Ruth and Lucas

by Jasmine Carter

“Did Lucas tell you about the day I left?”

  The woman sighed. “He did. Let me tell you that I was ashamed to hear how he treated you. I didn't raise him like that, and I scolded him for it. He had no right to say what he said without first listening to you. Because of his temper, he let a good woman walk out of his life, but I'm hoping that you'll give him a second chance.”

  There is no way that I'm hearing this woman say all of these things! This has to be a joke, right? Some prank to further punish me. Ruth started to look around the room, confident that she would find a hidden camera.

  “Dear, what are you looking for? Are you okay?”

  “The camera, I'm looking for the camera.”

  “The camera, dear? What camera?”

  "I must be on some comedy show or something, I've seen these things on TV before. Someone is going to jump out any minute now and tell me that I'm being pranked. Where are they?"

  Ruth left her chair to look around the empty restaurant. It only just struck her as strange that the place was empty and it had recently opened. This cemented her belief that this was all a joke, that Lucas had convinced his mother to make a fool of her. That meant that he had to be here somewhere.

  “Lucas! Lucas! Come out here and face me like a man. Are you still trying to punish me, huh? Isn't it enough that I left you alone? I haven't taken a thing from you! Why are you doing this to me?”

  Ruth felt gentle hands grip her arms, but she shrugged them off. Not even Lucas' mother would convince her otherwise.

  "Dear, please calm down. I assure you that this isn't some joke—Lucas! Come out now! You need to speak to your wife, you can no longer do this to her."

  “So he's here? I knew it! I just knew it! What do you get out of fooling me like this? Please, tell me. I didn't do anything wrong, why are you and your mother tormenting me like this?”

  Ruth was crying. What was wrong with these people? Hadn't she suffered enough in life already?

  “Ruth.”

  The voice alone was enough to quiet her. She turned to look at the man who had not only made her happy but brought her grief as well. And I let him, I stupidly allowed him into my life and gave him the ability to do so. What would he do now?

  “Have you come to seek your revenge, Lucas?”

  He shook his head. “No, I've come to seek your forgiveness.”

  At that moment, Ruth felt that she couldn't handle the stress anymore. She couldn't make head or tails of the situation, and it was all too much for her. She felt herself begin to fall, vaguely hearing her name being called before she blacked out.

  *****

  Lucas thought that his heart would stop when he saw Ruth go down. Things hadn't gone the way he'd planned, and now he'd caused the love of his life to faint. He ran to her, catching her before her head hit the floor.

  “Mom! Get me some water, quick!”

  He heard his mother rush to the kitchen, her heels clicking against the wooden floor. What he'd hoped would be a beautiful reunion had turned into a nightmare. His still wife lay in his arms, looking paler than he'd ever seen her.

  “Ruth, Ruth, wake up, please. Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have said all those things to you.”

  His mother arrived with a glass of water, kneeling beside him. Her face looked as worried as he felt, but he was trying to be strong about it. If his mother knew how worried he was, she would probably begin to panic and cause more problems. Lucas took the water, splashing Ruth's face.

  “Wake up, baby, come on.”

  "Lucas, she's not waking up! Why did you convince me to go ahead with this plan? Why couldn't you have just been a normal child and spoken to her yourself? Look now! She's collapsed!"

  “Mom! You're not helping, okay? Just calm down, better yet, call 911.”

  “Yes, yes, I can do that.”

  His mother ran to get her phone, stumbling slightly in her shoes. Lucas turned his attention back to Ruth, gently tapping her face.

  “Wake up, Ruth, stop scaring me like this. I need to speak to you, I need to tell you how I feel.”

  Why had he been such a fool? Why had he allowed his jealousy to cloud his judgment? If he'd just stopped to think about the situation, he would have realized that Ruth would have never cheated on him, let alone with a man like George. She was an honest woman, a loyal woman who would never betray the people she loved. And if his maid had heard correctly, Ruth loved him. Suzette had come to him soon after Ruth had left to try and explain the situation, but he'd refused to listen to her. It had taken him several days to cool down, only then had he asked her to explain what she'd seen and heard. Lucas began to piece together what had happened that day, realizing that he'd made a terrible mistake. From the maid's account, that was the first time that George had ever come to the house, and Ruth had actually chased him away, telling him that she loved her husband. Lucas hadn't wanted to believe Suzette at first, which is why he'd gone in search of George, confronting the man. Of course, the man had tried to lie about it all, claiming that Ruth had been the one to contact him, but a little bit of force and threatening to run him out of town had loosened his tongue. The man had finally admitted to bothering Ruth, sounding bitter as he explained how she'd rejected him.

  “I never gave you the chance to explain what had happened that day, I just accused you and chased you away.”

  Lucas could just cut out his own tongue for having hurt her in the way he had.

  “Lucas, there's no network here! I can't get through to 911.”

  “Go outside then, Mom. Please, just call them and get them here.”

  “Yes, yes, I'm going.”

  “Wait, Mom!”

  Lucas had felt Ruth moving before he heard her mumble something that he couldn't quite hear.

  “Ruth, Ruth, can you hear me?” He stroked her cheek, willing her eyes to open. “Come on, show me those beautiful brown eyes of yours.”

  She slowly opened her eyes, frowning at him. “Where am I?”

  “Here with me.”

  Her eyes widened before she tried scrambling away from him on her knees, falling to her side as she did so. Lucas rushed to her, taking a very resistant woman in his arms.

  “Stop it, Ruth, can't you see that you're not well?”

  “Let go of me, Lucas.”

  “Stop being so stubborn and just listen to me, alright?”

  “Like you listened to me?”

  He winced. “I deserve that, I know that I do. But please, just give yourself a little time before getting up, alright? You just fainted, for goodness sake.”

  “Fine, but let me sit up.”

  He helped her do so, feeling bereft when she moved away from him. He watched her rub her temples, wishing that he could do it for her.

  “Why did you trick me into coming here?”

  “Listen, you two, I'll be outside if you need me,” his mother said. “Don't do anything without listening to each other first.”

  Lucas nodded. “Thanks, Mom.”

  His mother left them, looking back once to give him the thumbs up.

  “So, you've got your mother doing your dirty work.”

  “I wouldn't call it dirty, but a mission to save our marriage.”

  “Save our marriage? You've got to be kidding me.”

  “I kid you not, Ruth, I'm serious about this. I want you back in my life.”

  She tilted her head back, sighing. “I just don't understand what you want, Lucas. Weren't you the one to chase me out of your life? You accused me of cheating on you, and then you threw my past in my face. I can't just forget that just because you've decided that you want to make another go of this marriage. What suddenly changed your mind?”

  Lucas looked away. "I was wrong, so wrong. I'm even too ashamed to look you in the face, Ruth. I don't know what came over me that day, all I felt was so much anger. I believed that you had betrayed me—I've never felt that level of pain before. It was like someone had sucker-punched me in the gut and I lost my breath. Seeing George leavi
ng the house was just too much to bear, and coupled with the text messages I'd seen on your phone last month—"

  “You went through my phone?” she cut in.

  He looked at her, nodding. "I'm not proud of it, but I couldn't help myself. Do you remember the day I wanted to treat you to an evening out?"

  "Yeah, how can I forget? You went to a lot of trouble that day, and I felt bad about turning you down."

  “That was also the day I saw the messages on your phone. I couldn't believe that George would try to get you back after all he'd done to you. I mean, not only are you married, but he is as well. Not only that but a father! I would never do that to my family, never!"

  “Get to the point.”

  “Sorry, yes. I decided to not say anything to you because I believed that you would tell me about it. You've told me about your life, why not this? When you didn't, it made me feel insecure.”

  She nodded. “And so you pulled away and gave me the cold shoulder.”

  “It was childish of me, I know, but I didn't know how to address the feelings of jealousy I had. Then when I saw George that day, I just lost it.”

  He watched her change her position, crossing her legs to better face him. That's a good sign, right?

  “When did you realize that I never cheated on you? That I would never do such a thing to you?”

  “Suzette came to me with the truth of what happened that day, but I was still too angry to listen to her. I eventually confronted George, and with just a little pressure, I was able to make him tell me the truth.”

  “Well, whoopee for you, now you know the truth. Now, I really have to go.”

  She moved to get up, but he was by her side in a flash. “Can't you hear what I'm saying to you?”

  “What do you want from me, Lucas? A badge for owning up to your mistake?”

  “No, I want you, Ruth. Don't you know that I love you?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “How can you be so sure of that? I thought that you said that you didn't believe in love.”

  “It took meeting you to understand just what love is. Love isn't just a feeling, Ruth, it's an action. I've been showing you my love for you in so many ways—not even I knew that until you left and I had time to think about everything. I love you, Ruth Matthews, I love you with all of my heart. I would give my life for you, I want what's best for you more than I want it for myself. I want to make you happy all the days of your life, to see you smile every day. I'll even take your frowns as long as you're with me.”

  Lucas felt his hope slowly seep out of him when she got up, going to her bag.

  “Ruth?”

  *****

  Ruth needed a bit of space, being around Lucas was just too much. I can't just forget that he hurt me, and now he's claiming to love me—what is this?

  “Do you take me for a fool, Lucas?”

  “No,” he denied. “Why would you say such a thing?”

  “I'm trying to make sense of this change in you, and the only thing that I can come up with is that you're just planning on getting your revenge.”

  “Revenge? Why would I want revenge?”

  “For hurting your pride.”

  "To hell with my pride!" he shouted. "I want you, Ruth, this isn't some revenge plan. I told my family about us, about the plan we made. They've forgiven me for everything, and that's only because of you. You changed me for the better, and they're grateful to you—so am I. All I want is to spend the rest of my life with you. Is that so hard to believe?"

  Could she believe him? “How do I know that any of this is real?”

  “Dear, listen to my son, he's telling you the truth. He even kept your father from trying to ruin your life!”

  Lucas' mother came out of nowhere, going to stand by her son.

  “Mom, stay out of this.”

  “What does she mean by my father, Lucas?”

  “Tell her, son.”

  He sighed. “Your father wanted to blackmail you, he wanted to take your past and give it to a gossip magazine for some money. Instead, I gave him the money to leave you alone. I didn't want him to hurt you, Ruth, not after all he did to you and your mother. I had to protect you.”

  Her father? He was the last person she would have wanted to see, but Lucas should have told her about him.

  “How much money did you give him?”

  “Two and a half million dollars,” his mother answered. “He was only going to use you, Ruth, Lucas protected you from his bad intentions.”

  "Shhh, Mom."

  “No, son, Ruth needs to know.”

  Lucas had given away that much money just for her? But why?

  Because he loves me.

  “You should have told me, Lucas.”

  “Yes, I know, but I didn't want to trouble you with it. I didn't want the man who'd hurt you so terribly to come back into your life and do it again. Little did I know that I would be no better.”

  Ruth turned away from them, needing to have a little moment to herself. He hurt me, I know this, but he's also done so much for me. He said what he said out of anger, and while it wasn't right, it was out of pain and jealousy. Could she forgive him and move on? I still love him, that part hasn't changed one bit. She turned back to face him, crossing her arms.

  “If we're going to give this marriage a go, you can't keep anything from me, okay? And if you're angry about something, I expect you to talk to me about it. I can't deny the fact that I love you and want to be with you, but you have to agree to my conditions first.”

  He smiled. “That sounds like a deal of a lifetime.”

  “You could say that.”

  She held out her hand. “Shake on it?”

  “I would rather kiss on it.”

  Ruth grinned. “That could work as well.”

  She watched as he slowly walked towards her, feeling butterflies in her belly.

  “Mrs. Ross, I'm about to kiss you. Are you ready?”

  “Desperately so.”

  Ruth felt a sense of fulfillment when Lucas finally touched his lips to hers, sealing their most important deal yet.

  “Oh, how I love a happy ending!”

  Ruth broke their contact. “Your mother sounds happier than we are.”

  “Oh, I beg to differ.”

  She giggled as he dipped her, silencing her with another kiss. She could definitely get used to this deal.

  The end... but wait:

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