home.”
In a panic, she dialed the number on the caller ID and had spoken to Maggie, whom she had never met. Then, she helped me pack and drove me two the airport. She said she didn’t think I would make it to the gate on my own so she waited at the security check point for an hour after my plane was scheduled to depart just to make sure I didn’t wander back out of the terminal.
I don’t remember much from that day. But I do remember seeing Maggie for the first time in seven years. She was still a gorgeous woman. I was sad that this was how we had to be reunited and relieved that I wasn’t alone. Our initial hug near baggage claim lasted several minutes. Maggie told me later she held me until I stopped crying.
The next four days were a blur. It seemed as though I signed a thousand documents. I met with the funeral home, cemetery, insurance agents, hospital personnel, police and lawyers. Oh, the lawyers. I was never so certain that Maggie had chosen the right career and I was grateful that I had chosen a different path.
Maggie was fierce in her protection of my interests. Apparently, my interests had expanded a great deal.
I always knew my mom and dad had money. We never spoke about it though. I never asked for much.
I never needed my own car. I was too busy with activities to ever need much spending money but my parents always covered the occasional movie or concert. I cleaned the offices of my father’s accounting firm Sunday morning after church to earn some extra cash, even though I never used it. During the summer, I stuffed envelopes, made copies and ran various errands for his firm. My spring break was the same time as my father’s busiest time at the office. I always had plenty of work. By the time I finished high school I had worked for my father part-time for almost six years and never spent a penny. I never needed it. But it did come in handy during my four years at Harvard. Along with my summer internships, I always had enough spending money to keep any college student happy. And I was.
My other clue should have been my parent’s spending habits. We took two fantastic family vacations each and every year. One during Christmas beak and one the week before school started. The Great Barrier Reef, almost every country in Europe, New York, Los Angeles, and Disney World when I was a kid, of course. I traveled the world with my parents, but had never considered the cost.
Finally, we never wanted for anything. If the family decided we had a need, we discussed our options, researched the best available solution and made a purchase. My family life was simple and predictable, so major purchases were few and far between.
I just never knew.
But it was clear to me now. My father owned his firm and was apparently a very good accountant. And my parents were rich. Unfortunately, that meant now I was loaded beyond my dreams. I asked God if I gave it all back would he let my parents come home. He never answered.
My parents were buried on a Thursday. There is not much more I can say about that.
After the funeral, I was mentally and physically spent. I needed a break.
“Maggie, can you take care of the rest of this for me?”
“I can and I will, David. Umm, one last question though. Are you planning on getting married any time soon?”
“Yeah, Mags. I think I am. Is that important?”
“Good for you, David. I hope she is as special as you. And, yes, it’s important.”
“Thanks, Maggie. Have I told you lately that you are my best friend?”
“At least once a week since we were eight, honey.”
“Well, it doesn’t seem like enough. I love you, Mags.”
“I love you, too, David.”