Chapter 38

This couldn’t be anything good she thought as she tucked her legs under her and waited.

K.C. sat on the edge of the chair looking at her curious face and silently acknowledged the fact that he had made a mistake proposing to Tiffani. He looked at Gabrielle and saw her heart in her green eyes, with Tiffani all he had seen was dollar signs.

“I told you that I found Tiffani with her lover but what I didn’t tell you is that her lover Lee was her best friend, her girlfriend. She and Tiffani were in a sixty-nine when I found them together and they offered to let me join them because Tiffani had told her about my umm – my unusual proportions.” He told her as he got redder.

“You mean Miss Tiffani Hudson of the Denver, Colorado Hudson’s is a muff muncher? So what her tongue got tired and she needed some help from you?” Gabrielle asked her eyes wide and watched K.C.’s mouth twitch as he nodded.

He slid down onto the sofa and took her hands in his wanting some physical contact with her.

“She’s bisexual. I had never heard any rumors about her with women until we broke up and then everyone seemed to have something to say under the guise of being my friend. Unfortunately she hasn’t inspired much loyalty among her former friends and they were only too happy to send me anonymous texts and emails. Her parents apparently have no idea and I used that as leverage which is how I got out of the engagement.” K.C. explained in a low voice, while playing with her long fingers.

After Tiffani had made an ass of herself by showing up here he felt no need to keep her secrets but only on pain of death would he admit that she had been slandering his name by calling him a homosexual. That might be enough to set off Gabrielle to go find the redhead and do some serious damage.

     “Oh my God! Now I’ve heard everything. How could she do that to you? I’m so sorry K.C. you must have felt like--- never mind the Village my parents can get Chris to pick up the ice cream. You need me more. ” She said pulling his head down to her breasts while stroking his thick hair and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

This woman never failed to surprise him as he leaned with his head pressed up against one of his many favorite parts of her. She continued to speak and he had to concentrate on her words.

“Let’s go find that red headed bitch so I can snatch her bald. I’m sorry I didn’t know that about her before, I might have done something she would have regretted. I don’t care about her being bisexual, that’s her business but she broke your trust cheating on you. It’s possible who knows maybe she can’t be faithful to anyone.” she told him.

Gabrielle didn’t care that she sounded naïve Tiffani’s behavior was something she couldn’t understand. She believed in the sanctity of marriage and from her way of thinking he had had a fortuitous escape from that redheaded tramp.

K.C. felt like a mountain now lay on his chest as he slowly drew away from her, the guilt of keeping his mother’s life a secret from her was going to stay right there until he told Gabrielle the truth.

“Let’s not change our plans; we’ll go enjoy ourselves and when you travel to the mainland next month I’m going to come with you. I think it’s time my Mom and Dad met the woman that I’m in love with.” K.C. said clearly looking her in the eyes.

“Are you serious? You want me to meet your parents?” Rielle asked totally flabbergasted.

“Of course I want you to meet my parents. I know all of your family including your Great, Great, Great Aunt Emilia and you know my boys but you haven’t met anyone else from Denver besides Tiff the Muff Muncher and she doesn’t really count. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised and my parents will love you as much as I do.” He told her and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

Rielle was so touched that he would do this for her, it showed that he cared about her. K.C. had had no choice in meeting her family and for the most part got along well with most of them and it had been enough. She realized that they had gone almost from zero to sixty in a few months and this was another big step in their relationship.

Rielle knew she had no right to expect such a gesture from him, but she loved that he was willing to do this for her because she knew how important his family was to him. Now she only had to worry about making a good impression.

He correctly read her expression and smoothed her brow with his fingers.

“Don’t worry; my parents are pretty cool people. They had to be to raise such a great son.” He said as they got up and he kissed her forehead. They got into her vehicle and Gabrielle turned to look at him before she started the engine.

“You don’t have any more exes I have to worry about like the redheaded demon do you?” she asked and he threw back his head and laughed.

She was priceless and again he thought how blessed he was as she joined in.

They picked up the container from the store and made it to the Village in about forty minutes all while listening to one of the local radio stations that was playing Carnival music.

K.C. enjoyed life on St. Sebastian very much, it was slow and fast by turns and you could get to almost any point on the beautiful island in at least forty minutes by several different routes. He loved the people and being able to go to the beach and hanging out with not just his buddies but his new friends as well.

K.C. had spoken to Alex before he came down on Wednesday and the other man had managed to keep the surprise off his face when he and Gabrielle had picked him up from the airport. He had known that his friend was an equal opportunity dater so he wasn’t surprised by her race.

The surprise had been in hearing his friend admit to being in love so quickly after the Tiffani debacle and it hadn’t made any sense until he met Gabrielle. He wasn’t surprised to find that she was beautiful or smart, but the fact that she was so warm and open.

She had welcomed him and made him feel like a member of the family and there was no doubt that she was genuine it was a welcome change from Tiffani.

Alex was a tall, handsome guy, with short blonde hair and blue eyes and his muscular physique had women falling out all over the place, it didn’t hurt that like the rest of K.C.’s friends he was also a really nice guy and as outgoing as Michael.

After settling in at Jarrod’s place Alex had asked both men where he could find a woman like Gabrielle or Camille who was actually acting as hostess and enjoying it.

Jarrod had dropped Alex off at the Village so that he could meet up with Michael and they were responsible for the booth running out of ice cream before seven o’clock. Having Alex and Michael at the booth was the best because they gave out as many autographs as they sold ice cream cones.

The Norfolk Admirals had made it to the Eastern Conference Final game last season and they had kept many of the key players so they were being touted to go to the Super Bowl if all of the players stayed healthy.

It wasn’t all the time that the quarterback was the captain of the team but in Alex’s case it was true and his taking over the team four years ago and getting a head coach had led to the team getting some great recognition. This was the furthest that the team had gotten and the sports analysts were going to be watching them carefully.

There were several fans that had come by and quite a few had been in the Navy. It was surprising to even have one of them drive home and bring back his white, yellow and navy blue jersey to be signed by the two men.

“Hey, I thought you guys would never get here. This is almost as much work as throwing touch downs” He said jokingly while making change for Graham, Magdalena and Chris who were manning the booth tonight.

“Wait until the parades, sometimes viewing can be as tiring as participating.” Graham told him knowingly.

The booth was about thirteen by thirteen, but with the three large men in it there plus Magdalena there was not a whole lot of room.

Adding Gabrielle and K.C. would make it shrink considerably so Gabrielle offered to relieve Alex so he could take a walk around and see the sights with K.C. and Michael too. Bryan and Georgie came by and they all took off to make the rounds leaving the Halls together.

J’ouvert was an experience K.C. would never forget which started around four in the morning on Thursday when he and Gabrielle left her house along with Chris to meet up the rest of the gang in Plymouth where most of the big events took place.

The throbbing music was infectious and he cut loose, the freedom of being with his woman overshadowing the fact that he was still keeping secrets from her. They went home around ten and slept most of the day away before going back to the village that night to work the booth.

  The children’s parade began promptly at ten with the Parade Grand Marshall riding in a convertible followed by tiny, not always coordinated majorettes and a bevy of kings, queens, princes and princesses from the various schools and organizations on the island.

The royalty would be preceded by the troupe or floupe from the respective school and music was provided by if they had one a steel pan orchestra or DJ with speakers mounted onto a truck.

K.C. was sweating like a race horse by the end of the route and admiring how Gabrielle kept her young charges in line.

She wore a gold bikini top and tiny shorts that had K.C.'s eyes popping out of his head as they cupped her sexy bottom. Most women wore similar clothing underneath in either silver or gold but some really adventurous females went commando and risked a wardrobe malfunction with all of the gyrating they would do.

She kept the kids motivated, smiling and dancing down the road to a large park where they went across the viewing stage for final judging.

That night they didn’t stay at the Village that late and even Alex who had been on the sidelines viewing the amazing spectacle was tired as Graham had predicted.

“That was incredible. I’ve been to the Carnivals they have in D.C. and Baltimore and heard about the ones they have in New York, Atlanta and Toronto but this is the best.” he enthused as they drove him to Jarrod’s.

Gabrielle and K.C. had showered and changed at Jarrod’s home. While K.C. was massaging her aching feet, Alex and Gabrielle had a lively conversation about where was the best place to eat seafood in Baltimore since he was a native and she had gone to school there.

She fell asleep in K.C. arms around nine as they sat on a big sofa in the living room and Alex caught the soft look on his friend’s face, a moment of envy seizing him.

It was good to see his friend genuinely happy because Alex had been at the infamous engagement party and he had shared the trepidation of Jarrod and Michael about Tiffani.

K.C. glanced up and saw the speculative expression and quirked an eyebrow at him.

“You look really happy man.” Alex said quietly mindful of the sleeping, dark haired beauty.

“After Tiffani I doubted that I would ever be able to trust anyone and Gabrielle knocked me for six as Jarrod would say.” K.C. admitted in a low voice as he stroked her curly hair.

“She seems to be knocked for six too and her family is pretty nice. Imagine having Graham Hall for your dad, it was really cool talking to him. How did she react when she found out about your…?” Alex trailed off when he saw K.C. shake his head.

“She doesn’t know.” He answered holding Gabrielle closer to his chest.

“Man, I hope you know what the hell you’re doing.”Alex whispered as she shifted and wrapped her arms around his waist.

She looked innocent in her sleep but Alex got the feeling that when she was riled up she’d be a force of nature.

The next day all of them were slathered with sunscreen and outfitted with hats to shade them from the sun when they wandered from the small tents they set up along the street.

They had coolers filled with ice and bottled water, lemonade, local juices and iced tea to quench their thirst and Johnny cakes, fried chicken and fish to eat during the parade that lasted until nearly seven in the evening unlike the children’s parade which had finished at four in the afternoon.

There were a few gaps in the parade but for the most part it was a colorful repeat of Friday with more feathers, glitter, satin and sequins than the men had ever seen.

The participants were free to behave in ways that they might not have without the anonymity of the colorful masks and when two of the women came over and pulled K.C. up to dance it was with great relief he recognized Andie and Georgie dressed like Vegas showgirls.

Gabrielle must have known who it was when she encouraged him to go and he danced with his friends happily. Bryan and Michael who were also in the troupe weren’t all that happy though and pulled Gabrielle up to dance with them.

Everywhere beautiful colorful costumes sparkled in the bright sun almost blinding the parade watchers as people danced and a few people who had drank a little too much alcohol fell down.

Between the thumping music, hot sun and dancing they were all tired but happy and the idea of staying for the last bit of fun that included fireworks and Last Lap where the band that had won Road March for the year was announced was beyond any of them.

As a group they decided to spend the night at Jarrod’s house and after they were all refreshed by showers in the sumptuous marble bathrooms and had a light snack they went to bed.

Camille and Jarrod were the only couple who didn’t share a room but they had graduated to holding hands and kissing in public. Even Gabrielle and K.C. were too tired to do more than kiss each other goodnight and no one was banging headboards that night.

In the morning after a big breakfast that they all helped to prepare which was a big production they had an impromptu beach party.

Alex said he wanted to come back when he got a break during the season to relax and the women teased him about setting him up with one of their friends. After seeing Alex in his swimsuit they knew whoever the woman was she was lucky and then they all looked at their own guys and thought they were all pretty lucky themselves.

It was a solemn group that arrived at Churchill International Airport to drop Alex and Michael to the airport for the late afternoon flight back to BWI.

“It was nice to meet you Alex. I’ve got fifty bucks on you and the Admirals to go all the way and win the Super Bowl so you better not let me down.” Gabrielle said giving him a hug.

“I’ll make you proud and it was really great to meet you Rielle. Take care of this knuckle head and call me if you need someone to pound some sense into him.” He told her picking her up and swinging her around.

   Georgie and Michael had their own tearful goodbyes although she tried to keep it light anyone could see that she was distraught. The brave face she had put on crumbled as Michael went through the security checkpoint. Gabrielle, Camille and Andie all hugged their friend as her lover walked away to go back to the mainland.

Rielle’s heart was heavy as they dropped Georgie to her house and she shed a few tears of her own that night as she and K.C. lay in her big bed.

“Don’t cry Gabrielle he’ll be back every chance he gets, believe that.” He swore when he heard her sniffling.

“I can’t help it. I feel so bad for Georgie. I don’t know how I would feel if I was in her place. I couldn’t bear it if I lost you.” she whispered looking up at him with big sad eyes. He cradled her face in his large palms and kissed the trail of tears.

“I’ll always be there for you. I’ll always come back to you.” He promised as his eyes held hers.

K.C. made love to Gabrielle slowly and gently, losing himself in her body. The guilt ate away at him while she shuddered beneath him in fulfillment unaware of the turmoil in his heart as he poured his soul into her.