A Promise of Forever (4 page)

Katelyn smiled, thinking of all the American Indian tales that Jake had shared with her and Jenny, night after night.
“I’m beginning to think that you are all believers in Jake’s mumbo jumbo.
I love Jake Lonetree with all my heart but I can’t say that I believe in tales of rings linking people’s lives together, forever.
It’s hard for me to believe that such a well-educated man like Jake could believe in all that nonsense.”

She had great respect for Jake and the work he did with underprivileged Native American youth on his ranch.
He had turned his massive ranch into an Indian reservation from the past.
If anyone were ever allowed to go beyond the entry gates, they would think that they had stepped back in time.
He felt, if he took the youth back to where it all began they could move forward with pride in their heritage.
The kids were taught everything about how their ancestors lived in the past.
They became excellent marksmen and horseman.
They learned to survive living off the land using nothing but knives and a bow and arrow and later the occasional rifle.
Jake proved to be quite a success with the kids that he took there.
A high percentage of the kids who spent time with Jake on the ranch went on to college and beyond.
It was amazing; even those opposed to his project had to applaud him in the end.
Jake was able to instill a feeling of hope and pride that many of the children hadn’t had before.
Talk about paying it forward, Jake took his work with underprivileged youth very seriously and it was paying off.

Katelyn heard the doorbell ringing in the background and assumed it had to be Adam.
No one else would expect her to be home at this time of day and she chose to ignore it.
She had no wish to rehash the events of her meeting with him or his father.
She was surprised that he would come to her apartment, knowing how she felt about that.
She had always insisted that they meet at their agreed upon destination.
She had no desire to explain her relationship with Adam to her daughter.
Jenny was a bright child and sometimes a little too presumptuous; she didn’t want Jenny to become little Miss Matchmaker.

The doorbell was still ringing and, although Katelyn wanted to ignore it, the person on the other side of door had a different idea altogether.
She didn’t feel up to a confrontation with Adam; she had already been through enough.

“I have to go, Sylvia, someone is at the door and they are being very persistent.
Again, congratulations, I’m very happy for you both,” she said before replacing the receiver on its cradle.

As she opened the door, the face that greeted her wasn’t Adam at all.
It was the face that had haunted her thoughts for many years.
His eyes were so dark that you couldn’t tell where the pupil began or ended.
He smiled warmly and asked if she were going to let him in.
He acted as though they were two long lost friends who hadn’t seen each other, nothing more.
Katelyn found it difficult to speak to him as their time together came flooding back to her.
Gianfranco stared at her for a brief moment before reaching out and embracing her in a friendly hug.

“Hello, Irish.
I wasn’t sure whether you would want me to stop by but I took the chance anyway.”
He still hadn’t let her go.
It was almost as if he were holding on to a lifeline.
“I’m glad I decided to though.
I must have walked around your building for twenty minutes before coming up,” Gianfranco added without hesitation.

“Don’t be ridiculous; I’m always happy to see one of Kevin’s friends.”
She didn’t know what had prompted her to be so dismissive but she couldn’t take it back, now that it was out there.
Once again, her stubborn pride needed to lash out in response to the disappointment she felt.
She wanted him to pay for his nonchalance toward the past they shared together.

He smiled but grunted too, “Is that all I am to you, Irish?
Am I just your brother’s friend?” he queried mysteriously.
Katelyn could see that she had stung him with her words.
When she tried to make up for it by shaking her head, in response to his question, she thought she felt a slight kiss on her head.
It was ever gentle but he had indeed kissed her, just above her ear.
She had always wondered what their first meeting would be like after all this time.
It was going to happen sooner or later; they were both bound to see each other eventually.

There was no way to describe the effect he was having on her by holding her in his arms for so long.
It is time to break from his embrace
.
She stared up into his eyes and willed him to let go of her but she could see his intent was very different.
He wanted her to remember.
He willed it; he needed her to recall what it felt like to be in his arms.
His Italian pride would not allow him to be dismissed by her so easily.

She pulled away just then and made a poor attempt at safer conversation.
She would do anything that would help erase the shameless thoughts that his touch evoked.
“Kevin tells me you’re back in the States for good this time,” she stated as she fidgeted with the door behind him.
“Come in and sit down.
I don’t want my neighbors to start speculating about all that banging you were doing,” she added.
“I don’t keep any liquor in the house but there is some beer in the fridge if you would like one.
Jake has been known to stop by now and then and I keep some beer cold for him,” she rambled, but not before noticing she had triggered another reaction; she couldn’t quite figure out why.

“I don’t want anything.
Thank you for asking though.
I should have come by sooner but I didn’t know what to say to you,” Gianfranco said.
He could see that she was uncomfortable in his presence but, instead of feeling compassion, he felt amused.
“Am I making you nervous, Irish?” he asked arrogantly.
He was sure his close proximity was having an effect on her and he could see that she was struggling to keep herself together.
As they continued into the apartment, Katelyn was having trouble relaxing.
He could see that and wondered why he affected her so deeply, even now after all this time.

“Don’t be silly.
Why would you make me nervous?
I have a lot on my mind right now and you and your arrogant self aren’t high on my list,” she added, rushing past him.

She turned slightly to ask another question.
“By the way, whatever happened to Italy being in your blood?
I recall you said that you wouldn’t be happy unless you were there.”
Katelyn hadn’t meant to reveal so much.
She could feel his eyes bearing down on her from behind.
It was as if he were trying to read her thoughts as they made their way down the narrow hall.
She couldn’t turn to face him because her eyes would most certainly give her away.

“Be careful, Irish, I might think you memorized our last encounter word for word.
I wonder what the experts would consider that to mean.
Are there some deeper unresolved thoughts running through that beautiful head of yours?
Or, better yet, are you trying to bate me, as you have so expertly done in the past?” he asked conceitedly.
He didn’t want to scare her but she was hiding something from him, of that he was certain.

Gianfranco had finally come to terms, believing that she had had an affair with another man shortly after leaving his bed.
That affair produced a child and he wasn’t sure if he could get past that knowledge.
He knew that every time he looked at little Jenny, it would remind him of her mother’s betrayal. The blame for the betrayal lay with him.
He never blamed her.
He had taught her all the ways of sensuality and left her.

“Don’t be silly.
I have nothing to hide.
I’m just a little surprised that you came back and maybe a little curious, about why you came back,” she blared as she sat down on the sofa.
She cursed herself; how easy it was for him to read her thoughts and make her uncomfortable in her own skin.
He joined her on the sofa because he knew she was hoping he would opt for the chair across the room.
He wasn’t about to let this opportunity pass.

“I’m impressed,” he said as he looked around.
“The apartment is nice.
It’s small but very warm and cozy.”
He paused for a moment before continuing.
“I came back, Katelyn, because I needed to and, as far as our past is concerned, I said what needed to be said at the time,” referring to their time together.

Gianfranco needed to explain himself further.
“If I remember correctly, which I assure you I do, you were the one who had plans for a bright future that didn’t include me.
You were going to California to experience your new independent life.
And, by the way, I’m proud of you and all you’ve accomplished.
I know that it’s been hard for you over the years.”
For a man who made multi-million dollar decisions on a daily basis, why was talking to Katelyn increasingly impossible for him.
He fumbled with his hands; he was afraid of what would happen if his skin came into contact with hers.
He wanted to pick her up at this very moment and take her to the bedroom and make love to her.
Make her forget the man who fathered her daughter but that was impossible.

“Would it have mattered if I had decided to stay here instead?” she asked nervously.
She wanted and needed to hear his answer.
The answer might convince her that she had done the right thing by keeping the secret of their daughter’s birth from him.

“That, my sweet
Cara,
is a loaded question.
Are you sure you can deal with the answer?
It may be the answer you don’t want to hear, then what?
It would be too late to take back the question, once I have answered it.”
He glanced around the room once again; this time he commented on how much he admired her taste.

“I could use someone like you to decorate my new place.
It doesn’t have this warm glow that this place has.
It’s very cold or so my housekeeper tells me.”
He noticed how much his Irish had matured.
Her breasts were the only obvious physical sign that she had had a child.
They were fuller and larger than he remembered them and, yes, he did remember.
She seemed less trusting and easy going than in the past.

“You did good, Irish, I am amazed by you.
Kevin tells me you have done all this without any help.”
He hesitated but Katelyn could see he had more to say.
He wanted to add ‘without the help of the father of her child’ but he didn’t dare.

“I could have helped you, Katelyn, if you had only asked me.
You’re family to me,” he added regretfully, after witnessing her reaction.
Katelyn felt sick to her stomach at that analogy.
They would never be the kind of family he was portraying.
She could never be like a sister to him, not after what they had shared.

She glanced over at the clock that hung on the wall and checked the time again.
It would be at least another hour before Jenny arrived home.
Another hour before the child he shared with her would walk through the door and run right past him.
It was ironic, they were family just not in the sense that he thought.
Katelyn knew there was no Mrs.Broccolini; Kevin would surely have mentioned it if there had been.

“Am I keeping you from something?” he asked, as he pointed up at the clock she had just been eyeing.
“You seem a little preoccupied by it.”

“I’m sorry.
I don’t mean to be rude; it’s just that Jenny is due home in an hour and I don’t usually have men in my home.
Of course, Kevin and Jake are the exception.
My daughter would take one look at you and have us married by the end of the week,” she said jokingly.
He didn’t seem to catch on at first because he always assumed that Adam Taylor had been to her apartment before.
The information, though given unintentionally, amused him.
“Jenny would assume that you’re good father material and try to play matchmaker,” she added with a smile.

He couldn’t let this moment go by.
It was so easy to get her goat.
“You mean that if your daughter comes home and sees us together, she’ll assume mommy was having a little hanky-panky while she was at school?”
He moved closer to her on the sofa and started a little playful teasing of his own.
“What kind of hanky-panky, has your young child witnessed?
I wonder.” he asked, flicking her hair from her shoulders.
He was certain that Jenny had never witnessed her mother with a man but that didn’t stop him from teasing her.
He put an arm around her waist and gently used the other to touch her face and silky hair.
“Have there been many men, Katelyn?” he asked huskily, not really wanting to hear the answer.

He held her chin in his hand and looked into her eyes as both of them fought emotions that were running rampant; it happened whenever they were near each other.
He wondered if his lust for her could ever be sated.
When he witnessed her lips quiver with excitement, as he drew nearer, he yanked himself away.
It was as though all the fires of hell had just burst through the cavern.
He promised himself before he came to her apartment that he wouldn’t go down this path with her.
He couldn’t lose himself to her again because this time there would be no returning from the abyss of his feelings for her. He couldn’t break eye contact, though he was trying desperately to do just that.
His intention was to drop by, make sure she was alright and leave just as quickly as he came.
He promised Kevin he would do that; he owed his friend that courtesy.

What was happening between them was fast becoming something neither of them had bargained for.
What he wanted to do to her now was unforgivable.
A loud knock on the door broke the trance between them just in time.
They both found themselves tense, unsure about what to do next.
“I’d better go and get that,” she murmured with what little strength she could muster.
“I don’t know who that could be,” Katelyn heard herself say aloud.
She realized that she spoke aloud but didn’t hear his response; it was low and muffled.
She straightened her skirt and proceeded to the door.

The loud knocking for a second time today was probably attracting her elderly neighbor, Annabel.
She could hear the old woman moving about next door.
Katelyn knew she was probably near the peep hole in the door checking out who was causing all the commotion in the hallway.
She rarely had male visitors and Annabel was familiar with Kevin and Jake; seeing two different men at Katelyn’s door today would raise her suspicions.
“I’m coming, stop banging,” she pleaded.