Rapture

by Sonia Icilyn

  But what she’d learned raised doubts in her mind. “Tonight’s been wonderful,” Avril agreed. She looked right at Dale, adoring the chocolate-sweet gaze that met her. The sweep of his brows, his enticing pink lips. Everything about him appealed to her soul. “Before we went to the theater, I really feared that I might never see you again.”

  Dale squeezed her fingers tighter, sensing that the conversation had taken a serious turn. “What we have is very new,” he began, “and it’s something I want to be sure of.”

  “Me, too,” Avril acknowledged, realizing it was better to have these doubts now than later. “I need to know you more.”

  “Then let’s do that,” Dale accepted happily.

  “First, I want you to answer something for me,” Avril moved on quickly, before her nerves and the sensual pleasure she felt for Dale as he affectionately stroked her fingers, overtook her reasoning. “Was your law firm retained by Maxwell Armstrong?”

  “I don’t see what that has to do with—”

  “Just tell me,” Avril interrupted.

  “Philippa took on a case for him,” Dale answered, irritated that this man was still a minor bane in Avril’s existence.

  “Did you use the knowledge of his…past against his parents to release me from paying the wedding costs?” she asked on a hint of disbelief.

  “Who told you that?” Dale instantly demanded.

  “Meyrick Armstrong,” Avril confirmed.

  “When you caught him and your friend together,” Dale affirmed, nodding knowingly. “Did he explain to you the context in which I made that?”

  Avril shook her head, confused. “No.”

  Dale heaved a long sigh of reservation. “If you really must know,” he began, shaking his head miserably. “The money Maxwell Armstrong used to pay for your wedding was most likely gained from somewhere—Philippa was not sure where, but it was somewhere other than his private funds. No doubt, it will all come to light pretty shortly,” he continued, pulling his hand away. “After hearing what Philippa told me, including the fact that he’d gotten a married woman pregnant, I advised my partner that I did not want our firm to represent him as he gave us very little detail on what his…fraudulent activities entailed.”

  “These were the infractions you hinted at?” she breathed. Which explained why he’d been too accommodating. Too efficient. Dale had maneuvered the situation so expertly, she remembered wondering how such a thing was done.

  “Yes,” he answered. “Then Elonwy approached the firm to secure parental and financial support. Philippa took the case as she was familiar with the background of some of Maxwell’s monetary affairs then later, Lennie contacted me. We quickly discovered that Maxwell was planning to recover a lot of money from you. It became my job to remove you from the situation and I did.”

  Avril not only felt the loss of Dale’s hand, but she sensed some loss in his feelings, too. Suddenly, she was no longer sure of her future. “I’m sorry,” she swallowed. “Kesse told me that she suspected you’d probably found something on Maxwell and then when I saw her today with Meyrick and he knew about it, too, I just needed to know.”

  “Maybe,” Dale agreed, knowing that he’d irrevocably fallen in love with this woman, “but I…we can’t make any headway if Maxwell or Meyrick Armstrong’s name is going to come into every moment of time that I spend with you.”

  And hadn’t Antonio already told her this, Avril recalled suddenly. He’s a man. He’s not going to make a sucker of himself twice. Dale had come back into her life and taken a second shot because he couldn’t help himself, and here she was pushing him away by mentioning the Armstrongs again. “It won’t, not anymore,” she promised.

  “I once told you that I know women see things differently,” Dale began in such frustration, he pushed his full tea cup away. “I’ve behaved inappropriately with you. I’m aware there’s a trust issue and maybe I should have told you a lot sooner about what’s gone down, but at the risk of infringing client confidentiality, I had to make a judgment call. And I made it.”

  Avril began to feel her future with this man slipping away from her grasp. “Like I said, so much has happened,” she pleaded quietly. “The way I feel about you—”

  “How do you feel about me?” he cut in swiftly.

  Avril blinked. “It’s…you’re…all I think about,” she ended on a startled breath.

  “Then—” Dale started, almost helpless.

  “I need to be sure that I’m not in your life because you feel sorry for me or because you wanted to make way for Philippa to win her case against Maxwell.”

  “Philippa?” Dale asked, confused.

  “I know you care about your partner,” Avril declared solemnly, staring at her own full cup of tea that was slowly cooling. “You told me yourself you wanted to make a move on her.”

  “That was two years ago,” Dale revealed, surprised. “Before we set up the law firm. As it happens, Philippa is very happy with her boyfriend. They’d just recently spent a vacation together and now they’re engaged.”

  “I thought…” Avril didn’t know how to explain that she’d initially thought Philippa’s vacation was with Maxwell and had been wrong about so many other things. Right now, she felt like she was in the middle of a maze and there was no way out. “It’s hard for me to know that you feel the same way that I do,” she blurted, finally.

  “The same way?” Dale repeated, amazed. “Can’t you see that I’m falling in love with you?”

  “What?” Avril gasped.

  “Why else would I tell you about my past life with Tamia and Ionie? Why I couldn’t keep my hands off you when I saw you tonight,” Dale said in earnest. “Everything with you is different. I want what we have to work.” He remembered Marcus Davy and what his client had said about the woman he loved. “I want you to be happy.”

  Tears sprung to Avril’s eyes. “Dale…” Her throat was constricted. She wanted to tell him that from the moment she’d been waiting for his call, she had wondered about their future. That the sudden sight of him had evoked a joy so unreal that for a moment, she’d been unable to believe it.

  She sat motionless, wondering if Dale knew what he was asking of her. Avril knew. She had no illusions that he was asking for a committed relationship. That their union could possibly lead to marriage, children at decent intervals and a love that would last forever. Their lives would never be the same again.

  And if she surrendered to him, she knew she would do anything he asked of her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake as her mother and demand that he change for her. And if there were any failings, she couldn’t divorce and remarry. She wanted whatever they were planning on starting to succeed, even though a part of her didn’t know whether she was capable of that amount of giving.

  “Don’t say anything,” Dale whispered, taking her hand and pulling her from the chair she was seated in. “Let me show you again how I really feel.”

  His voice grated over her skin, raising a prickle of awareness that tingled along Avril’s nerve endings. “Show me,” she whispered hoarsely.

  Two cups of tea remained cold on the bench.

  They made love leisurely and slowly until dawn.

  Avril awoke, shamelessly staring at the man sleeping beside her. She had the urge to run the tip of her tongue along his bottom lip to awaken him, but managed to stop herself as she recalled how little he’d slept the night before.

  Surer now of her power, she’d not only showed Dale how much she wanted him, but demanded that he respond to her, too. It had felt imperative to receive one hundred percent from him. How else would she be able to make a decision that she wanted this man in her life unless he’d given her that? And she’d received it in abundance, too.

  Now, she was feeling more relaxed and certain of the journey she was sharing with Dale. Avril contemplated how exciting the following weeks, months or years ahead could be. She mused on meeting Dale’s family in Florida. Of introducing him to hers. Damn! She suddenly remembere
d that she was expected at her mother’s house later that day for dinner.

  Her involuntary body movement caused Dale to stir. Seconds later, his eyes slowly opened. “What time is it?” he murmured, not fully awake.

  Avril searched for a clock. With her gaze roving across the room, she found evidence of her clothing strewn across the floor before her eyes landed on Dale’s Omega watch situated on the bedside cabinet. “It’s 10:30 a.m.,” she uttered.

  He yawned and she admired his perfect set of teeth, reminding herself that it was one of the features she’d noticed on their first meeting. Dale’s twisted locks of hair were slightly ruffled and his jawline revealed a night’s growth of stubble which she assumed he’d shave later. As she took in the diamond stud at his earlobe, the square-shaped chin, long thin nose and his chiseled facial structure, Avril couldn’t imagine a morning not waking up next to this man.

  “What do you want to eat?” he asked, rubbing one eye profusely.

  Avril shrugged. “Nothing heavy.”

  “You’re not hungry?” Dale inquired, smothering another yawn.

  “Actually,” Avril began, nervously. “My mother is cooking dinner tonight and…she’s invited you along to join us.”

  “Oh,” Dale exclaimed, unable to quench another yawn. “What time?”

  “Four o’clock.”

  He rubbed his other eye. “What’s she cooking?”

  “A roast.”

  He considered what came with that. Potatoes, carrots, greens. “Sounds good to me,” he readily decided. “We could have a light lunch.”

  Avril was amazed at how easy it was to get an answer from him. After all, wasn’t it the invitation every red blooded male dreaded, being introduced to a girl’s mother? “You don’t mind coming along?”

  “Why should I mind?” Dale questioned on a smile. “I’m going to be fed a good meal before I go into court again tomorrow morning to keep a brother from going to jail.” He put his arms around her and hugged her into his chest. “Let’s stay in bed until lunch time.”

  “You’re going to need all your energy for your case,” Avril agreed, feeling that they might get into something again.

  “Don’t worry,” Dale whispered. “I have an ace up my sleeve. Something I’ve just noticed wasn’t put in any of the police reports and might just clinch my case.”

  Avril wanted to hear more, but much later. She happily snuck into his shoulder, inhaled his scent and closed her eyes.

  It was 3:28 p.m. when they were in Dale’s car heading toward Dulwich Village. Avril was seated in the passenger seat, relaxed and thoroughly content.

  Finally, she felt her life was back on track. She was in a new romance without any complications with a man she adored. Her past behind her, having relinquished the Armstrongs from her life, she was looking forward to raising her profile as Miss African-Caribbean. That would mean delving deeper into the predicament of the residents living in her apartment block while sharing her time with Dale.

  Avril glanced at him at the wheel and attributed much of her satisfaction to him being with her. Had they never met, she was certain she would not be feeling so confident and optimistic presently.

  Earlier, Dale had rustled up a Greek salad for a late lunch after he’d showered, shaved and had taken a leisurely stroll to buy himself a Sunday newspaper. Left with his house entirely to herself, Avril decided to take an afternoon soak in the bathtub to while the time away, before joining him at the kitchen bench.

  While picking at her Feta cheese and sipping a full glass of orange juice, she’d watched Dale thumb his way through the newspaper, marveling at how comfortable they were in each other’s company. It was their first weekend together and it had felt so natural, almost near routine to settle into a pattern. Avril even joined him to do the crossword puzzle before she dressed.

  Not that she had been much help. “Do you always read the quiz page every Sunday?” she inquired, eager to learn more about this man who was swaying her heart.

  “Most Sundays,” Dale answered, as he negotiated the traffic.

  “And you’re able to complete them all?” Avril probed in awe at the record time it had taken him to finish it.

  Dale laughed. “No,” he said, turning the steering wheel toward Dulwich. “I’m no brain-box. Some weeks I get them done, but there are weeks when it’s not so easy.”

  “That’s a relief,” Avril sighed. “I was beginning to feel quite inadequate at having only answered two questions.”

  “Brain teasers, quizzes, crosswords, that’s my thing,” Dale absently told her. “I just love puzzles.”

  Little did Dale know that he was a puzzle himself, for Avril had never met such a convoluted man before. He had layers of character, self-esteem and a certain quiet confidence that she absorbed without any real consciousness of doing so. Dale was so easy to get along with that she could not see a time when they might actually argue. She imagined that this quiet projection was used to success in court, for beneath his exterior there was a strong soul.

  “I’m hopeless at them,” she answered, leaning her shoulders into the passenger seat. “I’m more of a visual person, cinema, television, that sort of thing.”

  “But you do read?” Dale asked on a surprised note.

  “Yes, I read,” Avril answered, hearing the nuance in his tone. She chuckled. “Maybe not the Sunday newspapers, but I pick up a copy of Today’s Black Woman, Essence or Ebony when the mood hits me.”

  “Magazines.” Dale nodded knowingly. He rolled up outside Avril’s mother’s house and cut the engine.

  “We’re early,” Avril said, glancing at her watch.

  “Only by ten minutes,” Dale said, pushing the car door open. “C’mon.” He reached toward the backseat and picked up a bag. “I can’t wait to taste your momma’s cooking.”

  “Don’t expect me to be as good as her,” Avril giggled, jumping from the car. “I’m strictly a cheese on toast woman. I can’t cook to save my life.”

  But Dale knew she was joking as they made toward the door. Three minutes later, Bertha was welcoming them with open arms. “For the fridge,” Dale offered the bottle of Zinfandel rosé from the bag he was carrying.

  “My, you have good taste,” Bertha approved. “Come on through.”

  Lennie was at the sitting room door in an instant. “Dale, how are you, son?” he enthused, offering him a firm handshake. “You’re looking fine.”

  “You too, sir,” Dale replied. “Avril’s keeping me in shape.”

  Lennie laughed. “Care to join me for a drink before dinner? Bertha’s cooking up roast lamb and spuds. You’ll want to line your stomach first to make way for all that food.”

  “I’ll follow you to the kitchen, Mom,” Avril suggested, feeling thoroughly relaxed that their first meeting was going well. Dale waded right in like a duck to water and she knew he’d be keen to talk with Lennie.

  “No, you go ahead,” Bertha declined. “Your brother’s in there with his wife.”

  Avril’s eyes widened. “Elonwy’s here?”

  “Yes,” Bertha smiled. “She’s brought the baby, too. He’s so cute. Go in and look at him.”

  But Avril was motionless. “The baby’s here?” she said slowly for clarity.

  “Cameron Contino,” Bertha continued, not detecting the smooth, cool facade that marred Avril’s fragile-boned features. “It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Avril began, seeing the color red. “Where is she?”

  “Avril?” Bertha inquired immediately, suddenly alarmed as she watched her daughter march into the sitting room breathing fire. Lennie and Dale were not far behind her.

  Avril scanned the room quickly and caught Elonwy seated on the same sofa where she’d spent the long endless night fighting the treacherous woes of jilting Maxwell at the altar. She was in an elegant lime-green suit, with her red-dyed hair swept up away from her face. The makeup was easy on the eye, as were the small pearls she’d used as accessories
on her earlobes and neck.

  At first glance, holding her baby in a cream-colored shawl, she looked proudly respectable. But Avril knew differently. Beneath the false facade was a sinuous, selfish woman.

  “What are you doing here?” she blazed at her sister-in-law.

  “Calm down, sweetheart,” Dale warned, reaching for her wrist. He dipped his head. “This is their business.”

  “What’s going on?” Bertha demanded, overhearing the remark.

  “Ask him.” Avril pointed directly at her brother, standing casually behind the sofa with a glass of bourbon in his hand.

  Bertha raised a brow. “Antonio?”

  Dressed casually in a beige-colored suit and pale-cream shirt, his hair combed neatly into place, Tony looked nervous beneath his neat attire. “Mom, it’s nothing,” he answered lamely.

  “You can live with this?” Avril asked, alarmed beyond reason. She stared at Dale, her eyes pleading with him to understand that she had to do this. It was her brother and his wife’s business, just as he’d said, but she couldn’t leave it alone. She bit her lip. “I can’t.”

  Bertha tapped one foot profusely. “Can’t what?”

  “I’ve taken my wife back,” Antonio declared proudly. “It’s what I want.”

  “You think I like it?” Avril asked coldly.

  “What the hell is going on?” Bertha said, her voice now risen.

  “Right now, I don’t know what to tell you,” Antonio answered his mother sheepishly.

  “We’re back together,” Elonwy announced, hugging her young sleeping infant in a bold gesture that they were now a family unit.

  “She’s my wife,” Antonio exclaimed lamely.

  “Is that the right word for her?” Avril taunted angrily.

  “Maybe we should all sit down,” Dale suggested in a reasoning manner.

  Avril shook her head in disbelief. How could she possibly sit down and eat dinner at the same table with this woman? “Just so that I understand you,” she said, out-staring her brother with such force, his shoulders reined back in strong defense. “You’re going to raise Maxwell’s baby with her?”