Divine Intervention

Chapter 12

“How far is it to go shopping?”, I asked climbing into his SUV. 

“About an hour," he said shutting the door behind me. He got in and got us on our way. He turned on some music and we drove in comfortable silence for a while. He reached across the console for my hand, “You are awfully quiet. What’s up?”, he asked, concerned. 

“Do your parents know...about us?”, I asked. He chuckled. 

“My parents knew about us, before you knew about us. Dad never liked the idea of Ava, he thought I should have just been me from the get-go. Mom thought I should have fessed up sooner. Why?” 

“Mostly just curious. I don’t want them to think I am corrupting their baby boy, or that I am with you for the wrong reasons," I voiced my concerns. 

“I don’t think they would ever think that sweetie. They are a little angry with me for not exactly having my priorities straight, but that will pass," he squeezed my hand. “Besides, your appearance here was such a complete surprise, my priorities were bound to be a little out of whack.” 

“Was it?”, I asked out of reflex. 

He looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face. “Was what?” 

“My appearance here. Was it really a surprise?” I knew I was headed down a potentially dangerous road, but I had to know. 

He pulled his hand from mine and tugged on his beard. He thought for a long while before he answered. “Of course it was. All Ava knew was that you were headed to the mountains somewhere for some solitude. She never had an exact location.  You showing up in the clearing was a gift. I wish I could have orchestrated it, but, yes, it was definitely a surprise,"  he answered slowly and deliberately. 

I suddenly felt very stupid for asking. He retook my hand in his and lightly rubbed his thumb over my knuckles. He lifted my hand to his lips and placed a kiss into my open palm. As if he could read my mind, he spoke carefully. 

“There’s a lot of lingering Ava stuff floating around your mind, I know and I am so sorry for that. Please feel free to ask any questions you have. Don’t bottle it up. What I did was wrong and I know I will be apologizing for it for a long time.” He squeezed my hand gently. “I know you won’t be able to 100% trust me for a while,"  he swallowed hard. “And that’s ok. I get it. Just always remember that everything Ava ever said was true. It was just true about me. Switch some pronouns and change some names and it’s all true. Anytime you want to discuss any of it, we can and this time it will be in the correct context. I do promise that I never lied to you. You know that, right?” 

I looked at him and nodded. He kissed my knuckles and let my hand go so that he could have both hands on the wheel. I noticed that we had reached a busier area and we were soon turning into a mall parking lot. 

He looked at the clock in the dash, “I figure we have about three hours before we have to head back and get ready. Are you ready?” 

I hoped he was a better shopper than I was. “As I will ever be.”

We spent the next 30 minutes wandering the high end department store pulling dresses off the rack. He asked me my size and within ten minutes he had ten dresses picked out. He was fun to watch. He picked a dress, held it up to me and either handed it to the saleswoman that was helping us, or shook his head and hung it back on the rack. He asked Kathy, the saleswoman, to start a room. I loved that he made a point to get her name and to use it. He asked me to go with her and get started and said he’d be there in a minute.  

“Must be headed somewhere special. These dresses are gorgeous," Kathy commented on the way to the dressing rooms. 

“His parents are taking us out to dinner tonight and I didn’t have anything quite nice enough.” I said making small talk.