Curly Q

by Jamallah Bergman

  “About ten minutes now. You looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you up.”

  “Well, that was sweet of you. So what’s going on around here?” she asked as she got out of bed.

  “Mom and Dad went back to bed and we had breakfast already J.J. and me. We were hoping that you could take us to the park later, so we can play.”

  “Sure, that sounds like fun. But you have to tell me where it is though.”

  Running out of the room, Janessa could be heard shouting, “Auntie is taking us to the park!” throughout the hallway.

  She smiled and ended up plopping right back on her pillow looking up at the ceiling.

  That afternoon, Madison and the kids went to the park as she’d promised. She’d packed a picnic lunch for afterwards and began to put the blanket on the table along with the napkins and plates. Watching the children play on the slides and monkey bars made Madison think about when she tried to have a child with Paul. Even though they had tried numerous times to conceive a child, they ended up going to a doctor, and it was found that Paul couldn’t have children, something to do with a childhood accident.

  “Auntie come over and swing with me!” Janessa shouted as she sat on the swing.

  Walking over to the swing set, Madison pushed Janessa to get her going and then got in the swing next to her. The day was going pretty good actually, as after they had played a while, they went on their picnic lunch.

  “Did you make this for us Auntie?” Jon Jr asked.

  “Yes I did. I bet you didn’t think that your Auntie knew how to make stuff like this huh?” Taking another big bite out of his sandwich, Madison laughed as his toothy smile was covered with chicken salad.

  When they got back to the house, they saw a black 325 BMW parked in the driveway. “Uncle Austin is here!” Jon Jr. shouted as they quickly unbuckled their seatbelts from their car seats and once the car was stopped completely, they got out and ran inside.

  Getting out herself, Madison grabbed the basket from the trunk and made her way inside as well. Going into the kitchen, she put it down on the counter as she made her way towards the commotion.

  “Uncle Austin, where have you been?” Janessa asked sitting in his lap.

  “Did you bring us anything else?” Jon Jr. asked.

  Sitting on the couch with Candace, Austin was surprised to see his niece and nephew when they ran up to greet him. They’d grown so much and both were the spitting image of Candace and Jon. He was happy to see them as they hugged and kissed him. All he could do was smile and enjoy the attention he was getting from them. “Well, I thought your mom had given you your presents from yesterday. I brought them over during the party.”

  “Oh, I completely forgot to give them to the kids. I think I put them in our room.”

  Austin grinned at them. “Oh, and by the way, I made a stop off in France that’s where I got your presents from.”

  They quickly ran out, all excited.

  Madison walked in.

  He quickly stood up along with Candace.

  “Hello there, I didn’t think I would see you again so soon. How are you?” she asked shaking his hand as they both sat down together.

  “Let me go and get something to drink, I’ll be right back,” Candace told them with a smile.

  Austin gazed intently at her. “Well, after I saw you last night, I went and developed those pictures when I got back home. I wanted you to have the ones I took. They turned out really good actually.” He turned around to hand her a manila envelope.

  When Madison took out the pictures of herself, she had to admit she felt awestruck by what she saw. She never thought someone could capture her so well in a photo and he certainly did so. “Oh, wow. They are gorgeous. I don’t know what to say Austin, I’m completely in shock. You have to understand, I don’t normally have pictures taken of me. Really and truly, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually sat down to have my picture taken.”

  “Well, when the last time you had your picture taken?”

  “For the law firm for an ad that was going in the paper,” Madison smiled.

  Austin chuckled. “Well, I’m glad you liked them so much. I had probably the prettiest subject in a long time as my model.” Austin gave her a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you Uncle Austin!” a jubilant Janessa shouted as she ran in with a doll in her arms. “Auntie, look at what Uncle Austin gave me, all the way from France, isn’t she beautiful?” She sat down between the two, handing her doll over to Madison.

  Looking over the doll’s baby blue silk dress with lace and beautiful golden curls, she had to admit she felt a little jealous over such a priceless treasure. “You are a very lucky girl Janessa to have an Uncle who travels around the world and brings you such pretty things. You know you need to name her now that you got her.”

  Janessa thought for a minute and smiled. “How about Madison after you Auntie,”

  “That sounds like a very lovely name for a lovely doll,” Austin said as he looked at Madison once more.

  “I’m going to put her in her bed,” she said as she gave Austin a kiss on her cheek and one on Madison’s before she left the couple once more.

  “I wonder what is taking Candace so long with those drinks,” Madison said to herself as she tried her best to not look into his eyes. If she could sit next to him without looking into those eyes of his, she would be safe. “I had a talk with Candace, she told me about what happened with you and Jon.”

  Austin sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, that was way back when. I was stupid and foolish to try and break them up. But in a way, I was jealous of Jon. I don’t know why, I mean at the time I could get with any woman I wanted to. But I didn’t and after my divorce, I got worse whenever Jon would bring a woman around. Then I met Candace and she was just such a breath of fresh air, so beautiful and everything I had wanted in a woman. But after that incident, Jon never talked with me and he stopped trusting me altogether.”

  She could see sadness within those green eyes of his and Madison felt sorry for him at that moment.

  “That’s why I put myself more and more into my work. As long as I keep doing what I’m doing, then I can just enjoy life like I want it and believe me I do, I get to go and meet new people and places, it’s wonderful being able to travel. Have you ever been to another country?” he asked her.

  “The only place I’ve been is to the Bahamas on my honeymoon. It was beautiful then and I said I would go back again. I’ve always wanted to go to Italy or France. Just being able to sit and enjoy everyone and everything, not worrying about anything at all, letting time go along with me.” She glanced him not realizing that all the time he was staring at her intensely. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking at your eyes. They remind me of lavender honey, so sweet and golden. How they sparkle in the glass against the sunlight during the day.”

  Oh my God, he is really a smooth operator.

  “I want to take some more pictures of you Madison, if you don’t mind.” Austin held her hand in his. He softly caressed her fingers along his own.

  His fingers were so long, she felt intrigued by what he was doing. “I don’t know. I mean it sounds like fun but I really don’t know.”

  “I promise all we will be doing is taking pictures. I’ll make some dinner and we can talk some more or I can show you how I develop pictures.”

  “Any excuse to get me alone, huh?”

  “How am I doing?” Both of them chuckled as Madison shook her head. “It does sounds like fun, pretending to be a model.”

  “I promise it will be fun, you’ll get the chance to experience something new. It will just be two people enjoying one another’s company.”

  Madison had to admit this was all so sudden. First, she met this man and had no clue he ever existed. Now he wanted her to come over to his place to take pictures and make dinner for her as well. But honestly, how many chances would she get t
o have a good looking man showing her a wonderful evening of dinner, wine and conversation? Even though she felt hesitant about going, she couldn’t pass this up. “When would you like for me to come over?”

  “How about tomorrow evening at seven?”

  “Alright, seven it is.” She smiled.

  Candace walked in with some drinks.

  Madison pulled her hand from his.

  Later that afternoon as she sat on Candace’s bed Madison asked, “What the hell took you so long with those drinks earlier?”

  “Oh, I was having a hard time with the glasses.”

  Madison knew she was lying. She could never get away with trying to lie to someone. It was obvious by her demeanor. “Glasses my ass,”

  “I’m serious Mad, I didn’t want to bring out glasses that had water marks all over them, and so, I was looking through them all.”

  Clapping her hands in applause and holding out her hand with an imaginary trophy, Madison announced, “And the award for ‘I can’t tell a lie to even save my life’ goes to Candace Collins!”

  Candace laughed and threw a pillow at her head as they both started a vigorous pillow fight.

  All the commotion brought Jonathan in the room to see what was going on. “Hey, you guys will you stop? I can hear you all the way in my office with all the screaming going on in here.”

  Both sisters looked at each other and then back at him before they both ganged up on him. Hitting him with pillows and laughing loudly.

  “Oh, I know you didn’t!” he said as he grabbed a pillow to join in on the fun.

  Chapter Four

  Madison had butterflies in her stomach the entire following day. It was like her very first date all over again, she didn’t know what to expect or what to do.

  “Alright, which one do you think I should wear? The shirt and jeans, the dress and heels or what? What the heck should I wear?” she asked her sister and niece.

  Janessa started to laugh. “Auntie sure is worked up, isn’t she momma?”

  “Yeah, she is. It’s her first date in a long time sweetheart.”

  “She’s going out with Uncle Austin, are you going to marry him Auntie?” Janessa asked wide eyed with wonder.

  Madison started to laugh and kissed her forehead. “No sweetie, I am not going to marry Uncle Austin. I’m just going over to his gallery and take some pictures and that is that. I think I’ll just wear my jeans and a top, keep it casual, and not go overboard. I swear after I do this, I’m going to lie down or take something to settle my stomach before I go over there.”

  Candace and Janessa giggled as Madison went to the bathroom and closed the door.

  An hour later, Madison made the right hand turn onto Miller Avenue. “I hope I’m going the right way.” She got the address from the card he gave her and got the directions online. Looking at the brownstones, she noticed a sign. ‘The Collins Gallery’ and parked right in front. Before she got out, she said a little prayer, “Dear God, please let me get through tonight without acting like an idiot or saying something stupid. Let me keep my guard up and try not to let him get the best of me while I’m in this vulnerable state of mind. Amen!” Getting out of the car, she walked up the steps and rang the doorbell as she waited for him to answer.

  Once the door opened, she smiled while he was trying to catch his breath. “Are you ok?” she asked with concern.

  “Yes, I ran down the steps. Sorry, please come on in.”

  “This is nice Austin and I smell something really good cooking as well,” Madison said while gazing around at his place.

  “Well thanks, take a look around while I get you something to drink.” He smiled then turned away.

  Madison watched him walk away, biting her lower lip a bit when she saw him in those blue jeans. He sure could fill out a pair and the fact he was wearing a white sleeveless shirt that showed off every muscular line along his chest and back. Why in the hell did he have to wear those jeans? Why did he have to smile like that and why in the hell did he have to look so damn fine?

  He came back into the main room. “Here you are. Come over here I want to show you some of the pictures I took while I was in Barcelona. This one is of a group of boys who were playing soccer in a field. I took this one when the boy was up in the air hitting the ball with his head. They wanted me to come and play and I did, even though they beat me.”

  Madison smiled as he continued going through some more photos with her.

  “I like this one though. This old lady was sitting on her stoop in front of this beautiful home. She had told me she’d been living there all of her life. Her children were born there and her husband died there and every single holiday, all of her children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren would come and have a big party.”

  “Wow…that sounds wonderful. To have lived in such a beautiful home all those years with family and friends coming to visit and live and to have children there and raising them too.”

  “It was an amazing story for her to share with me. She even invited me over for a home cooked meal since some of her children were coming to visit her and she had plenty of food. I never ate so much in my life than I did that night. She treated me like I was one of her own, making sure I had enough food and enough to drink. Speaking of food, we have just enough time before the meat is done, why don’t we take a few pictures. I have it on simmer for right now.” Showing her towards the stairway, he led her to an open studio.

  Looking around, it was exactly what she’d expected a studio to look like. The lights, a white screen put up as a background with a lone black barstool ready for someone to sit on.

  “Alright, first thing I must ask you to do is to take down your hair for me.”

  Undoing the barrette, her curly hair fell down along her shoulders as Madison moved her fingers deep within to fluff it out a bit.

  “You know I like it down better than you having it up. You look more beautiful this way.” Austin told her as she just stared at him with those amazing eyes of hers. God, she was beautiful he thought to himself as he quickly walked over to get his camera. “Go on and sit down over there at the stool. I’m going to get some headshots first. Just act natural and have fun.”

  Then that was exactly what she did during the shoot. It was probably the first time in her life that she was able to be carefree and wild. Her smile grew wider and her laugh filled him up so much, he found himself erupting with laughter too. “I think we better go and eat, the food should be done by now,” Austin said as he watched her get off the stool and head towards the stairway. The sway of her hips in those jeans made him smile even more than he already was.

  “You can sit down over there while I bring out the food,” he said while going into the kitchen. The aroma had his stomach growling as he’d only eaten just a little bit of food earlier but he didn’t want to get too full.

  She sat down and watched him as he came back with the salad. She started to serve herself a bowl and put some in his as well.

  He brought in the Dutch oven pot and sat it down on the pot holder in the middle of the table. Steam rose from the inside of the pot when he took the lid off as the aroma filled the room.

  “Oh, that smells so good, what it is?” she asked.

  “It’s called Daube. I learned how to make it when I was in France. Hand me your plate there, you can serve it by itself or with pasta, but it’s great with pasta.” Handing her a plate, he watched her take a whiff of the food before she dug into it right away.

  “Mmm…” She closed her eyes and chewed the morsel of beef in her mouth. “My God, this is good. I’ve never tasted beef like this before in my life. It literally melts in your mouth.” She giggled as she continued chewing.

  “I’m glad you like it, enjoy.” Austin reveled in his accomplishment while pouring the bottle of red wine into her glass along with his own.

  The evening continued with conversation about the past and the present. It was so good to have someone to talk with after all these months. When
they finished dinner and Madison helped with dishes, they went back upstairs and he suggested they have another small shoot. “Madison, let me ask you a question and I want your honest opinion.”

  “Alright, what is it?”

  “Well, I was wondering if you would pose with me in a picture. But there is a catch though.”

  “A catch, what do you mean a catch?”

  “The only thing that you would be wearing is…” He got up and went to the couch, grabbing a purple silk sheet. “…This.”

  She looked totally shocked. “You want me to wear that and nothing more? You want me to get naked and what will you wear?”

  What she said made him laugh out loud. “I’ll be wearing some matching silk pants. I’ve always wanted to do this one particular picture of me holding a beautiful woman next to me and the wind would be blowing. It will be the perfect picture but we can do it ONLY if you want to. I’m not going to rush you into doing something you don’t want to do.” Austin knew he was asking for too much too soon but all the while, they’d been talking and eating, he knew she would be absolutely perfect for his dream shoot. There were many women he could have chosen from but there was something about Madison that would make the photo…the ‘one.’ But he did feel he may have gone too far after looking at her confused and surprised face. “Listen, I’m sorry. We don’t have to do the shoot. We can just finish where we left off earlier.”

  She nodded which made him happy that she wasn’t uncomfortable. Going over to a chest that he had for props, he rummaged a bit and found a brown bohemian floppy woman’s hat. “Here, try this on for size.” Austin walked over to her, presenting the hat to her.

  She gazed at it closely before putting it on her head. “How do I look?”

  Austin had to laugh because all of those luscious curly locks of hers seemed to hide her face. “I was going to ask you how you could see through all that hair.” Both ended up laughing.

  Madison took it off to adjust her hair to where he could see those chestnut eyes. “Better?”