Chapter 45: A phone call

Nothing had changed. It couldn't have. It wasn't possible that after reading the story of an old and lonely woman she wanted to run home to a man who probably wasn't there for her anymore.
'Home'. It sounded so good.

Sunday night she called Urs' office. She wanted to leave him a message. She knew the machine registered date and time of her call and that he would know she called on a time he wasn't there on purpose. She didn't care. It was too early to talk to him.

She was so tired that the sound of the phone was far away. It was easier to call from her bed with her mobile.
But the phone kept ringing.
She closed her eyes for a second.
When she heard his voice, hoarse as always when he was barely awake, she thought she was dreaming.

"Vicky?"
Lovely. She could listen to his voice for hours. She missed that.
"Vicky, I know it's you. I have caller ID."

She was immediately awake. It wasn't a dream.
"Urs?" she stuttered. Now what? "I must have fallen asleep."
"And then you called me?"
"No, I was awake... but the phone kept ringing." She was babbling. "Why are you still at the office?"
"I'm not. I switched the phone to my mobile because I didn't want to miss your call."
"Am I that predictable? That doesn't sound like an irrational woman." She wished she could have swallowed those words.
"Oh, Vicky." He sighed. "It's much easier for me to apologise when you're not throwing my words back at me."
"You think I'm gonna make it easy on you to apologise?"
"No, although it surprises me you don't feel like doing the same because you called me a liar."
It took her a while to respond. "I'm sorry."
"Me too. A lot." He laughed silently. "Although I can't believe you wouldn't believe me. That you wouldn't accept what I was offering you."

She wanted to say it. She could hear it in her head. 'Don't fall asleep. I'm there in fifteen minutes.'
But she didn't say it out loud. She just listened to his breathing. When she started to speak, she felt sorry for hurting him again.
"I want to come by tomorrow to pick up my stuff."
He didn't say a word like he felt there was more.
"But I don't want you to be there."
It took him a while to react. "Ok."

She sighed. This was how she knew him. Always reasonable. No temper, no yelling, not demanding to discuss it with him. Once again he would do what she wanted him to do.
She should be happy. But she was stupid enough to wish that for once she would be so important to someone that he would fight for her.

"Thank you." She listened. Silence. "Goodbye."
When she hung up, she still heard his words.
"You should have believed me, Vicky."

Chapter 46: Coming home

The next afternoon, Vicky parked her car in front of the house. She pretended not to give in to the fear that she had to run away as soon as possible. At the front door she hesitated. It was like entering a strangers' house. When she opened the door and Max jumped to greet her, she laughed nervously. "Who's a good dog?" She caressed him for a while.
Then she raised her head. The violin was still on the wall. The painting of Susannah was still there. It was the first thing that made her see the connection with this house.

At the bottom of the stairs she saw Urs' sneakers. The tears ran down her cheeks when she entered her bedroom. Those damn hormones! She had to hurry because otherwise she'd break down by the time she finished. She tried to think. She could come back to pack everything in a few weeks. She just needed a few things. Her files from work and her black suit. And socks! She didn't seem to have socks in her apartment.

When she opened the drawer she knew he was behind her. She slowly turned around. Urs was at the end of the bed with a pile of papers in his hands. He was wearing a dark grey suit with a dark blue shirt and looked like the fancy lawyer whose phone calls she ignored for weeks, until she went to his office and he turned her world inside out. Just like that. Until she looked in his eyes and saw the intense exhaustion that she felt as well. She saw how his hands squeezed the papers fiercely.
"You promised you wouldn't be here." was the only thing she could say.
"It was a lie."

His cheekbones were more explicit, like he lost weight. She saw the dark circles under his eyes and knew he probably didn't sleep much. And he needed a haircut.
It was like she saw him for the first time. The warmth of the summer started to defrost what had been frozen from the moment she left.

"Urs..."
"Since you left I couldn't stop thinking how I had to write the perfect love letter to convince you that I love you. About what word would make you believe me." One of his hands ruffled his hair. "I thought it had to be a huge romantic gesture."

On the bed lay her socks and a pile of notes. When she looked at it, she realised that it were the small gestures that she found important.

"You know what these are?" He took the pile of paper. "Faxes." He took the first one and looked at it. 'The Prudential Building gave me the permission to hang 'Will you marry me, Vicky?' on their windows in flashing lights. I didn't tell them it was a bit late for a marriage proposal."
He dropped the fax on the floor and took one step forward. "The baseball club said I can put a text on the scoreboard."
Another fax fell on the floor and he took another step forward. "The North-Side Players are willing to come and play a romantic scene for you at work. They promised to try Pride and Prejudice."
Fax on the floor and another step. "For 25 dollar I can name a star after you."
Fax on the floor. He was so close she could touch him. "And then there is the nursery."
"Urs, I..."

"Shut up and come with me." He took her arm and brought her to one of the spare rooms. He opened the door.
"When it was finished I wondered if you would think I want the child more then I want you."
The walls were soft yellow and Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger danced on the ceiling. Her eyes started to tear up.
"And it's not, Vicky."

He put her hand on his chest so she could feel his heart beating. He waited till she looked at him. She saw the love in his eyes and knew it was meant for her.
"That I want to be with you, is not because you are pregnant. Not even because we get along great and the sex is amazing." He looked at her seriously. "I don't want to leave things like they were. I love you, Vicky and I want you here with me. And if I have to tie you up to a chair and yell until you believe me, I will."
He yelled at her and she cried because she never heard anything that was so beautiful before.

But now he had to shut up. She put a finger to his lips. "Ok."
He looked at her suspiciously. "Maybe you can tell me what you are saying 'ok' to? I'd really like to know."
God, she loved this man. "I mean it is ok." She threw her arms around his neck and pulled his face towards hers. "I love you too."

That were the magic words and the next moment his mouth found hers. His kissed her lips, her cheeks and her hair while his hands held her close like he was scared she would run away again. When she kissed him back, she leaned against him. He was her rock, the man who always would be there. Over and over she repeated her words until he held her a little less tight.
"Thank God." he sighed.
She laughed. "You know I was gonna say that."
She felt him shake his head. "I hoped you would."
She kissed his neck and whispered "I'll say it as much as you want me to."
"Always."
She smiled. "I love you."

"I have another confession to make." he said after a second.
"What's that?"
She saw him blushing. "I lied to you in the past."
"I knew you didn't really like the vegetables on your pizza."
"No, shh." He tenderly caressed her face. "Do you remember Steve Russey?"
She thought for a while. "The bigamist? What has he done?"
"He got married... for the first time."
Silence.
"You mean he wasn't..."
"No." He shrugged apologising.
"Oh my God." She pushed his shoulder. "Do you know how many people I told it to?"

He pulled her in his arms and laughed while she was cursing. But he had a suggestion. "Maybe we can put a PS to the marriage announcement."
She shook her head. "Sweetheart, you'll have to put that on the scoreboard to get out of this!" She snored. "And I hope they make you pay by letter."

Epilogue

Most of the 36.000 baseball fans that came to the game on Independence Day agreed it was the strangest thing they ever saw. After the 7th inning, after singing "Take me out to the ballgame", a message appeared on the scoreboard.

"Thank you, Victoria Marie Harper, for marrying me.
And a huge apologise to Steve Russey, who is not a bigamist."

Everybody remembered that day for a very long time. Especially Caroline Bühler, who swore she heard her father whisper those words to her mothers' belly, six months before she was born.


THE END