Our Lives Entwined

by Lilliana Anderson

  “If I was a stronger man, this never would have happened,” he whispered.

  “Don’t take this on board, Eric. I gave up on us. I gave up on everything. I was the one who was weak.”

  “You’re strong Natalie. Stronger than me. I was gutless. You kept calling out to me, and I kept ignoring you. I’m sorry I drove you to this. I am so, so sorry,” he whispered, his voice cracking with the guilt he was feeling.

  “Oh no, Eric. Please. Don’t. I’m sorry. I should have waited. I should have trusted that you’d come back to me. I was so involved with how I was feeling that I didn’t think about you. I didn’t think you were hurting like I was. Now I feel so blessed that I didn’t succeed. I can only imagine how much I would have hurt you if I did. I’m sorry, Eric. I am so sorry.”

  By now the couple both had tears streaming down their cheeks as they wrapped their arms around each other, Eric’s broad frame engulfing Natalie within his chest, as they whispered their apologies and made promises to each other about living for each other, and not letting anyone else’s opinions get in the way.

  When they had calmed down, the food was almost cold, but they ate it anyway. It was probably the first meal that Natalie had actually enjoyed for a year. Their conversation flowed freely, just like it always had and when they were done, they sat on the couch and watched a movie together cuddled up on the couch.

  By the end of the movie, Natalie had fallen asleep on Eric’s chest, the rhythmic beating of his heart had been too comforting for her to resist. As Eric looked down upon her, she looked so peaceful and almost childlike. A swell seemed to build in his chest as he felt a great protectiveness over her. He swore to himself that he would do whatever was needed to help repair the damage that had been done to her soul, for he knew that doing so, would also repair his.

  He lifted her sleeping body with ease, taking note of how light she had become, and carried her to the bedroom then laid her on the bed. Even though she was an adult and should be able to come and go whenever she pleased, he still contacted her parents to let her know she was safe and had just fallen asleep. Sandra suggested that perhaps they could all go out for breakfast the next morning, and thanked him for taking good care of her.

  “Just remember to go slow with her, Eric. Don’t rush anything. She couldn’t bear another unhappy ending.”

  “I give you my word, she is just sleeping.”

  Sandra smiled into the phone and thanked him again before disconnecting and turning to her husband to fill him in on the conversation. He felt worried that Natalie was pinning all of her hopes on one man, as being one himself, he knew they could sometimes be unreliable. He just hoped that Eric was a better man than most.

  Chapter 10

  ‘SO HOW did Cayd cope with going to Sydney? It must have been hard for him after what happened with his mother,’ Louise signed to Mia, when she met her for coffee after both women had finished work. They had just gone over Mia’s disconcerting conversation with Belle Fleming, and even Louise, who liked everyone, believed that Belle was just a jealous bitch.

  Mia’s face fell. ‘I am the worst girlfriend ever. I didn’t even ask,’ she signed in return. ‘Although, I expect he took it in his stride. I think he’s been reminded about it so many times that he’s immune to it now. He seemed more focused on the fact that his dad turned up.’

  ‘His dad? Did you meet him?’

  Mia balled up her right fist and bounced it, signing, ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well? What was he like?’

  ‘Really brash at first. But after a while he seemed ok with me.’

  Louise’s mouth twitched a little at the side. ‘Did you give him an earful?’

  Mia couldn’t help but crack a smile as she nodded. ‘I think he likes women with spunk,’ she laughed, before deciding to change the course of the conversation. ‘Did Eric call you and Josh?’

  ‘Yeah. He’s staying up there with her. I’m surprised, but I’m not surprised if that makes sense,’ she said.

  ‘Yeah, it makes sense. He’s been pretty miserable this past year. I think he needs time to find out if there is really something there.’

  ‘How do you feel about it all?’

  Mia bounced her shoulders a little. ‘It doesn’t really matter what I think. At the end of the day, I’m happy with Cayd, and if Natalie is the person who makes Eric happy, then I can’t begrudge him that. It would be really wrong of me.’

  ‘How are you feeling about Natalie now?’

  ‘Sorry. I know what she did was wrong. But I feel as though I should have given her more of a chance to sort things out. Even if it was just a letter here and there in response. Instead, I just left her feeling as though she was writing to no one.’

  ‘Eric did that too. He didn’t even read the letters. He just threw them all in the bin and acted as though he didn’t care. But you could tell he did. He’s been really miserable ever since.’

  Mia sipped at her coffee as she took a moment to think before continuing the conversation. ‘I feel responsible for that too. I think that if I had have been open with him and talked about the fact that I was reading the letters, then maybe he would have reached out too. Now, we’re all feeling guilty. I just hope that he knows what he’s getting into. Did he tell you that she’s decided she wants to find our birth mother?’

  Louise shook her head.

  ‘Well, she does,’ Mia continued. ‘She thinks it will help us both find some common ground. But I don’t know… I’m not really interested in a woman who didn’t want me.”

  ‘Maybe give her a chance. You never know what her reasons were,’ Louise pointed out – forever the optimist.

  Mia picked up her coffee and took a long, slow drink. She really didn’t want to find out who her mother was. Every time she thought about it, her gut said an emphatic, no.

  “What a long day that was,” Cayd groaned into Mia’s neck, as he placed a kiss on that curve of skin he loved so much.

  It was almost 8pm and he had just returned home from work to find Mia sitting at the dining table on her laptop. Next to her was a glass of wine and a stack of papers. She reached her hand up and slid her fingers into his hair, gently massaging his scalp. It was a simple gesture, but one that had Cayd humming contentedly as if he were some sort of a cat.

  “Emergency patient?” Mia asked, turning her head to kiss his before she moved to stand up and greet him properly.

  “Yes. A very difficult one. Meds aren’t helping them and we had to call the hospital and be supportive of the family. There’s so much pain in this world, Mia. So much pain.”

  “I know, baby. I know.”

  Mia wrapped her arms around Cayd and held him tightly. Just because it was his job to listen to the problems of the world, didn’t mean that he was unaffected by them. Sometimes he came home absolutely exhausted from containing his emotions all day long. It’s not easy to be the ear that hears the deepest darkest secrets and isn’t allowed to tell.

  As he sighed against her, she gently kissed his temples before bringing her mouth to his and kissing him in a way that seemed to transfer some of her energy into him. In moments like these, they seemed to feed off each other’s energies until they both felt the same amount of calm. It was a strange thing, but it worked for the both of them. They could ground each other.

  “Are you hungry?” Mia asked after a while. “I put your dinner in the oven.”

  Cayd thanked her and sat down at the table, taking a mouthful of Mia’s wine as he watched her move about their kitchen to get his food.

  Their cooking arrangement consisted of whoever arrived home first would prepare the meal, and Mia had made a simple chicken stir fry as she had been unable to get a hold of Cayd. She had called the practice and been informed by the receptionist, Cherry, that he was unavailable. Normally when she got that message it meant that he was too busy with a client to be interrupted.

  She placed the plate in front of Cayd, gently running her hands over his shoulders as she stood behind him
before pressing her fingers into his flesh to massage his aching shoulders.

  “I was thinking of having a bath. You could join me, and we could take the wine in,” she suggested.

  He reached a hand up to take a hold of hers, pressing his lips to her palm.

  “That, my love, would be absolute heaven.”

  “I’ll meet you in there.”

  Mia left him to eat so she could go and run the bath, pouring some Perfect Potions Relax bath oil into the stream of water. Closing her eyes, she held the bottle to her nose, scenting the essential oil blend and picking out the sweet smell of the citrus.

  A gently clinking sound alerted her to Cayd’s presence as he entered the bathroom, proffering two wine glasses and a bottle of Oyster Bay Pinot Noir which was Mia’s favourite. She refused to drink anything overly expensive, claiming that she’d rather drink a twenty-dollar bottle of wine and donate money to charity, over spending a fortune on a single bottle just because they could.

  Cayd had learned a lot about enjoying simpler things during his time with Mia. His life had always been overtly extravagant and he’d never learned to appreciate the things that most people would consider ‘normal’. Everything he desired was always at his fingertips and while he had removed himself from that extravagant life to pursue a life of study and reflection, it took a woman like Mia to show him exactly what was important.

  One of the most important things to him was time. With their busy schedules they had to always make sure they made time for each other.

  As he poured the wine into the glasses, Cayd watched as Mia slowly removed her clothing with her back toward him. She knew he was watching her. He could tell by her languid movements and the tilt of her hips as her panties slid down over her hips.

  She stepped into the oversized bath and sunk down into the warm water, holding her hand out for the wine glass as Cayd handed it to her. He set his own down on the small ledge at the side of the bath and stood before Mia to undress.

  Mia took a sip of the burgundy liquid and watched her man, as he removed his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. As beautiful as he was to her, dressed in his suit for work, Mia much preferred him shirtless. He had a divinely sculpted torso that he worked hard to maintain, and Mia loved being one of the few people in their daily life who knew what lay beneath the professional façade that Cayd Donnelly showed the world.

  Pulling at her lip with her teeth, she watched him undo his belt and remove his pants and boxers before stepping toward the bath and sinking down into the water opposite her, humming slightly as the warm water and essential oils permeated his muscle tissue.

  “This is probably the best part of my day,” he said, lifting his wine glass and taking a sip as he and Mia settled their legs around each other.

  “Mine too,” she smiled in return.

  Giving her a wink, he took another sip of his wine and then rested his head back against the tiled wall, just relaxing as his mind poured over the events of the day. Sometimes his job felt so overwhelming. He loved helping people, and the human mind fascinated him, but when it seemed to break, so many people were hurt as a result.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” Mia asked, after watching his brow worry for quite a while.

  He shook his head slightly, as if shaking away this thoughts and met her eyes as he sighed.

  “It’s nothing. Just work. Tell me, what did you do today? Tell me something good.”

  “I met with Louise for coffee after work. She seems really happy living with Josh. I’m so glad they found each other.”

  “They’re a good couple,” Cayd responded as he gently caressed Mia’s calf beneath the water, soothingly. “How are they reacting to Eric’s choice to stay in Sydney?”

  “They seem fine. Although, they always would have been fine. They’re very ‘live and let live’ kind of people.”

  “I get that about them.” He rested his hand against Mia’s leg as he reached to the side and placed his glass on the corner of the bathtub. “Speaking of Louise - I have something to show you,” he announced, sitting up a little so his arms were free of the water. He looked at her and grinned. “Excuse me if I get this a bit wrong. I’m still learning.”

  With his fingers bent toward him, he used his right hand to tap his fingers at his waist and then to his chest, signing ‘Good morning.’

  Mia smiled as she watched him and even though it was the wrong time of the day, she responded in kind.

  Cayd then used the same hand to tap flat to his chest before pulling his hand away and making a fist with his thumb up, meaning ‘How are you?’

  Mia responded by signing to him that she was well and he continued with a short conversation about their day all in sign.

  “And that’s pretty much the extent of it,” he smiled, after he had run out of simple questions and answers to sign or understand.

  “You’re doing well. Louise would think it’s wonderful that you’re trying.”

  “I’m beginning to understand what some signs mean when you’re talking to each other. But I’m not so sure how to put them all together.”

  “Well, if you sign the words you do know when you talk then slowly it will all come together. It can take a very long time to be fluent though – like in any language.”

  Both of them laid back in the bath and took up their glasses again, feeling comfortably quiet as they enjoyed the relaxing water and each other’s company before Mia felt the need to speak.

  “Are you ok after what happened with Natalie? I feel bad for not asking you earlier. It can’t be easy for you to have gone there after what happened with your mum.”

  “Don’t feel bad. I’m fine. It’s been fourteen years…” He pressed his lips together, meeting her eyes as he gave a slight shrug. “Being upset doesn’t change what happened.”

  “You don’t talk about her much,” she mused.

  “There isn’t a lot to say. In the space of two weeks, I went from having a family, albeit a slightly dysfunctional one, to having no family at all. It’s like when she went, all the good in the world went with her, you know? It took me a long time and I made many mistakes before I found some good again,” he said, leaning forward and taking Mia’s now empty glass from her hands, before placing both glasses on the floor outside the bath.

  “I want to know all of you though, Cayd. The good and the bad.”

  He reached out and gently took her face in his hands, brushing her damp hair away as he studied her features. “With you in my life, there is only good. Please don’t make me rehash my past. It isn’t the man I am anymore. You make everything right in this world, Mia. You give me so much to live for and so much to look forward to.”

  There were so many questions inside Mia that she felt were going to be forever unanswered. She felt that there was a part of Cayd that the world before her knew and she never would. Women like Belle Fleming knew things about him that she didn’t and it bothered her. But at the same time, her love for him ran so deep and burned so bright that when his lips touched hers, she was elated that this gentle, loving side of Cayd had been reserved only for her.

  Her arms slid up around his neck as their kiss deepened and their need for each other grew. In the quiet of the bathroom, their soft moans amplified off the tiles as Cayd lifted Mia slightly, adjusting in the water so she could straddle his lap.

  Slowly, they exhaled together, as they locked eyes and Mia took Cayd’s length inside her, gently moving up and down his shaft until their need became more urgent and their movement together increased.

  The water splashed around them, spilling onto the floor in tiny waterfalls. “You’re so tight, so beautiful, Mia,” he growled, his hands moving around her body, kneading her breasts, and squeezing her flesh as he tasted her mouth, her neck, her nipple.

  Mia’s breathing grew ragged as she clenched herself tighter around him, gliding up and down his shaft as it filled her perfectly. His hand reached between them, finding her clit and applying the perfect amount of pressure to caus
e her body to pulse, as it threatened to explode. “Oh Cayd,” she moaned.

  Lowering his head, Cayd moaned in return, rubbing his teeth over her nipple then biting gently on the tip as he thrusted himself more firmly inside her.

  Mia gasped out, her voice reverberating around the room as the bite sent a jolt straight down to her core.

  “Oh god, I’m going to…Oh yes!” she called out, as her body let go, jolting the water, splashing it over the side and knocking over the wine glasses with a crack.

  “Oh yes,” Cayd groaned, holding her hips steady as he spilled himself into her before wrapping his arms around her body and taking her mouth in his, kissing her leisurely, neither of them caring that there was broken glass on the floor. They were too busy being together, forgetting about the world.

  Chapter 11

  “A TEENAGE girl named ‘Belinda’? That’s all you know about her?” Natalie said in disbelief to her parents, after she had tried to get information out of them regarding her birth mother. They told her everything they could surrounding the adoption, just like they had many times over the past year. But they didn’t have much for her to go on. “Did she at least mention who the father was?”

  Sandra shook her head. “She didn’t tell us much at all. She was young, she had blonde hair like you do, and that’s all I can really tell you. She wanted to choose the parents and then the agency took care of everything from there. I’m sorry we don’t have any more information.”

  Natalie’s disappointment swelled in her throat and burned behind her eyes. She had hoped that her parents would at least have her full name. It would be so much easier to find her with a name…

  “I’m sorry we don’t know more, sweetheart,” her father said, reaching out to gently rub her arm consolingly. “It’s just the way things were done back then. We all wanted to have our own child. We didn’t want contact.”