Chapter Thirty One
…….."Well uncomplicate it already," Nora said. "Be with the man you love. You deserve to be happy."…….
It was New Year’s Eve and Evangeline was hanging around her home doing a little cleaning. Jordan and Cynthia had been tag teaming her all day, trying to get her to come and hang out with them that evening. Evangeline told them that she’d rather just stay home. Plus, it was their first New Years Eve together since they had started talking again. She didn’t want to be a third wheel.
She had just hung up the phone talking to Cynthia when she decided to go through her jewelry box to clean it out. Half way through, she picked up the purple plastic ring that John had put on her finger when they had taken the girls bowling. She put it on and reminisced about all the times they had shared. She decided at that moment that she was going to figure out a way to be with John. She truly loved him and he was worth overcoming her fear.
As Evangeline answered her phone again, she said exasperatedly, "What is it now Jordan?"
Jordan said, "Come on Evangeline. Just come to Cynthia’s Dad’s restaurant with us. We really don’t want you to be by yourself tonight. Plus, Cynthia said you come up with wild ideas when you’re left alone too much to think."
Evangeline laughed as she said, "You tell Cynthia that my last wild idea worked out great for her. I’ll be fine. You two go ahead and I’ll talk to you tomorrow."
Jordan said right before he hung up, "Don’t be surprised if I show up on your doorstep. I don’t think Cynthia is going to take no for an answer."
***************************************************************************************************************
It was around 8 pm and Evangeline had just made herself a bowl of popcorn and was about to watch her DVD of "When Harry Met Sally" when her doorbell rang. She picked herself off the couch in frustration and as she opened the door, she was simultaneously saying, "Jordan, I told you that I’m not going." She stopped talking in shock when she realized that she was face to face with John.
John gave her an intense glare as he said, "Hey Evangeline. Can I come in for a minute?"
Seeing John at her front door made Evangeline a little disoriented. She just shook her head yes and let him in.
John walked passed her into the living room and said, "I know you said you needed your space, but if you’ll just let me say what I have to say, I’ll be out of here in a minute."
Still in silence, Evangeline shook her head yes in compliance.
John said, "Its New Years Eve and I couldn’t let this year end without seeing you. I was sitting in my room thinking about everything that has happened this year and I realized that the best thing about it was me and you. Before I met you, I was just a shell of the person that I am today. I had shut down all my emotions. Meeting you brought out all my feelings again and showed me that it’s okay to love someone. I do you know. I really love you. I love you more than I thought I’d be able to love anyone again. I know you need space and that maybe you won’t be able to find your way back to me, but I couldn’t let this year end without telling you how I feel. No matter what happens, I’ll always love you." With those last words, John turned to leave.
***************************************************************************************************************
Natalie had a big smile on her face as she entered the Angel’s Square Hotel on her way to John’s room. Since the incident at Rodi’s where she’d tried to kiss him, things had gotten a little better between them. They had played pool a couple of times and Natalie just knew that she was making John forget all about Evangeline. She was carrying a six pack of beer and a car chase video. She was going to surprise him for New Years Eve with a drink and a movie. She just knew that this would start off 2005 perfectly for them. She knocked on his door, but there was no answer. She went to the roof, but he wasn’t there either. She decided to wait in the lobby for a while because surely he’d be back at any moment.
***************************************************************************************************************
As John walked passed Evangeline to leave, she touched his shoulder and said, "Wait McB. I have something to say too."
He turned slowly to look at her in the eyes. "She just called me McB," he thought. "That has to be a good sign."
Evangeline was real nervous, but she knew that this was the opportunity that she had prayed for. She said, "I love you too John. I’ve loved you for so long that I don’t even remember not loving you any more. I know that I hurt you when I broke it off with us, but I was really trying to put your feelings ahead of mine. I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t take that look in your eyes when I was attacked. I knew it brought back all your memories of Caitlyn’s death and I didn’t want to be the one to put you through that type of pain again. I can’t do it though. I can’t stay away from you. I love you too much."
John let out a big sigh of relief. It was like a ton of bricks had just been lifted off of his shoulders. He was hearing exactly what he had been wanting to hear for months. He said, "You love me to? You did all of this for me?"
Evangeline meekly said, "Yeah."
John said earnestly, "Don’t you understand that it hurt me more to be without you than to be with you and maybe lose you some day? I can’t be away from you either. I love you too much." With that said, John pulled Evangeline into a kiss. As they stood in the living room, the kiss became more and more intense. Finally, he picked her up and took her into the den and sat them both on the couch.
Between kisses, they each told each other how much they had missed each other. They were so excited to be back together that they couldn’t take their hands off of each other. They sat on the couch making out like teenagers for about an hour.
***************************************************************************************************************
Cynthia told Jordan to go passed Evangeline’s house and make her come to the restaurant. When Jordan got there, he saw John’s car in the driveway. He called Cynthia and told her he was coming to the restaurant by himself. He really had a feeling that John and Evangeline were working things out and he didn’t want to disturb them. Cynthia was elated that John was there.
Natalie decided to go to the station to find John. He wasn’t there either. She called his cell phone, but he didn’t answer. She had no idea where he could be. She thought that maybe he had gone to Atlantic City.
***************************************************************************************************************
As John and Evangeline made out on the couch, they heard a cell phone ringing. As they came up for air, John said, "It’s not mine. I left mine in the car. I didn’t want any thing to disturb what I was going to say to you."
Evangeline said, "Then it has to be mine. I bet its Jordan again." As she got off the couch to go get her phone, she saw that the caller id showed that it was her Mom.
"Hey Mom," Evangeline replied.
"Hey honey," Evangeline’s Mom said. "I thought I’d call early to wish you a Happy New Year. Are you okay? You sound out of breath."
"Happy New Year Mom," Evangeline said giddily. "I’m fine. I’m just, uh, sitting here with John. We’re back together."
"Hi Mrs. Williamson," John yelled across the room with a smile. "Happy New Year."
Mrs. Williamson laughed as she said, "Obviously a lot has happened in the last 24 hours since I last talked to you. I’ll let you go for now, but I expect details tomorrow. You hear me? Honey, I know you know how I feel about men, but I know how happy this makes you and if you’re going to see someone, I think John is a good choice. I think your Dad would have liked John."
"Thanks Mom," Evangeline gushed. "I’ll call you tomorrow."
As Evangeline clicked off her cell phone, she turned to look at John. She turned her phone off and said, "I don’t want us to be disturbed any more either."
Evangeline sat as close to John as she could and put her head on his shoulder. It all just felt so right to her. John put his arms as tight around her as he could without squeezing her almost completely healed ribs. Eventually, John said, "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything," Evangeline replied.
"Did something happen between you and Jordan Kingsley while we were apart? Were you a couple when you were in college together? Did you love him at one time?" John questioned.
Evangeline turned her head to look into John’s eyes and said, "No, nothing happened between me and Jordan while we were apart. It’s not Jordan and I that was a couple, it was Jordan and Cynthia. They were engaged when we graduated from college and they broke up before they got married. Jordan wanted to go to California for medical school, but Cynthia didn’t want to leave Philadelphia. They were both so stubborn. I’m friends with both of them and they never put me in the middle. I finally got them to talk to each other again and now they may be going out again. I love them both like family, but nothing more. Were you jealous?"
John cleared his throat and said, "Um, I don’t know if I’d call it jealousy. I was just curious. It was like he was always there when ever I saw you. I was glad that he was there for you along with Cynthia because I didn’t want you to be alone, but I just didn’t want him to be too there for you. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," Evangeline responded. "I know what you mean. Speaking of being there for you, did anything happen between you and Natalie when we were apart?"
"Now who’s jealous?" John said. "No, nothing happened between me and Natalie. Well, I guess I should tell you that the day I saw you, Marcie, Shannon and Jen at Rodi’s, after you left, Natalie told me that she never stopped loving me and she tried to kiss me."
"What?" Evangeline said. "You never told me that Natalie loved you. Did you love her?"
"No," John protested. "I don’t love Natalie. I just care about what happens to her. I still feel responsible, you know that. I never told you that she loved me because I didn’t know it. I told her that we could just be friends and that even if I never got back together with you, that I would never stop loving you."
"Really?" Evangeline inquired.
"Really," John said. "By the way, what had happened before I showed up to Rodi’s that day? No one would ever tell me."
Evangeline laughed and said, "Let’s just say that Marcie took it upon herself to have our backs."
John gave Evangeline an inquiring look, but he didn’t want to talk about Natalie any more. He was back with the woman he loved and he was only going to concentrate on her. He leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. It was a little before midnight and he just wanted to savor the moment.
When the clock struck midnight, John and Evangeline kissed. Evangeline said, "Happy New Year McB."
John said in kind, "Happy New Year Diva E."
Evangeline said, "I’ve missed you calling me that." She got up off the couch and took John’s hand and led him to her bedroom.
Their love making was even better than either of them could remember. It really was making love. Confessing their feelings of love to each other just took them to a whole new level. They took their time becoming reacquainted with each other’s bodies and luxuriated in the moment for the rest of the night.
***************************************************************************************************************
John and Evangeline were basking in the after glow as the morning sun streamed through Evangeline’s bedroom window. Evangeline had her head laying on John’s chest as she relived their night together over and over in her mind. "It was just amazing," she thought.
John laid there daydreaming about how great life was going to be with her in it. "This is the best New Years Eve I’ve had since I don’t know when," he thought.
Evangeline’s doorbell rang and she looked out the bedroom window to see Nora’s car out front. She grabbed John’s shirt to put it on and went downstairs to open the door. Evangeline greeted Nora with, "Hey Nora. Is everything okay? What are you doing here?"
Nora gave Evangeline a curious look as she came in and said, "Is that whose car I think it is out side?"
Evangeline just had a big grin on her face.
"Details, details," Nora said urgently. "Are you and John together again? Did he stay here last night?"
Before Evangeline could answer, John came walking down the stairs wearing his pants and his t-shirt. He said, "Yes, it’s my car, yes we are back together and obviously, yes I stayed here last night." He walked up behind Evangeline and put his arms around her waist and kissed her on the neck.
Nora screamed and said, "This is great! This is so great! I dropped by to see if you wanted some company because I left Matthew over at Bo’s house. Apparently though, you have all the company you need."
Nora smiled a big smile and grabbed John with Evangeline sandwiched in the middle and gave them both a big hug. She said, "I’m out of here. Happy New Year you two." She gave Evangeline a look and whispered, "I’ll get the details later." She was gone in a flash.
John laughed and said, "I couldn’t tell if she was happy for us or not."
Evangeline laughed too and gave John a hug.
When they came out of their hug, John said, "I don’t want to leave you, but I’ve got to go to work."
Evangeline put a sad look on her face.
John said, "Don’t look at me like that. I gave the family guys the day off because I thought I’d be by myself. I’m sorry."
"It’s okay," Evangeline said. "I understand. I just don’t want you to go now that we’ve found each other again."
"I know," John replied. "We’re together forever now though. You’ll never get rid of me again." He gave her a quick kiss and said, "I need my shirt back so I can leave."
Evangeline gave him a sly look as she headed for the stairs. She said, "If you want it, you’ll just have to come take it off me."
"If you insist," John said as he followed her upstairs.
***************************************************************************************************************
John sat at his desk with a big, silly grin on his face. He couldn’t be happier if he tried. He was going over all the DUI reports from last night when Natalie came sauntering in.
"Hey John," Natalie said. "Happy New Year. I brought you a burger from Rodi’s for lunch. I looked for you last night, but you were no where to be found."
"Hey Natalie," John said. Just when he was about to say where he was, Evangeline came breezing in carrying a picnic basket and a portable TV. Evangeline walked passed Natalie and gave John a kiss.
Evangeline then turned around and said, "Hey Natalie. Happy New Year."
Natalie was in shock and said, "Happy New Year to you too Evangeline."
Evangeline turned back to John and said, "I figured if you couldn’t stay with me today, then I’d come to you. We have hot dogs, peanuts, potato chips and beer. I also brought the TV so you can watch some football in between arresting people."
"This is great," John gushed. "Natalie, would you like to join us?"
"Um, no," Natalie replied dejectedly. "I have to go meet up with Roxy. I’ll see you two later."
Natalie turned and almost ran out of John’s office. She looked back through the office door and could see how happy John and Evangeline were. She knew that her dream was over.
