Monday, December 26 #2
Nicholas tossed the pencil from hand to hand.
Life was getting so much better. Working out the way he planned.
Okay, he had a hiccup, but he ironed it out.
In business and in pleasure, he went after what he wanted and didn’t stop until he got it.
Unfortunately, except for one instance, he or his helper couldn’t undo; he always did in the end.
His brief scowl melted into a devilish grin. He didn’t care whether Angelica had five fireplaces and five art studios to keep her happy during the day, because he knew how to keep her happy in the dark. Nicholas’s laugh filled the room and ricocheted off the walls.
* * *
Angelica surveyed her girlfriend’s kitchen. Spotless, as usual. Some women are born to be wives, mothers, and bakers. She didn’t fit into any of those roles, some by default, others by design.
“What’s that?” Leah asked, standing at the table with her steaming enamel teapot, spotting the blue gift box resting in the middle.
Angelica lifted the lid and turned it toward her companion. Flustered, she moaned, “My birthday present from Nicky.”
Leah’s eyes resembled green saucers. Huge ones. She poured the water into mugs, placed the teapot on a cork trivet, and sank into the Windsor chair.
“Oh, my gosh, it’s from Tiffany’s!” she cried. “This necklace costs way over fifty thousand dollars!”
What?! Angelica almost fell off her chair. She knew this trinket wasn’t cheap, but she didn’t realize it cost that much! Could it be over a hundred thousand? She groaned. Leave it to Nicky.
Leah uncovered a freshly baked crumb-topped cake and, eager to learn the details, pried, “Who’s this wealthy Nicky? You’ve been holding out on me, girlfriend.”
Angelica let out a long, exasperated huff. Two words were enough to satisfy the other woman’s curiosity and anyone else’s in the state. “Nicholas Ponte.”
“As in Ponte Luxury Motors?!”
“The same,” Angelica replied with a frown. The Nicholas Ponte, who’s a millionaire. But if we’re talking huge bucks, he might be a billionaire. How many digits is that?
“How come you never mentioned this guy before?”
For a very good reason! After this weekend, Angelica needed a one-on-one conversation with someone unbiased about her troubled past with Nicky. Someone who would love her no matter what. Leah was the only person who fit that role.
“I’m trying to forget.” She squeezed her eyes shut. The truth didn’t go away. “We had a relationship that ended terribly. It was so awful I’ve never told a soul.”
Angelica removed the teabag from the mug and set it on a small, apple-shaped dish. With mournful eyes, she began the tale that seemed to have no end. “Nicky and I started dating when I was in high school.”
She paused, shook her head, and took a sip to test the temperature of her beverage. It was hot, like her rising disposition.
“Six months later, I got pregnant. He’s older than me and was focused on his dreams. Becoming a husband and father wasn’t one of them.
‘Not now. The timing is wrong. Perhaps later.’ Clearly, he didn’t have a problem with the timing in his bedroom—only with using birth control.
” Angelica’s tone was as sour as her expression.
Angelica’s head fell into her hands. “Leah, do you have anything stronger than tea? I need it.”
“Something stronger is a must when you’re a mother.” Her confidante hurried to an overhead cabinet. “Amaretto or Kahlua?” she asked.
“Kahlua, please. I hope you’re joining me so I’m not drinking by myself.”
Returning with two half-full cups, her girlfriend set them on the table and sank into her chair.
The liqueur warmed her insides as it slid down her throat. “Nicky wanted me to get an abortion. He was insistent. I was just a teenager and so scared. My feelings weren’t even considered. I had no choice.”
Angelica held her temple with a trembling hand and clutched the shaky cup in the other.
Her sorrowful eyes conveyed as much as her despondent words.
“Well, I had it at some sleazy place he took me to, but complications arose. Nicky rushed me to the hospital. The outcome left me unable to have children. That pregnancy was my one chance, and I lost it. Even my parents didn’t know the truth.
Nicky told them I was in the hospital with serious women’s problems. If Nicky said it, it had to be true. ”
Leah reached across the table and took Angelica’s hand. “I’m so sorry,” she said softly. “This is a devastating story. I’m honored you trusted me enough to share it. You know this won’t leave this room. But what happened afterward?”
“I broke up with him, of course!” she wailed. “I could never forgive Nicky for what he put me through.”
It was even more traumatic than that, though. Angelica had no one to share her grief with. No one to hug her, tell her it would be okay, or offer her comfort. She couldn’t tell her “sex is forbidden before marriage” parents, and she couldn’t go to the parish priest about it.
As much as she loved her girlfriends, they’d be no help. Shocked, they’d both have dumped her. Theresa planned to become a nun, and Maria felt sex was disgusting, gross, and the devil’s work.
Bearing invisible scars from the worst experience of her life, she crumbled—crumbled enough to stay in her room for the rest of that summer and cry endlessly. Being betrayed by the man you love can do that to you. It could have been a mini-breakdown.
She was never emotionally strong. Every childhood Band-Aid led to a crying jag, but that was her parents’ doing. They treated her as if she were made of glass, panicking over every minor cut, scrape, or fall.
Leah peered at the diamond dazzler, lifted an eyebrow, and pointed at the jewel. “Okay, let’s back up a bit. If you broke up with him and never forgave him, how did you end up with that?”
“This is so complicated.” Angelica clenched her teeth and ran her hands through her hair. “After I spent all those years recovering at his home, Nicky’s crazy about me again and wants to get back together.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” Leah said, cutting two slices of coffee cake—a perfect complement to their rum- and coffee-flavored drinks.
“Are you sure you can’t forgive him, Angelica? It’s been a long time. Without a doubt, you suffered a tragedy, but forgiveness doesn’t require a relationship with the person. It’s something we do for ourselves. It’s our healing. As for Nicky, has he apologized?”
“He’s filled with unwavering remorse,” Angelica said. And doling out money to prove it. “He’d never hurt me again. How could he, since we’re not a couple? Just friends.”
Granted, she said those last two words, but she didn’t believe they were true after Saturday night. Was she starting to fall for him again? Is that possible?
Leah steepled her fingers and pointed out the obvious. “This necklace doesn’t say ‘friends.’ Is Nicky now ready for a wife?”
“Absolutely.” Angelica propped her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. This was overwhelming. Why couldn’t he fade into the woodwork? The odds of that were slim. One way or another, they seemed to be joined at the hip.
“Did he ask you to marry him?”
Which time? She eyed the diamond. Let’s keep this current. What really happened within the sanctity of those four walls? What promises were spun between the sheets? Were words spoken, or merely implied by the gentle, tender touches? What had been willingly accepted?
“I think Nicky proposed on Christmas Eve. Ahh … alluded to it … Maybe …”
Leah shot up in her chair, dropped her fork, and babbled, “You think? Alluded? Maybe? How in the world could you forget a proposal?”
“What occurred isn’t quite clear. I drank a bit too much.”
“I’m not even going there.”
“I wish I hadn’t gone there.”
Her friend made a spot-on remark as she sliced more cake. “I see a bright side to this. He would never cheat on you. It’s clear he adores you.”
“Sadly, that’s true. He’s not interested in anyone else,” Angelica pouted, passing her liquor-filled coffee cup from hand to hand.
He can have any woman he wants, thanks to his looks and wealth.
So why would Nicky choose her? Besides her dreadful facial scar, the scars covering her body were on par with the aftereffects of an autopsy gone wrong.
He saw them for the first time Saturday night and didn’t say a word, one way or the other.
Add that to the list of things she didn’t understand about him.
Leah snapped the necklace case shut and slid it across the table with her outstretched hand. “I won’t tell you what to do when your conscience is involved. But I’m sure you’ll make the right decision for yourself. And only you,” she reassured.
Lifting the magical elixir, Angelica smiled at her friend, nonjudgmental Leah. Her comments were pure gold—the best friend she had and ever would have, and reason enough not to leave Greenhill County.
So, why was she struggling so much to find a balance between her heart and logic?
* * *
Arriving for his evening welfare check, Garrett’s heart galloped as he entered Angelica’s home.
He observed the state of her desk—chaotic.
Illustrations lay scattered everywhere. Pencils of assorted colors and lengths were tossed about, and empty plastic tumblers and coffee cups stood in a line like little soldiers after a grueling battle.
Curious about her progress, he asked, “How’s the book coming along?”
She flashed her best clenched-tooth emoji grin. “Not as well as I expected. And my deadline is next week. How was your day, Garrett?”
“Had better, had worse,” he said, adding nothing else.
Garrett hoped Angelica wouldn’t probe into the specifics of his job—the good or the bad.
He didn’t want to discuss his profession with her.
Not right now, at least. He didn’t want to mention his aching back, pulled muscles, or multiple bruises either.
He should stop by the nurse’s office to file a workers’ comp report. He might need to see a chiropractor.
“You want some coffee?” Angelica asked.