Heart storms, p.29
Heart Storms, page 29
Consuela collapsed and slid down the side of the truck to sit on the ground and sobbed. “I can’t believe you’d help me this much. I can’t believe it.”
Gabe knelt down, facing her. “Believe it. Sign the papers. I’ll do what I promised but you must give up drugs, lead a clean life and give up Gracie legally and let me take her out of state for a better life, with no argument. Then don’t come after me for anything else, ever again.”
Her gaze was sad, but serious. “I promise I won’t. This still feels like a dream and when I wake up it won’t be real.”
Gabe pulled her to her feet and dusted her off. “It’s real and proves to you there are good people in the world; you can have faith and hope. And when you get your life together for a good length of time, we can talk about you seeing Gracie. I’ll even pay for your travel to visit her regularly if I go back to San Antonio, which is the best place for her to have a great life.”
“I won’t fight you. I agree San Antonio would be good for her. Your family will help her and love her. It’s a beautiful place and you’ll find a great job. Gracie will have a wonderful life there. And yes, someday I want to see her again when I’m a normal human being.”
“Sounds great, Consuela. We have a deal.” He opened the truck door and helped her in.
When he got in his side, she moved over and put her hand on his arm and rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you, Gabriel. Thank God for you.”
He put the truck in gear and drove back onto the road. “Thank God, period. I’m not gonna say ‘you’re welcome,’ or ‘de nada’ or ‘anytime.’ Because this is a onetime deal. You’re being given a gift, a way out of your horrible life, now it’s up to you to make the best of it.”
Consuela smiled and Gabe saw a spark of life in her eyes. She said, “I’m going to do it this time. I will get sober and change my life. This time it’s gonna work.”
“Why now, what’s different this time?”
She looked over at him, beaming. “Because this time someone honestly believes in me and believes I can do it, enough to put their money where their mouth is. Thank you, Gabe, for believing in me.”
He cracked a reluctant smile and said, “You’re welcome. And I know you can do it.”
He brought her to her job after helping her clean up more. She put on some makeup and brushed her hair into a ponytail then looked and acted like a sober, fairly happy person. Gabe talked to her boss, explaining who he was and made an excuse about a problem with their daughter and said Consuela would never be late again, and Consuela reaffirmed it enthusiastically.
As he drove back to Delora’s, he had a good feeling about Consuela and her future and his contribution to it. The angel on his good shoulder applauded him; he felt lighter, as if a huge rock had been lifted off him. Again, Jade’s influence helped him do the right thing. Jade, Jade, Jade. He missed her so much when he let himself, he didn’t let himself very often. His longing and love for her was in a place so deep, he had no name for what and where it was. He almost couldn’t breathe without her. But he kept breathing and realized he couldn’t function with that level of emotion daily. It affirmed his decision to break it off with her had been right.
As he pulled into the driveway, Gracie came running out, excited to see him, love and joy in her eyes with her arms held out to hug him. She jumped into his arms and his memory flashed briefly to when Jade had done the same thing and how much he’d loved her in those moments. But this was Gracie in his arms and she was his life now.
Chapter 35
In April of the following year, six months after Rick had proposed, the weather was pleasantly warm, the air luscious as he stood at the altar of a small, quaint church decorated entirely with white lilies and roses. White satin ribbons and bows draped the pews down both sides of the aisle. The reception would be at the inn which also had been decorated to the hilt. There was a huge tent over the lawns in case of rain, and a dance floor installed. The food was elegant, the wine and champagne flowing, the cake magnificent. The inn was filled with fragrant flowers—white, blue, and turquoise to emulate the colors of the sea and sky. The setting was magnificent, a guaranteed extravagant celebration. All their friends, family, employees, business associates—everyone they knew and loved was in attendance.
Jade had found the perfect dress—a sleek, strapless silk sheath with a short train embellished with lace, a little bling around the hem and partway up the skirt, and a beaded belt. She wore a white rosebud and baby’s breath wreath in her hair that cascaded in long, loose curls down her back. The wreath held a sheer, light as air veil gathered and attached at the back, trailing to the floor and floating around her in the breeze. She hadn’t been nervous getting dressed because her mother and Amy were with her in the inn’s best room.
Maggie remarked on how calm Jade was.
“It means this is right,” Jade said, “No nerves, I’m just calm and happy.”
Maggie’s nerves, though, were on edge. She didn’t know why.
Jade noticed and handed her a glass of champagne. “This will help.”
“Maybe,” Maggie said, taking a sip and scanning the room for something amiss.
While Jade had the finishing touches put on her makeup, Maggie pulled Amy into the hall. “Do you sense something in the air? Something not quite right, or is it me?”
Amy hugged her. “You just have cold feet. Usually it’s the bride, not the mother of the bride.”
“I know. I guess I’m anxious about Jade marrying again after Devlin and after the intense relationship and breakup with Gabe. I’d never seen her so in love and happy as when she was with Gabriel.”
“I agree. But sometimes romance is not enough to make a marriage work long term. What she and Rick have doesn’t have the same kind of potent energy, but it has what it takes for the long haul, for a long life of security and happiness.”
“I guess you’re right. We better get her to the church. She’s already ten minutes late.”
***
Rick waited eagerly with his best man, his father, at the altar. He checked his watch and got nervous. His father held Rick’s arm. “Don’t worry, all brides are late. She’ll be here.”
“Okay.” He noticed through the church windows the sky was filling with huge, white cumulus clouds. “I hope it doesn’t rain today.”
“Rain is good luck. Would you relax?”
“I guess I’m more nervous than I realized.”
“You should’ve had a glass of champagne.”
“Nope. I want to be clear as a bell when I take this amazing, beautiful woman for my wife. There’ll be plenty of time to party later.”
The music started—a delicate harp played classical music, signaling the bride’s arrival.
Maggie walked down the aisle first and stood to the left of the altar.
Next came Amy. She beamed at Rick, as if to say, ‘Don’t worry, she’s here.’
Jade appeared at the open doors, a vision. All eyes were on her as she practically floated down the aisle on her own.
Rick saw Jade as an angel. Her veil floated around her with the soft ocean breezes. The light reflected off her dress making it glow and the train glided behind her—a gentle stream of silk and elegance. All the surrounding air took on a sparkle reflecting her joy and love. Rick nearly passed out. He’d never known this kind of bliss—an explosion of love, happiness, and the fulfillment of a life dream. He whispered to his father, “It’s really happening. She’s here. Look at her. This gorgeous woman is going to marry me. Me!”
“Shhh. It’s all real. Take it all in and remember it, and your vows.”
Jade was three-quarters of the way down the aisle when there was a commotion at the back of the church outside the open doors. Guests whispered. Rick looked past her briefly to see a man in the distance, slightly familiar-looking, but not immediately. He wasn’t dressed for a wedding, wearing jeans and a collared shirt. He wore round, black wire-framed glasses, giving him an intellectual, scholarly look. Other people turned to look as well.
Maggie’s skin tingled all over—something was wrong. There’s an energy in the church that doesn’t belong here.
Lightning flashed and thunder rolled shaking Rick to his core. He squeezed his eyes shut. No, it can’t be. Thunder meant something bad was about to go down. When he opened his eyes, he saw the man more clearly.
Maggie and Amy looked toward the man then at each other. Immediately, Maggie knew Jade sensed something odd going on around her because she stopped walking down the aisle, stood perfectly still, and looked at Rick who had turned white like he might faint.
The harp continued to play but Jade felt something at her back. Something hooked onto her, then pulled her toward it.
Rick shook his head at her, saying in a low voice, “Don’t look. Keep walking. Keep walking to me Jade.”
But this thing pulling at her back wouldn’t let her move forward, at least not until she turned to see what commanded her attention. Lightning illuminated the outside of the church and thunder clapped. She turned slowly, reminding her of the day thunder and lightning shook her world when Rick had rejected her; and when she’d turned, her whole life turned with her. She had known she and Rick were over. The next thing to happen was Gabe called and so began the start their relationship.
While she turned, Rick called to her. “No, Jade, don’t turn. Please, baby, look at me. Keep walking to me.”
Thunder bellowed, causing the man to look into the sky. He next looked at Rick with the saddest expression, his mouth a serious frown like he’d crashed a party and felt awful about it. The man nodded at Rick, as if to say, ‘Yes, tell her to keep moving toward you.’
Jade didn’t hear Rick’s words. There was no sound in the church except the lingering, rolling thunder. The harpist stopped playing. People mouthed words, but she heard no sounds as she turned completely around feeling as if she was in a tunnel being sucked through to the other end. Now she faced a man at the open doors. He looked vaguely familiar—his height and coloring, his body. He wore glasses and looked like a professor. She didn’t know this man. Why is he here? Why does he stand there staring at me and not come in?
Jade had no choice about what happened next. A bolt of lightning lit up the air outside and back-lit the man so she couldn’t see his face. A chord of fate rang out sending shivers through her and her heart twinged, telling her to keep walking to him. The closer she got, the stronger the vibration came through the air. She stared hard, trying to place him.
He did not take his eyes off hers and when he realized she didn’t recognize him; he removed his glasses.
Jade recognized him then—the man was Gabriel. Gabriel Montoro stood at the open doors to the church, at the opposite end of the aisle she walked down to marry Rick. At first Jade thought this might be a mental break or a bad dream. But she kept moving and the closer she got the more she knew for sure it was Gabriel, and she was sane and awake.
Gabe held his arms out tentatively in empty embrace. A force came at her so furious it slammed into her, drawing her deep within its grip and she ran. To him.
People gasped. Maggie chased after her daughter knowing the man was Gabriel and knowing what Jade would do.
Jade ran to Gabe’s open arms, his magnetic blue eyes now filled with tears. She threw herself into him and he held her so fiercely it seemed no boundary was between their bodies. They felt as though blending as one, as they always had. The depth of emotion made them both go weak, falling to their knees onto the stone floor, clinging together. All they said was the other’s name, over and over. They whispered to each other, Gabe saying, “I’m so sorry for what I did.” And Jade said, “I forgive you.”
He squeezed her more tightly against himself and said, “Thank you.” Jade’s bouquet fell from her hand and tumbled down the steps. Her hand now free, she clung to the back of his neck and pulled his face toward hers. Their kiss was fierce, intense and filled with years of longing. Their loving bond returned—the one they’d broken long ago was now closed and healed.
Closed, Jade thought.
Maggie stood behind her. “Closure, Jade. You needed closure and now you have it.”
With her mother’s words, the trance broke. Jade pulled back from Gabe and looked into his eyes. Instantly she knew his thoughts and feelings—love, sorrow, regret, gratitude.
When Gabe first stood at the doors of the church and saw Jade half-way to the altar, she might’ve been a ghost, the most beautiful, loving spirit to walk the earth. He willed her to feel his presence, to turn and come to him. He needed to have her arms around him to gauge her feelings after almost three years, after he’d almost destroyed her. His eyes begged forgiveness but he might never feel forgiven with the extreme pain he’d caused. He still loved her and always would, and sent his love to her as she walked toward him.
Jade felt it. There was still love after heartbreak and a devastating end. But all this great emotion came at the same time she was moments away from marrying Rick.
Across all those miles on the other side of the country, she knew Gabe must’ve intuited something life-changing going on with her. In some mystical, intuitive way he sensed she was leaving him forever. So, he’d come all the way to Golden Shores, she guessed, hoping to claim her no matter her circumstances.
Jade heard her mother say she now had the closure she needed but she didn’t understand. She didn’t feel closure; she felt a love so strong she was about to burst. While holding Gabe’s hand, she looked down the aisle to Rick standing at the altar. He looked scared, pale and like a bull wanting to burst from a holding pen. His father held him around his shoulders to keep him from running down the aisle, but Rick broke free. As he walked toward her, Jade saw a good, honest man whose love was serious and unwavering.
She turned and looked at Gabe. His love was perfect and passionate. Looking back at Rick, she felt his solid, enduring love. With Gabe she remembered his passionate love was also turbulent and wild and might not be sustainable in an imperfect world.
Completely ignoring Gabriel, Rick took her other hand and said, “It’s time to get married, Jade.”
Maggie saw the triangle standing there in front of her—Jade in the middle holding Gabe’s hand on her left and Rick’s on the right.
Jade tingled with electric-like energy flowing through the three of them, and thunder roared again.
Maggie yelled to break the spell. “Jade! What are you doing?”
Jade looked at each man again and felt their love and energy surging up through her hands into her heart. Rick, the devoted, grounded, loving man who wanted to be her husband. Gabe, the damaged man whose love and passion were immense and overpowering. Both were amazing, beautiful, incredible men in their own ways. She felt more blessed than any woman on earth to have them love and want to share their life with her. But she perceived contrasting emotions through their eyes—Rick’s held a steady stream of love, always taking care of her. He focused and whispered, “Come, Jade, marry me and start an amazing life together.”
Gabe’s eyes pleaded for forgiveness, and she saw unfathomable love like trying to see the bottom of the ocean—seeing the depth of his love was impossible. She’d have to swim in those deep, dark places forever if she chose him. His brand of love was magical, taking her to other realms of existence but she wouldn’t always know where she was or how she’d endure.
Rick—stable, devoted, protective, a perfect husband offering security of every kind, and a predictable, perfect marriage and life.
Gabe—mystical, romantic, unpredictable, perfect love from a man with an imperfect, wild life. She’d been attracted to Gabe for all those reasons, but he’d also given her the fairytale with the disastrous ending, crushing her heart the way Devlin had. At this stage of her life, she had to choose which kind of love and life she wanted, and with whom.
The question immediately flung her back to the end of her marriage to Devlin when she’d known she’d married the wrong man. She didn’t want to be wrong again, too late again. This time she needed to get it right because there was no going back from this one. She closed her eyes tight, let go of both their hands then took her mother’s and silently asked for a sign. Lightning flashed and thunder bellowed. Jade and Maggie jumped and looked around.
Gabe looked frightened, his eyes wide, thinking about what he’d put into motion and what the outcome might be. But he took her hand back again and his potent love flowed through her body taking her almost against her will.
Rick took her other hand, his love warming her like a coat on a freezing day, a love she could lean into and embrace.
Maggie said in a hushed voice, “It’s your decision. Who are you and what kind of love will sustain you for the rest of your life?”
Immediately, Jade let go of both men’s hands and asked her mother to walk outside with her. “I need your help. You see this more clearly than I do because of my complex history with both of them.”
“Yes, I see the situation better,” Maggie said taking Jade’s hands again. “But we need more than words, because they’ve all been spoken, and all emotions have been felt. You need guidance beyond those things.” She closed her eyes and Jade followed. Maggie whispered a prayer asking for her daughter to make the choice for the life she was meant to live. They squeezed their hands together, Jade opening her heart and mind to glean her mother’s intuitive insight. Jade felt lifted from her surroundings into a lofty state removed from everyone’s emotions except her own and removed from every person but herself. She glimpsed into the hearts and into a future with both men where all was clear, and she envisioned her life with each.
Maggie and Jade stood still and silent for a few minutes, an eternity for the men inside waiting for their fates. The two women held onto each other as if for their lives. Maggie helped Jade break the energy of the triangle that had bound her for so long.
