Part 5
The ride out to Howie's place was quiet and Sarah spent the time thinking about her feelings. Howie made her feel so at ease and comfortable. She had never known anyone like that. They had known each other for such a short time but she wanted to tell him everything. She would glance at him from time to time and wonder how he would react to what she needed to tell him. Would he run this time and never come back? She hoped not. She REALLY wanted to get to know him better.
Howie was thinking about Sarah too. She was everything he had dreamed of and he wanted to hold her close, make her feel safe. The tears she had shed earlier had just about destroyed him and he had only known her for a few hours. What would it be like to have her in his life permanently? He had every intention of keeping her around as long as possible.
They held hands as they walked along the beach. Howie let Sarah take her time and eventually she began to talk. "I've known Russell all my life and when I was fifteen, I started dating him. My parents didn't approve because he was so much older."
"How much older?"
"Ten years. They didn't stop me though. They figured it would fizzle out. He was so good to me at first, until I went off to college."
"Then what happened?"
"I was gone a lot so he started seeing my best friend and became jealous of everyone I got to know at school He started trying to control me, not letting me talk to anyone or go anywhere and he would show up on weekends to bring me home. Sometimes he'd come during the week to check up on me. Then, he got me pregnant and we got married my junior year in college."
"Was he still seeing your friend?"
"Oh yeah, but when he found out I was having a girl, he became really attentive. For a while, it seemed like everything would be okay." Sarah stopped walking and looked out at a ship going by and wiped the tears away.
Howie asked, "Did you finish college?"
"Yeah, I have my degree in early childhood education."
Howie noticed that she seemed tired so he asked, "Wanna sit for a while?"
"Yeah."
As they sat facing each other, Howie held her hands in his. "What happened then?"
"He went back to his old ways and seeing Chrissy more, until he got her pregnant."
"Busy guy."
Sarah smiled through the tears, "Yeah, because he had a couple other women I think but I could never prove anything. Chrissy made it easy for me to catch them and when I did, I confronted him about it. That's when he slapped me. Jesse, our daughter, was about fifteen months old by then. I packed her things and mine and moved back home. Russell begged me to come back to him and promised to stop seeing her."
Howie waited patiently for her to continue but he could tell the next part was going to be hard for her. He remembered what he'd heard at the center.
Sarah started again, her voice in almost a whisper. "I was taking Jesse to the beach one day not long after I'd left him. When I was crossing the street, I heard a car coming. I looked up just in time to see Chrissy's car coming at me and I didn't have time to react before she hit me."
Tears streamed silently down Sarah's cheeks as she remembered the whole nightmare. Howie reached up to wipe them away and said softly, "Take your time."
"The impact knocked Jesse out of my arms and killed her instantly. It put me in ICU for a month and I never got to go to the funeral. Russell never came to the hospital either. My parents and brothers stayed with me the whole time. At the trial, they say Chrissy plead temporary insanity. She even had a doctor testify that she was suffering from severe postpartum depression. She got off with only having to get counseling and Russell got custody of their son."
"What about you?"
"I spent the next year in the hospital or rehab. My father had an attorney file for divorce and when I could, I left Fernandina. Becca was my best friend in college and my roommate and we had kept in touch the whole time. When I told her that I needed some place to go, she offered to let me live with her. Her job takes her out of town a lot and she wanted someone she could trust to take care of the place."
"Why leave your family? They sound like they were supportive."
"My family is wonderful but Russell had the entire town convinced everything was my fault and my parents couldn't take it any more. They moved to Virginia where my dad is from and my brothers have been gone for some time. I didn't tell ANYONE where I was going other than my family so Russell showing up today was a complete surprise....well, sort of. He had found out my phone number and had called Friday to talk"
"Why did he come looking for you?"
"Today is our anniversary and he wants me to come back and be a mother to his son."
"He's got some nerve."
Sarah looked at Howie and asked, "Are you ready to take me home and run like hell now?"
Howie laughed, "No! I want to protect you and show you that not all men are like Russell."
"Oh, I know they aren't all like him. My brothers are super guys and they treat their wives great," said Sarah smiling. "You are the most amazing man though. You know Russell is jealous and any other guy would be running like crazy as fast and as hard away from me right now. That's another reason I left. None of the guys in Fernandina would have ANYTHING to do with me because of him."
"He has a reason to be angry and jealous. He's let a fantastic woman go and he sees that he's treated you bad. I've never met anyone like you. You're so soft and caring but yet tough. You can stand on your own and you don't care that I'm famous."
"You can tell all that in the short time we've been together?"
"I don't have time to get to know people on the road so I've learned to 'read' people quick."
Sarah nodded her head that she understood and then said, "I thought it was really cool that you brought your bodyguard today. A perk of the job?"
"Sometimes. I brought him along because I wanted to take you to dinner but I didn't want you to be overwhelmed by the fans."
"Is is THAT bad?"
"Not around Orlando so much or with natives of Orlando. It's mostly tourists who recognize me and approach me for autographs."
"All the girls at the center were pretty psyched that you were there this morning."
"I hear you were asking them to play our music and wanted to know when I was singing."
Sarah blushed, "I'm going to get them for that."
Howie laughed, "Why don't we go back and I'll play you some tapes that I did myself so you can hear just me?"
The mood was light now that Sarah had told him everything. Eagerly she said, "I'd like that."
Howie helped her up and they headed back down the beach towards Howie's place. They laughed and talked as they went and played in the water. At one point, Sarah tagged Howie, hollered 'you're it', and started running. Howie caught her easily and held her close by the waist. He kissed her, a small peck at first, but when she didn't pull away he kissed her again. This time, his tongue parted her lips and she took him in willingly.
Sarah pulled back and looked into his eyes. She whispered, "Howie, I'm not..."
Putting a finger to her lips, he said softly, "I know and neither am I usually but I've fallen in love with you."
With that, he put his hand in her hair and pulled her to him, kissing her again and holding her tight feeling her body against his.