by Amelia Grace
Even the old oak tree that I sat under smelled of freshness, holidays and childhood memories.
I was meeting Georgia here today, three months after we parted in the hospital room.
The hem of her dress blew around in the gentle breeze as she walked towards me. Her hair was the same wavy wild brown that I loved and remembered. Her smile melted my heart as it always did. Her sweet perfume accelerated my heartbeat. I still loved her, of that there was no doubt.
And it still hurt.
I stood as she got closer. She jumped and ran to me and fell into my arms, hugging me warmly.
‘Cohen….,’ she whispered into my ear.
I found her hand.
‘You look beautiful as always Georgia,’ I commented as we both sat at the base of the wise old oak tree.
‘How have you been Mr Darcy?’ she asked, tracing her fingers over my hand.
I took a deep breath.
‘Pretty bloody awesome actually Georgia. And you?’ I asked.
She looked out over the pond thriving with new life, then back to me.
‘I have kept myself busy while waiting to hear from you Cohen,’ she responded sullenly.
‘Oh?’ I remarked, surprised by her comment.
‘I never thanked you for saving my life Cohen. Thank-you,’ she said looking into my eyes.
‘Twice I told you that I would take a bullet for you to save your life. I would do it again if I had to,’ I explained to her.
Georgia rested her head against the trunk of the oak tree and closed her eyes, tears rolling down her face.
‘I didn’t mean to make you cry Georgia. Please forgive me,’ I said in a low voice, and then I pulled out a gingerbread woman from a brown paper bag for her, found her hand and placed it in her palm. She opened her sad eyes and looked at the gingerbread, shook her head and smiled.
We sat in silence. My heart was still hurting.
‘You know that meeting Ethan changes everything don’t you,’ I said eventually.
‘That it has Cohen, and I live with my mistake every moment of every day,’ Georgia said, her voice even.
‘It was not a mistake Georgia. It was meant to be,’ I said.
‘Perhaps, but I could have changed the outcome of our relationship if you had not met him,’ she said, her voice laced with regret.
‘Georgia, did you know that I was connected to Ethan the very first time that we met when I returned the book to you?’
She nodded her head slowly, looking into the distance.
‘At first I couldn’t believe my eyes. I looked for differences in your physical appearance but there was none. I wanted to know how you were different. I even pulled a hair from your head that first time that I hugged you. I kept it to see if your DNA matched,’
‘And is that why you continued to see me, and to read to me. To see how we were similar and different? Was it all for Ethan?’ I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
‘I was absolutely intrigued when we first met Cohen. But then your differences were obvious. You were not alike at all. They more time that I spent with you, the more time that I wanted. I became highly attracted to you,’ she explained.
‘So, with your knowledge of the book, did you know that we would meet like this. Did you bring us together? Was it all planned? Was I used?’ I asked, my voice wavering.
‘I never planned it Cohen. I never used you. I would never do that to anyone. I was like you. I could not read the book until after the events had happened. The pages were blank, perplexing. I had no idea that you would be the person who would deliver the lost book back to me, And then there is the complication of Ethan. He wasn’t meant to fall in love with me,’ Georgia said angrily, looking deeply into my eyes, hurt showing on her face.
I had to look away from her. I was growing more confused by the minute.
‘Two of me. Which one wins, and which one loses? Where does it leave me?’ raw sarcastic emotion flowing in my voice. ‘I fell in love with you Georgia. I have never felt this way about a girl before, ever. I thought you were my soul mate, my happily ever after. But now…….I don’t know anything. I don’t know where I stand with you. I don’t know, I don’t know…..anything but the pain in my chest. The hurting of my heart. The doubt about reasons why our paths crossed. Why it was allowed to happen?’ I stopped talking for a bit, and breathed out heavily.
‘I have to walk away from you. I need time to digest it all. I need time to think. I need time……’ I added, my voice low, pained.
I looked into her tearful eyes. I touched the side of her beautiful face, and traced my finger along her jaw line, and over her full lips. Then I stood and walked away from her.
I walked away from the love of my life.
I left her, sitting alone under the extraordinary old large oak tree. I didn’t look back.
I couldn’t.
I walked in the same direction as the breeze. I let it dictate my direction. I didn’t care where it took me. I just wanted it to blow my burdens away. Far away.
And as I wandered far away, thunder awakened me from a trance like walk where I had shut everything out of my life. The sky had darkened as if evil were lurking, menacing exposed bodies out on the open. And I was one of them.
The air became eerily still as the storm front approached. I about turned to walk in the direction of my apartment, until an almighty clap of thunder in front of me sent me scurrying for shelter. Then the wind started, followed by the horizontal rain.
I stopped under the awning of a building, folded my arms across my chest, closed my eyes….and sobbed, deeply. I tried to tell myself that I would find another woman like Georgia. I tried to delete her from my memory. But the harder that I tried, the more my memories of her kept flooding my mind, more flashbacks of our time together, more emotional connections came to the surface.
I realised then and there that I couldn’t just walk away from her. I had to give us a chance. The hurt of being parted from her was too painful for me, my world was in disarray without her. She made the sun shine and the birds sing, and my heart beat.
My Georgia.
I took off in the direction of her apartment. The driving rain stung my eyes as I pushed forward through it. The thunder echoed through the tall buildings rebounding and playing in the alleyways. And I ran as though my life depended on it.
I had to speak to her. I had to sort out where we were headed. Perhaps she was done with me, and then that would be the finality of us. But I hadn’t finished with her yet. I still wanted my Georgia. My soulmate. My happily ever after.
I arrived at her apartment building absolutely drenched from head to foot, adrenaline surging throughout my body, my heart pounding in my chest.
A resident was entering the building as I arrived, and I managed to enter the building behind them, past the security.
I rode the elevator hopeful that someone would get on that was going to the seventh floor. After ten minutes I was in luck. I straightened my clothes and ran my hand through my hair as I approached her door, number eighty-nine.
I stopped in front of her apartment, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. What have I got to lose? It couldn’t get any worse than the way that we stand right now.
I knocked on the door, and then lights in the corridor dimmed as a loud peal of thunder vibrated through the building. I waited patiently for the door to open. Perhaps she was not here?
I knocked again, and slowly the door opened.
Georgia stood looking at me, her eyes full of concern. She had been crying.
‘Forgive me Georgia. I need to be with you. My days are dark without you in them.’ She grabbed my wet shirt and pulled me towards her. Then her lips were on mine, kissing me urgently, her hands twisted through my wet hair. She pulled away and looked deeply into my eyes.
‘Cohen,’ she whispered breathlessly as she wrapped her arms around me and held me tightly.
I closed my eyes as I held her against me, and rested my head on her shoulder and c
ried. Then I lifted my head and placed my hands on either side of her beautiful face and looked into her eyes.
‘I love you Georgia, more than words can express,’ I said, my voice husky. A tear rolled down her face as I moved my lips to hers. I hesitated before I made a light connection of our lips just touching, and then I kissed her firmly feeling the deep love from my heart flowing to hers. She moaned as I kissed her, and I pulled away from her before I lost control of my desires for her.
‘Cohen,’ she whispered again, melting my heart.
I took a deep breath, and then knelt on one knee on the floor in front of her. I took her hand lightly in mine, and kissed the back of it.
I looked up into her eyes, brimming with tears.
‘Georgia Harrison. I have loved you since the first time I laid my eyes on you. I tried to fight my feelings for you, I tried to deny what I was feeling for you, but my love for you is too strong. I can not be apart from you any longer. You are the light in my life. I need you. I want you. I love you, deeply, truly, madly. Marry me Georgia, marry me...’ I asked, my heart beating double time as time stood still while I waited for her to answer my proposal.
Then she knelt on the floor in front of me. She was taking a long time to answer me, and I was starting to panic. She put her hands under my jaw line on either side of my face and looked into my eyes and kissed me, lingering, light and sweet. She pulled away from me.
“Yes…..yes Cohen...’
She could not talk anymore because my lips were upon hers. I kissed her with a powerful depth of passion. She was my Georgia. I held her tightly against me, and cried tears of pure happiness, pure thankfulness. There was only one Georgia. I could never find anyone exactly like her.
I kissed her bare shoulder and then stood, offering my hands to help her up. Our eyes were locked for what seemed like eternity, although I knew that it wasn’t. It was so easy to get lost in her beautiful warm blue eyes.
I placed my hands on the side of her face, and slowly moved my lips to hers again. I wanted to kiss her lightly, tenderly and then pull away. But I couldn’t. My body surged with a powerful passion, and my kiss was hungry, needy. She moaned as I kissed her and her fingers knotted in the back of my hair. I was starting to spin. My body was flooded with desire. It was a dangerous place for me to be. And I knew it. But I didn’t want to stop. Georgia was mine. And I wanted to make her mine, in everyway possible.
Her hands wandered down my neck, along my shoulders, and lightly caressed my back as her fingers moved to unbuckle my belt. As she unzipped my pants I pulled away from our kiss and moaned, and looked into her eyes.
I started to shake my head and stepped back from her. It was not time yet. We were not married.
Then I stepped towards her as I readjusted my pants and buckled my belt, and then kissed her gently on the forehead.
‘Cohen, you are just like a gingerbread man. Always running away from me,’ she said in a husky voice.
I smiled shyly at her, then lowered my head.
‘One day Georgia, I will let you catch me. Let’s make it soon,’ I replied, my voice equally husky. What was this woman doing to me?
She kissed me lightly on the lips as my messenger alert sounded. I quickly read the message from work “urgent”.
‘I have to go my sweet. Talk to you soon.’ I kissed her, lingering lightly on her lips and then ran my thumb across her bottom lip, and kissed her once again before I left her apartment, and hightailed it back to work.
Police headquarters was unusually quiet except for the present high profile case that they were working on. The detectives were at a crucial stage of questioning the suspect, but had come to a point of no mans land. The suspect was passive aggressive, cleverly dodging answers to save his butt, or someone else’s.
I entered the interrogation room unaccompanied, seemingly. But I wore the latest technology to share my conversation with other officers outside of the immediate area.
I introduced myself, asked a few baseline questions to break the ice, and then sat back in the chair and ran my hand through my hair, as if frustrated, and out of questions to ask. I pulled out a piece of paper, and then put on my glasses, a ploy with the intention of making the suspect believe that I needed glasses to read.
Then I looked directly into the eyes of the suspect, made a connection to his mind and began reading his thoughts. From this information, I used direct questioning to corner him into declaring nothing but the facts, gaining intimidation power over him with my apparent knowledge.
Within one hour, the case was solved, and arrests were made. Once more, I had rid the world of injustice, made the world a safer place to be in.
I left the office at 10:30pm, and made my way home.
It was still raining as I got into bed after showering. I closed my eyes thankful for the end of an emotional rollercoaster day. And thankful that my future with Georgia was going to be sealed.
The vibration of my blackberry brought me back to reality.
FROM: Georgia Harrison
SUBJECT: <3
DATE: April 11 2013 23:07
TO: Cohen Darcy
Dear Mr Darcy,
I can’t get you out of my head. Missing you badly.
X Georgia #wearebreakingtherulesofthebook….
FROM: Cohen Darcy
SUBJECT: <3
DATE: April 11 2013 23:11
TO: Georgia Harrison
Dear Miss Harrison,
I can’t sleep, dreaming about you and me. I feel incomplete without you.
X Cohen #rulesweremeanttobebrokenandloveknowsnoboundariesxxx
Send…
FROM: Georgia Harrison
SUBJECT: flowers
DATE: April 11 2013 23:16
TO: Cohen Darcy
To My Sweet Cohen,
You are so much the romantic – have you noticed the word ‘man’ in romantic. Rowomantic just doesn’t sound right.
XX Georgia #youaremakingmydreamscometrue
FROM: Cohen Darcy
SUBJECT: hearts
DATE: April 11 2013 23:24
TO: Georgia Harrison
To My One and Only,
I intend on showering you with hearts and flowers. I never want to be apart from you again. My heart beats for only you.
XX Cohen #iwanttoholdyourhanduntilweareoldandgrey
Send….
FROM: Georgia Harrison
SUBJECT: Counting Down
DATE: April 11 2013 23:29
TO: Cohen Darcy
Dear Tim,
Can you talk to Cohen about moving in with me before the wedding. And let him know that our wedding date is four weeks away. I can’t wait any longer than that.
XXX Georgia #ifyoueattoomuchgingerbreadyouwillbecomea gingerbreadman
FROM: Cohen Darcy
SUBJECT: Patience is a virtue
DATE: April 11 2013 23:35
TO:Georgia Harrison
To My Georgia,
Tim has the same convictions as me. I will move in with you after our wedding, after
our honeymoon in four weeks time.
XXX
Cohen #ihavealreadydecidedwhereiamgoingtotakemybeautifulwifeforourhoneymoon.
Send …
FROM: Georgia Harrison
SUBJECT: 20 Questions coming your way
DATE: April 11 2013 23:41
TO: Cohen Darcy
Dear Husband To Be,
Breakfast tomorrow at Ooooh Laaa La! Can you make it?
XXXX Georgia #thegingerbreadmenarepackingtheirsuitcasesalready!
FROM: Cohen Darcy
SUBJECT: Overcrowding
DATE: April 11 2013 23:47
TO: Georgia Harrison
Dear Wife To Be,
Tell the gingerbread men that it is called a honeymoon, not a gingerbreadmoon. They are not invited!
See you tomorrow morning 7:03 am Ooh La Laaa!
XXXX Cohen #iamcountingdownthedaysuntilyouaremywife<3
Send …
&
nbsp; Sleep descended upon me like a thief in the night, stealing my consciousness, my planning mind, my hopes and dreams. But it was all in the name of good. I would be well rested, and could focus on sharing the same vision as Georgia for our wedding day to come.
*~*~*~*~*
The glowing sun rose above the ocean at dawn, painting the canvas of the sky in colours of yellows and orange, bathing the twilight sky in golden light.
I stood in the open air church with my brothers Kieran, Hayden and Ethan by my side. I looked at each person who had gathered here with us for our wedding day, our day of devoting our love, our hearts and lives to each other. My mother and father stood together, their love bond still strong. They smiled at me with warmth before looking at each other, gently hugging one another.
Georgia’s mother stood beside them with a serene smile upon her face. I smiled at her too. She had given me the most beautiful gift in the world, Georgia.
A gentle sea breeze played among the bows and ribbons decorating the timber posts as soft music began. Georgia’s identical twin sister led the procession down the isle. She wore a lapis coloured spaghetti strap long chiffon dress with a wrap, holding a white rose posy. Once Jordan took her position for the wedding ceremony, Georgia made her entrance. All eyes of our small family gathering turned to watch her walk down the isle, her hand on her father’s arm.
She was breathtaking in her ivory strapless organza wedding gown. She was so effortlessly beautiful and graceful. Her auburn wavy hair was perfected into a curly updo style, her light pink rose bouquet symbolic of the very first flowers that I had given her. As she came closer to me, the world seemed to slow down, and there was only the two of us on the planet. Nothing else mattered.
Finally, the love of my life stood before me. She let go of her father’s arm and faced me, smiling shyly, emotionally. I lifted the veil from her face with a gentle hand, and our eyes met. I looked down at her delicate hands as I felt my love for Georgia encompassed me. It was powerful, overwhelming. I imagined it wrapping around her like an angel’s wings, protecting her for an eternity. I felt it’s energy throughout every cell in my body. It was like a spiritual connection of our souls.
