by Sherie Keys
He turned to her with a bright light in his eyes and in his grin. “Oh yeah! I can’t wait to come back! Oh, and I have homework tonight. I might need some help with it. We were working on other things in my old school, so I’m not so sure about what the teacher was showing us.” He looked at her with uncertainty. “Could you please help me with it?”
Delphine laughed softly. “You bet. I’d love to.” The thought crossed her mind that she was going to be helping a child with homework, and the surrealism of the situation struck her again, but not nearly as deeply as the joy she felt that he had experienced such a good first day at school.
“Before we go home to do homework, we’re going to stop off somewhere.” She smiled at him and saw him blink and look away out the window in silence, biting at his lower lip.
“What is it?” she asked, keeping an eye on the road and trying to watch him at the same time.
He shook his head, and she felt that same pinch in her heart as had happened with him a few times already. “Please?” she asked kindly.
“You said going home,” he spoke quietly. “It’s weird to hear it. Going home. I don’t have a home to go to.”
Emotions hit her heart like a jet flying into a brick wall at Mach 5. She swallowed hard. “You have a home right now,” she told him with a comforting voice.
He turned to look at her and spoke simply. “If I can’t stay there, is it still my home or is it just another place I’m staying?”
His words were a blow to her, and she felt like everything in her was reeling. “For as long as you are with me, it is your home, and you can call it that if you want to. It’s where you belong, and that’s what a home is really. It’s a place where we belong. Right now, you belong with me.”
“Okay,” he replied and looked out of the window again.
Delphine concentrated on the road and traffic, and they reached the warehouse. Oliver leaned forward and looked out of the windshield up at the building before them. “Where are we?”
“This is a new building that my business partner and I just got. We’re starting a business, and this is where our business will be based,” she answered, getting the renovation plans and stepping out of her car. Oliver followed her and walked with her to the door.
“What kind of business is it? Will people come here to shop?” he asked, looking confused about what she had told him.
“Not really, this isn’t the kind of business where people shop, though some might come here to buy some things. Our business is special. We are building gardens around the city in empty places, and then we’re putting bees in the gardens so that the bees can pollinate the flowers and help make things grow,” she explained with a smile, relieved that their conversation had taken an easier turn.
“And make honey! I know that bees make honey,” he told her proudly. She nodded, and her smile grew.
“Yes, they do! I think we’re going to be selling honey at the different gardens around the city, if it works out with the bees and the honey season.” She winked at him, and they walked into the office where Justin was busy painting the walls a bright white color.
“I like the white. It looks like a new room!” Delphine told him.
“Well, the plan is to get the walls done first and then we do the floors. That way there aren’t paint drips on the new floors,” he replied, setting the paint roller down and wiping his hands on a cloth. His eyes were on the young boy beside her.
“You must be Oliver!” Justin said, squatting down to be nearer the boy’s line of sight. “I’m Justin. I’m really glad to meet you.”
Oliver reached his hand out shyly and shook Justin’s hand. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.” His voice was small again.
Delphine hugged Justin carefully, trying to avoid getting paint on her. “Justin is my best friend and my business partner,” she explained. Oliver gave him a half smile.
“So, did Delphine tell you what we’re doing here?” Justin asked the boy, giving him an interested look and a smile.
“She said you’re making gardens for bees,” Oliver answered.
“In a nutshell, yes. That’s just what we’re doing. We’re going to start the flowers and plants here and grow them until they are strong enough to be out in the city, and then we’re going to transplant them into their new homes in gardens around New York,” he explained.
Oliver brightened. “So, the plants here are kind of like orphans, and you’re taking care of them, and then when they’re ready, you take them to a permanent home in a garden where they can stay and grow,” he said, using his own personal metaphor to understand what Justin and Delphine were doing.
Justin blinked in surprise. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it. You’re right. The other thing we’re doing here is starting colonies of bees; that’s a bee family. Then when the colonies are ready, we take them out to the gardens and they pollinate the flowers and make fruits and vegetables for people to eat.”
“And honey!” Oliver added with a bit of excitement.
Justin laughed and nodded. “That’s exactly right! And honey. Bees help our world so much that we couldn’t really live without them. They’re very important, so we want to give them safe places to live and good flowers to use for their work. It’s the best thing for them and for us.”
“Can I help?” Oliver asked hopefully, looking wide eyed at Justin.
“I would love it if you helped. We don’t have the bees and the flowers here yet, because we just got this building, and it’s not ready yet. We have to clean it up and change it just a little so that it will be ready for plants and bees, and then we can start making gardens, but we’re really close.” Justin grinned at the boy.
Oliver pinched his lower lip with his finger and then asked shyly, “Will you have the bees and the flowers here before the end of the month?”
Justin knew what the boy was worried about and he shared a gaze with Delphine, who closed her eyes for a moment as she tried again to hold in her emotions.
“Yeah, buddy. We are definitely going to have flowers and bees in here before the end of the month. You’ll get your turn to help out with them. I can promise you that.” Justin reached out and gave Oliver a pat on the shoulder. “In the meantime, would you like to do some painting with me?”
Oliver beamed immediately and jumped in the air a little. “Yeah!” But then, he stopped and looked down at his clothes worriedly. “Wait… I can’t. These are new clothes for school. I don’t want to get paint on them.”
Justin held his finger up in the air. “Aha! But I have a surprise for you. I knew that you were going to come here this afternoon, so I brought some clothes that I think might fit you, and you can get paint on them without getting in trouble.”
“You did?” Oliver asked with wide, excited eyes.
Justin nodded and rose to his feet. “I did. By the way, Oliver, I’d be so glad if you called me Uncle Justin. As Delphine’s best friend, I think that title works best for our situation. Okay?”
Oliver giggled quietly and nodded. “Okay, Uncle Justin.” He tried it out and looked up at the man shyly.
“I like that. It sounds good. We keep saying that,” Justin announced, going over to a box on the desk nearby. He pulled a small pair of sweats and a plain t-shirt out of it and gave them to Oliver. “The bathroom is over there. You can change in there.” He pointed to the corner of the old office.
“Thank you, Uncle Justin.” Oliver grinned and then rushed to the bathroom.
Justin looked at Delphine and drew in a deep breath. “Wow. That’s one heck of a kid.”
“You have no idea.” She sighed. “He keeps breaking my heart with the things he’s telling me.”
“Are you feeling anything about a decision yet? I mean, I know that you just got him, but are you leaning any direction yet?” he asked, eyeing her closely.
Delphine nodded. “Yeah, I am. I know it’s supposed to take the month, but I don’t think this is going to take the month. I think I’m going to kee
p him.”
Chapter9
They spent a good part of the afternoon painting and going over the renovations for the building and property. After they had given Oliver a tour of the place, he began to feel like he was part of it, and before they were done for the day, he was making suggestions about ideas he had regarding where the bees and flowers could go, and how people could come there to shop so that maybe they could start little gardens on their balconies and patios and have a small beehive. Justin and Delphine loved his ideas, and they listened to him and discussed them with him in a serious way, making him feel confident about himself and his contributions.
When the afternoon grew late, they said goodbye, and Delphine took Oliver home to clean up and do his homework. She let him help her cook dinner, and they ate an evening meal with each other for the first time in the brownstone home. They had just enough time for a movie before Oliver showered and brushed his teeth. He got his pajamas on and went to bed with his teddy bear. Delphine tucked him in and read him a bedtime story, and he fell asleep.
When she went to her room, she sent Justin a text, ‘I could get used to this.’
Justin texted back, ‘He’s a great kid. You could be great at this.’
She plugged her phone in for the night and was headed to bed when she heard it buzz again, and she thought that it was Justin, but when she got to it, she saw that it was Mike’s number. She had taken him out of her contacts, but she knew the number, and she sighed when she saw it. He had texted her.
Reluctantly, she opened the text. ‘I left a message for you on your answering machine. I don’t know if you’ll get this, but I hope so. Please call me. I miss you, I love you, and I want to talk with you.’
She deleted it and plugged her phone back in, going to her bed and making herself turn her thoughts back to the business with Justin and her new charge sleeping in the other room. It was a while before she fell asleep, but as her last lucid thoughts drifted through her mind, they turned to Adrian and the time they had shared in Portugal. It seemed impossible to her that it had only been a few days before. It felt to her like it had been another life in another world. She fell asleep and reminded herself that she was not allowed to think about him. Not at all. Except maybe in her dreams, and in her dreams, he came to her and kissed her.
The next morning seemed a little easier than the morning before. Oliver was ready for school and had a good breakfast with Delphine before they drove away from the house and she dropped him at school. He told her that she could walk him to the door of the school, but he would go from there, and she felt a little glow of pride for him and his bravery. She watched him until he was gone, and then she left and returned home.
She was going over the renovations and making some more adjustments to them when there was a knock at her door. The noise caught her by surprise because she wasn’t expecting anyone. She went to the door, curious about who it might be, and when she opened it, her mouth fell open as she stared dumbfounded at her guest.
“What on earth are you doing here?” she asked, staring at him.
“I’ve left you messages. I’ve come by and you were gone for a while. I had to see you. I have to talk to you, please.” Mike pleaded with anxious eyes. He had shoulder length brown hair that was longer in the back than it was in the front. His skin was pale, and his eyes were brown. He wasn’t small, but he wasn’t necessarily overweight. He wasn’t muscular, but he wasn’t weak. He was in the middle of everything.
“Mike, I cannot believe you are standing here at my door. We broke up. I kicked you out. We said it was done. There isn’t anything for us to talk about,” she insisted, planting her hands on her hips and giving him a hurt and impatient look.
He shook his head and held his hand out to her. “Wait! Wait… please. I just want to talk. I need to talk with you. I love you, baby. I miss you. Come on, we were together for a couple of years, the least you could do is talk with me.”
“We were together for a year and a half, and that was time that I’ve lost because you don’t want to have a family, and you spent all of that time lying to me and letting me believe that you wanted kids with me,” she snapped at him.
“See? That’s what we need to talk about. I’ve done some serious soul searching. I know that I made bad choices, and I led you on, and I know that was wrong. I am here to make amends. I want you back, baby. We had a good thing and we could have that again. Just… just give me a chance, please,” he begged.
Frustration coursed through her and she gave him a sharp look. “What do you want, Mike?”
He held his hands out, realizing that she was giving him the chance to talk that he had asked for. “I want to be with you. I miss you so damn much, and I know that you miss me, too. I know you do. You love me. I love you. I made a mistake. I’m human, and we all make mistakes. I’m sure there are things that you wish you could do differently if you could go back and have a do over. My mistakes with you were bad. I know that. I’m here to make it right. I want to marry you and start a family,” he said seriously.
She stared at him. “What?” Every single cell in her body came to a screeching halt. “What did you just say to me?”
Mike reached into his pocket and pulled out a black velvet box. He knelt down on one knee and opened the box, holding it up to her. It contained a medium sized diamond ring on a silver band. “Marry me. Say yes and marry me, and we will start a family. I promise.”
Delphine stared at the ring and at her ex-boyfriend and felt sure that the whole world had just turned inside out. “You want to marry me and have a family now? Now?!” she groaned and shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood in the doorway.
“Yes! That’s exactly what I want!” he pleaded desperately.
“Well, I can’t.” She shook her head.
He frowned in confusion. “What do you mean you can’t? This is what you wanted two weeks ago! Why isn’t this what you still want? Are you just pissed at me or what? This is why you broke up with me, because you wanted this, and now I’m here on my knees on your front porch asking you to marry me and start a family with me, and you’re telling me that you can’t? Why not?”
Delphine sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “It is what I wanted two weeks ago, but things have changed, and I can’t now.”
He struggled to get to his feet, the ring still clasped in his hand. “Why? Tell me what’s going on.”
“Well, to begin with, after we broke up I thought I was going to have to make a family on my own, so I went to an adoption agency, and I got matched with a child. A little boy. Now, there’s an eight-year-old boy living here with me, and I think I’m going to adopt him,” she answered, lifting her chin stubbornly to see his reaction to her rash life choice.
He blinked in surprise. “You adopted a kid? In less than two weeks?” Mike was stunned.
“Well, it’s not official yet; we’re on a trial period for a month to make sure it’s a good fit, but I’m pretty sure that I’m going to keep him. So yeah, I’m a package deal now, and that isn’t what you thought you were going to get when you came over here today.” She drew in a deep breath, waiting for his reply.
He was silent a moment, thinking it over. “I don’t care. I don’t care if you have a kid here. I still want to marry you. If you love the kid, then I’ll probably love the kid too. Listen, if you’ve got an eight-year-old boy here, he’s going to need a father figure around. You can’t raise an eight-year-old boy by yourself. What are you going to do when he hits his teen years and he doesn’t know about puberty and girls and all those problems? You’re going to need a man around. You’re going to need me. Now look, I know I screwed up but I’m here to fix it, so let’s fix it. Let’s do this. Please.”
Mike dropped back down to his knee and held the ring aloft to her. “Marry me. Please. Take this ring and make a family with me.”
Delphine felt her heart soften toward him. “You’re right about a father being around. I hadn’t thought about puberty, bu
t I’m sure I could figure it out on my own. Lots of women raise boys to be fine men without a father around. We’d figure it out on our own.”
“Yeah, but you don’t have to figure it out on your own. I’m here, and I want to be here and do it all with you,” he insisted, holding the ring up to her.
“Maybe you’re right,” she admitted, rolling her eyes. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll let you meet Oliver, and if you two hit it off, then I’ll consider marrying you.”
Mike jumped to his feet and grinned. “I’m going to do it. I’m going to get along with that kid like peanut butter and jelly.” He reached for Delphine and wrapped his arms tight around her, leaning in to kiss her, but she turned her face and his lips pressed against her cheek. He pulled his head back and looked at her in surprise.
