Sorry if it took a while for me to update. Some of you wrote in your reviews that I have grammatical errors...Honestly, I'm not that good in English (hehehe!) and I'm doing my best to make it sound right...Sorry for that, no one's perfect you know.
beth - thanks! hope to hear from you more. A Fire Inside - cool name! I'm trying to describe everything so that you can understand better. I hope you keep on reading TWP despite my many errors. KoumiLoccness – Get a life! Queen of the Sugarplum Fairies – Hey! Thanks a bunch for reviewing my story. I know I made a lot of mistakes. Actually, most of my reviews point that out & I really am sorry. I was careless for not checking my spelling. Maybe you can help me out?
Chapter Five
Mimi bought a recently published map of the area in a nearby gas station. She asked the clerk to mark the location of the new cemetery, & thirty minutes after leaving the gas station, she was pulling the Porsche up in the parking lot of the Greenvale Burial Grounds.
"Way to go kid!"
"Thanks, Uncle Matt!"
"Well done, TJ!" Sora Takeneuchi gave her breathless six year old son a warm hug. "That was a great game & you were a star!"
"Where's Tom-Tom?" TJ took off his headgear goggles, which he was using as a headband, & sent a searching look for his younger brother.
"He's waiting for us on one of the picnic tables." Matt popped open the can of lemonade he was holding & gave it to the flushed youngster. "You ready for lunch?"
"Yeah!"
"Then let's get this show on the road!"
As the three some made their way from the soccer field to the adjoining park, TJ ran on ahead while Sora tucked her arm through Matt's.
"Too bad you couldn't have come to that movie with us last night," she said. "You'd really have enjoyed it."
"Yeah, but I didn't get out of the office till after seven. I don't remember when I was ever quite so busy."
They stopped by Matt's black Honda Civic, which was parked adjacent to the street, & he took out the picnic cooler from the trunk. Sora slammed the lid.
"I hope," she said as they headed into the park, "that you took time to eat dinner."
"I took home a pizza."
"There's lots of nourishment in a good pizza."
"I guess." What he didn't tell her was that he hadn't eaten one crumb of the pizza. By the time he & Mimi had finished talking…arguing…the last thing on his mind had been food. He knew he had to tell Sora that Mr. Tachikawa's daughter had turned up & moved back into her old home.
His home now, although she was, apparently, determined to battle him for it. He hadn't quite found the right moment to tell Sora of this new development, & he wasn't sure he knew why he was so reluctant to bring it up.
"Hey mom! Over here!" Tom-Tom waved at them from a picnic table. "Let's get that cooler open because I'm starving!"
"Hold your horses, young man!" Matt placed the cooler on the table, & the two boys immediately set themselves to uncovering it.
Matt helped Sora to her seat, but as he sat down beside her, his eyes were on the two little brown haired boys kneeling on the bench at the other side of the table.
He made a point of spending as much time as he could with them after they lost their dad. And with Sora too. Before Taichi died, he asked Matt to take care of her after he'd gone. And that promise he made to his longtime best friend was sacred to him.
After they were finished, they packed up & the two boys ran over to the swings by the nearby tennis court. Matt & Sora walked back to his car, & as he put the cooler in the trunk, she said, "I'm going to the ladies room. Be right back!"
Leaning against the side of his car, he watched the boys swing high. After a couple of minutes, they jumped off, & they ran back to the Honda. As the boys got in, Matt saw Sora come running toward him, the sun dancing in her short auburn hair.
She'd lost a lot of weight in the months following Tai's death, but now, he noticed how nicely she was filling out her t-shirt again & how attractively her denim skirt lay over her trim hips.
When she came to a breathless stop beside him, he smiled. "You've put on a bit of weight. It suits you."
"If I keep eating the way I've been doing lately, I'll soon be 'deliciously sexy' again!"
Matt laughed with her as they recalled the teasing words Tai had always used to describe his wife's curves.
"Yeah," he said. "Tai would be pleased."
She put a hand on his arm & looked up at him. "I don't know if I'd have survived if it hadn't been for you."
"It works both ways, sweetie. I miss Tai, too." He put an arm around her, & as he embraced her, he inhaled her floral scent, which was familiar to him now as the feel of her soft body in his arms. He had comforted her as she had comforted him…so many times...but never in a sexual way. Nor was there anything sexual in their embrace now.
"Come on you guys!" TJ said. "Tom-Tom's gonna be late on his chess lesson!"
Once Matt had seated Sora in the car, he walked around to his own side but before he opened his door, he saw a midnight-blue Porsche across the street. The driver was Mimi.
Their eyes met. Her expression startled. And that was all he had time to see before she rammed her foot on the accelerator & drove away.
Mimi's thoughts were in turmoil as she drove home. She could have kicked herself for pausing at the park. She'd been passing by when she saw Matt leaning on his car...alone...and she on an impulse…slowed down her car.
It had occurred to her that she might join him. She had some questions she wanted to ask him about her father. Then two boys ran up to him & went in his car. After a while, a woman came up. It was immediately obvious that they were in a relationship.
Knowing she should move on but unable to drag her gaze away, Mimi felt a heavy ache in her heart. She had assumed that Matt lived alone...but he wasn't unattached. She herself had nothing to do with him...yet, why did seeing him with another woman upset her so?
She was about to drive on when he spotted her. Their eyes had locked, & even from the distance, she had been surprised by his look. She only hoped he hadn't seen her distress.
It was going to be intolerable living at Laurel House with him. Even if he & that woman aren't living together, she would surely be a frequent visitor.
And Mimi knew she couldn't bear to see them together. Just the sight of him with another woman in his arms had torn every old scar in her heart. And she knew, with a sinking feeling of despair, that even after all these years; Yamato Ishida still had the power to hurt her.
Matt didn't come home that night till well after nine. Mimi was upstairs in her study room. She spent the evening sorting out old files & school papers. The task had kept her busy; had kept her from thinking about Matt, & she succeeded…till she tugged the faded liner from the bottom drawer & found a scrap of paper that had been tucked underneath.
On the paper she saw the words she'd printed there the day she realized she was pregnant with Matt's baby:
Mimi Ishida
Mrs. Mimi Ishida
Mr. & Mrs. Yamato Ishida
As she looked at the words now, a torrent of memories brought tears to her eyes. She had been so naively trusting, so sure that Matt would marry her…instead, he let her down. But his failure to stand by her hadn't dimmed the joy & wonder she felt at the prospect of becoming a mother.
And this time around, her wonder & joy were just as intent. Sometimes, though, she worried in case anything went wrong with her pregnancy. And sometimes she felt overwhelmed by the responsibility of being a single mom.
But over & above her anxieties was an unwavering determination to be the best parent she could possibly be. More than anything, a baby needed love and she already loved this child more than words could express
A light double tap on the door made her jump. Automatically, she crushed the scrap of paper into a ball & threw it at the garbage can.
"Meems?" Matt's voice was tired. "May I come in?"
She sat frozen, not answering, her heart beating wildly.
"Mimi?" This time his voice had a hard edge. "I need to talk to you. I'm coming in now."
AN: I think it's time that I put a cliffy…hehehe! I do hope you guys will keep on reading. Chapter 6 will be posted soon!
Please R&R! lol
