The Night Watchman

Seconds later the door opened, and a pretty little girl with ribbons in her hair and wearing a party dress appeared.

"Happy birthday, Annabelle!" Donna said as she bent down.

"I know you!" the little girl said with a smile.

"Yes, you do, and I know you, too," Donna told her.

"Today is my birthday!"

"Yes. Yes, it is. And I brought this for you."

"A present? For me?"

"Yes. For you," Donna said with a smile just as her father came to see who it was.

"Donna. I'm so glad you could join us. Please come in," he told her.

As she stood up, she could tell he was looking at her while trying to make it seem like he wasn't.

"And...wow!" Chad said when it was appropriate to go ahead and take a quick look at her.

He was wearing a very nice shirt and a pair of gabardine pants which looked great on him, and today his hair wasn't as formally combed, and that only made him look even better to her.

As she stepped inside, she said, "Thank you, and 'wow!' back. Oh, and this is for Annabelle."

Chad accepted the gift but told her that wasn't necessary.

"Nonsense! I'd never come to a birthday party and not bring a gift."

"Well, that's very kind of you. And your sister just texted me and said she'd be here in a few minutes. So please come in and meet the other guests."

Donna could hear a lot of laughter and conversation, and when she got to the very spacious living room, she saw at least a dozen adults and what looked like twice as many children.

Several of the women were wearing dresses and not one of them was in jeans. That let Donna relax knowing she was at least 'in the ball park' as far as wearing the right thing was concerned.

Chad told her that many of the guests were parents of children Annabelle had gone to Pre-K with the year before. She couldn't be sure, but it felt like most of the parents were closer to her age than Chad's—whatever that might be.

Someone who looked a lot like Chad made his way over to them, and before he could be introduced, he stuck out his hand and said, "You must be Donna."

"I...I am," she said with a smile as Chad laughed.

"Donna? This is my brother, Chet. He obviously knows your name, but Chet, this is indeed Donna."

"Dang, girl! You're even more beautiful than my brother said you were," the younger version of Chad told her. He wasn't quite as attractive as his older brother, but it was obvious he was the more outgoing of the two.

The doorbell rang again and Annabelle hollered out the same thing.

"That's probably Donna's sister," Chad said as he excused himself.

"Don't worry. I won't steal her away from you the minute you turn your back, bro!" Chet told his brother.

"I take it you're not married?" Donna asked rather than asking what he meant by 'stealing her away'.

"Me. No. Never. Well, never say never, but I don't see that happening for many, many years to come," Chet told her with a huge amount of confidence.

"You never know, right?" Donna replied with a smile.

"Right. Not all of us can find the perfect woman when we're 22 years old," Chet said with a laugh.

"Is it fair to assume you mean Chad's wife?" Donna asked very carefully.

"It is. And she was...amazing. Just such a tragedy. They were so different and yet so perfect for each other and then...she was gone."

"I don't know how she...passed away...but it breaks my heart that she did. Not just for Chad but for Annabelle, too."

"She was in the Air Force, too. Both of them were cops. Security forces. You know, like military police in the Army."

"Oh. Okay," Donna said, not knowing the differences or the similarities.

"Annabelle was only nine months old when Cara, Chad's wife, got sent to Afghanistan for a three month deployment to provide security in Kabul. She'd only been there six weeks when one of the Afghani soldiers, who are supposed to be on our side, opened fire on a group of US servicemen. He killed two people and wounded four others. Cara was one of the two who didn't make it."

"Oh, my...God!" a shocked Donna said as she covered her mouth just as she heard her sister's voice.

"There she is!" Donna heard Deanne call out, forcing her to turn her way.

Chad brought her over and introduced her to Chet with a warning to his brother that she was a married woman.

"Not that that'll stop this guy," Chad said with a 'you know what I mean' kind of look.

"I don't hit on every married woman," Chet said as though he'd just been offended. "Only the hot ones. Like Deanne."

"Oh! Well...hit away, handsome!" she replied with a laugh.

Donna knew her sister would never, ever cheat on her husband. It was equally obvious that the two younger, more gregarious siblings had just hit it off, and within seconds Chet was taking her around to meet the other adults in the room.

Once they were 'alone' again, Chad told Donna how glad he was to see her.

"I'm very happy to be here," she told him as she noticed him 'looking' at her again.

"I knew from seeing you in the formal gown you wore the first time I saw you that you were a beautiful woman, but you look absolutely stunning."

Donna's heart went pitter-patter as she thanked him (and her sister) for the compliment.

"Listen. I was hoping maybe you and I could, you know, talk for a bit after the party. If you don't need to get back right away."

"No. I...I'd like that, Chad," she told him as they made eye contact, contact that sent a tingle down her back.

"If you'll excuse me, I should get things started. Do you mind?"

"No. Please. Go right ahead," she told him.

Chad got everyone's attention, thanked them all for coming, then surprised Donna by mentioning her by name.

"For those of you who don't know the beautiful redhead in white is..."

He smiled at her and paused for everyone to look before continuing.

"That is Miss Donna Hartley, the woman who is going to be in charge of the restoration of one of the most famous paintings in the world."

"The Rembrandt!" someone Donna hadn't met said.

"Yes. Exactly," Chad said.

He looked over at Donna again, smiled at her, then said, "I've mentioned the painting to pretty much everyone, and I may have mentioned the beautiful woman who will be its guardian a time or two, as well."

"A time or two? More like two hundred times!" Chet called out, drawing some polite laughter.

"Can you blame me?" Chad said as he held his arm out in Donna's direction.

Her pitter-patter had increased to a race as she smiled at everyone hoping that would be the last of the commentary about her. But alas, Deanne made sure that wasn't the case.

"Two hundred? That's about how many times she's mentioned you to me, Chad!" she said in her outdoor voice.

Donna hadn't blushed since high school, and although she didn't 'flame on', she felt her cheeks getting very close to matching the color of her hair in a matter of seconds.

"Good to know!" Chad said to Deanne as he winked at Donna, something that only caused the crimson glow to deepen.

For the next two hours, Donna joined in the celebration by playing games, helping cut and pass out cake while Chad dispensed 'ous' cream, then watching the birthday girl open presents.

As guests began saying goodbye, Chad reminded her he'd very much like her to stay.

"Oh. Okay. Sure," she said. "I can help you clean up."

Chad smiled at her then said, "That wasn't what I had in mind," before turning toward someone else who was getting ready to leave.

Deanne left soon after but told her sister something just before she did that made her shake her head.

"Strike while the iron's hot, Donna!"

"Someone needs to strike your head with an iron!" her sister shot back as though the suggestion was ridiculous.

All Deanne said back was, "Okay. If you say so. But...good luck!"

When the only sound in the apartment was Annabelle playing with her new things, Donna began gathering up wrapping paper when Chad asked her what she was doing.

"Cleaning up, of course," she said without stopping.

Chad joined in and in a few minutes the floor was free of ribbons, bows, and paper.

"Can we maybe talk?" he asked as he filled a plastic trash bag before tying it off and setting it out to be thrown away.

"Um...sure," Donna said, that flutter in her heart back again.

"I'm a very quiet person, Donna. And I'm rarely direct. But there are times when being indirect just won't cut it, and I think this is one of those times."

"It is?" a somewhat wide-eyed 40-year old woman replied.

"Can we sit down?" Chad asked as he gently put a hand in the middle of her lower back to guide her toward the couch.

Once she'd taken a seat, Chad sat across from her.

"I...I just wanted to say that I've never met anyone quite like you before," he began.

Donna was sitting up straight, her knees together, and her hands in her lap.

"I loved my wife dearly and always will. But we were opposites. In many ways. They say 'opposites attract' and while I wouldn't trade one day of my life with her for anything, I think it's better when two people share as many things in common as possible."

"You do?"

Another two-word response was all Donna was able to come up with.

"I do," Chad told her with a smile that made her tummy flip flop.

"I want to confess something else here, too, before I go any farther."

Chad smiled at her then said, "I knew you weren't married, but I didn't know whether or not you were seeing someone, so I asked your sister."

"I see," Donna replied very quietly, her mouth feeling dry and her heart still racing.

"I got the impression from Mr. Dumond that the two of you might, you know, be...an item."

"David said that?" a very surprised Donna asked.

"No. Not in so many words. But my sense is he has...a thing...for you. I just needed to be sure there wasn't...any...thing between you two other than work."

He hesitated for a moment then continued his quasi-direct approach.

"What I'm saying, and maybe not doing such a good at, is that, well, as I said in my text, I like you, Donna. And I like you very much."

She didn't say anything, so Chad said, "You look surprised."

"I...you...when I texted you back, you didn't..."

"I'm sorry about that. I did read your reply. Several times," he told her with a smile. "But when you didn't say you felt the same way, I assumed you didn't. Feel that way. But I do, and I guess I'm directly asking you in an indirect kind of way, if you have any such feelings for me. At all."

There was a boyishly hopeful look on his very handsome face, and Donna's heart was now pounding in her chest as she realized her sister was right.

"I...I do...Chad. I...I just don't understand," she began, her eyes open a little wider than usual and a confused look on her face.

"I have to say I don't understand," he told her. "We both love art. We both love classical music. And maybe I misread something, but it honestly seemed to me like you...enjoyed my company. Am I wrong?"

Now it was Chad whose eyes were open wide and whose eyebrows were high in expectation.

"No. You're...you're not wrong. I...do enjoy your company."

"But?"

"But? No. There's no 'but'. I do. Enjoy your company."

"There's something you're not telling me, Donna," Chad said rather quietly.

She looked at her hands for several seconds then finally looked at Chad again before asking him, "Do you, do you know how old I am?"

"Oh. Okay," he replied with a smile and almost a laugh. "No. I don't."

"I don't know your age, either," Donna said as though that would explain everything.

"I'm 27," Chad told her immediately and so matter of factly it surprised her.

"Is that bad?" he asked as she tried to collect her thoughts.

"No. I...I don't think so, anyway," she said, feeling almost sick to her stomach to have her worst fears confirmed.

"Are you 35 or something?" he asked very politely.

"Thirty...five?" Donna repeated with disbelief in her voice.

"Sorry. I guessed high because you seem to be worried about my being younger than you, and..."

"Wait. You guessed...high?"

Donna's little head shake told Chad he was missing something.

He tilted his head a bit then asked her if she was trying to tell him she was older than that.

"Yes," came the one-word reply. "And that's why, as much as I like you, Chad, I can't imagine you still feeling the way you do now that you know."

The way he smiled at her sent chills through her. When he stood up and walked over to her and asked if he could sit beside her, her body trembled.

He sat down and turned her way then looked right at her.

"Donna? I've only felt like this about one other woman. A woman I fell in love with and married. Since I lost her, I've wanted to find someone who shares my passions. But it's been difficult. I started thinking I might never meet anyone who did. Well, let me be more precise. I never thought I'd meet a woman as beautiful as you who loved what I love."

She tried to speak, but the saliva in her mouth was even thicker than her tongue and nothing came out.

"I don't want to miss out on the possibility of being happy again, Donna. And no one has made me feel like that since Cara was alive."

He smiled warmly as he slowly reached up and gently brushed her long, silky hair out of the way then said, "You make me feel like that."

Donna's heart had raced before but never so fast that it scared her. It was out of control, and her mind was a mass of gray goo, unable to think or speak or even move.

"Like this," Chad said as he leaned in to kiss her.

Her eyes had been locked with his, and he saw them moving a thousand miles an hour back and forth between his. That told him what her mouth couldn't. And when his lips met hers, her eyes closed and Donna Hartley kissed him back.

When the kiss ended, Donna opened her eyes, and the first words she spoke were, "I don't even know your last name."

Chad did his best not to laugh as he told her it was Morris.

"Like the cat."

Donna's face was still expressionless so he said, "In the commercials. For cat food. Back in the day."

"Oh. Yes. I remember," she heard herself say. "Chad. Morris."

"That's me," he told her, another smile on his handsome face.

"I'm...40," Donna blurted out but rather quietly as her eyes never moved from his.

"Is that your middle name?" Chad teased with a very straight face.

"What? My...my middle name?" a bewildered Donna asked.

"Sorry. I was trying to lighten the mood, and that didn't come across the way I..."

Before he finished his sentence, Donna suddenly kissed him. Softly at first then harder and more passionately. Out of control, she offered the tip of her tongue, and when he responded, she offered more.

When he then suddenly pulled away, it took her several seconds to realize why. He wasn't offended, and it wasn't too much too soon. It was due to the giggles coming from the newest five-year old girl in Chicago.

"Dad-dy!" Annabelle said, a smile on her face.

"Yes, honey?" her father said as though nothing was going on.

"I saw you guys kissing!"

Donna felt awful. She was deeply embarrassed and wanted to run, but that ended when Annabelle came over and asked if she could sit on Donna's lap.

"Yes. Yes, of course," she said as the little girl let her pick her up and her head began to clear.

She turned her head around and looked up then asked, "Do you love my daddy, too?"

Chad again tried not to laugh when he saw Donna's eyes get wide as she looked down at his daughter.

"Well. We...we uh, we just..."

"We like each other, honey," Chad told her.

He looked at Donna then added, "A lot."

"Oh. Okay," she said before sliding off and reaching for Donna's hand.

"Do you want to play with me?" the five-year old asked in a way that made Donna tear up in an instant.

"Yes. I would love to play with you," she told her.

"Come on!" Annabelle said as she pulled on her arm. "I'll show you all of my new toys and dolls, okay?"

As she stood up, Donna mouthed the words, "Are you coming?" to Chad who said, "You go on ahead. I'll be in in a few minutes, okay?"

He turned to watch them leave, and as they walked away, he said to himself, "You don't know it yet, Donna Hartley, but I'm going to marry you."

He gave the 'girls' ten minutes before joining in. In that time he heard laughter and the kind of happy talk that made him...happy.

"Are boys allowed to come in?" he asked when he got to Annabelle's room.

"Yes!" his sweet little girl said as she patted the area next to her on the floor.

"We have to save the zebras, Daddy. You wanna help me?"

"You better believe it!" he told her as he put an arm around her.

When he looked at Donna he saw her wiping a tear from her eye, and when she noticed, her smile told him it was a tear of happiness.

They not only saved the zebras but several other animals before the adults had another opportunity to talk and get better acquainted.

"Feeling better about this?" Chad asked as they sat side by side on the sofa.

Donna told she was then shared what her sister told her to do.

"Gather information, eh?" Chad repeated after she explained. "Is it working?"

"There's still so much to learn, but so far? Yes. It's definitely working," Donna told him.

"What more can I tell you today?" Chad asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't exactly have a list. I think I just needed to know that you wouldn't run for the hills when you found out how old I am."

"Donna, you're not old. You're beautiful. And smart. You're talented and have this amazing ability to restore works of art. And after watching you with Annabelle, I can see what a warm, loving person you are, too."

He reached for hand then said, "I can't imagine ever meeting anyone as amazing as you, Donna."

"But don't you need to...gather information, too?" she asked.

"Good point," Chad said very seriously before asking a question even more seriously.

"Cubs or White Sox?"

"What?" Donna a very confused Donna Hartley replied.

"Well, most of the people who live in this part of the city are Cubs' fans."

Chad looked into her eyes then said, "Just not me. I've been a White Sox fan for as long as I can remember. So...were you to tell me your a Cubby, I think this would be over before it got started."

It took Donna a moment or two to realize he was kidding, at least about this being over, and then she recalled how she'd used that very question before as a way to rule out any man who was heavily into baseball.

"Maybe I do like the Cubs," Donna told him with an air of snobbishness, as she decided to play along. "Are you saying that would create some kind of 'house divided'?"

"Oh, wow," Chad said as he rubbed his chin as though he were in deep contemplation.

"Are you really a Cubs kind of gal?" he asked just as seriously as before.

"Considering how I know almost nothing about baseball, I would say I'm a...blank slate? Not that I want to know anything about it."

"I have season tickets to the White Sox games. The season will be over soon, but I'd like you to go to a game with me this week."

"You know I don't like baseball, and yet you're asking me to to a baseball game with you?"

"I'm...gathering information," Chad told her with a smile.

"But what if I hate it?"

"You won't," he told her with such confidence it made her laugh.

Donna looked at him for a second, smiled, then said, "Okay. I'll try it. Once."

She smiled back at him then said, "For you. For your information gathering."

"Yeah?" Chad replied as he moved closer.

"Yes. I'll go to a game with you."

"I'm glad," he told her quietly before kissing her softly.

As he pulled away he also said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Donna told him as she looked at this younger man, barely able to believe he felt about her the way she felt about him.

That week they saw each other several times with two of them being at the gallery at night as Donna began putting her observations down on paper. It wasn't easy, though, as a certain security guard stood behind her with his arms around her as she tried to concentrate.