Chords that Bind Ch. 16

Dear Readers,

What can I say about the lovely support you have all shown me, especially given the infrequent updates between chapters? I can't tell you how surprised and gratified I was to see one of my chapters earned recognition for winning a monthly contest! You are all wonderful for coming on this ride and suspending your disbelief. Thank you for your patience, too. I'm not sure if people believed that the last chapter was the end, but I can assure you there is a long way to go before I'd be happy with leaving James, Cecilia, Abe, and Clara. I'll remind people that the author doesn't sanction or condone anything done to another person without their consent.

Xoxo

PoeticLicense

*****

James's final performances in America were a triumph. He knew that Cecilia's presence—in his life and in the audience—made those subtle but important differences to his playing. Even Roger stopped complaining about the opportunities lost due to Natasha, and started angling for solo recording deals. When James floated the idea of original compositions, Roger hedged; "No promises James, but I'll see what I can do. Those performances were just the ticket. Name the places and I'll be able to book you for concerts."

That was good news, and so James felt ready to leave America. The entire week he'd been steeling himself for the possibility that Cecilia might want to remain in the states after all.

He agonized over this in the early morning on his way to the nearest pharmacy to pick up Plan B. Cecilia was awake when he returned to the hotel. He handed her the package and a glass of water; she looked embarrassed, but only said, "thank you."

"Not at all. Least I could do, really. I shouldn't have been so careless." James started packing the last of his personal items away in his suitcase.

"You weren't the only one. I hadn't planned on any of this, but I knew better too."

James didn't like the self-recriminating tone in her voice. He paused in his packing and looked up. "We'll sort that out as soon as we're back in London."

Cecilia gave a small smile and nodded, relieved that he didn't make her feel dirty or awkward.

***

James insisted on lugging Cecilia's carry-on bag for her at the airport.

"I'm ready to be home," James admitted. He'd been away for months and the rapid pace of his last few performances up the American east coast cured him of his itchy feet. "How about you?"

"Me too," Cecilia said easily. "Not that this hasn't been a lovely, if unexpected trip. But I'm ready to have a home-cooked meal and see Clara and Abe. It's hard to keep this a secret from them."

"They'll be very surprised," James agreed as they boarded the British Airways jet. It amazed him that Cecilia showed no trepidation about leaving the States, but he wasn't about to question his luck.

It was nice to have a traveling companion on this last leg of his journey. His trip had been isolating in many ways until his rendezvous with Cecilia in Philadelphia. He noticed Cecilia's discomfort during takeoff and squeezed her hand in his own. After the plane leveled off and the cabin pressure stabilized, Cecilia turned her attention back to James. "We're really heading back? To London, I mean?"

"Yes. You're okay with that?" James asked. Now that they were in the air, it was safe to voice his doubt.

"I am. I just can't believe it. I never thought—never dreamed... that you'd be part of my future."

"I want to be, if you'll let me; it's you're choice."

"Of course, I want you to be."

James's eyes turned very serious, which made Cecilia's heart skip a beat. "You know you can change your mind, right? Do you feel I've forced you into anything?"

Cecilia looked bewildered at his question, so he continued.

"I don't want you to feel like I was your only choice."

"What do you mean?"

James considered his words. "Your apartment . . . I didn't want to leave you there, I admit that. I didn't realize where you lived was so . . . rough. I wouldn't blame you if you only wanted to stay with me to get away from that—but, I can set you up, if—"

"Stop." It was the first time Cecilia had ever cut him off. "Stop talking that way. I didn't have a place as nice as yours, but after such a narrow escape, do you think I'd give myself over to you if it wasn't something I wanted?" She was upset that the sincerity of her choice was in doubt. "It's not about apartments or money, James."

He'd insulted her. It was the last thing he wanted to do. "I just don't want you to be with me because it's the path of least resistance. I can set you up with your own place—somewhere safe—and let you decide if this is something you want." James hated this suggestion, but knew it was the chivalrous thing to do.

Cecilia didn't like that suggestion either. She touched the ribbon on her neck. "Don't you still want me?" Oh God, her mother's voice had been right.

James squeezed her hand. "I do. God knows, I do."

"Then why are you changing your mind now?"

James thought that waiting until they were in the air would help him avoid such a question. "I'm not changing my mind Cecilia. But, it would be very easy for someone to use your trauma against you. You were introduced to the lifestyle—to me even—in the worst imaginable way, and now I'm the scoundrel who's reaped the benefits of your misfortune."

"How can you say that?"

"Because it's true. You don't know what a healthy relationship looks like. Especially, not a relationship like ours."

Cecilia had stopped blinking in her anger, and now tears were threatening to spill, tugging at James's heartstrings.

"Cecilia, we're on a jet, flying over the Atlantic, headed back home. I want you. I should have discussed this with you before now, but I've been selfish. I've already behaved poorly. You deserve full disclosure."

"I've had full disclosure. Please don't change your mind."

"I won't. But I need you to know you're allowed to change yours. At any time. For any reason. Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good. Do you still want me to show you what a relationship like ours is supposed to look like?"

"I do, Sir." Cecilia's eyes stopped tearing and she felt calmed just by uttering the words.

James brushed away an errant tear. "Good girl. Relax. Nothing is wrong. You're not in trouble."

Cecilia gave a weak smile.

During the flight James occasionally asked Cecilia about her like and dislikes when it came to their play. He explained they were her "limits." He had his own. Limits were to be respected at all times. He shared that he refused to engage in anything that broke the skin or drew blood. He had little to no interest in having multiple partners either. She agreed and told him that she also didn't care for blindfolds, but was very receptive to bondage.

"Even if you feel okay with bondage know, if you feel unsafe or want me to free you, you have every right to use your safeword. Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir."

"One day, we'll test your limits, either intentionally or inadvertently. So I need to know you'll use it. I don't want to push you that far right now. I want to give you the gentleness and affection you didn't have in your initiation. But if, for some reason, you feel scared or triggered, I need to know. Do you understand why that's important?"

"I do. I promise."

"Good. Then we'll say no more about it for now. I'm sure I've given you enough to think over."

"Enough and then some," she agreed.

"I'm sorry if you're overwhelmed. I just want to make certain that we start this new chapter right. It's not often you get a second chance."

"I'm glad though, aren't you?"

"I'm ecstatic," he said earnestly. "We'll be home soon. Are you ready?"

"I am, Sir. I can't wait to see their faces."

***

James stood to let Cecilia walk in front of him as they got off the jet. "Abe sent me a text. Apparently he's picking me up alone."

Cecilia's face fell. James redirected her disappointment. "That means we'll get to make quite an entrance when we arrive back home and also surprise Clara."

After collecting their bags, James looked down to his phone. "Abe's parked outside the terminal." Cecilia smiled, picking up on the lighthearted energy pervading James's smile.

They lugged their baggage out the doors of the terminal and saw the familiar Audi S4 waiting for them with the hazard lights blinking.

Abe leaned against the car, keeping his eyes peeled for his best mate. He didn't register James until he was only 3 meters away. "James! It's great to see you!"

Cecilia hung back behind James, wondering how long she could hide in plain sight. She got her answer when Abe pulled James into a brotherly one-armed hug. That was when he recognized Cecilia standing shyly just behind James. "CECILIA!" he broke his hug with James, practically pushing him out of the way in favor of wrapping Cecilia in a big bear hug.

"Well, that's a welcome, I'd say. My best mate just threw me over..." James muttered to himself in a self-depreciating tone. He smiled anyway as his friend warmly greeted the new love in his life.

"Ahhhh!" Cecilia squealed. "Abe! It's good to see you!"

"Damn straight, it's good to see you too. What's going on here? Why aren't you in Philadelphia?" He asked Cecilia, but looked at James.

"There was a change in plans," James said lightly.

"I can see that, you thickhead." Abe retorted.

James wrapped his arm around Cecilia and kissed her temple, choosing to avoid the whole story while making the reasons obvious.

"Come on, I'm tired. Let's go home," James prodded as he rounded the back of the sedan and waited for Abe to pop the boot.

Abe looked sidelong at James and said to Cecilia: "I can't believe neither of you told me. Does Clara know?"

Cecilia shook her head and grinned. "It's a surprise. For both of you, but then Clara stayed home... We'll surprise her when we get in."

Abe laughed heartily and helped Cecilia throw her extra suitcases into the car. "D'you know James, I was going to have a chat with you on the way home about Cecilia." James clambered into the front passenger seat, Cecilia slid into the back, and Abe got behind the wheel, setting off for home. "I was going to try to convince you that we should all go and see her in Philadelphia to make sure she'd settled in alright." He glanced at Cecilia in the rearview mirror and nudged James. "Guess you were a few steps ahead of me then?"

"You could say that," James said.

"Fine, James. Keep the stiff upper lip for now if you must, but Clara won't rest until she hears exactly what's been going on. And I'm inclined to let her."

Cecilia couldn't stop smiling. In no time at all, they were back at James's posh townhouse. She let Abe and James enter first. A delicious aroma greeted them in the foyer, and she and James sighed in appreciation. It had been ages since James enjoyed a home-cooked meal. "Sweetness! We're back!" Abe called into the house, as he set one of the suitcases by the stairs.

After a moment, Clara emerged carrying a glass of wine. "That's perfect, dinner will be ready as soon as you freshen . . . up . . ." Clara trailed off and set down her glass before emitting a high gasp of delight and a feminine scream. "You're back! Oh!!"

"No need to be surprised, Clara, you knew—" James pretended to think Clara's reaction was for his benefit.

"No! Not you! Cecilia!" Clara ran and nearly tackled Cecilia with the force of her hug.

"And here I thought at least one of you would be happy to see me." James said to Abe, enjoying that his friends were just as happy as he was to welcome Cecilia back home.

Abe played along, "Well, if you are back, at least you brought Cecilia with you. You're a small price to pay for having her here."

Clara ignored them. "I'm so glad you're back!"

"Clara! I'm so happy to see you!" Cecilia replied easily.

"I didn't want you to leave!" Clara admitted still embracing her friend tightly.

Her words touched Cecilia. Her friend hadn't been trying to get rid of her at all. Their friendship had been real.

"James!" Clara called out sharply. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Abe chuckled and gave James a look that said, "I told you and now I'm going to enjoy this."

Cecilia was caught aback by Clara's demand.

James just started to shrug off his jacket and walk into the kitchen. "James! If you don't tell me, Cecilia will!" Clara threatened. Cecilia couldn't keep from laughing.

"It's a long story, Clara. And it was a long trip."

Abe followed James into the kitchen and Clara conceded the point. "Of course! Well, dinner's more or less ready, and there's a bottle of wine open too."

Abe, James, and Cecilia circled around the kitchen island. James reached for the open bottle of chenin blanc, but Clara pulled it out of reach.

"Oh, come off it! Clara! We had a long flight. Let me have a glass of wine now that we're home." James complained, looking a tad miffed. Clara was already ahead of him though. She rummaged in the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Taittinger. "I agree, James. But if I'm right and Cecilia is here for the reason I think she's here, then we should celebrate." She held the bottle like a sommelier, tilting it back and forth, tempting James with the dry bubbly.

James didn't like being the center of attention like this. He crossed his arms and leaned against the corian countertop. True to his word, Abe wasn't reining Clara in.

"What do you think we have to celebrate, Clara?" James inquired.

Cecilia watched as James's dominant energy was turned on Clara and sought to intercede. "Clara, there's no reason to open that. That looks like a special bottle..."

Clara smiled. "It is a special bottle." She turned back to James, looking serious. "Tell me. Can we open it?"

James relented. He pulled Cecilia over to him and put his arm around her affectionately. "Is this the answer you're looking for, Clara?"

The ballerina was about to answer when James pulled Cecilia close for a deep, romantic kiss, taking Cecilia's breath away as he demonstrated his ownership and desire, holding her close and making her momentarily forget their audience. That is, until a loud "POP!" interrupted them. Clara smiled mischievously as the bottle threatened to froth over.

"Good man!" Abe said slapping James on the back. "I'm happy for you both." He took the bottle from Clara as she broke out the Waterford flutes.

The last time they'd seen the crystal stemware, Clara was celebrating a promotion and Cecilia had realized that James and Abe did in fact, rescue her. It seemed fitting to celebrate this new chapter the same way.

Seeing that Abe had the libations in hand, Clara busied herself with setting the table for dinner and pulling a piping hot casserole dish out of the oven. "What is it Clara? It smells amazing." Cecilia was still blushing from James's kiss and wanted to divert attention from herself.

"Well, I thought we'd have some comfort food for James's return, since I'm sure he's tired of hotel fare; I made a Shepard's pie from scratch."

Clara set the dish on a cooling rack and took the flute Abe offered her. Abe raised his glass and the rest followed suit. "To homecomings!"

"Here! Here!" Clara chimed in.

James nodded and looked at Cecilia. Something smoldered in his gaze and Cecilia could feel another unspoken toast pass between them. James waited until she blushed again before responding, "Huzzah!"

The chorus of 'huzzahs' rang out and Clara rushed them to sit at the dinner table.

"I take it no packages have arrived then?" James asked as they passed the dish around the table.

"No. You've had quite a lot of mail, but no packages. Why do you ask?" Abe answered.

"Well, we shipped a good deal of Cecilia's things from her apartment back to London. If they had arrived you might have had an inkling who was coming with me."

"No. Not yet."

Clara was bored with this talk. "Alright, now that we're all settled I want to know how this happened."

Cecilia looked helplessly at James who looked to Abe. After laughing heartily, Abe responded. "I'm just as eager to know."

"Can't you control your wife, Abe?" James asked, mocking.

"Oh, I can. Make no mistake." Abe joked. He wasn't letting him off the hook. James had months of stubbornness to atone for.

James raised his hands in surrender. "Go on then, Cecilia. You can tell them."

Cecilia told an abridged version of her arrival in Philadelphia and James's confession and refusal to abandon her in her flat. James embellished with a few details, but was content to hear how Cecilia would describe his impulse to act on his long-buried feelings.

Abe observed Cecilia's obvious delight and James's quietly pleased demeanor, relieved that James came to his senses at last. They listened as Cecilia detailed their trip up the east coast to New York and Boston. Then Clara cut in: "Is that a new chocker Cecilia? I don't remember you wearing anything like that before."

Cecilia's blush told all as she struggled for words. James cast a look at Clara.

"It is new. While we were in New York . . ."

"I bought it for Cecilia as a gift." James saved Cecilia from answering further.

"And have you—?" Clara wanted to know more, but felt Abe's hand squeeze her thigh and restrained her enthusiasm. There would be more time for that later. "I just meant to say—it looks very chic."

Cecilia thanked her friend for the compliment and looked coyly at James, who returned her smile. She wasn't sure she was ready to reveal everything that happened on their trip.

Throughout dinner, Cecilia mulled over the changes she noticed in James since the start of their fledgling relationship. When she first woke in his house, James kept her at arm's length and didn't show any sign of feeling for her. Now she understood that her attempt to seduce James was actually closer to the mark than she'd thought; his poor reaction had been an attempt to maintain a plutonic relationship, which he believed would be for her benefit. As they grew closer in Philadelphia, New York, and finally Boston she felt him lower his guard and reveal his wicked sense of humor. But it was here, back at home, where she felt his warmth as he relaxed completely.

It was over dinner that Clara shared the good news that she'd been cast as Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire. It was something of a coup d'état that a new soloist was cast in a leading role, but Cecilia was delighted at her friend's success. Then Abe shared some of the different government departments he'd been called in to consult with.

"There is the matter of the blokes who tried to make off with you Cecilia."

"Oh?" She had pushed that unpleasantness to the outskirts in all the excitement. Remembering it made her chew on her lip and look down at her hands.

James clenched his jaw. "Don't tell me they got off?" His didn't bother to disguise his derision.

"No. As a matter of fact, it looks like they were linked to similar attempted abductions and drug trafficking. DCI Martin called me because he thought you'd want to know."

"Thank you. I suppose it's good. They won't be able to hurt anyone else now."

James nodded, his gaze icy. "Yes. I'm glad Martin tied that up nicely."

Abe agreed. Clara didn't want to dwell on this dark business. "So should I reserve you three some tickets to Streetcar? We can make an evening of it."

James brightened. "That sounds lovely Clara. What say you, Cecilia?"

"I'd love to, if it's not too late to get tickets."

"Not at all. I'd love for you to come," Clara replied.

"And Cecilia, do you still want to come to my last performance?" James asked. "I did promise you, but you must be sick of hearing the same pieces over and over."