Mirage Chapter 1

2011

            The house was still as Luke opened the door without trying to make too much noise. He was going to be in the dog house. He knew it already. He would have to beg on his knees to get her to calm down. He slowly took his shoes off and tip toed to the living room when the lights turned on. He froze and watched as his girlfriend, Angie Stone, stared at him from the couch. She was angry, no doubt, her nostrils were flared, and her eyes were dark. He winced and forced a laugh as he walked to sit beside her. But she got up and stood up. She turned to him and planted her hands on her hips. She was gorgeous when upset. She was so beautiful, every inch of her just oozed seduction, and he loved her to the bottom of his core. She was tall, curvy, and unpredictable. She had her long brown hair up in a loose bun and was wearing pink shorts with a white tang top. But the look on her face was not welcoming.

            “Where were you?” she asked.

            Luke smiled and stood up, remembering the speech his best friend, Nick and him had discussed. He cleared his throat and realized, now staring at her, his mind had gone blank. All of the words he’d thought was quite smart had disappeared and he was left with nothing. He laughed and rubbed his hands together, trying to think of something smart to say.

            Angie pointed a finger at him. “Where were you?”

            Swallowing, he replied, “I was with Nick, you know that.”

            “I know you went to his bachelor party. What I want to know is why are you here at my place at midnight when you promised to be here at eight.”

            “Well, I couldn’t leave Nick to fend for himself, Angie. Besides, I’m his best friend. How can I leave him in his hour of need?” Good one, he thought.

            She crossed her arms, smiled, and walked to him. “You must think you sound real smart, don’t you?”

            He beamed. “Of course!” Oh, shit, was that a trick question? Too late he realized his mistake.

            Angie jammed a finger into his chest and he winced. “You can’t lie to me, Luke! You said you wouldn’t go to the strip club with Nick!”

            “I didn’t!”

            “Liar!”

            He swallowed. “Seriously, baby, I didn’t go. I was just hanging around Nick’s place helping him clean up.”

            Angie sighed. “You were? What were you guys doing at Nick’s place?”

            “Nothing, I swear, he had a few buddies around and we were just drinking. Then Sam decided to play this dumb game of flipping coins to see who was going to have to drink the most. I won most of the time and I was sober while everyone else was drunk.”

            She was quiet for a moment. “What next?”

            “Then everyone went home.”

            “And what about Candi?”

            Nick, not knowing he was being screwed, smiled. “Oh, Candi was awesome! She was dancing like crazy with these freaking huge—,” he stopped. Then he froze and looked up at her with surprise. She was shaking her head in disgust.

            “I already know what Candi did to you! Susan called me and she told me everything! You let that woman kiss you?”

            Luke gasped and tried to grab her, but she moved away. “Baby.”

            “Don’t baby me, Luke! Right now, I am not your goddamn baby! You said you weren’t going to go and even if you did go, you wouldn’t kiss anyone.”

            He laughed. “Oh, come on, Angie, it was just a small kiss. It didn’t hurt.”

            She cleared her throat. “Ok. Well, Susan is having her bachelorette party next weekend. I’m gonna go out and kiss a whole bunch of guys at the strip club too.”

            Luke saw red and grabbed her arm. “Wait, what? No way!”

            She pushed him back. “See? It hurt, didn’t it?”

            He saw her point and sighed deeply. He took her into his arms and held her. “Ok, I was an idiot. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I was just…she just sat in my lap and started kissing me. I’m sorry.”

            “I don’t care about her sitting in your lap. It’s the kissing part I have a problem with. Nobody kisses you, but me.”

            Luke turned her around and smiled. “I know and I didn’t kiss her. It was all her doing. You’re the only one I want to kiss me too.”

            Finally Angie smiled. “I better be or else you can take your butt on home.”

           

            The dawn broke through the window as Angie rose on her elbow and stared at Luke sleeping beside her. She ran her fingers down his cheeks and he stirred lightly, but remained sleeping. She tossed the covers off of her and got out of bed. She walked across the floor and picked up his jeans lying on the ground. As she did, something fell out of the pocket and landed on the floor beside her feet. She set his pants aside, picked up the small black box, and opened it; a diamond ring sparkled at her. She gasped and looked up at Luke, who was wide awake and staring at her. She swallowed as he got out of bed, took the box from her, and got down on his knees.

            “Angie,” he said as his eyes filled up with tears.

            She bit back the tears welling up in her eyes. “Oh, Luke.”

            He took her hands. “I serve the country and can be called off anytime to go. I know that you will have to stay behind and wait. But I also know that out of the thousands of women in this world, only you have my heart. Only you can understand the rhythm it beats when I’m lying next to you. You alone hold the key to my heart and only you love me the way I deserved to be loved. You are everything to me. I will go and serve when called upon, but I always will return to you because you are mine. And I always come back to what is mine. Will you marry me?”

            Tears dripping down her face, she dropped to her knees and hugged him. “Yes!”

            Smiling, he pulled out the ring and slipped it onto her finger. “I love you.”

            “I love you, too.”

 

            “So he asked you to marry him, huh?” her mother, Dawn asked as Angie stared at her hand for the hundredth time.

            Angie smiled and looked up at her mother. “Can you believe it? I’m still so awed at my hand.”

            Dawn, a woman in her late forties, looked like an older version of Angie. She had been left to raise Angie when her husband left her for another woman. Although angry, she forgave him and used her love to raise her daughter. She wasn’t ashamed that she wasn’t able to satisfy her husband. If someone else could, she wasn’t going to stand in the way of his happiness.

            “That ring looks like it cost a lot,” Dawn said.

            Angie laughed. “I’m sure it did. I was wondering why he started staying in after a while. It was because of this little sparkling thing.”

            “I’m very happy for you.”

            Angie looked up at her mother and tears welled up in her eyes. She walked over to her and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, mom. I’m so happy.”

 

            The evening sky was turning dark blue as Angie and Luke sat together by the pond. The house that Luke owned was from his grandparents who left it to him when they died. His parents had passed when he was young and he was raised by his grandparents. When they passed four years ago, the only thing that kept him going was her. The two of them came from broken homes and together they found something worth living for, each other. Luke was a simple man, Angie knew that. He served the country and he fought for things that he wanted. He wasn’t the type to leave things hanging and he always kept his word. He never looked back. She loved that part about him. He was everything she desired in a man and now she was about to carry his last name.

            “What are you thinking about?” he asked her as he stole a kiss from her forehead.

            She turned toward him and laced her fingers through his. “I’m just thinking about how perfect this moment is. I don’t want anything to ruin it.”

            He tightened his grip on her. “I love you, Angie.”

            “I love you, too.”

            He let out a shaky breath. “I want you to promise me something.”

            “What is it?”

            He let her go and turned her around to look at him. He took both of her hands and held them. Then the look in his eyes got misty and she worried. “Angie, I want you to promise me that you know I’m not your father.”

            She swallowed and looked away from him. He tilted her face toward him again. This time, tears fell down her cheeks and he caught one, wiping it away. She let out a slow breath and then smiled.

            “Luke, I know you’re nothing like my father.”

            He smiled and cupped her cheeks. “I’m not going anywhere. You know that. You’ll have to kick me out and even then, I’ll come crawling back.”

            Angie laughed and nodded. “I know that.”

            He hugged her. “I love you so much.”

            “Luke, I love you.”

 

            Angie would never be able to believe that she had found a true mate in Luke. As she sat watching him sleep, she was filled with awe and love. She grew up with a mother who spent most of her time working trying to forget the past. There were times where Angie knew her mother was hiding tears from her. It was usually around the date of their wedding anniversary. Those days, she would find her mother weeping in her room. She hated her father growing up and had the fear that every man would turn out like him. All through her years of life, she avoided dating because she feared it. Mostly she was afraid she’d turned out to be like her mother, forever wallowing in pain. She didn’t want that and the only way to avoid it was to not find anyone to love.

            But Luke came along even when she decided she didn’t want anyone. She tried to deny the attraction, tried to deny the affection she had growing for him. In the end, she lost and gave in to him. The time they spent together was magical and dreamy. The times they were apart, she spent it remembering them together. By the time she realized it, her heart was no longer hers. It belonged to him. In all the sweet madness together, she discovered that he could make her do anything in the world. Without him, she felt empty and unbalanced. Love was true and it was in Luke.

            When morning greeted them, Luke brought breakfast to her in bed. They ate, laughing and feeding each other while the crumbs decorated the bed. After breakfast, they showered together and she picked out a yellow summer dress to wear and put her brown hair in a braid down her back. She was turning twenty-four next month and was about to begin her life. She stared at the engagement ring on her left hand and smiled. No matter how long, she would always look at that ring with the same admiration. She was still smiling when she came down the stairs to find Luke not dressed in casual clothes, but in his marine uniform. Her heart sank and she swallowed as he took her hands.

            “I got a call from my commanding officer,” he said. “He’s asked me to go in and see him immediately.”

            Angie sighed and nodded her head. She pulled a chair and sat down. He walked to her, took her hands, and kissed the knuckles. She smiled and ran her hands through his buzz cut hair. Angie pulled him into her arms and they held each other, savoring the moment. When she pulled away, Luke stood up, kissed her gently on the lips.

            “Stay here, Angie. I’ll be back soon, I promise,” he said.

            “I should go home. I haven’t been home in a while. When you’re done, come over.”

            He smiled. “I won’t be long.”

 

            It wasn’t until that evening that Luke returned to her. She was sitting in her living room surrounded by pictures of them together. She knew what was going to happen. She knew he was going to be shipped off. She knew it well enough and she was trying to keep everything together, but when she saw the look in his eyes, the tears came down her face. She had to be strong. She was about to become the wife of a marine. So she did what women did when they were sad. She busied herself with cleaning up the pictures, trying to put dinner on the table, until he came to her and stopped her. He put his arms around her and held her close. She listened to his ragged breathing in her ear and knew that he’d been done with the commanding officer long ago. But he needed time to himself to think things through. Luke turned her around and she faced him. The light in his eyes from this morning was gone and what replaced it was a dark emotion that only he knew.

            “When do you leave?” she asked.

            “Tomorrow at first light,” he said.

            She swallowed hard. Then she took his hands and held them. “Then, let’s make the most of everything tonight.”  

Candles lit everywhere, Angie stood in the middle of the room as Luke walked across the room to her. Slowly, his arms came around her waist, pulling her into his arms. She inhaled his musky scent and swallowed the tears that welled up in her eyes. When his lips caught hers, the fire within her spread and her breath quickened. He started pushing her toward the bed and his fingers came to the zipper that held her dress together. The only sound that stripped through the air of silence was that of her zipper echoing. It seemed to torture her soul as it screamed with passion. Then it ended when it reached the end and she felt the air grace her flesh. His fingers caressed her skin and she shuddered. He turned her around and he kissed her shoulders lightly as he peeled the dress off of her. When it came to a pool at her feet, he turned her back toward him and picked her up into his arms. He carried her to the bed and laid her down. When she reached for his buttons, he caught her fingers and shook his head.

            “No, tonight, I’ll be loving you until the lights peek in through the curtains. I want to make every minute count. I want you to feel me when I am gone, stuck deep in your heart. I want you to smell of nothing, but me,” he said.

            “I have never desired anything else.”

            Smiling, he replied, “Lay back and let me enjoy my time. I promise you’ll get your turn. But I’m selfish when it comes to you.”

            They held each other as the dawn broke through the curtains. Angie felt her heart heavy as she lay across his chest. His arms were around her and she knew by his breathing that he hadn’t gotten any sleep. She sighed and drew circles across his chest.

            “I love you,” she whispered.

            “I love you, too.”
            “Tonight was what I needed.”

            He laughed. “If I knew that, I would have done that a long time ago.”

            Angie smiled and got quiet. Her eyes wandered to the clock on the table and she knew their time together was coming to an end. For the next six months, he would be gone and she would be missing him. But it was his job and she knew that only few could do what he did. She leaned up and kissed his lips gently.

            “It’s time,” she whispered.
            He took her face in his hands. “You’ll be here when I return?”
            She laughed. “Of course, I will! I’ll be at the airport with a big sign and a dozen roses.”
            But life was unpredictable and two months after he left, she got a letter with his dog tags noting that he’d died in action.