CHAPTER 10: Sport Event
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Neal went to the school to meet Candy that Saturday morning. He stood on the sideline watching her and her daughter. The children and their mothers were competing running as couples. Each child's left foot is tied to the mother's right foot and they tried to reach quickly to the finish line.
"Hurry mom!" Candy's daughter screamed to Candy. She got stumbled and brought Candy down with her. Candy got up and pulled her daughter with her.
"Oh this is so hard." Candy giggled. Her face was so happy with that broad smile.
"We're going there!" Candy yelled encouragingly. "Follow the rhythm, dear. One... two... one...two..."
Finally, they succeeded. Candy jumped and dropped themselves to the finish line.
He should have clapped for Candy and her daughter. But... The more he thought of Candy's daughter's father, the more annoyed he became.
As he stood there, he had been examining every man who came near Candy trying to guess who the girl's father might be. But so far, much to his relieved, no one gave her a kiss nor seemed to fit the credential. Unconsciously Neal thought of Terry.
Candy's voice broke his heavy thinking.
"Neal, can you take my daughter to compete in jumping sacks?" Candy asked. She smiled beautifully. Made him feel even angrier that she's not his.
"Why not ask her own father?" Neal asked sharply.
"He's not here."
"So that means he's out of town then?"
She shrugged. "I'd rather not talk about it now."
"Why not? I want to know." Neal thought of Terry again and got really really jealous.
"Because I don't want to talk about it here," Candy reiterated, started to be annoyed.
"Who's her father? William? That girl is roughly four years old about the same time you and him were living together. But I remember your belly was flat. So now enter the second possibility. The actor! Has he left you then? No wonder you're always so friendly to men. You are looking for an able one to be the father of that-"
Her smile disappeared. So much as her plan to be a manner guru. Shaking with anger, Candy cracked her palm against his face. "How dare you, you ass. How dare you talk like that to me! I said I don't want to discuss it. I don't need to discuss it."
Taking a grip of her wrist, he pulled her to a secluded place behind one storage tent. "What happens to you and that actor?"
"What is this wanting to prove that you really are obnoxious? I won't answer that! I don't have to. It's my life - my own business," Candy hissed in utter anger. She pulled her arm to free herself, but his grip was too strong.
"So you admit it then? She's that actor's daughter!"
"What if she is? It's not any of your business! Go away! Don't let me see your face again!"
"Mommy - we won a balloon. Look."
Candy turned quickly. Neal reluctantly released her. With an affectionate smile she looked at the balloon the little girl held out proudly.
"Great job, sweetie. Very nice!"
"Mommy, Mrs. Smith called us for the jumping sack. She said bring the daddy."
"Ohhh," Candy muttered, uncomfortably.
Bebe glanced at Neal.
"No dear. Mr. Leagan can't play. He has to leave. Sorry, mommy invited a wrong guy." Candy opened her purse. "Would you like to get some ice cream? Go buy one. Give your friends who don't play too."
"But mommy, I like jumping sack." The little girl protested. "Tell Mr. Leagan you will cook him delicious spaghetti if he takes me to jump," she whispered to Candy.
No matter how cute the girl was, the least Neal wanted was to play with Candy's daughter with Terry!
Neal lifted up his face to take his leave but he found many people were crowding looking at their direction. He couldn't just toss the little girl away, it would cause a very bad reputation to the Leagans.
"Okay," said Neal, pretending to be nice. He planned to leave secretly later when no one was looking. "Get ready. Pick our number."
"Thank you, Mr. Leagan. You're so kind," cried Bebe happily. Jumping up and down, she ran away to the registration booth to get their number.
The crowd dispersed and Neal turned to sneak out and leave. But Candy stood in front of him, blocking his way.
"Thanks Neal for taking Bebe," said Candy quietly. She didn't know that Neal was pretending. "That would mean the world to her. She... she doesn't have a father. I adopted her from Pony's home before it was closed down."
Numb with the unexpected revelation, he could only stare at Candy blankly for a minute. "Pony's home is closed?" He knew how fond Candy was of Pony's home.
Candy nodded. She told him about the catastrophic that fell on Pony's home because of the flu. "Most of the children were infected. Without Sr. Lane, Ms. Pony can't handle the orphanage. Pony's home was ordered to close. We couldn't find a place for Bebe so I adopted her."
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep her eyes dry. Always, every time she thought about Sr. Lane and those poor little children. She turned away.
Candy and Neal were standing in silent, both looking somewhere else except at each other.
"Why didn't you say it earlier?" he asked eventually. His anger subsided fast.
Candy shrugged. "I didn't think it's important."
They stood still like a tree. Neal couldn't believe he almost ruined his friendship with Candy.
"Will you cook me spaghetti like Bebe said?" he asked.
After a brief hesitation she nodded. "Sure." She gave him a little smile.
"When?" he asked, ecstatically.
Candy paused. "Next week? After work. Early dinner. Could you? I can't do it sooner, I'm very busy at the hospital. Trust me."
Neal nodded. "Anytime," he said softly. His rich brown eyes twinkled, looking at her. His hair combed perfectly a shade lighter than his brows. Suddenly she felt very shy and avoided eye contact luckily Bebe was calling him.
"Mr. Leagan, I got our number."
Neal remembered how sport event had always been his favorite day. As far as he remembered, his father always attended except in one occasion. Just that once, but he could still recall his disappointment up to this day. He couldn't believe little Bebe never had a father and just lost her home.
Neal held her little hand and took her with him. "Let's beat the crap out of everyone, shall we?"
"Yes!" Bebe giggled excitedly. She ran with her short legs trying to keep up with Neal's long steps.
"Don't tell mommy," Bebe whispered once Candy was out of earshot. "But can I call you daddy? Just for the game. My friends all call theirs so."
"Yes, you may," Neal whispered back. Bebe made a dinner with Candy possible, something that had eluded him for years. He would make today her best day ever to date!
Seeing the two of them made Candy smile. Neal as a dotting father? That was beyond anything she had ever thought of.
oOo
"Terry... Terry..."
Terry heard the sound of light being switched on and the room became bright. He turned his head to where the gentle voice had come from and stared into the worried face of Suzanne.
"Terry... You're up finally! How are you feeling?" she whispered, sounded genuinely relieved.
"I fell asleep? What time is it? I need to catch a train!" Terry tired to get up but his arms felt so heavy that he fell back to the bed. His mouth fell dry and he coughed. Suzanne hurriedly gave him a sip of water.
"Easy..." Suzanne gently supported his head. "You've been sleeping for a week."
"Damn," Terry cursed. He looked at the straw in the glass Suzanne gave him. Then he remembered everything. "The flu... I caught the flu. I'm not dead?"
Suzanne smiled and shook her head.
He looked around. "We're in my home?"
"Yes."
"You should leave. This is highly infectious."
"The hospital is full and your building is quarantined. Someone has to take care of you."
"What time is it?"
Suzanne turned to look at the clock. "Just a bit after midnight."
"You have been taking care of me?" He saw a mat on the floor. She seemed to sleep there.
"Yes. With nurse Fanny." Suzanne smiled but under the dim light, he noticed dark circles under her eyes. She looked exhausted and so much in lack of sleep. "Nurse Fanny learned about it from the war, remember?"
He couldn't believe Suzanne's tiny figure in the wheelchair lifted him up, fed him, changed his bed sheets...
"But this virus is harmful!"
"I am not afraid," she replied. "As long as you'll get better." Her eyes shimmered with tears.
Terry held his head which thumping with headache. "Argh... And my trip..." Terry whispered remembering his trip to Chicago.
"Don't worry... I wrote Candy a letter explaining that you're sick." She gently fixed Terry's blanket.
Terry looked up and when he looked at the expression in her eyes he felt something shook inside him. For the first time Suzanne's eyes made his heart beat differently. It 's not because of the fever or the headache and especially not because she saved his life. He knew it because she saved him once before when she pushed him and ended up losing her legs...+ This feeling was different.
"Go back to sleep. Get well soon so you can go to visit her." She switched the light back off.
That night, Terry did a long thinking... in the dark.
-To be continued-
Thanks for reading!
oOoo
Suzanne is not infected? Some people are naturally immune... Yup, the wonder of nature.
BEBE: first introduced in chapter 1
+ Suzanne pushed Terry: from the comic