Catch me! Catch me not!, page 9
Her colleagues all crushed round her gaping at the exquisite dress and shoes even tights and accessories were included. They all asked questions at the same time. Who? Why? What? When? Where? Featuring in most of the questions, she did not feel like answering yet.
Tuesday evening she was whisked off to see the Lion King and after to supper nearby. Still she pretended to herself she was not sure.
Emma went to bed frustrated beyond frustration yet she was scared of a mistake this time round. She almost felt his hands stroking and caressing her in her elicit dreams.
Wednesday morning, really how could this carry on any longer!! Another delivery for Pedro and his ever more crowded play pen and a potted cherry tree for her garden with a message “To the woman I love.”
Emma arrived home on Wednesday evening to find Pedro and Carlo playing in the garden. Pedro was fetching his toys and bringing them to Carlo to start the game again.
“Today I thought we could just spend some time with Pedro we left him for a while yesterday even if there was a dog sitter.”
“It has been quite an intensive week. Let’s have a quick supper so we can chat a bit as well.”
“Done” She smiled. “I am finding this week being spoilt to death quite exhausting!”
After a quick takeaway supper and taking Pedro out, they sat together on the sofa.
“Emma, I know I am in the wrong and you have every right to ask for a Divorce but I think we should try again. We have not argued, we both love Pedro, I can get a transfer from Singapore to London. I am not asking you to leave your job or to move away from your home..I am asking you to share your life with me your husband and to try to have a family together in 4 years away from you I have not been with other women, I have been to the gym every day and swam for kilometres every day ... I won’t beg or pressurise you but please Emma...look at what we have. Andrew is a jerk and you would not be happy with him. Having children is a strain on a marriage from what I have seen with soggy breast pads erratic moods, zero sex, sleepless nights no social life and baggy clothes..all this I welcome with you ...I welcome it because I love you. I made a mistake...I have paid for that hour for the last four years surely that is enough. If it happens again I give you permission to castrate me” he tried at humour. “I think we should try again.”
“A leopard doesn’t change its spots!”
“A dog doesn’t give up his bone!”
“How do I know if we can capture what we had after four years...I am scared.”
“We can make love and learn again from scratch...but if I make love with you it is not a one night stand it is forever....I love you too much to sully what we have”
“I want to take Pedro for a walk and I will let you know when I come back ...wait for me here...I can’t think with you here!”
“That’s a good sign!” he shot her a wicked grin. Silently he prayed his little fluffy friend would knock some sense into her. “Er...have fun with Pedro. Pedro be a good boy!”
**** **** ****
An hour passed before he heard the front door open, it had been the most nerve wracking hour of his life, he just could not believe it was over and he would find out if it was divorce or not.
Calm Carlo, calm. Breathe in. Breathe out slowly. Calm Carlo, his nerve endings were stretched to breaking point.
Emma put Pedro in his pen with his toys and hot water bottle and alarm clock, thus telling him it was time to sleep. He was in his little kennel with a blanket over the top to keep out the light and the noises. She felt a sudden rush of love for her little puppy. Life seemed to have improved since his arrival on the scene.
She walked to the fridge and grabbed an open bottle of Valdo, she poured two glasses and went to sit with Carlo.
“Let’s toast!” she smiled handing him his glass.
“To what Divorce or marriage?”
“Marriage on my terms...here in London we both work here and we go ahead with this dog-sitter solution. I would like to take him to school when he is a little bigger and I want to try for our own children with or without IVF I am only 28 for heaven’s sake so we have some lee way. I just don’t want a gypsy life...I want us to be a family, soggy pads and all! I don’t want to go back to that mechanical sex. I want you to help in the house and I want you to help with any children who come.”
“I will make you the happiest wife in the world! I would like to go to our honeymoon hotel and spend a weekend being pampered with my wife. Let’s see if the dog-sitter could do a night? I want our reunion night to be special.” He wrapped her in his arms and rained kisses on her head, face, neck and then came up to take possession of her lips...he was lost. He was in the arms of the woman he loved most in the world.
Carlo held her.
Carlo breathed in her perfume.
Carlo ran his hands through her silken hair.
He glided his hands over the contours of her face eyes, nose, lips down to her neck, hardly touching...
He closed his eyes tight shut and prayed this was not a dream. He was here with Emma in his arms and he was moving to London as soon as possible to be with a cute puppy and his wife. HIS WIFE! He wanted to shout it from the highest mountains.
Epilogue
Three years on...
Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.
James A. Baldwin
**** **** **** ****
Pedro was patiently walking around the garden with two little identical boys holding on to his back, he had taught them both to walk! He was better than any nanny...a bit like Peter Pan! Charles and William were now two and their little sister Sophia was now just one...in fact all their friends were gathered together with their off spring for her first birthday.
Fabio and Georgina had managed to get back from Singapore and lived round the corner, their latest child was the twin of Sophia so they spent a lot of time together.
Carlo looked at his wife with heart swelling with pride. Motherhood had given her a radiant glow, she had got her figure back almost immediately but her face had softened and her hair seemed to shine more in the sun. His father was sitting in a rattan chair playing with his grand-daughter, she was giggling at whatever he as telling her in Italian!
Emma moved over to Carlo and put her arms round him, hugging him and thinking what a lucky woman she was. I have it all a loving husband, three gorgeous children a trained dog and a lovely home...to put the icing on the cake ...Georgina and Fabio lived round the corner from her and Sophia and Clara loved each other!! They were only a month apart. Antonio had bought a holiday home in Chelsea so he could be with his grand-children more often. She stood up on her tip toes and kissed him.
“Thank you Carlo for being you...thank you for your love, thank you for your help with the children and Pedro and thank you for understanding my need to go back part time to work...thank you!”
“Thank you for letting me catch you again and show you for the rest of your life how much I love you!”
The End
Dillon, Nora, Catch me! Catch me not!
