“That is good, Stephen,” Tala said. “She is a married woman.”
“Do you think there’s any chance we could--?”
“No.” Tala was quick to answer. “There is something I should tell you, Stephen. I have fallen in love with someone.”
A sick feeling turned up in Stephen’s stomach. “It’s Kelsey, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
Tears filled Stephen’s eyes but he was not angry. So much made sense now that he could not be angry. “You’ve always preferred women, haven’t you Tala? That’s why we struggled in the bedroom. You never loved me at all, did you?”
“I loved you, Stephen,” Tala said. The hurt in her husband’s voice broke her heart. “But it was not the love it should have been and I am very sorry for that. I have always been this way. I thought I could change it because my family needed this and you were a nice man who treated me well, but I cannot change who I am.”
“And if I hadn’t been with Evelyn? Would this still have happened?”
Tala thought about the question before answering. “Perhaps not. But don’t you see? We were not happy. We would have continued to be unhappy. Your affair with Evelyn gave me the courage I needed to leave something that was not right for either of us.”
“It was right for me,” Stephen said.
“If that were true Stephen, you would not have needed her. I wasn’t enough for you. I never would have been. At least this way, you can now go on to meet someone who will be.”
“Stephen wants a second chance?” Kelsey asked when Tala hung up the phone.
“He is aware he will not get one.” She pulled Kelsey into her lap and kissed the soft skin of her neck. “You are all I want, Kelsey. I wanted you even before I knew you. You were a fantasy that ran by my house every day. One I was certain I would never have. I am still surprised it has happened.”
Kelsey never got tired of hearing Tala speak. Her words always sounded certain, even when she wasn’t. Her tone was formal but kind and Kelsey often wondered if Tala ever cursed at all.
Kelsey was known for her habit of dropping a series of F-bombs in quick succession, whether she was discussing something good or bad. She curbed her more crass side around Tala, but it was sure to come out eventually. She only hoped Tala wouldn’t be offended when it did.
“I should call mama,” Tala realized, knowing she couldn’t put if off much longer. She wanted to forget what had happened in Manila, but how could that ever truly be possible when her ties were still there?
Kelsey opened a bottle of wine and poured two healthy glasses. She had a feeling Tala would need it when she made this call.
“Hello, mama,” Tala said, when her call was finally answered on the fourth ring. “How is Doneng?”
Kelsey sipped her wine and eyed Tala curiously. Her green eyes searched the smooth skin of Tala’s face for a line of frustration or anger, but there was none. How Tala could ignore the fact that her own brother had tried to kill her was beyond Kelsey’s reasoning abilities.
“Doneng’s physical wounds will heal,” Dalisay told Tala. “His mental wounds, I do not know.”
Dalisay sounded like she’d been crying for days and it broke Tala’s heart. She couldn’t imagine what it was like for a mother to have to face not only her son’s psychotic break, but also that the break had resulted in an attack on her daughter.
“How is Kelsey?” Dalisay still wasn’t in love with the idea of her daughter making a life with a woman, but that woman had most surely proven her love for her daughter when she’d jumped in front of the gun. Anyone who loved one of her children that much, at least deserved a certain amount of respect and concern. Dalisay might even learn to love Kelsey in time, but right now she was too focused on her son’s fragile state to give any energy to much else.
“She is healing, mama. She wants to go jogging in the morning but I do not think this is a good idea yet.”
“Jogging?” Dalisay was confused by this word.
“Running,” Tala explained. “Kelsey runs twice a day.”
“Ah,” Dalisay nodded into the phone. “Maybe this is why she was so quick on her feet in that moment. If she wishes to run, anak, maybe it is best that you let her.”
Kelsey curled up under a blanket on the couch and watched Tala. Her slender hand rose every now and then to bring the wine glass to her lips. Each time it did so, her full lips parted gently, and Kelsey watched the small amount of red liquid slip from the glass into Tala’s barely opened mouth.
“Have the police given you any idea what will happen to Doneng?” Tala asked, changing the subject. She didn’t want Kelsey overexerting herself and she didn’t want to argue her opinion on that with anyone. Not with her mother, and if it came to it, not even with Kelsey.
“He will remain in hospital a few more days.” Tears filled Dalisay’s eyes. Her voice grew hoarse but she tried to hide it because she did not want to trouble Tala further with her own hurt. “After that, I do not know anak. We have hired an attorney but it is most likely your brother will go to jail.”
“What about a mental hospital? He will not get the help he needs in jail.”
“I think he will go to jail, anak,” Dalisay said, sadly. “We will do our best. Doctors are assessing him. We hope one of them will testify that Doneng should get help, not prison.”
The next morning Kelsey got up early and went jogging while Tala was still asleep. She knew Tala would fight her on it, but what Tala didn’t understand was that Kelsey needed this. She needed to run until she could barely breathe, until her lungs were all but bursting and she felt more like herself again. It was how she managed stress. And if Manila had been anything, stressful was the least of it.
When she got back to the house an hour later, Tala was still in the flannel pants she’d slept in. The grey t-shirt she wore clung to her small breasts, her nipples prominently on display. Kelsey reached out to touch and Tala slapped her hand away.
“I wish you had not gone running this morning when you know it worried me,” she said, focusing her attention back to the computer before her. Her hand closed around a steaming mug of coffee and she looked up briefly to give Kelsey a serious look.
“Tala, I needed this.”
“You needed to worry me?”
“I needed to run. Look, a lot of crazy shit happened in Manila and, whether you understand it or not, I needed to run it out of my system.”
“It will not be out of your system so easily, Kelsey.”
Kelsey grabbed a bottle of water and nodded. “No, but it’s a good start. And look, I’m fine. I didn’t collapse somewhere. I didn’t get hurt. I just ran the way I always have and everything is fine.” She glanced at the computer screen and frowned. “Apartment listings?”
“I will need to find a place to live now that my house is being sold.”
“Oh. I…umm…I thought you would live here?”
Tala looked up from the computer with a shy smile. “You did not ask me to live here, Kelsey, and I would never assume such a thing.”
“Okay, I’m asking.”
“What are you asking?” Tala grinned, liking this slightly less confident side of Kelsey.
“I am asking you to live here,” Kelsey said, her words stretched out and deliberate. Tala may have thought she was afraid to say the words, but she wasn’t. She had assumed it would go this way anyway.
“And if I refuse?”
“Do you want to refuse?”
“No.”
Kelsey shrugged. “So, why are you fucking with me?”
To Kelsey’s surprise, Tala didn’t even flinch at Kelsey’s f-bomb.
“I just want you to be certain, Kelsey. I have made decisions about my life.”
“Like?”
“Like I have decided I will go back to school and finish my degree here in America. I will become an accountant.”
“Okay.”
“And I will use that degree. I will have a career, Kelsey.”
Kelsey laug
hed. “Why are you being so stern about it? Do you think I’d stop you? If that’s what you want, great! You can do anything you want, Tala. I’m not here to stop you from anything. I’m here to support you in anything.”
Tala rose from her chair and wrapped her arms around Kelsey’s neck. “And I will support you in anything. This is the kind of relationship I want.”
“And it is the kind you will have. I love you, Tala. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”
Tala gently touched the stitches on Kelsey’s arm and her heart swelled. “I love you, my Kelsey,” she said.
She rested her head on Kelsey’s shoulder and finally felt at peace.
Epilogue
Doneng’s descent into madness was not as sudden as it had seemed. A psychotic break had been imminent for a long time, the psychiatrist who analyzed him had said in court, but his testimony had not been enough to alter the young man’s fate. Doneng was sentenced to twelve years in prison with a three year term of mandatory psychiatric care. He sneered at the judge in his usual fashion and picked at a scab on his arm. None of it mattered.
Dalisay burst into tears when the verdict was read. Her wailing could be heard as far away as the hallway outside the courtroom.
“My son! My son!” She cried in Tagalog.
Cristano tried to quiet her sobs. He pulled his wife’s face into his chest but it was not enough to muffle the sounds of her despair. Doneng was not coming home. Not for a very long time.
When Tala got the news she was both relieved and heartbroken. Relieved because Doneng would at least get the help he needed, but heartbroken at the thought of the long road ahead of him. What future would he have after this? Even if his sentence was shortened, his life would never be the same. She thought of the sweet boy who used to pick her flowers and tears streamed down her face. That sweet boy was lost to her forever now.
Kelsey consoled Tala. She tried to see things the way Tala did, but in the end she could not. Doneng was not her brother. Doneng was the man who had wanted to rape her and kill them both. And if she hadn’t been so quick on her feet that day, he might have succeeded in at least killing one of them.
Eventually, Tala went forward with her plan and returned to school. Within a year, she acquired the last of the credits she needed and opened a small accounting firm. Kelsey was her first client.
Together the two women began to build a solid life. They continued to buy investment properties and traveled the world.
They did not go back to Manila. It would be a very long time before Kelsey was ready for that.
More books from Blackstone Publishing:
Madison’s Way. Adelaide Schofield (2016)
Tell Me Again. Deanna DiLorenzo (2014)
Tell Me. Deanna DiLorenzo (2013)
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