ALL I NEED
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Larry hesitated at first, but
soon returned my kiss softly. I touched his left cheek with my hand as he held
my other hand, resting in my lap. It was only seconds, but I wanted to make it
an eternity to him. Slowly, I pulled myself away from him and opened my eyes. I
smiled, but he remained serious.
"Thank you, Larry," I
said, caressing his cheek. Then there was a knock on the car's door, Molly's
signal for me to leave.
"Good-bye," I said at
last, and he nodded. His eyes were dark again. He was disappointed. Perhaps he
thought the kiss meant something else, but if he did, I never knew.
He let loose of my hand and I
moved towards the door of the car, opening it. Molly helped me to step onto the
street and I took a last look inside to see Larry facing the other side. I
sighed and looked at Molly. She nodded confidently to me and closed the door.
*****
"Harry has everything
planned for tomorrow," Molly said after handing me the key to my hotel
room. "He will be here soon."
"Are you leaving with
Larry?" I asked. She nodded.
"I can't leave him alone. He
just had his heart broken," she answered in a calm tone. I frowned and she
smiled. "It's not your fault."
"I wish I could do
something," I said quietly, looking down.
"You can," she said,
and smiled as I looked up at her again. "He wants you to be happy, so make
sure you'll be happy."
I smiled and nodded. She told me
she had to go, and I gave her a warm and tight hug. She was still a better
mother to me than my own mother had ever been. She kissed my cheek and wiped
away the tears from my eyes.
"There's no reason to cry.
You know where I live. I want you to write to me." She smiled again.
"I hope I am not too
late." A male voice cut the brief silence and I looked at the hotel's
entrance to find Harry, with a big smile, walking towards us. I felt my heart
racing immediately at the sight of him, with no one around to make me stay away
from him.
Before he could reach us, I
looked at Molly and she noticed my wide smile and shining eyes. With that, she
nodded and I ran towards him, wrapping my arms around his neck. He held my
waist tightly and looked down at me. Our noses touched for a second and I
looked deeply into his eyes.
"You're free now," he
whispered to me, and I smiled. He kissed me passionately, and then I knew that
Harry had saved me again.
*****
I watched the moon from the
balcony door. It was a full moon, beautiful in all its magnitude. I felt the
cold and calm breeze touching my shoulders and my face, slowly making the
nightgown that Harry had bought me dance against my body. My long, dark hair
was loose over my shoulders and my eyes were fixed on the moon as my thoughts
flew away with my very first breath of freedom.
Much to my surprise, the entire
evening no one showed up to bother us. It was a calm evening and we enjoyed
each other's company for the very first time without caring about what could
happen. Still, Harry seemed worried that this sudden peace could be short.
After all, we would only be totally free when we went aboard the ship the next
day.
Just when I thought of him again,
I felt one of his hands gently taking my hair and pulling it to the left side
of my face, and then both of his arms embracing my waist warmly. I smiled,
feeling his chin on my right shoulder and his steady breath close to my ear.
"I thought you'd be sleeping
by now," he whispered. I could smell the sweet aroma of a warm bath coming
from him and his wet hair against my own.
"I can't sleep. I tried, but
I just can't," I replied quietly, resting my hands on his hands, closing
me into a tight hug against him. He kissed my neck gently. "Are you still
worried?" I asked hesitantly. He took a deep breath, not of annoyance, but
as if unsure of what to say.
"Yes, a little." He
nodded quietly, resting his chin against my shoulder again. "I am not sure
how long they will be able to hold Mr. Henderson in jail."
"Not too long," I said
thoughtfully, looking from the peaceful moon to the busy city, all the lights
and the cars still in the streets even after midnight. This was New York, after
all.
"I know," he replied
thoughtfully, his voice distant. "I wonder if your family is after
you."
"Of course they are." I
frowned, thinking of that for the first time. "My mother knows about us. I
just don't know if she would tell my father, because he would certainly accuse
her of not saying anything, and that it's her fault that everything turned out
like this."
"Well, I am happy about how
everything turned out. Are you not?" he asked in a playful tone. I laughed
at his comment.
"Yes. I just..." My
voice faded. Should I tell him about Larry?
"What?" he asked, and I
felt him frowning by my side. I turned around and he pulled away a little so I
could wrap my arms gently around his neck as he rested his hands on my waist.
He looked down into my eyes, touching his forehead to mine. "What's
wrong?" he asked again, more carefully.
"It's Larry," I said
clearly, though a little hesitantly.
"Oh, I know..." He kept
eye contact with me, though his eyes were more narrow now.
"You do?" I frowned. He
nodded.
"I have since the first day
he chose not to be with us anymore," he said quietly. "I didn't know
if you did. But apparently..."
"He declared himself to me.
He said he loves me..." I looked away from his eyes, but I could feel that
he was still watching me.
"Do you love him?" he
asked calmly, just like that. I looked into his eyes again.
"Not the same way," I
replied sincerely. He seemed relieved. "I just didn't want him to suffer.
He's like a brother to me."
"He was definitely more of a
brother to you than Cal," Harry pointed out, and I nodded.
"Unfortunately, there are not copies of Catherines to give out to the
population." I laughed.
"Lots of Catherines.
Wouldn't that be strange?" I asked, still laughing. He smiled widely.
"It would be a pleasant
sight. I am sure of that. But then again, I wouldn't feel as lucky as I feel
now."
"You're not mad because I
didn't tell you about Larry before?" I asked suddenly. He shook his head
gently and caressed my cheek with one of his hands.
"You needed time to
understand your own feelings. I have no right over them or when you tell me
about them. I'm just glad you did when you realized that you could...that you
trust me that much." He smiled fondly.
"I have always trusted
you." I smiled back and he kissed the end of my nose fondly.
"I know that now." He
smiled.
It didn't take too long, and it
seemed that we were expecting this moment the whole night. There was a knock on
the door. And another one, and another one. Several knocks at once, and then a
familiar and frightening voice yelled from the corridor.
"I know you are there! And
you two are going to pay for this! Open the door!" We had no doubt about
who it was. Mr. Henderson.
In reflex, Harry pulled me behind
him, just then realizing that the door was still closed. Then he looked back at
me while Henderson was still knocking angrily on the door and shouting
something at another male voice trying to calm him down, probably one of the
hotel's security guards.
"What are we going to
do?" I asked quietly, under my breath, and Harry kept holding my arms as
if as a sign that he was still there. Unlike me, he seemed already in control
of the situation.
"Take a coat, quickly,"
he said calmly after a brief moment with his eyes closed. He let go of my arms
and I nodded, walking towards the couch in the room, where he had placed the
clothes he had bought me for the voyage.
"Open the door or I will
break it!" I heard Mr. Henderson's voice again. I looked at Harry and he
rolled his eyes at the door while he took a coat for himself, putting it over
his dark pants and undershirt.
"He knows how to yell, but
have you ever heard that saying that dogs that bark do not bite?" Harry
asked calmly after putting on his shoes. "He's something along those
lines."
"Harry, I'm very aware that
you are insane, but you know that Henderson does bite," I said, trying to
convince myself that Harry was not that insane. But his demeanor in the
situation was so calm that I couldn't prove otherwise. How was he able to be so
calm?
"Not when I am with you. He
wouldn't dare." He took my hand as I finished putting on my own shoes and
made me look deep into his eyes. "Listen, he will burst open that
door...and I need to know, or there's no point. You trust me, don't you?"
There was a louder knock on the
other side and Henderson's endless screams. I looked at the door and Harry
shook me gently, making me look into his eyes again.
"Catherine, you just said
you trust me," he said, more serious this time. "Do you trust
me?"
"Yes." I nodded and he
smiled. There was a louder noise against the door and it finally burst open.
Henderson was still wearing his wedding tuxedo and his eyes were full of rage.
Harry rapidly pulled me behind him and stood still, facing Henderson at the
door.
"You?" Henderson asked
in shock. I frowned, watching from behind Harry, holding onto his coat tightly.
"Who were you expecting?
Larry Brown? Well, you are not as smart as you claim, are you?" Harry
asked sarcastically. I tightened my grip on his coat even more.
"I can't believe this!"
Henderson said under his breath. He was sweating. His breathing was heavy.
Aside from his physical effort to burst open the door, it seemed that the fact
he was wrong the whole time had made him even angrier.
"Well, you’d better
believe," Harry said calmly, yet a little impatiently. "And you’d
better leave. You've been far too humiliated already. Just leave Catherine
alone."
Henderson laughed insanely and
Harry remained quiet. I frowned and looked at the door to find that whoever was
with Henderson outside had left. I heard voices in the corridor. They would ask
for help. I didn't understand why they would ask for help. There were more than
two security guards in the hotel. They were surely stronger than Henderson and
could immobilize him. Harry alone could do that.
"You think you're smart,
don't you, boy?" Henderson stepped forward. Harry stepped back, making me
step back with him. That's when I noticed that Henderson's right hand had been
behind his back the whole time.
"Harry, I think he has a
gun--" I whispered, but was brutally cut off by another voice.
"You are not!"
Henderson's insane voice shouted, and he pointed the gun at Harry. Harry wasn't
expecting that. His immediate reaction was to step back again and make me stay
behind him.
"Catherine, don't
move," Harry whispered to me. I could see, from under his arm, Henderson's
gun pointed at him. Harry locked his eyes with Henderson's. For the first time,
he was unsure of what to do.