34. Harry
34
HARRY
Celia opens the door to her home in Chicago and goes to close it again when she sees me standing on the front step.
But my foot is already inside the door. “We need to talk, Celia.”
“I have nothing to say to you.” She grips the side of the door, hiding behind it, only her face visible. “If you don’t move your foot, I’ll call the police.”
“Fine. Go ahead. I’m sure they’ll be interested in what I have to say too.”
Her face pales, her mouth chewing on words that don’t quite make it. Several moments pass before she stands back and opens the door wide enough for me to enter. She doesn’t wait around for me. I close the door and follow her to the kitchen, surprised to find that it’s no longer the bright and sunny room that I remember from my previous visit with Graham.
I can’t quite put my finger on what’s different. There’s no sunlight pouring through the window, but it isn’t that.
The counter is littered with dirty dishes and stained mugs. A loaf of sliced bread is open on the side; an almost-empty jar, the lid sticky with dried jam; the apples in the fruit bowl turning brown and wrinkled. There’s no welcoming aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Instead, a bottle of red wine is open on the side, several stained wine glasses lined up next to the sink.
Celia leans against the counter and folds her arms across her chest. “Go on then, say what you have to say and get this over with.”
Looking at the woman standing in front of me, I struggle to find any resemblance to her daughter. She is all hard lines to Ruby’s soft curves. Her lips are pinched together, an expression I’ve never seen on Ruby, her dislike obvious in her dark eyes and lowered brows. Her blond hair has been scraped back into a ponytail, and she isn’t wearing any makeup, so what I’m seeing now is the real Celia, not the well-groomed woman she usually presents to the world outside this house.
“I know you poisoned Ruby.”
I want to get out of this place Ruby used to call home, catch my flight back to New York, and wrap my arms around this woman’s daughter. I hate lying to Ruby, but I needed to do this alone. I need to hear what she has to say, give her my proposition, and walk away from Celia Jackson without a backward glance.
“Ha!” she scoffs. “Is that it? Is that what you came all this way to say?”
“Are you denying it?”
“I don’t have to deny anything to you, asshole. You think you can stroll into my house, accuse me of something like that, and expect me to wave my hands in the air and say, ‘I did it.’ You’ve got some fucking nerve. Get out.” She turns away, fills a glass with red wine and takes a large gulp.
“You poisoned my mom too.”
Now, she’s listening. Her eyes are on the run, darting around the room like she’s searching for something to stab me with. I’m grateful that I can’t see a sharp knife anywhere.
“Fuck off, Harry. What shit has your dad been feeding you?”
“He never told me. I found my mom’s postmortem report. She had traces of arsenic in her system the same as Ruby did. Only my mom had more severe complications that resulted in her death.”
Celia swallows another mouthful of wine. She doesn’t look at me. “So, now you’re accusing me of murder.” Her tone is dull, flat, matching the look in her eyes that are fixated on a spot in the middle of the floor.
“If she hadn’t been given arsenic, she wouldn’t have died.”
A grim smile twists her lips to one side. “You’re a fucking coward just like your father. You can’t even say what you mean, can you?”
I ignore her. I’m not playing games—I’m here to say my piece and go home to my fiancée. I’ve spent the last couple of weeks getting my head around what Celia did. I can’t bring my mom back, but I can make sure that this woman has no place in our future or the future of our children.
“What I want to know is, how you justified harming your daughter to yourself.”
The twisted smile becomes a smirk. “You have no proof that it was me.”
“True.” I shrug. “But you didn’t react to me telling you that Ruby had arsenic poisoning, and that’s all I need to know.” I pause, allowing this to sink in. “Oh, and just in case you’re trying to scheme your way out of this and turn it around on me somehow, I can find proof that it was you.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“Am I? I’m starting to wonder if you know my dad at all. You see, he has connections with some very dangerous people. They know where I am, and why I’m here, and I only have to say the word.”
Celia wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. She pushes herself off the counter, refills her glass, and stares out the window. She’s stalling, buying herself some time while she weighs her options.
Finally, she says without turning around, “Does Ruby know that you’re here?”
“No. I don’t want to keep secrets from her, but I figured it was kinder this way.”
“Kinder for who? Ruby? Or you?”
“For everyone concerned.”
“Such a fucking goody-two-shoes, huh? You’ve still got your father’s blood running through your veins. You’ll let her down eventually. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I will never let Ruby down. It’s just a shame you won’t be around to watch me prove you wrong.”
She faces me now, sloshing wine over her wrist and down her legs. “You can’t keep me away from my daughter forever. She’ll come running back to me when she gets bored. That’s the thing with Ruby, she?—”
I cut her off. I’m not listening to any more lies. “Here’s the deal. I promise that I will never mention this to Ruby, any of it, on one condition.”
“Ruby is my daughter! You don’t get to call the shots here.” Her chest heaves with the effort of controlling her temper.
“I won’t tell Ruby or the police, but my condition is this: you give us your blessing for the wedding, and then you disappear from our lives.”
Her face crumples, her eyes large with tears. “Ruby will never forgive you for this…”
“Ruby will never know,” I remind her. “You were going to leave with my father anyway. You were prepared to leave your husband in the care of your daughter so that you could live the life you wanted; I’m offering you the easy way out.”
“You bastard.”
“I take it that’s a yes.”
She turns back to face the window, but the set of her spine is proof that she knows she has lost.
“Don’t try to contact Ruby. If I find out that she has even had a missed call from you, I’ll find the evidence and I’ll take it straight to the cops, and I promise you that Ruby will know exactly what you are.”
I walk away from the Jackson house, filling my lungs with clean air and telling myself that I’ve done the right thing.
“Harry!” Ruby leaps off the sofa and runs into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist, and kissing me hard on the lips. “You’re back.”
“I promised … I would be,” I manage between kisses. “I should go away more often if this is the welcome I get.”
She untangles herself, takes my hand, and leads me into the bedroom.
Then she undresses me slowly, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth as she unbuttons my shirt and tugs it out of my suit pants. Eying me mischievously, she sits on the edge of the bed, unzips my pants, and smiles when my erection springs free.
“I’m pleased to see you too.” She licks it from the base upwards, slowly, dragging her tongue around the tip and teasing me with gentle nibbles.
Dragging my pants onto the floor, she doesn’t wait for me to step out of them. She turns me around, my throbbing cock still in her mouth, and pushes me back onto the bed. Then she lifts her skirt, turns around, and straddles me backwards, her pussy in my face, and I realize that she wasn’t wearing panties when I came in.
My cock twitches inside her mouth at the sight of her wet sex, spread wide for me, waiting to welcome me home. Gripping the inside of her thighs, I lower her onto my tongue, tasting her sweetness.
My good intentions to take this slowly vanish in an instant. I want her to come. I want to feel her gushing on my tongue. Sliding a finger inside her, I probe and push, finding the spot and licking until my tongue feels numb and she collapses onto my legs, panting, her swollen pussy still in my face because I won’t let her go.
“Nu-huh, you’re staying right where you are.”
I pull back just enough for her to groan out loud, and then resume licking. This time, Ruby explodes in my mouth, and still I don’t let go. The trip to Chicago has lifted a weight off my shoulders that I’ve been carrying around since I found the medical examiner’s report on my mom, and I want to make Ruby feel like she has never felt before.
“Harry…”
“Do you want me to stop?” I grip her thighs tightly and lick my lips relishing the taste of her orgasm.
“Yes.”
I drag my tongue across her pussy. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“Yes, I want you to stop.”
I let her go and, in one fluid movement, slide out from under her and penetrate her from behind, raising her ass to meet my thrusts. My suit pants are still caught around my ankles, but I don’t care. I need this. I’ve never needed this more and knowing that I have the rest of my life to enjoy this beautiful woman makes my own orgasm come hard and fast.
After, we lay on the bed, Ruby on her side, resting her head on one elbow so that she can see me.
“Hi,” she says. “Good trip?”
I can’t help smiling at her. “Very productive.”
Her cheeks are flushed, her hair tumbling over her shoulder and caressing my bare chest. She looks different somehow, and I study her face, her eyebrows, the color of her hair to make sure I haven’t missed a trip to the salon.
“Does this mean that you’re all mine now until after the honeymoon?”
“Ruby, I’ve been all yours since the day I met you.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.” I kiss her on the lips. Pause. I’ve been putting this off, but now I know I’m out of time. “Ruby, there’s something I want to tell you,” I say at the same time as Ruby says. “I have something I want to show you.” We both smile.
“You go first, Harry.” She chews her bottom lip, and I know she’s up to something from the gleam in her eyes.
She rests her chin on my chest and peers at me like I’m some kind of demi-god. “I haven’t told you about my family.” Her eyes narrow, just enough for me to notice. “My family back in Ireland. They’re not… Well, they’re not just family. You’ve heard of the Mafia, right?”
Ruby nods.
“The Mafia doesn’t only exist in Sicily like the movies would have you believe.” Another nod. “My family… We have connections. My father… I’ll take over from him someday.” I wait. This might be the day that Ruby stands up and walks away from me, or it might be the first day of the rest of our lives without this hanging over my head.
“Wow,” she says finally, and I release the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. “Does that make me a future Mafia boss’s wife?”
“How would you feel if I said yes?”
Ruby smiles, and I allow my heart to flood with more love than I ever thought I could contain. “Harry, I always knew there was something about you that was different to every other man I ever met. You’ll look after me, won’t you?”
I pull her over my chest and wrap my arms around her tightly. “With my life, Ruby. I promise.”
“And our kids?” I feel her heart beating against mine.
“Goes without saying.”
“Then I have something to show you.” She pulls out of my embrace, stands, and offers me her hand.
I ditch my suit pants, pull up my boxers, and follow her to the bathroom where she stands in front of the mirror, and turns to face me, her expression suddenly serious.
“I can’t get enough baby pickles.”
I chuckle. “O-kay.”
“I hate baby pickles. I always pick them out of my hamburgers because they make me cringe, they’re so green and slimy.” She shudders to prove the point.
“So, now you like them. Tastes change. It just means that, one day, we’ll both have the same tastes. It’ll make eating out a whole lot easier. No arguing over tacos or noodles.”
“Harry, will you stop talking?”
I stop.
“This isn’t about baby pickles. Well, it’s not just about baby pickles.” She takes a deep breath and moves away from the mirror.
I follow her gaze to the row of plastic sticks propped up against the glass like soldiers. I glance back at her, and her eyes are fixed on mine, hesitant, eager, waiting for a reaction.
“What are they?” I pick one up, spot the two faint lines across the middle of the tiny panel in the center, and turn it around to show her. “What does this mean?”
“I’m pregnant, Harry.” She chews her bottom lip with her two front teeth. “We’re going to have a baby.”
“We’re… You’re…” My heart races as I stare at the other tests, each one showing the same double blue lines across the center.
“A baby.” She nods.
The thumping inside my rib cage finally subsides long enough for me to process what this means. I toss the plastic stick into the basin and throw my arms around Ruby, spinning her around, her feet above the floor.
“We’re going to have a baby.” I set her back down, step back, and place my hand over her abdomen. “Oh my God. There’s a baby in there. How far…? When…?”
She laughs out loud, and it will always be the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. “Not far. I’ll make an appointment with the gynecologist when we’re back from our honeymoon.”
“Will it wait? I mean… Shouldn’t you see them sooner?”
“Harry, it’s fine. You might just have to call ahead and make sure we can get baby pickles wherever we’re going.”
“I’ll have some shipped over if I must. I’ll get you whatever you want, Ruby.” I inhale deeply, trying to calm the thump-thump of my heart. “You’re having my baby.”
“Are you happy, Harry?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
“I thought you might’ve wanted to wait.”
I pull her into my arms. “What for? You’ve honestly made me the happiest man alive. I’m so happy I could burst.”
“Don’t do that,” she mumbles against my chest. “You’ll spoil the next surprise.”
I stand back and hold her at arm’s length. “There’s more? I’m not sure my heart could take it.”
Her smile lights up her face. “I felt bad that you’re not having a bachelor party, so I kinda arranged one for you.”
“Ruby, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I’m coming too though. You’ll need thick gloves and a warm hat.”
I match her smile. “Do I get another clue?”
“You get more than that. Ronnie and Sumaira should be here any moment now. We’re going ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza.”
This time, when I pull her into my arms, I hold her there, breathing in the citrusy smell of her shampoo, and asking myself how I got so lucky. What did I do to deserve so much when so many people in the world have so little?
I only hope I never ever let her down.