20 in 23,376

"I don't understand Gabriella. You said it's you and Raul, I thoug..."

Suddenly putting her arms around his neck their lips came together. Like a steam train gathering a head of steam, things hotted up on the pavement. All of a sudden, a car honked its horn as someone hollered at them in Spanish from the passing car.

"What did they say?"

She looked into Brian's eyes, blushing.

"They said get a room."

They both giggled at each other before it turned into a major fit of laughing. Once they settled back down an air of seriousness crept between them.

"What happens now, Gabriella?"

"That's easy. You take me inside and spend the night making love to me."

The kissed gently before Gabrilla took Brian's hand and they went into the house. Gabriella opened a bottle of wine, picked up two glasses and ushered Brian through into her bedroom. After pouring the wine she lit a large church candle and turned out the lights. Standing close to each other they sipped the wine before placing them on her dresser. In the flickering candle light, she walked back to Brian, slowly unbuttoned his shirt and as she moved down towards the last one, started to place small kisses on his chest heading downwards. When the buttons were undone, she pulled the shirt from his body.

She stood back directly in front of him, quite clearly trembling. He leant forward and started kissing her lips, as his hands worked their way to the front of her blouse and undone the buttons. Still kissing her, his arms came up to her shoulders and worked her upper body from the garment. She went to fold her arms across her chest, but Brian moved his hand to gently push them down to her side. He reached behind her and undone her bra, soon it was on the floor next to the blouse. Brian stepped back.

"Having Raul changed my body, I can cover up... "

"Hush! I'm admiring the goddess standing before me. Don't feel ashamed of your body Gabriella, be proud of it. I think you are a stunning visualisation of womanhood."

She didn't cry but felt as if a monumental weight had been lifted from her shoulders eroding the hurtful comments her ex-husband had made, that were etched into her mind. Tears fell from her eyes. They were tears of joy. They kissed passionately, before tumbling onto the bed to spend the night exploring each other's bodies and understanding what each other liked.

It was Brian that woke first, and he looked at the naked form sleeping next to him. Where Debbie's body was taut, fit with no real blemishes Gabriella's was not the same. She had more flesh on her bones but wasn't fat, and she had a slight sag to her breast. Some cellulite was visible on her well-formed legs, but she was all woman. He thought her body was a temple to be worshipped and he thought about what he was doing. And what he was going to do.

There had been a seismic shift. He had always carried with him memories of an oath he made as a teenager. He would pledge his life to his true love. Overnight, that love had completely shifted to the woman lying next to him.

They had breakfast and picked up Raul. Brian stayed in the car and there was another animated exchange between Gabriella and her parents. When she got in the car she shook her head.

"They asked if you planned to marry me."

He raised his brow and gave her a surprised look, if only she had an idea of his thoughts.

They had dinner with her family and the questions came thick and fast. She expected them to ask about his wife when she noticed something. He wasn't wearing his wedding ring. Her assumption was he'd removed it, to not embarrass her, in front of her parents. After dinner, the parents excused themselves, as the dogs needed tending to at home. There were smirks going back and forth between Gabriella and Maria, and she asked why she looked so happy. Gabriella blew Maria a kiss and said no more. They say a picture can paint a thousand words, Gabriella's whole demeanour over dinner told Carlos, and Maria, how far things had gone the previous night.

Standing in the car park Brian pulled Carlos aside and asked him to follow him. A few minutes later they came around the corner. Carlos had punched Brian, and there was the start of what looked like a nasty black eye. The two women started screaming at Carlos, and he put his hands up in defence.

"He wanted me to do it!"

Gabriella turned to Brian.

"Are you mad or something!!"

"No, if anything I've come to my senses and things could not be any clearer at this moment."

He opened his clenched hand to reveal his wedding ring. Turning towards the scrubland beyond the car park, he threw the ring as far as he could. They all looked at him in disbelief.

As they drove away, she touched his face and told him she'd look at it when they got home.

"Why did you make him hit you, Brian?"

"The answer's simple. I was mugged and they stole my wedding ring and some cash when I went out for a walk."

She shook her head not believing what she was hearing. Back home, she tended to his eye, he pulled her down and kissed her. It was like their lives had turned into a tornado as things were happening so quickly. Even though they hadn't said anything about their feelings, it felt so right and natural. For both of them.

He had to go back to the hotel, needing to be up and away, by seven am, to fly home. The time came where he could no longer stay, and he reluctantly said goodbye. Raul ran at Brian and basically jumped into his arms. He spoke in Spanish, obviously a question. Brian asked what it was he'd said.

"What did he say?"

"Oh, nothing really, he's going to miss you."

They left Raul to brush his teeth, and stepped into the hallway. Brian used his telephone to dial for a taxi. Gabriella looked confused.

"Why have you booked a taxi, you have the car. Don't you need to return it to the hire company?"

He grinned at her, and handed her the keys.

I've just left it with the hire company, I'll be sure to hire it next time I'm here."

"What am I supposed to do with it, Brian?"

Go to the VW dealers and collect the paperwork, as it needs to go into your name, and start to use it. I'll hire it when I next come back."

She looked at him, she was afraid to ask the question.

"Are you coming back Brian?"

He walked up to her and kissed her softly on the lips.

"In my mind I won't really be away from you and Raul, Gabriella. Physically, I need to go. But I'll be back, and sooner than you may think. I need some contact details to stay in touch."

He handed her his iPhone, and she entered her contact details.

"What time are you leaving the hotel tomorrow?"

"A taxi is booked for seven am to take me to the airport."

The taxi tooted it's horn outside her home as it arrived ready to take Brian back to his hotel.

"Until next time Brian."

She blew him a kiss as he looked at her. The taxi started to take him away from where he felt he now belonged.

The next morning, Brian had just about finished getting ready, and was checking the room to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything when the telephone rang. It was the reception, telling him his taxi was here. He noted it was only six thirty am. As he checked out, someone grabbed at his leg and, to his surprise, he saw it was Raul. Turning, he saw Gabriella standing behind him smiling.

"I'm sorry Gabriella, my taxi is here."

She held up the car keys.

"I took the liberty to cancel it at the reception desk. Surprisingly, not only is there a handy hire car for you, it doubles up as a taxi!"

He smiled, as they loaded his luggage and drove to the airport. They both found saying goodbye difficult, and Raul cried as he realised Brian was leaving. Gabrilla spoke;

"Yesterday, when he asked you that question? He was asking if you were going to be his new daddy."

A lump formed in Brian's throat, and he managed to not let a tear escape, but it was close. He picked up Raul and hugged him, then drew Gabriella in too.

"Tell him I'll be back soon. I have an idea, Gabriella. Let me do some work and we can discuss things the next time I'm here. It won't be easy, but I have a plan, I've had it for a few years and I think I need to make some changes. Those changes include you and Raul."

He kissed her and went through to the gate, he turned and waved to see them waving and crying as he left. As much as he wanted to turn back, doing so now may start to impact his plan. He persevered, and travelled home.

Stepping into his house Debbie looked horrified.

"Oh my god Brian, what's happened!"

"I went for a walk in a park and was mugged, I refused and one of them punched me. The second one showed me a knife and made it clear what would happen if I didn't comply."

"What did they take?"

"As it was just a stroll around the park, I had a small amount of cash which they took....and this."

He held up his left hand to show her the empty ring finger. A look of loss filled her face, and she held his hand against his face.

"I'll get a new one to replace it, it'll be a one off this time, to show how special how love is."

When the local Police spoke to me, they said I was lucky. Whilst the attack was quite rare, sometimes these gangs have been known to hack off fingers...and even hands if people are too slow or the ring doesn't come off. When they found out I travel around major sea ports, they were surprised this was my first time. Their advice was not to wear one".

I'll get that guy Simon in the village to design and make one to repla..."

"Listen to what I just said. Let's just buy a cheap ring, when I retire then you can do something special for me."

"I can't say I'm happy but, I suppose it makes sense."

Brian nodded, with a feeling of a battle won. She hadn't a clue that the use of the word cheap, had a double meaning. A cheap ring for a cheap marriage. A small battle, but a big win as far as he was concerned. From that point onwards, he only wore the replacement in the presence of Debbie.

They went about life as normal. A few nice meals, catching up with family and friends. Brian did enjoy the tranquillity of their pool, as he leisurely swam a few lengths.

Over the years he let their sex life devolve. Instead of making love they had sex together and it became infrequent. It had been a gradual slide and if Debbie thought something was amiss, she didn't say anything. But why would she? When he was away, she set the inner slut free. Nobody wanted to rock the boat.

The following week, Brian went to Rotterdam and sought out Sally-Ann, now the director of innovation. He was proud of the team he'd built all those years back and it was testament to their commitment that nearly all of them had stayed in the business as it had grown. Spurred on by Sally-Ann's suggestion, back in that brainstorming meeting, the business spread into other industries such as the automotive and aircraft industries and done exceedingly well.

"Hello boss, have you finally decided to take me up on that offer?"

They smiled at each other; it had become a standing joke between the pair of them over the years. It was related to her spurned offer to sleep with him. She was now happily married to Agness, they had adopted two children, who they both loved."

"I stopped being your boss years ago, boss, but I need your help. It's for me really, but I think the company could benefit."

He told her about Gabrilla and how he felt about her. Despite only spending days with her, he knew she was 'the one'. He hadn't gone looking, it just happened out of the blue. Sally-Ann promised she would help, and float the suggestion with the directors. With over half of them either being in the position or attributing their status to Brian's input into the company, she couldn't see it was an issue. The next step was the hardest part. Was Gabrilla prepared to play the long game with him? He was booked on a flight back to Uruguay for Thursday, until the following Friday. In the meantime, the company lawyers were at his full disposal.

He arranged for some mail order gifts to be delivered by Amazon. He sent the latest iPhone to Gabriella, an upmarket spa weekend voucher to Maria and Carlos, and a child's electronic toy to Raul that was a precursor to learning to program computers. By selecting icons, you joined up little routines to make your own games, it also allowed them to see a simplified version of the code that hid on the bottom level.

The last thing he sent was some boxing gloves to Carlos. He would later find out that, when he opened them, Maria laughed so much she had shamefully wet herself.

He never announced he was coming and knocked on Gabrilla's door with a large bouquet of flowers plus, of course, a Lego kit. She opened the door and squealed, wrapping her arms around Brian's neck, the bouquet squashed between them. He felt some arms wrapped around his leg so he scooped up Raul for a three-way hug.

"You should have told me that you were coming! I would have made sure I was dressed for you, instead of these rags!"

Brian appraised her in her jeans and tee shirt.

"You're a beautiful woman, whatever you wear."

She was cooking their evening meal and added some more ingredients so it would feed the three of them. As before, Raul was excited to receive, yet more Lego.

The gifts you sent Brian, you shouldn't have done that! I don't want you spending all your money on us. And the car, my goodness, I didn't realise how much it cost you. Please slow down with these gifts, I cannot reciprocate."

"No, it's an uneven trade. The happiness I feel with you and Raul can't have a monetary value placed on it. Let's talk about things over the next few days."

She smiled.

Did you say days, how long are you here for?"

"A week, this time."

She flung her arms back around him, and started to kiss him over and over.

As before, they explored the city and ate at her brother's restaurant on Saturday. Whilst she was teaching Monday, he undertook some maintenance jobs at her house. Nothing was major, but they were little things that left, could become grief or expensive to fix. She rented the house; he knew she loved it. He would trace the owner and make an offer that they wouldn't decline. But all in time. When she came home from work, a delicious waft of chicken and vegetables made her stomach grumble. It seemed this man had a few more secrets to reveal about himself.

Raul and Brian played with the electric programming game he had sent as a gift. As Brian suspected, Raul's hungry mind was already using the toy towards its capacity. He would do all he could to nurture him.

After Raul went to bed they sat and discussed things, it was the first time that they acknowledged that they both possibly wanted more than they had. Brian explained how he felt, despite only knowing her for just a few days, he felt inexplicably drawn to her and Raul. She said she felt the same, and had prayed to God every night he would come back. The elephant in the room was simple. He was married and lived on another continent.

Brian then laid out his plan. It was bold and involved insurmountable levels of trust. The journey to happiness carried levels of pain that, they would both have to deal with.

"If I do this and you change your mind at the end or find someone else along the way, I'll have wasted much of my life. I want you, I can wait, but it frightens me."

Brian opened his laptop, then a folder called "Slut", got up, and put his jacket on.

"I'm going to go for a twenty-minute walk, help yourself if you want to see the truth. You'll hopefully understand, there will be no going back. I want to do this with you, but, if I have too, I'll do it alone."

Twenty minutes later, he let himself in with a key she had given him. As he closed the door, she ran into his arms and hugged him. Back in the living room, she cuddled up to him, he could see she had been crying. Brian opened his bag and pulled out a document. He put it on the coffee table and asked her to read it, to make sure it was OK. Five minutes later she carefully put the document down, her expression blank through shock.

"You can't be serious Brian; you hardly know me! Why?"

"I can't explain it, I cannot get you out of my mind. As crazy as it sounds, I know I love you, I want to be with you, but I've moved this far along this path of exacting revenge and I cannot deviate from it. My brain's wired this way."

This is too much to take in right now, before you leave to go home, I'll give you my answer."

"Of course. I never expected you to decide right away. This is a mammoth commitment."

"Brian stayed with Gabriella until he returned to the UK. It was funny, he thought of this small house as his real home now.

When he woke up Gabriella was making breakfast. Walking into the kitchen, he saw the envelope on the table. Gabriella looked at him and smiled.

"It's done."

She joked about poisoning him to get the payout. Part of the document she had signed was acknowledgment she would handle Brian's affairs if he died.

"Ahh but it excludes murder. The million-euro payout on death, excludes murder."

She looked pensive as she served his breakfast. "

What if I wear you out and you die with a massive smile on your face?"

"Then you'll deserve every cent."

Brian had revised his Will. It left everything to Gabriella, with ten per cent going into a trust for Raul until he was twenty-one. If Gabriella passed before Brian, it defaulted to Raul. Most importantly, the Will was to be a binding entity, Brian included a clause that, this was to be his final Will, and only Will, with the exception of them having any children in which case, all assets would eventually be shared equally by them.

Back in the UK, nothing changed. Debbie welcomed him back, and complained about his travelling. Brian told her he was thinking of working permanently from home. Realising the impact it would have on her other life, she told Brian he needed the challenge, she could cope as she'd always done, when he worked away. He told her he was looking at taking on a major project, that would be based in Argentina for a couple years that would, see him do three weeks there and a week home. When she protested, he rang Sally-Ann to tell her he was relocating to work from home, and to pass the Argentinian project on, she relented. She needed her time to have her own fun that she could not now do without.

Brian, with Sally-Anns' help, was going to set up a centre of excellence in Argentina. Brian went out there and paved the way, locating offices and suitable staff. He applied to become a naturalised Argentinean which would take two years to do. Because of the prestigious centre of excellence that was coming their way, Brian soon became an Argentinean citizen, quicker than the two-year requirement.

He had brought a small apartment with minimal amenities, and nothing of interest remotely nearby. He invited Debbie to come and spend a month out there with him, but she returned to the UK after ten days, due to extreme boredom in the remote area he lived in. Brian considered it yet another mission accomplished.

If Debbie baulked, Gabriella and Raul were quite happy to visit weekends, and stay for some of the school holidays. They still spent time back at what Brian now considered 'home', Gabriella's house, which he had now brought and she owned outright. Although he did stay a fair amount, he ensured he did not jeopardise his goal of obtaining an Argentinean passport as quickly as possible. Once he had a passport, the next step was taken. He changed his name to Josey Wales. He smiled to himself as they rubber stamped his new passport unaware of his nod, to the fictious outlaw played by Clint Eastwood.

He still shuttled between three destinations: the UK, Argentina and Uruguay. The difference was that he spent over half the time in Uruguay. Then, two years after he had made the agreement with Gabriella, his world changed forever. She was pregnant. When she told him, they hugged and shed tears together. Nothing could break them apart. Or so he thought.