We're moving faster, faster, our bodies building, and as my orgasm builds within me, her fingers dig into the muscle above my heart, bruising me as my own hand does the same to her, and we peak.
It's like no climax I've ever had before. There's the normal white light of coming, of feeling my balls tighten and my body explode, but the great joy isn't from just coming, but instead from feeling our souls join tightly, forever entwined. Is it some sort of First Nations magic? Hell, I don't know. I just know that as we cruise at twenty five thousand feet somewhere over Alberta or Manitoba, only two phrases echo in my mind.
My husband.
My wife.
Chapter 22
April
“April, my condolences on your father's death,” Connor says as he comes into the apartment. He's never been here before, but after the stress of the funeral and driving back from London, neither Tyler or I feel like going anywhere. When Connor called just as Tyler was leaving a quick video session with Coach Blanchard while I made sure the Fighters' legal team had everything for Tyler's new contract, both of us agreed, he could come to us.
So it's not surprising that he's still dressed for the office, wearing a thousand dollar suit and looking as much like a member of the American Secret Service as a legal assistant. I exchange hugs with him, while Tyler shakes hands. “Thank you, Connor. It was . . . expected.”
“So I've heard. How is your mother handling it? I mean, if you want to talk.”
I give my old friend a smile. He knows a lot about my family history, there's no secrets between us. “Of course. She . . . today she was there, and she was mostly the Mom I remember. I talked with the doctors, they're trying a new medication that might have some benefits on helping her stay focused. But still, it's going to be tough for her. When I talked to her afterward though, she said she wants to stay at the hospice. The only things she has left of Daddy are there, and she said that she feels closer to him that way. When we left, she was sleeping in his hospital bed, his blanket on top of her.”
Connor nods, and follows Tyler over to the dining area table, where he sets his briefcase down and takes a seat. “I hope that you can keep her comfortable and happy. Did the doctors . . . well, I guess they wouldn't today.”
“The average Alzheimer's patient lives eight years after diagnosis, but some can go as long as twenty years,” I quote from what I'd already learned from the doctors long before. “Mom's in the middle stage of the disease, although it's nearing late stage. Unfortunately, well maybe fortunately for her, the disease is going very quickly. I've already spoken with the hospice, and with Daddy's death, they will have full time care for her, changing rooms and setting up a group setting. She'll still have all of her things, but the room will be on a shared wing with others. It's . . . it's the best we can do.”
Connor nods, then looks up at the ceiling. “I remember meeting her once. You and I were, we must have been freshmen, maybe sophomores. She and your father came up from London to visit you, and he had an appointment with the Uni hospital, if I remember right.”
“I remember that too. Daddy's appointment was supposed to take three or four hours, and him being him, he demanded that we all go have some fun.”
Tyler laughs. “I know I've only met them once, but they both seemed like lovely people. But Connor, your phone call mentioned business. I'm praying you have good news.”
Connor's smile broadens, and he nods. “Oh, very good. In fact, while the court needs to finish the filing tomorrow, we were notified today that both Catherine Paulinski and Greta Lawson have dropped their case against you.”
Tyler and I both sit stunned while the words soak in, and I find that I'm the person who can speak first. “What happened?”
“Well, our firm's private investigator did a little digging on these two, and found out that these girls are pro scammers. They've been doing this little gig for a while, and tried to hit up players on both the Toronto baseball and basketball teams. When our investigator talked to players or former players on both teams, those names are well known and blacklisted among them. Their normal scam was to seduce a married player, and then try to blackmail him later. This time though, they tried a different scam.”
“They got pregnant,” Tyler says, sneering. “Were the babies even mine?”
“Actually, there were no babies,” Connor says, pulling out a paper. “That was the thing they kept hoping would never come out. They were hoping that you'd just sign a settlement, but both Greta and Catherine aren't able to get pregnant. They went to three different fertility clinics in the past few months, trying to do something, but they never got pregnant. When they couldn't hide the fact that they aren't pregnant at all any longer, they tried to fake miscarriages, but the hospitals caught on, and we caught wind of it. They're . . . well, they have some legal issues of their own to deal with now.”