DISCLAIMER: Once again, nothing is mine - except for Sophie and Grace. All
my characters and actions are strictly fictitious and based upon my vivid
imagination and not totally reflective of my personal beliefs.
Author's note: After reviewing chapter 22, I noted some mistakes and have corrected them below. Thank you to all of those reviews. They have been a great encouragement for me, especially since I so very rarely share anything that I've written. Thank you.
AND NOW -
CHAPTER 22
The silence was deafening. Sophie kept her back to Bosco. She couldn't watch him leave. She had taken a chance telling him about Grace but knew she had to be honest with him. He deserved that much.
Bosco wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He remembered the time he was shot by the nutcase he took out a second story window. Sophie's announcement rated about that high on the shock meter. He had been prepared for married man, ex-boyfriend, even worse, but he had never, ever considered artificial insemination. He knew she wasn't making that up; her values wouldn't permit it. However, it explained a lot: the disassociation with family, the guard she put up when someone referred to Gracie's father. "I'd better go."
Sophie nodded. She knew this would happen. "I would appreciate if you would keep everything to yourself. For Grace."
It wasn't a request. Even if it were, Bosco wouldn't have purposely done anything to hurt Gracie. He needed to get out of there. Now.
Sophie heard the door click before she let the tears fall freely.
CHAPTER 23
"What's eatin' at him these days?" Ty asked Faith, having once again suffered the grunt and glare of Bosco as they crossed paths at the locker room door.
Faith shrugged. She was as much in the dark as anyone else when it came to Bosco but suspected it had to do with a certain brunette and her daughter.
"Bosco havin' trouble with the ladies again?" Sully asked upon entering.
"I'm not sure. Why? Is he pickin' a fight again?" Faith slammed the door to her locker and started to leave, intending to once again bail her partner out of whatever trouble he'd gotten into.
"No, that's why I'm askin'. He's just sittin' in the briefing room staring at the floor." Sully tossed his coat under his arm before continuing. "I thought he was seeing that girl - with the kid."
"Well, I'm findin' out what's going on. Watchin' him mope around here is worse than havin' him shoot off his mouth," Faith remarked, glancing in the mirror over the sink.
"At least then we just ignored him," Davis added. "This is just spooky."
Faith had to agree.
*********************
They were in the car a whole five minutes before Faith brought it up. "What's your problem these days?"
He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. "Nothin'."
"Then why you been walkin' around like someone died for the past six weeks?" Leave it Faith to get to the point. "Did you and Sophie fight? Is that why you haven't mentioned her lately?"
"No, we didn't fight." Not exactly.
"Then what's going on?" Faith was determined to get to the bottom of whatever was buggin' her partner. Even if she had to spend the whole shift askin' the same question.
Maybe he should tell her. It might help. He hadn't intended to say anything out of respect for Sophie and Grace's privacy. But this was Faith; he trusted her with his life. He took a deep breath. "Sophie told me about Grace's father."
"Yeah, so?" Faith prompted. "What'd she say?"
"That she never met him."
Faith wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"She never met him? What, was she attacked?" Faith was beginning to see why Bosco had been so distracted lately.
"Nope."
"Then how?" Faith gave a short laugh. "What? Artificial insemination?"
His lack of response told Faith she'd hit the nail on the head. "You're kiddin', right?"
He shook his head. "Nope."
"You're tellin' me that Sophie had a baby by artificial insemination?" Of all the things Faith thought she might hear, this didn't even make the list.
To cut down on the question and answer session, Bosco told Faith what happened that night about six weeks ago, ending with his abrupt departure.
Her response was less than enthusiastic. "Wow. So you just left?"
Bosco squirmed. He knew how it sounded. "Yeah. What was I supposed to do?"
"Well, I'm sure leaving like you did and not seeing or talking to her for six weeks really endears you to her," Faith commented.
"What would you have done?" Bosco asked, defenses up, although he knew he'd acted stupidly.
"I don't know. I'm just saying that Sophie tells you about her daughter's father, or lack of, and you treat her like she's got the plague or somethin'" She was silent a moment. "Look Bosco, you've been a different person since the first time you laid eyes on that woman - and her baby. Can you sit there and tell me if what Sophie told you changes what you feel for her and Grace? Maybe you should think about that."
Bosco listened to Faith. He didn't need to think about anything. He admitted he hadn't handled the situation with Sophie very well; he just didn't know what to do at the time.
Does it change what you feel for Sophie and Grace?
The thought drifted through his head. He knew the answer - No, it changes nothing. He admitted some time ago that he loved them both; it didn't matter how Gracie had come to be, she was part of Sophie and he didn't want to give up either of them.
CHAPTER 24
Sophie shut off the computer. She couldn't seem to concentrate much on her work lately and with Grace down for the night, she was left with too little to occupy her thoughts, which inevitably turned to Bosco. She missed him.
She thought over the last few months. She had looked forward to the birth of her child and was content with that. Until one Sunday morning when she met a police officer who first watched over her safety and then declared her too independent to need his help; who watched her eat heaping bowls of pasta, who was with her at a time when she expected to be alone, and who treated her daughter as his own. And suddenly, she wanted more.
She wondered if she shouldn't have told him about Grace's father; would it have made a difference?
You weren't his type, a little voice reminded her. She had never gotten a chance to ask him about the description Kim had given her. In the end, she guessed it didn't matter since he'd left anyway.
Even Grace seemed to know he was gone. At almost six months old, she was able to sit up by herself and Sophie had a feeling she would soon be mobile; she had already discovered how to get on her hands and knees but couldn't figure out what came next. However, when Sophie brought her to the living room of a morning, Gracie's dark eyes scanned the room, resting expectantly on the door as if she were waiting to hear the familiar 'Gracie- girl!" It never came.
Hoping to relax, Sophie soaked in a hot lavender scented bath, baby monitor close at hand as usual.
Maybe some music will help, Sophie thought, having slipped into her favorite satin chemise, still too restless to sleep.
Except for the welcome lamp near the window, the room was dark, the better to match her mood, she supposed. With the sounds of Pachebel's Canon in D drifting through the room, she was gathering pillows in one corner of the sofa when she heard a soft knock on her door. It was almost midnight, who in the world was dropping by at this time of the night?
He heart pounded. The only person she knew that would still be up and out at this time of the night was Bosco. Don't be ridicules, she thought. It must be someone from church with news of some misfortune to someone in the congregation.
Dragging a shawl from the back of the rocker, Sophie tossed it around her shoulders and hurried to answer the door before whoever it was knocked a second time and woke Grace.
She opened the door. The shawl slipped from her shoulders. "Maurice."
He knew it was late but he didn't want to wait to see her. To talk to her. To apologize. Bosco drank in the sight of her. Noticing her dress, he gulped. The short, black, satin thing skimmed her trim curves, setting off her eyes even more than usual and giving him thoughts he knew would have embarrassed Sophie mercilessly.
Sophie recovered first, pulling the shawl up over her shoulders, acutely aware of her state of dress. It was ridicules really. This man had been with her during childbirth; she was sure he had seen more of her than she thought. But this is different, a voice reminded her. Clutching the wrap closer, Sophie opened the door wider. "Would you like to come in?"
Bosco moved into the living room where soft music was playing and felt that familiar warmth greet him. He hadn't realized how much he missed it until now.
"Will you excuse me a moment?" Sophie didn't give him a chance to answer as she hurried down the hall.
She retrieved her robe and tightening the belt, reminded herself not to read too much into anything.
She passed Gracie's room. Bosco stood at the crib studying the sleeping baby. Had he only come to check on Grace?
Feeling her gaze, Bosco turned to the threshold. "She's gotten big."
Sophie glanced at her daughter. She couldn't involve him in Grace's life if he were going to disappear when he felt like it. Gracie deserved more. "Yes."
"I've missed her."
Sophie linked her hands behind her back and turned to go back to the living room.
"I've missed you." Bosco said, following her to the living room. She'd put a robe on over the black satin thing. Unfortunately, it did little to eliminate the mental picture of her that had been imprinted on his brain. He knew what was under the fluffy robe. "I shouldn't have left the way I did. I'm sorry."
A frown knit her brow. He was apologizing? That made no sense. "Bosco, you don't need-"
"Yes, I do," he interrupted. "I hurt you. I have a feeling you've suffered enough rejection already. You didn't need it from me. It won't happen again."
Sophie never expected this. She was the one who should be apologizing. She was the one who chose to ignore the truth when confronted with it.
Having decided to follow her own path, there were times when Sophie had questioned her own actions but always came to the same conclusion: what was right for one person was not always right for the next. She supposed she was the 'next person.'
He was right. She had suffered the worst kind of rejection when she decided to have a child on her own. Although she had not been officially disowned, she was an outcast from her family; contacts were few and far between. She sometimes had moments when she wondered if she had cheated Gracie out of a 'normal life', having her as she did but Sophie knew that her daughter was a gift from above and had a special purpose. Sophie couldn't imagine not having her.
And now it seemed she was being given another gift in the shape of the man before her - the man who knew she had had a child very unorthodoxly and still wanted her and her child. The man who seemed to think he needed to excuse his behavior.
"Maurice," she began softly. "I should be asking for your forgiveness. I wasn't honest with you to begin with. Yes, I was hurt but you had nothing to do with it and I hurt you far more by trying to pretend it didn't matter."
Bosco crossed the room and took her in his arms. Evidently, she thought she had wronged him.
She stiffened at the contact, surprised.
"Soph, both of us think we did something to the other. Why don't we just forgive ourselves and move on?" Bosco suggested, quickly adding, "from here."
Sophie thought she might collapse. If Bosco's arms weren't circling her, keeping her upright, she might have. He was asking to come back. She could hold onto her hurt and pain and reject him out of fear of what might happen or might be true and lose this man she loved, imperfections and all, or she could take the step of faith that she had lived her entire life by and learn from the past and gain everything she never knew she really wanted.
She searched his eyes - his heart.
In response, the small, gentle, smile Bosco had seen thousands of times when she thought he wasn't looking, appeared and he drew her closer, the lavender scent she favored surrounding him, the soft velvet of her robe under his touch reminding him of her touch, and lowered his head to touch her lips with his own.
TO BE CONTINUED - Are you still with me?
Author's note: After reviewing chapter 22, I noted some mistakes and have corrected them below. Thank you to all of those reviews. They have been a great encouragement for me, especially since I so very rarely share anything that I've written. Thank you.
AND NOW -
CHAPTER 22
The silence was deafening. Sophie kept her back to Bosco. She couldn't watch him leave. She had taken a chance telling him about Grace but knew she had to be honest with him. He deserved that much.
Bosco wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He remembered the time he was shot by the nutcase he took out a second story window. Sophie's announcement rated about that high on the shock meter. He had been prepared for married man, ex-boyfriend, even worse, but he had never, ever considered artificial insemination. He knew she wasn't making that up; her values wouldn't permit it. However, it explained a lot: the disassociation with family, the guard she put up when someone referred to Gracie's father. "I'd better go."
Sophie nodded. She knew this would happen. "I would appreciate if you would keep everything to yourself. For Grace."
It wasn't a request. Even if it were, Bosco wouldn't have purposely done anything to hurt Gracie. He needed to get out of there. Now.
Sophie heard the door click before she let the tears fall freely.
CHAPTER 23
"What's eatin' at him these days?" Ty asked Faith, having once again suffered the grunt and glare of Bosco as they crossed paths at the locker room door.
Faith shrugged. She was as much in the dark as anyone else when it came to Bosco but suspected it had to do with a certain brunette and her daughter.
"Bosco havin' trouble with the ladies again?" Sully asked upon entering.
"I'm not sure. Why? Is he pickin' a fight again?" Faith slammed the door to her locker and started to leave, intending to once again bail her partner out of whatever trouble he'd gotten into.
"No, that's why I'm askin'. He's just sittin' in the briefing room staring at the floor." Sully tossed his coat under his arm before continuing. "I thought he was seeing that girl - with the kid."
"Well, I'm findin' out what's going on. Watchin' him mope around here is worse than havin' him shoot off his mouth," Faith remarked, glancing in the mirror over the sink.
"At least then we just ignored him," Davis added. "This is just spooky."
Faith had to agree.
*********************
They were in the car a whole five minutes before Faith brought it up. "What's your problem these days?"
He shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. "Nothin'."
"Then why you been walkin' around like someone died for the past six weeks?" Leave it Faith to get to the point. "Did you and Sophie fight? Is that why you haven't mentioned her lately?"
"No, we didn't fight." Not exactly.
"Then what's going on?" Faith was determined to get to the bottom of whatever was buggin' her partner. Even if she had to spend the whole shift askin' the same question.
Maybe he should tell her. It might help. He hadn't intended to say anything out of respect for Sophie and Grace's privacy. But this was Faith; he trusted her with his life. He took a deep breath. "Sophie told me about Grace's father."
"Yeah, so?" Faith prompted. "What'd she say?"
"That she never met him."
Faith wasn't sure she'd heard correctly. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me."
"She never met him? What, was she attacked?" Faith was beginning to see why Bosco had been so distracted lately.
"Nope."
"Then how?" Faith gave a short laugh. "What? Artificial insemination?"
His lack of response told Faith she'd hit the nail on the head. "You're kiddin', right?"
He shook his head. "Nope."
"You're tellin' me that Sophie had a baby by artificial insemination?" Of all the things Faith thought she might hear, this didn't even make the list.
To cut down on the question and answer session, Bosco told Faith what happened that night about six weeks ago, ending with his abrupt departure.
Her response was less than enthusiastic. "Wow. So you just left?"
Bosco squirmed. He knew how it sounded. "Yeah. What was I supposed to do?"
"Well, I'm sure leaving like you did and not seeing or talking to her for six weeks really endears you to her," Faith commented.
"What would you have done?" Bosco asked, defenses up, although he knew he'd acted stupidly.
"I don't know. I'm just saying that Sophie tells you about her daughter's father, or lack of, and you treat her like she's got the plague or somethin'" She was silent a moment. "Look Bosco, you've been a different person since the first time you laid eyes on that woman - and her baby. Can you sit there and tell me if what Sophie told you changes what you feel for her and Grace? Maybe you should think about that."
Bosco listened to Faith. He didn't need to think about anything. He admitted he hadn't handled the situation with Sophie very well; he just didn't know what to do at the time.
Does it change what you feel for Sophie and Grace?
The thought drifted through his head. He knew the answer - No, it changes nothing. He admitted some time ago that he loved them both; it didn't matter how Gracie had come to be, she was part of Sophie and he didn't want to give up either of them.
CHAPTER 24
Sophie shut off the computer. She couldn't seem to concentrate much on her work lately and with Grace down for the night, she was left with too little to occupy her thoughts, which inevitably turned to Bosco. She missed him.
She thought over the last few months. She had looked forward to the birth of her child and was content with that. Until one Sunday morning when she met a police officer who first watched over her safety and then declared her too independent to need his help; who watched her eat heaping bowls of pasta, who was with her at a time when she expected to be alone, and who treated her daughter as his own. And suddenly, she wanted more.
She wondered if she shouldn't have told him about Grace's father; would it have made a difference?
You weren't his type, a little voice reminded her. She had never gotten a chance to ask him about the description Kim had given her. In the end, she guessed it didn't matter since he'd left anyway.
Even Grace seemed to know he was gone. At almost six months old, she was able to sit up by herself and Sophie had a feeling she would soon be mobile; she had already discovered how to get on her hands and knees but couldn't figure out what came next. However, when Sophie brought her to the living room of a morning, Gracie's dark eyes scanned the room, resting expectantly on the door as if she were waiting to hear the familiar 'Gracie- girl!" It never came.
Hoping to relax, Sophie soaked in a hot lavender scented bath, baby monitor close at hand as usual.
Maybe some music will help, Sophie thought, having slipped into her favorite satin chemise, still too restless to sleep.
Except for the welcome lamp near the window, the room was dark, the better to match her mood, she supposed. With the sounds of Pachebel's Canon in D drifting through the room, she was gathering pillows in one corner of the sofa when she heard a soft knock on her door. It was almost midnight, who in the world was dropping by at this time of the night?
He heart pounded. The only person she knew that would still be up and out at this time of the night was Bosco. Don't be ridicules, she thought. It must be someone from church with news of some misfortune to someone in the congregation.
Dragging a shawl from the back of the rocker, Sophie tossed it around her shoulders and hurried to answer the door before whoever it was knocked a second time and woke Grace.
She opened the door. The shawl slipped from her shoulders. "Maurice."
He knew it was late but he didn't want to wait to see her. To talk to her. To apologize. Bosco drank in the sight of her. Noticing her dress, he gulped. The short, black, satin thing skimmed her trim curves, setting off her eyes even more than usual and giving him thoughts he knew would have embarrassed Sophie mercilessly.
Sophie recovered first, pulling the shawl up over her shoulders, acutely aware of her state of dress. It was ridicules really. This man had been with her during childbirth; she was sure he had seen more of her than she thought. But this is different, a voice reminded her. Clutching the wrap closer, Sophie opened the door wider. "Would you like to come in?"
Bosco moved into the living room where soft music was playing and felt that familiar warmth greet him. He hadn't realized how much he missed it until now.
"Will you excuse me a moment?" Sophie didn't give him a chance to answer as she hurried down the hall.
She retrieved her robe and tightening the belt, reminded herself not to read too much into anything.
She passed Gracie's room. Bosco stood at the crib studying the sleeping baby. Had he only come to check on Grace?
Feeling her gaze, Bosco turned to the threshold. "She's gotten big."
Sophie glanced at her daughter. She couldn't involve him in Grace's life if he were going to disappear when he felt like it. Gracie deserved more. "Yes."
"I've missed her."
Sophie linked her hands behind her back and turned to go back to the living room.
"I've missed you." Bosco said, following her to the living room. She'd put a robe on over the black satin thing. Unfortunately, it did little to eliminate the mental picture of her that had been imprinted on his brain. He knew what was under the fluffy robe. "I shouldn't have left the way I did. I'm sorry."
A frown knit her brow. He was apologizing? That made no sense. "Bosco, you don't need-"
"Yes, I do," he interrupted. "I hurt you. I have a feeling you've suffered enough rejection already. You didn't need it from me. It won't happen again."
Sophie never expected this. She was the one who should be apologizing. She was the one who chose to ignore the truth when confronted with it.
Having decided to follow her own path, there were times when Sophie had questioned her own actions but always came to the same conclusion: what was right for one person was not always right for the next. She supposed she was the 'next person.'
He was right. She had suffered the worst kind of rejection when she decided to have a child on her own. Although she had not been officially disowned, she was an outcast from her family; contacts were few and far between. She sometimes had moments when she wondered if she had cheated Gracie out of a 'normal life', having her as she did but Sophie knew that her daughter was a gift from above and had a special purpose. Sophie couldn't imagine not having her.
And now it seemed she was being given another gift in the shape of the man before her - the man who knew she had had a child very unorthodoxly and still wanted her and her child. The man who seemed to think he needed to excuse his behavior.
"Maurice," she began softly. "I should be asking for your forgiveness. I wasn't honest with you to begin with. Yes, I was hurt but you had nothing to do with it and I hurt you far more by trying to pretend it didn't matter."
Bosco crossed the room and took her in his arms. Evidently, she thought she had wronged him.
She stiffened at the contact, surprised.
"Soph, both of us think we did something to the other. Why don't we just forgive ourselves and move on?" Bosco suggested, quickly adding, "from here."
Sophie thought she might collapse. If Bosco's arms weren't circling her, keeping her upright, she might have. He was asking to come back. She could hold onto her hurt and pain and reject him out of fear of what might happen or might be true and lose this man she loved, imperfections and all, or she could take the step of faith that she had lived her entire life by and learn from the past and gain everything she never knew she really wanted.
She searched his eyes - his heart.
In response, the small, gentle, smile Bosco had seen thousands of times when she thought he wasn't looking, appeared and he drew her closer, the lavender scent she favored surrounding him, the soft velvet of her robe under his touch reminding him of her touch, and lowered his head to touch her lips with his own.
TO BE CONTINUED - Are you still with me?