Chapter 15

“Ooooohhhhh — That was a joke, Charles? That was my soon to be fourteen-year-old sons’ idea of a joke. Ha-Ha. Hmmm ... you knew I was behind the door, didn’t you? Well, you got me pretty good there, Chuckles. I must admit.”

She started laughing with us; so, I guess she was OK, but I am going to start being more careful, generally speaking.

RING

“Hello, this is Charles Newman, who may I ask is calling?”

“This is Kalista McArthur, Mr. Newman. Calling to see how you are doing?”

“Kalista. So good to hear your voice ... don’t worry about me, how are you?”

Sounding better, stronger she said, “I am fine Charles, thanks for asking. I am back at home, well if I was ‘home,’ I would be there with you and Claire right now, but I am rested and ready for whatever it is that you want me to do for you — because I love you.”

She was listening last night? Oh, crap ... now what do I say to her? I can’t take it back — I do love her, but not the same way I love Claire, or even my mom. Oh, well ... time to jump into the pit.

“You know that, uhm, when I said that last night, how I meant that, Kalista?”

“Yeah, Charles ... you love me, because you care about me and I care about you too, but right now I am telling you, that I love you — I am in love with you. Now, are you OK with me telling you that?”

“Oh my, Kalista — That is wonderful that you think you love me enough to tell me this, but I am in love with Claire and it wouldn’t be fair for me to tell you anything other than, I love you like a little sister.”

I went on, “The same way that Claire and I need to be careful about kissing in front of others, you and I must be very careful about letting people know that we love one another. Very few people could understand the deep connection that the two of us have. Is it OK with you if we keep it on the down low a little bit?”

“Sure, but I do love you — and not like a sister loves her brother.”

“That’s sweet K, but saying, ‘I love you’ in front of Annie or Claire, shouldn’t be much of a problem, but Sarah, or Brian, Susan ... that next closest group of people, Jimmy, that’s the bunch who would react like crazy, if they heard us talking to each other like that, OK, Kalista?”

Claire just then walked into my room and heard me.

“Kalista, why didn’t you tell me that Kalista was on the phone, Charles ... Give me the phone!”

“Kalista, honey ... Charles and I were so worried about you, are you all right? Good, that’s great to hear.”

“All right, we will see you in a day or two, Saturday for sure, Bye.”

“So, what did you and Kalista talk about, Charles? Anything interesting?” Claire asked, sitting down next to me.

The interrogation begins!

“Well, Claire ... since this seems to be ‘honesty day,’ I will tell you, but don’t freak out, OK?”

“Charles, give me some credit ... you know how I feel about Kalista and I know how you feel about Kalista.”

“Yeah, but do you know how Kalista feels about me?”

“What exactly do you mean by that?” she remarked with her eyebrows furrowed.

“Well, Claire ... she told me that she loves me.”

“Isn’t that sweet, Charles,” she said grinning real big.

“No, Claire, you didn’t hear me correctly, Kalista just told me that she — is — in — love — with — me,” I carefully separated each word for the needed clarity and emphasis.

There was a cool silence.

“She did ... what?”

“You said you wouldn’t freak out, Claire?”

“Did you tell her about your dream, about being married to her?”

“No ... of course not. Does she know that she’s my soul mate, Claire?”

“N-no, I never told her anything about that. I – I — I guessed that she figured it out for herself, when she was old enough.”

“Well, I think she has ... not in so many words, but telling me that she’s in love with me, tells me she has un-resolvable issues with me, you, or the both of us.”

“So, what do we do about this, Charles?”

“What do you mean, what do we do about it?”

“Do we encourage her — discourage her — ignore her, what?”

“Claire, you and I are less than two months from our fourteenth birthdays, we’re National Dance Champions, we have actually discussed marriage ... to one another. Now, there’s a young and very impressionable eight-year-old girl, who turns nine in October, and who thinks she’s in love with me. I don’t know what to do about this. Just a minute Claire — MOM, come in here please?” I yelled.

She wasn’t right behind the door, much to my surprise, but she got up to my room quickly nonetheless.

“You bellowed, Charles,” Annie said with a smile.

I took a real deep breath and said while starting to cry again, but this time I was sobbing rather hard, “Mom,” I was really worked up about this, “Claire and I ... Claire and I ... have a problem, that we need your help with.”

My crying got Mom crying, even Claire started to cry, and Annie said, “Oh, my god ... Charles. This sounds serious ... what is it, you know you can ask me or tell me anything honey, just tell me what you need me to do? Are you OK Claire, are you ... you know ... with — with child?”

Claire put out a nervous laugh, saying, “What ... with child? ... Oh god no Annie, NO, no, No — it’s nothing like that at all! Oh, my goodness, no — how embarrassing ... no Annie, I am not pregnant!” She was crying heavily.

Aghast, but still crying, I said, “Pregnant, Mom — really? You thought that I had gotten Claire pregnant? My gosh ... I really don’t know what to say to that. That even for a second, that thought — popped into your mind, makes, makes, makes you think that Claire and I ... Claire and I ... I can’t even say it out loud?”

“Did the deed ... shook the sheets, made whoopee, Charles?” Claire said with a terribly big smirk on her face, as she rubbed the tears from her eyes.

Stifling the beginning of a grin, I said to Claire, “That’s not helping at all, young lady,” and I started laughing, with Claire and then Annie joining in.

After we all calmed down, Annie asked, “So, if not that, what is your problem?”

“Kalista just told Charles that she is in love with him, Annie. THAT is our problem,” my precious redhead remarked.

I went through my entire conversation that I had had with Kalista earlier. Mom listened patiently and when I was through, she got up and walked behind me and put her hands on my shoulders saying, “Kalista doesn’t really understand what love is, Charles.”

“She thinks of it in terms of physical feelings ... not deep emotions, like the kind you two are experiencing. She’s got the rush of endorphins or something similar, going through her body and it’s telling her she has feelings for you.”

She continued, “You are the first boy who ever gave her the time of day, and actually smiled at her and cared for her. Give her as much distance, physically and emotionally, as you dare, but remember, she has got the mother of all crushes on you, so I wouldn’t be quite so blatant with your and Claire’s public displays of affection, in front of her.”

“Also ... give her a little more time, when you are preparing for a competition. As much as she likes to see you two dancing with each other, she longs for you to dance with her as much as you can, Charles.”

Turning to Claire she said, “I know that this is going to be tough for you, but you can’t be catty with her or even around her. All right you two, why don’t you work on that crazy new dance of yours that you want to show off to Kalista. I will get her over here by Thursday. Have it ready by then. Seeing that should lift her spirits.”

“Mom?”

“Yes, Charles.”

“I am really sorry about the ‘seeing you naked’ remark ... that was way out of line. I apologize for saying that to you and in front of my girl.”

“Annie — Charles and I saw your shadow under the door, so when he said what he said I couldn’t keep myself from laughing out loud. You really should have seen your face, it was priceless.”

“Thank you, Claire,” Annie said with more than a smattering of sarcasm in her voice.

Claire and I worked on the ‘five-dance’ routine as the ‘Bad Romance’ number had been nicknamed. Transitioning is always the most difficult part of a routine ... when you are switching between the different rhythms, it makes it even more difficult, but we managed to make it work, sometimes creating a whole new move, part waltz and part tango, so it wouldn’t look too, herky-jerky. Hmmm, a Wango!

Mom would come up every now and again to see our progress and check up on us. When she did catch us kissing, she would simply smile and wave at us to ‘move on.’

We spent about two full hours at it — the routine — not kissing.

I decided to shock Annie and Claire a little. The next time Mom came up to the room and knocked on my door, I said, “Come on Claire. Let me put my hand on your butt?”

Annie tore open the door; about to say, “AHA,” while at the same time, Claire slapped me hard in the face and said, “I am not that kind of girl, Charles!”

Talk about a plan that backfired, I didn’t know what to say, so I just stood there, like the proverbial bump on a log, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

And waiting!

“Charles Xavier Newman, I clearly heard you say ... what I just heard you say. Why in the world would you be so stupid?” Her hands were back, on her hips. Claire’s were as well!

“Annie ... Mom, it was a very stupid, impulsive thing to do. I only said it to get a response from the two of you, but I guess I didn’t think it through, as well as I thought.”

“As smart as you are at dances, steps, music, and tempos, sometimes I wonder if you have a clue about propriety and common sense. It’s never appropriate to say ... that to a girl, even the girl you may end up marrying someday. She has feelings and you ignored them for your own sake.”

“Apologize to Ms. McArthur, NOW!”

I looked over at Claire and then back to my mom and then back to Claire. I opened my mouth to speak, but my mind was blank. How do I say this? I had an idea.

I put my hands on either side of Claire’s face and I gave her a wonderful, impassioned kiss. It didn’t matter to me that Mom was in the room right now. I took my arms and put them around Claire and kept kissing her, knowing my limit was coming. I heard mom’s foot tapping and her eyes were boring through the back of my head.

Moments were passing; Claire fell into my arms, returning this, clearly, our most intense kiss. Our mouths were open, and I felt compelled to pull away from her.

With her eyes closed, she was licking her lips and I said barely loud enough for her to hear “I am so sorry; I just love you so much.”

Claire said equally quietly, “I know, I love you, too. Apology accepted.”

Mom was still standing there, aghast over the length and breadth of our kiss. She had heard us speak to each other and was rubbing her eyes. I turned to her and said, “I love you too, Antoinette. I am very sorry for my inappropriate outburst. I am hoping you can find a place in that wonderfully big heart of yours to forgive your hormone-ravaged son.”

Ultimately, Annie spoke, “Charles, that certainly was the most stirring kiss, I have ever watched a young man give his girl. As far as your apology to me goes, I accept it and wonder where you got all these relationship skills from, because your father certainly was lacking in them.”

I shrugged and mouthed, ‘I don’t know?’

“Dinner break and then you can practice your ‘five-dance’ routine — downstairs! I have gotten so used to Kalista helping me with things around here, it might take me a bit.”

I put the earpieces back in our ears and we went back to work on the number wanting it to be perfect for Kalista.

Thursday morning there was a honk outside and Sarah pulled up and a smiling eight-and-a-half-year-old redhead got out with her go bag. Claire and I ran out to her, both of us hugging her.

“Sarah, why don’t you come in for a while? Claire and I have a new dance that Kalista inspired,” I insisted.

She came in — Annie and her quickly started talking heatedly about something?

I asked everyone to sit.

“I picked out a piece of music a few days ago but wasn’t inspired to immediately create a routine out of it, but when we got home from the hospital, being so worried about Kalista, I wasn’t wanting to dance or eat or do much of anything. But, when Kalista and I spoke to each over the phone, I realized that dancing was nice, but dancing with Claire and Kalista, was what I was born to do.”

“Born to dance, that’s my Charles,” Kalista said sporting a huge grin.

“So, Claire and I have spent the last two days, working out a routine to this piece of music. It can never be in a competition, unless we win the competition and get to perform this as an Encore piece. Claire and I call this our ‘Five-dance routine’ because there are elements from five different dancing styles. This ... is for Kalista.”

Claire gave me a kiss, I nodded to Mom to start the music and the dance started with the Waltz and it just took off from there. We went seamlessly from Waltz to Tango to Foxtrot. When we started to Quickstep, Kalista stood upright on the sofa, realizing what we were doing ... for her. She was clapping with the music, Sarah and Annie also joining in.

Our spins, during the violin’s sixty-fourth notes, had K shrieking. She was looking closely at what we were doing, looking at Annie and then back to us. She was having the time of her life, watching us go from Waltz, to Quickstep, Foxtrot, Tango and back again.

We were having as much fun dancing it, as they were watching it. It was ending, and everybody knew it, so Claire and I got ready for the Rhumba spin that finished this off, ending perfectly in time with the Vitamin String Quartet.

All the ladies were up, whistling their approval.

Kalista stepped off the sofa and said, “Charles, you had six styles actually; you had a cha-cha step coming out of the spins, every time, so it should really be called a ‘Six-Pack’ routine.”

I picked her up and gave her face-covering kisses that she usually gave me. She was giggling all through it, not wanting it to stop.

“Wow,” said Sarah. “I have been watching you two dancing, from the beginning, which got me watching dancing on TV and I can say, without a doubt, that that was the finest piece of technical dancing I have ever seen in my entire life. And the two of you were having the times of your life doing it. I know it’s destined to be an encore piece, but I just had a chill during that. Abso-fricking-tastic, you two.”

“Charles & Claire — get to work, you have a competition on Sunday,” Annie said.

“Foxtrot, Dimples?”

“Michael Bublé, Xavier?”

This year’s competitions are going to be ‘da bomb.’

Sarah stayed over and was talking to Annie but was keeping a very close eye on Kalista the whole time. I went over to her and Annie.

“Excuse me, Sarah ... may I speak to you privately?” I asked.

Mom looked over at me and probably figured it out.

“Yes, Charles ... you sound so serious. You are not asking for Claire’s hand in marriage yet, are you?” she said with a curious smile.

I glanced over at Annie, who was also smiling.

I lowered my volume so only Sarah could hear me, “No, Sarah ... this isn’t even about Claire? I was hoping to spend a little more time, teaching Kalista some more dances this summer. What I am asking of you ... is to tell me when she may be ready, for me to implement this plan and please, don’t tell her about this, I want to surprise her each time, OK?”

“That’s so very sweet of you, Charles. Your mother and I have been arguing about whether to tell you something about Kalista. Annie, come over here for a minute?” she said barely raising her voice.

“Yes, Sarah?” mom responded walking over to us.

“Annie, is it all right with you if I tell Charles about Kalista’s condition?” Sarah replied.

I pestered, “Condition? What’s wrong with her? You said she was just real tired, what’s going on, please tell me?”

“Calm down, Charles, I am trying to tell you,” said Sarah.

“I have started my periods, Charles,” Kalista said walking into the discussion and perhaps a little bit too loud, causing all the other ladies to either blush, snicker, or both.

Turning towards Sarah and Annie I asked, “I thought girls as young as K don’t get them until ... they are older?”

Sarah responded, “It’s rare, but not unheard of ... it’s called ‘Precocious Puberty,’ aptly named for Kalista’s sake.”

“So that explains the phone call I got from Kalista last night?”

“Yes, Charles ... I overheard her say those things to you. After you got off the phone, I explained how she needed to be very careful and not to blurt out, ‘I love you, Charles’ at a totally inappropriate time,” Sarah said rather matter-of-factly.

Claire decided to join the conversation by moving in between Kalista and I, offering, “Is there ever an appropriate time for an eight-year-old girl to say, ‘I love you’ to a boy, her cousin is dating?”

“I am really sorry, Claire,” Kalista said. “I will do my very best to keep my hands and lips off your fella.”

That blew the lid right off the uncomfortable nature of the dialogue that had been going on and everybody laughed and tittered, with Annie snorting a bit, trying to hold it in, but that ... just made it worse.

I said, “Kalista, have a seat. Claire and I would like you to see a dance that you have seen, but I am certain you were too tired to enjoy. Mom would you start the Leann Rimes number?”

Claire gave me the kiss and we danced it again, just for Kalista. I even threw in an extra spin that Claire handled perfectly in tempo. I am so glad that this little girl is in my life, whether she’s my soul mate, my dance partner, my wife, or the little sister that I had wanted my whole life ... Kalista is a beautiful spirit to be reckoned with.