On the quick cab ride home, Max held Fran's hand and clutched the bag of jewelry tightly. She rested her head on his shoulder and he rested his against hers. They both smiled contently as the cab waited at a traffic light.
"Sweetheart?" Max asked.
"Mmm?"
"Can I ask you something?"
Fran tilted her head to look at him. "Sure." Max looked into her beautiful eyes and gave her hand a squeeze.
"Will you go out with me? You know- on a date?" Her eyes lit up and she sat up straight.
"Maxwell Sheffield, I would love to go out with you. On a date!" He smiled from ear to ear. "When and where?" She asked, excitedly.
"Well, since we're supposed to have dinner at home tonight, would you like to go out tomorrow morning? If you are feeling up to it, I mean. Maybe breakfast, or brunch. Then maybe something like a gallery, or museum?"
"That sounds wonderful! You know, as long as we're back in time for the children to come home."
"Yes, that reminds me, I should tell Niles today to arrange for the car to go pick them up. Don't let me forget to do that."
"Okay, I won't." Fran smiled again and squeezed his upper arm. "I'm going on a date with my boyfriend!" She whispered.
Max chuckled. "I'm going on a date with my girlfriend!" He replied. The cab turned onto Park Avenue and continued the rest of the way to the mansion. Max paid the driver and got out with the bag of jewelry first, then took Fran's hand and helped her out, then shut the cab door behind her. They walked into the house and Max set the bag on the bottom step of the staircase. They took their coats off and Fran helped put them in the closet along with their scarves.
"Sweetie, I want to go change into something else real quick. Something more loungey and comfy. Do you mind?" Fran asked, clutching Max's sleeve.
"Not at all. Maybe I should change too. Any requests?"
"On what you should wear? Well, I liked your pajamas last night," she smiled. "But you don't need to get back into pajamas right now if you don't want. But that sort of thing might be comfy…"
Max took her hand and picked up the bag of jewelry as they headed upstairs. They parted at the junction of the hallways leading to each of their bedrooms. "I'll be there in just a minute, after I get changed," she kissed him lightly and let go of his hand.
"Alright, see you in a minute," he smiled and watched her walk away, then continued down the hall to his bedroom, closing the door most of the way as he went inside. He set the bag of jewelry down on the bench and took out the bags inside. He removed three boxes from one of the bags, checked inside them, glanced at the door, and then rushed over to his chest of drawers and placed the boxes in one of the drawers, covering them with a piece of clothing. His heart was racing again, and he couldn't stop smiling. He opened a lower drawer and removed a gray t-shirt, then from another drawer he found a pair of black, soft cotton sweat pants that were nicely tailored instead of having the ugly, cinched waist and ankles. He stepped into his bathroom and changed quickly, splashed on a small amount of cologne, and then decided to brush his teeth again, just in case. He checked himself in the mirror and ran his fingers through his hair to bring out the curls a little and look a little less formal. When he was satisfied, he headed back into his bedroom and was about to go through the jewelry again when a thought stopped him. He went to his closet and began looking around, seeing if maybe he could reorganize it and make some room. Yes, he thought maybe he could. He could put his summer clothing somewhere else, maybe consolidate some of the stacks of dress shirts. He nodded to himself and stepped back out of his closet, then walked back to his chest of drawers. He took a breath, glanced at the doorway and listened for a moment. Still quiet. He turned back and opened the drawer he had just put the boxes in and picked one of them up. He opened it again and felt a rush through him. He took out what was inside and put it in his pocket, then put the now empty box back in the drawer and closed it. He looked around the room and saw what he was looking for- a pack of small adhesive labels sat on a table, on top of a mess of papers. He retrieved the labels and found a pen and headed back to the bench, sitting down on one end of it.
Fran hurried into her room and shut the door and tossed her purse onto the bed. She was so happy she thought she might burst. She pulled open one of her dresser drawers and dug through everything until she found the cute, dark workout pants she wanted to wear. They were almost like sweats but could pass for flirty pajama pants. Then she rushed to her closet and looked around for a top that would go with it. Nothing big and baggy, she didn't want to look frumpy. Then she found it- a cream-colored cropped top. Not a t-shirt but also not a sweatshirt, it was something in between. And it had a cute retro cartoon picture of a bunny rabbit on the front. She took off her clothes as fast as she could and tossed them onto the bed, then put on the comfy ones. She also got out some thick cream-colored socks and put them on, and put on her slippers. She rushed to her bathroom and checked her makeup and hair, and decided to brush her teeth again, just in case. She knew she wanted to kiss Max so much, and for so long. She missed that coffee kiss from this morning and was aching for more. She fixed her hair a little, made sure her curls at the sides of her face were still curly, and went to her dressing table to retrieve her perfume. She pulled out the bottom of her shirt and sprayed the perfume up it onto her chest. She didn't want to do any more than that, one spritz in the right place should be enough. She touched up her lipstick, powdered her nose, and headed out the door to Max's room as fast as she could.
She saw his door partly opened and knocked on it.
"Knock knock…" she slowly came through the door and peeked in.
"Come here, darling!" Max said, grinning as he looked over at her. Fran shut and locked the door behind her and skipped over to Max on the bench.
"Whatcha doin?" She asked.
"Come sit," he patted the bench next to him. "I have these labels, I was thinking we should label each piece so it's easier to know who gets what tomorrow. But I think maybe- maybe it should be your handwriting on the labels. Not just because I like your handwriting, but because, giving them these things is sort of an acknowledgement of-"
"Yeah, I get it. Telling everyone I appreciate them. We appreciate them. With all that has been going on with me. Yeah, I can do the writing." She reached for the pen and pack of labels and began writing out everyone's name on each label. When she was finished, Max took out each box, one at a time, and checked inside to see whose gift it was. They were still impressed by how nice each item was. Fran placed a label on the box and then set it back into a bag until they were finished.
"I'm really glad we found that place. I haven't been over there in ages, I don't know when they put that shop in. Everyone is going to love these." He smiled at Fran and they kissed. "Where can we hide these until tomorrow? Do you think Niles might snoop around at all?"
"Hmmm…" Fran wondered. "I don't think he would snoop right now, not intentionally. But if he comes in here to clean or put anything away, do you think he would find it?"
"This much stuff might be hard to hide in here. Would he go into your closet or anything like that? Maybe we should hide it all in your room somewhere." Max looked around his room, not seeing any place he could hide everything at once.
"You know, I don't think he would come in there. At most maybe just to vacuum. But he might be reluctant to go in there now with all this going on. I bet I could find a spot where no one will find it all. As long as the girls don't go in my room looking for anything," Fran said.
"Yeah, I think you're right. We may have to time things so the girls stay downstairs, and then maybe you can come down to talk to everyone and bring it all with you. I can keep them downstairs and then come and get you."
"Okay, that should work. Niles can help corral everyone too." Max put his arm around her waist.
"You're awfully cute, you know?" He touched her forehead with his, and glanced down at her shirt, and what was in her shirt. He looked back into her eyes and she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"So are you, mister. And you smell sooo good…" she closed her eyes and inhaled and pulled him in for a kiss, nice and slow and long, like the coffee kiss only without the coffee. Max gasped slightly and took over the kiss, doing the same thing back to her. They kissed again lightly and Max caressed her cheek.
"My god, Fran. Do you even realize how crazy I am about you?"
"Max, I love you so much! And I'm in love with you, too. So in love with you!" She held his face in her hands and he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I'm in love with you, too," he smiled, looking over her face. "So in love!" They kissed again and again, clutching each other tightly as they kissed. "Sweetheart…" Max sighed.
"Mmm hmm?" Fran lightly kissed his lips.
"I have something… I've been hiding something… that I need to—" they kissed between each thing he said. Fran came out of her trance as his words started to become coherent to her. She stopped kissing him, slightly concerned at what he might say.
"What is it, Max?" She put her hands on his shoulders and waited for him to respond.
"Fran, darling, when we were at the jewelry store- well I kind of, I sort of got something you didn't know about. I'm pretty sure you didn't see it. I got something for you, and I don't want to wait any more to give it to you."
"What did you get?" She asked, the anticipation giving her butterflies. Max reached into his pants pocket and covered what he had in his hand. He reached for her left hand and kissed the back of it.
"This is something that- well, it's connected to my heritage, it has a certain meaning to it. And, well, I want you to wear it as a symbol of us. Of what we have together. I saw a number of these in one of the displays and this one stood out to me. It just- it was perfect. At least, I think it's perfect." He opened his hand and held the ring for her to see. She sucked in her breath and held his hand still so she could see it. "Fran, this is a claddagh ring. It's a sort of an Irish Catholic tradition. Young women of courting age wear these to show- I guess you could say to show their status, you know, if they are taken or if they are available for courting. The direction the woman wears it lets a potential suitor know if she is available or not. It sort of prevents an embarrassing social faux pas, I guess you could say. If the wearer has the tip of the heart pointing away from them, it means they are free to be courted. But if the tip is turned the other way- toward their own hearts- well that means that their heart has been claimed. That they are taken, and it isn't appropriate for another man to come courting."
"Put it on me that way! Because you have my heart, Max!" Fran was starting to get tears in her eyes. Max slid the ring onto her left ring finger and she held her hand up to admire it. She ran her fingers across it. "It's beautiful!"
"You know why rings like this go on the left ring finger?" He asked. She shook her head and glanced back and forth between the ring and Max's eyes. "People used to believe that there was a direct connection between the heart and the left ring finger, so to put a ring- a symbol of love- on this finger meant a bond to the wearer's heart. A romantic bond." He smiled. She caressed his cheek. She looked back at the ring.
"The stones…"
Max nodded. "Do you know what they are?"
"Is that topaz? That's my birthstone… Is the other- your birthstone?!" Max nodded.
"It's garnet. And then a couple of diamonds to balance them out. There's a story to that garnet, too, if you're interested."
"Yes! Tell me!"
"Well, along the Thames river, on the foreshore, the mudlarks go out exploring when the tide goes out and they comb the shores looking for historical items that have washed down the river or have been tossed into it over hundreds of years. They find old clay pipes, buttons, pieces of pottery and ceramics, coins. All manner of bits and bobs. They all have to get permits to be able to go collect things, and they have to follow the rules that are in place. If they find something really old, they have to give it to the museum to be catalogued and identified, and sometimes kept. But sometimes, if the museum already has enough examples of the item, the mudlark may be permitted to keep it. Well, this garnet- it was one of the things found by a mudlark. It was much rougher when they found it- just a raw stone. But the jeweler got this garnet from a mudlark and then faceted it and put it in this ring." Fran was still smiling, and loved hearing the story he was telling. This garnet was another connection to his heritage- to where he was from. "So there are lots of theories about how these garnets came to be on the Thames foreshore, because they don't come from anywhere in the UK. I believe a lot of them have been traced to possibly as far as Turkey, or India. They may have been imported from that far away as possibly being meant for some kind of industrial use, and maybe the ship carrying them somehow lost bags full of them, or maybe the ship sank, or maybe they were tossed overboard. No one knows. But they still find them scattered all over the foreshore. But I've always kind of gotten a kick out of that, because garnet is my birthstone. And when I saw this ring- I had to ask the saleswoman what the stones were to be certain. When she said the other was topaz, well- I just felt my heart pound. I asked her the size, and it was your size. So I had to get it for you."
"How did you know my ring size? It fits perfectly," her voice cracked a little.
"Niles told me a long time ago. I forget what we were talking about, but he seemed to mention that in passing and it just stuck in my head. Maybe he meant to have it stick in my head. He's always hinting at things." Max smiled.
"Yeah, he's such a yenta!" They laughed.
"So you like the ring?"
"Oh Max! I love it! Not just because it's beautiful, but for the stories that go with it, too. That it symbolizes you- that my heart is connected to you. It's so wonderful!" She wrapped an arm over his shoulders, and kept looking lovingly at the ring.
"Is it alright that it's a Catholic thing? Does that cause any problems because you are Jewish?"
"No, not at all. Not at all." She kissed Max on the lips again, firmly, then gently kissed him on his cheeks, his temples, his forehead. His hands clenched her exposed midriff, then he wrapped his arms tight around her. She whispered to him softly, "I love you, Max. I love you so much. Always." Now he was getting choked up. He nuzzled her neck and it began to calm him. She smelled wonderful. He just wanted to drink her in.
"Sweetheart?"
"Yes?"
"There's something I was thinking about. But I don't want to pressure you." He looked into her soft brown eyes.
"What is it?"
He took a deep breath. "Will you move in with me? I mean, in here? So this would be our room? I can move things around in the closet, to make room for your things. Whatever space you might need. It's just- I just- I don't want to let go of you, at all. I need you with me. Every night. In my arms. I want to look after you." Fran smiled and stroked his cheekbone and let her eyes wander over his face, then back to his eyes.
"Do you really mean that? I would like that. I need you, too. Are you certain you want all of my stuff in here?"
"Yes. I'm certain. Maybe if we have any overflow, we can use your old room as storage. We can move things in it bit by bit, see where you want it all. Niles can help move stuff in here, like your dressing table if you want." Fran nodded.
"Okay. Yes, I would like to move in here with you. I really would."
"Really? That's wonderful!" He stood up from the bench and took her hands to help her up. He kissed her and then picked her up in his arms and carried her to the side of the bed. He set her down and she moved closer to the middle and laid down. Max climbed onto the bed to lie over her, but not on her right side. He was careful to not put any pressure in the area of her tumor. They kissed each other for a long time, his hand caressing her side, her hand clutching his shirt at his hip. They were so caught up in the moment that they didn't have to think about the worry they would face soon. They just wanted to be with each other so badly. They had a lot of catching up to do, emotionally and physically.
He tried to imagine where the tumor was but wasn't sure if he should touch that part of her. He wanted to wish it away- to love her so much it would make the tumor disappear, so she wouldn't have to go through surgery.
"Max?" Fran whispered, stroking the back of his neck.
"Yes?" He kissed her cheek.
"Are you thinking about the tumor?" Max took in a quick breath, then propped himself up on his elbow so he could look her in the eyes. She had one arm under the pillow behind her head, with the pillow bunched up a little to prop up her head so she could see him.
"Yes," he said quietly. "I'm afraid I might do something that hurts you. I don't know exactly where it is. I just want to wrap myself around you and take you all in, but- I know that's not right. Not yet. Not now." his voice cracked. She squeezed his shoulder.
"Baby!" She tried to comfort him. "Do you want me to show you where it is?" She moved her other hand out from behind the pillow and ran it down her side, to the top of her pants. She lifted her rear and up off the bed just enough so that she could push the right side of her pants down to expose her lower abdomen. Max watched as she moved the waistband down, revealing more of her beautiful body. He was fighting himself over being concerned about what lie inside that part of her body, and being so attracted to her that he wanted to see all of her, to kiss all of her, to touch all of her. Fran seemed to know what he was thinking, so she took hold of his uncertain hand and placed it on her lower abdomen. She moved his fingers around until she felt like they were in the right place. "Here. That's about where it is. It's okay if you want to feel it. Go ahead. It doesn't hurt me." Her voice was soft and reassuring. Max wanted to feel it. To make it real. To not be afraid of it. He started rubbing his thumb across her skin, pressing harder little by little to see if he could find it. She stroked the nape of his neck, comforting him. He watched his fingers explore her abdomen. He worked a pattern over her until he thought he felt something. Then with his index finger he tried to find the edges.
"Is this okay?" He asked.
"Yes, it doesn't hurt. Do you feel something?"
"I think I might. It's deeper in. I don't want to press too hard."
"That's alright, honey. Now you know where it is. It's not a mystery anymore. Does this help make it tangible for you?"
"Yes. Yes it does." He stopped the tip of his middle finger right over where he felt the most noticeable bump inside her. His eyes seemed to be measuring distances, registering in his mind exactly where it was located so he could be careful of that spot. Be more gentle there. He leaned over and kissed the spot where his finger had been. He pulled her waistband back up, then curled up against her, resting his head on her shoulder. "I wish I could wish it away, kiss it away," he whispered, "Make it disappear. I just want to take all that away from you. Take away the burden." He clutched her ribs, his eyes almost winced. His heart ached from the unfairness of it all.
"I know, baby. I know. I wish it was that easy." Fran wrapped her arms around his shoulders, comforting him like he was a little boy. She stared at the ceiling a while, thinking about everything. Max stroked the back of her arm with his thumb and nuzzled into her neck.
"I'm sorry you're going through this, Fran. It isn't fair. I promise you, we'll do whatever it takes to get you better. Whatever you need, sweetheart. We'll do it, alright? I don't want you worrying about anything. I don't care what it costs, I don't care if we have to go some other place. I'll do whatever it takes. Alright?" He lifted his head up to look at her.
Fran nodded, and stroked his cheek. "Okay. Okay, sweetie. I'll be strong. We'll get through this. I may need you to be strong, too, though, okay?"
Max nodded, and smiled, and his tears began to come. He did everything he could to hold them back, he didn't want her seeing him that emotional. He moved himself up over her and rested his forehead against hers, and she began to cry, too. It was long overdue, so neither of them apologized for it. Fran hugged him tight around his neck, and he nuzzled back into her, and they sobbed together for a while.
"I'm sorry this is happening, Fran. I know it's scary. But just remember you have a lot of love around you. An awful lot. We'll take care of you and get you through this. Everything will be okay."
"It will. I know it will. But I know there might be a lot to go through before I can get to that place." They got quiet again and Max lifted his head up to look at her. He kissed her softly, then laid down next to her, motioning for her to come to him. Fran rested against his chest and wrapped her arm around him.
"We'll find out more on Monday. Right now, there are so many unknowns. I'm sorry you were going through this for so long by yourself. Just promise me, always say something, okay? To me, to somebody. Don't keep things to yourself. I love you, and I can't stand to think of you suffering, worrying. Don't think you might be protecting someone. We need to talk it out. Okay?" Max asked, stroking her arm.
"Yes. I promise. I'm sorry I did that, I didn't realize it was going to turn out the way it did. I just thought I was making a big deal over something that would turn out to be nothing. I know now that I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."
"It's alright, darling. I do kind of understand why. But you're usually so open about things, even when you don't feel well. I didn't really understand why you hadn't even at least told Niles that you weren't feeling good."
"Well, in a way I did. But I guess I minimized it, so he didn't ask any more questions. I just said I may have eaten something that didn't agree with me. But I guess I probably say that a lot. Looking back- yeah, maybe I should have said something more. Asked for advice. When I started hiding things, I really didn't like that feeling. It was like I was sneaking around and trying not to get caught. It made me feel worse. That was pretty stupid."
"How come you were hiding from me? I hadn't seen you hardly at all. I understand if you avoided people when you felt ill, but what about the rest of the time?"
Fran sighed, sad about what she had done. "I don't really know. Maybe it was because you were busy- really focused on something. And we weren't having any longer conversations, anyway. You were in meetings, or not even home. You'd rush through breakfast, and maybe not be home for dinner. Different things happened, at the same time I started really not feeling well. And I guess, with the fevers and stomach upset, it would come and go, and I never knew when it would hit me, and I didn't want it happen in front of anyone… When Ma asked me to go check on Daddy, when she was helping the neighbor, it just became an easy way to hide, I guess."
"Oh, darling!" Max squeezed her close. "I'm so sorry. I really am. I know I can do that sometimes- getting too focused on work, and I can't see what's going on around me. I'm sorry." He rubbed her arm.
"But you figured it out, Max. You didn't ignore whatever that feeling you had was. And you came and got me. I really needed you, too. I still need you."
"I was so worried. At first, I was worried I had done something and hadn't realized it- that I had done something that made you want to avoid me. But then, talking to Niles, I realized he noticed things, too. Then we both worried. So all I could think to do was to try to call Val. I figured if maybe you were mad at me, then she could get you to tell her why. But then- she said she hadn't seen you or talked to you in a while. And we all had noticed that you seemed to have gotten really quiet. So I'm really glad Val said she would go find you. I'm really glad she did that."
"Me, too. I didn't mean to scare anyone, or make you guys worry so much. I - I couldn't talk to her, or to Ma. I don't know why. Maybe I felt like I had to be the one to talk to you first about it, and if I had said anything to anyone else, they would have run to you and told you before I could. But I didn't know how I was going to be able to tell you or how I could possibly come to you to do that. So when she said she was going to call you- that you were waiting for her to call- gosh, it almost felt like a relief. Even though I was scared to death, I just- I needed you right then. I needed you."
"I'm glad you let me come to you, and bring you home. And I'm glad you told me. And now we can work on taking care of you, and letting the others know. Once we do that, and talk to the doctors on Monday, things will be different. Maybe you'll feel like you have a little more certainty about things, and what needs to be done. Maybe that will help. And I'll be there with you, every step of the way."
"Thank you, Max! I need you with me! More than anyone. I need to hold you, a lot, right now. I know that in the past things have been- complicated- with us. But you've always been special to me, since we met. Maybe it's because of the kids… or at least maybe it started that way. But we got to get closer. I admit I always hoped that somehow… somehow maybe we could be together. I really had feelings for you. And still do, so much! I just wish- I wish it hadn't been this way. But I need you to know how much you matter to me. And I'm grateful that you're here with me now. That's everything."
"Darling, I'm grateful to be here for you, too. Grateful to be with you. Things will be changing around here from now on, maybe a lot. Not just with you and I being together, but everything else, too. I want to take time away from work, however much I need to, so I can be with you through this. And I promise to never let work take priority over you again."
Fran squeezed him, not sure of what to say, or if anything else needed to be said. They lay there together, quietly for quite some time. Fran had tears in her eyes, and occasionally one would run down and be soaked up by Max's shirt. Max lay there with his eyes closed, and occasionally had tears for in his eyes, too. They were both overjoyed to finally be together, as a couple, but the cloud of fear over Fran's tumor hung over them both.
Max reached over and grabbed the side of the comforter, then pulled it over them, tucking it around Fran to make sure she stayed warm. They settled together, and fell asleep after releasing the overwhelm of the weekend.