Eternity (31 page)

By the time I wake the clock is displaying 19.00, rolling over sleepily I jolted awake by the lack of Carlos beside me. I know it's silly, but I've become so used to having him with me twenty four seven that when he's unexpectedly not there I panic.

I can hear movement downstairs, so my heart rate begins to slow; I throw on my jeans and one of his T-shirts, it's like being drowned in a sea of Carlos, what a way to go, and make my way downstairs.

There is light, but it's faint and flickers, casting ever changing golden streaks across the walls. He must have candles lit, maybe there's been a power cut or something. As I continue down the stairs my eyes become accustomed to the light and I can see why he wasn't in bed. The place has been transformed, candles of all different shapes and sizes adorn every surface, with rose petals scattered around them; the fairy lights from the balcony on our first date are twisted in spirals and laid out across the black marble surfaces in the kitchen, their reflections in the counter tops making them twinkle like billions of tiny stars.

He's bought in a dining table and laid it beautifully, the remainder of the intact roses in a vase in the centre, surrounded by more tea lights and a bottle of pink champagne on ice stands to one side.

He's at the oven tinkering about with something that smells both delicious and weirdly familiar, although I can't put my finger on why.

As I approach him he turns, his face lighting up at my presence. That reaction is hard to fake, but yet can be more special than any flowers or grand gestures; knowing that that person only has eyes for you and that just being in the same room as them can make them happier than you'd ever think possible. It warms your heart.

“Hey good timing, I was just going to come and get you” he smiles.

“What's all this in aid of?” I ask, daintily touching the fairy lights as I step into his arms.

“It's the two week anniversary of when we first met” he explains. Now this is romance, all I got for the first year of being married to Jake was a card, given to me two days late! I'm gob smacked, there are no words which will convey the extent of how much I love this man right now.

“Carlos, this is amazing, how did you...when did you?” my words fail me as I expected.

“You've been asleep for an hour, I sorted most of it this morning when you were talking with my parents and stashed it round the side of the house and the last few bits I picked up while you were snoring!” he jokes.

I give him a fleeting disapproving look for suggesting that I snore, but I'm so elated by his efforts that I don't care for long.

“I got chef Alfredo to prepare the same food we had on our first date, I know that was the day after, but I thought it would be a nice touch all the same, it's just warming in the oven now.”he tells me, turning to check on it.

Without warning I fling myself at him, locking lips with him fiercely.

“What was that for?” he asks, looking pleased.

“This, you, everything, I've never been so happy, I love you Mr. Johnson” I gush.

“I love you too”

Dinner was as scrumptious as it was the first time round, only even more enjoyable on account of me not being a jittering bag of nerves around Carlos anymore. Once we finish the main course he clears our plates and returns to take his seat, then reaching his hand across the table he places a small white rectangle box with a blue bow in front of me. I look up at him quizzically.

“Open it” he prompts me gently, his boyish grin spreading across his face as he practically jumps up and down in his seat with excitement. I undo the blue satin bow as painstakingly slowly as I can, just to wind him up, even though the curiosity is killing me.

Inching the lid off carefully I find a silver necklace, the pendant is a smooth piece of curved silver it the shape of an Arum Lily, with a single pearl nestled at it's heart.

“Carlos it's lovely” I say, draping it across my palm to inspect it closer.

“Turn it over” As I turn it I can see something engraved into the back, I bring it close to my face so I can make it out in the dwindling candle light, 'C & K' and then directly under the letters a shape that looks like the figure eight on it's side.

“Eternity” he whispers.

I grin back at him, again he has left me speechless, I'm not sure if I would ever tire of this romance lark, each gesture he has made tonight has taken my breath away and I couldn't be more pleased.

“I love it!” I exclaim, “Will you help me put it on?” I jump out of my seat excitedly, passing it to him. Standing behind me he lowers it down to my chest then brings the clasp together at the back of my neck, finally easing my hair out from under it and turning me round to face him.

“It's beautiful Carlos thank you” I say, moving my fingers up to touch it once more.

“A beautiful necklace for my stunningly beautiful girl”

After a perfect evening we are rudely awoken early the next day by thundering bangs on the front door. Carlos is up immediately, sprinting downstairs to attend to whatever emergency is beckoning.

I'm a little slower, choosing to throw on a little more clothing than a pair of pants like him. As I leave our bedroom I'm just in time to catch the beginnings of the scathing onslaught fired at him by Julia.

“What the fuck Carlos? I've just got back from my honeymoon and as soon as I set foot back here Marcus fills me in on all the shit that's been going on while I've been gone! Why are you shacked up with some gold digging slut?” man she's vicious, I'm actually glad I wasn't as quick at getting down there as Carlos, or she'd no doubt be scratching my eyes out by now. 

I don't get his family; how can you have someone as thoughtful and caring as Carlos, with two siblings so venomous and twisted? It's not even like they have horrible parents, or hard lives, there is no logical explanation as to why they've turned out so different.

I can tell Carlos is seething, his voice has lowered, so I can't hear what he's saying back to her, but I know from when he met Jake that when he's really angry he gets quieter.

With Carlos defending me, it must be safe to venture downstairs, I tread lightly though, so not to draw too much attention in my direction.

I'm halfway down when she spots me, “What the hell are you doing here? Marcus told me what you did” she spits the words at me.

“I've already told you...” Carlos starts, but she doesn't let him finish.

“If you don't believe it that's your issue” she barks at him, “but I'm not about to let some cheap slag take advantage of your stupidity” her eyes are burning into me with vengeance. I'm not about to go through all this crap again, I've had just about enough of these cruel accusations.

“Julia, so nice to see you again” I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm, “Marcus is messed up and if you haven't worked that out by now then there's really no point in continuing this conversation.”

“That's my brother your talking about” she snaps back, taking a step towards me, but I hold my ground, I am not backing down now.

“Julia!” Carlos warns, taking hold of her arm, which she instantly jerks out of his grasp.

“Carlos it's OK” I assure him, “look I'm not doing all this again, Marcus admitted he lied to Carlos and your parents and now he's just seeing if he can get away with it with you too. Frankly it's pathetic, but if you don't believe me, take a look in his art book”

Carlos's attention shifts from Julia to me, “What do you mean?” he asks, confused.

“He sketched me when I was on the beach, I didn't know he was there, but then he showed it to me in a bid to 'seduce me' that night. If I was the one hitting on him, why would he have drawn that?”

They both stare at me in silence, taking in the value of my words, Julia is the first to respond, “Fine I will look, but this isn't over yet!” she sounds slightly deflated, but still determined to undermine me, as she stomps out.

“Why didn't you tell me about that picture?” Carlos asks softly, he seems hurt by the revelation.

“No reason, to be honest I forgot all about it until now.” I say honestly, coming towards him for a hug, he takes me in to his arms willingly cuddling away the trauma.

“I'm sorry about her, I told you she was a bit of a bitch!”

“You weren't wrong there. It's OK, but if I have one more run in with one of your family I might just explode” I'm not even joking now. It's getting a bit ridiculous now, they clearly all care about him deeply, but do they have to be so psycho about it?

“Can we go and see Blair today?” I ask changing the subject, plus I could really do with being surrounded by people who are on my side for a change.

“Sure, give her a ring and I'll whip us up some breakfast, scrambled eggs good with you? They're about all I can make!”

“Sounds wonderful” I smile, giving him a quick peck on the cheek, before heading to the bedroom to make the call in relative privacy.

Blair is ecstatic to hear from me, nearly deafening me with her screeching, she knew Carlos had come after me, but as she hadn't seen or heard from me since she wasn't sure that I'd come back with him.

“Oh come on, did you actually think I could say no after he made such an effort? He chased me down in the airport for goodness sake, it was so romantic” I giggle.

“That's true, so what's happened since?”

I give her a brief rundown of the good the bad and the ugly, explaining that any more detail will have to wait until we're next alone together, then we agree to all meet on the beach in an hour.

I head back to the kitchen to find Carlos swearing at burnt toast, “I'm sorry, I ruined it and if I do more now the eggs will get cold” he mopes.

“It's not that bad” I soothe, “lets just scrape off the black bits then you won't know the difference” I say, picking up a piece and running a knife over the offending parts, “see” I show him the result, perking him up slightly.

We eat our burnt toast and lukewarm eggs before taking a quick shower together; it's my new favourite thing to do, with the exception of having sex with him of course.

We head out to meet Blair and John shortly after, I've left my hair to dry naturally, which could prove to be a frizzy mistake, but I'm so contented with my lot right now, it just doesn't bother me.

As soon as we find them I pull Blair to one side, leaving the boys to talk fishing or golfing or what ever boys talk about.

“Here” I say placing the small, pink, heart shaped stone she gave me two days ago in her palm, “it worked like magic, I think I can safely say it's bought me more than my fair share of love now” I smile gratefully at her.

“I'm so glad it all worked out, you look positively radiant compared to the last time I saw you. Keep hold of it though, I'd never forgive myself if you ended up jinxing it by giving this away!” she laughs, handing it back to me. I'm secretly happy that I get it back, even if it has nothing to do with fate bringing Carlos back to me, it's still a pretty keep sake and something to remember Blair by when I get home.

Carlos suggests we take the boat out for a spin, we have to take a smaller one out to it, but thankfully it too is motorised so there's no chance of me having to row!

Carlos picks me up and deposits me in even though it's on the sand and Blair jumps in beside me, while the boys push us out into the waves. Neither of them seem to struggle with getting in when the time comes, I guess Carlos has done it millions of times before, but I don't know about John; he mounts it without any problems all the same.

The engine roars into life, speeding us toward
s
Carla
,
his dad named the boat after his mother, he explains, which seems fitting as it's as majestic as she is.

I'm not familiar with boats, but it seems huge, with a sweeping front that ends in a point, ideal for sunbathing and fishing equipment off the back, already loaded and ready to use.

There's a raised cabin between the two, slightly towards the front, which I assume you drive from, there's no sails, confirming that it run on a motor instead.

When we pull up alongside it, Carlos ties our smaller one onto ropes that hang off the side, then produces a metal ladder from the floor of our vessel and hooks it onto the top o
f
Carla
,
before motioning for me to climb up. I give him a skeptical look, it seems sturdy enough but I'm not known as the most graceful person. Blair leaps to my rescue “I'll go first” she volunteers scaling the ladder with ease and jumping on board. John follows her dutifully and then there's just me and Carlos left, bobbing up and down on the waves.

“I'll be right behind you” Carlos assures me. OK Kate, come on, you can do this, it looks easy enough, just don't make a fool out of yourself, simple; I mentally psyche myself up.

With both hands firmly holding onto the rungs, I set one foot on, then the other; it's surprisingly much more stable than it looked. I take it one step at a time, Carlos's hand resting on my hip for support, all the way up. John meets me at the top, taking a strong grasp on my arms and hauling me over the edge onto firmer ground, while Carlos hops over himself.

Once we are all safely on board, Carlos gives us the grand tour. Below deck there's a bedroom furnished just how you would imagine; a double bed with navy blue bedding, cherry would finishes everywhere, varnished to an impossibly shiny level and three little porthole windows evenly spaced on each side of the room. The bathroom is the smallest I've ever been in, but mind you, who needs a bath when they're on a boat? To top it off there's a compact, but fully functional kitchen, it even has a fridge, stocked with various perishable delights; they can't just keep it like this at all times, on the off chance someone ventures out in the boat one day, so I figure Carlos must have arranged it. I don't know if I'm walking around with my head in the clouds, or if Carlos is extremely cunning, because his ability to organise complex things without my noticing is astonishing. So far it has only been good things, but if he were ever to put his skills to work on something bad, I would certainly be none the wiser.