Antonia moaned when she felt his hands on her thighs, pushing the skirt back so that he was touching the tops of her thigh high stockings.
And then abruptly he stopped. Putting his hands on her shoulders, Brett set her away from him. “We cannot make love on the steps of your front porch,” he said, obviously as affected as she was.
As soon as the cool air hit her face, she was able to breathe a little easier. She shook her head to try and concentrate. But she dropped her keys twice because her hands were shaking too violently to hold onto them. Finally, Brett picked them up and carefully unlocked the door for her.
Handing back her keys, he looked into her eyes. “I’ll call you tomorrow, ok?” he asked.
Antonia nodded. Closing the door, she wondered why she’d agreed. Every time she was around him, she fell to his wishes. It was total insanity.
In her room, she took off her new dress and hung it carefully in the closet. The dress idea was obviously a mistake, she thought. So was the attempt to be bored throughout the evening. There had to be something she could do to get her life back, she thought.
Laying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, she considered her options. She could create a new life somewhere. Just because all of her family lived here, didn’t mean she had to stay.
Initially, she rejected the idea because the thought of not seeing her nieces and nephews, much less her brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins was too painful. Then she pictured her life with Brett and the tears started flowing. She realized she was in love with him. She didn’t want to be, but she was. Life with Brett would be heaven and hell. The passion he could so easily stir within her would make the nights wonderful. But he was bossy and manipulative, just as her father and brothers had been through her whole life. She would not put herself back into that kind of position.
Leaving was the only option. She’d have to do it. She would have to get out of Washington, D.C. She’d lived her whole life here. She wasn’t even sure where she would go. She loved this area. It was cosmopolitan without being overwhelming. There was so much to do and see, the museums and theatres always thrilled her with their variety.
But she knew she’d have to do it. And with her savings as well as her stock portfolio, she could leave and find a new life. She’d have to cash in her stock portfolio in order to accomplish it. Maybe she could get away with only liquidating a small portion, but she felt better knowing that it was there.
She didn’t fall asleep until the sun started rising over the horizon. Instead, she made plans, forcing herself to ignore the sadness that threatened to overwhelm her at the thought of not seeing her family whenever she wanted to.
Chapter 8
By noon the next morning, she woke up feeling enormously better. She had a plan and knew how to accomplish it. The first thing she had to do was find a place to live. Pulling on a pair of jeans and a white, cotton blouse, she headed downstairs to tell Maria that she’d be gone for the rest of the day.
Ignoring the blue Porsche parked in the driveway with the top protectively in place, she went in search of her motorcycle, since it wasn’t parked by the side of the house where she’d left it. In the garage, she found her motorcycle with its helmet attached to it. The bike was leaning against the back wall. hopped on. Jumping on the starter produced no effect. nothing. She pushed it outside and She tried it again. Still
Putting the stand down, she got off and examined the engine. She’d been having trouble with the starter, but not for a while. Following the gas line from the starter to the tank, she discovered the problem. Someone had disconnected the line. Antonia chuckled at her brothers’ attempt to keep her off her motorcycle. They hadn’t said anything about it, but now she knew their thoughts. Loud and clear. Her wonderful, protective brothers considered a motorcycle too dangerous for their baby sister to ride.
Shaking her head, Antonia took off her helmet and headed into the garage for the tools she’d need. Gathering up a screw driver and a wrench, she went back out and bent over her bike. It was a simple thing to reattach the line. She added some silicone adhesive to seal it, then examined the other parts.
Everything else seemed ok. She went back inside and decided to wait fifteen more minutes for the silicon to dry enough so it wouldn’t be a concern. Grabbing some orange juice, she ran into Sal.
“Good morning. Why aren’t you at your office?” she asked, feeling proud of herself now that she had foiled their plans. And the fact that they were still trying to control her, made her more determined to leave here. Last night, laying in bed she realized that she could still come back to visit for the holidays. That was good enough for other families, so it had to be good enough for her.
“I’m on my way. What are your plans for today?” Sal asked. “I have some research to do,” she replied.
“What kind of research?” he asked.
Sighing, she shook her head. “Sal, I was forced to move back in here, but I’m not letting you control my life. This whole scheme is crazy.”
“Then just tell Brett that you won’t marry him,” Sal said.
Antonia saw the grin on his face, but she didn’t understand it. “He won’t listen to me.”
“Well, I guess that’s that. Relax, I don’t think marriage to Brett Hancock can be all that terrible, can it?” he asked.
Antonia didn’t answer him. She looked at her watch, then back at him. “Ok, I’m on my way out the door.”
“What time are you coming home?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.” Antonia let the kitchen door close behind her before he could ask anything else. She realized that she was shaking. She was really on a roll lately. It seemed that every interaction with Sal was now a confrontation. She needed to get control of herself. He was only doing what he thought was in her best interests. Just because she couldn’t make him understand that she knew what her best interests were better than he did, she could at least be polite to him.
She pulled her helmet down onto her head again and pushed the starter. Sure enough, it revved immediately. With just a small twitch of her hand, she was driving off, down the driveway and away from her current prison.
Antonia drove along the street, enjoying the spring day. She noticed the daffodils starting to peek out and the forsythia was just about to explode with its beautiful golden flowers. As she drove, she made the decision that she would have to live in an area that provided this much color in the springtime as well as the extraordinary fall foliage. The two transition periods were a wonder that never ceased to amaze her.