There's Always Tomorrow (Immortal Series) (28 page)

“By a bunch,”
she retorted.

“What?” he
asked.
 
“Never mind.
 
We’re bound to have different
interests.
 
I’ll try to be more
patient.
 
Since you’ve become
pregnant, you’re a lot more sensitive and touchy.”

“Well, that’s a
hateful thing to say, Tony.
 
I
don’t feel well and you say I’m touchy and unreasonable.”

“I did not say
you were unreasonable.
 
But now
that you mention it …”

“Oh, Tony.
 
You don’t love me anymore,” she bawled.

“Oh, for
Christ’s sake,” he shouted, as he banged his forehead against the padded
steering wheel.
 
The pain it
inflicted made him feel better, even while acknowledging he would have to sweet
talk Sophie back to a calmer state of mind.

“Sweetheart…darling…my
precious.
 
I love you more than
anything in this entire world.
 
You
know that.
 
I’m simply not that
good with words.
 
It’s hard to
express myself.
 
I’m just a
man.
 
Can’t you cut me some slack,
sugar?”
 
He turned his dark eyes
toward his wife, silently pleading for mercy.

Sophie had an
unusual way of looking at things; that was true.
 
But she also, was not stupid.
 
She looked directly at Tony.
 
“Humpf,” she snorted.
 
“What a line.
 
Did you think
that would really work?
 
Did you
expect me to melt into a puddle of goo when you turned those big, sad puppy dog
eyes on me?
 
You’re absolutely
clueless when it comes to women, especially pregnant ones.
 
I’ll try harder to keep my hormones in
check.
 
You try not to be so much
of a man.”
 
She wiped her eyes with
the back of her hand, and within a minute, she was fast asleep.

“Women,” he
mumbled, softly.

* * *

They’d been on
the road for three days, and were starting to make progress.
 
After Elephant Rock, there had been no
more drama, no more fits of anger, and no more bouts of crying.
 
Both Tony and Sophie were starting to
relax and enjoy the strange and beautiful scenery.

One afternoon,
a thought came to Sophie.
 
She
realized she knew nothing of Tony’s last wife.
 
He’d never even mentioned her name.

“Tony?”

“Hmmm?”
 
Tony had been thinking about the caves
and the healing waters he expected to find, once they reached New Mexico.
 
His thoughts were miles away from the
car and his passenger sitting beside him.

“How many times
have you been married?”

Tony’s brow
wrinkled.
 
What on earth would
cause Sophie to ask that?
 
Her mind
was a fascinating thing.
 
“I told
you, sweetheart.
 
You’re my fifth
and last wife.”

“You told me
all about Penelope and Silver Leaf.
 
You told me all about Renee, from New Orleans.
 
I met Bea, but you never married her, or that other girl.
 
You know, the one from Chicago?
 
Who did you leave out?”

Tony
sighed.
 
It was probably the
hardest of all to remember this marriage.
 
His lovely Marissa haunted his dreams to this day.
 
At times, he thought he could hear her
thoughts.
 
That was ridiculous, of
course, but the sound of her gentle voice echoed in his mind.
 
It wasn’t fair to Sophie, to keep the
identity of someone, so important, from her, nor was it fair not to speak of
Marissa, as if she never existed.
 
He just wished it didn’t hurt so very much.

With his eyes
never leaving the road, Tony answered.
 
“Her name was Marissa, and she was the sweetest woman I’d ever
known.
 
She was smart and funny.
 
Kind of like you, darling.”
 
He glanced at Sophie and smiled.
 
She was listening, intently, to his story.

“We met in
1948.
 
I hadn’t been with a woman
since I’d left Bea.
 
One morning, a
lovely, chubby redhead, ran into my brand new Kurtis sports car.
 
For me, it was love at first
sight.
 
I asked her if she was
hurt.
 
You see…the woman wasn’t
driving another vehicle.
 
She was
on foot, and she literally ran into the side of my car, as she was sprinting
across the street.
 
A boxer was
chasing her.”

“Why would a
boxer be chasing a woman?
 
Did she
bet against him or something?”
 
Sophie was obviously confused.

“Not a
boxer
,
Sophie.
 
She was being chased by a
dog.
 
Marissa had been raised in
foster homes.
 
Some of the dogs
were used for guarding the property.
 
They weren’t always pets.
 
She was afraid of them.
 
She’d had a tough time of it, but she never complained.
 
She never let me complain, either.

“I never told
her about my problem.
 
It just
never seemed to come up, somehow.
 
Even when James Michael was born, I never told her that I’d live to see
him grow into an old man.”

“You had a son
with her?
 
That’s wonderful,
Tony.
 
Can I meet him?
 
Gee, just think.
 
He’s an old man, now.”
 
Sophie’s turquoise eyes were huge.
 
“Why haven’t you told me about James?”

Tony’s features
were anything but happy and wondrous.
 
He’d suddenly grown sullen.
 
“Because I don’t know where he is, or even if he’s alive.
 
They disappeared.”

No one spoke
for several minutes.
 
Tony was
obviously dealing with some demons from his past.
 
Finally, he tried to explain.

“It was my
birthday, June 1st, 1950.
 
Marissa
wanted to surprise me with a puppy.
 
I’d always wanted one, but with her fear of dogs, I’d given up on the
idea.
 
She thought it would be nice
for the baby to grow up with a cute, friendly dog.
 
She went to the store and purchased a dog bed, a collar, and
some food.
 
She picked up a cake,
from the local bakery.
 
Her
girlfriend had offered to go with her and help watch James, but she said she
was running late and needed to hurry.

“I waited until
ten o’clock that evening.
 
No one
had heard from them.
 
I paced the
floor, until I couldn’t take it any longer.
 
I called the police.
 
They found her car in a ditch, more than nine miles from our house.
 
She was gone.
 
James was gone.
 
But that damn puppy was nestled all snug in a box, in the back
seat.
 
Her purse hadn’t been stolen
and there was no blood.
 
My wife
and son just disappeared.”

“Oh, my God,
Tony.
 
Where did they go?”

“Hell,
Sophie.
 
If I knew where they went,
do you think I’d be here with you?”

As soon as the
hateful words left his mouth, Tony knew he’d done great harm to Sophie.
 
He was such a shit, sometimes.
 
Under great stress, he could always be
counted on to piss someone off, or crush them with his words.

Sophie felt as
if she’d been struck.
 
Never had
Tony said anything so cruel.
 
If it
hadn’t been for the fact that he never found his wife and son, he wouldn’t have
married her.
 
How could she have
been so blind?
 
He was still
mourning his last wife.
 
She was
just a substitute.
 
Tony didn’t
love her the way she loved him.
 
How could he?
 
His last wife
was smart.
 
He’d said so.
 
Sophie was so hurt, she couldn’t even
respond.

“Sweetheart?”
Tony pleaded.
 
“I didn’t mean it
the way it sounded.
 
You know I’m
an ass.
 
I told you that from the
very beginning.
 
It just slipped
out.
 
Never finding out what
happened to them has stopped me from dealing with my loss.
 
You can understand that, can’t
you?”
 
He waited for the answer
that never came.

Tony looked for
the nearest exit off the highway.
 
He needed to pull off and stop the car, so he could hold his wife in his
arms.
 
She was hurting and it was
all his fault.

“Sophie,
darling.
 
Let me hold you,” Tony
begged.
 
He reached across the
seat, and Sophie came to him, willingly.
 
She was never one to hold a grudge.
 
The sweetness and purity of her soul, broke his heart.

“Sophie, you
are the reason I have the strength to go on.
 
My love for you is boundless.
 
I’ve loved all my wives, but you take a special place in my
heart.
 
There is only one Sophie,
and I’m proud to claim you as my own.
 
Please forgive my stupidity, sweetheart.”
 
Tears ran down Tony’s face, mixing with those of
Sophie’s.
 
He had never felt like
such a heel.
 
All the things he
professed were true.
 
He had loved
no other, the way he loved Sophie.

With a finger,
he tilted her beautiful face up to meet his.
 
Smiling, Tony touched her lips with his own, covering them
with tender kisses.
 
He hungered
for her love.

She moaned.

“Oh, my
darling.
 
Open for me,” he
whispered.
 
Tony slipped his tongue
into her warm, sweet mouth.
 
It was
heaven.
 
She was an angel and she
had gifted him with her love.
 
“Sophie,” he sighed, as he continued kissing her mouth, drowning in her
luscious splendor.

“Tony,” she
spoke, softly.
 
“If you say you
love me, I’ll believe you.
 
I have
no choice but to believe you are telling me the truth.
 
Without you, in my life, I would be
lost.
 
You’re a very special man
and I can’t help but love you.”
 
She hiccupped a few times and wiped her nose on a napkin she’d found in
the glove box.
 
“I’m all right,
now,” she sniffed.
 
“I wish you
were okay.
 
I am truly sorry about
Marissa and James.”

It was just
like Sophie to put aside her own grief and concentrate on the pain of
others.
 
She was priceless.

“I love you,
Sophie Barton.
 
I always will.”

“Can you tell
me more about Marissa?”
 
She wanted
to understand.
 
“I think you will
feel better if you talk about her.
 
Did the police find anything?”

“No,
sweetness.
 
I never heard anything
more.
 
I never got over it.
 
It just got easier, day-by-day.
 
I’ve learned to live with it.
 
It wasn’t until I met you, that I
wanted to live again.
 
You are a
complete joy.”

“Thank you,
Tony.
 
Do you have a picture of
your family?”
 
It had been 1950,
after all.
 
Surely, he had a photo.

“We had photos,
but I packed them away.
 
They’re in
boxes in the attic of the brownstone.
 
It’s funny.
 
Marissa was
normally, very private, but she insisted on publishing our wedding photo in the
New York Times.
 
We made the
society pages.
 
I remember she was
very proud of that.
 
She said
everyone would see us.”
 
He thought
back, picturing the photo in his mind’s eye.
 
She was so very lovely with her red hair and bright eyes.

Clearing his
throat, he sat up straight, and reconnected his seatbelt.
 
“Okay, sugar.
 
Time is wasting.
 
If we don’t put some miles behind us, we’ll never get to the giant ice
cream cone.
 
You still want to see
it, right?”

“Oh, yes,
Tony.
 
It’s the world’s biggest,”
chirped a very happy Sophie.
 
She
had bounced back and was, once again, the happy, cheerful, precious woman he’d
fallen head over heels in love with.

“Hold on to
your hat.
 
We’re off,” he said,
excitedly.