WHEN LOVE IS NOT ENOUGH
CHAPTER 3
This part is dedicated to all my reviewers,
especially to Kelsey who wasn't afraid to say that
there were things I need to improve. That's what I call constructive criticism :o)
Thanks.
I sat there like some fool – not moving, barely
breathing…
I must have looked like a fish with my eyes blinking crazily at her and my lips
moving soundlessly.
I wanted to say something, I really did, but no matter how hard I tried no
sound could escape my mouth.
I couldn't find the words that would be able to express my feelings properly. I
didn't, and I still don't, believe that a word describing such indescribable
happiness actually exists in human language.
Maybe on my planet it does….
Maria's sudden movement got me out of this trance. Stunned, I watched her get
up and start pacing furiously around the room.
I knew what it meant all too well – the infamous DeLuca babble was coming.
"I know what you're thinking Mister Guerin, and I'll let you know you're wrong
here, pally. I didn't plan it, I didn't do it on purpose. What? Did you
actually think I did it to keep you with me, to get you to marry me? Hello?
Don't I have you already? Huh?" – she rambled angrily, waving her hand in the
air as if to show me the golden ring she was wearing on the finger of her left
hand. The same ring I gave her 3 years ago. The one I put on her finger saying
that I'll stay with her till death do us apart.
She circled the sofa and took a deep breath to calm herself down a bit. It
obviously wasn't working because she started pacing even faster.
"I know we're not ready for it, I know it was unexpected and…" – her voice
wavered and I could see that she's on the verge of tears –"…and if you leave
I'll understand. I…I… didn't mean to ruin your life Michael, I really didn't…"
She was saying something else now but I didn't her words anymore.
I couldn't believe my own ears.
How could she even think that she had ruined my life?
She gave it to me.
How could she think I'd want to leave?
Her love would keep me with her forever.
I stood up from my place on the sofa and walked up to her. I didn't give her
the chance to finish whatever she was saying – I kissed her lips in mid
sentence putting an end to her babble.
"To calm you down" – I replied to her stunned expression and pulled her into a
hug
" How could you think that I'd ever leave you?"- I asked her while burring my
face in her hair –"I love you too much, Maria, too much"
I could feel the wetness of her tears on my chest and was glad to know that
they were the tears of relief.
Holding this trembling pixie in my arms I wondered what have I done to deserve
her – I wasn't worthy of her, yet she stayed with me and now she was bearing my
child.
Life couldn't be better
**********************************************
I held her like that for a long while.
Waiting for the trembling to stop, for the tears to dry…
Waiting for the happiness to sink in.
I still couldn't believe that life was treating me so kindly – after all we had
been through, after all the sleepless nights filled with fear and anxiety,
after all of that and more someone from up-there had finally decided to let us
rest and present us with the greatest gift of all - with the creation of our
love, of everything we were and everything we had done.
With one more person to love and to be loved by.
I felt Maria pull back a bit from my arms.
I looked at her beautiful face and fell even more in love with her.
How couldn't I?
She was my lover, my wife, my everything
She was the mother of my unborn child.
God, what a wonderful mother she would become if You didn't take her away from
this world so soon
I saw her searching my eyes as if trying to make sure the words I had spoken
were real.
I guess she thought my words, my kiss and the embrace I had her within were
just an act.
Maybe she thought I'd pack my bags and leave as soon as she turned her back.
I would never do that.
Never.
"Did you really mean that?" – I hear her ask quietly.
I didn't answer her question. There was no need to use the words.
Instead I kneeled before her and wrapped my arms loosely around her waist. I
looked up to see her eyes wide with surprise and then pressed my lips to her
still flat belly.
I guess that was enough for her to finally believe I wasn't going to run away.
She bent down and with her small warm hands lifted my face so that I could look
into her eyes.
"I love you, Michael Guerin" – she whispered and placed the sweetest kiss on my
lips.
***********************************************
It was the kiss I'll never forget.
The kiss I should have paid more attention to
The kiss inside of which someone put a clue to
our future.
************************************************
I remember the sweetness of it being broken
with something black and unnamed.
The flashes I got were different from the ones
I usually received.
They didn't consist of images but of the voices
only – screams to be more precise.
I didn't know who they belonged to, there were
several people shouting something I couldn't understand inside of my head.
I pulled back from Maria and the look on her
face told me she felt it too.
-"Michael. The baby" – she spoke in a rush, her
voice barely a whisper – "Check it out, Michael. Check if our baby's okay" –
she pleaded, tears welling in her eyes again.
I didn't need to be asked twice. I picked my
wife up and carried her on the sofa. Once I laid her there, she pulled her
shirt up high enough to expose her stomach.
Fearing the worst I put my trembling hand on
her belly and shut my eyes tightly, trying my hardest to concentrate on the life inside of Maria.
After several seconds I could feel the
connection being formed, I felt my palm warming up and I knew it started
glowing but I saw nothing.
Nothing at all.
-"Michael" – I heard my wife whisper – "Look"
I opened my eyes and saw something that filled
me with awe and relief. The light from my hand created a projection on Maria's
abdomen.
A projection of our child.
A tiny little baby
Perfectly normal *human* baby – with two arms
and two legs.
A human baby girl.
I looked at Maria and saw awe mixed with
disbelief painted across her face.
-"She's so big" – she said quietly as if she
thought that if she spoke too loud our baby would disappear. – "How come she's
so big and I'm not?" – she asked after a second. – "Not that I'm complaining,
but…"-she added instantly and I smiled at the joy and amazement that was
obvious in her voice.
-"I don't know, Maria, but I know that she's
healthy" – I managed to say before falling to the floor unconscious.
***********************************************************************
When I opened my eyes some time later, I was
lying on the sofa with Maria bent down over me. I briefly wondered how did she
managed to lay me there.
-"You shouldn't be lifting heavy thing Maria.
No mother of my child should" – I whispered.
She smiled with relief at me and before I could
say anything she covered my lips with hers.
Little did we knew that that would be our last
not bittersweet kiss..
The last one that didn't mean goodbye.