Convicted (Consequences)

hands in his, Tony continued, “However, you need to know what you’re signing.”
    “What I’m signing ?”
    He smirked. “Do you think Madeline has any paper napkins?”
    “I doubt it—is cloth more legally binding?”
    He quickly kissed her lips. “There it is again.”
    “Oh, you love it!”
    “I do. I love your smart mouth, and more importantly, I love you. Just think about how upset you were last night. My dear, our discussion is an iceberg. That was only the tip.”
    “Don’t you understand why I handed you my sleep mask?”
    The corners of his mouth twitched. “Because you wanted to have kinky-sex.”
    Claire shook her head, trying to hide her blushed cheeks. “No, last night you asked me if I trusted you. Again, there are probably millions of reasons to say no—”
    Tony sat straighter as his tone deepened. “I believe there are reasons, but my dear, I’d appreciate it if you discontinue the use of the modifier—one million. You have misjudged the size of the iceberg.”
    “Actually, I don’t recall using the modifier—one.”
    His finger traced her lips as they formed a smug smile. “So many better uses of that beautiful mouth than to continually spurt out smart comments.”
    “Tony, last night I felt like too much was riding on our conversation.” When he started to speak, she touched his lips so that he wouldn’t interrupt. “What you tell me—and I do need to know—won’t change the fact I want my family together. I want to be your wife again”—Claire felt the tears begin to build—“I want it more than I wanted it in December of 2010.”
    Tony gently wiped a tear from her cheek. “In 2010, I didn’t realize what a truly amazing wife I was getting. I never appreciated her for who she truly was.” He lifted Claire’s left hand and touched his lips to it. “This time—I know that I’m the luckiest man in the world. That’s why I want you to enter this marriage with your eyes open.”
    “Tony, will you do anything for me?”
    “Anything within my power.”
    “Today, for lunch, I had water to drink, but I really wanted iced tea. Can you get me iced tea for today’s lunch?”
    He looked at her quizzically. “For today’s lunch? No, but I can get you some tea now, if you’d like.”
    “Why can’t you get it for me for today’s lunch?”
    “Claire, you aren’t making any sense, lunch is over...” A smile of recognition came to his face. Claire saw it in the depth of his deep brown eyes.
    “Yes—yes it is,” she said. “All you can do is try to fulfill my desires for the future. We can’t change the past, and even if we could, I’m not sure it should be changed—it brought us here now. I’m confident that I won’t like all the answers I get from you. That doesn’t change that I want them and deserve them, but to say that our entire future is riding on them—was too much pressure. That’s why I was so upset last night. It freaked me out so much that you’d been watching me for so long that I missed the part about you saying that I’ve had possession of your heart since before I knew you.”
    “You have, and as a man of my word, when you’re ready to know the answers to your questions—I’ll be honest with you. Most importantly, you and our child will always be my number one concern. You’ve changed me in ways I didn’t know I could be changed. Your happiness and well-being are my top priorities. If you’re sure of what you’re getting yourself into, I will spend the rest of my life atoning for my sins against you and against others. I want my name to be something you’re proud to carry.”
    Claire couldn’t control the tears any more than she could change the past. From the man with the dark eyes, in the suite, on his estate, to the man with his head resting on their child was undoubtedly a change. Was she responsible, or was it life? After all, she wasn’t the same woman who stood in the blue dress and blue heels trembling in fear. Was that Tony’s doing, or was it life? The man with the eyes devoid of color and emotion wouldn’t have wanted the woman Claire was today, and the woman in the blue dress wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with the man caressing his unborn child. So, to say they changed each other may be incorrect, yet to say they had changed—was an understatement.
     
     
    Standing in the glow of the setting sun with her toes in the sand, Claire gazed lovingly into the deepest, darkest eyes. The dark no longer