Damian's POV
I'll never forget the last conversation I had with my father though at the time, I didn't know it was going to be the last time I would have a conversation with him. It was a day before he had the heart attack. I remembered going into his office after an appointment. We talked about football and then the conversation began to get deeper.
Don't work too much, son, because your life will be over before you know it. Enjoy life, enjoy the people you love.
Enjoy the people you love.
Of course when he told me that, I knew he was talking about my runaway wife. From everyone else, my father was the one who understood me most. I thought he felt a little guilty because I had followed his footsteps in becoming a doctor and then I was wifeless. This was a very rewarding job but it came with sacrifices.
Seeing Rebecca again had changed me. I had spent the last three years feeling so angry. Angry at Rebecca. Angry at myself. Angry at the world. I was miserable. Every day felt the same as I buried myself in work.
Seeing her again-it was as if the past three years hadn't happened. It was like I had been shaken up to life. I had a purpose again. I was a husband again.
Right now, I wanted nothing but to be Rebecca's husband.
There was a knock on the door and then it opened and Karen peeked in. She always had the habit of doing that. It was as if the knock was announcing her entrance rather than asking for permission to enter.
"Hey." She said closing the door behind her after she walked into my office.
"Good afternoon." I said looking away from the computer.
"How are you?" she asked sitting down.
I frowned. "Good? What's going on?"
Karen and I met back in medical school. We actually dated for a few months before I met Rebecca. We lost contact after graduation until my father hired her about a year ago. She was also a pediatrician.
"Uh-" she smiled. "The nurses said you seemed weird today."
The nurses. I swear they needed to just do their job instead of being gossipers on the side.
"Weird how?"
"I don't know, cheerful?"
I chuckled. "I should smile more often huh?"
Karen studied me. "You do look different. Is it because you slept a little more today?"
I didn't usually like to share my personal life with anyone but if I did, it would be to Karen.
"Rebecca came back." I said after a moment.
Did she come back though? She had stayed because I asked her to but she was here only for the rest of the week and then she was leaving again.
That thought hunted me. I didn't want her to leave. I needed to do something.
"What?" Karen looked shocked. "What do you mean she returned? When?"
"Yesterday."
Had it been just yesterday? It felt like so much had happened. At the same time, I was happy it was only yesterday. It meant I still had a few more days with her.
"And you took her back? Just like that?"
There was an edge in her voice that I didn't like. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Why didn't I keep my mouth shut?
I sighed. "Karen-"
She leaned across the table so she could hold my gaze. "No. I'm sorry, Damian, but she left you. She hurt you. Or did you forget that already?"
I wasn't happy.
Those words have been hunting me ever since Rebecca said them. She wasn't happy. As her husband, I had vowed to make her happy and I had failed. I was never there for her. On the day that she left, I had worked for twelve hours straight and I didn't realize she was gone until the next morning when I woke up to an empty bed.
"She was gone for three years." Karen continued. "Without calling you or even giving you an explanation and now she comes back like nothing?"
"She is my wife." I said in a low voice.
"Only on a piece of paper. She hasn't been your wife for the past three years, Damian."
I took a deep breath as I ran a hand through my hair. "Karen, I am not an idiot. I know what I'm doing."
I didn't need to be reminded that Rebecca had left for three years, I had that present in my head. It sort of still felt unreal that she was here. The thing was that, yes, I was angry at her for leaving without saying anything to me. I still didn't know what she had been doing for the past three years. But when I looked at her, when I talked to her, none of that mattered. What mattered was that she was here. With me.
I glanced at my phone and contemplated calling her. It felt like she was going to disappear any second. I reached for the phone. Yeah, I'm calling her.
I stood up. "I have an appointment."
Karen stood up with me and stepped in front of me, placing her hand on my arm. "Damian." She said looking at me with her black eyes.
I looked down at her and found myself comparing her to Rebecca. They looked nothing alike. Karen's eyes were darker and her hair was curly with highlights all over it. Karen was pretty but Rebecca was beautiful. I knew my opinion was biased since Rebecca was my wife but Rebecca's beauty seemed natural and unique.
"Rebecca doesn't deserve you." Karen said.
"I'm going to ask you to stay out of it, Karen." I said trying not to sound as annoyed as I was. I never should have told her anything. "And to please keep your hands to yourself." I said grabbing her hand and pulling it away.
I walked past her dialing Rebecca on my way out. I went into the examine room across the hall. I could hear children laughing and yelling in the waiting room with the TV playing in the background.
"Hello?"
I smiled at the sound of her voice, the anger seemed to diminish. "Rebecca."
"Damian. Hey."
"How are you?"
I had missed talking to her. Did I used to call her at random times during the day before she left?
"Good. I'm-going through my clothes." She paused. "I didn't think you'd keep them."
My mother was the one who had gone into my closet and packed all of Rebecca's clothes into suitcases a few months after she left. When she attempted to throw them away, I took them and hid them in my closet. I guess it was as if I was holding on to her somehow by doing that. It drove my mother crazy.
"I wasn't looking through your things." Rebecca said quickly when I didn't say anything. "Well, maybe I was a little." She laughed nervously.
I chuckled. "Well, they're yours so it doesn't matter." I paused. "Listen-I wanted to take you out tonight."
"Tonight? Where?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe out to dinner? Catch a movie or something?"
Catch a movie or something? I sounded like a college boy all over again. God what was wrong with me.
"Like a date?'
"Well-yes a date."
I was asking my wife out on a date. Why was that so strange? I tried to remember the last time Rebecca and I were on a date and I couldn't remember. We did used to go out before she left, right?
"Oh, okay."
"Okay." I repeated. "I'll pick you up at around six."
"Okay, I'll be ready by then."
"Alright." I smiled. "Bye, Rebecca."
"Bye, Damian."
I hung up with a stupid grin on my face.
I had a date with my wife.
____________________________________
When I got home in the evening, I found Alexa in the living room. She was cuddled up with a blanket and watching TV. I think it was one of the Harry Potter movies. She paused it when she saw me come in through the front door.
"Hey."
"Hi." She said with a shy smile that resembled Rebecca's. "Sorry. I got tired of being in the bed so I moved here."
"This is your house, Alexa. You can do as you'd like."
She nodded with a smile. "Thank you. If you can just let Rebecca know, please."
I chuckled then I looked down the hallway. I could see the light of my room on.
"She's still getting ready." Alexa said. "Rebecca! Damian is here!"
"Coming!" Rebecca called from the room.
I sat on the couch. "So what are you watching?"
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." She paused and looked at me. "Do you like Harry Potter?"
I shrugged. "I've never watched the movies. I don't really have time."
She looked disappointed. "Well, if you want to be my brother-in-law you need to watch all of the Harry Potter movies."
I chuckled. "I'll get to it then."
She smiled. "I'm just kidding. But no, really." She said as she pressed play.
"I don't think I ever thanked you." I said after a moment. "For calling me, telling me where Rebecca was." I said when she looked at me confused.
"Oh. You're welcome." She glanced down the hall and bit her lip. "My sister gave up a lot to come and take care of me...and you were one of the them." She looked at me. "I just want her to, you know, have a life of her own. I want her to be happy."
Before I could ask her more about what she meant, Rebecca appeared from the hallway. She was wearing a black pencil dress that went down just above her knees with high heels. The dress hugged her perfect curves and her legs looked absolutely radiant. I knew the dress was in the suitcases that were in the closet. She must have taken them out and washed them. Good. I wanted her to feel right at home because this was her home.
"Sorry. I'm ready." She said.
I cleared my throat as I stood up. "Rebecca, you look absolutely radiant."
She smiled as she looked down sheepishly. "Thanks, I tried."
She was wearing red lipstick. I loved her in red lipstick.
"Alright, let's go." I said opening the door.
"We'll be back soon." Rebecca told Alexa who rolled her eyes at her. "I'm eighteen, Becca, I'll be fine."
"Right." Rebecca said then walked out the door.
It was dark outside as we walked to my car. I thought about how back in the days, a date would always end in a kiss. I hoped I had the same luck tonight.