From Forbidden Fruit to Love Renewed ~Chapter 6
Nora closes the door behind her and walks into the dimly lit living room, where MaryAnn sits reading her book “Thank you for staying so late, MaryAnn.”
“Are you alright? Commissioner Buchanan called and said you were in the hospital.”
“Yes, I haven’t been eating right that’s all, paying too much attention to the campaign, I guess.”
“Well, if you need some time alone and would like me to take Matthew for a few days let me know. My grandchildren are coming for the weekend and they’d be thrilled to have someone their age to play with.”
“Thank you for the offer MaryAnn, I’ll let you know if I’m going to take you up on it. Go ahead and take the day off tomorrow, I’ll be staying home”, seeing her to the door, “have a good night MaryAnn.”
“You too, Ms. Buchanan, and don’t forget to get some rest.”
“I won’t, and thanks again.” Nora closed the door and turned off the front light. She leaned up against the door for a moment; hiding in the darkness; knowing in the light of day decisions will have to be made. She walked into the living room and turned out the light before walking upstairs.
She stood outside Matthew’s door for a moment before slowly pushing the door open. She watches their sleeping son, who smiles his father’s smile, even in his sleep.
She smiles as she talks to the little one growing inside her, “So, are you going to have your daddy’s smile too?’, walking over to his bed, she leans down and wipes the hair off his forehead as she gives him a kiss, making her decision, “I hope you understand sweetie, but I know you’ll love living with your daddy.”
*~*
Bo walks into the quiet apartment and walks straight towards their bedroom. He stands in the doorway and looks at her as she sleeps. He tries to feel something when he looks at her but he can’t, he knows he cares about her; he knows he wants to WANT to love her, but he doesn’t. All he feels towards her now is a sense of obligation, an obligation to the promises he made to her when he slipped that ring on her finger. He looks back over at the bed but instead of seeing Gabrielle, its Nora lying in his bed. He walks over and as he reaches down to touch her hair the image changes again and he realizes its Gabrielle.
He walks out of the bedroom and sits down on the couch, running his hands over the cool, soft leather, “We’ve sure made a mess of things haven’t we, Red?”
He runs his hands through his hair in frustration and heads for the bathroom. Maybe a nice long shower will help him clear his mind.
*~*
Nora wipes the tears from her face as she closes his door and walks to her room. She sits on the edge of her bed and flips on the radio….
We walked in the
garden
We planted a seed
Don’t try to find me
Please don’t you dare
Just live in my memory
She wipes another round of tears off her cheek as she pulls out the stationary he gave her years before when she had to leave for Harrisburg….
**flashback**
“I’m only going to be gone two days, Bo.”
“That’s an eternity when I’m not with you.”
“You are crazy.”
“Crazy in love….So you’ll write?”
**end of flashback**
Running her hand over the stationary, “We were so crazy in love once upon a time. We’ve sure made a mess of things haven’t we Buchanan.”
She picks up the stationary and walks downstairs and sits behind her desk. She reaches over and picks up a picture of the three of them at Asa and Renee’s wedding. They were so happy that day; almost a family. She sits back in her chair; holding the picture in one hand; resting her other on her stomach. She shakes off the tears and puts the picture back down on her desk; face down. She picks up her pen and starts writing…
Dear Bo,
She scratches it out, crumples the paper and throws it at the trash can in the
corner of the room; it hits the edge and falls in, “two points.”….
**flashback**
She watches him throwing candy wrapper after candy wrapper into the basket, "You
are throwing so many candy wrappers when that wastebasket is full I have no idea
what you'll throw next."
"Ok, Ok I'm sorry"
**end of flashback**
Takes a deep breath to steady herself, “This is ridiculous”, picking her pen back up, “You’ve made the decision, now you’ve got to see it through.”
Bo---
I have to leave town for awhile. I received a phone call the other day from one of my old law partners in Chicago and they want me to help them with a case. I’ve agreed to take the case and I’m not sure how long I’ll be so I’m leaving Matthew here with you. I would bring him with me but you’ve missed out on so much time with each other already I don’t want to separate the two of you just because I need some time away, to clear my head. I know he’ll be fine and you’ll take wonderful care of our little boy. I’ll make arrangements for him to come out on the weekends and holidays until I return. I’ll also make arrangements for all of his stuff to be moved to your place so there’s no need to worry about that.
She finishes writing the letter, folds it and slips it inside the envelope; scrawling his name across the front of the envelope. She sticks it in her purse and goes back upstairs to pack. She finally collapses onto her bed; thoughts of him filling her mind as she drifts into a fitful sleep.
*~*
He wakes up the next morning; his first thoughts are of her. He reaches for the
phone. Seeing Gabrielle lying next to him, he sighs. Running his hand through
his hair he climbs out of bed and heads for the other room. He picks up the
phone and dials.
“Hello?”
“Morning, son, is your mom there?”
“Yeah, you want to talk to her?”
He hesitates, “No…but Matthew.”
“Yeah, dad?”
“Make sure you look after her this morning, okay?”
“Why, is she sick?” sounding worried.
“No, no,” not wanting to worry their son, “she isn’t eating, you know your mom; sometimes she forgets those things when she’s busy with a case.”
“Yeah…that’s mom…I’ll go make her breakfast right now!”
“Great, I love you son.”
“Love you too, dad. See you this weekend.”
As he hangs up the phone he thinks, 'It’s not fair for a little boy to have to take care of his mother…'
**flashback**
“Do you love him?”
“Yes, with all my heart.”
**end of flashback**
“Well I guess she’ll have him to look after her too”, he sighs as he hangs up the phone and walks out onto the terrace; lost in thought.
*~*
Matthew walks into her room with a tray full of her favorite things. One look at
the tray and she is overcome with nausea. She rushes to the bathroom; emerging a
few minutes later; a worried Matthew sitting on her bed. “What’s wrong, mom? Why
did you get sick?”
“Oh, mom’s stomach's not feeling too hot today.”
“Oh…”
“Matthew, who was on the phone,” she asks wanting to change the subject.
“Dad.”
“What did he want, sweetie?”
“He just wanted me to
make sure you ate something for breakfast. He said sometimes you forget and I
needed to look after you. That’s why I made you
breakfast.”
Her eyes filling with tears, overcome with emotion that Bo would ask their son to look after her, “That was very sweet of you, Matthew”, looking at the food, fighting with another wave of nausea, “Let’s see what we have here,” picking up a bagel off the tray.
“Mom is there something wrong with you?”
“No, sweetie I’m fine, but I do have to talk to you about something, so climb on up here”, pulling him up onto her lap, “Matthew, I have to leave town for a while. There is a big case in Chicago that they need my help on so I’m going to need to be there for a while. You’re going to stay here with your dad….and Gabrielle while you’re in school. You’ll come and stay with me on the weekends.”
“How long are you going to be gone?”
“I’m not sure, sweetie.”
“I’m going to miss you, mommy”, throwing his arms around her.
“I’m going to miss you too, baby, but you’ll have such a great time with your daddy, you’ll soon forget about old mom here.”
“No I won’t, I promise, but I’m excited about living with dad for a little while. He lets me eat pizza for breakfast.”
Laughing as she kisses the top of his head, “He does, does he?”
“Yeah, but it was supposed to be a secret so don’t tell him I told you, ‘kay?”
“I promise,” she says, squeezing her eyes tight; fighting back the tears, “Go finish getting ready for school while your mom here finishes getting dressed, okay?”
“Okay,” climbing down off her lap, turning before he gets to the door, “I love you, mom, “he yells over his shoulder as he runs out of the room.
“I love you too, sweetie. I love you, too.” Nora looks over at her suitcases packed and waiting by the door. “Well today’s the day,” she sighs as she gets up off the bed, “Today’s the first day of your new life, a life alone.”
She wraps her robe tight around her as she walks over to her dresser; opening the jewelry box; once again running her fingers over the mementoes of their past. Her fingers pause on her wedding band. She picks it up and sets it down on the dresser beside her watch. She showers and dresses; putting on her jewelry; placing her wedding band in her pocket.
She walks down the stairs after putting Matthew on the school bus, carrying her suitcases down the stairs placing them by the front door. She turns to walk back into the living room when there’s a knock on her door. She turns to answer it; seeing Antonio standing on the other side. “Antonio? What brings you by so early?”
“I brought your car back from Harrisburg,” handing her the keys, “The Commissioner told me you were expecting me.”
She takes the keys from him, running her hands through her hair in embarrassment, “I’m sorry. It was a long night last night, I forgot.”
“That’s okay. I filled it up for you, per Commissioner Buchanan’s orders and it’s in your driveway.”
“Thanks again Antonio, I know you must’ve driven all morning to get it back here in time.”
“It wasn’t a problem,“ noticing her suitcases, looking back up at her, “Leaving town?”
“Oh, those, yeah, I’m going to be in Chicago on business for a while.”
“Well I’ve got to get to the station. I’ll see you whenever you return, I guess.”
“Thanks again, Antonio.”
Nora makes the arrangements for a car to pick her up in an hour for the airport. She makes some final notations for the other ADA’s in her case files and closes up the box. She’ll have them messenger over to the DA’s office before she leaves. She picks her keys up off the table and heads over to Asa and Renee’s.
She pulled up outside of the mansion ten minutes later. She walks up to the door her hand pausing on the door bell. She finally presses the button; her heart fighting to over rule her head. Nigel opens the door, surprised to see her there, “Good Morning, Ms. Buchanan.”
“Good morning, Nigel. Is Renee home?”
“Right this way, ma’am.”
Nigel sees Nora into the parlor where she waits for Renee. “Nora, honey how are you, I was so worried when you took off like that yesterday”, seeing the look on her face, “Nora…Did Bo, find you last night?”
“Yeah, he found me.”
“Well how did he take the news…You did tell him didn’t you?”
“He knows.”
“Is he angry?”
“I told him it wasn’t his.”
“You did WHAT?”
“I couldn’t tell him, Renee. He doesn’t need me or this complicating the life he’s trying to make with Gabrielle. He’s marrying her, Renee. He asked her to marry him last night.”
“This isn’t a complication, Nora, it’s a baby…yours and…” just then Asa walks into the room.
“What’s this I hear about a baby?” he looks at her.
Nora looks at Renee her eyes pleading; she looks back up at Asa, “Oh we were just talking about Kevin and Kelly.”
“Ahh, yes another Buchanan on the way…ain’t life just grand.”
“Yeah, it’s great. I couldn’t be happier for them.”
Renee just looks at Nora, a knowing look in her eyes, as Asa walks away, “and it’s not the only Buchanan on the way.”
“Renee, please I came over here to ask you a favor. I don’t want to discuss the baby or Bo right now.”
“What kind of favor?”
“I need you to give this to Bo for me”, handing her the letter,” and I also need you to pick up Matthew at school for me.”
“You know I’ll do anything for you darlin’ but do you mind me asking you what this is all about?”
“I’m going to Chicago.”
“What about Matthew?”
“I’m leaving him with Bo. He just started back to school and I don’t want them to miss out on any more time together.”
“But he needs his mother,”
“He needs his father too, and they've already missed so much time, besides he’ll have me on the weekends. It’s not much different than the arrangement that Bo and I already have, we’ll just be further apart for a while.”
“Nora, you know this isn’t the answer.”
“It’s the way it has to be.”
“Well, I see I’m not going to change your mind. If you don’t mind me asking you, who did you say the baby belonged to?”
“Someone I loved.”
“And he believed there was somebody else?”
“He believed what he wanted to believe,” looking down at her watch, “I’m sorry, Renee I have to go, I have to leave for the airport in a half hour. So, you’ll pick Matthew up after school and bring him here?”
“Of course, you know I will.”
“Thank you, Renee. I already left a message at the station for Bo. He knows to pick Matthew up here.” handing her a small duffle bag, “here are a few of Matthew’s things.”
“Take care of yourself, darling, and if you need anything, anything at all you make sure you call me, okay?”
“I will,” hugging Renee, shaking away her tears as she steps out of their embrace, “thank you Renee, for everything.”
She sits in the limo on the way to the airport. She pulls out the picture of the three of them from the Phillies game and runs her fingers over his face. She takes the ring out of her pocket playing with it as she thinks of him, knowing that she will never be free to love another, she places it on her finger... "No man will ever be able to take your daddy's place little one," she says as she rubs her stomach. "I don't even want them to try," she wipes the tears that have started to fall as she heads out of town.
A couple hours later Bo walks into the living room, "Hey Renee, where’s Matthew?
Nora left me a message to pick him up here."
"He's out back," she hands him the letter, "You might want to read this first." he takes it from her questions in his eyes, he begins to read it to himself, 'Bo....,'half way through he clears his throat and begins to read out loud, I have to leave town for awhile. I received a phone call the other day from one of my old law partners in Chicago and they want me to help them with a case. I’ve agreed to take the case and I’m not sure how long I’ll be so I’m leaving Matthew here with you. I would bring him with me but you’ve missed out on so much time with each other already I don’t want to separate the two of you just because I need some time away, to clear my head. I know he’ll be fine and you’ll take wonderful care of our little boy. I’ll make arrangements for him to come out on the weekends and holidays until I return. I’ll also make arrangements for all of his stuff to be moved to your place so there’s no need to worry about that.”
"I can already tell your wheels are spinning, Buchanan; thinking about all the ways you can try to talk me out of this, but I have to go. I’ve officially pulled out of the DA race. I’m sorry to do that to you after all the hard work you’ve put into my campaign, but I just can’t stay here right now.
I’ll never regret our time together, Bo and promise me that you won’t either. Make a life with Gabrielle. Love her and be happy. Promise me you’ll be happy. Thank you for always being there. Take care of yourself.
Nora…"
*~*
Rachel opens the door, surprised by the sight in front of her, then as she notices her tear-stained face, "Mom, what's wrong?"
TBC....