Trapped by Love

13: "It's not my birthday."

I sat at the table awkwardly as I waited for Christian to return so that we could go home. My dress was rising up on my thighs slightly due to the fact since I had gained weight since the last time I wore it and I hadn’t lost all the baby fat yet. I was working hard to lose it, but it just wasn’t coming off as easy as I hoped it would. I sighed heavily as I remembered our first date, technically family dinner, I had worn a loose skirt to hide the baby weight and a fitted top to look nice. Unfortunately my outfit had other ideas, when I came back from the bathroom I hadn’t realized that my skirt was tucked into my underwear.

Christian tried not to be rude while pointing it out, but it was still embarrassing. He had tried hard to be a gentlemen, even after, but I could barely force myself to look at him without turning red. Why he had wanted to keep our second date was completely irrational to me, but now I was waiting for something to go wrong again. I had worn a dress hoping that I would remember to check it before leaving the bathroom, wore minimal make up in case I cried and wore flats so I wouldn’t trip.

My mom had been so happy when Christian asked about our second date before he left for dinner. She had liked him so much for some reason. He had played with Tessa, helped set the table, clean off the table, offered assistance without being prompted. It was hard to put a finger on exactly what made him so wonderful, but the main point, for me at least, was that he liked spending time with Tessa. He had even offered to let her come, but I said no because I wanted to know him outside of the normal and my mom would have scolded me for bringing her with me.

This was our fifth date in the last two months and the whirlwind of feelings had taken me over completely. He took me to quaint restaurants and sometimes just took me on walks around the town, but it was always a good time and I was falling for him more and more each time I saw him.

After our third date, he started to come over to the house everyday to play with Tessa and he would even take care of her sometimes when I had to go to work, but she wasn’t in class for the nursery that day. They would both come to see me at my break and eat lunch until it was time to return to work, but both would laugh and smile the whole time.

It warmed my heart to see Christian and Tessa so happy together. Tessa adored him and called him to play with her almost every minute, even when he just took a trip to the bathroom she would want him to come back and play with her. I couldn’t blame her for liking him either, he treated her like a princess. He brought her stuffed animals, toys, presents and accessories all the time. He treated her with so much love and adoration, that it seemed to me that he was the father in Tessa’s because he took Scott’s place.

She never knew Scott, and for a while the only male figure she had in her life was my father, but she needed her own father. I had stopped trying to contact Scott, he left for a reason and I wasn’t going to push him back into our lives. He didn’t want ot be a part of it and it seemed like Scott did, and for that I was grateful because I couldn’t imagine a better person to be a part of Tessa’s life.

I just wish I knew more about him, I thought to myself as I saw his tall muscular figure come around the corner with a wide grin on his face as if he had just won the lottery.

He hadn’t told us much about himself except that he came from Texas, and he was in Virginia looking for a new job. Other than that, I knew very basic stuff about him and that’s why I wanted to be alone for this date. I wanted to know him better before anything escalated. I had to, because I didn’t think I could handle the pain of him leaving like Scott did.

At first supportive and loving and then gone in the next few days. I don’t think Tessa would understand why her friend had left and why her mom was upset. I had to know him better before he became too big of a part of my life, or my family’s life. I had a feeling they were all rooting for him, he had made my dad laugh which was difficult for a guy to do since my dad protected me furiously, and he had won over my mother and Tessa with ease. I just needed to be sure that he was the right choice before I jumped into the deep end to see if I could swim or not.

“Thank you for waiting,” Christian said as he slid into the chair across from me. The smile was predominant on his face and had me curious as to what he had been doing this whole time.

“It was no problem. What were you doing anyway?” I questioned as I waited for him to answer.

“It was nothing, I had to take a phone call from someone I work with and it extended for a longer time then it should have.” He stated just as the waiter came to deliver our receipt.

“Sorry for the wait, but I have a special surprise for you ma’am.” He said as he placed a chocolate cake in front of me and some other waiters came over to join in singing me happy birthday. I turned red again as I glanced at the cake while waiting for them to finish and leave.

“It’s not my birthday,” I whispered once the waiters had dispersed from our table.

“I know, but it is next week and I wanted to celebrate early so that way you could spend the day with your family.” He stated politely as he paid the check before I could object to anything. I smiled lightly as I glanced down to the cake, I was so full there was no way I could eat this right now. “You don’t have to eat the cake now, I got it for you to celebrate with later. I have other plans for now.” He stated as he got up from his seat and grabbed the box that the cake had been given to me in as he waited for me.

 “Where are we going?” I asked curiously since he was basically pushing me out the door.

“I want to take you somewhere before I take you home.” He said as he took my hand and led me outside. He had taken me into Old Town Alexandria, where some of the streets were still cobblestone and the lapping of water could be heard from almost anywhere.

He led me easily through the town as if he had lived here his whole life. I had been born and raised here, but rarely ever been down here. It was a picturesque location, but it was always crowded and I didn’t particularly like that. There was too much to look out for, too much to worry about, but he seemed relaxed and so I let myself relax as well.

He pulled us out of the crowd to reveal a small section of the park that was covered with rope lights, hanging from tree to tree. I glanced around in shock as he took my hand and led me to the center of the lights. He placed his hands around my waist just as music started to play. I glanced around for the source, but couldn’t see it.

“A friend is playing it from a control, because the music is in one of the trees. Just enjoy it.” He stated as he lightly and gracefully dipped me to regain my focus.

“Was this the phone call that took so long?”

“As a matter of fact, yes it is.” He stated as we continued to dance.

I was lost in his eyes as we danced and moved to the music. His steps were graceful, his touch light and his smile breath taking. He suddenly stopped dancing as the music came to an end, he offered a bow and I curtseyed. The lights dimmed before they shut off and Christian took my hand again.

“I never knew an hour could fly by like that,” He stated with a smile.

“An hour?”

“The playlist was made for an hour. If I had known how fast it would have been then I would have made it longer so that I could spend more time with you.” He said with a wink.

“And why would you do that?” I asked playfully as I pulled my hand out of his so I could turn to see his face.

“I think I love you.” He said quietly, before he realized what he had said and mentally slapped himself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” He apologized as he looked away from me in embarrassment.

I could feel the tension rising around us so I said the only think I could. “I think I love you too.” I whispered back honestly as I placed a kiss on his cheek and took his hand to walk back to the car so that we could end this perfect night.