Chapter 23

Cara was seated quietly on her couch, legs folded under her and a glass of wine in her hand. The room was well-lighted and she was occupied with staring at the bottle of wine on the table as if she could read her future in the dark-colored liquid encased by the transparent glass of the bottle. Lisa had gone to bed - she had seen to that only minutes ago - so she had no company other than her thoughts. And they were mostly centered on the events of the last 40 hours or so.

The morning of the previous day, she had woken up as usual with a broken heart, but by afternoon, she had patched it up temporarily and was ready to move on through the day. When evening came, the biggest blow was made to her bandaged heart when she saw Lance outside that grocery store, but somehow, he had managed to make everything better. Her inner self wagged a threatening finger at her as her mind touched on what they had done at the store and the possibility that they might have been seen. But she shrugged it off and queled it with a long sip from her wineglass. There were more important things to think about, namely the fact that Lance needed to become his own man, but what exactly would he do towards that goal? The life of their "relationship" would depend heavily on this, just like she had told him. She was tired of playing hide and seek. The last two weeks had taught her the dangers of that, and now, she wanted all of him or none of him. His mother's ire and any other consequence be damned!

Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the door and Cara gave a start. Who must it be by this time of the night? Or was it Carol who had come with the intention of making trouble, after finding out that she had not really broken up with Lance? Her heart sank at this thought. Obviously, she wasn't fully prepared to damn Carol's ire just yet! Or even face it!

She remained on the couch, partly trying to work up enough courage to go open the door and partly waiting for the second knock. But still, it didn't come. Oh there it was! It was even more startling than the first. Cara felt she had to do or say something.

"Who is it?", she called out in a shaky voice. But there was no answer. What she heard instead was a soft musical tapping on the door. She recognized it immediately! It was the tune Lance always drummed out whenever he was deep in thought.

"Hold on," she said with much more confidence and scrambled into her slippers. If Lance was here, then...?

She opened the door quietly and found him standing with his side to her and looking away into the darkness. Cara regarded him in silence for some seconds and then she spoke.

"Are you a man yet?"

"Had another quarrel with Mom," Lance shrugged and then turned to face her.

Carol swallowed immediately. Another quarrel? What did that mean for her... for them?

"And?", she asked expectantly.

"Well, I really don't know what to do to achieve the goal, you know. Maybe you can advise me."

With that, he slipped past her into the house, taking her unawares. Cara sighed and locked the door carefully before turning to him.

"You never need my advice when you're pounding into me."

"Hmm mm," Lance concurred, "that's pure instinct."

"So call on that instinct to help you in this situation."

Lance didn't respond. He paced about the room for a while and then slumped down on a sofa. Cara stood watching him intently as he drummed his fingers on the arm of the furniture.

"It's not as simple as you think, you know," he suddenly murmured.

"What's so difficult about it?"

"Well, I.. I can't think of anything that will work!", he shouted in frustration.

"Keep your voice down. Lisa's asleep. It's straightforward actually. You just need to ask yourself what you want most. Me and your freedom, or the direct opposite."

"But how do I ask for it?", Lance nearly shouted again, but dropped his voice as Cara eyed him sternly. "Sorry," he mumbled in apology.

"Look, no need to ask; you just have to take it. You never ask whenever you want me."

But he simply stared at the floor and said nothing in response. With a sigh, Cara walked up to him and held up his chin, looking straight into his eyes.

"You have me whenever you want. And I want to have you whenever I want. All of you."

Lance nodded like a slave, unable to tear his eyes away from hers. She let go of his chin and flipped her hair with a careless toss of her head.

"But like you said, maybe I can help you."

"You can?", he asked, wide-eyed and expectant.

"Yes," Cara nodded. "I'm pregnant."

Lance's jaw hit the floor. But she wasn't done yet! "And yes, I'll marry you."

His jaw dropped even lower as he continued to stare at her in absolute astonishment, and then a smile slowly spread over his features.

"Yes!", he shouted and jumped to his feet, punching the air in victory. "Keep it down. I've told you, Lisa..."

Before Cara could complete the statement, he shut her up with a breathtaking kiss and swept her off her feet, running up the stairs with her as if his life depended on it!

THE END

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