Teaching Mr. Graham

Chapter Eighty

    "Oh, will it?" she asked him, laughing.

    "Of course," he said. "And we'll have to make up for lost time, since we're spending so much time away from each other during the school year."

    "Mmm," she murmured.

    "Not to mention, summer break will be a great time to show you the world," he added, dancing around in slow circles with her.

    "Show her the world?" her father quipped, dancing beside them with his wife. "Sounds a bit ambitious."

    "I assume I'll be invited," Kenya said, just as Eric wrapped his arms around her.

    The three couples danced the night away until the tables emptied and the busboys were clearing the dishes. Kenya and Eric chatted away and so did Tatiana's parents, but she and Aubrey were in their own little world, staring at each other while dancing.

                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    "All right, boo, Eric and I have to get our fiery passion on tonight," Kenya said, giggling while hugging Tatiana. "But I'm so fucking proud of you. You don't even know. You did that tonight, you really did."

    Tatiana hugged her back.

    "Amazing job, Tatiana," Eric said, smiling politely.

    She smiled back at Eric as she pulled out of Kenya's embrace. "Thank you, Eric." She watched them leave, then turned to her parents.

    Her mother was looking at her in awe. It was a look she'd never seen on her mother before. Mrs. Wallace lifted her purse and reached into it. "There's something I want you to have." She withdrew a thick notebook with curling pages.

    Tatiana's brows rose as she accepted the notebook. She flipped through some of it and immediately recognized her mother's neat cursive writing. Each page was filled with writing. There wasn't much white space on the pages. "You wrote all of this?" she whispered, even though she already knew the answer to that question.

    Mrs. Wallace nodded. "I want you to have it. I want you to know that...although I made mistakes while parenting you, I wasn't always some stuffy stick in the mud. I was a writer once, an artist once. Seeing you on that stage today..." She shook her head. "You reminded me so much of a young me. I think...I think that the younger me and you would have gotten along."

    Tatiana touched the words with her fingertips. "Does this mean that you support me now? When it comes to writing?"

    Tears filled her mother's eyes. "I should have never held you back from your true calling, baby. I'm so sorry. But the days of us holding you back are long gone. No more will we hold you back from the things...and the people...that you love."

    Tatiana stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her mother.

    Mr. Wallace eyed Aubrey. "You make sure to take care of my daughter."

    "I will," Aubrey vowed.

    "Don't do anything to hurt her," Mr. Wallace cautioned.

    "I would never," Aubrey said emphatically.

    "After doing a little digging up on you, I know your rep and I've seen your music videos," Mr. Wallace declared. "A whole lot of asses shaking, a whole lot of women surrounding you. That won't fly when you're with my daughter."

    "I wouldn't disrespect her by doing that."

    Mr. Wallace squinted at him.

    Aubrey made sure to look the older man in the eye. "Mr. Wallace, I love your daughter. I've made it my mission to take care of her, to look out for her. She isn't some fling for me. I'm going to do right by her. And I have good intentions when it comes to her. I promise you that."

    Mr. Wallace nodded. "You saw talent in her before her mother and I. You saw her creativity, saw a potential in her to be a great writer. In my misguided attempt at protecting her from harsh criticism and disappointment, I almost held her back from introducing her writing to the world."

    Aubrey glanced at Tatiana and smiled. "No offense, Mr. Wallace, but no one - not even you - has the power to hold back a gift that precious."

    Mr. Wallace turned and focused on his daughter. "Maybe you're right about that."

                                                                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Later that night, in each others' arms, feeling grateful for each other. Aubrey sang to Tatiana, and she quoted poetry to him. They spoke about so many different things that night, just about every topic under the sun. Throughout their conversation, his eyes wandered. Then his hands wandered. Then he was parting her thighs and sliding between them. Then he was whispering romantic things into her ear. Then he was nibbling on her earlobe while grinding against her. She moaned loudly.

    He lifted his head and looked down at her. "Sometimes I feel like I'm corrupting you."

    "You're not corrupting me," she argued, wrapping her legs around him. "You're just teaching me new things."

    "Then class in session," he said, kissing her lips.

                                                                             THE END