Odes To Ella.

Chapter 36: Piano Lessons.

I pulled my car into the driveway right behind Derek's car. After I had reached over to the keys and turned the ignition off, I sat back and thought about Colton.
Why is this bugging me? I should be glad that he seems normal!
But I couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. The sky started getting dark with black clouds. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then I opened the door and walked inside.
Ella sat on the floor with Lola sitting in between her legs. Ella brushed Lola's hair and Lola wagged her tail every now and then, hitting Ella in the face. I smiled gently.
Ella turned to look at me and smiled.
"Hi mommy!"
"Hey, baby, how was school?"
"It was great! Frankie and I got to play with the jump ropes! Guess how many jumps I did?"
"How many?" I asked with a smile.
"10!" She giggled. I pretended to be shocked.
"Wow, 10 whole jumps?"
"Yeah!"
"That is awesome!" I said. She smiled and turned back to Lola. I set my keys on the table and took my jacket off. Derek was in the kitchen cooking. I walked in and sighed. He turned to see me and smiled.
"Hey, how was your day?" He asked. I leaned on the counter next to him and sighed.
"It was ok." I rubbed my eyes. He frowned and placed a hand on my back, rubbing it slowly.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I'm just tired. I'm gonna go change." I said. He nodded.
"Ok. Supper's almost done." He told me. I nodded and went up the stairs. When I reached the bedroom, I grabbed a completely black sweatshirt with some grey pajama shorts and I let my hair down. After I had brushed through it, I walked back downstairs.
Ella was setting the table while Lola followed her everywhere. I sighed and sat down.
Ella set a bowl in front of me.
"This one's yours, mommy."
"Thank you, Ella." I smiled. She nodded and sat at the end of the table. Derek came in with the pot and set it down on an oven mitt he had laid out. He smiled to us.
"Well, bon appetit!" He sat across from me. Ella giggled and tried to dish herself some, but I thought she would spill it everywhere, so I quickly took her bowl and dished her some.
Lola looked at me with her puppy eyes and whined. I shook my head.
"No, this is my food."
More whining.
"This is soup! You can't have any!" I told her. She whined and set a paw on my lap. I shook my head.
"The answer is no." I told her. Derek and Ella were laughing at this point. Lola walked over to Ella. Ella shook her head.
"Lola sit!" Lola licked her nose and sat down. I smiled.
"Did you teach her that?"
"Yes!" Ella nodded and gave Lola a little piece of soup chicken. Derek smiled.
"So that's what you were doing on the porch."
"Well, that, and I was looking at all the flowers. I think they're pretty." She said while eating some soup. Derek scooted closer to her.
"Would you like to help me weed them this weekend?"
"What's weed?" She asked. I looked at Derek and giggled. He smiled.
"It means we take all the bad plants out." He explained. She nodded.
"Ok. I'll do it." She gave Lola another piece of food.
After we had finished supper, I gathered the dishes so I could do them. Derek started to pick them up, but I shook my head.
"No, you've done enough for tonight."
"Are you sure?" He asked. I nodded and waved my hand at him.
"Yes, now shoo, I have work to do." I smiled. He nodded and disappeared around the corner. I filled the sink and started doing the dishes. The rain rapped on the window. I looked out to it and smiled.
In between the sound of dishes clinking together in the sink and the water splashing, I heard Ella exclaim,
"You can play piano!?!" I stopped washing and listened.
Derek laughed from the other room.
"Yes."
"Can you show me?!" She asked. After a moment of silence, I heard shuffling. Derek cleared his throat and I heard him pat something.
"What song should I play?"
"I don't know...what do you like?"
"I like all kinds of music." He told her.
"Just play something slow." She said. Again, I listened. There was a brief silence, then he began to play.
At first I didn't recognize the song, but after the first few keys, I remembered how my father would listen to it almost everyday when I was young. He was playing "Imagine" by John Lennon.
As I started to walk towards the entry way, I could hear him singing softly,
"Imagine there's no heaven..." I rounded the corner and leaned on the doorway frame.
Derek sat on one end of the piano bench, in his own little world. Ella sat next to him, watching his fingers dance over the keys. I smiled and listened as he sang softly.
"Imagine all the people...." He finished that verse and stopped. Then he looked at Ella with a smile. She smiled back.
"Can you teach me?"
"To play piano?" He asked her, then smiled at me. Ella nodded.
"Yeah. I want to do that." She said. He looked down to her and nodded.
"Ok. Let me show you the scales."
"What's a scale?" She asked. I giggled and lelft back to finish the dishes. Lola followed me and barked as I picked the dish up. I looked down at her.
"What?" She wagged her tail and barked again. I stuck my tongue out at her and started putting the dishes away. Thunder errupted through the dark sky and left flashes of lightening in its wake. I finished putting the dishes away and checked the clock; 8:00.
I sighed and went back around the corner to where Ella and Derek sat. Ella played three cords over and over again.
"Like that?"
"Yes, now try on the next keys up." He pointed. She moved her hands and played the same keys, just a little higher. I walked behind Ella and set my hands on her shoulders and gave a slight squeeze.
"Ella, time for bed."
"Really?"
"Yes, come on, I'll read to you."
"Cant I stay up a little longer?" She asked, sticking her lip out. I shook my head and Derek patted her back.
"Go on, we can learn more tomorrow."
"But-"
"No buts, what your mom says goes." He smiled and stood up, then looked at me.
"I have work to do in the office, if you need me."
"Thank you." I nodded and ushered Ella up the steps. She went to her room and I waited outside for her to change. Lola ran up the steps to me and sat down next to me. I knelt down and scratched behind her ears. She wagged her tail and licked my cheek.
Ella opened the door in a green t shirt and blue shorts. She smiled at me.
"Ready for the story!"
"Which one is it gonna be tonight?" I asked as I went to the edge of her bed. She took a book from her bookshelf and handed it to me. She then crawled under the covers and patted the bed next to her. Lola jumped on the bed and laid down so her body was across Ella's lap. I smiled and started to read from her 'My Little Pony' book.
"And sunshine said to pumpkin, 'why can't we go there-"
"Why don't they get dogs?"
"Because horses can't own a pet."
"But I thought they were ponies?" She asked.
"They are."
"But you said they were horses." She said. I sighed and shrugged.
"Well I forgot."
"Ok." She shrugged. I finally finished the book and kissed Ella goodnight. I closed the door and went to the stair banister to look down. It was completely silent with no signs of life.
I sighed and went back to the bedroom to lay down.
I crawled under the covers and laid on my side waiting. I listened to the sound of the night as the minutes ticked away. I shifted position, but still nothing.
I laid awake for about an hour before I sat up and hugged myself.
Where is he?
I stood up and peeked out the door.
Nothing.
I opened the door and tip toed down the hall to the top of the staircase and looked down. I saw a faint glow from the tv in the living room, so I took a few steps down and listened. Just faint talking from the tv. A few more steps.
I finally decided that just standing there wasn't doing anything, so I walked to the last step and peered around the corner.
Derek sat on the couch with his head leaning on his fist which rested on the arm of the couch. He was watching Titanic. I walked around the corner and leaned on the doorway while crossing my arms. He didn't notice me.
"Can't sleep?" I asked with a smile. He turned to me and smiled.
"No. You?"
"No." I shook my head. I smiled and opened his arm, gesturing me over. I smiled and sat down next to him. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me next to him. I laid my head on his shoulder and hugged myself. Shadows cast themselves across the floor and against the opposite wall as the tv played. I closed my eyes and smiled.
"What?" Derek asked while looking down to me. I sighed, my eyes still closed.
"I'm just impossibly content."
"Impossibly content?" He said with a chuckle. I nodded. He brushed hair behind my ear and laid his head on top of mine.
"Me too."
"No, really. You're perfect."
"No one's perfect." He replied. I lifted my feet and tucked them under me, then faced him.
"But you are. Ella likes you, I like you, you're incredibly patient and kind...what more could anyone ask?" He looked into my eyes and smiled.
"It's the decent thing to do." He shifted and faced me more openly so his chest faced me. I couldn't help but blush a little. He leaned his head on one of his hands.
"Besides, I like you too."
"Really?" I asked. He shrugged.
"I mean, I guess you're ok." He said. I rolled my eyes.
"I guess you're ok too." I poked his cheek, then leaned back against him as we watched the movie. I began to feel drowsy and closed my eyes. The tv hummed on.
Derek shifted a little, then I heard the tv shut off. Without warning, I felt one arm snake under my legs while the other delecatly held my back and I was lifted into the air. A gasp left my mouth and I opened my eyes. Derek met my eyes and smiled.
"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." He started up the stairs, shifting his shoulders so my head wouldn't hit the wall.
I wrested my hands on his chest, flat and sturdy against my hands, and said,
"You didn't have to carry me."
"I did, though. What kind of guy just leaves a girl sleeping on the couch?" He asked with a chuckle. I thought back, then.
I remembered when Benny and I had first rented the apartment. We had pooled our money together and bought a coral colored couch with a mystery stain on one of the cushions. We hadn't bought our bed yet, so he told me to sleep on the couch and he'd take the floor. For a while I laid on my side, watching him as he fell asleep, his delicate breathing filled the room. When I couldn't take it anymore, I crawled on the floor and nuzzled under his arm. He made a groaning sound, the wrapped an arm around my shoulder and kissed my cheek.
I love you, he had said.
That was about five months before I got pregnant.
"Here we are." Derek brought me out of my thoughts and back to reality. He managed to open the door and took me to the bed. He laid me down on top of the covers and was about to sit back up, but I set a hand on his forearm.
"Derek?"
"Yes, Clair?" He stopped and sat back down, looking down to me. His blue eyes sparkled like diamonds and his hair was dark enough to blend into the shadows of the dark room. The only light came from a lamp on the nightstand on the other side of the bed.
I smiled to him.
"I don't want to think of him anymore."
"Who?" Derek asked with a frown as he set a hand on mine. I intertwined our fingers and pulled his hand onto my stomach.
"Ella's father, Benny." I said.
"Oh." He blushed and looked down. I tilted my head.
"You don't need to be embarrassed, he doesn't mean anything anymore."
"Maybe not to you, but I'm sure Ella thinks about him."
"And you? What do you think?" I asked. He brushed a thumb over my hand and shrugged.
"I think, deep down, you still have feelings for him. I guess that's normal, I know I'd always have feeling for someone who had my children...but I think it's more than that." He stopped, afraid I'd get upset. I looked at him as best I could.
"You think I still love him?" I asked. He didn't respond, he just shrugged. I did something I wasn't expecting to do, then.
I sat up and set a hand on his cheek. He looked at me, a little surprised. I leaned in without another thought and set my lips on his.

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Hey, sorry about the slow update, school has been kicking my butt, but I hope you enjoyed it and enjoy the next one which will hopefully be soon! Bye! :D.