Turning To Stone - Chapter 7
"Alexis, I'll do anything if you'll marry me." Sonny could barely believe the words had come from his mouth. And from the look on Alexis's face it appeared she could barely believe it herself. Silence filled the space between them. "Alexis, aren't you going to say something?"
Much like a deer in headlights, she blinked very slowly. "Are you crazy? We can't get marr...." She grabbed a nearby table for balance.
Sonny felt his heart sink a bit. "I think the word you're looking for is married."
"Yes, that." Alexis nodded furiously. "We can't do that." She tapped her fingernails against the glass tabletop. "I mean why would you want to get married to me? Is getting married some kind of hobby for you? What are you some kind of serial husband? It would never work, I mean on most days we barely get a long. We argue all the time."
"We don't argue that much."
"We're doing it now."
"Alexis, what are you so scared about? You're my best friend."
"And you're mine." Alexis left the bedroom doorway and walked toward the sofa. She sank into the cushions. Sonny followed and sat beside her. "That's what scares me. If we get married and it doesn't work, I lose my husband and my best friend."
Sonny thought about all the things that had happened in the future that had now only happened in his own mind. There were times when they were enemies and they'd fought bitterly, but they'd always gravitated back to each other. "Trust me when I tell you this: There's nothing that could happen that would make me leave your life. So, I'm the only one who's taking a risk."
"I'm not going anywhere either." She touched his cheek. "But honestly Sonny, don't you think it's too soon?"
"Too soon?" He allowed his mind to wander across the years they'd spent apart. Years that only existed in his head now. He tried his best to remember where they were in 2002. Most nights he'd fallen asleep on her sofa, only to awaken with her chenille throw covering him. They'd shared coffee and breakfast together on many mornings; most evenings they shared dinner and their deepest secrets. He allowed his mind to travel 21 years in the past to when they were just a boy and a girl being swallowed by a love that was too intense for their young ages. "It feels like we've spent two life times together."
She took his hand. "We managed to find each other after all these years, what's the hurry now?"
"When I'm with you I feel like I can be the man you see when you look at me." He toyed with a strand of her hair that had broken free from the rest. "Besides you keep me on my toes."
"But we haven't even dated...as adults."
Sonny began to chuckle as he remembered that the pain of the past had disappeared. "Over the last six months, we've been out together: to dinner, to parties, and we've even vacationed together...twice now. We've helped each other through family problems. You've gotten me through nightmares. I've cooked for you. And if you want the ultimate proof that we can survive anything together, I should remind you that I've even suffered through full cups of your coffee."
Alexis laughed though it was obvious she didn't want to. "My coffee really is that bad, isn't it?"
"Yes." Sonny laughed then he became serious. "Look, I know you don't like my business, but in time I think I can make everything legitimate."
"Ah, the proverbial elephant in the room." A somber look crossed Alexis's face, "You telling me you'll leave the business sounds as promising a married man who says he'll leave his wife."
Sonny ran his hand across his face. This was Alexis. And this is the conversation only a woman like Alexis would have with him. To another woman he could offer promises or outright lies, but Alexis needed truth. She could also sense when he offered her anything less. Helpless he asked, "What do you want me to say?"
"I don't want you to say anything." Alexis pulled her hair back with a scrunchie he didn't even know she'd been holding. She reminded him of a warrior preparing for battle. "And what I really don't want you to do is make me promises you can't keep."
An audible sigh passed from Sonny's lips.
Alexis continued, "Have I asked you to change who you are?"
"On a daily basis," he mumbled. A moment passed before he added, "But you've never asked me to do anything I didn't want to do myself anyway."
"I know how important the business is to you and how much it plays into who you think you are."
"Could you live with me and raise children with me if I didn't try to go legitimate?" He asked, though he already knew the answer. He'd lived it in the years that disappeared moments after he'd seen Stone. Alexis had been willing to do anything, including marrying his brother, to avoid raising their daughter in his world.
"Sonny our child is an adult and as for having any more children, I'm not so sure that's going to happen anytime soon. Besides, what makes you think I'm hesitating only because of who you are? I'm a real piece of work. I work long hours, make terrible coffee and I'm very argumentative. Or haven't you noticed?"
"I've noticed." Sonny decided to avoid pointing out the soon to be obvious, which was that Alexis could be and was indeed pregnant after their night together. She wouldn't believe him if he told her how he knew and she would assume that it was the only reason he'd proposed. It wasn't. "Alexis, you're a beautiful woman with a mind that fascinates me, even if I don't understand the way it works all the time. Most of the long hours you work are for me, which is the way I'd like to keep it. Besides, Candyboy survived being married to you. Anything he can do, I can do better." Dimples punctuated his smile.
"His name is not Candyboy. Why can't you just call him Jax? You know, that's another reason it would be a bad idea for us to get married: you hate my friends. I'm not fond about your associates..."
Sonny turned his back. He knew Alexis wasn't a big fan of marriage and he knew she'd probably say no if he asked. Still, he hadn't expected the hurt that he'd begun to feel. Sonny fidgeted with the ring Stone gave him just before his death, which he still wore on occasion. He turned his back from her to hide his disappointment.
"But..." he thought he heard her say. He felt her arms slip over his shoulders. Her scent, gardenias and vanilla, filled each breath he took. She placed her mouth very near his ear, so close he could feel her breath. "This is Puerto Rico and I have a tendency to act first and think later here. So, in answer to your question: Yes, Sonny, I'll marry you."
