When Love's at Work (18 page)

“
Absolutely,” Bobby
replied, allowing Meg to play nurse to his invisible wound. He
could definitely get used to this.

“
Where the hell is he?”
Purity said as she paced in her office.

“
His plane got in hours
ago,” Sheila offered, realizing it would be of little help. “Maybe
he decided to take the rest of the day off or something. He’ll
probably be in tomorrow.”

Purity couldn’t wait any longer. She wanted
to know what he decided and she wanted to know now. Anything would
be better than waiting around for someone else to map out her
future. She turned her computer off and said to Sheila, “I’m going
over to his house.”

Sheila thought better of the idea, but saw
the look of determination on Pure’s face, so kept silent. As Sheila
returned to her desk, Alex McCallister stepped into Purity’s
office. Purity had her back to the door and thought the sound was
Sheila returning. “I mean, seriously, why hasn’t he called?”

“
Maybe he was waiting
until he had the information he needed before he called,” Alex
said.

Pure froze. She didn’t want to turn around.
Why did Alex always show up at the most inopportune times? And, why
in the hell did her heart beat faster and her stomach do those
silly flip-flops whenever he was around? Purity resumed breathing
and turned to face Alex. Damn he looked good. Can he possibly look
even better than the last time she saw him?

“
Hey,” she said, a bit too
breathily. Pure felt like her knees might give way, so she sat back
down in her office chair. “Long time, no see,” she said, trying to
sound nonchalant as she reached for a file folder from the large
stack on the left side of her desk. In her effort to seem
unflustered, she accidentally pushed the file folder pile a bit too
hard and they all went cascading toward the floor. Alex’s quick
reflexes went into action and he caught them mid-air. As he began
placing them back on Pure’s desk, Purity noticed that Alex’s
wedding ring was absent from his finger.

Joy shot through her like a spark igniting
gasoline. She didn’t care if she seemed too eager and she didn’t
care if he thought she was crazy, she jumped out of her chair,
scurried around the desk and threw herself into Alex’s arms.

The sudden impact thrusted Alex backward
into the chair Sheila had recently vacated.

“
What in the hell?” Alex
half-laughed, half-admonished.

“
You’re not wearing your
wedding ring any more,” Pure explained. “I’ve been waiting for days
and days and days and days,” Pure exaggerated. “I should have given
you a 24 hour time limit or made you make your choice on the spot
or,” Purity paused, “I don’t know. But, does this mean what I think
it means? Are you choosing me, Alex?” Purity’s hope-filled question
hung in the air.

“
Purity Indigo Zyetta,”
Alex began, “will you marry me?” Alex hadn’t planned to ask Pure
this way. He hadn’t planned to even pop the question for months.
They barely knew each other. The one thing he did know, with every
fiber in his being, was that he never wanted to be separated from
Purity again.

Purity grinned so wide she thought her head
would split right open. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” she exclaimed, and then
showered Alex’s face with enthusiastic kisses. “I love you,
Alex.”

“
I love you,
Purity.”

By this time, Purity was wrapped snugly in
Alex’s lap. He had one arm around her back and one arm resting on
her stomach. Pure wanted to remain in the moment as long as
possible. Nothing else seemed to matter. All thoughts of Callie had
been banished.

Purity took Alex’s left hand in hers and
gazed at the thin white stretch of flesh that the sun hadn’t seen
in twelve years.

“
Don’t get too used to not
wearing a wedding ring.”

“
Not a chance.” Alex
pulled her closer to him in a warm embrace. His heart felt light
and the burden he had been carrying on his shoulders appeared to
have lifted the minute Purity said yes to their life together.
Happiness had eluded him for far too long. When he looked in
Purity’s eyes, he saw his future clearly for the first
time.

Chapter Ten

At 6:15pm Courtney and Meg met Purity at her
office. The self-defense class Meggie had signed them up for was
being held at The Kids’ Place. When Meg told Purity, her response
had been, “Maybe I should read up on the programs offered here,
huh?”

The three women headed over to the building
where the class was taking place when Purity blurted out, “I’m
engaged!”

Shrieks of joy could be heard clear across
the parking lot. Heads turned, watching the friends exchange hugs.
Meg wanted all the details, as did Courtney.

“
I knew Alex was a good
guy,” Meg said.

“
Well, I have to say,
while I’m happy that both of you have men in your life, what in the
hell is wrong with me?” Courtney asked. “I’m funny. I’m hip. And, I
can be nice,” Court paused, “when I want to be.”

“
There’s nothing wrong
with you,” Purity assured her pal. “You just haven’t found the
right guy yet.”

“
Or girl,” Meg
added.

Purity’s eyebrows lifted in surprise, “Is
there something I don’t know about?”

“
No, I’m just saying…” Meg
answered, but was interrupted by Courtney.

“
I hate to disappoint any
deep-seated fantasies you might have about me being a lesbian, but
I’m not. I like men. Preferably dark-haired, athletic looking
men.”

“
I wasn’t trying to…” Meg
tried to explain herself when Purity interrupted.

“
She’s teasing you, Meg,”
Pure said.

They reached the entrance and walked single
file into the facility. They found the room assigned for the class
and were surprised to find Sheila Martin and Charlie Mankins were
leading it.

“
Are you presenting this
class?” Pure asked Sheila.

“
Hey, Purity. Yes, I’m
presenting the class. I didn’t know you were going to participate.”
Sheila motioned to Charlie to join her as she greeted Pure and her
friends.

Introductions were made all around and
Purity remembered that Charlie was the teenager that attended the
meeting in Texas with Alex.

“
You never told me you
taught self-defense classes,” Purity said.

“
You never asked,” Sheila
replied.

True enough, Pure thought.

Tapestry waved at her friends and said, “I
saved you seats.” The women sat down as the class began.

The class was excellent and all four women
learned a lot. They especially enjoyed the hands-on techniques. Meg
definitely took a bit too much pleasure dumping Courtney on her
butt when she was role-playing being Meg’s attacker.

When it became Purity’s turn, Charlie donned
the attacker’s padded suit and attempted to grab Pure around the
neck. Purity felt the air in her lungs thicken. Her heart was
racing and panic was quickly rising high in her throat. Her legs
and arms became numb. Charlie didn’t realize how terrified Pure was
and kept up his strangle hold. Purity began lashing about wildly.
Sheila recognized the look of alarm on Pure’s face and intervened,
making eye contact, using a firm tone and a calm demeanor.

It only took a few minutes for Pure’s
heartbeat to return to normal. Now she felt foolish. Like she had
overreacted.

Charlie apologized to Purity as Meg, Tap,
and Courtney surrounded their friend for support.

“
I felt like I couldn’t
breathe,” Pure paused. “This class is not going to be useless to me
if I can’t get past my fear. Can I try it again?”

“
Are you sure?” Sheila
asked, not wanting to put undue stress on Purity. She worked with
women in abusive relationships and experienced traumatic encounters
and knew that pushing someone before they were ready could be
detrimental to their healing process.

“
I’m sure,” Pure said with
dogged determination.

This time when Charlie made his attack, Pure
thought of Derek Worthington. The smirk on his face while his hands
were squeezing her throat, the way the weight of his body pinned
her in place so she couldn’t move freely under him and how he had
vowed, on more than one occasion, that he would return to finish
the job he had started.

A surge of terror, wrapped firmly in anger,
desperation and a desire to not be identified as a victim coursed
through her body in waves. Pure slammed her elbow hard into
Charlie’s ribs, then used the force of her body as she leaned
slightly forward and then thrust her body weight backward so her
head hit his chin, making him stumble backwards. She turned around
to face her attacker. She took the heel of her right hand and
shoved it straight into his nose as she screamed,
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” Charlie bent over to catch his breath and Purity
held both her hands tightly together as she raised them over her
head and then delivered the final blow directly on to Charlie’s
back. He fell to the floor like a ton of bricks.

The entire class cheered Pure’s victory. Her
friends knew it was not only a physical victory, but an emotional
one as well.

Purity hoped her newfound verve and skill
would enable her to fight against Derek when the time came. She
knew in her heart that it wasn’t a question of if the time came, it
was a question of when.

“
Want to see what I
learned today?” Pure asked as she and Alex were sitting in front of
his fireplace eating sandwiches and drinking fruit
smoothies.

“
Sure,” he said
lazily.

Before he knew it, Pure had him in a
headlock.

“
Tell me you love me,” she
said teasingly. “I won’t let you go unless you tell me.”

Alex tried to laugh, but Pure’s grip really
was tight.

“
I love you.”

“
Say it like you mean it,
McCallister,” Purity stated, tightening her grip
slightly.

“
I love you more than my
Porsche.”

“
And?” Pure asked
mercilessly.

“
I love you more than my
Harley.”

“
And?”

“
I love you more than life
itself,” Alex said, his tone quieter and more serious.

Pure released her captive from the harsh
grip and replaced it with a tender embrace.

“
I love you more than life
itself, too,” she replied softly.

“
Does that mean I can keep
the Porsche and the Harley?”

“
Do you want me to hog tie
you?”

“
Could be fun,” Alex said,
entwining his fingers in her hair and pulling her close for a
heated kiss.

Purity couldn’t think straight when Alex’s
lips were on hers. Time seemed to stand still. Even the wood
snapping in the fireplace seemed to melt away in the shadow of
their love.

Courtney was feeling sorry for herself,
something she almost never did. She was deliriously happy for Pure
and Meg, but she had seen best friends turn to acquaintances
quickly upon becoming involved in a relationship with a man. She
hoped the bond she shared with Meg and Pure wouldn’t diminish over
time now that they were living into a new vision of their
future.

Her mind wandered from the thought of her
pals to her latest project. She couldn’t wait to get her hands on
the new pottery wheel in her spare bedroom, which served as her
work room. Pure always said her entire home was her work room,
which was partially true; however, most of her supplies were kept
in the one room. Of course, things did seem to spill over into all
other areas of her house. Wasn’t it just yesterday she found her
charcoal pencils by the refrigerator in the kitchen?

A man would only complicate her life. Better
to focus her energies on the creative arts. Too bad paintbrushes
didn’t keep you warm at night or tell you they loved you.

Meg and Bobby were eating up their cell
phone minutes like candy. It had been two weeks since Bobby left
for Boulder and Meg bemoaned to Pure about fifteen times that she
missed him so much she thought she would die.

Pure empathized with her friend. Especially
since she had been spending most of her free time with Alex.

One thing had been gnawing at the back of
Pure’s mind. She didn’t want to bring it up, and possibly cause
waves in her relationship with Alex, but she couldn’t help but
wonder when he was going to mention that he had bought Mrs.
Cravens’ house for her.

She already knew she couldn’t accept such a
gift, but why hadn’t he told her about it? What was he waiting
for?

The Back-To-School Carnival was only a week
away and everything was still humming along smoothly. It made
Purity nervous. She was used to things going awry at the last
minute and stumbling on bumps in the road.

“
Let’s just be thankful
things are going so easily this time around,” Sheila
advised.

It was good advice, Pure thought. Good
advice she couldn’t take. Worrying was almost an art form for
Purity. If there wasn’t something to fill her thoughts or a list to
be checked and rechecked, she didn’t know quite what to do with
herself. Alex had a few ideas.

It had become quite a challenge to leave his
arms night after night. Everything in her wanted to toss her
beliefs aside and go to bed with him. She made that mistake four
times previously with men she loved and she didn’t want to make it
a fifth time. She loved Alex and he loved her. It was a magical and
wonderful feeling to be able to trust a man again. Pure had
wondered if it was even possible any more. Alex showed her that it
was.