“But I want to be equals.”
I sighed. “It would be different if you had a career that you loved and were passionate about, but if you just want a job for money, then no, it’s not going to happen.”
“I’ve been taken care of my
whole life. I want to be independent.”
“Baby, being a full-time mom is a job. You don’t get paid, but
it’s pure work. I’m sure you agree with me.”
She didn’t say anything.
“And being a homemaker is work too. Please don’t feel like you aren’t contributing to the family because I work in business and you don’t.”
She squeezed my hand. “Okay.”
“If you want to get a job when the kids are much older, then sure, but we can manage without it.”
We walked a few blocks before w
e crossed the street, approaching the townhouse a few feet down the road. There weren’t too many people out. Everyone was in the shopping centers completing last minute Christmas shopping.
I felt Elisa pull aw
ay from me. “What are you—”
I stopped when I saw Elisa being held by the throat with a knife. A man wearing
all black with a beard held the edge to her throat. I didn’t even see him. I had no idea where he came from. My first instinct was to attack him but I knew that was stupid. Elisa started to whimper in his arms, tears falling down her face.
I raised my hands in the air. “I’ll give you whatever you want. Ple
ase don’t hurt her,” I begged. I reached into my pockets and threw everything I had: my wallet, keys, sunglasses, phone—everything. I took off my jacket and threw it on the ground. “You can get a few hundred dollars for the jacket. Please let my girlfriend go.”
He still held the knife to her throat while he inched toward the pile.
I kept my hands in the air. “Ellie, it’s going to be fine. Just stay quiet.”
She whimper
ed again.
The man kicked the good
s around before he looked back at me. “Show me your pockets.”
I pulled them out then raised my hands in the air. “You got it all. Now let her
go—please.” I kept my voice steady so Elisa would stay calm. I had never been more scared in my life. I wished the fucker was holding a knife to my throat—not my pregnant girlfriend. When he blinked, I recognized the freckle on his left eyelid. The anger burst through me in a crescendo.
As soon as he glanced down again, I made my move. I sprinted at him and grabbed the arm that held the knife to my girl’s throat. I twisted it down and slammed his arm on my thigh, dropping the knife to the ground. I pushed Elisa away. “Run!” I turned back to the man and gave him everything
I had. Now that he didn’t have a weapon, he was scared. I punched him in the mouth, then the gut, and then the groin quicker than he could think. I moved so fast that I could barely see what I was doing.
When he kneeled down
, he reached for the knife, but I kicked it away then kicked him in the head before pinning him to the ground and pushing his face against the frozen concrete.
“Elisa, grab the phone and call the cops.”
With shaky hands, she picked it up and made the call. I didn’t take my eyes off the attacker. He made sudden attempts to free himself when he used all of his energy, but I used my weight to keep him down. I wasn’t letting him get away.
Elisa stayed on the phone while we waited for help. She was crying the entire time. I wanted to comfort her but I couldn’t. I ha
d to concentrate on that motherfucker so he wouldn’t escape.
When cops pulled up, they grabbed
the guy and handcuffed him. I immediately rushed to Elisa and held her to my chest. “You okay?”
She nodded but didn’t speak, crying into my chest.
The cops questioned me while I held her. I told them everything that happened. “It’s the same man that assaulted Elisa before.”
“How do you know that?” the officer asked.
“He has the freckle on his eyelid. Elisa identified him.”
The cop looked at her. “Is that true?”
She nodded.
“Thank you.
We’ll investigate it.”
“Thank you,” I said
.
The
y climbed into their vehicles then drove away. Elisa was completely immobile so I carried her home. When we walked inside, we avoided the kids and went to the bedroom. Ethan and Sadie followed us and left the children in the living room.
Ethan opened the door. “Is everything okay?”
I held Elisa and rocked her back and forth. “Shut the door.”
They came inside then stepped toward us. I told them the whole story.
“Oh my god,” Sadie said as tears sprang to her eyes.
Ethan was silent, speechless.
“But you caught him?” Sadie asked.
I nodded. “The cop said they
’ll investigate it and determine if it is the same guy. I’m a hundred percent sure it is.”
“Did she get hurt?” Ethan asked.
“No. He didn’t hurt her.”
Elisa sat up and pressed her forehead against mine. “You saved me.”
“I’ll always save you.”
“That was risky. You shouldn’t have done that,” Ethan said.
I stared at him. “We’ll talk about it later.”
Elisa looked at me. “What?”
“Nothing,” I said.
“Tell me,” she whispered.
“I had to do something because I think he was going to kill you.”
She gasped. “What?”
“What are the odds that he would be right by our townhouse unless he was looking for you? I think he wanted revenge for pinning him as a suspect.”
She covered her mouth and started to cry harder.
I looked at Ethan. “So no, I didn’t have a choice.”
Ethan ran his fingers through his hair. “Thank you so much. I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Say nothing,” I said. “I would die for Elisa. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Sadie rubbed Elisa’s back. “It’s okay, honey.”
She clutched me tighter. “I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“You’ll never find out.” I looked at Ethan and Sadie. “I got her.
We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
They nodded then left the bedroom, closing the door behind them.
24
Elisa was a zombie for the next week. I didn’t know what to do to help her. I knew this was something that I couldn’t fix. She was traumatized more than any person should ever be. She had been attacked twice in two weeks. That wasn’t good for any sane person.
I took care of the legal stuff as much as possible. I testified against the assaulter, Jim Robbins, and recounted every second of the incident. I gave a written statement and was as cooperative as possible. I wanted to see that fucker rot behind bars.
Elisa was asked to come in once to testify and confirm that he was the same attacker from both incidents. It took me a long time to convince her to go, and I still needed Ethan’s and Sadie’s help to persuade her. I didn’t think she was weak. I knew she was severely traumatized. She was so disturbed that we didn’t make love for over a week.
She told me how thankful she was that I saved
her and how she felt safe with me, but she couldn’t forget what happened. It woke her up in the middle of the night, screaming. I knew the recovery process would take a long time.
When Christmas
Eve arrived, she was a little better, but I think it was because she was trying to put on a brave front for the kids. She didn’t want to ruin the holidays for them. We watched Christmas movies while we drank hot cocoa. We invited my dad over and he immediately loved the kids. He spent more time talking to them than to us.
Sadie told me that my father never
even knew I left. She was convinced that I would come back so she never told him the truth. And since my mom never talked to my dad, I knew he would never find out. It worked out pretty well. I’m glad that my sister knew me so well.
“Dad, I have to tell you something,” I said.
“What?” he asked as he looked at me. He was playing with Tommy’s toys and seemed more interested in doing that.
“Elisa and I are having a baby.”
“What?”
I nodded. “It’s true.” I patted her stomach.
He stood up and clutched his chest. “I’m gonna be a papi?”
I smiled.
“Yeah.”
There was moisture in his eyes for a moment but he blinked
it back. “That’s great, son.” He hugged me tightly and patted my back. “I’m so happy.” He turned to Elisa and hugged her. “This is wonderful.”
“We are very excited about it,
” I said.
“Now I have three grandchildren.”
Koku barked.
“I mean four,” he said quickly. He looked at Sadie. “And I hope more are on the way.”
She smiled. “They’ll be here eventually.”
My dad hugged me again. “I’m so proud of you, son.”
I was not expecting him to say that. If anything, I thought he would be disappointed. “Really?”
“Yeah.
You found the woman you love and who loves you. You’re a family.”
“We’re all a family,
Dad.”
He nodded. “I’m so excited. Have you started planning?”
Elisa looked at me. “We are still discussing everything,” she whispered.
We spent the rest of the evening talking about the baby, brainstorm
ing names for boys and girls. I didn’t have any in mind. I didn’t even care if it was a boy or a girl. I just wanted it to be healthy and happy. If we had a girl, she would be beautiful like Elisa, and that would cause problems with boys. But I guess that is the same issue even if we had a boy.
After my dad left and everyone went to bed, Elisa and I went into our bedroom. I was so thankful that everyone was just as excited for this baby as we were. Even the kids seem excited, though they didn’t seem like they really understood what we were saying. We crawled into bed then turned off the lights. I kept the bedroom door open
at night so I could hear everything in the house. I preferred to keep it shut but Elisa couldn’t sleep unless the door was open. She insisted that I check the gun in the drawer every night as well. Since she was so traumatized, I did whatever I could to make her feel more comfortable. Perhaps in time she wouldn’t be so paranoid. I had no right to berate her about living in fear. I had never been held at knifepoint before, nor had I ever been mugged—much less twice. And my spouse didn’t pass away because he was killed by a mugger.
She still wasn’t in the mood to make love but I didn’t push
it. I knew it wasn’t personal. I would wait until she was ready again. I think she was just too anxious to have sex. Maybe if I tried in the middle of the day it might work better. The sun would still be up. I placed my hand on her stomach while I slept beside her, knowing my baby was deep within her.
The next morning, the kids came screaming into the room.
“Santa came! Santa came!” Becky screamed.
I moaned. “Why did he come so early?”
“No, he came last night, silly,” Tommy said. He ran to the bed then climbed on it. “Come on!”
This was another thing I hated about sleeping
with the door open. I couldn’t sleep naked anymore. “Okay. We’re coming.”
“No
, you aren’t,” Becky said. “You are just lying there.” She grabbed Elisa’s hand and started to pull her. “Come on, Mommy.”
She sighed then climbed out of bed.
“Yay!” Tommy squealed.
We walked into the living room, rubbing the sleep from our
eyes until we gathered around the tree. Ethan and Sadie came in a moment later and sat on the floor. They looked like they wished they could have slept longer.
Elisa went into the
kitchen and made a pot of coffee. She handed cups around and we sat together while we watched the kids open their mound of presents. I went a little overboard on the gifts. I bought them way too many presents but I couldn’t help it. I was excited to shop for them. I got Tommy a new car set, an action figure set, a car track set, a lego set, a new toy sword, a bag full of dinosaur figurines and other stuff I couldn’t even remember. Ethan rivaled my number of gifts. Elisa got them an appropriate number but it didn’t seem to matter. The kids just ripped through the paper, squealing in delight as they opened each package.
Elisa got me
a picture with the four of us at the park. The gesture touched my heart so much that I felt my eyes become itchy with impending tears. I didn’t expect her to get me anything but this said everything that I wanted to hear. She was excited about our baby and our life together. “Thank you so much.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.” I kissed her then pulled away.
“You got
Dad a picture?” Becky asked with a funny face.
Elisa’s smile
widened. “Yes, I did.”
I felt my heart flutter when I listened to Becky. I was glad they considered me to be a father to them, someone who would love them and cherish them, protect them with their life. Elisa’s reaction made the moment even more amazing. She seemed genuinely happy.
I’m happy that our kids love you so much,” she said.
I nodded.
Ethan got Sadie a white gold bracelet. One side said
Sadie
and the other side said,
Belongs To A Crazy Asshole—Don’t Touch.
I assumed it had special meaning to them. He also got her dog a few toys and a huge stack of bones. Koku started wagging his tails happily.
When
it was my turn, I grabbed the small red box, the last one under the three, and gave it to Elisa. “Merry Christmas, Ellie.”
She smiled at me before she opened it. She stared at the
top of the box for a moment before she grabbed a key tied to it and held it up. While she was distracted, I got on one knee in front of her. I heard Sadie gasp as she watched.
Elisa looked at the key then back at me, unsure what it meant.
“I’ve been saving my money for a long time, and years ago I put a lot of my savings into some stock that did really well. For the longest time, I didn’t know what to do with it until I met you. So I bought us a house in Connecticut. It’s in a safe neighborhood and it’s only a twenty minute train ride from the city. And the schools are the best in the state.”
She covered her mouth.
“Oh my god.”
“Look inside the box.”
She picked up the picture. It was a two story house with a porch and a huge front yard. It had a large lawn with a beautiful tree in the middle. She started to cry. “Oh my god. Thank you so much!” She jumped on me and wrapped her arms around me. “It’s perfect. I love it! I hate living here, Jared.”
“I know, I know.”
“I can’t believe you did this for me.”
“I
would do anything for you.”
“What about work?”
“It’s a short commute.”
She pulled away and pressed her forehead against mine.
“You won’t have to be afraid anymore.”
“You don’t understand how much this means to me.”
“I do.” I reached in my pocket and pulled out the other box. “I forgot something.”
She gasped again.
I opened it and showed it to her. “Elisa, will you do me the honor of marrying me, sharing your life with me, having our baby as my wife, letting me love your children like my own, and spending the rest of your days with me?”
“Yes!”
I smiled as I pulled the ring out and slipped it on her finger. “Thank you for making me the happiest man in the world.”
She wrappe
d her arms around me and held me close. “I still can’t believe this.”
“Believe it.”
“I don’t deserve you.”
“I think you’re confused.”
“When will the house be ready?”
“It is ready.”
“But how did you know I would say yes?”
“There wasn’t a doubt,
Ellie.”
She pressed her face close to mine. “I haven’t done anything to deserve this from you.”
“Actually, you have.”
“What?”
“You agreed to be mine. That’s all I ever wanted.”