Praying for Rain Ch. 04

"What? Who are you talking about," I asked stupidly. Some part of me knew the answer already, but my conscious brain refused to believe Kelly knew.

"Melissa. How do you think I learned about the music? No one my age knows Air Supply. The routine you made for her with that music, that's what got you into that New York company, right? And while you were off dancing, she found another boyfriend to do what you wouldn't." My anger tried to rise then, but I couldn't sustain it. Melissa had only been sixteen. I had done the right thing by waiting, particularly since I was eighteen, and my reward had been a broken heart.

"I tracked her down, she seemed happily married and has two kids, but I'll throw myself at her husband if necessary so you can get her back," Kelly finished in resignation.

I was stunned into silence as the enormity of what she'd just said crashed into me mentally and emotionally. "You can't mean that..." I started quietly.

"I love you. There is nothing I won't do to see that you are happy, even if that means it isn't with me."

A hundred mental images shifted into focus in my brain and a hundred moments since I'd met her finally sank into my heart. She was giving up everything, and yet doing it for me... she would break her own heart to try and repair mine. For Kelly, the last piece of defense had finally been battered aside. I pulled her back toward me so she could sit astride my legs again. As I hugged her and buried my head in the wet hair at her neck, I felt her arms wrap around my neck, but she was still tense in my grasp. I felt my whole body shudder as it seemed like everything inside me collapsed and I felt my own tears start to roll down my cheeks.

"I can't let you do that," I said softly.

"Why not," she whispered.

"Because I can't let you leave."

"Why?"

"Oh Kelly, I am so hopelessly in love with you," I whispered and I felt her go limp and sob into my neck. We held each other tightly and tearfully for several seconds. "I am so sorry it took this long for me to realize it."

"'Things worth having don't come easy. You have to fight for it until you're tired of fighting, and then you take a breather and fight some more.' Rosemary Beach," she laughed and sobbed into my neck.

"You and your damned young adult fiction," I laughed at her as I pulled back from her and then she kissed me. It was a kiss four years in the making for her, but for me, it was much, much longer.

After several more lingering kisses, we finally left the shower and dried off. Kelly put her thong back on and I recovered my boxers and shorts. When we came back into the hallway we were both smiling ear to ear and both Amber and Heather shrieked and mobbed us both with hugs and kisses. Behind me the door opened, and I turned to find Deborah there.

"Thomas is fine," she said to Kelly who breathed a sigh of relief.

"I guess he surprised us all," she answered while jabbing me in the ribs.

"What's going on," I asked in confusion.

"I'll explain," Deborah said gesturing to the other three girls. "You may think at the end I owe you an apology, but everything I did was to help you, so you aren't getting one," she said to me primly. "First, Thomas is a friend of mine, not an acquaintance of Kelly's. The self-defense class you signed me up for several years ago was sponsored by a local martial arts school, which I began attending after I moved out of your house. I met Thomas there. He is a stunt man in L.A. and has been getting into actual acting in the past couple of years. He's also a third degree black belt, and said to be sure you knew he didn't really hit Kelly". It wasn't until that moment that it dawned on me that Kelly had no lingering damage to her face. "This... performance, if you will... was put on as a last ditch effort to make you accept what was plainly obvious to everyone else that's lived here. And we are all quite happy that it worked, as it is long overdue."

"Also, and this may be where you become a bit peeved at me, I am the one that told Kelly about Melissa."

"But how did you even know," I asked astounded.

"Jessica," she said simply.

I blushed a little and said, "ah, I had forgotten that. She never mentioned it to me."

"She was a bright girl, but she did tell me. I never followed up on the information until I met Kelly. I told her about it and I helped her track down your old friends and Melissa so we could understand what happened. I don't like prying into someone's past uninvited, but after so many years, you left us little choice."

"Us," I asked dumbly.

"Darren, dear, every girl that's been through this house in the last four years has seen quite easily that Kelly was in love with you. It sometimes took longer for them to understand that you were in love with her, but they all figured it out eventually. I've called in favors from half the girls that have lived here before Kelly arrived and all of them... every single one... agreed immediately to do whatever was asked once they understood why. I have a reunion planned for later this summer actually... even those I didn't need help from want to meet Kelly."

"Well, I guess this is the end of the 'toybox' then," I said with a chuckle.

"What," said Kelly in shock.

"Well... I mean... I assumed..." I stuttered.

"Ah, I was afraid of this," Kelly said. "I didn't fall in love with a traditional man, I'm not expecting a grand wedding in some church, or a house with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. I wouldn't dream of changing you, and I love you as you are, not as you might be. Life is full of change, but I hope you know you should never change because you think I am expecting it. This is mine," Kelly said poking me in my chest above my heart, "at least most of it. I expect you to continue caring about the girls that live here but the rest we will take as it comes. Besides, I think we really need to consider the possibility of bringing a guy or two into the house too," she said with a wink and an evil grin. She let the silence hang in the air for a few seconds while all the women giggled at my shocked expression.

She finally relented and patted me on the arm and said, "we'll discuss all that in good time. But I am kind of hoping for a vacation to a certain lake cabin during the rainy season this summer though," she finished with a smile.

"Still, things are going to be different now," I said to Kelly nervously.

"No, they're just going to be better," she said confidently.