Steeling My Haart (30 page)

Emma

        
It
was mid-morning by the time they had disembarked and cleared security in New
York and Charlie hailed a cab to take them straight to M’s Place.
 
They arrived at the diner with an hour
to spare and Emma was excited to finally get a chance to see George again.
 
As the cab wove its way downtown, Emma
felt a slight pang of homesickness. Although she had never felt that New York
was truly home, it had been a part of her life for so long it was hard not to
miss the hustle and bustle and the routine her life here had brought her. She
was, however, totally at peace with her life now and was excited to finally
have Charlie back in her life and two beautiful children she was now
responsible for. Despite the tragedy they had to endure, Charlie and Emma would
be the only parents that they would remember, although she was adamant that
they would know as much about their biological parents as she could tell them.

        
They
reached their destination in no time and Emma reluctantly pulled herself from
Charlie’s embrace to step out of the cab. She immediately saw George was on the
counter and kissing Charlie on the cheek as he was settling the cab fare, she
headed straight into the diner.
 
It
was reasonably quiet, so she almost ran across to George and embraced him
warmly.

        
“Miss
Emma, what are you doin’ here?” George exclaimed, hugging her tightly back.
“It’s so nice to be seein’ you.
 
How
you keepin’ and how’s them darlin’ kids doing? Poor little souls?”
 

        
“Oh,
George, I have so much to tell you but they are fine and I’m actually here with
my boyfriend for a meeting.
 
He’s
just paying the cab but can’t wait for you to meet him.” She smiled widely.

“Well, Miss Emma,
bein’ in love seriously suits you an’ I’m so glad you went and got what you
wanted. So when do I get to meet him then?” George had heard a few details from
Emma about what had been going on back home, but Emma knew he had no clue that
the high school beau she had been telling him about was Charlie. The man who
had literally saved him from the gutter, and the very same man he had tried to
set her up with all those months ago. She could barely contain her excitement
when the bell above the door rang and in walked Charlie.

        
Quickly
releasing Emma and adjusting the collar of his uniform, George looked shocked.
“Goodness, Mr Charlie, we weren’t expectin’ a visit from you for a couple
months,” George exclaimed, more than slightly taken aback at his arrival.
 
“Hope you are keepin’ well, son. Oh, and
‘scuse my bad manners, please let me introduce you to one of our old favorite
customers.” He turned back to Emma who was smiling as wide as a Cheshire cat.

As George pulled Emma close and was
about to do the formal introduction, Charlie cut in, “Good morning to you, too,
George, but please let me save you a job.
 
Emma and I have already met, haven’t we, sweetheart?” He beamed as he
walked over and took her into a loving embrace and kissed her soundly on the
lips.

        
For
a second, George looked between the two of them, puzzlement clouding his
face.
 
His head whipped from side to
side as he regarded each of them and tried to make sense of the scene unfolding
in front of him. “What… you mean? Emma… Charlie… Well, my goodness, all these
darned years,” he stuttered then walked over and took them both in an
affectionate embrace. “Well, I never…” were the only words he could choke out
before the tears spilled from the corner of his huge eyes and began to trickle
slowly down his ecstatic face.

        
It
took a while for everything to sink in and after calling Bobby out of the
kitchen to spread the good news and at Charlie’s insistence, the four of them
took a booth in the corner and let the lunchtime staff, who had just arrived
take on the other customers.
 
They
all ordered food and coffee and settled in to an easy conversation.
 
For the next hour Emma and Charlie
filled both of the dumbstruck men on the last few months and told Bobby a
little about their history. George finally found his voice again and turned to
the beaming couple who were sitting close, and fondly took in the fact that
Charlie’s arm was draped protectively over Emma’s shoulders.
 
“Well, I kinda knew the edited version
of Miss Emma’s story, but she didn’t tell me too much. And never in a million
years would I have put two and two together. It all makes a whole lotta sense
now why you Mr. Charlie never ‘greed to meet this precious lady here, despite
ma best matchmaking efforts.”

        
Emma
leaned further into Charlie and sighed happily.

        
“Ya
know, it fills ma heart with joy that you have finally found the same sorta
love me an’ my late wife had, God rest her soul. It the most precious thing and
you have to promise this ol’ man you won’t ever lose it.”
 

“I promise I’ll never
let her go, George, I’m not sure even this hardened heart of mine could take it
if I lost her again and trust me when I say I am never sending her away again,”
Charlie promised, and this time it was evident to anyone hearing him that it
was one promise he would be keeping.
 

        
“Oh,
George, I love you, too.
 
You’ve
been so good to me over the years and I feel like you’re a part of our family,
too. Come here, give me a hug, then you and Charlie can tell me just how you
know each other so well.”

George stood and took
Emma into a huge embrace, squeezing her tightly and as he let go she reached up
and planted a big kiss on his cheek. Smiling as she headed back to Charlie’s
side, George cleared his emotion-choked throat and said softly, “Well, Miss
Emma, it’s a curious thing, but it seems out Charlie here is a lifesaver
through and through.
 
If it hadn’t
been for him landing into my life in the bar downtown all those years ago I
think I may have just died of a broken heart. Charlie here is a good man
through and through and I owe him my life.” He choked back a sob and tried to
continue, “This boy here saved everythin’ and kept me a roof over ma head and
probably stopped me from drinkin’ maself to death that night… Charlie, boy, you
tell her.
 
It’s as much your story
to tell as mine, son.” He choked again as he dabbed his now glistening eyes
with a napkin.

Bobby stood, looking
slightly uncomfortable at the unfolding emotions and excused himself, “Guys, it’s
lovely to see you, both but I think this is a conversation just for the three
of you. Besides, judging by the look of it, I’m needed to sort those hoodlums
out in the kitchen.” He stood and as he did both Emma and Charlie stood,
shaking hands and embracing him as he returned to sort the chaos of the now
increasing lunch rush.

As Bobby walked away,
Charlie began, “It was the year I found out you had decided to move to New York
and the same year the diner back in Glen Springs had really taken off.
 
Who knew I’d make a success of the
place?” He laughed. “Anyway the success of the diner allowed me to take a few
weeks off from the intensity of it all. Pete was in charge and I knew after all
we had been through to get the diner open he would be okay. I had plans brewing
to open a second diner, but wanted to take stock of things before I did.
 
So I planned a trip to New York. Before
I had a chance to decide where to open a second diner I realized I’d finally
done it. I’d made enough of myself to come and find you, sweetheart.
 
So I did. But things didn’t go as I had intended.
 
In fact they couldn’t really have gone
much worse.”
 
Emma hugged him close
then stole a glance over at a still emotional George.
 
She knew things had been hard for
Charlie in their missing years, but she hadn’t heard much of how he ended up in
New York.
 

“After two weeks of
solid searching for you, I couldn’t find any trace of you.
 
The day before I was due to fly back to Oklahoma,
I had exhausted the last of my limited investigative resources and had hit a
seedy bar downtown to literally drown my sorrows. I think I was about halfway
down a bottle of some awful cheap whiskey when I found George sitting alone at
the end of a bar two thirds of the way down a bottle of bourbon. I felt so low
just then, despite everything had managed to achieve.
 
It just wasn’t worth anything to me
without you to share it with, Em.”
 
He looked so sad, as if remembering the pain was almost too much.
 
Emma took his hand and bringing it to
her lips she kissed it and then squeezed it, encouraging him to carry on.

        
“In
a useless attempt to try wipe you from my memory, I decided to join in the alcohol
fuelled marathon with George and we struck up a very drunken conversation.”

George looked somber and took over the
story, “I’d just lost by beautiful Karin to cancer.” He paused, taking a deep
breath. “The medical insurance fell short and left me crippled with debt.
 
We were a team. We ran a diner Karin was
left by her ‘ol man, Karin only taking a short break when each of our sons were
born. But she was so ill that I couldn’t leave her alone so near the end. I had
to shut the place to care for her.
 
I had such little time left I didn’t want to be stuck working myself to
the bone and not getting’ a chance to say ‘bye to my sweet wife.”
 
He choked again but managed to compose
himself long enough to carry on.
 

        
“She
died peacefully in my arms on a beautiful Thursday morning, and I almost died
with her. But Monday came an’ so did the bank. They were takin’ the diner. I
had a week to make a payment or it’d be gone. The hospital needed payin’, I’d
been to wrapped up in Karin I’d not paid a lot of bills, either, and then the
power went off.
 
I had a week and no
chance of savin’ it. Between planning her funeral and sortin’ out the paperwork
it was the day before my eviction and I hadn’t barely gotten cent to ma
name.
 
So I took the last of the
bills from the cash till and headed to the bar where we’d first met all them
years ago. It was no place for a lady, but she’d stepped into the bar outta the
rain one night when I was workin’ there in the kitchen and it was love at first
sight.
 
After that moment we were
inseparable ‘til she died” once again composing himself, he carried on. It
seemed important to let him get this off his chest and as he continued, nothing
mattered around the three of them, huddled in a quiet booth in the corner of
the diner.

 
“Anyway, I was ‘bout to lose the diner that we had tirelessly built up
during our blissful marriage.
 
I was
days away from foreclosure and because of the huge debt I owed for medical
costs he was also ‘bout to be evicted.
 
We lived in the apartment above the diner. I was ‘bout to lose my
livelihood and home, but worst bit was all the memories that would have gone
too.”
 
Finally too overcome with
emotion, George waved to Charlie to continue.
 
Emma was silent and just sat there
listening, Charlie’s arm still wrapped tightly round her shoulders.
 
A solitary tear dripped from her cheek,
going unnoticed as the sad story continued.

“I joined him, and
for the first time since I walked away, I opened up to him about how I was
helpless in trying to find you, Emma.
 
I only realized when I was planning this trip that in the entire time I
have known George, I have never once mentioned your name. Somehow it all seemed
to be too real if I did and just that night I wanted to forget.” Sucking in a
deep breath he continued,

“I did tell him a lot
of what had happened and that I was also thinking about expanding my business
and opening a second diner.
 
This is
when a very intoxicated plan started to form.
 
It hit me that I should open M’s Place
number two in New York simply because you were here and one day you might find
me.
 
George then told me about his
situation.”

Realization hit Emma suddenly and she
spoke quietly, “This is yours and Karin’s place, isn’t it, George?” she asked as
she took in the busy diner, the tears now rolling down her face.

“Yes, Miss Emma, it is.
 
An’ I still have our apartment, too, and
the memories, thanks to this amazing fella here,” he stated simply, looking at
Charlie with a kind of admiration that could only be earned. “I spilled
everything to him that night an’ this amazing young man offered me a way to
keep it all an’ pay off the banks an’ the hospital. Hungover as hell, Charlie
‘greed to meet me here at the diner the morning after. And within the hour, we
were phoning lawyers and a sale was agreed.
 
I don’t know an’ will pro’lly not know
‘til the day I die what made him snap this place up like he did but whatever it
was I will be forever grateful. I manage the place and still live upstairs in
our home.
 
I also still own a part
of it, Charlie only insisted in buying out enough to clear my debts and signed
me up as his partner ” Uncontrolled tears were now streaming down Emma’s face
and turning to Charlie her heart just burst with love.