Ophelia (9 page)

Walking around the zoo with his arm around my waist, and watching all the wild animals was more captivating than I’d expected. I remembered going to the zoo with my parents when I was a kid, but it wasn’t nothing like here. I mostly remembered the snow cone my dad had gotten me, a blue one... or the monkeys who were eating banana after banana. Here, everything was enjoyable and better. They had guides explaining, teaching us about the habitats of the different species. I loved to learn about all these animals. Koalas were my favorite exotic animal. Being here, I hoped to touch one. I didn’t know if I was being realistic but I had always been a dreamer.

Later in the afternoon, we sat under a tree in a rest area. The sun had burned my skin, and I needed a break in the shadow of the tree. Birds were chirping and the breeze was refreshing. I felt my entire body relax next to his. He took both of my legs and placed them over his lap, massaging my calves. Teo knew what he was doing, he was making me feel comfortable while he prepared himself to start the conversation that had been on pause since his unplanned arrival. I expected him to talk about us, serious stuff because we needed that and he always had been the voice of reason.

I felt his body tense and his massage became stronger, on the verge of being painful. Then he moved my legs and shifted so we were face to face. I knew he was about to start.

“You already know how I see the future with you.” Teo enveloped my hands in the warmth of his. “That I want you as my wife one day,” he said, looking directly into my eyes. “I also realize that we’ve been kind a lazy when it came to protection. I assume you wouldn’t mind having kids with me, right?”

“We mentioned it before. I do want it, but I also want us to take our time, you know? Being a mother makes me nervous. I’m afraid I won’t know what to do.”

He nodded, though he might have looked a bit disappointed.

“I’m tired. I feel like I’ve been running all around the world for years,” I explained.

“That’s because you did, baby.” A hint of a smile appeared on his lips and it was the cutest thing ever.

“I know. Let me finish. I know I love you, and I don’t have any doubts. I just want us to take it easy. I want to feel good at home and try to settle for once. If I get pregnant, it will be meant to be. I just don’t want us to focus entirely on it.”

“I understand.” He smiled. “It works for me.”

“Deal. So are we ready to be grown up now?” I laughed.

“I feel like I’ve been an adult for way too long already.” He paused. “I wanted to wait for your return home, but since I’m here with you...” His smiled reached his eyes, Teo was about to tell me something good. “It’s official now. I bought half of the shares of the restaurant.”

“Oh my God, Teo, this is such a good news, and quite a big deal too.” He made me so proud. When I met him, he was so lost and uncertain when it came to his career. Seeing him so focused and professional inspired me.

“I’ll be able to take good care of you, Amore mio.” God, I loved when he was speaking Italian.

“You already are, baby.”

“When you are pregnant, I don’t want you to work full time, I want you to rest and enjoy your pregnancy. I want you to stay home as long as you can with the baby. My worst nightmare would be for us to struggle financially or time-wise with our kids. The restaurant should make that possible. I’ll be able to provide for us.”

“You want me to turn into a housewife?” I chuckled. I had been providing for myself since the death of my parents. I was an independent woman.

“No, I want you to keep working but I don’t want you to worry about anything else. We’re good now,” he said reassuringly. For Teo, taking care of me had been his main priority and that was him doing what he loved to do.

“I could teach kids how to play the piano. I miss doing that.” Maybe this new life was going to be fun and challenging after all. Of course, my mind was about to have a nervous breakdown because I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, but I thought I was ready. Staying home for a long period scared me because it had never happened in my life. At least, not in the last fifteen years. Travelling, playing piano around the world, was all I knew. Living a life where I wasn’t by myself was a challenge. I was officially with Teo now. I had to make him happy,

“I want to fulfill your needs, that’s all.”

Our conversation turned out to be more serious that I thought possible for a day at the zoo. We were making our plans for the future. Teo believed our future was safe with his job, but in truth, we would never have to worry about a thing financially. I had more money that I could possibly need in a life time. I’d been working since childhood, and I also had my parents’ inheritance. I never touched it, never needed it, but I knew it was there.

My only concern was that I loved to work and even though I wanted to stop travelling around the world. I didn’t think I would be able to sit on the couch all day and watch sleazy soap America. Teaching sounded like a good idea.

Another dream came true, I fed a Koala and took a picture of me holding a little furry baby. I fell in love completely with the Koalas. I was walking in a bubble for the rest of the day. I loved this zoo. Teo wanted to visit the Lemur Forest, so we did. The lemurs were so cute, I wanted to adopt one. We were both in awe and adoration with the animals of the zoo. It felt good to be in a different environment, somewhere we never had been before. It brought us closer to each other and we built new memories together.

Our day at the zoo ended up being one of the best days of my life. We learned so many things about the wildlife and we took hundreds of pictures. Teo liked capturing memories as he would say. I just smiled a whole bunch, pretended to be Cindy Crawford, and made him happy. I would never forget this day or the conversation we’d had under the tree. We were together, one. Exactly what we both desired.

“You want to go to a restaurant or something? Or we could order take out.” Teo suggested.

I was exhausted, I wanted to go home and crash the minute I sat on the couch, but that would waste our time together. The right thing to do was to enjoy each second we had.

“I choose restaurant. I thought you were more romantic than that.” I joked.

He seemed embarrassed for a few seconds. “I didn’t want to decide, the choice is yours.”

“What about seafood?” I’d heard of a well-known seafood restaurant by the waterfront.

“I hope they have oysters.” What? My memory might have tricked me but I thought he didn’t like oysters.

“Since when do you like oysters?” He always had a way to surprise me.

“They’re an aphrodisiac,” he said, blushing and pinning me closer to his side. We both laughed. As if we needed that.

I drove to the restaurant feeling the tiredness in my eyes. They were heavy but I didn’t want to go home. The day had been perfect on every level, and I wasn’t looking forward to the end. I had to pinch myself throughout the day to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. He was really here.

The view from the terrace was breathtaking. The lights of the city reflected on the water. I had to stop myself and look around to see how lucky I was to be sitting here. My eyes were stinging as I looked at the horizon. I went through my therapeutic list in my head and I couldn’t contain the smirk on my face. “Thank you, Teo.”

“You are the most welcome, bella.” He took my hand and kissed the tips of my fingers.

“You’re going to have to teach me Italian if we want our kids to be fluent.” 

He burst in laughter. “Well, my Italian is getting worse with the years. I don’t really get to practice very often but I would love to teach you, baby. I think it’s really cute that you’re willing to do that for me.”

“Of course.” I cupped his cheek with my hand and our gazes locked. I felt the heat rise into my cheeks. His eyes were quite intense.

“Ma’am, sir, are you ready to order?” The waitress startled me. She kind of ruined our moment. “Would you like starters?”

We hadn’t really looked at the menu yet. I hurried to look through the list of starters, but Teo took care of it. Restaurants were his thing after all.

“Hi, Sofia.” He called her by her name, making her face turned bright red. I rolled my eyes. She had a name tag on her shirt. “We’ll take the Southern calamari and cauliflower for two, with a bottle of Chardonnay, please.” He looked through the main meals. I was voluntarily letting him decide for me. I thought it was incredibly romantic. He knew me well after all. “And for her, it will be the sweetcorn with giant scallops & parmesan shrimp, and I’ll have the mahi mahi.” He smiled proudly, totally making me fall for him again.

“Thank you, sir. I’ll be right back with your wine and starters.” She kept her eyes on him, completely ignoring me. She must have fallen under the spell of Teo’s charm. I didn’t not exactly like it, but I had no reason to be worried. He was mine.

“That was impressive, baby.” I winked.

“I know what you like, babe.” His tone suggested so many things at once.

My cheeks flushed, but I tried to keep a straight face. “Do you?” I asked suggestively.

He bit on his bottom lip and his brown eyes lit up. “Oh! I do, Ophelia, I really do.”

I couldn’t say anything to this. He was right, nobody knew me like him. I continued to smile and my eyes caught sight of his wet lips. I only wanted one kiss. Separated by the table, I couldn’t reach him. Under the table, I slid my foot up and down his leg.

“I still can’t believe you are here in Australia.” I shook my head in disbelief. “You are crazy, traveling all the way here to be with me.”

“I did, and it was worth the sixteen hours on the plane or the thousand dollars I paid for my ticket. To me, you are worth it, and seeing you so joyful is the best damn thing in the world.” He chuckled. “We’ve been through hell together, but we’re still here. Stronger than ever.”

His fingers interlaced with mine and his lips approached the top of my hand.

“Here are your glasses,” said the waitress, interrupting us. Sofia got her bottle opener and opened the chardonnay with ease. I hated how she kept smiling at Teo as if I didn’t exist. She took my glass and filled it with the wine and repeated with Teo’s. She irritated the crap out of me, even though Teo didn’t react to her flirting. I wasn’t certain he even noticed.

Sofia returned fifteen minutes later with our calamari and this time, I made sure she noticed me. I thanked her before Teo had the time to say a word. My voice was loud and self-assured.
Game over, mate!
Maybe the wine played a part in my confident attitude, since I was already on my second glass. Spending a day out in the sun had made me thirsty.

The smirk on Teo’s face told me he was proud that I had let her know he was mine. I didn’t think it was jealousy, maybe more possessiveness. My man, my love, my baby.  Sofia got the message, and I could tell she was ashamed. 

The cauliflower and calamari tasted heavenly. So much flavor, I had never tasted anything like this. We had three different sauces to dip into. This made my tummy happy. I could have eaten the whole plate by myself. We were quiet for a while, letting eating become the priority. I hadn’t realize how starved I had been until that moment.

“I’m getting a little tipsy.” I laughed. “Maybe I should slow down with the wine.”

“I can always drive.”

“I guess I’m more tired than I thought. I used to tolerate alcohol more than that.”

Teo laughed. “You really are tipsy, maybe even on the verge of being drunk. Drink your water, baby.” He laughed again. “Your eyes are all glossy and tired.”

“Yeah, I had a wonderful day with you.”

“I did too. I’ll be staying here with you until you are ready to go back home.”

“You’ll be at my concert at the Opera House then?” I asked, hoping for a yes.

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss it, Ophelia. It’s quite an achievement.”

He was proud of me, and for some reason, I became emotional. I had to dry the tears with my napkin. Since the death of my parents, I never really had anyone attend my shows. “Thank you.” I blew him a kiss. “You have no idea how happy you make me.”

“I do, you do the same for me, bella.”

The main meal arrived after I had drunk a full glass of water. My stomach felt full and I wasn’t hungry anymore. Thankfully, the food was once again delicious. I ate all of my shrimp, and they had to be the best I had ever eaten. Teo ate the remainder of my scallops.

“I think I’m going to explode. If this is how it feels to be pregnant, I think I’ll pass.” My tummy was showing a little bump, but only because I devoured my plate and had way too much to drink.

“You’ll be as stunning as ever.” The excitement in his eyes meant everything, he couldn’t wait to be a father.

“You might change your mind when my feet are swollen and I walk like a whale or when I eat ice cream with pickles and chips.”

We both laughed. “Maybe I could incorporate a menu for pregnant woman at the restaurant.”

I could barely contain my laughter.  “Right, you wouldn’t make any money, they eat for two.”

He captured my gaze and I knew something serious was hiding behind his eyes. “Baby, I’ve been thinking about something. Tell me if this is something you would like or not, okay? We were thinking about maybe have a live pianist a few times a week and of course, I wanted to talk to you about it.”

“Wow... hum... Yeah, it could be interesting. I could give it a shot.”

“We would work together. Does that scare you?”

“No, I love it. Why would it scare me?”

He chuckled shyly. “I don’t know, I’ve heard it’s hard to work with the person you are in a relationship with.”

“We got this, baby.” I had a job already. Something to look forward to.

“Good.” Teo was excited about this, I could feel it. “Do you want dessert?”

I thought about ordering one but my stomach was full and I didn’t want to end up sick because I ate too much. “You’ll be my dessert later tonight. I can’t eat anything any more.”

“Alright, I’ll take that.”

Teo paid the bill and we walked out. The muscles of my legs were begging me to sit again. I was exhausted and I could tell Teo was too. His body hadn’t recovered from the time change yet. The only reason I stayed up was to feel the breeze coming from the ocean. It felt cool against my skin. Teo’s arms circled my waist, he held me closer to him, and I decided to embrace the moment.