She turned to me, her face opening into a big smile that shoved her cheeks up high. “A lot,” she responded.
I pulled her over to my seat and onto my lap. “And how did I know that?”
“Because you know me. That’s how.”
“Wanna share?”
Chanel tilted her head back slightly, released a breathy sigh and then looked down at me. “I’m just happy, that’s all. Nothing more and nothing less.”
“As long as that’s all. You seemed like you were in deep, deep thought.”
“I was . . . about life. It’s a wonderful life right now, you know?”
“I do know. And I also know that you came and made life a whole lot better for me. I’ve been through a lot of inner struggle. Dealing with death, and dealing with anger and pain. A lot.”
“Did I add to that with the whole Ty—”
“No, you didn’t. I wish I had known what was happening so I could’ve been there before shit escalated to where it did. I knew I was in love with you when I couldn’t turn anything off. I’ve always been good about turning off my emotions—unless it was anger. With anger I answered the call immediately. But when I was willing to let you go, I realized that I was putting somebody . . . a woman . . . before myself. I knew I was in trouble. And before I even heard about what happened to Rai, I had decided that I was gonna fight for you.”
“Really?” she smiled.
“Really. I was supposed to go hang out with Q that night. For some reason, he decided that he wanted to hang out at your club. As reluctant as I was, I saddled up and was gonna do it because right then and there I had made up my mind that if you came through those doors that night, I was taking back what was rightfully mine.”
“Damn, that’s sexy as hell.”
“Shit, you’re sexy. That’s why I couldn’t let go. And now that you’re back where you belong, I’m never letting go.”
“Well, we can take note on who’s holding on the tightest then, because I’m sticking to you like crazy glue.”
I wrapped my arms around her even tighter and led us into a long, passion-infused kiss. I felt my nature rising and starting a fierce poke against her thigh and knew that it was time to pull back. The damn plane had too many aboard for . . .
“Y’all at it again, huh?” Rai said, standing on the side of us, Freddie right next to him.
“Boy!” Chanel shrieked out, then covered her mouth.
But by that time, it had reached the ears of all the sleeping, and one by one they began to perk up.
“We home yet?” my father asked, rubbing his eyes. “I need my bed like yesterday.”
Everybody, including my father, started to laugh.
“Not yet Papà,” I told him mid-laughter. “Soon enough, though.”
“See what you and Freddie made me do?” Chanel hissed, playfully poking both boys in the stomach. “Woke up the whole plane.”
“Well, it’s good that everybody is awake now anyway.”
“Oh really?! Why is that my beautiful grandson?” Veronika inquired, reaching out for him to come to her.
“Because Rai is mad that he has to call me Uncle,” Freddie blurted out. “He’s mad because I won’t answer him until he does.”
For the second time everyone on the plane erupted in laughter.
“Shut up, Freddie!”
“That’s Uncle Freddie!”
“Hey! Enough of that, you guys!” Christoph shouted.
“Oh my God, they’re not serious are they?” Chanel whispered.
“I’ll bet they are. This is only the beginning. There’s gonna be fist fights too.”
“Oh my God,” she repeated.
“Yep, it’s what I’ve been saying the whole time. They’re me and Luke all over again.”
“Wow . . .” she managed in the middle of the entertaining back and forth banter of the boys.
“Wanna sneak to the back so we can have a show of our own?” I propositioned her.
“No,” she giggled. “Absolutely not. They’ll notice that we’re gone and you know I’m loud. Not happening.”
“We’ll just play around. I won’t do anything that makes you scream.”
“Now, that’s just disrespectful.”
“Well, I’m trying to keep things civil.”
“Never said I wanted civil,” she whispered.
“Okay, well, let’s go and find a happy medium,” I said, lifting us both from our seat.
“Where are you two going?” my mother asked.
“Uhhh . . .” Chanel stammered, wriggling her way out of my arms and onto her feet.
“Busted. Chanel was trying to lure me—”
“No, I wasn’t!” Chanel screamed out, mortified. “That was all him!” she insisted.
“Wow. So untrue.”
Chanel shot me a threatening look for throwing her under the bus. I wanted to bust out laughing, but kept a straight face instead.
“See, Ma. I had no intentions on allowing this woman to lure me out of here. I had my own plans.” When I reached into my pocket and then kneeled onto one knee in front of Chanel, I knew that I’d caught everyone by surprise. It was the exact affect I was going for.
“Chanel Norwood—”
“Oh my God!” my mother excitedly interjected. “This is really happening!”
“Antonina,” my father scolded. “No.”
“Okay, okay, okay . . . I’m sorry. Ohhh,” she cried. “This is so beautiful. Go ‘head, son.”
“Chanel Norwood—”
“What’s happening right now?” Chanel whispered softly.
I paused for a few seconds, then responded. “Life is happening right now, Chanel. Let it.”
“Okay . . .” she surrendered, swiping away at a falling tear as her eyes slowly began to water.
“I want to spend my life with you, Chanel Norwood. I want to be the man that you always dreamed of. I want to carry any burdens that you feel need to be lifted from your shoulders. I want to take care of you, show you that you’re loved every day, and make sure that you want for nothing except the air that I can’t breathe for you. Will you do me the honor of being my forever?”
The moment she nodded her head in response to my proposal, the tears fell out of her control and she fell into my arms, both of us forgetting about the ring that I still held firmly in my hand. Before long, Rai and Freddie were both on the floor of the plane with us as we descended back into the Bay Area on our way to new beginnings.
~The End~
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In the Ring: A Dario Caivano Novel Page 23
