The Night Watchman

When she complained he moved around in front of her and kissed then asked if that was any better. Donna set her pen and paper down and kissed him back; a kiss that lasted for a very long time before Chad told her he needed to go finish his rounds right then or he might not finish them at all.

She had dinner at his place that Thursday which turned into playing games with Annabelle, and by the time she went home around midnight, Donna knew she was falling for the handsome security guard with the beautiful little girl.

The two of them were burning up their phones texting back and forth, and at some point the texts got a little racy. Donna loved the way Chad was able to used double entendre and innuendo without being crass. And as the raciness got hotter and hotter, Donna found herself getting well, wetter and wetter.

The night before the White Sox game, it got so intense she did something she'd never done and 'touched herself' as they texted. It wasn't just touching, though. It was the most unusual and amazing and mind-blowing thing she'd ever done not involving a man who was physically with her.

As they rode in a cab to the game that Saturday afternoon, Chad confessed to having done that himself. Rather than embarrassment, Donna let him know she'd done the same and suddenly felt closer to him than she'd ever felt to any man before. As they sat in the backseat together holding hands, she put a hand on his face, moved closer, then whispered, "We could do that again tonight only without the texting."

"Yeah?" Chad replied with a big smile on his face.

"If it's not too soon," Donna said, giving him a way out.

"I've been ready since I saw you at Annabelle's party," he told her.

"I see," Donna replied with a smile of her own. "I kind of thought you were when you were standing behind me in front of the Rembrandt."

She laughed then said, "Either that or your gun was in a very unusual place."

Chad laughed, too, then told her he was hoping she hadn't noticed.

"How could I not notice? You have a very big...gun."

When he told her, "All the better to...love you with, my dear," Donna laughed happily and kissed him then curled up beside him until they got to the park.

Chad did his best to explain the game to her as it unfolded, and Donna made a serious effort to learn. But her mind was elsewhere, and that made it very hard to concentrate. Even so, the truth was, she enjoyed being with him so much she promised she'd go with him again.

Chet spent the night at his brother's place watching his niece, and Chad spent his night at Donna's where she learned for sure that he was good in bed. To her delight, he wasn't just good. He was downright amazing, and she couldn't think of a single thing more she needed to know about him. There was plenty more to learn, it just felt like none of it mattered—barring him being a 'closet serial killer' or the like.

As they lay in bed together after a second round of passion, Donna asked him about his job.

"Ah, yes. How is it a guy who works as a security guard can live where I live," he said with a smile.

"No! I...don't care what you do," she told him even as she realized she finally didn't care. But yes, she was curious even though that wasn't why she asked.

"When Cara died, I ended up with, well, a whole lot of money," he began explaining.

From there he further explained that when someone died in a combat zone the way Cara had, and assuming the person killed had the full amount of Serviceman's Group Life Insurance, the beneficiary received a half million dollars, all told.

"I left the service a few months later and Annabelle and I moved home with my mom and dad. The money was just sitting in a credit union savings account, and my dad suggested I do something with it. He's been a general contractor since I was born, and he's always wanted to flip houses. So I invested in him just as the market was really heating up. He turned one old house around in four months and let's just say I got a huge return on my investment. One house became two, two became three, and now we're flipping 4-5 at any given time and my dad oversees them with his project managers do the work. We split the profits and he's never been happier."

"That's incredible. I've always enjoyed house flipping shows. I just didn't know the average person could do it," Donna said.

She waited a few seconds then realized he hadn't answered the question.

"Oh. Right. Sorry. I took the job with the Art Institute so I could get a chance to see the Rembrandt up close as many times as possible. It's just a temporary thing and that's the only reason I took it."

He rolled over on top of Donna, smiled at her then let her know that because he had taken the meaningless job he'd found something more valuable and meaningful than any painting or work of art.

"I found...you."

Donna teared up again and told him how thankful she was that he had.

"I still can't believe you lo...like me so much," she said.

"You can use the 'L' word, Donna, because...I do love you."

Chad was so serious and so sincere it turned the welling up in her eyes into a flood of tears.

"I love you, too," she told him through those tears. "And I love that beautiful little girl of yours, too."

"And she loves you, Donna. And who knows? Maybe she'll be 'ours' one of these days."

"Nothing would make me happier," his beautiful, older girlfriend told him before she reached for him and guided him back inside of her.

*****

Two Weeks Later

"So what other ideas do you have that would let me learn more about you?" Donna said after Chad asked her if she really enjoyed watching his White Sox.

She told him she had with the qualification that she still didn't understand the game all that well. He assured her there was plenty of time to do so beginning next Spring.

"Oh, so does that mean we'll still be together then?" Donna teased.

"We better be," Chad told her with a serious look that made her laugh. "But to answer your question, I do have another idea."

"I take it this won't be a classical music concert?"

"No, but it'll be close," Chad replied. "But for this one you'll need to wear some jeans and a tee-shirt."

He looked over at her then asked just as seriously, "Do you even own a pair of jeans?"

"I have jeans!" she said with faux indignation.

"Great! Then wear 'em this Friday night when I come to pick you up."

"That's it? That's the only hint I get?"

"Okay. I'll give you one more," Chad told her. "Ask me the same question again."

Donna played along, and this time Chad said as southern as he could, "Yup. That's all I'm gonna tell you, little lady."

"Okay. That didn't help. At all," she replied with a little pout that made him laugh.

"Be patient, okay?" was all he'd tell her even when she tried getting 'frisky' to get more information.

Chad showed up that Friday wearing jeans and cowboy boots with a large box in one hand and a dozen roses in the other.

"What in the world is going on," Donna asked after thanking him for the flowers.

"Take a look," Chad told her as he set the box on the kitchen countertop.

"I'm almost afraid to," Donna said as she gingerly raised the lid.

"What...is...this?" once she looked inside.

Chad reached in and held it up then told her, "It's yours," as he placed the pink cowboy hat on her head.

He reached back in and held up another and said, "And this one is mine."

Even in a Stetson, Chad looked amazing to her, and Donna didn't bat and eye when he told her they were going line dancing at his favorite country bar in the city.

"So...they'll be playing country music there," Donna said without any hint of enthusiasm.

But when Chad stuck his thumbs in his belt around a huge buckle she hadn't noticed and said in a southern accent, "You got that right, little lady!" Donna laughed.

"Do I look as ridiculous as you?" she asked after putting her arms around his neck.

"If by 'ridiculous' you mean incredibly handsome...then yes!" he told her.

Before she could say anything he picked her up, spun her around then set her down and started leading her around her fairly small living room.

"Okay! Stop!" she said once she was able to quit laughing.

Chad held out an elbow which Donna looked at for a second or two before taking it. Once she did, she told him, "You're lucky I'll go anywhere with you."

Chad tipped his hat and told her in his Southern accent, "I shore 'nuff am!"

When he added a loud, "Yee-haw!" as he opened the door, Donna knew she not only loved him, she was sure she was in love with him, and that she really would go anywhere as long as he was with her.

Unlike baseball, Donna picked up line dancing in no time. The club offered a short class for beginners, and within an hour, she was good enough that Chad told her she was turning him on just by turning around.

"Are you sayin' you like my saddle, cowboy?" Donna said, trying to do a country accent herself. It was awful and made no sense, but she was actually quite good. Her body was also that good and just the way she moved really was working magic on the 'horn' of Chad's saddle.

He laughed and told her he loved her saddle. And her stirrups and everything else, none of which made any more sense than what she'd said, but Donna didn't care. She was having more fun than she could ever remember having, and doing so while line dancing, something she would have never done in a million years had a gorgeous, young cowboy not come along and swept her off her feet.

Donna got to meet Chad's parents, who lived nearly four hours away in Springfield, the state capitol of Illinois, over the Christmas holidays. Chad told her several times they would love her, but until she actually met them, all she could imagine was getting the cold shoulder due to her being the 'older woman' who'd come along to take advantage of their son.

Within minutes, Donna realized that wasn't the case at all. Chad had talked to them many times about the older woman he'd fallen in love with and sent them quite a few photos of Donna. And once they met her and saw how open and friendly she was, they welcomed her with open arms. Even more importantly, they saw they way she looked at their son and how much she clearly loved their only granddaughter. By the time they left after the three-day visit, Donna knew she'd made two more friends for life.

When the Rembrandt finally came down off display, Chad's gig as a security guard ended, but his relationship with the head conservator-restorer at the Institute continued to grow.

Donna let him into her work area a couple of times to show him what she was doing. That he was as fascinated by the restoration as she was only made her love him even more. The fact that he enjoyed classical music and took her to several concerts was for her what Chad had called 'the icing on the cake'.

During early March, which Donna learned was spring training for baseball players, she accepted Chad's offer to move in with her, and it was hard to tell who was the happiest of the new trio. Annabelle already thought of Donna as her 'mom' even though she still called her by her given name, and Donna loved her like she was her own.

March 26, 2020

"This is the earliest opening day in baseball history," Chad excitedly told Donna as she bundled up for the ball game.

The White Sox played at Guaranteed Rate Field, a name that made Donna laugh due to its obvious commercial nature. But even in the cold of a raw Chicago afternoon, her heart was warmed by having the two people she loved the most sitting on either side of her. For much of the game, Annabelle alternated between her lap and her daddy's, and Donna loved every second of the time they shared.

She was freezing by the 7th-inning stretch, and enthusiastically singing 'Take me out to the Ballgame' helped a little. But it was what happened after they sat back down that warmed it unlike anything ever had.

"Take a look, honey," Chad said as he pointed to the closed-circuit TV monitor.

"Oh, my..." she said.

"Daddy! That's us!" Annabelle said.

"Huh. Your father must know someone here," he said as the camera honed in on them.

"Chad? What...what are you doing?" Donna asked when he stood up then got down on one knee on front of her.

"Do you have the box, sweetie?" he asked Annabelle.

It was zipped into a jacket pocket, and her father had to help her get it out because her fingers were too cold to open it herself.

As Chad opened it, he saw the woman he loved crying.

"I haven't said anything yet," he teased.

Every eye in the stadium was on them, but Donna was only aware of one thing. The handsome man holding out a diamond ring who asked her to marry him.

When she said, "Yes!" the packed opening-day crowd burst into applause.

Chad stood up, took his fiancé's hand, then had her stand up, too.

"Smile, honey! All of Chicago is watching!" Chad told her as he picked up Annabelle and waved. Donna did, too, showing off the beautiful new ring for the camera.

"Kiss him, kiss him, kiss him!" the crowd chanted.

Once Donna realized that meant her, she did just that and kissed Chad in front of 40,000 cheering fans.

"I love you so much!" Chad hollered over the noise.

"I love you, too!" Donna told him as they waved one last time before melding back into the crowd.

On the ride home Donna finally warmed up. Chad had his arm around her and asked her if she like baseball any better.

She smiled at him then told him, "I'm...warming up to it."

"That's okay. You don't have to like everything I do," he told her before giving her a kiss.

"No, but I want to share every part of your life with you, honey, and if freezing my tushy off at a White Sox game is what it takes to be near you, then I'll be at every game right beside you."

Donna had never seen Chad tear up, but as he looked at her in the white stocking hat she was still wearing, he told her, "I kept hoping I'd eventually find someone to love. I just never imagined she'd be as wonderful as you."

Donna snuggled up tighter then said, "I had this...idea...in mind for most of my life."

"Idea?" Chad asked.

"U-huh. Maybe more of an 'ideal' than an idea. Deanne is the one who helped me understand I was my own worst enemy when it came to finding someone to share my life with."

"Then I believe I owe your sister a huge debt of gratitude," Chad told her as he pulled her close.

"It's funny how I spent my life restoring works of art and never really thought about how badly my outlook on life needed a restoration of its own."

"Did I have anything to do with that?" Chad quietly asked.

She looked up at her fiancé, smiled happily then told him, "Yes. Everything. You were and are the very thing that restored me, sweetheart," before she kissed him and told him how much she loved him.

******

Chad finished his master's program in June and took a job with Baumgartner Fine Art and Restoration and Conservation across town from the Art Institute of Chicago where the woman he married the day after graduation still worked.

Donna Morris adopted their beautiful daughter later that summer, and to everyone's great delight, she learned that she was pregnant in August and shared the news with her new family during what else? A Chicago White Sox game.

Just before she turned 42, Donna gave birth to a second daughter, a beautiful little girl they named Emily Rose. The first day they brought her home, Donna watched her husband and their older daughter cooing over the new addition to their family. Once again, tears welled up in her eyes when she realized how lucky she'd been.

Had The Night Watch not been brought to Chicago when it had, there'd have been no handsome security guard and no Night Watchman there to see it—or to find her. But both things had happened, and as Donna sat there in a home filled with new love and new life, she too, felt as though her very life had been restored by the handsome younger man who loved her the way she'd always dreamed of being loved.