Chapter 3

I guess that the fact that she moved in to live with me really got the ball rolling. The next two weeks were again busy, but since I had no living, close relatives and she only had her brother to worry about... - well, I guess we almost surprised ourselves when we were having a small reception on Friday evening in the diner where she was working. The smallish fairy-like woman standing next to me looked like the girl I had first seen waitressing there, but there was one major difference now. The girl I’d first seen had never smiled, but the woman standing next to me had the cutest dimples. I decided to do my best to see them as often as I could.

My first challenge came during the same evening. I had not seen Caryn’s brother much since we started dating and he had not shown any real interest in socializing with me. In fact, after congratulating both of us, he seemed to spend more time avoiding us, and now, I could see him outside the diner in a discussion with a guy I had not seen before. I decided to play my part as a good host and joined them.

As soon as I was out of the door, I could feel the new guy’s eyes evaluating me. I made sure that I was smiling when I approached them.

“Hi! I know Justin, here, but I don’t remember seeing you before. My name’s William Hart.”

I offered my hand to him for a shake, and after I moment I saw something flash in those dark eyes before he took my hand in a powerful grip.

“Sean Donaghue, an old friend of Justin’s.”

All the time, I kept my eyes on his face, and something in his appearance gave me an uneasy feeling. It was not the fact that I could tell that I did not impress him in any way. Hell, I was not a small guy, and I kept myself in shape, but he probably had at least two inches on me. The muscles he had told me that either he had spent some serious time at gym, or he had some chemical help. But it was neither of those things that bothered me. No, it was something in those eyes - or behind those eyes. Or, something that was lacking there. He was still holding my hand when he continued.

“Aren’t you the new bank manager here?”

I could not help feeling that the tone of his question was at least a bit snarky. As I did not want to do anything that might ruin the day, I decided to ignore my feelings and just be polite.

“Yes, I am. Would you like to become our customer?”

He snorted and laughed a bit.

“Maybe after a few years, if it seems that there is no more risk of losing your money - or managers. I guess it’s too bad that we have not heard anything about Mr. Miller, since he was quite a nice little man, just maybe a bit mousy one. But he also really looked like a bank manager.”

Now there was no question that he was belittling me, too. With my six feet plus something, I was by no means a small guy. I was not a bit bulky, but wiry, and I knew that I had nothing to worry about in certain ways. So, even if he had more muscle and a few inches on me, I just smiled at him, while nodding politely.

“Well, I’m happy to tell you that none of our clients lost any money and we are, in fact, profitable again. By the way, isn’t Donaghue an old Irish name? I’ve been told that there are some old Irish families around here.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see that Caryn’s brother Justin paled and the anger on Sean’s face was undisguised. It seemed that I had just hit the nail on the head here. Silently, I wondered if I had really been the first one who had wondered about an Irish name on someone who looked like a bulky Latin male.

“Yes, our family is of very old Irish heritage.”

“I guessed so. Please, have a nice evening if you don’t want to join us inside.”

After saying that, I dismissed him and turned to the door. I could almost feel the waves of hatred and anger coming from hi when I opened the door and rejoined the partying people inside the diner.

Later in the evening, when Caryn and I had been able to retreat to the safety of our own apartment over the bank building, I briefly mentioned the encounter to my new wife. I had my back to her but I could see her in the bedroom mirror and as soon as I mentioned the name ‘Sean Donaghue’, I saw her stiffen and she almost dropped the jewelry she had in her small hands. Before the silence wore on, I decided to continue.

“I understand that he is a friend of your brothers.”

Caryn was silent for a moment.

“Yes, he is.”

As I did not answer immediately, she continued.

“Look, I know him, too, but I don’t really like him. Please, be careful with him.”

“He looked like a bully to me, and acted like one - I do not like bullies. Nor am I afraid of them.”

I made sure that I used a matter-of-fact tone when I said that. All the time, I had been standing with my back to her and I could not help wondering what was the history between Caryn and Sean. On the other hand, we had agreed that what had happened before our marriage would be past, and neither of us would be held accountable. I surely didn’t want to confess some of the things I had done during my wild years!

I made sure that I had a smile on my face when I turned around.

“But that’s enough talking. I don’t intend to spend my wedding night talking about guests and non-guests.”

First, Caryn looked almost shocked when I had quickly turned and pulled her to the bed, but once I started kissing, nibbling and tickling her, she was soon laughing between her gasps.

“Will, please. I’m still dressed.”

“Not for long.”

It turned out that I lied to her. After an hour and a half she was still partly dressed, and I was afraid that there might be some stains on her wedding dress that would need to be removed by the laundry. Caryn called me a brute, but the smile on her face took the edge from her words. I helped her out of the rest of her clothes, and once that was done, she pushed me to the wet spot while she took herself to her usual place in my arms. While feeling the wetness on my back I started thinking that we needed a wider bed. Which would mean that we needed a new place to live, since it would not be possible to fit a bigger bed in here. I would need to show Caryn some of the places I had found.

Two weeks later, I smiled widely when I looked at Caryn, who looked so happy that she was about to burst. Saturday afternoon, we had just finished moving to a house I had found a few weeks earlier. We had closed the deal a week before, and the last week was spent in renovations. Being the manager of the bank really helped negotiating the financing. There was still quite a lot to do, but we had a bigger bedroom, a nice kitchen and a working bathroom. The living room and the two other bedrooms still needed some work, but we could finish them while living there. We had decided that we would start working on the rest of the house first thing Sunday morning, but since our new bed was delivered the same day me moved in, we soon decided to postpone that. However, we did make it to work on Monday morning.

The next weekend, we managed to get some of the work done, since Caryn was having her period. At first, I did not notice anything, only that she was very embarrassed about something. It took dozens of kisses and two showers together to convince her that I was not disgusted because of that.

Two weeks later, we had our first separation. I had to travel to see the people from the foundation and give them a presentation about the financial status of the bank. Together with the house we had purchased, and a new used car for her, it wasn’t a problem for me to take my car to the airport. However, even I could tell that Caryn was not happy.

“Honey, I would have been more than happy to take you with me but all of this was agreed to, months ago. I’ve already explained to you how important it is for us that I can present reasonable figures to them. After all, I was no star student. This is my chance to prove myself.”

“I know. I still hope that you would not need to leave.”

“I hoped that too, my fairy. But if everything goes as planned, it’ll happen only a few times a year.”

Her answer was to hug me tight and the kiss she gave me would have made me cancel any less important meeting. But, this one could not be canceled nor moved.

On my way to airport, I was almost sure that I was being followed. A pick-up truck had been visible a few times in my rear-view mirror but it did not pass me when I stopped in order to get a cup of coffee. The last time I saw the car was a reflection in a mirror just before I entered the security check at that small airport.

I enjoyed the meeting up North almost as much as the removal of wisdom tooth! I explained the progress I had made and what I expected from the future, but still I got the feeling that they were expecting more, maybe much more. I was grilled for two nights as they questioned me about almost every detail, and when I was able to fly back, I felt mentally drained. I drove back home almost in a daze, and when I was finally able to see and feel Caryn again it felt like I’d come home. Well, I had just come home.

That weekend, Caryn was a bit distant, but after some kissing and touching, things were back to normal. When she asked about my trip, I briefly explained that there were some people who expected even more from me, and I just could not disappoint them. When I asked the same question of her, I noticed a brief moment of uneasiness. For a second, I thought she was about to say something more, but she remained silent when I pulled her into a hug. Then she spoke with a low, almost trembling voice in my ear.

“Nothing special. I just missed you and hope that there won’t be any more need for you to leave.”

“Trust me, my fairy. I’ll do it only if it is absolutely necessary.”

I talked with Caryn about our financial situation, and decided to cut my own salary at - least for a while - since I did not want to sack any of my employees. Maybe that would help a bit in balancing the books, put the figures more in the black and make some people at the foundation a bit happier. After that, our lives settled into a comfortable routine - or so I believed.

The only obstacles in our relationship were the times when I had to make a one-day trip to neighboring towns, which turned out to be useless from a business point of view, and Caryn met her brother. It seemed that her brother had no intention of getting to know his sister’s husband. Okay, we met occasionally, but he did not visit our home, and neither did he want me to visit Caryn’s old home. After some thought, I decided that I could live with that. This calm period lasted about a month and a half, during which the summer turned into warm autumn.

I did not understand it immediately. It was the second morning in row when Caryn complained that she did not feel well, and I had had to admit that she looked a bit sick. Only then, a small bell started ringing inside my head. Once she came out of the bathroom, I sat her on the sofa and then took my place next to her.

“Caryn, honey. Could you be pregnant?”

I could follow the whole series of feelings that ran across her face.

“No, how? I don’t know...”

I smiled to her, trying to calm her down.

“I guess we both know how. We have not really talked about it, but we didn’t do anything to prevent it, either.”