Fallen Into You

by Ann Collins

  “There’s no need,” said Alexander.

  How long he’d been stood in the doorway was anyone’s guess, but now he walked forward with one hand out, in a gesture half-placating, half dominating.

  “I’m sorry that it’s come to this,” said Alexander. “But we need to discuss your future here.”

  Kara’s heart sank. How could he? Her own father… Scott smiled triumphantly. He let out a little whoop of glee and glowered across at her. Kara had had enough. If she didn’t get his approval, then so be it. She’d just have to live with that.

  “Daddy,” she said, desperately trying to keep the tears back, “Scott and I are finished. I’ve made my mind up. And that’s that. If that means I lose the job, the car, whatever, then so be it. You can take it all. I still love you, but I’ve got to do the right thing.”

  Alexander turned to her and smiled. “Actually, Kara, I was talking to Scott.”

  Scott’s face fell. In fact it collapsed.

  “We don’t put people out of business here, Scott. We don’t take their means of making money off them and put them on the streets. Not even if we feel wronged by them. And we certainly never, ever use blackmail. Not in my name, and not in the name of our bank. And as for the way you threatened Kara…”

  Alexander’s face betrayed a rare flash of anger, but he quickly regained total composure. And now it was his turn to scoff “The very idea that I’d see my daughter out of a job to ingratiate myself to a little weasel like you? I’d see the whole bank go under before I did that.”

  “I’ve no doubt that my daughter’s behavior hasn’t been exemplary, maybe even unbecoming. But you’re a snake of the highest order, and I won’t have you in my bank.”

  Scott stood there, his mouth so wide you could park a very expensive car in it.

  “You’re fired.”

  It took a moment for the words to kick in, but kick in they did.

  “You’ll regret this!” Scott raged, waving his skinny fist in the air. “You’ll never set foot in the country club again!”

  “So be it,” said Alexander. “We’ll struggle, sure, but we’ll cope. Sometimes you’ve just got to do the right thing and let the other things take care of themselves.”

  Scott wheeled about, as though looking for something to throw, one last desperate act.

  “Don’t make me call security.”

  He threw his hands down uselessly and headed for the doorway, turning back one last time “I cheated on you! More times than I can remember!”

  Did he? Didn’t he? It didn’t seem to matter. He walked through the door and out of their lives, and that was that.

  ***

  “What a mess, huh?” said Alexander.

  She was relieved that he cut to the chase. “Yeah.”

  “Are you okay?”

  She smiled and let out the breath she had been holding. “Surprisingly okay.”

  “Come here.” He opened his opens and gave her a wide warm embrace.

  The tears she’d been holding back so long finally sprang to her eyes, unimpeded. “I wasn’t happy with him, Daddy. I hadn’t been for a long time.”

  “I know.”

  She wiped her eyes and looked at him, surprised. He sighed and rubbed his hand across the polished desk. “You never really had that fire in your eyes. The one that your mother had for me.” He broke into a broad smile. “Your mother…when she got sick and she had to stay home, she would meet me at the door every night. Do you remember that?”

  Kara smiled right along with him. “Even if she was sick.”

  “That’s right.”

  “I remember…she would have chemo or radiation, and she would be in bed all day, but she would get up before you got there. And she would put on her lipstick and brush her hair.”

  “We adored each other. That look in her eyes…honey, even on her deathbed, there was that look in her eyes when I walked into the room. Like I was the very person she wanted to see. Like we were still falling in love, so many years after we already did. That kind of glow…”

  He cleared his throat and Kara wasn’t surprised to see tears in his eyes.

  “That kind of glow is what every man deserves. Every woman deserves to feel it. And if you don’t have it with the person you’re with, then you need to find it with someone else. I hoped it would come, because sometimes these things take time, but maybe some people just don’t have it between them. And never will.”

  She shook her head sadly. Her father had just summed up her relationship with Scott and all the problems with it. She looked at him, not sure what else to say. But when she saw his thoughtful smile, she realized she didn’t have to say anything.

  “Did you know your mother was dating someone else when I met her?”

  Kara’s head snapped up. “ What ? Really?”

  “Oh, she wasn’t in as deep as you and Scott, but she was definitely spoken for back then. That’s why she ignored me at first. And it’s why I should have ignored her.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “How could I? She was the most stunning woman I had ever seen! I had to at least let her know what I felt, and then if she wanted to tell me to hit the road, well, at least I tried.”

  Kara was breathless at this new and intriguing story. She had no idea that her mother and father had started in such a way. It shed new light on who they were, not just as her parents, but as two young people struggling with right and wrong and all the twists of love.

  “Did you steal her away?”

  “I tried,” he admitted. “She ignored me.”

  “What changed her mind?”

  “To be honest, I’m not sure,” he said, furrowing his brow as he thought about it. “She never really wanted to talk about it. She just showed up one day at the house where I was living with my college buddies, and said that she had changed her mind. And that put it all in motion. I married her a year later.”

  “And then I came along.”

  He turned his hand over and took hers, squeezing it hard. “And then the best thing in both of our lives, even better than each other, came along. Oh, honey, if she could see you now, she would tell you how proud she was that you did what your heart said. I know I’m not as good as a mother when you need someone at a time like this, but I knew my wife, and I know what she would say.”

  Kara’s tears spilled over. Her father gave her a hug that was crushing, almost taking her breath from her, and she let herself be pulled hard against his strong chest, his shirt scratchy and stiff against her cheek.

  Her father let her go. He smiled down at her as he brushed her hair from her face and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

  “I’m sorry I made such a mess of things, Daddy”.

  “No, I’m the one who’s sorry. You didn’t need me cranking up the pressure. I should have been focused on what was best for you, no matter what that might have been.” He paused and chuckled. “Or, rather, no matter who .”

  “But you know what? You didn’t listen to me – you did what you thought was right. That took courage, and I admire that. You’ll probably hate to hear this, but I think you take after me – and your mother – more than you might like to think!”

  It was an unexpected stamp of approval, one that threatened to send her into a fresh flood of tears. She buried her face harder against him. “I love you,” she said, her voice muffled against his shirt.

  “I love you too.”

  “Do you think there will be problems at the country club?” she said.

  “Not really – they’ll just never let me in as long as I live!” he said, before settling down to a more serious tone. “We’ll be fine. We might lose some big customers, and we’ll need to make some changes, but we’ll get through it. We’ll stick to our principles. That’s always worked out pretty well for us.”

  All this time Anders had been stood, waiting respectfully. Now Alexander switched his attention to him.

  “Anders, is it?”

  “It is, Mr. Dermot, sir
,” said Anders, with a subtle head bow, but never breaking eye contact.

  “You can call me Alexander,” he said. “I don’t know you, Anders, but I do know you put a lot on the line for my daughter.”

  “I guess.”

  “And speaking on behalf of the bank, you have my full and sincere apology. That’s not the way we deal with customers. We’ll have your business open again in no time. And I’m sure we can negotiate more favorable terms this time round.”

  “With respect,” said Anders, smiling, “I don’t want favorable terms. I just want to pay what I owe. Call it my stubborn pride.”

  Alexander met his smile with one of his own.

  Kara felt a warmth inside – Anders was just being himself, and that was more than enough for her dad to like him. She’d already shown that she was willing to forgo her father’s approval, but it was still nice when it came.

  “How about business advice? You think your pride could bend a little to accommodate some of that? We’ve got some good people here, you know.”

  “I won’t disagree with you there,” said Anders, glancing across to Kara.

  “Right, well, that’s quite enough emotion for one day,” said Alexander. “I’ve got a bank to run.”

  Kara sighed probably the longest sigh of her life. It started the moment her father closed the door behind him, and then just seemed to carry on.

  “I think that’s possibly the most productive meeting I’ve ever had,” she said. “Well, perhaps besides that one in your garage.”

  They exchanged naughty grins.

  “So what now, Anders?”

  “I think I could do with some fresh air,”

  “You and me both! I’ve just got a few things to clear up back here.”

  “I’ll see you outside,” said Anders, and walked ahead.

  ***

  Kara stepped out of the bank and took a deep breath of the fresh, crisp air. She closed her eyes and let the breeze blow over her, soothing her tired eyes. She had purged the bad things with every tear, and the good things were just around the corner.

  Or just at the end of the parking lot.

  They’d only been apart a matter of minutes, but she still beamed when she saw him. He was sitting in the almost empty lot, straddling his black motorcycle with the flashy chrome trim. She slowed as she walked toward him, eyeing the bike with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. His grin grew bigger as he patted the seat behind him.

  “Ah…no,” she said, and then let out a nervous laugh. “I have never been on a motorcycle before in my life, and I’m not going to start now!”

  “Sure you are,” he said, with the light of challenge in his eyes.

  “I’m wearing a skirt!”

  “And it’s a nice one.”

  “Anders…”

  “Come on,” he said, patting it again. “You know you want to. I can see it in your face.”

  And dammit, he was right – she did want to. She was scared to death, but yes, she wanted to. She took in his jeans, his shirt, the usual attire that she was already so accustomed to seeing. She briefly thought of Anders in a suit, but the vision wouldn’t come together in her mind. He would no more wear a suit than Scott would ride a motorcycle.

  “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” she said.

  He held his arms out wide. “I make you try new and exciting things!”

  She walked into the hug, already laughing, already certain she would get on that bike, skirt and all, and would cling to him while he drove, even though she was scared half out of her mind already.

  “I really am nervous…”

  “There’s a helmet in the saddlebag,” he said, reaching back to show her. “I promise I’ll go slowly.”

  In the end, she had to hike her skirt up to mid-thigh to settle behind him on the bike. It felt naughty and wrong, as though she was flashing the world, but he assured her the skirt didn’t go up too far. “It's not in my interest to have other men gaping at you.”

  “Well, okay,” he conceded with a smirk, “maybe it is just a little bit."

  When he started the bike, she yelped at the loud noise that came from underneath her. The vibrations seemed to shake her to her very bones. But the moment he put the bike into motion and the wind began to buffet her, her heart raced and her breath went short. She pressed her arms tight around his warm, solid body and laid her head against his back, watching the world go by.

  “Faster,” she said, and then again, and soon she was shouting it to the world.

  “Faster, Anders! Faster!”

  Epilogue

  Six months later…

  Kara looked over the man behind the wheel. Anders was wearing a ball cap pulled low over his eyes, but she could still see the hair that was a little too long, and the eyes that were filled with mirth. His jaw was covered with stubble, just the way she liked it. She reached over and put her hand on his thigh, and was rewarded with a quick smile and his hand on top of hers.

  “This will be a great weekend,” he said.

  They were on their way to a small cabin in the mountains, about two hours away from their town, but it might as well have been on another planet. The winding road ascended through the trees, and the branches touched overhead, creating a canopy of green. The dappled sunlight brought forth treasures, such as the deer that they saw every few miles, as well as the bobcat that crossed leisurely in front of the truck, as though it had no fear of the big machine at all. The air was already crisper and cleaner, and Kara had rolled down the window to let it blow through her long hair.

  The cabin had been owned by Anders’ father, one of the elder Wallace’s few indulgences. His business had been transformed by the advice Ander’s had got from the bank, advice that had come from none other than Kara herself. They were a great team. Anders knew the industry inside out, and Kara’s business smarts were all the company needed to start turning some serious profit. By the time they left, a bright, shiny new construction was starting to sprout up on a plot of land they’d bought on the main strip.

  The bank, meanwhile, was doing fine. A few of the client’s left, no doubt helping to quench Scott’s appetite for revenge, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Alexander was as magnanimous as ever, sticking to his principles, and the bank was actually on more solid ground, not being so heavily reliant on the connections of a single group of people. It started gaining praise – and new business – for its homegrown flavor of corporate social responsibility.

  “Has it really only been six months?” she asked him now as he slowed to let a flock of wild turkeys strut across the road.

  “You’re tired of me already?” he asked, and she leaned over to kiss his cheek.

  “Never,” she swore.

  Sometimes she felt as though she had been with Anders forever. They fit so well in every way that it was sometimes hard to remember that they came from entirely different backgrounds. Over the course of just a few weeks, the questions of wealth and blue collars had fallen away, replaced by something much simpler: Two people enjoying the hell out of each other. And it had been that way ever since.

  They’d been back to the fancy restaurant enough times now that any discomfort Anders felt was banished for good. In fact, the staff seemed to relish his arrival, turning up as he did in a sharp jacket, cowboy boots and three days’ stubble. The truck he took them in looked a little different now, though. Anders had insisted on sprucing it up rather than replacing it, giving it a flashy paint job, leather upholstery and acres upon acres of chrome.

  “The old girl’s come up in the world,” Anders would say, patting the dash. “Not that she’ll ever forget where she came from.”

  And of course there was no question of Kara not fitting in at McHaggerty’s. It became their favorite place to go whenever uptown was getting too stuffy for them. She was becoming something of a legend down there, setting the dance floor on fire on her regular visits.

  Getting together had been a rocky road, but it had been worth it. W
ith Anders she felt like a whole new person.

  “How long until we get there?” she asked.

  ***

  An hour later, Anders stood on the porch of the old cabin and looked into the woods. There were trees everywhere, brown and greens that were so thick they almost blocked out the clear blue sky. He remembered long weekends at this cabin when he was a boy, and it sure felt different now, to be here as a man with a woman by his side. He found himself wondering what it might be like ten years from now, if he might have his own kids running around – his and Kara’s. Now that was something to make her father proud. His own, too. Hell, it would make him proud.

  But it had only been six months…and besides, she hadn’t said she loved him yet.

  Anders knew he was in love with her. He was deeply, passionately in love with this woman, and had been for a while. But he wasn’t going to push things. Though the money difference between them had ceased to be an issue, he still had a need to keep things close to the vest when it came to how he really felt. He wasn’t sure why, but it mattered greatly to him that she be the one who said those words first.

  She came out of the cabin, dressed only in his shirt causing his mouth to turn up at the corners of its own accord. Though she might not have said certain words yet, her body said them all the damn time. She had just said quite a bit in that old bed, the one that creaked each time they moved, announcing to all the wildlife in earshot what was going on in there.

  “Ready to go see the waterfall?” he asked.

  ***

  By the time they finally crawled into bed that night, both Anders and Kara were exhausted. They had climbed half the mountain to reach the top of the falls, which were magnificent indeed. Then they had to come back down, and that had definitely been interesting, considering that night was falling and so was a light drizzle, one that made the rocks slick and dangerous.

  But halfway down, she had decided that since she was wet anyway, it was time to go all-out. That’s how they wound up at the bottom of the falls, in a little pool that formed out of the natural rocks on the mountainside, and they ducked each other under the water until they were shivering with the cold. By the time they got back to the cabin, they were ready to huddle around the open fire for warmth. Dinner was something hearty from a can, and now they fell into bed together without even the slightest thought of making love.