A Date to Always Remember

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

I woke up feeling happy.

Not remembering when last I had woken up feeling so exuberant, I smiled broadly and made to turn. My half stretch, half turn was prevented, as I hit Charles in the face, rudely awaking the poor guy.

“Ouch, what a wakeup call,” he said sleepily, rubbing his nose.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling suddenly shy, so I pulled the sheet further up to my neck.

“You can kiss it and make it better, you know,” he teased.

I leaned forward to do just that, but got his lips instead. “I thought I hit you in the nose,” I sassed, pulling back a little.

“It was the mouth, definitely the mouth,” he smiled, and pulled me into his embrace.

His hold was tight, but not to the extent that it prevented my breathing. He kissed my hair, and whispered softly, “I almost lost 10 years off my life yesterday. I was hoping you’d choose me, and when I’d seen that you weren’t back by four, I thought you’d left with Jake.”

“It never crossed my mind yesterday to leave with Jake,” I replied honestly, “When we finished talking, I had to go find Sarah and Charlotte and make excuses about my behaviour. But when I got to them, Brad and Scott were there, and since their wives described Jake to them, they wanted to know what he was doing back in town. So I told them about how stupid I’ve been, and then Scott gave me a ride home, around 5.”

“I left shortly before that. I must have barely missed you,” Charles thought out loud.

“Where did you go?”

I wasn’t expecting an answer, but I got one none the less. “I went driving. I didn’t have a particular destination in sight; was just driving around the place. Next thing you know, I’m turning in the driveway here.”

“I’m glad you did,” I smiled.

“Me too,” he agreed.

“Charles did you give up on your love for me? Is that why you looked for Jake?” I asked him, he said he loved me, and after last night, I didn’t fear hearing his reasons for searching for Jake.

“I didn’t exactly give up, or we wouldn’t be here, would we?” He teased, and I blushed profusely, and hid my head into the part of his body where his neck met his shoulders. He just chuckled before continuing. “I would have always loved you, and I knew somewhere, deep down, you must have loved me too. But you still held onto Jake. I figured, the only way you’d ever let go of your past was to confront it. I debated with looking for Jake for over a year. Finally, late last year, I decided that I needed to go get him. I prayed though that you’d choose me over him. You know, that whole ‘if you love someone, let them go, and if it’s meant to be, they’ll come back?’ Well, I put all my trust into that one saying.

“He was a hard person to track down. He’s always moving from one place to the next. He’s into trading, and makes quite a small bundle from it also. Since he’s constantly travelling, he takes goods from one port and carries it to the next to sell it, and then collect goods from there and carries on again and again, sort of like a merchant. Anyways, I was finally able to track him down in Port Elizabeth, and I sent him a message to wait for me. So I scheduled a trip, and we started talking. It was clear he still had some feelings for you, and that alone made me want to forget the whole thing, and just keep you to myself. But the little quote just kept popping into my head, so I told him that though we’re married and all, you still loved him, and asked to come back. I told him that I needed you to be happy, and that even if you don’t choose me in the end, as long as you were happy, I’d be happy.