BOMAW Vol. 10-12 (2 page)

"You better believe we will, we mean that now." Gert piped in to back him.

"Tell you what, we'll save it for when these two tie the knot! When that gone be by the way?" Lucas asked grinning.

Jake elbowed Vivian and nodded towards Lucas for her to answer.

"Would you stop." She gently rebuked him, nudging him right back.

"Everybody's waitin'! So when?" He pushed.

Vivian made an uncomfortable face being put on the spot.

"Looks like another one I'm gone have to set the date on huh?" Bart spoke up.

"That's what it seems like to me." Gert once more in agreement.

"You best get to settling that date lil'girl, or else my dad will. If he does, that's that!"

"I know, we'll talk about that later." She said to Jake, and then to Bart and the others, "Promise, we'll have one set pretty soon."

"All right now, we'll be waitin'." Lydia finished leading the way up the back stairs.

Jake walked to the door, "Thanks for everything Mrs. Martin, Mr. Martin."

"No problem, you all have a safe trip back." They stated disappearing after the closing of the upstairs door. Jake turned back to the room, looked to his parents, his sons, "I guess we best get ready to head out, excuse us a moment, I'll be ready to go in a bit." He told them heading towards Vivian, taking her arm and leading her towards their bedroom, once inside, he closed the door behind him, leaned back against it and pulled Vivian to him.

"You gonna miss me when I leave here, aren't you?"

"You gonna miss me?" She replied saucily.

Shaking his head and smiling at her, his arms closed around her, pressing her body to his, "Damn right I am. You know it don't have to be this way. You could trust me, come with me now."

"I don't think you're ready for me-..."

"You mean you're not ready for me. I'm not that bad, really I'm not. I can, and I will, take care of you, you got my word on that."

"Well, when the date is set, when we're married, I'll find that out. Look, I can't just ... just leave my job, Sheila and everything, just like that."

"I'm trying to give you time, but you're running out. Your life is with me now, nothing else matters." He informed her, "Right?" He squeezed his arm against her back to emphasize the word.

"Yes, I know ... right." She returned, not very convincing.

Jake tilted his head sideways to look down at her face, almost hidden at his chest in worry. "Lil'girl, there are times when you make me feel like you wanna cut and run from me." He spoke softly, staring at her. Vivian looked up and admitted, "There are times ... when something tells me, I should."

"You love me or don't you?" He asked.

"Why do you think I can't cut and run? If I could ... I ... probably would." Her words came soft, laced with fear.

"Well, I guess we're more alike than we know ... cause if I could ... I would have too ... long time ago. Tried ... I tried. So, this is it. I'm not trying anymore. We are, you and I, it. Understand? You are going to be my wife and I swear before the God in heaven, you will lack nothing for it." He cupped the back of her head and pulled her in for a deep, hard kiss, filling her mouth with his tongue. Vivian was at first hesitant, but then could not resist the pull of him, the feel of him, the power of what she felt for him. Her arms went over his shoulders as her body rode up high against him, kissing him back as deeply, passionately as he was laying it on her. His hands rubbed up and down her back, pressing her tighter still against him, holding her with a strength, hugging her with an embrace that was filled with what he felt. Yes, he was in love with this dark slender creature that was as close to being perfect as he would ever find. His perfect opposite, who was made just for him. The kiss grew to a sexual pitch that each knew could not be fulfilled due to her monthly, due to his family in the other room, due to his need to leave. Forcing themselves apart, they were gasping. Their eyes met, held as if both were clear on what they were feeling for having to stop.

"Now ... you listen to me. Tell no one where you are now. Not one person. Not your family, because of Candace. Not your job, not even HR. Understand? You're not going to be there much longer anyway. I still find it strange that he was able to get your number & new address. No chances this time. Got me?"

"Gotcha."

"Promise."

"I promise."

"That's my good lil'girl. I love you Vivian Cooke, God knows I do. Now give me one more lil'kiss."

She would miss him because she loved him to the point of being insane with it. No matter how she tried to back off now, it was a nailed shut deal. This kiss didn't last as long, they finally had to turn each other loose. "Trucks full, gassed it up on the way here. I'll phone and have you put on my insurance, so before I head out, write down your drivers license number and all of those details."

"Okay, you broke now?" She asked backing away to do as he asked, going for her purse.

"I'm with my family, I'm fine."

"That's not what I asked you, do you need some money? Let me at least give you back what you put in the tank." She was sitting on the bed, going through her wallet.

"Did I ask you for money?"

"No, but I don't like you being broke. I could've put gas in the truck." She explained; because she'd ridden with Gert and Bart, she hadn't noticed them pulling over to fill it up.

"It's not your place to put gas in the truck. While I'm gone, that's different. I told you, I'm with my family, I'll be fine. So drop it okay?"

"Okay, fine ..." She sighed, shaking her head. "I don't know what the big deal is." She had her license out writing the info on a sheet of paper.

"The big deal is, you're not gonna be taking care of me! My dad's opinion of me is low enough."

Vivian looked up at him, "I wish you wouldn't get carried away with that, this is different."

"Didn't I say drop it?" He repeated firmly, waiting.

Dropping it, she looked away, finishing putting the info on the sheet, folded it, stood and passed it to him. He took it, put it away in his wallet and opened the door for her to exit first.

Out front, Vivian said her goodbyes and thank yous to his parents, his sons and then gave him the last kiss goodbye. Standing on the sidewalk, she waved watching them pull off with her most precious possessions. Resigned, she turned and made her way back into her new, temporary home. One consolation, the basement apartment was fresh, new, clean and safe. Filled with things his sons helped him shop for. She looked around trying to decide where to begin to finish settling in. Kevin had set up her TV and stereo system; she went there, turned on the TV, turned it down low and then put on some music as well. Classical, it helped her to get things done. Next, she needed to change into her working around the house clothes. She put on her shorts and noticed one of Jake's flannel work shirts, sleeves cut off of it, laying on the chair in their room. Unable to resist herself, she put it on. It was threadbare and soft, smelling like him. She was in heaven as she buttoned it up. Several sizes too big for her and long enough to cover her shorts. It felt incredible to be in it and found comfort in wearing it as she put their home in order. A smile came to her as she realized that it was indeed, their place. Feeling at home, she placed her plants in permanent places, while some of them would not survive with the basement lighting. They needed a better spot; she went up to Lydia taking many with her and asked if she could place them on her back porch for temporary. Of course, Lydia was proud to house them for the time being, noticing her change in attire, wearing light weight old blue tennis shoes.

"You gettin' settled in down there?" Lydia asked as she provided a place to set her plants.

"Yes ma'am I am, its beautiful down there, everything is so fresh and new. I love it, thank you for having me here."

"That's his place, your Jake, he the one, having you here. I admit though, I like it too, having you here."

Smiling, happier and feeling more content, back down she went and put her clothing away, the closet was too small, so her clothing had to be distributed out between the two bedroom closets and the hall closet. In no time, she had everything in its place and once she was done, she stood looking around and laughed out in joy. Spinning in circles and hugging his shirt to her body. Yes, now that the move was done, she was on top of the world. Feeling carefree and joyful, she took a quick shower, changed into something casual, grabbed up the keys to the truck, once more smiling with beaming pride and headed out the door. First, to Sheila's where she would shoot the breeze a bit and from there, she would do some grocery shopping, they'd brought over all that was in the house, but there hadn't been much. She would do shopping for the week, having the truck allowed a certain amount of freedom that made everything else so easy. Not to mention the fact that it belonged to her man, the man of her dreams.

Yes ... life was good and right now, she was happy.

*

"Aaah, back to work tomorrow. Feel like I've been off forever." Jake sighed in comment, trying to fit his long legs in the front seat of his son's car comfortably.

"So when are we coming back to Chicago dad? Vivian's here, we can't leave her here alone like that for long, right? Not with you two getting married pretty soon." Paul leaned forward from the back seat to ask. Taken by surprise at his enthusiasm about her, Jake glanced back at him.

"What's going on with you all'o'sudden?"

"Nothing. I'm just saying that we shouldn't leave her alone for long, that's all. When are we coming back?"

"We?"

"Well yeah, remember; we're supposed to be spending more time together this summer. Plus, I wanna go back and check on that ol'man with the bad roof, he probably thinks we've forgotten about him. I should have stayed here so I could go and check on him."

Jake stared at him a moment in disbelief. "You seriously wanna do that?"

"Of course I'm serious. Dad, if I say something, I mean it. I'm a man of my word."

Jake grinned at him, "Oh are you now?" He looked at Kevin, nudging him, "Hear what he said, he's a man of his word."

"Don't make fun of him dad, he's serious. Paul's like that."

"Oooh, excuse me. Okay, so you're a man of your word."

"Yes, I am. That ol'man needs his roof fixing. I've got my drivers license, just no car. Come to think of it, I could have just stayed here with Vivian, took her to work and then went to look for building materials the way I told you-..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on here, okay ... first, it's nice that you're having such noble intentions, but - you're just 18 this is Chicago and you're a white boy from Wisconsin! Second, that ol'man lives in a predominantly black neighborhood. Besides that, you can't carry out that kind of business unsupervised by an adult! No - way!"

"So when can we do it then? Can we come back down Friday, after you get off of work?"

"I don't know if you noticed this or not, but I no longer have my truck."

"Well dad I suggest you figure out what we're gonna do, because we need to get back here and fix his roof! Right is right, we went there making it like we did that for a business, our good name is on the line."

"If my memory serves me correctly son, "Murphy" is not our name! It was a lie Paul, just a rouse to find her!"

"Well that ol'man doesn't know that now does he? We owe it to him to go back and look at his roof. We're gonna have to fix his roof, dad. How can you sleep at night knowing how he's living and been taken advantage of? You're giving white people a bad rep dad."

Jake exploded in laughter, "Hate to tell you this kid, but our rep was shot to hell a few hundred years ago, no savin' it now." Jake grinned shaking his head.

"And we're not gonna add to it, now come on dad, how we gettin' back here?"

"Good grief Paul!" Jake exclaimed growing exasperated.

"I'll bring you two down Friday, how about that? I don't mind." Kevin volunteered glancing over at his father, "You were coming down any way right?"

"If you must know, no! I want Vivian to turn Chicago loose and get her ass to Wisconsin, start looking for a place there. I start that coming every weekend, she'll never get around to turning this place loose." He argued.

"She'll do it when you get married, set a date dad! Assert yourself!" Paul advised seriously.

Jake looked back at him as if he'd lost his mind, "I assert myself plenty enough, thank you!"

"Not where it counts! Set a date dad."

"And just how do you suppose I do that?"

"Just think of a date and tell her, say, this is the date, we're getting married, that's that!" Paul added.

Jake started laughing in earnest now, "Yeah, I'd like to see you try that one day. She is moving as fast as I dare make her. She's feeling cornered and pushed enough - any more, she'll run for it."

It was Kevin's turn to laugh now, "Are you saying you're losing your touch dad? I can't believe you're actually wanting to get married."

"Hey! I'm not losing anything-..." Jake quickly replied defending his abilities before Paul cut him off.