Three of Spades (28 page)

Dylan watched her walk away from him. He wanted to go after her but her words spoke volumes to him. What he felt for her, she obviously didn’t feel for him in return. It was, in fact, all the asked requirements of her proposal, obtained and concluded. So, shouldn’t he be happy? Shouldn’t this be a relief to him? Then why, on all of God’s green earth, did he feel like his legs could no longer hold his weight?

“Pity, and she looked pretty in the dress. Well, since I did not expect you to want to reimburse me for the funds I’ve lost; I’ll take this pleasure as payment in full. Oh, but that’s right, you didn’t love her anyway.” And with that, Babette sashayed back through the ballroom door leaving Dylan to his now lonely not loved in return reality.

“Anyone seen Natalie and Dylan?” Mae asked the table at large.

“No, I saw Natalie get up about twenty minutes ago, but I was so involved in the conversation we were having, I didn’t notice she did not return,” Robyn said, looking to her husband, who also agreed he hadn’t see either of their friends come back.

“They probably went up to the suite and thought we would not notice. I’m sure they’ll be back shortly,” CeCe answered, but she too thought it odd that neither of them returned.

Hoping that was the case, each couple twirled around the dance floor, gliding to the instrumental ballad coming from the string ensemble. When each returned after the handful of numbers ended, Wes sat at the table and answered their unasked question.

With a growing amount of time passing, Wes decided to put a call into Dylan’s cell. When it went directly to voicemail, he met eyes with Seth; communicating that something was off.

“This is ridiculous. I’m going up to the suite. If there is a sock on the door or one of those pretentious ‘do not disturb’ signs, I’m going to pound on the door until one of them answers.”

CeCe walked with purpose across the crowded ballroom. She had just about reached the doorways leading out when a woman grabbed her attention by calling out in an overly sickly sweet voice, “Looking for Dylan or perhaps, that little blonde?”

CeCe stopped and turned to face the woman. Getting a not so good feeling in her stomach, CeCe folded her arms over her sequin chest and said, “I am, but what business is it of yours?” Knowing she sounded rude, but not caring considering this unidentified woman seemed to be enjoying a private joke.

Babette, pulled the tooth pick that held the olive out of her martini and with deliberate slowness brought it to her painted mouth and pulled it off with her teeth, savoring the alcohol infused treat. She stared at the brunette that thought she could be intimidated by such a curt answer and such an obvious challenging pose. Babette smiled as she behaved like she had all the time in the world.

“Something you care to share?” CeCe asked with menacing intent.

“Please, Darling, I’ve massacred bigger thugs than you, in my mornings, before my yoga class. So kill the attitude and intimidation. Because, trust me, it does not flatter your persona.”

“Listen, lady, I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but if you have information about my friends, I want to know, now!” CeCe’s voice rose to a level that had her quickly joined by Robyn and Mae, followed by the men.

Now that their entire group was there, Babs felt she could share the crushing news of the reason for such a rapid departure. The fact that she found personal satisfaction from the culmination as well as the feeling that she just crushed another courtroom opponent, only sweetened the already glorious outcome.

“Just tell us, Babette,” Wes said, wanting to put an end to the obvious pleasurable charade she was putting on.

“Fine. Dylan and I were having a private conversation when he confessed apparent conflicting feelings. Well, I don’t know, it was just so coincidental that she would pick that moment to come out, but apparently, she overheard his true feelings and thought to end their evening right then. However, I have to tell you, I don’t think she was just talking about the evening. It sounded as if she didn’t plan on seeing him again. But, what do I know, last I saw Dylan, he was whistling and singing that tune, you know, the one from the movie with all those little people and the colored road. Something like, ding dong the bitch is dead. I don’t know, it was just so upsetting for me to see that I fled right away,” Babette explained, as if it were not a delectable addition to her evening.

With the hard to suppress smile, Babette never saw the slap coming. All she knew was that suddenly she was on the ground covered in what was left of her martini and looking up at CeCe’s justified face.

“Oh, I’m sorry, involuntary reflex. I really need to do something about that,” CeCe said over the snickers and shocked gasps, as she led the way out the door to find their friends.

~SEVENTEEN~

D
ays had gone by and not a word from Dylan. Natalie dreamt he had come to her on bended knee but she soon realized it was not a dream, but rather, a nightmare. Leave it to reality to find a way of reminding her just what her life was about and what her future would contain; no one but her.

For lack of anything else to do, Natalie began packing her things up from the house, knowing her time there was limited. Especially, given Reggie’s recent constant inquisition of whether she knew where Gloria’s will was, considering Gloria refused to speak with him. Before she knew it, she had most all her things packed and she began looking into renting an apartment.

CeCe called her daily, as much as Natalie enjoyed the conversation, she could not help but want to ask how Dylan was. CeCe was kind and never mentioned him, but sometimes there would be odd lengthy silence between the two friends. Natalie asked CeCe if there were any apartments available where she lived. She was elated when CeCe confirmed there was a one bedroom in the building adjacent to hers. Natalie called and made an appointment to view it and was given instant approval. With the quick writing of a check covering first, last and security, Natalie was given the keys to her new apartment and was able to move right in.

The following weekend, Natalie moved all of her one carload worth of things and had the discount furniture store deliver a new bed. As Natalie sat on the floor of her living room eating a bowl of cereal, she cried. She was happy to have a direction for her life, finally, but sadness lined every thought. Gloria was constantly on her mind but she would be lying if she said her mother was the thought at the forefront.
He
was there, when she closed her eyes her brain remembered every eyelash as well as the exact feel of his hands touching her. When she was awake, it was worse. Natalie would be doing something to keep herself busy and stop because she thought she heard
him
call for her or heard
his
truck or car driving by. She visited her mother daily, happy that things were better between them. That was becoming harder and harder, for Gloria was fading quickly. Just yesterday when Natalie was there, Gloria could barely move, complaining of severe back pain. Knowing the disease was quickly taking over and crippling the last of her working organs, Natalie insisted she stay the night. After a long hour of refusals, Gloria held her hand and made Natalie promise she would visit the day after she moved.

After rinsing her bowl and shutting off the lights, Natalie went into her new bedroom, pulled back the new bedding and clicked off the lamp on the floor. She tossed and turned, knowing it wasn’t nerves from sleeping in a new place that caused slumber to evade her. The constant ache coming from the left side of her upper chest was quickly beginning to swallow her whole.

Many hours later, when Natalie chose to just give in rather than stare at the ceiling another moment, she got up and decided to go back to the house. She was dressed in what CeCe referred to as the must have loungewear, black yoga pants and a pink hoodie. She got in her car and drove the fifteen minutes, pulling into the seen better days driveway. As she turned the key in the front door, she didn’t know why but it felt as if she were walking into a stranger’s home. Even though it had not even been twenty-four hours, it felt like an eternity since she had been there. Quickly walking into her old room and finding the stack of paperwork she had been looking for last night, she noticed out of the corner of her eye that the answering machine was blinking.

“Hi Natalie. I’m calling to let you know this will be the last time I call. I mean, a man can only put himself out on the line so many times before he takes the hint.” A throaty dry laugh sounded before he continued, “So anyway, I’d really like to take you out and get to know you more. If you want give me a call, here’s my number and I’ll hope that my phone rings soon.” Natalie jotted down his return phone number and thought now was as good a time as any to move on, even if her heart was not transferable. Perhaps, someday it would be.

Natalie arrived at Gloria’s and immediately her concern level jumped from yellow to red. Her mother’s breath was very shallow and her pain level was off the charts, even with a double dose of her pain medication.

“Mom, I’m calling Dr. Bowden. Something is very wrong.”

“No, no, Natalie, I’m alright. It is just taking longer than usual to get my breath, it will pass,” Gloria insisted, as she sat in her chair and prepared herself for the conversation that was far overdue. “Come sit and talk to me.”

Natalie sat on the couch closest to her mother and moved forward so she could hold her mother’s frail, but still warm, hands. She told her mother about her move as well as Reggie’s unbelievable harassment, still looking for what he thought was his.

“Well, the joke is going to be on him. I’ve had a reverse mortgage on the house for years now. There is no equity in it, and in fact, I haven’t made any sort of payment in quite a while. They are going to foreclose within the next few months.”

“What are you talking about?” Natalie asked, confused at the newly learned knowledge.

“Well, when your dad first left, he left us with a lot of debt. The mortgage company approached me stating this would be an option. So, I took it. I did pretty well with it for a number of years and even thought I would be able to pay back the money I took out for your college, before too long. Well, then I got sick. My health insurance didn’t cover a lot and considering how advanced my disease was, the little amount of money that was left went pretty fast.”

Natalie felt her mind reel from all this information. She felt guilty that she didn’t know the financial hardship she had put onto her mother and that she didn’t see the signs that something wasn’t right.

“Where’s Dylan, Natalie? And don’t give me anymore of that crap about him working. It is written all over your face, you are unhappy. It looks like you’ve lost ten pounds, not that you could afford to in the first place.”

“Oh Mom, I was so foolish, so very foolish! He’s gone and I’m afraid that what I felt is gone forever, too.” The waterworks started and they were just going to flow until the river ran dry.

Gloria listened as her daughter’s anguish was heart wretching. She comforted her daughter, ignoring her own body’s pain. She tried to take as much of it away from her daughter as she could. If she could, she would pull the vivid pain from Natalie and constrict her own heart to save her beautiful girl from this agonizing feeling. When the sobs lessened, Gloria stroked her daughter’s face and dried her tears.

“Oh, Natalie, this is all my fault. If I hadn’t pulled this stupid stunt on you, none of this would have happened and you would not be here crying your eyes out.”

“What?” Natalie asked, not understanding what her mother was trying to say.

Feeling her own eyes fill, Gloria explained as tears rolled down her aged and sickened face. “I was so worried that you would be alone. That you would not find what you justly deserve if I didn’t give you a little push. So, I told you all those horrible wretched things, hoping you would do exactly what you did. For Goodness sake, I made my daughter feel she needed to ask a man to pretend to be in a serious relationship with her, so she would make me happy. What kind of mother am I?”

Natalie was in shock! Did her ears just register Gloria’s confession? Natalie’s emotional state went from one end of the spectrum to the other, in the matter of a moment.

“You knew it wasn’t real?”

Gloria laughed even though it was not exactly the perfect situation for it, but heck, she was dying anyway. “I knew that you had fabricated this relationship for me, yes. However, what I saw was real. It truly was Natalie. The way he looked at you spoke volumes. It was not acting on his end. Listen to an old woman, you need to hold on to it and never let go. He’s the one you are destined for.”

“But he doesn’t love me.”

“Could have fooled me. Go to him, Natalie. If you don’t, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”

Gloria insisted that Natalie leave and think. Even though she knew Natalie did not intend to contact Dylan, at all. If her daughter had already accepted that Dylan did not love her, she would not put herself out there again. She would bear the responsibility and blame.

As Gloria sat there closing on an hour after Natalie left, she knew something was wrong. It took her a few minutes to get up and over to where the intercom to the nursing station was. She rang the buzzer, when the female voice asked her if everything was ok, Gloria said no it wasn’t, she needed an ambulance. Gloria then collapsed to the floor unconscious, once again.

Three weeks was enough. Three weeks of non-returned phone calls, three weeks of not working and three weeks of misery were all Dylan’s friends could handle. Using the key that he had given her years ago, CeCe let herself in the front door of Dylan’s home. Every blind on the main floor was closed, casting the usually natural lit room, dark and cold. Even without any light, CeCe could tell Dylan’s hunched form on the sofa. She didn’t speak and he didn’t acknowledge her entrance. She went around opening blinds and allowing the bright sun to flood the room. Finally, with enough light, she could see Dylan’s pathetic appearance. He had not shaved in at least a week. CeCe was guessing that was the last time he showered as well. There were dishes and wrappers littering the floor and surrounding surfaces of the couch.