Indelible Love Series + Entwined Bundle

by DW Cee

  “How’d you get a Christmas present waiting for you on board the plane? After 9/11, I’m surprised anyone allowed an unsupervised package to just sit there.”

  “Shut up, Nick.” I (literally) cried. In this beautifully packaged box was a framed pencil sketch of me laughing away—not much differently than my baby niece and nephew. Shockingly, it was signed Max Davis with Whenever I think of you, this is the beauty I see written above his signature. I looked so carefree and beautiful. I didn’t know Max could be this romantic, and I had no idea he could draw.

  “Emily,” I worked my way up to first class before they made us all buckle up. “Did you know about this?” I held out the drawing.

  “Wow! Did Max draw this? I didn’t know he could draw.”

  FINALLY! Something about Max my sister didn’t know. Though, I had no idea, till now, as well.

  “This is gorgeous, Jane. But then again, you are gorgeous, so it wasn’t a difficult draw.” My sister was always so sweet.

  “Did Max tell you about this gift?”

  “Kind of. He stopped by the house early in the morning to drop off a gift for the babies and he asked me to put this on your seat on the plane. Pretty romantic, huh? I didn’t know Max had it in him. He never ever did anything this sweet for me.”

  I was feeling mighty good right now!

  “I’m sure you can see how much he adores you, Jane. I hope you’ll go a little easier on him.” That felt like a compliment and a slap on the wrist at the same time. “Has he told you about his family, yet?”

  I shook my head no.

  “He’ll tell you, soon, I’m sure.” Emily patted my hand. Once again, she knew something about Max that I didn’t know. Aargh!

  “Sit down Jane, and stop bothering us. Emi’s had a long morning already. Let her sleep while the twins are sleeping.” My brother could be so annoyingly protective of his wife. Maybe it was only annoying because I didn’t have that same kind of protector in my life.

  “We’ll talk more, later?” she smiled.

  “Sure.” I returned her smile. “Thank you for the theater tickets, Emily. Max and I will enjoy them.”

  “What did you get them theater tickets for? I already spent a fortune on their plane tickets,” said my cheapo brother who put us in coach. Bratty…I know. But that was the kind of relationship my older brother and I had.

  “That was your present to them. I wanted to do something for my one sister and one ex-boyfriend.” Her impish smile surfaced.

  “Emi…! I hate it when you mention Max as your ex. It bugs me enough to not give you part two of your Christmas gift.”

  “There’s more than this trip to New York? Jake…this is extravagant enough. I don’t want anything else.”

  “There’s a lot more, Love. Wait till we get to New York.”

  This was my cue to leave. They were getting those lovey-dovey eyes that made me want to throw up my breakfast. I would wager my first-born, if anyone thought there was another couple on earth who loved each other more than my brother and his wife.

  Floored!

  Astounded!

  Close to faint!

  That was how my sister-in-law looked when she saw her new apartment on the upper west side. Sparsely furnished by Aunt Babs, who had been in town for her sister’s birthday, this spacious four bedroom apartment overlooked Central Park and was a short walking distance to the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. Jake looked impossibly smug with himself when he saw how delighted the love of his life was with their new living arrangement.

  After helping the happy family settle into their new dig, Nick and I went to our rinky-dink apartment in Soho and unpacked.

  “Hello?” I answered a call from an unknown number.

  “Merry Christmas, Jane.”

  “Max…” I let his name linger on my tongue for a bit because right now, I was seriously (almost) in love with him.

  “Flight was all you expected it to be?”

  “It was more than I expected it to be. Thank you for the phenomenal gift. I can’t believe you drew that picture of me. When did you learn to draw?”

  “I’ve always liked art, but didn’t really try to sketch till I got into that accident after Em and I broke up. I did it out of sheer boredom and discovered a new talent.”

  “When did you draw that picture of me?”

  “When you left me for New York. I missed you a lot and none of the pictures I had of you captured the beauty that was in my head. So, I decided to draw a picture of my own and that was the result. I used to look at it whenever I wanted to talk to you.”

  “You missed me?” I seriously wanted to cry, again—and I’m not the crying-type.

  “Of course I missed you, Jane. Why would you think I didn’t? How could I not?”

  “Why didn’t you ever call me when I was in New York?” I would’ve transferred back to LA, immediately.

  “You said you wanted space and that you needed time to think. So, I honored your wish till a few weeks ago when your brother told me you’d moved back into town.” There was a bit of a pause to our conversation. “Jane…”

  “Yeah?”

  “I want you to know that I’ll frustrate you many times over. I’m neither eloquent nor romantic. You, having lived with a brother who seems to have cornered that market, will be disappointed with my feeble attempts. But, I want us to work. I love your spitfire personality, I love your tender heart, and I love all that is you. I can’t promise you anything just yet, but my hope is that you, too, would not wish any companion in the world…but me.”

  A poem, a sketch, a heartfelt confession…this was the best Christmas of my life!

  Dec. 27, 2012 Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You...

  I jumped my new boyfriend the moment he came out of JFK Terminal 5.

  “Whoa!” Max hadn’t quite braced himself before I lunged at him. We almost fell to the ground. “You are quite the welcoming wagon.”

  “Uh-huh…wait till you see what’s waiting for you back at the apartment,” I answered between sucking on his lips.

  “What lascivious thoughts are going through that pretty head of yours?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “I…would…love…to…find…out…” Each ellipsis represented the make-out intervals between the inside of Terminal 5 and curbside.

  “Where’d the car and driver come from, and what are you doing here? Of course, with that kind of welcome, I’m not complaining.”

  “My brother lent us his car and driver, and I’m here because after your Christmas surprise, I realized I wasn’t nice enough to you.”

  “And how will you be nice to me?” He had that mischievous, bad-boy grin I loved. Because Max was the quintessential boy-next-door, I found the whole Harley Davidson rebel image he was portraying, hawt! Next thing you know, he’ll come bearing a tattoo. That image was seriously doing things for me.

  “I have a super fun few days planned. But tonight, there’s a dinner at my brother’s new place.”

  “Who’s sleeping where?”

  “Bold question, Mr. Davis. You, Nick, and Doug are on the twin beds and pullout sofas, and Laney and I are in the master bedroom. Not what you had in mind?”

  He had that grin again. “Now that you and I are seriously pursuing this relationship, we need to further every aspect of this relationship.”

  I leaned over and whispered, “There are ears other than ours in the car. Why don’t you sweet talk me later?”

  Max and I met Nick, Doug and Laney at Fish Restaurant, and after rounds of beer and oysters, we decided to get our hands dirty and have the all-you-can-eat Maryland blue crabs.

  “This is so much work for so little payback. I want to find a man who will shell an entire crab for me and hand it to me on a silver platter,” Laney dreamed.

  “Good luck. You’ll be fortunate to find a man who can afford to buy you crabs, let alone feed you crabs.” Her brother, the party pooper, burst her bubble.

 
; “I want someone like Jake who will adore me and lay down his world for me. You guys didn’t see him when he came to find Emily in Japan. He believed his life was over because she wasn’t with him anymore. It was so sad and romantic at the same time.”

  “Jake’s a wuss. He’d stay home and stare at his wife and kids all day if Emily would let him. He’s such a goner. None of his buddies see him anymore unless they come visit him at home. I, for one, don’t want to be so enamored with a woman. I’d like a life.” Nick stated while shoving a mound of crab into his mouth

  “Jake won’t care what you say about him, but don’t bring down Emily. He won’t be happy,” I warned.

  “Nothing wrong with Emily. I love my new sister. It’s Jake that’s the problem.”

  “I don’t care what you say, Nick. I want someone just like Jake!”

  “Your family is wonderful,” Max mused as we walked the High Line after a filling lunch, while the rest of our lunch mates went home for a nap. “You’re very fortunate to get along with all your cousins.”

  This was finally my chance to ask Max about his family.

  “Is your family not that close? I thought most families got along.”

  Max took a nervous pause and just kept walking for a while.

  “You asked me once why I still had such strong feelings for Em.”

  Jackpot! I hit the mother-load with this question.

  “My feelings for Em are not what you’re thinking.”

  “Ok…what am I thinking and how is it not…?”

  “You believe that I never stopped loving Em—that I still want her in my fantasy world, since in reality, your brother would kick my ass if I came anywhere near his wife.”

  We both gave in to a light chuckle.

  “It’s nothing like that. I still do love Em and will always love her, but it’s a familial kind of love. My family is not the lovey-dovey, touchy-feely type of people. I didn’t grow up with hugs and kisses and high praises for what I’d accomplished. My parents were militant about our upbringing. I think they reproduced only because it was the right thing to do. Though, they were disappointed that they didn’t have the perfect family consisting of a mom, dad, son and daughter.”

  I pulled Max down onto one of the reclining wood benches and we sat with our coffees in our hands.

  “My parents never told me they loved me, and my brothers and I pretty much raised ourselves.”

  “That’s rough to have parents who are only physically there.”

  “So imagine my surprise when I met Em. She, too, was starved for love—for a whole different reason than mine—but whatever the case, she was the first person I openly loved. And boy, did she love me back in return. Do you understand now what Em means to me?”

  “No. What you just said makes me even more insecure. How could you ever stop loving Emily if she was the first person you really loved?”

  “Jane!” He was frustrated now. He always pushed his fingers through the front of his head when he was frustrated. “Emily was my first love, yes, but she was also family to me, and I to her. That’s our bond—a familial one. I consider her my one true family member along with my brothers. Even though Em had a loving family in the past, and has a loving one now in the present, we love each other like…brother and sister. Em does nothing for me as a woman. At this moment, you, and only you, fill that position.”

  He moved over to my bench and put his face really close to mine. “You get it, now?”

  “I get it. I don’t know if I fully believe it, but I’ll work on believing what you just told me. But for now, we need to pick up some tres leche donuts for Emily at Doughnut Plant and get over to their new home.”

  “So, why the home in New York? Are they planning on moving here?”

  “Oh no. The entire Reid family would die if the twins moved. Since Emily likes this city so much, Jake thought it’d be nice for them to have a home here to visit, often. With the two kids, it’s hard to go in and out of hotels.”

  “Maybe I should’ve gone into heart surgery. You’re brother isn’t hurting for money, is he?”

  “You, who wants to go give free medical care to the poor in Africa, thinking about riches?” I kidded with him. “No, Jake and Emily aren’t hurting, but they also don’t have much to spend their money on. Their house was gifted to Jake by my grandfather, and outside of the new minivan Emily got, she never spends money. She’s beautiful, and with that perfect frame, no matter what she wears—Stella McCartney couture or Stella McCartney H&M—she looks fantastic.”

  “She is that.”

  “She’s what? Beautiful?”

  “Yep, beautiful.” Grinning, he knew I was jealous. “As Em is beautiful, you, my green-eyed monster, are stunning! Nobody can pull off this dark-hair sparkling blue-eye combo like you can. And for now, and maybe even for a lifetime, I prefer stunning.”

  Did he just say that??? Crap. That was hot!

  Dec 31, 2012 New Year’e Eve+Once+Masa+Alex Forrest+Sick Babies=Sex? Part 1

  My morning got off to a titillating start. Since Max got here, we’ve been engaged in foreplay with absolutely no release (all puns intended). I walked into my bedroom as Max walked out with a skimpy towel wrapped around his well-toned body.

  “Nice outfit.”

  “Yeah? You wanna see what I have on under?”

  “Maybe…” I teased, giggling.

  As he sauntered over to me, I wondered how we were going to pull this off with four other people in the house when I heard, “Hello everyone!” Geez Louise! Will anyone give us a little privacy?

  Quickly closing the door, I greeted my parents, Uncle Henry, Aunt Barbara and the twins! We all flocked to the darling babies. “Hello cuties. What brings you here?” I asked, while grabbing Ellie. James got a similar greeting from Laney.

  Ellie gunned straight for the diamond pendant on my neck—like father, like daughter. She tugged on it and wouldn’t let go until I gave it to her and put it around her neck. She put the diamond in her mouth, which freaked us all out. Though it was on a long chain, I was keeping an eye on this troublemaker and making sure she didn’t swallow the jewel.

  “How’d the babies find emancipation from their parents?” Nick asked.

  “Jake has a full day of surprises planned for Emily, so he asked that we babysit the twins today. We picked them up bright and early and went out to breakfast; and then we took them to the park. It’s time for their nap and we weren’t far from the apartment, so we thought we’d have them nap here.”

  “Well hello, beautiful girl and boy!” Max looked so natural taking James from Laney. Of course Ellie, the attention-monger, threw away my pendant and practically jumped into Max’s arms. We had to do a baby swap. “You’re so beautiful, Elizabeth,” Max cooed. “You are an exact replica of your mother.” She threw her head back and gave a dazzling laugh. “What’s all this in your nose, young lady? You’re a mess,” he said, while looking into her nose.

  “We’ve all tried to clean the snot out of both their noses but they won’t let us get anywhere near them. They both seem to have a cold.” Mom tried again to get near Ellie’s nose, but she turned her face into Max’s chest.