Johnnie on the Rocks

Chapter Five-Forgiveness and Forever

My life is in a downward spiral. Martin is gone and I have no idea where he is, Jason is threatening to try and take Anna from me, and I can't even talk to Sherry about any of this because she's on a cruise with Ricky. It seems all I do lately is cry. I miss Martin so much, I wish I knew where he was. I called all his friends, his cousin Jeremy, and even his mom. No one had heard from him or at least that's what they were telling me. I got so desperate I called my mom. She of course tried to make it out to be all Martin's fault, which it obviously wasn't. So while I was defending him to my mom I got to relive every agonizing moment of my stupidity. Talking to mom only made me feel worse, alot worse. I wasn't the only suffering, Anna was also suffering. I spent so much time wallowing in my own self pity that Anna barely got any attention. I took care of the essentials like feeding her, bathing her, and changing her but I barely gave her any love. Another thing for me to feel guilty over and to think about while I cried myself to sleep. I knew sooner or later I'd have to snap myself out of the funk I was in and get on with my life. I decided to go back to my natural hair color, black. I figured it would be the first step to changing my life.

After I put Anna to bed I was heading downstairs to feed Bella when the doorbell rang. It was 9:30PM, I wondered who would be at the door at this hour. I trudged over to the door and yanked it open ready to give someone a piece of my mind. I nearly screamed, it was Martin. I stood there, stunned with my jaw hanging open.
"Hey Johnnie, are you busy," he asked as he pushed my jaw closed.
"Ah no. No I'm not. Come on in," I told him as I moved aside to let him in.
Martin walked inside and I noticed he had a bag on his shoulder. He walked over towards the piano and set the bag down on the floor. He looked over at me so I shut the door and walked over to him. I had no idea what to say.
"Look I'm sorry I've been avoiding you Johnnie but I had to sort some things out."
I looked at him expectantly. When he didn't say anything else I rubbed the back of my neck nervously. "Okay. So have you got everything sorted," I asked my voice barely above a whisper.
I barely got the sentence out of my mouth when I thought I saw the bag move. I glanced towards Martin but he didn't seem to notice.
Great now I'm crazy, I thought as I shook my head.
"I'm not sure. I wanted to come over and see you, to give you a chance to tell me everything that happened. And I mean everything."
A soft whimpering caught my attention and I looked down at the bag, which was now moving and whimpering.
"Okay before I tell you the story tell me whats in the bag."
Martin gave me a small smile and opened the bag. A small, brown and white, ball of fur popped out of the bag and ran a couple laps around the couch. It barked twice at Bella who was coming downstairs. Okay so it's a dog.
"This is Harley, he was a stray hanging around Jeremy's house. I say was because I've sort of adopted him."

Our conversation was cut short by the sounds of barking coming from the kitchen. Martin and I exchanged glances and then went to see what was going on. Harley had his back towards us and was crouched down barking at Bella. Bella was just standing still, staring at him.
"Harley," Martin said sternly.
"Shhh. Leave them alone," I told him, "Give them a chance to get to know each other."
Martin gave me a sideways look before turning back to the dogs. Harley wasn't baring anymore he was making a little whining noise as he hopped around in front of Bella. Bella barked a couple times and then she started copying Harley. A couple minutes later both of them were hopping up and down barking and yipping at each other. I'd never seen Bella so happy, she had her first friend.
"Well they seem to like each other," I told Martin.
"Yeah I'm a little surprised since Harley doesn't really like other dogs."
"I think it's kind of cute," I said as I watched them playing.
"Yeah. Adorable," Martin said sarcastically, "Now can we go back into the livingroom to finish our conversation.
I felt a knot form in my stomach and I looked at Martin. I gave him a small nod and headed back to the livingroom.

"Okay so where do you want me to start," I asked as we sat down on the couch.
"I know you went on a couple dates with that loser and I know he's Anna's father but I would really like to hear the rest of the story. A little more slowly this time."
I took a deep breath. "I went to meet the new family in the neighborhood. It was a pregnant woman, her two sons, and a husband who was barely around. I got there and started talking to the woman, Lenora. Neil, the oldest boy looked familiar but I had no idea why. Lenora yelled to her husband Jason to come outside. When he did I nearly lost it. It was Anna's father. Lenora asked Jason to help her bring the boys upstairs to take their naps. Lenora invited me in so I went inside to wait for her. I didn't want to say no because I was afraid she'd ask me why. Unfortunately Jason came back downstairs first. He started freaking out at me for trying to ruin his marriage. I told him the truth, I didn't know he was married and he was a scum for cheating on Lenora. He told me to mind my own business I wasn't his wife and I made the mistake of telling him that I was the mother of one of his kids. That's when he tried to kiss me. I shoved him off but Lenora had already seen. He tried to lie to her saying I came onto him but I told her the truth. She must have suspected Jason was cheating on her because she had no problem believing me. I left and came home. I wanted to tell you but I was afraid of how you'd react."
Martin stared at me. "What did you think I'd do? I love you, Johnnie. I would have believed you," he said as he stood up and began pacing.
"I wasn't thinking. I just wanted to forget any of it ever happened. I honestly didn't think I'd ever see Jason again."
"If you want this relationship to work you've got to start telling me everything."
I jumped up off the couch and stood in front of him. "So does that mean you forgive me?"
Martin thought for a moment. "Yeah I forgive you," Martin replied as he yanked me close and gave me the most incredible kiss.

Over the next few months I worked on planning the wedding while Martin worked hard at avoiding anything to do with the wedding. No matter what I asked him about he'd either shrug his shoulders or say "Whatever you want" and walk away. It was really getting annoying. So one day while he was out relaxing by the pool I cornered him.
"Baby," I whispered in his ear as I knelt down next to him, "We've got some things to discuss."
Martin groaned as he opened his eyes and looked at me. "Wedding plans," he asked.
"Wedding plans," I confirmed with a grin.
"I don't know what you need me for. I'm fine with anything you pick out."
"Martin, I would at least like you to show some interest in our wedding. At least with the things that have to do with you. Like the tuxedo, the cake, and the music. The rest of it I can do myself."
Martin sighed. "Okay. I'll go with you on Saturday to pick out a tux and the cake. Is that enough?"
I laughed and sat down on his lap. "For now," I told him as I gave him a kiss.
"For now? That implies that I might need to do more."
"Well that depends. Do you want a honeymoon?"
"Of course I do. Just tell me what you need."
"Well we need to ask Jill and Jeremy to watch Anna. We also need to plan on where we're going."
"I'll talk to Jeremy and you can talk to Jill. How about we go to Old Brecklin Beach. I loved going there as a kid."
"I'll call Jill tomorrow after we get back. And how about later on tonight we check out some hotel at Old Brecklin Beach?"
"Sounds good," Martin said as he began nuzzling my neck.

After Anna turned one I decided to slow my hectic life down. I didn't take anymore night classes and I stopped working on the weekends. But no matter how much time I spent with her the person she was always excited to see was Martin. Her first word was DaDa and she first walked for Martin. Sure I was in the room but she was walking to Martin. Sherry asked if any of it bothered me and it honestly didn't. Anna was happy and it was obvious to everyone that Martin loved her like she was his. He took her to the park, to her playgroup, and even to a couple doctor appointments. Because of all the time they spent together Anna developed a few quirks. She had to have Martin read her a story, give her a bath, and then put her pjs on or she'd scream for hours.
"Hey munchkin, you ready for a story," Martin asked as he picked up Anna.
"DaDa. Doggie. Doggie," Anna said excitedly as she clapped her hands.
"Does that mean you want me to read The Pokey Little Puppy?"
"Doggie," Anna squealed.
"Okay. Lets go get The Pokey Little Puppy," Martin said as he picked her up.
"Smooshie, DaDa," Anna asked.
"A hug? Well I'll see what I can do,"Martin said as he hugged her, "Story time."

My wedding day arrived sooner than I thought. Before I knew it, it was October 12th, the night before my wedding. Sherry and Jill spent the night at the house with me and Martin and Jeremy stayed at Sherry's with Ricky. I couldn't believe how nervous I was, I barely even slept. Well it was a toss up between nerves and Sherry's snoring. By morning I was a wreck. Sherry and Jill had to take turns between helping me get ready and getting Anna ready. I had decided to have a small wedding in the backyard. I only invited Sherry, Ricky, Jeremy, and Jill. My parents and Martin's parents couldn't make it so we promised them a video and lots of pictures. Martin decided weeks ago to change his last name to Walker although I'm not sure why. The butterflies in my stomach were flopping around as I walked down the aisle. I couldn't believe how handsome Martin looked in his tux. We made an agreement if he couldn't see my dress I couldn't see his tux. It made me nervous at first but now I realized I had nothing to worry about. We said our vows, exchanged rings, and had our first kiss as husband and wife. It was absolutely perfect. Even Anna was quiet and stayed at the end of the aisle. Five hours later and Martin and I were on our way to the airport to go on our honeymoon to Old Brecklin Beach.

Here are some of our wedding photos:

We made a special postcard for Jill and Jeremy who were nice enough to stay at they house and watch Anna. I thought Old Brecklin Beach would be boring since everything I read about made it seem like it was, well less than fun. But Martin knew all the best restaraunts and clubs. What? It's not like we could spend all our time in the hotel room. As much fun as our honeymoon was I couldn't wait to get home. I missed Anna so much. So did Martin.