A Reason to Stay

by Melissa Ellen

  Sitting there with him and my family, I couldn’t help feeling that all of this was so right, and that we belonged together. I didn’t know how I got so lucky to have him in my life. I thanked God in that moment for bringing him to me.

  After the service, my family all circled around, greeting and talking with friends and relatives. I excused myself, letting Rhett know I was going to use the ladies’ room before we headed out. As I walked back from the restroom to find my family in the crowd, I was stopped by a male body blocking my path.

  “Ava?” Chris said my name, as if he was unsure it was me.

  “Chris,” I responded shortly, eyeing him suspiciously as his gaze fell over my body. It made me feel slightly uncomfortable the way he perused it as if remembering how I looked underneath my clothes. It’s odd how I once relished in that kind of perusal from him. Now it just made my skin crawl.

  “Wow. You look great.” He continued to stare, a smile spreading across his face. “How have you been? It’s been a long time.”

  I studied him, trying to figure out why he chose this moment, after so many years, to approach me. I had a sneaking suspicion it had a lot to do with seeing Rhett with me. Speaking of… I looked past Chris, searching for Rhett. I knew if he saw us, his possessiveness of me would make him pounce. I found his eyes already watching Chris and me. He was being temporarily held up from coming to my side by my family, but he was still diligently watching. This conversation needed to end quickly if I didn’t want him to make a scene.

  “I’m great,” I clipped impatiently, not reciprocating the question, hoping Chris would get the hint I wasn’t up for small talk.

  “I’ve missed you,” he moved in closer to me, stroking my arm. And there it was. Asshole. He had a family and he could see I was finally moving on and all the sudden he missed me? Once a cheater, always a cheater, I guess.

  “I can’t say I feel the same,” I said curtly, jerking my arm from his touch, stepping back from him to put space between us. Rhett had seen the touch and was excusing himself from my family, quickly wading through the crowd towards me.

  Nana appeared, stepping up to my side, eyeing Chris with disapproval. “I believe your wife is looking for you, dear boy. You best not keep her waiting,” she stated, firmly dismissing him. She had obviously seen the whole exchange, coming to my rescue, making me love her even more than I already did.

  “Nana, good to see you,” Chris responded with his slimy smile, ignoring her dismissal.

  “It’s Mrs. Edwards,” she corrected him.

  The smile dropped from his face. “Right, well…Ava, take care,” he said, backing away, suddenly feeling less confident.

  I looked at Rhett who had slowed his approach once he saw Nana come to my side. Nana put her arm around me as we watched Chris walk away.

  “I never did like that boy. I’m just glad you finally wised up and cut him loose. He wasn’t worth your time and you gave too much of it to him. But that one there,” she nodded her head towards Rhett, “He’s a man and a good man at that.” She smiled widely as Rhett approached us.

  “Ladies,” Rhett said, giving us his sexy smile. “Should we head out?”

  “Let’s get a move on,” Nana answered.

  Rhett turned, offering us each an arm as he escorted us both. Nana leaned forward, winking at me, and I couldn’t help smiling at the old woman who was getting a kick out of holding onto Rhett’s muscular arm.

  We spent the rest of the evening gathered in Nana’s den, playing games, drinking and laughing. Rhett seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself with my corky and crazy family. I looked over at him, smiling. He smiled back, giving me a private look, nodding his head towards the bedrooms. He wanted a moment alone with me. The feeling was mutual.

  “Well everyone, it’s been a fun evening, but I think it is time for me to turn in. Nana, where are you putting me up for the night?” Rhett asked, standing to his feet.

  “You’ll be sleeping with Ava. She can show you the way.”

  “Mother!?” Mom said to Nana with shocked surprise.

  “What, dear?” Nana responded flippantly. “If you think the two of them aren’t shacking up already, then you are more naïve than I thought.”

  Emily’s drink came spewing through her nose as she choked on her beverage, laughing. My mom looked astonished at Nana’s brashness while Dad sat there shaking his head with a small smile. Jackson and Emily were rolling with laughter. I was utterly mortified.

  “Go on, dear. Take your man to bed,” Nana directed me, “Just make sure you keep it down. An old woman needs her sleep.”

  “Mother! Honestly!” Mom reprimanded her with disbelief. Nana just grinned from ear to ear. Emily and Jackson’s laughing encouraging her. I flushed with embarrassment as I stood to leave the room, walking past Rhett who was chuckling, trying to hide his laughter. He turned to follow me but not before winking at Nana.

  We walked into the room I always stayed in at Nana’s. Rhett closed the door, locking it behind us. I turned to face him. He gripped my hips, pulling me so our bodies were flush, lowering his forehead to mine.

  “I like Nana,” he grinned like a school boy.

  “Of course you do! She just basically whored me out to you, in front of my whole family.” He threw his head back, laughing his deep sexy baritone laugh. Then kissed me on the top of my head. “I’m glad you find my family discussing our sex life amusing,” I said annoyed.

  “Come here, babe.” He pulled me in tighter, pressing his lips to mine, giving me a light kiss before leaning back to look in my eyes, once again.

  “Who was the guy at the church?” he asked carefully. Damn it. I was hoping mine and Chris’s little encounter had been forgotten.

  “No one,” I wiggled out of his arms to sit on the bed.

  “It sure as hell didn’t look like no one. He had his hands all over you. If I had made it over to you before Nana, he would’ve had my fist in his face. Church or no church,” he growled, irritation starting to replace the desire in his eyes.

  He joined me on the bed, pulling me with him, lying us both back onto the pillows. He lifted onto his elbow where he could tower over me and see my eyes. I turned my head from him, needing a moment to think how I was going to tell him about Chris.

  He allowed me a minute, before turning my chin, so I would look at him. “Talk to me, beautiful.”

  I faced him, taking a deep breath. “His name is Chris. He’s an ex-boyfriend. We dated throughout high school.”

  “Did you love him?” he asked, watching my face. I tried turning away. I didn’t want to tell him the truth, because I had a feeling it would hurt him. I wouldn’t lie to him, though. He wouldn’t let me turn away. He wanted me looking in his eyes.

  “Yes,” I said softly, “at least, I thought I did at the time.” Rhett’s body went rigid with my words. He didn’t respond. “It was a long time ago. I don’t love him, now.”

  “What happened?”

  “He cheated on me. I caught him the summer after our senior year, banging his now wife in his truck. He told me it didn’t mean anything that he just got scared about me leaving him behind for college. He begged for my forgiveness, but the damage was done. I could no longer trust him, so we broke up. End of story.”

  “He wants you back.”

  “He’s married.”

  “Doesn’t seem to matter.”

  “It matters to me. Besides with or without a wife, I want nothing to do with him. Any feelings I thought I was harboring over the last three and half years have been demolished… by you.”

  “Three years? That’s a long time… are you saying -”

  “Yes,” I interrupted, knowing what he was asking. “I haven’t been with anyone other than Chris….until you.” My proclamation softened Rhett’s tensed face, understanding the importance of what I just told him. Other than Chris, Rhett was the only guy I had given myself to.

  We both stayed silent, taking in everything I had just told him. I didn’t say tho
se three little words. I had all but told him in my explanation. He crawled over me, kissing me lightly on the lips.

  His hands meticulously made their way down my body, where he lifted my shirt to reveal my bra covered breasts. He kissed his way from my now exposed belly up to between my breasts giving them each attention as he removed my bra. He slowly stripped the rest of my body of all its clothes as he covered it in kisses, working me into a frenzy.

  As he kissed between my thighs, I pulled at the top of his shirt, trying to remove it. He sat up pulling his shirt over his head exposing his hard abs and muscular chest. He quickly removed his pants and boxer briefs then settled himself between my thighs.

  We stared at each other as I tried to process all the emotions I was feeling for him. He brushed my hair behind my ear, lightly tracing my jaw with his hand as he pushed inside of me. Our bodies moved into a rhythm, and I moaned my pleasure. He silenced me with his lips, pulling back to grin down at me.

  “Shhh, beautiful. We don’t want to wake Nana,” he whispered, smirking. If he didn’t have my body numb with ecstasy, I would have pushed him off me onto the floor for his little quip. Instead, I slid my hands through his hair, pulling his face to mine, kissing him desperately. We made love more than once that night until we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  I woke in the morning with Rhett spooning me, still holding me tight. I turned my body so I was facing him. As I shifted, his eyes fluttered open and he pulled me closer, kissing my forehead.

  “Good morning,” he said with a deep, scratchy voice.

  “Merry Christmas,” I gave him a cheeky grin. “I have a present for you.”

  “Does it include you naked and under me?”

  “No,” I smiled at his thought, “I need you to release me, so I can get it.”

  “You didn’t need to get me anything. Waking up to you in my arms on Christmas is the perfect present.”

  “Well, you can thank my Nana for that present,” I teased him as I moved from his warm strong arms and out of the wamr bed. I scurried on my tiptoes over to my bag where I had his gift, the cold air causing me to shiver.

  He sat up in bed, leaning against the head board, waiting for his gift. I crawled back into bed, handing him the small box I had wrapped, wanting to give it to him in private.

  He looked at it curiously before carefully unwrapping the tiny box. He opened it, looking inside. He pulled out the keys, giving me a questioning look.

  “They’re keys,” I stated the obvious.

  “I see that,” he laughed.

  “This one,” I said pointing to one of them, “is a key to my apartment.” He tilted his head at me. “Don’t worry! I’m not asking you to move in with me. It’s more symbolic…so you don’t have to break down any doors to get to me.” I smiled. “This one,” I lifted an antique shaped key that had a heart shape bow where it hung on the key ring, “Is the key to my heart.” I blushed with embarrassment by my cheesy sentiment. “And together they’re a symbol of my trust.”

  He smiled, pulling me onto his lap. His eyes penetrated mine, letting me know he understood the importance of this, especially now that he knew about Chris. “Thank you. I love them.”

  “You’re welcome,” I exhaled a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. He kissed me sweetly and then pulled back, looking into my eyes.

  “I have something for you.” He moved me from his lap getting out of bed. He brought me a shirt sized box beautifully wrapped.

  “Did you buy me a T-shirt?” I teased him.

  “Open it and find out,” he chuckled, tickling my side for my comment. I opened the box to a bunch of tissue paper, concealing the contents. I moved the tissue paper aside, revealing various brochures.

  “You got me brochures?” I stared at him quizzically.

  “Not exactly, Ava,” he chuckled. “Look at them.”

  I looked at the various brochures and realized they were not brochures but city maps of London, Paris, Barcelona, Prague and more. I looked up at his beaming face realization dawning on me. These were all places I mentioned I wanted to visit during one of our late night conversations.

  “You just pick the date, and we’ll explore each of these cities together.”

  “Rhett, this is too much,” I gasped, feeling lousy that all I got him were a couple symbolic keys.

  “Ava, you deserve this and more. I want to give you the world. And I want to see the world with you.” He laid me back onto the bed, pushing himself between my legs. It had become his favorite spot to sit. I shook my head at him, still not believing he had plans to take me to each of these cities.

  “I don’t know what to say….thank you,” I said sincerely. My love for him spread through me as I looked over at the maps spread out on the bed. “Fiji?” I glanced up at him questioningly. I didn’t remember ever mentioning that one to him.

  “That one’s for me. I can’t wait to have you all to myself in a skimpy bikini on a secluded beach,” he grinned.

  I rolled my eyes at him, laughing. “Only if you promise to wear a speedo,” I ribbed him. His brow furrowed in disgust at the thought of being in a speedo. His response was to tickle me relentlessly for my suggestion, until I cried uncle and promised never to mention him in a speedo again.

  We eventually made our way out of the bedroom to join the rest of my family. We ate breakfast and opened all our gifts. Rhett had taken the time to get each person in my family a present. They were each personalized to their taste and a little more extravagant than what we would normally buy, but then I was learning that was just Rhett. He was raised on the finer things in life and didn’t seem to notice that wasn’t the norm. My family also had presents for Rhett, which warmed my heart knowing they were already treating him like family.

  The rest of our extended family joined us at Nana’s for Christmas Dinner. We all enjoyed the food, laughter and each other’s company. Emily, Jackson, Rhett and I were all sitting around a table with a few of my cousins, playing a game and shooting the breeze when my Mom came in the room bundled up in her coat.

  “Sorry to interrupt. I was just letting you know your father and I were going to head home. He’s feeling tired, and we both need some rest.”

  “You’re not staying the night with us here?” I asked confused.

  “No, I have a feeling the celebration will go on late into the night, and we need some sleep.”

  “Do you want us to come with you?” Emily looked at her with concern.

  “No, no,” she dismissed her offer. “We’ll be fine. You guys stay and have fun. We’ll be back in the morning to see Ava and Rhett off.”

  We hugged our goodbyes before returning back to playing games and drinking into the night.

  The next morning, we decided to get up and head straight over to Mom and Dad’s to say our goodbyes. We were going to pass by on the way out of town, and it didn’t make sense for them to have to drive to Nana’s just to turn around and drive back home. We hugged and kissed Nana, and Rhett promised her he would come back soon to visit.

  Mom was up making coffee when we arrived at the house. Dad was still sleeping. We visited with Mom, drinking coffee and eating left over cinnamon rolls until Dad awoke. We spent a little more time with everyone until Rhett gave me the silent signal that we should probably get on the road. We needed to stop by my apartment before heading to his place in Boston for the night. We were leaving for New York the following morning to be with his family through New Year’s.

  My family walked us out to the car as we said our goodbyes and hugged our love. Emily folded her skinny arms around Rhett, giving him a big hug the same way she had greeted him, only this time he seemed less uncomfortable.

  “We’ll see you at the wedding, right? You’ll be Ava’s date,” Emily said to Rhett.

  “Of course,” he smiled at her.

  “That’s a bit presumptuous,” I added. “What if I already have a date?” I asked Emily.

  “You do. And it’s me,” Rhett gave me a playful wa
rning. “Has she always been this defiant?” he asked Emily. Emily smiled, rolling her eyes at him. I couldn’t help grinning.

  “No, I believe you bring out the best and the worst in her. I love it!”

  We all laughed, hugging one more time before leaving my family in front of the house, waving at us as we drove off.

  CHAPTER 14

  The trip to New York had my stomach in knots. My nerves from Rhett meeting my family were nothing compared to the ones I was feeling right now. I looked over at Rhett who was at ease, looking as if he hadn’t a concern in the world.

  “Babe, they’ll love you,” he squeezed my hand to comfort me as we pulled up to the curb outside of his parent’s Upper East Side penthouse, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, knowing I was a wreck.

  A valet opened my door as Rhett made his way around the car to help me out. We stood on the sidewalk before entering the building. Rhett turned me to him with his hands on each of my shoulders. He kissed me on my forehead, before locking his eyes on mine. “Ready?”

  “No,” I responded honestly.

  He chuckled, pulling me into a hug, resting his chin on top of my head. “Come on, beautiful,” he took my hand, leading me towards the doors of the magnificent building in front of us.

  He escorted me through the beautifully decorated lobby, waving at the security guard as we passed. I looked around, taking it all in as we walked straight to the elevator bank where a private elevator door opened. He put a code in the keypad before the elevator took us straight up to the penthouse his family resided in.

  The elevator doors opened to another beautiful lobby that was smaller with a big burly man standing outside an intricately carved double wood door. He was too muscular and stoic to be a butler, so I assumed he was security. Rhett and the man nodded their silent greeting as Rhett opened one of the heavy wood doors, stepping aside to allow me to enter first.