Home > Meant to Be(4)

Meant to Be(4)
Author: Jude Deveraux

   “Well?”

   “I told him that your hair had taken over your body so that you now shave like a man and—”

   “You jerk.” She rolled toward him, ready to make love again, but the loud grumble of Adam’s stomach made them both laugh.

   “Think Forey left us any food?” he asked.

   “I’ll put money on it that she did.” There was a kitchenette along the wall, with a little table under a window.

   Adam got out of bed and pulled on his jeans. He reached for his shirt but Vera grabbed it. “I’ll wear this. We mustn’t hide our best features.”

   He got her meaning. His bare chest, her legs. Laughing, he bent and kissed her. “I missed you a lot.” He went to the fridge and opened it. “Ah, yes. The finest of Mexico-Kansas. And a pie. Bet that’s from your mom.”

   Vera got out of bed and put on Adam’s shirt. It was very short on her. She twirled around. “How do I look? As good as Miranda Miller?”

   Adam nearly choked on a bite of cold pinto beans. “Heard about that, did you?” He put the food on the table and his arms around Vera’s waist. “She said she’s been waiting for me.”

   “Did she?”

   He kissed Vera’s neck. “She asked if I thought she was as pretty as the girls in Africa.”

   Vera leaned back to look at him. “And what did you say?”

   “I told her to take off her top so I could make a comparison.”

   “You didn’t!” Her eyes were wide.

   “No, but I wanted to.” He released her and went to the table. For a moment he stood still, his back to her. “I wasn’t faithful to you.” He spoke so softly she could hardly hear him.

   Vera took a few breaths. This was a turning point. Did she storm out in anger? Or cry? She didn’t feel either of those emotions. “Did you learn anything?”

   She saw his shoulders drop down in relief and he turned to her. “I’m sorry. It was more time and place and need than anything else.”

   She was starting to feel something and she didn’t like it. In the time he’d been away, there’d been opportunities for her with other men, but she hadn’t taken them. All she knew now was that she didn’t want to think about this. “Want me to heat this up?”

   “That would be great.” He was still waiting for her judgment about what he’d confessed.

   “Let’s not mention it again.” Her head came up. “Later, if we’re, you know, together, uh, forever, you wouldn’t—”

   The look he gave her made her stop talking. No, he wouldn’t.

   She put the foil-wrapped food in the oven. “I wish there was a way we could talk to people all over the world, and see them. Like on a TV.”

   “Sounds like something off Star Trek. They didn’t put that show back on, did they?”

   “Sadly, not.”

   He sat down at the table. “We don’t get much news where I’ve been, so tell me what I’ve missed in the world.”

   Vera smiled. Her favorite topic. “East Pakistan renamed itself Bangladesh. Shirley Chisholm says she’s running for president.”

   “Couldn’t be worse than Nixon. Does everyone still hate him?”

   “Yeah. Especially Maude.”

   “Who?”

   “It’s a TV show you haven’t seen. And there’s a new movie you have to see. The Godfather.”

   “Sounds boring. Too romantic for me.”

   Vera chuckled. “Not really. Anyway, Libya and the Soviet Union signed a cooperation treaty. And Congress is sending the Equal Rights Amendment to the states to ratify.”

   “Any hope they’ll sign it?”

   “None whatever. The US and the Soviet Union and seventy other nations have agreed to ban biological warfare.”

   “But they haven’t agreed to ban war,” Adam said.

   “No,” Vera said softly. Three young men they’d gone to high school with had been killed in Vietnam. Vera had participated in sit-ins and walkouts. Adam and her father had supported her, but her mother had been angry and scared. But still, the useless war continued.

   “Hey!” Adam said. “How did we get morbid?”

   “You started it by telling me that you’d bed hopped with half of Africa and—”

   “I didn’t! It was once and—” He halted.

   “One girl or one time?” she asked.

   Adam turned away. “You and I aren’t officially engaged.”

   “Right. We’re not.” For the first time, there was anger in Vera’s voice. “Free love and all that.”

   Adam cleared his throat. “Did you know that Paul is spending the summer in Europe? Are he and your little sister still an item?”

   Vera got the food out of the oven. “They are, and no, Kelly didn’t mention it.”

   “That’s because Paul only has two legs. Not important to her.”

   Vera smiled as she got plates out of the cabinet. “Pauly’s so mad about Kelly he’s probably only going away for a week. Just seems like the whole summer to him.”

   “Nope. He’ll be away all summer. And Forey told me that Miguel will probably marry Gabby. I got the idea he was asked to come more for matchmaking than to help on the farm.”

   Vera put out plates and glasses and the food. “This was all told to you since your father’s funeral? All this gossip?”

   He finished chewing before he spoke. “It’s all because of Dad. He wanted to be told everyone’s business. Today I got the idea that people expect me to take over everyone’s problems and to solve them. Why are you looking at me like that?”

   “You’ve got to see The Godfather.”

   “A woman’s movie about christenings?”

   “No, not quite. I’m sure my mother made the pie.”

   “So she was in on this? She knew we’d come here and...and...?”

   “Hoped is more like it. She hopes you and I will elope and I’ll be pregnant by Christmas. With triplets.”

   “She wants them to hold you in place?”

   “Exactly!” Vera got up to get the apple pie. Pretending it wasn’t of monumental importance, she said, “So what are you going to do? And when?”

   “O ye of little faith,” he said. “Tomorrow I’ll show you my photos.” He hesitated. “I know Africa is far away, but I feel like I belong there. The people need me and that’s a powerful connection.”

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