The Contingency Plan (The Lonely Heart Series) (17 page)

Benny and Charlize were talking a mile a minute and constantly running up to their rooms and brin
g
ing down more art work, trophies and pictures to show Charlie, while she and Sully sat side by side in huge wicker chairs with deep cushiony pillows.

“Okay, I’m going to go and get my football trophy from last year,” Benny said, grabbing his trophies and pictures from the year before off the table.

“Sounds great,” Charlie said, feeling a little buzzed. 

Charlize pulled at her long ponytails and looked curiously over at Charlie.  “Do you like my dad?” she asked, blushing even as she asked. 

Charlie coughed.  Looking over at Sully, she raised her brows. “Yes, I like your father very much.  He’s a dear friend of mine.”

Charlize knitted her brows as she tried to make clear what she really meant.  “But do you like him like you like a boyfriend?”

“Charlie, honey,” Sully interrupted.  He tried to get his daughter’s attention. 

“No, that’s alright,” Charlie said, touching Sully’s knee. As a woman, who had once been a girl, she understood Charlize’s need to know.  She turned to address her daughter with a warm smile.  Clutching her pearls, she leaned towards her.  “I’m married, honey.  But I’ve always been crazy about your father.  He’s one of the best men I know.”  She looked back over at Sully and nodded.  “And once before, well before you were born, we were a couple.  He was my boyfriend.”

“But he’s not now,” Charlize asked, a little disa
p
pointed.

“No, baby.  He’s not now,” Charlie said touching her daughter’s dainty little shoulder. She moved her pigtail off her arm and pulled her closer.  “But you know what? I’m so thrilled to be here with you.  You just don’t know how much I have enjoyed you and your brother.”

“Do you have kids?” Charlize asked, resting her body on Charlie’s knee.

“I have twin boys,” Charlie answered, missing them terribly. “Maybe one day very soon, you can meet them. I’m sure that you’ll have a lot in common.”

Sully cracked a smile.  Meeting the kids meant that she was giving serious thought to coming out with the truth, and coming out with the truth meant that she was getting closer to acknowledging her feelings for him. 

“How old are they?  Your kids?” Charlize asked, eyes lighting up.

“They are eight years old.  They like football too as well as street hockey.  As a matter of fact, I bet they are at home playing as we speak.”  Charlie rubbed her daughter’s arms and felt the goose bumps form.  “Why don’t you run inside and get a little sweater?  I’ll still be out here when you get back.”

“Okay,” Charlize said, smiling at her father.

Sully winked at his daughter, sat back in his seat and crossed his legs. “She likes you…a lot.”  He looked over at Charlie and, without thought, ran a hand down her shoulder. 
I absolutely adore you
, he thought to himself. 

Charlie turned to him and shook her head. “
Like
hardly describes how I feel about her.”  She exhaled a deep breath.  “I’ve just missed so much, Sully.  How will they ever forgive me once they find out?”

“Children are resilient, especially my children.  And once I explain to them that you didn’t know, they’ll be ready to move forward with a life that includes you in it.”

Charlie turned towards him. “But how do I fit in it?”  Putting a finger on her temple, she closed her eyes. “We did not think this through enough.  This was exactly what I was worried about.”

“Please don’t say that you regret it,” Sully said in a near gasp. 

Charlie licked her lips.  “Of course I don’t.  I mean, I can clearly see how they have bettered your life. I can
clearly
see how this world is better with them in it.  I just don’t know how to make up to them all the time that I’ve missed.” She looked over at Sully who seemed so understand and then laughed. “Listen to me. I haven’t even asked if you want me in their lives.  I’m just inserting and assuming and talking…” she said, cutting her words off and putting her glass down on the table. It was empty now and probably the reason for her emotional rant.

Sully sat up in his seat and pulled hers closer to him. “Hey, listen to me.  I know that we agreed to keep things
anonymous
, but you feel the connection, right?  It’s cosmic, Charlie.  You guys were meant to be together, no different than you were meant to be with your boys back in New Jersey.  So of course, I want you to be a part of their lives…in any way that I can get you.”  He let the truth come out despite his rese
r
vations.  “And I want you to be in my life too.”  He prepared himself for her normal denial, but there was only silence. 

Charlie stared into his still gray eyes, letting the wind blow between them and the music drown her thoughts and felt completely lost in the moment.  “Even after all of these years?” she asked. 

“Time doesn’t fade the passion of true love,” Sully said, moving closer to her.  He eyed her pouty mouth and suddenly felt hungry to kiss it. 
I want you so badly
, he thought to himself. 

She watched him, frozen from moving away from his touch.  “So you still love me?” her voice was barely above a whisper. 

“I have always loved you. I’ve always been in love with you,” he said, inching closer and closer to her. 

“Oh, Sully, I…” Charlie was cut off mid-sentence in one of the most important statement that she could ever make. 

“Dad, we’ve got more company!” Benny yelled out bringing in with him, Robert Clancy, the reporter from the Norfolk Daily News. 

Both Charlie and Sully moved away from each other quickly, but the damage was already done.  Robert walked through the glass doors to the balcony with a clever grin on his face.  “Hi ya, Sully,” he taunted, eyeing Charlie, who sat quietly in her chair, looking like a deer in headlights.   

“Robert, what are you doing here?” Sully asked, standing up.  He walked in front of the reporter’s view of Charlie. 

Robert’s eyes darted between the couple.  “I called your cell.  Then I just decided to stop by.  I had great news for you.  The paper was slow on hot news, so I was going to do a quick story on Benny and get it in the paper.”  He stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and lifted up on his feet.  “I didn’t mean to interrupt…I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

Sully sucked his teeth. “I just bet you didn’t mean to interrupt.”  Looking over at Charlie, he walked over to Robert and pointed towards the door. “Why don’t we go
inside,
and you can get that story on
Benny
.”

“Before I do, is this who I think it is?” Robert asked, pointing and side-stepping past Sully. 
             

“Just who do you think that is?” Sully asked, ste
p
ping in front of him like a wall.  The alpha male in him came out, revealing itself as he quietly dared the man to disrespect him in his own house. 

“The president of Sophie’s Choice.  I’m a big fan of the organization,” Robert said, stepping back.  He put his hands up suddenly. “Whoa, man.  What did you think I meant?”

Sully didn’t trust a word that was coming out of Robert’s mouth. He knew that he was like a blood hound when it came to a good story, and this was one that would land him a raise and enough notoriety to get him to the big leagues. 

“I know what you’re thinking, Robert,” Sully growled.  “Get what you came here for and go.  Don’t even
think
of talking to her.”

“Is that how you treat a friend trying to do you a favor?” Robert asked, turning around to head back into the house.  “Just remember you told me that you had to figure out how to couch it.  Me,” he reminded Sully.  “Not the New York Times or the freaking Washington Post.”  He cracked a devilish grin and turned his head one last time to look at the frozen Charlene Mendoza before he disappeared into the house under Sully’s iron grip.

***

After Benny’s brief fluff interview with Robert and a quick photo in front of the family trophy cabinet, the reporter was briskly rushed from the premises with a thank you and a warning to stay away from the Mendoza angle and to be
nice
.  Sully had given Robert a strong shake of the hand and harsh hit on the back but what he really worried about were the things that were not being said.  However, he would not let the night be ruined.  God only knew when he would get the chance to be with her like this again. 

Quickly, Benny and Sully returned to Charlize and Charlene out on the patio and they all had dinner together under a fat full moon and a blanket of bri
l
liant stars. 

Sully couldn’t recall a time that he had seen the children laugh so much.  Engulfed in conversation, they talked over each other and snickered, made jokes and recalled wonderful stories.  When it was all over, he sympathized with them about going to bed, but had to insist.

“Do we have to, daddy?” they whined.

“Absolutely,” he had said, urging them up the main staircase to their rooms.

“Will you put me to bed?” Charlize asked Charlie.

“It would be my honor,” Charlie said, walking her to her room. 

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Benny said, waving as he headed to his room with his father.

“I’ll only be a minute,” Sully said, following his son.  “I need to make sure that he doesn’t have the computer on or the game station out or some grand scheme up his sleeve.” 

Charlie kissed Benny on the head before he and his father went into his room.  Following Charlize into her room, she turned on the light to find more beautiful art.  Her room was made for a princess.  The raised ceiling had been painted like an Italian fresco, with blue skies, white clouds and little angels looking down on her.  The walls were covered in framed art that she had worked on during her short life.  And a twin-sized oak canopy bed sat in the middle of the floor, cloaked in pink netting pulled to the sides of the posts and held by big, velvet blue bows. 

“Your room is like a dream,” Charlie said, while Charlize went into the bathroom adjoined to her room to slip into her pajamas.

“Thanks.  It was all Dad’s idea,” Charlize said, turning on the water to brush her teeth.

Charlie sat on the bed and waited patiently.  When her daughter emerged from the bathroom, barely four feet tall in a white cotton pajama set and her long, auburn ponytails spruced up a bit, she swore that she had seen an angel. 

Charlize walked over to her mother and sat beside her. Looking up at her with big brown eyes, the same perfectly straight nose as her father, cheeks splashed with freckles, full lips liker her mother, and a deep, exotic tan, she smiled.  “Having you here has been great, Charlie,” Charlize said, swinging her feet off the side of the bed.  “I wish that you didn’t have to go tomorrow.”

Charlie touched her daughter’s nose with her i
n
dex finger and then grabbed her and hugged her tight. “I’m sure that I will be back to visit.  Or maybe you can come and visit me.”

“There was something I was wondering.  Did you grow up like me?  With only a daddy?”  Charlize asked, biting her lip. “I know it’s rude to ask, but I just want to know.”

“It’s not rude to ask.”  Charlie held her daughter tight.  “And to answer your question, no, I grew up with only my mommy.  Her name was Margret Meadows.  And she would have loved to have seen you and Benny before she passed.” Charlie could feel tears welding up in the sides of her eyes.  “I didn’t know my father.  He left when I was really young, and I don’t remember him at all, not even his name.  But you’re lucky, Charlize.  You have a great dad. Remember that for all your days to come.”

“I know,” Charlize said with a grin. “He’s pretty cool, but…I have to get him married.”

Charlie couldn’t help but laugh.  “Really.”  She shook her head.  “What if he doesn’t want to be married?”

Charlize paused.  “Oh, he does.”  She said it with such finality and such certainty until it took Charlie by surprise.

“Well, your father is an adult. I’m sure he’ll figure that out.  You shouldn’t worry yourself with that.”  She patted her on the back.

“I think that he loves you,” Charlize said, pulling her covers back. “But you have to keep that between us.  He wouldn’t like for me to tell you.”

“Why would you say that he loves me?” Charlie asked, helping her get under the covers and pulling them over her body.  She tried to hide the fact that she already knew, that she loved him too. 

Charlize grinned. “You’re here, aren’t you?”

Charlie had to admit that her ten year old daughter was right. “You’re too smart for your own good. You know that? You’re like a thirty year old woman in trapped in a ten year old body.  Now, go to sleep.”  She bent to her forehead and kissed her. “Love you, goodnight.”  It was such a natural thing for her to do after being a mother for so long to Hunter and Ha
n
son, until she didn’t realize how unnatural it was for Charlize to have a woman tucking her in and showing her affection.

“I wish you were my mom,” Charlize said, cu
d
dling under the covers and grabbing her teddy bear.

Charlie was speechless.  It was not her place to tell her the truth.  That she was her mother, that after meeting her, she wanted to spend every day with her and her brother along with her two other brothers.  She wanted to tell her that in just the short time that she had known her, she had changed her life forever, but instead, she simply smiled and kissed her head again. “Goodnight, sweet girl,” she whispered. “I love you.”