15.
It was a nice summer afternoon, Rachel and David were dating for two months now. Apart from not being able to be together outside her condo everything else was perfect. David kind of liked the whole secret thing. It felt good to have something special that was shared only between the two of them. For Rachel on the other hand this was a huge change. After having one of the most publicized marriages and divorces in the UK, Rachel was now getting used to the tranquility of this relationship. She was loving every minute but every once in a while she’d wish to be able to share him with the world. He was such a special guy, plus people kept on making up stories about her and trying to find her new love interests. In those moments she just wanted to shout out she was with him.
“What time are they arriving?” – Rachel asked David while they cooked dinner.
She had to admit that was one of the things she absolutely loved about him. She hasn’t been raised with luxuries either but she had become a star right after she left her mom’s house so she had never really felt the need to learn those sort of skills. David on the other hand seemed to know how to do everything, and he was teaching her along the way.
“10:30 a.m” – he said with a big smile on his face.
Lea had finally been cleared to fly so Dee was bringing her to visit them and they couldn’t be more thrilled.
“I need to ask you something” – David said constrained.
“Sure, what is it?”– she asked. David was uncomfortable. “Babe?”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way” – he prepared her.
“Okay…”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you and Lea to spend time together” – he let it slip fast.
“Why?” – Rachel questioned him. She had been so excited with her visit. She always wanted to have kids. A big family.
“Because we don’t know how things are going to go in the future” – he started to explain.
“That’s why we agreed to keep it private” – she stated – “Are you that ashamed of us?”
“What? Rachel, you can’t possibly believe that.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t get it” – she said – “I mean I understand that you don’t want her to know about us as she might tell people about it, but not even meet me, really? Are you that afraid she won’t like me?”
“I’m sure she’ll love you Rachel, that’s the issue!”
“Okay, now you’re making no sense” – Rachel complained.
“She already lost her mom” – he clarified – “I don’t want her to get attached to someone else until I’m sure she won’t have to lose them too.”
“I understand that” – she said turning away from him.
“Come on, sweetheart” – he called pulling her back against his body and kissing her neck – “don’t be mad.”
“I’m not” - she couldn’t hide her disappointment, but she was actually proud the way he would put Lea’s best interests before theirs – “you’re protecting her, I get it, babe, I really do.”
David went to pick them up at the airport. Lea was hysterical – running around, jumping up and down, amused with everything and everyone. He dropped Dee at Rachel’s home and drove with Lea to Havenpond. His apartment was too small for the three of them, plus Lea needed to get use to David and Dee and Rachel wanted to spend some time together too.
“God, I’ve missed you!” - Rachel said hugging her tight – “Come inside.”
“I’ve missed you too. So…. When are you moving to Portugal?” – Dee joked.
“Maybe sooner than you think…”
“Really? Are you serious?” – Dee claimed excited.
“Just kidding” – she laughed – “but I liked the reaction. It’s good to know I’d be welcome.”
“Were you still having doubts about that?” – Dee pretended to be offended.
“No, not at all” – Rachel confessed putting her arm around her shoulders – “it’s so good to have you here.”
“Is it something that you’d consider?” – Dee asked her later – “Moving to Valcena.”
“Absolutely” – she said without hesitating.
“What about your work?”
“The show only runs for a few months a year and Portugal is not that far so I could easily go back and forth, and music I can do it from everywhere in the world” – Rachel had already thought about it before.
“It would be a big change” – Dee told her. She would love if Rachel would move closer, but she wanted to make sure she was certain of it.
“I know… but I honestly think I would be very happy there. I mean we haven’t discussed it yet but if it was merely for me I would do it.”
Dee gave her an interrogative look. Rachel continued:
“Sometimes I feel David is holding back.” “Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know… I just… When we’re together it’s good. It’s great! It’s not perfect all the time. It doesn’t feel like a dream or a fairytale which I like, because I had that before and it all fell apart” – she remembered – “So I like that with David it just feels real. We have our disagreements, and our fights but we work things out.”
“So what seems to be the problem?” – Dee asked.
“He’s wonderful. I don’t want to sound unfair, but sometimes it feels I’m the only one really committed to make it work.”
“David is crazy about you, honey” – Dee defended him.
“That’s not the problem. The thing is that he is so convinced that he’s not good enough for me, that it’s too complicated, that he’ll be holding me back, that I feel that he might just let go of me.”
Dee got what she was saying. She had had conversations with David about that. He was a confident guy but he also was too hard on himself about all that he had done in the past.
“It’s tricky” – she told Rachel – “it’s not just that he doesn’t think he’s good enough for you. I think a lot of the times he doesn’t believe he deserves to be happy.”
Rachel nodded – “So what do I do?”
“You keep doing what you’ve been doing.” “Which is…?” – Rachel wondered.
“Loving him. Some people are just so unused to it that they don’t know how to be loved. They have to learn, and it’s not always easy. It takes some time” – Rachel got a feeling Dee wasn’t just talking about David. One thing she had noticed was that David and Dee were more alike than one could tell at a first sight.
The girls decided to go out for a walk in the city. They spent the afternoon chatting and having fun together. They both worked a lot so once in a while it felt good to have some time off and just enjoy it. Dee had some meeting at 9 p.m so they grabbed something to eat at a fast food restaurant and went to the West End for a matinee.
They were arriving at Rachel’s place when David called.
“Hi, I need a favor” – he sounded anxious – “Wade just got beat up. They just drove him to the hospital. I need to meet him there. Do you think you could come and stay with Lea?”
“Sorry darling I have my meeting…” - she hated when this would happen.
Rachel could tell something was wrong – “What’s the matter?”
“Wade got beat up and is in the hospital. David wants to go check him but he has Lea…”
“She could stay with me” – Rachel offered. Then remembering what David said about Lea’s spending time with her she added – “I mean I know it’s not what he wanted but… these are special conditions.”
Dee communicated that to David. He hesitated for a while. It didn’t seem fair to ask Rachel to babysit Lea when he had been the one to ask her to keep distance, but he didn’t have anymore options. Plus if Lea was to stay with someone she didn’t know then he’d rather that person was Rachel.
“Okay. Look I’m on my way to hospital, so I’ll just drop her off there, OK?”
Around 8:15 p.m, with Lea in his arms, a worried David arrived at Rachel’s condo.
She opened him the door and saw the same expression he had when they had first met in Valcena. It must be serious. She knew how close he had grown to Wade. Rachel believed Wade remembered David the boy that had overdosed when they were kids. She desperately wanted to comfort him and kiss him, but she knew she shouldn’t. Not with Lea there.
“Thank you” – he said deeply.
She stroked his face gently and reassured him – “He’s a tough kid. He’s going to be okay.”
He thanked her with a look. Then turning to Lea he said – “Okay baby this is my friend Rachel. She’s going to play with you for a little bit until daddy comes back, is that okay?”
The child whined – “I want Dee…”
David sighed. He didn’t want to force her to stay but he really had to go to the hospital. Rachel intervened:
“I understand you sweetie. I like her too. Did you know she’s my friend?” – Rachel tried to use the little she had learned of signing from David.
Lea looked at her for the first time and shook her head.
“Yes, she is. See that picture of us there?” – Rachel pointed to a picture they had taken during her visit to ValSocial – “Do you want to go check it out?”
The girl smiled and put her arms towards Rachel so she could pick her up. David was impressed with her skills. It had taken him more than that to win her over.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Lea was almost two years old and she was gorgeous. She had dark brown curly hair, with perfect shaped ringlets framing her little face. She had the most beautiful hair Rachel had ever seen. Her skin was much lighter than David’s, Rachel assumed her mom was white. Her almond shaped eyes were so dark they almost looked black and she had a very cute smile.
Rachel was excited to meet her, but deep inside she was nervous too. She had always wanted to have children, but she wasn’t sure she was good with kids. She knew Lea meant the world to David and even though he had never made any comments regarding it she could feel the pressure. However, she soon realized there was no reason to worry as they got along pretty easily.
They had pasta for dinner and afterwards Rachel remembered she had some finger-paints stored somewhere. It took her a while to find them but it was totally worth it. They had a blast with it. By the time they were done Lea was covered in paint from head to toe so Rachel decided to bathe her.
She checked the bag that David had given her and she found everything she needed. Diapers, lotions, and Pjs. Rachel didn’t have a lot of experience, she had probably helped bathe one of her nephews once or twice, but she had never done it on her own.
Lea seemed to be a little bit afraid of the water and she started crying. Rachel tried to calm her down, talking to her softly and assuring her everything was fine but it didn’t work. She tried funny faces and silly gestures but Lea was really not in the mood. Rachel finished it as fast as she could, got a towel, wrapped it around her, picked her up and held her in her arms. Lea was still crying her lungs out. She sounded mad.
Rachel panicked for a while and then started to sing. She felt stupid after all the girl was partially deaf and she had no idea what exactly she could hear, but amazingly enough that seemed to call her attention. Lullabies were not Rachel’s strong point, so she just sang some of her own songs. Lea laid her head on her chest and slowly quieted down. When her breathing finally settled Rachel tenderly asked her:
“Are we okay now?” – Rachel tried her best to use sign language.
“No more!” – Lea begged.
“No, no more” – Rachel agreed. It was getting late and now that they had stopped for a while exhaustion seemed to be taking over – “I think it’s time to go to sleep now.”
“Not sleepy” – Lea said while yawning. Rachel smiled warmly – “I can see.”
She got her dress, took her to the living room and laid with her on the couch.
David left the hospital around 2 a.m. Wade’s situation had finally stabilized and doctors had told him he would be okay. He was exhausted and Lea had fallen asleep hours ago for sure, but still he had told her he would pick her up and he wanted to keep his word. So, using his key he opened Rachel’s apartment and got himself in.
The only light in the room came from a small table lamp. David was getting ready to turn on the ceiling lights when he noticed them.
It was the cutest picture he saw, Rachel was sleeping on the couch with Lea lying on her stomach. Rachel had her arm around her and Lea’s hand on her face. Their breaths were synchronized and they were fast asleep.
Too late for them not to bond he thought smiling.
“I guess it was just meant to be” – he said to himself.
They were sleeping so well that David didn’t want to disturb them. He was too tired to go home anyway so he decided to stay for the night.
He woke up next morning with Lea trying to crawl on his lap.
“Good morning daddy!”
How do kids always have so much energy in the morning?
He thought.
“Good morning princess” – he said kissing her – “did you sleep well?”
The girl nodded.
“Did you have fun with Rachel?” – he asked her.
“Yes!” – Lea showed him a big smile.
“What did you do?”
“Paintings” – she said goggling.
“Nice. I’m glad you had fun.”
“But Lea cried…” - she confessed embarrassed.
“You did? Why?” – he asked.
“Don’t like bath.”
He laughed. It had happened with him too – “What happened then?”
“Rachel sang.”
“She sang for you? How nice” – Rachel entered the room at that exact moment.
“Are you talking about me?” – she asked smiling. It felt good to have them there. It felt like having a real family.
“Lea was telling me about your evening last night. Did she give you a hard time?”
“Not at all” – she said smiling – “Do you want to show daddy your paintings?” – she asked Lea – “They’re in the back.”
Lea nodded and went to get them.
David got up from the couch and kissed Rachel. She loved how he would always kiss her as deeply as he did the first time.
“I can see the two of you got along just fine” – he told her.
“Sorry, couldn’t help it” – she apologized smiling.
“I know. You have that effect on people.”