Beating As One: Final Chapter

Anne handed the bartender the ten dollar bill and grabbed the fruity drink. She turned and a shoulder rammed into her, spilling her drink. When she looked up, she saw Marcus’ eyes smiling at her. She laughed as Marcus grabbed some napkins and began dabbing at her arms and hands.

            “I’m so sorry, Anne,” he said.

            “It’s fine.”

            “Looks like I owe you a drink.”

            Anne shook her head. “Don’t worry about it.”

            “No, let me, please.”

            A few moments later, a new drink in hand, Anne and Marcus walked side by side on the beach. The sun was high up and Anne regretted wearing the sundress. She’d forgotten to apply sunscreen before stepping out and she could feel the heat soaking up her shoulders. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and Marcus looked over seeing the reddening skin. He reached over and touched her shoulder. Shocked by his touch she stopped walking as Marcus began removing the buttons on his shirt. He shrugged it off his shoulders and hung it around her shoulders. It left him wearing only a muscle shirt.

            “You’ll burn,” Anne said.

            Laughing, he said, “Not as fast as you.”

            “Thank you. That’s very considerate of you.”

            “Where’s…Ned?”

            Anne laughed. “Jed.”

            “Right, I knew that.”

            “He’s still sleeping. I came downstairs to get a drink for us.”

            Marcus made a face. “Pity, I thought you were here to find me. It seems you’ve been extremely busy these days. I haven’t seen you around at night. I take it, things are well?”
            Anne smiled and took a sip of her drink. “It’s going very well, if you must know.”

            Marcus smiled and then Anne watched in horror as he reached over and tucked a strand of her loose hair behind her ear. Then he leaned over and kissed her cheek. The linger of his lips seemed to dance on her cheek as he stared at her. Then he smiled and touched her shoulders.

            “I’m glad, Anne. I was worried about you for a moment there. But it seems you’ve found the light at the end.”

            “What do you mean?”
            “I didn’t want you to spend your time here in agony. You’re here to have fun, to see the world of Hawaii. Being stuck here because of a lousy marriage is one of the hardest things to endure.”

            Anne looked at her feet for a moment before she raised her gaze to him. “Actually, thank you Marcus, for helping me. That night on the beach, what you said to me, it really opened up my eyes. It made me see things in a whole different light. Jed and I are great together. I just haven’t forced myself to see it lately.”

            Marcus smiled and tucked a finger under her chin. “I’m glad. I’m keeping you. You need to go?”

            Nodding, she replied, “Yes, I do. Thank you.”

           

            Jed stepped away from the window as he saw Anne walk toward the hotel. He’d witnessed everything from the moment she spilled the drink to the moment he kissed her. Perhaps it was innocent; perhaps it wasn’t. He gripped the doorknob until his knuckles hurt. He’d woken up alone and hated the feeling. But finding her on the beach with another man was worse. He felt his chest tighten and every part of his fiber wanted to reach out to snap that man’s neck.

            He turned around when he heard the door open. Anne walked in wearing the man’s shirt around her shoulders and a smile on her face. He felt anger rising and before he could control it, he grabbed the vase beside him and slammed it against the wall. Anne jumped and the drink from her hand dropped to the ground.

            “What’s going on with you?” she asked.

            He walked to her and ripped the man’s shirt off. “This is what is going on with me.”

            Anne reached for it, but he held it out of reach. “Give it back. I have to return that.”

            “I wake up, hoping to find my wife next to me, but no. She’s flirting with some man on the beach, letting him touch her, kiss her, and she even dares to wear his shirt to come back here to face me.”

            “You’ve got it wrong, Jed!”

            “Then tell me what I just witnessed! If it was nothing, why did you let him kiss you? Why are you wearing his shirt? Or has all these past few days worthless to you?”

            Anne started to cry and she walked forward to him. “You’ve got it wrong, Jed. Marcus is a friend, nothing more. If you want to know the truth, he was the one who made me change my mind about forgiving you. He made me see that I made mistakes as well as you. It was because of him that made me want to come back to you to fix this marriage.”

            Jed narrowed his eyes. “Him? What does he have to say? Is he a therapist? Does he know us? No! He’s a man who wants to get into your pants! From day one, I could see him staring after you, lusting after my wife. And now that you think I am blind, you go and do it for me to see.”

            Tears fell down her cheeks and she sobbed. “Who are you?! What happened to the Jed who held me last night? Where did he go?”

            “He was too stupid to realize that his marriage was already over before it ever began. He was trying to be a man by taking responsibilities for a crime he committed. But now that he’s wiser, he should have left her to fend for herself.”

           

            Midnight had arrived and Jed hadn’t returned. Anne made her way down to the bar and scanned the room. He was nowhere in sight. As she turned, Marcus was entering the bar from outside. When he saw her, his smile faded and he made his way across the room in a few strides. When she tried to avoid him, he took her gently by the elbow and moved her to a more private area. The look on his face told her he’d seen the swollen red eyes and concern spread across his eyes. But seeing the look of concern made her feel warmth and she burst out crying. Shocked, he took her into his arms and held her. When she pulled away, she wiped her eyes and stepped away from him.

            “Jed saw us outside today. He accused me of cheating on him. He left and I haven’t seen him since,” Anne said with a dry voice.

            He gave her the space she needed. “I saw him out earlier today at the beach. I thought he was there waiting for you. I didn’t approach him.”

            “Don’t, he hates you. He thinks you’re set out on ruining us. He…he said some pretty ugly things to me before he left. But it’s my fault. I should never have taken your shirt or let you close to me.”

            Marcus sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I was just trying to help.”

            “I’d better go.”

            Anne turned to go and saw Jed standing in the bar room glaring at her. She took a deep breath and made her way to him. But his eyes weren’t on hers; they were set on Marcus’. She turned and found Marcus had followed her to where Jed stood. Before Anne could utter a word, Marcus stepped before her.

            “I’d like to speak to you, Jed, in private,” Marcus said.

            “I would too, but I doubt there’d be much speaking.”

            “Follow me.”

           

            Jed opened the sliding door and the wind from outside hit his face, sending a calm sensation to his already heated body. He stared at Anne watching from inside the bar and shut the door. He found Marcus waiting for him by the patio chairs and made his way over. He took a moment to look the man over. Ok, so this guy still had this looks in place; his hair was neatly brushed and he didn’t have a gray strand in sight. Even his body looked as if he worked out every day and he smelled better than he did. But that didn’t mean he was the better man.

            “You’ve got a lot of nerves for someone who was caught sneaking around with another man’s wife,” Jed said.

            Marcus held up his hand. “First of all, I wasn’t sneaking around with your wife. As beautiful as she is, I do know what a wedding ring stands for.”

            “Do you? I seem to think you don’t. Just now I saw her in your arms.”

            “Due to you,” Marcus said. “What you saw this afternoon was innocent and you, being hard headed, turned it into something else.”

            Pissed off, Jed took a step toward him. “Don’t you dare tell me what I am supposed to feel. I know what I saw! You kissed her!”

            “A kiss that meant nothing except friendliness, Jed. You’ve got yourself a trophy wife and you’re blind to it. What do you think she was doing all those nights she was out late? She was pouring her heart out to me that her own idiotic husband couldn’t see how much she loved him.”

            That took Jed by surprise. “Why would she confide in you?”

            Marcus walked to him. “I was in your shoes once, Jed. I had a wife, a family, a good home. Do you know what I did to lose all that? I was just like you. I was blind, I was stupid. I accused my wife of everything because I was insecure. She’s your wife, Jed, not mine and will never be. Whatever happens between the two of you is full of love and greatness. What goes on between me and her is like a song playing on the radio. It ends. What you have, it goes on forever. She sought me out and I listened because I’d worn those shoes before. It was never my intention to meddle between you two. If you thought that, I’m sorry, buddy. But your wife…she’s hurting because you can’t get over your damn pride.”

            “What do you know about my pride?” Jed said with anger through his teeth.

            “I know that if you don’t get over it, you’ll lose her and everything you worked for. Fools who carry their pride higher than anything will end up losing everything they worked for. Do you think you’ll be deemed a lesser man if you lowered your pride? A man who can see past his pride and give the woman he loves what she deserves is a real man.”

            “Don’t talk to me about pride. I know a lot more about than you ever will,” Jed said.

            “Sure, you may, but I let mine cost me everything. Will you do the same?”

            Jed became silent as he stared at Marcus’ face. Then he shifted to find Anne already gone from the bar. He sighed and ran both hands through his hair in a frustrated gesture. He sat down on the sand and groaned.

            “I don’t know what to do anymore. After being married so long, it just seems not worth saving anymore. We fight and bicker so much it seems it’s all we do.”

            Marcus walked to sit down beside him. “And it seems as if every time you open your mouth, you’re looking for trouble.”

            “Exactly,” Jed whispered. He turned to Marcus. “What happened with you and your wife?”

            He laughed. “I have the same story as you, my friend. In high school, we created a child and I took responsibility. I thought I was doing the right thing. I married her and we were ok for a while until little things started bothering me. The way how she looked when she got up in the morning, how she would always forget to put sugar in my coffee, and how she’d be late because she was trying to look good for me. Every little thing drove me into a mad haze and I started to become an ugly beast. I picked at her and we would fight. It seemed as if after we fought, I could breathe. But afterwards when I would lie on the couch and hear her cry, it broke my heart. I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t stop it. I wanted her to apologize first because as a man, I wasn’t going to start, even though I was wrong. Little did I know that each time I kept that pride, I began to lose her until she slipped right through my fingers and I was no longer able to get her back.”

            Jed looked down at his hands. “So…how do I get over this phase of my life?”

            Marcus smiled. “Grovel, my friend, a lot of groveling and a lot less pride.”

 

            The room was dark and he could hear her cries from the corner of the room. Each sob tore at his heart and he felt it deep into his core. He was an ugly beast. He turned on the lights and she looked up from the corner of the room. She looked like a small child with her knees up to her chest, her hair over her shoulders, and her face red as pulp. He closed the door and watched as she continued staring at him. Those eyes, those eyes that spoke so much more volume of hurt than her voice could ever say, ate at his heart. Then he saw her not as the woman she was today, but as the young girl in high school. There she was, the girl of his dreams, dancing before him with joy on her face. He saw her as he did back when he thought he could never have her. She was free, full of life, and in love with him. Their passionate kisses, their love, their warmth slowly made their way across his beating heart. When she stood, he saw how fragile she was and he realized it was his fault. Gone was the glitter in her eyes and what replaced them was that of hurt. Feeling the hurt that slammed into his chest, he ran to her and fell to his knees, wrapped his arms around her waist.

            “I’m so sorry,” he cried.

            Anne dropped to his level and held his face in her hands. “Jed.”

            He took her hands and kissed them. “No, listen to me, please, Anne. Let me tell you what has been eating at me for so long. It’s my fault, ok? It’s me, all my fault. I’m the man. I promised to love and take care of you, to honor you, to make you my equal in this marriage. Instead what I did was the opposite of everything I promised I would. I watched as your belly grew with my child and I was at your side when you gave your life to bring that child into this world. And today, I have forgotten what kind of promises I made at the altar. I am so sorry, Anne. Forgive me.”

            Anne shook her head and cupped his face. “No, no, it’s not all you. It’s my fault too. I shouldn’t have driven you away like I did. I was to blame. It takes two, Jed. I made promises to you too and I forgot about them. I haven’t been the wife I promised you I’d be.”

            “Then let’s forget this and start over. I want to feel you again like I used to. I want you to want me so much you’ll die. Every part of me yearns for you and yet when I come close to you, I find myself stepping away for fear of being rejected. I don’t want to feel like that again ever.”

            “And you never will. I promise you.”

 

“Marcus!” Jed yelled as he dragged his suitcase behind him.

Marcus turned and gave Jed a smile. “You’re leaving so soon?”

Jed smiled and took his hand. “I wanted to thank you before I left. If you hadn’t pounded those words into my head, I don’t think I’d be this happy. Thank you so much.”

Marcus smiled and touched his shoulder. “No need to thank me, my friend. You would have figured it out on your own.”

“Perhaps, but I might have ruined everything before I did.”

Anne came down the stairs and she gave Marcus a hug. “Thank you so much, Marcus.”

He smiled. “Have a safe flight.”

On the plane, Jed held her hand and stared into her eyes. She smiled back at him and he reached over to touch her cheek.

“I love you, Anne. I never stopped loving you.”

She smiled. “I love you too, Jed. Our hearts have always been beating as one.”