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Part 1
Chapter 1
She is so beautiful,
he thought.
Robert was leaning against the door jamb of his bedroom, peering inside. He had finished breakfast and had a hot cup of coffee in hand.
Inside his bedroom, lying on his bed, was a beautiful woman. Sleeping. The one he had known and loved since fourth grade.
She sat next to him that first day of classes and he fell in love. And that love only grew into what it was today over these many years.
As she entered the classroom and took a seat next to him, she didn't give any special note of him that day. She turned her attention to the day's lessons because, so far as she knew, he was just like any other silly boy that tried to get her attention through silly and childish stunts.
She was taller than the other girls. And the boys. In fact, she was the tallest fourth grader in the school. And may have eclipsed some of the fifth and sixth graders in height.
She had long, straight, hair held back with a headband and it hung on her back to her waist. It was as black as a moonless night. Robert thought it may have been the blackest black he had ever seen.
Her eyes were equally black. So black, one could not distinguish her pupils from her irises at normal conversation distance. Her black hair and eyes, along with her height, were what grabbed not only his attention, but, everyone in school. When she entered a room, everyone, including the adults, stopped what they were doing to admire her beauty.
All Robert knew was, by the end of the day, he was in love. He took the bold step to tell his mother about her and asked her what would be needed to get and keep her attention; for her to return his affections.
He remembered his mother smiling widely and told him he needed to be the boy who stood out from the others. And he may want to start by being polite, kind, and considerate. Open doors for her, make small talk, and try not to hover too much around her, unless she asks him to stay. Give her space when she needs it, he recalled his mother saying.
He barely slept that night thinking of her. The next day, he waited for her in the hallway outside of class. When she appeared and approached the class, his heart leaped nearly from his chest. A new sensation for him.
"Hello and good morning, Bérénice," he announced, with a wide smile and a surprised confidence in his voice. He immediately reached for the door and held it open for her.
She paused to allow the door to open, and, she was taken by surprise with Robert's polite gesture and greeting. She gave him a reassuring smile while she waited.
"Good morning, Robert," she replied, with her exotic smile.
It was then, while holding the door open, Robert got a good look into those black and exotic eyes. He was hooked.
As she turned to enter the classroom, he recognized she was a good three inches taller than himself. He followed her into the classroom and walked toward his seat. As he sat, he looked toward her with a subtle smile. She returned his smile and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She gave him a single, gentle nod of appreciation for what he had done that morning. He smiled wider.
For the remainder of the day, they stole peeks toward one another, with each of them grinning when the other returned the peek.
Robert smiled when he reflected on that day. He sipped his coffee. They were boyfriend and girlfriend from that day until now.
Yet, they were married today. But, were still boyfriend and girlfriend. They also shared a family; a son and a daughter. And, were each waiting on a third child to arrive. Bérénice was 8 months pregnant.
Robert eventually overtook Bérénice in height, but, it took until their junior year in high school. When each of them stopped growing, Bérénice was nearly 6 feet tall. Robert stopped at 6 feet 3 inches.
"I can hear you breathing over there," she groaned, from her bed.
"That's impossible," he replied, with a smirk. "You take my breath away every time I see you."
"Flirt," she groaned, again with her eyes still closed.
"I can't resist flirting with you. I've been in love with you for sixteen years."
Chapter 2
As she entered the kitchen wearing her robe, she found Robert getting ready to leave for the day. He was on his knee kissing the cheek of Patrice, their 2 year old daughter, and telling her good bye and that he loved her. She noticed the wind was howling especially loud this morning. It had been blowing hard all night.
He stood and looked toward his wife, smiling as though it was the first time he had ever seen her.
"You are so beautiful."
"You're deranged," she replied, with a groan. "Look at me. I have a basketball in my tummy, no makeup, and my hair is a mess. I can barely open my eyes because our baby kept moving around last night. And, the wind howled all night, keeping me awake."
He crossed the kitchen and took her in his arms. "You're beautiful. Especially the basketball," he chuckled. "Yeah... This drought is especially bad. Some old timers say it's the worst they've ever seen. You going to be OK? Do I need to stay home today?"
"No," she sighed. "Go to work. I'll nap when John and Patrice nap."
"You sure?"
"Yes... Go," she snipped.
He adjusted Bérénice in his arms and kissed her like he would never see her again. She took the back of his head and pulled him into her lips with the same passion.
"I love you so much," he moaned. He paused, then released her. "It's so hard to leave you. After sixteen years of loving you, it's still hard." He paused again. "I will be..."
"I know," she interrupted. "You're going to the Trudeau pasture to feed their cattle and make sure there is plenty of water. Then, you are going to Waco to pick up supplies and groceries after a Farm Bureau meeting. And, I love you, too. And, it is equally hard to see you leave every day. I will miss you, along with John and Patrice. Be careful today. Please?"
He smiled and gave her a wink. He turned, grabbed his straw cowboy hat, opened the front door and paused at the entrance to give her one more look.
Bérénice smiled as he passed through the door, holding his hat on his head because of the 60 mile per hour winds they'd endured all night.
He is the most handsome man,
she thought.
Not anything like that day in fourth grade. He was so dorky. But, a cute dorky.
Chapter 3
Jack groaned when the sunlight pierced his bedroom window and stuck him between the eyes. He groaned again when he tried to roll over to avoid the eye plucking beam. His left knee was sore from the slide he made into second base last night.
He laid in bed a few minutes more, then, rolled out of bed, a little sore from the game against the Oakland A's. He glanced at the clock next to his bed... 11:09 am. The game was a late start, caused by a short rain delay, and went 10 innings. The Kansas City Royals won.
He rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his thick, dark, well-groomed hair. When he rose from the side of his bed, his left knee was really sore. More so than last night. He made a stop in the bathroom, and then, he shuffled into the kitchen in his boxer shorts, no robe, no shirt, and started a pot of coffee. He looked into the refrigerator. Left over pizza... Meat Lovers style. He tossed three slices into the microwave and pressed start. He saw a Royals hat on the countertop and slapped on his head.
He grabbed his phone and sat at the breakfast table and checked for messages.
One was from the team trainer informing him to come to the stadium 3 hours early so she could evaluate his knee.
The other was from his on again, off again girlfriend, Diane. She asked him to call her. She saw him on TV last night and saw he injured his leg. She wanted to know if he was seriously hurt and invited him over after the game tonight.
He got up, poured a cup of coffee and called the team trainer.
"Jack Caron (
Ka-roan
)," Karen answered. "How's the knee this morning?"
"Sore... More so than last night. Do you think I tore anything?"
"Not likely. If you did, you'd been restless all night. Was that the case?"
"No, I slept pretty well. I got in last night about 1 am... Straight from the stadium. Fell in bed and didn't get up until after 11."
"Is it terribly painful? On a scale from 1 to 10, what is it this morning?"
"It's just sore. Sharp pain? ... not really. Just sore. I'd say... maybe a 4 or 5."
"Hmm." A pause. "When can you get here? I know I said 3 hours early, but, I want to make sure your knee is still stable."
"I can be there in an hour and a half," Jack replied.
"Good. Have you taken anything for the pain?"
"Just the ibuprofen you gave me last night. Nothing since."
"Good. It's 11:30 now, I'll see you at 1:00 sharp. Don't be late, I have other things I need to do today. OK?"
"Yes, Ma'am. I'll be there."
As he ended the call, he slurped the last of the coffee from his cup. He rose, taking note of the soreness in his knee, and strolled to the microwave for the pizza. As he sat at the table with a plate full of pizza, he considered Diane's phone call and her invitation.
He had met Diane not long after arriving in Kansas City late last year. Jack had been traded from Miami to Kansas City during the off season. The Royals liked his ability to get on base, his hitting, and his sharp eye, which gained him an advantage in base on balls. He also had speed on the base paths. He currently was sixth in steals in the American League.
Diane was a beautiful and personable woman. Brilliant, he thought. At times, she could be intimidating with her brilliance. She was an attorney and many of her clients were players from the Chiefs and Royals. She had graduated first in her class from the University of Missouri Law School, and, because her parents were highly successful lawyers, she was able to establish her own law practice instead of working for an established law firm. Within two short years, she was well respected and sought out in her field. She was a little less than a year older than Jack. She was 25, soon to be 26, and Jack was 25.
They had met at a charitable fundraiser for the children's hospital. Many of the Royals players were in attendance and they had invited Jack to attend also. Diane found him quickly after his arrival that night and she introduced herself, highlighting to Jack that many of her clients were Royals players.
He thought she was beautiful when they met. She was 5 feet 3 inches tall, a full foot shorter than himself. Beautiful long, very straight, blonde hair, pulled into a messy pony tail with strands of hair along the sides of her face and neck. Her eyes were the bluest eyes he had ever seen. They were wide and full of excitement. She was petite, likely not weighting more than one hundred pounds and that evening she was wearing a black cocktail dress that he thought was the sexist he had ever seen. She was showing just enough modest cleavage to excite the prospects of any man for what was underneath the dress.
After a few polite comments to one another, they found themselves in pleasant conversation, which seem natural to him. She was easy to talk to and she seemed truly interested in his baseball career and his Texas roots. He thought maybe her petite frame may have looked odd against his 6 feet 3 inches, 240 pounds, but she didn't seem to care about it one bit.
