The Romance Of Beth Gregory Ch. 01

ONE--OPENING OF THE HEART OF BETH GREGORY

ALL COPY RIGHTS RESERVED

CHAPTER ONE

FINDING THE HEART OF GOLD

The Cobalt turned into the drive and raced the few feet to the side porch and steps. The silver car looked out of place when one looked at the driver. Long hair cascaded over the shoulders and he wore what appeared to be jeans and a work shirt. Jumping around in the back seat area of the car was a large black and white dog. It was obviously waiting to be petted and wining for a caress. "I would like two double cheese burgers to go please!" The man yelled when a face appeared in the doorway. He could tell it was the woman he had been getting to laugh on the computer. He breathed a sigh of relief that being two hours late due to traffic had not foreclosed on their date. He repeated his order as she opened and closed the door and walked down the steps to his car. Her dark hair falling over the shoulders of her hot pink jacket, a graceful walk that highlighted the jeans she wore. "But ma'am, I need my cheeseburgers," he demanded with a smile as he unlocked the door and made a motion for the large dog to get in the rear of the car. A first date it was. He was determined that it was to be the wildest and most awesome night the woman would experience for the rest of her life.

"Really now?" Was all she said as she turned her attention to the dog that attacked her with a wagging tail and enough attention to make the heart of anyone melt. Her eyes seemed to reveal a moment in time when her heart struggled and even cried for release. She scratched and petted the dog and held its face to hers, making eye to eye contact with the object of affection of the man in the driver's seat. A smile split her face and a set of dimples dug into her cheeks before she threw up the wall of defenses she had spent so many years building around her heart and soul.

"Get in the back, now, Chester!" He ordered and the dog lept into the back seat. It still pushed for more attention though, and forced his head over her shoulder and between her and the window frame. "Sorry for the delay but I sort of got lost," he stated as he backed out of the drive and headed toward Portage Trails and the fairy tale night that he hoped to provide her. Already his mind was racing, trying to figure out how he was going to penetrate this woman's defenses and reach into her heart and soul.

"That's alright, I was supposed to go out with someone else but the bastard stuck me up." She explained as she caught herself from rocking wildly against the door and him. Her eyes were opened wide as he whipped the car into gear and shot around the corner onto Portage Trails. "You better slow down," she cautioned him as she continued to fight off the dog's attention, "it's only twenty-five down through her and the police will nab you."

"Give the pretty lady in pink a point!" He exclaimed as he quickly slowed the car down, sending the dog hurling forward between the seats. He then saw those defensive walls around her heart lower yet again. A heart that he was able to look into for a brief moment. A heart that had never really known spontaneous joy as he planned to show her tonight. Eyes that could never have revealed her past now showed him a glimpse of the damage to her heart other men had caused her. "Relax, I am like no man you have ever met before in your whole life, I only ask that you never treat me like you treated other men." He replied as he whipped the car onto the on-ramp for route eight South.

He then gunned the engine and raced the Cobalt onto the freeway. "I would have been here sooner except that there was a wreck somewhere and the whole freeway was frozen for over an hour until I left it and then had to find my way back to the damned thing," he explained as he raced down the freeway, darting in and out of traffic to put the fear into her that would crumble her defenses. He knew that most women like her, built fortresses against any man's attack on her heart as a necessity. They had been hurt in love so much that they feared leaving their heart open to anyone, let a lone a man. But when he looked at her he saw the beauty that had to lie underneath the callous face. No real dimples had crossed her face for a long while and he intended to put a few there regardless of the risk he had to take. He wanted a woman he could climb wooded hills with, carry across streams and camp with. A woman he could go canoeing with and know that she felt loved.

He had no dreams of love for himself. He only wanted to make a woman smile and here was one he was sure that could smile like the sun had risen over her heart. Here was a woman that he could spend hours shoveling the snowy drive of one moment and spend hours giving pleasure the next and trust that she would never throw that love away foolishly. Here was a woman who he felt he could trust to be a friend for life. A woman who would not make him and enemy. A woman that could shine and know that she was on top of the world and never want to give it away. A woman, even if they were never to have a relationship or would break up a relationship, could still be counted on for the rest of his life to be a friend he could talk to and live for. A woman that he could set and stare at and know he had brought the sun into her nights.

"That must be the accident there," he said pointing across the freeway at a burned out hulk that had once been a car.

"Ya think," she said as she threw a cigarette out the window and he darted around another car.

"Chester doesn't bother you does he?"

"Oh no," she smiled and he could see that wall go up again to protect her heart. She clutched her purse and massaged the dogs neck fur, confident that this guy was not going to get into her heart, but knowing it had been too long since she had felt a man's shoulder under her head, making the burdens she carried lighter.

"That truck is slowing down pretty fast, there my dear," he said as he neared a truck in front of him due to the gradual slow of Southbound traffic. God, but he wished she would just open up and let him give her a fantastic evening. It was so much like he was talking to a robot. The he saw the Buctel exit. A thought popped into his mind and he darted the cobalt up the off ramp. He glanced at her face and saw a slight shimmer to her defenses as he had caught her off guard now and he was able to see a glimpse of the woman behind the appearance she tried to keep up. When he stopped at the red light, her cell phone rang and he waited until she answered it before slamming on the gas and darting the cobalt wildly through the intersection.

"It's my daughter," she explained, obviously concerned that he had become angry over the disruption. She continued a brief conversations of "yes," "no," "uh-hum," and "ya-think" before closing the phone and returning her attention to his driving. Her eyes revealed the growing fear and confusion as he darted the cobalt from one intersection to another and then around a right turning curve in the road that took them further from the freeway. She was afraid to ask where he was going as it seemed he was lost in concentration except for the moment when he turned the radio on and the sounds of Chicago drifted through the cobalt, punctuated by the sound of the engine gunning then idling as he drove like a maniac.

"I am just trying to find a way around the traffic jam that has to be up ahead on the freeway," he explained, looking from side to side as he searched for any landmarks he was familiar with. "By the way, I don't have a problem with a mother being a mother. If your children call I would feel badly if you did not answer them. I told you I am unlike any man you ever met. If you respect me and allow me to show you friendship, even if not love, then I will make every day a dream come true. That is a man's duty. My father done it and I do it. The problem is though, that most women want to go crazy or run from love."

"Really now?" she asked sarcastically.

"Oh," he responded as he turned left, trying to find a road he was familiar with and ignoring her sarcasm. "Believe me, the moment you start loving me, if you allow yourself to love, you'll be going crazy too. Every woman I know intimately goes fucking nutty from jealousy. Never fails. My ex-wife kept me locked up in the house because she was afraid I would talk to a woman and the woman would fall in love with me."

"I would not do that, I am not on the drama," she assured him as she lit a cigarette.

"You say that now but the moment you realize that you do love me it will be like a worm that eats away at you until you go crazy. Yep. Starts in your heart and then infects your brain and the next thing I know you will be going crazier than a bed bug. My dad had the same problem. Every woman that said they loved him went crazy on him. Not to change the subject on such a beautiful woman," he said with a tone meant to caress the heart and was rewarded with the faint shimmer of a blushing smile and a pair of small dimples, "but do you happen to know where we are?"

"let me see..." she said as she looked around. "where are we?" she then asked defensively, trying to get her bearings.

"Simple, we are lost," he said with an air of finality and caught her totally off guard so much that her defenses were lowered to the ground. "Damn it I am telling you we are lost!"

"No, I know where we are at," she finally said. Her whole attitude and appearance had changed and for the first time it was the real woman inside the shell that had broken free at the moment when she realized this was a man who did not object to allowing her to take control. He eyes seem to light up. Color came to her cheeks and the smile that came to her face was uninhibited and real. For the first time in a while she was smiling with her heart rather than her face alone. "At the next light turn left."

"Okee dokee. The beautiful woman takes control and all you see are dimples and sunshine in the dark of night!" He exclaimed, noticing the smile that now crossed her lips was fuller, brighter and the diples deeper and more natural. He sat back in his seat, confident that this was the woman not the illusion. He had finally shattered her defenses and could now work on her heart. "Any, those dimples mean you are going to love me, girl." He finally announced confidently. "But at the same time, you are going to go crazy on me. I know it. Just remember one thing, if it is a waste of my time to caress your heart and nurture your love then we can keep it on just the friendship level and leave it at that. But if you go crazy and there is no logical reason for it, watch out because I can be hell on wheels. It does not matter if it is a woman, war is war only the weapons change, and wars are meant to be won by all means necessary. Now in a relationship it means you can call unless told not to, put peaceful things in the mailbox or on the porch, deliver flowers or apint I am sorry in a safe location or, if it goes that far, bring the courts and the government into it. With a guy you just bop him in the nose and the best man wins."

"I would never do that. If I start loving a man and there is a problem I would at least try to work it out with him unless he hit me or my kids." she said defensively.

"I mean it. If we go down that road just call and talk to me and I will be gone as I am not trying to be anywhere I am not wanted." He explained as he turned the car left onto Arlington. "Just do not disrespect me. I mean men are obvious creatures and if something happens it has to follow the logical application of facts. If not then set me down and explain it to me. Don't assume that I am going to just understand."

"I don't have a problem with that except that my ex beat my ass," she said dismissively.

"Well you never have to worry about that with me. I do not beat women and believe if a man cannot take the hit of a woman he ain't much of a man. I will say this right now though, I do not argue. I will leave but I will not argue with a woman because I do not know how and a woman is always right anyway. With a guy I just pop 'em one if they will not accept it if I am right, but a woman, what the hell am I going to do. I can assure you I will never threaten you or hit you, but please never cross that line and call the police wrongly or out of jealousy like my ex did. Most of the time if something is that bad, a neighbor or someone will call the police." He saw the on ramp and darted onto it. "The only reason why I am telling you this is because I want you to understand that most men have no defense against a woman who calls the police and most cops run with whatever a woman tells them whether it be true or false."

"My ex robbed from my kids and that was the only reason I called the police on him and even got a protection order against him."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that...I love kids and he was wrong...it is a man's duty to make a woman and children smile, not frown."

"I have one rule, just don't mess with my kids."

"Ah...but it is a woman's duty to protect her children and I would never hurt a kid. When my ex called the police on me to prevent me from getting a house keeper, that was all she wrote. She turned my own family against me and tried to extort me into staying, but she is perfect reason I do not argue. If someone calls the police on me or gets someone else involved in the relationship on false pretenses, I bug. I click and I go for legal over kill. I don't hit them or beat them up. I may put things in their mail box or ask a friend to find out what the problem is but if that does not work and a woman wants an enemy I will beat them down mercilessly within the limits of the law. Most people will lie to a court. I don't, so I make sure I stay as far inside the law as I can. My ex said I threw a thousand pound fish tank across a room at her and when the police came I drilled her lies into the ground at her feet."

"I didn't lie on my ex..." she said defensively but it was the real her talking and not the illusion.

"I am just telling you, when that seed I have already planted in your heart starts to become full fledged love, you are going to go insane! I will not lie on you. Once I face it that the relationship is done I am best left alone. But if you call the police wrongly or out of jealousy, steal from me, slander me, have people threaten me or lie on me, then I am going to use every legal means to fight back with the truth. When I was a kid my Dad told my mother, 'Ruby you better not call the police unless you are in the right. If you do I am going to get you put in jail instead of me.' So it is not that I will want to do it, but when you go crazy and attack me for no reason or want to break up for no reason but jealousy, then the beast comes out and it has a mind of its own. It is controlled by survival on the one hand and a will to win on the other and will not stop until every legal avenue is exhausted. I sued my brother when he stole from me and lied about it. I told him to hold onto my stuff and when I went to get it he said I had given it to him. I sued the Hell out of him even though some of the stuff I took back when I was staying with my aunt. He lied to get the police to tow my car and I sued the towing company. Every time he lied I remembered it and burned it into the ground. And a woman is going to lie when they argue. So will most men, but women are emotional and men are not so most men tell obvious lies that are easy to remember and not that complicated. A woman on the other hand is smarter and she will lie about several things so that if she says a guy raped her kid all he has to do is take other lies to defeat her credibility. Most women do not realize the obvious lies can destroy their credibility on the complex ones.

"Most women say, 'he never said he loved me' while the guy says, "what the Hell does she mean, I took her to her moms every day for six months.' My mom lied on my dad and said he touched my sister wrongly, but then when he got out she begged him to move back in...all of my relatives knew at that moment she had been lying. Authorities would not allow him in the home with my sister had he been guilty. So to avoid all that, I am just trying to tell you when you do decide to go crazy, please do not treat me like everyone else. Simply talk to me and explain it in a logical manner and I will be gone. But at the same time do not...never...ever...allow an argument to go too far and then hate me because you allowed it to go that far."

"I won't." She asserted, wondering if the man was really worth it but knowing that he was being honest with her. Most men would be insane to start a date like this, but for some reason he really made her feel like she had known him for years and could trust him. "If I ever have a problem with you, assuming we go any further, I will have the respect to at least come and talk to you about any problem and not allow an argument to go too far but never disrespect my kids."

"Believe me I will get the kids out of the home before that was ever a possibility...so we have an agreement then. You will talk to me about any problem, not call the police wrongly, lie or steal from me, and at the same time I will never threaten or hit you, disrespect your kids and will go my way if it came to the point when a problem could not be resolved after we set down and talked about it."

"Agreed."

"Good, are you hungry as I know a nice Chinese Buffet place up here." He said, dropping the earlier subject as quickly as it had come up. "Or we can go somewhere else. I just figure we might as well eat before we go shopping...you are still wanting to go grocery shopping with me, aren't you?"

"Uh hum," was her only response, but it was obvious that she was being pulled between wanting to allow the man to treat her and wanting to just go along for the ride. So far she had never been on a date like this one and she was extremely curious about this man who acted like no other man she had ever met. She took out another cigarette and lit it as he turned onto the Belden Village off ramp.

"You don't mind Chinese people do you?" he asked but got no answer. "The only reason I come here is because the food is relatively good and the variety. Well then you got the little people running around talking in a weird language, but otherwise it is okay." He made several turns going around in circles before he found a parking lot he believed would take him to the China Buffet. "Can't go there!" He exclaimed as the front of the Cobalt almost hung over the edge of the embankment where the parking lot ended and Chester flew between the seats and his nose bounced off the windshield. "Oh, didn't I tell you he is used to bouncing around like that. See all the nose prints. He was far worse when he was a puppy -- Get in the back!" He ordered the dog.

He waited as the dog ran back into the back of the car, turned around and put its head back on the woman's shoulder. Then he gunned the car in reverse and looked around for another way out of the parking lot. Found a road that appeared to turn around a building and gunned the car around the turn only to slam on the brakes. "guess we can't go this way either," he said when he saw the edge of the parking lot end at another embankment and Chester came sailing forward again, stopping himself this time just before he hit the windshield. "Damn-it! I said get in the back!" He snapped at the dog jokingly. "Damn it, can't go this way either."

"Ya think!" She agreed loudly, obviously wondering if the driver were not insane and she was insane for being in the car with him driving.

"Don't worry," he said matter of fact like. "I don't care about us but I am not going to hurt me baby doll--the dog of course. Besides that I always have a hard time finding the place." He turned the car back around and could see the diner's sign from where he was. More importantly when he turned his head toward the woman, she was smiling! Not just smiling as in having fun, but a deeply dimpled smile that stretched her lips and shone brightly in her eyes. He smiled confidently, knowing that this was the lovely woman that he had thought she would be if she allowed her heart and not her fears to control her actions. This was the moment he had been shooting for...the walls she had built around her heart were no longer there and now he could work on her heart and giving her an evening that most women dreamed of. It was at this time that a man could look into her eyes and see her sadness and pain, her happiness and joy, her heart and soul. He turned around another building and got back onto the street. He knew where he had to go now. "One dog dish made with Grade A beef coming up...I wonder what they would do if I tried to take out their dumpster?" He asked as he drove around the back of the restaurant and pulled into a line marked slot of the parking lot.