Mr. James: A Forbidden Romance (17 page)

“I told you what you could do, and that’s the only way that this is going to work! Do you understand me? I told you that you owe your loyalty to this family and to me, and you need to remember that! Now you get away from him! You are not going to have anything to do with him or his kid! You have a responsibility to me and to your mother for all that we did to put you through school, and you have a duty to yourself to make the best life that you can! Now you let go of that fool you’re guarding and you get your butt back in your room. I’m going to kick this jackass out of my house!” he yelled.

Reggie watched it all from his place up against the wall. He knew how mad Harold was. He had been around Harold a long time, and he knew that Harold didn’t take anything from anyone, and that having Connor in the house would be more than Harold was willing to put up with. But he also knew that Connor and Catalina needed a chance to talk things out, and as he stood there watching them both, he saw the change in them as it took place, and he knew that the visit he had made that morning had been exactly the right thing to do.

Catalina looked from her father up to Connor and she shook her head. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Daddy… it doesn’t. I can love you both. We can have a whole family together if you just let your anger go! Please, Daddy…” she begged, but Harold shook his head.

“Don’t you dare choose that bastard over me. I am your father! I am your family! You are my daughter and I am telling you right now, if you walk out of that door with that man, you are never going to walk into this house again. Do you hear me?” he shouted at her with tears in his eyes, and Cat looked back at him and shook her head, reaching for Connor, who wrapped his arms around her and began walking with her to the front door.

“Catalina!” her father yelled out more in pain than in anger. She shook her head again and they moved toward the front door together.

“Daddy, you are always going to be welcome in my home, and I am always going to love you no matter what,” she said tearfully as she walked with Connor out of her father’s house, and she heard her father howl in rage as the door closed behind her, and Connor took her by the hand and walked with her to his car.

Reggie watched through the window from inside the house, and he stayed where he was against the wall until Harold had thundered into his room and slammed the door closed. Then he went into Catalina’s room and gathered some of her favorite clothes, tossing them quickly into her suitcase, and he walked quietly out of the front door, closing it gently behind him.

*

Epilogue

The snow fell softly, perfectly coating the earth on a January morning as cars pulled into the parking lot of the little church. Connor stood before a long mirror, straightening his tie and looking at himself critically. He looked like a groom. He felt like a groom. He just couldn’t quite believe that in one hour he was going to actually be a groom, but this knowledge made him happier than he had ever been, and the wide smile on his face showed it.

In a room much like his on the opposite side of the church, Catalina was sitting on a chair running her fingers through the flowers in her bouquet as she wished for the umpteenth time that her mother could be there with her. She touched the ring on her hand, twisting it back and forth, looking at the design and color and remembering fondly when her mother used to wear it.

Then she stood up and walked over to the mirror, gazing at her reflection, staring at the bride who was staring back at her. She could barely believe that she was looking at herself standing there in a church in a wedding dress on her wedding day. It was more than she ever had believed would happen with Connor, but there she was.

She looked at her left hand, her ring finger bare for the last morning of her life, and she smiled, thinking about the weeks she had spent with him living at his house. It was a beautiful house and she had loved being able to be there with him, to share it with him and to be a couple out in the open in front of everyone. She had never been so happy, save for one thing.

She closed her eyes and wished from her heart that her father could forgive her someday and be part of her life again. She missed him terribly.

There was a knock at the door and she looked up and called out that it was open. Reggie poked his head around the corner and she grinned at him.

“Hey! There’s my man of honor. I thought you were going to be late!” she gushed in relief, happy to see him. He shook his head and whistled at her.

“My God, you look incredible.” He walked over to her and smiled. “Listen, you know if it doesn’t work out with Mr. Perfect in there, I’m waiting on the sidelines and I’ll step in any day!” he half teased her and she laughed at him and bashed him lightly with her bouquet.

“Reggie!” she scolded him.

He laughed and shook his head. “I’m just kidding! Just kidding. Kind of.” He winked at her and took her hands in his. “Listen, though, in all seriousness, I have a special wedding present for you.”

She shrugged. “You can give it to me later!” she told him with a smile.

He shook his head. “No, I think it would be better if I gave it to you now,” he assured her.

She tipped her head. “Okay, fine. Now works, too.” she said lightly.

He looked at her earnestly. “Close your eyes.” She closed her eyes and she felt him walk away from her and when he told her to open them, he sounded much further away.

He was further away; he was standing by the door holding it open, and there in the doorway stood her father, wearing a white tuxedo and holding a thin silver box in his hands.

Catalina gasped and stared at him as tears filled her eyes and she slowly walked toward him. “Daddy!”

He looked up at her sheepishly. “May I come in, please?” he asked her quietly.

She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! God yes, Daddy, please come in!” She rushed to him then, and threw her arms around him, holding him tightly.

He lowered her face and kissed the top of her head, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close to him. “I’m so sorry, baby. I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I really fouled things up big, didn’t I?”

She coughed and cried and stepped back from him, looking up into his dark eyes. “Oh Daddy, it’s okay. We all make mistakes.”

He pressed his lips together in a thin line and looked at her sorrowfully. “Will you forgive me, please?”

She laughed and nodded, hugging him again. “Yes, a thousand, thousand times yes. You are forgiven, just as long as you forgive me, too. I never meant to hurt you or disappoint you. I’m so sorry, Daddy.” She said, finally forgiving herself for everything he had been angry at her for.

He held her close and patted her back. “You’re forgiven, too, my baby.”

She let him go and looked up at him. “What… how did you get here? How did you know?” she asked, baffled.

He looked around over his shoulder and smiled at Reggie. “Your best friend brought me here. He’s been looking out for all of us, I guess. He’s a good friend, Cat. You better keep him.”

She laughed and went to Reggie, hugging him tightly. “Oh, I’m going to, Daddy,” she promised. Reggie hugged her back and kissed her cheek lightly, smiling at her with all the love in his heart.

Harold took a step toward her. “I brought you something,” he said quietly. “It’s a gift for your wedding. It’s not much,” he added in a soft voice, handing the box to her.

She took it from him and opened it carefully, peeling back the silver and white paper. Inside was a white box. She lifted the lid, and there in a brand new silver frame, was her mother’s photograph. It was the one that she used to keep on the shelf in her room at her father’s house. On top of the glass in the frame was another slender box.

She pulled the box out and Reggie took the photograph from her and left the room. She opened the lid on the box and gasped when she looked inside, where she discovered her mother’s pearl necklace, gently laid in white satin.

Harold smiled at her and reached into the box, pulling the necklace out carefully and holding it in his hands carefully. “I gave this to your mother on our wedding day. It was my gift to her, and she wore it when we got married. She always wanted you to wear it on your wedding day.”

He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. “Would you like me to put it on you?” he asked with a smile.

She nodded and turned around for him, and he slipped it around her neck and closed the clasp. When she turned to face him once more, she saw tears in his eyes.

“You look so much like your mother, you know. She was so beautiful and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was on our wedding day, and now here you are, standing before me, looking so much like she did, and I’m amazed again. I can’t believe how lucky I am to have a daughter as incredible as you are,” he told her softly, and she reached for him and smiled widely.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she said as she hugged him tightly. “I love you, too, with all of my heart.”

He held her for a moment and then looked down at her. “Do you have anyone here to give you away?” he asked hopefully.

She nodded. “I do. My daddy is here, and no one else could ever give me away.”

He grinned and offered her his arm, and a short while later they were walking down the aisle together, and no one could have been more surprised than Connor was when Harold walked up to him and reached for his hand, taking it so that he had Connor’s hand in one of his hands, and Catalina’s hand in his other hand.

“Connor James, I am giving you the most precious gift I have ever gotten in all of my life, I am giving you my daughter, with all of my heart, and I am trusting you to love her as much as I always have, since her first breath, I am trusting you to cherish her as I have, and I am trusting you to take better care of her than I have, to give her a life filled with love and happiness, to inspire her, to make her happy, and to love her all of your life.

“With my blessing and my love, Son, be blessed.” He spoke strongly and kindly and though Harold connected Connor’s hand with Catalina’s, Connor raised his free arm and wrapped it around Harold, holding him tightly for a long moment as he leaned up and whispered in the old man’s ear.

“I promise, Father. I promise.” And then he let Harold go, and Harold went and sat in the front row, in the second chair, right beside the silver framed photograph of his wife, which was placed in the first chair.

*** 

The old and withered hand moved lightly along the beautiful mantle above the fireplace. There was a fire roaring and crackling beneath the mantle, but she wasn’t looking at the fire in the fireplace. She was looking at all of the photographs that lined the mantle.

In the center was a large photograph of a bride and groom on their wedding day, and as she touched the frame delicately, she saw that her wedding ring and the ring she had gotten from her mother still looked the same, and the only thing that had changed was her hand; it had become old and withered, but that didn’t bother her.

The bride and groom looked blissfully happy together, alongside her father and her best friend. It was one of her favorite photographs displayed there. Next to it was another photograph, this one showed the same couple, about five years later. The groom held two boys on his knees, and the bride held a little baby daughter in her arms. 

In the next frame was another wedding photograph, but this one had a different bride and groom. This one showed her best friend as the groom, and a beautiful young woman as his bride. Not far down the mantle was another photograph of them with a son and a daughter, not much different in age than the children in the photograph of the first family.

To the left of that first photograph was a photograph of a graduate at a graduation ceremony, and the graduate was her father, his hair was white and he was old, but he was proud as he held his diploma up for all to see. Standing around him was his daughter and son in law, and three of his grandchildren, his daughter’s best friend and his wife, and their two children, and it looked like the big happy family that it was.

Above the mantle was one large photograph, and all of the people in the smaller photographs along the mantle were in the large photograph that hung above them all, but there were some additional people in the large photograph. All of their children had grown and were married, and there were seven grandchildren among the couple’s children, and there were three grandchildren among her best friend’s children, all of them having grown up together all of their lives, all of them cherished and loved, and all of them happy.

“Reminiscing?” the deep voice came softly behind her. She turned then and looked up at her husband who leaned down to kiss her.

She nodded. “These are my favorite memories,” she told him happily.

He smiled at her. “They are my favorite as well. All of those, and this one…” he said, just as an old song began to play in the background.

It was Frank Sinatra, crooning ‘The Way You Look Tonight’. The old man wrapped his arms around his wife and pressed his withered cheek against hers, and they began to sway as she held him close and he sung softly to her as they danced.

His voice was crackly but she looked up at him with shining eyes. “Do you remember the red dress?” she asked a little flirtatiously.

He laughed and leaned down to kiss her. “I’m never going to forget it.”

She kissed him back and touched her finger to his cheek. “I love you,” she said happily.

“I love you too, always,” he said to her, and leaning down, he kissed her again.