Matters of the Heart

Chapter 22

Adam, put Brandon to bed and he was closing the door as his, mobile flashed a notification.

A text from Everly, displayed on the screen.

I have postponed my trip to New York, can we meet for a coffee tomorrow?

Adam's face lit up like Christmas tree and he replied immediately, I am glad to hear that, let's meet at 5 at our usual café?

Adam checked all the lights, before heading to the room where his wife waited for him as she got ready for bed. Their marriage dated 4 years in a calendar, from being husband and wife they had now graduated to being parents. So much had changed between them, but still nothing had changed.

They lived in the same house as Adam's parents. They all still lived together. Maheen after school went to work for Andersons Business, accompanying Adam to handle the day to day. Maheen started in the department of marketing whereas Adam looked after the production and everything else. In the four years with the company, despite having children, Maheen was now head of the Marketing department and Adam, was soon to take over the position of the CEO in a few months.

They helped Anderson's business, their business, achieve massive goals and help build the company into the greatest success.

When Brandon was about to be born, the whole family was ecstatic, it was the first grandchild they were having. Everyone in the family had tears in their eyes. Ashley did not. Her eyes of the sister just had concern.

"Adam, are you okay?" She asked when she finally found some alone time with her brother. He was always seemed to be swept away with distant relatives who wanted to see the baby and congratulate him.

"I am overwhelmed, in a good way, but yeah, I am more than okay." Adam replied in a most happiest voice.

"Are you sure is....... this is what you want?"

"What do you mean?" Adam had a concerned tone and looked at Ashley puzzled.

"I mean,' Ashley tried to bring a cheer in her voice, but failed at the attempt, 'you are just 23 and you have your first child. Don't you think too much is happening too fast. First you got married, and now a kid. You haven't even lived. You have not explored what the world looks like, all the possibilities that exists beyond this town we grew up in. I always thought you proposed to Maheen out of pity....."

"Ashley, I am going to stop you right there. I love Maheen and I have no regrets. Whatever I have lived and will live I will with her. Having a kid doesn't mean my life is over. It is just a new phase of life and I might as well do it with her than anybody else. I found my world right here in town, why would I look beyond?"

"Wow brother, I don't know if you are delirious or just reallllyyyy sorted."

"You will find out soon enough."

Adam and Maheen finally settled into being new parents when they found out they were pregnant again. They both were extremely happy with the news. But Adam always had the smallest piece of his heart with his friends. They were all very close and wanted to share this life altering news of his with them. But he was also well aware that his friends who he had loved to jammed with had different priorities and living their lives on their terms, and hence, he hesitated to call anyone, not out of shame but out of a sense of protection, for Maheen, for their children and for him. 

Now as Adam headed to the room with a smile on his face, he only had excitement in his heart of meeting Everly.

"What's that smile about?" Maheen asked as Adam entered the room.

"Nothing. Just happy." Adam said and made his way closer to Maheen.

He slept peacefully, holding Maheen extra closer to him that night.

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Sitting at the corner of the coffee place, Everly had a book in her hand but her eyes kept looking around. Every time the door opened she was distracted from the page and looked up to see if Adam had come already.

An hour passed. It was 6PM and Adam still hadn't shown. Everly's excitement died down and the feeling of abandonment sank again. She felt like she was back in the stands of the stadium, waiting for Adam. Always waiting.

She ordered another coffee and patiently waited, watching the door. As she took her first sip, her eyes went to the door again, and she finally saw what she wanted to see.

All her anger and disappointment had turned into excitement.

"I am so sorry Everly. My apologies for keeping you waiting. Brandon threw a fit and we had to calm him before I could leave home." Adam explained himself as he took a seat across from Everly.

"It's completely alright. I understand, family comes first, right." Everly said forgetting about everything, she just knew that at that moment he was here, present with her. 

"Yeah family does come first, but I have not seen you in such a long time, and I didn't like for you to wait for me." Adam said as he took Everly's hand across the table. 

"It's okay Adam. How are you, how have you been?" Everly replied as she kept her another hand on Adam's  with a concern in her eyes.

"I am good, I have been good! Lot of things have happened since high school and all have been good. I am happy. Really happy."

"Are you really?!" Everly asked in a tone of doubt.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Adam said in an irritated voice, remembering his conversation with his sister. "I am happy  and I have never been more happy in my life."

"Because you haven't seen a world beyond Maheen. You need to see that! Have the taste of what is out there. Live a little. Things happened way to fast, and honestly, I think it was a decision made in haste out of sympathy." Everly said in a slightly higher tone. She had this pent up for as far as she had known about the engagement of Adam and Maheen and seeing him, and hearing him talking about all of it... she couldn't resist she had to say her piece. She saw Adam's face and it was pretty evident that she had said something she shouldn't have. Did she regret it? Maybe not. Was the emotion put in the right manner? No. Was it the right time? Definitely not. 

"Everly, I know what you speak, you speak in anger or even concern. But Maheen is my wife and the mother of my children. I may not have seen a world beyond her, but I didn't need to. She is my world, and she has given me the world." Adam said in the most calm voice, taking in what Everly had just said. He was shocked to hear such a thing from her and she was the last person, he expected this out of. 

"What you all have done with your respective lives is commendable, and I have nothing but admiration, but why do all of you have to be so skeptical and cynical about the choice I have made for myself. You all loved Maheen, and I love Maheen, I chose to spend the rest of my life with her, and I am doing so. Why does it keep happening that there is always an undertone where you all blame her for this. She has sacrificed and given up much more than anyone I know. She gave up her dream to stay with me and accepted me and my dream......" 

"Adam.... I ..... I never meant to blame Maheen for any of this." Everly spoke as Adam seemed to have started a rant, "We are all just concerned about you, your life." 

"You know what, I have been doing exactly what I always planned to do, the only difference being, that I now have a loving wife who supports me and children who I love."

Addressing Maheen as his wife, always took Everly by surprise, it was just yesterday that they had been celebrating prom and spending time of the bleachers, time had passed so fast that it was difficult to comprehend all that had been going on. It was true the loved of all the others had been simple, straight forward and a lot less complicated than what Adam and Maheen had been through. Everly saw the frustration in the eyes of his dearest friend and felt incredibly guilty of not being there for when he needed her the most.

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