This is a work of fiction, loosely based on the real person, Russell Crowe.  No insult or injury is intended, this story is for entertainment purposes only.

This story is for readers over the age of 18 only, and contains explicit sexual situations and adult language. The writer is not responsible for any "discomfort" caused to the reader by this language and these situations.

Strange Affair

by: Darrin Lee Hutton

© 12/2002

Chapter 11

Debra stared at the ring on her finger, her heart pounding.  Russell was asleep next to her.  It was New Year’s Eve and she had woken up with a start from a dream that left her pale and shaky.  In it, she had been separated from Russell, adrift on the ocean in a small boat.  She was holding a small bundle that writhed in her hands, but she did not know what it was.  Russell was the only thing she could focus on.  Debra lay in bed next to him convincing herself that it was just a dream induced by too much food and alcohol the night before.  But her thudding heart would not let her go back to sleep so she played with the ring, remembering his words to her.

It’s a promise ring.  I’m promising myself to you.

She had heard about this tradition and loved it.  That Russell had decided they were ready for this next step spoke volumes to her.  She was scared all over again, though.  Scared as she had been when she had first called him lover.  But if Russell thought they were ready, well then, ready she’d be.  Because she didn’t want any other man.  Ever.

In two weeks they’d be back in the States.  He would be in New York starting preproduction on his next film.  She would be in California , working with Manny on her first album.  Debra’s heart pounded harder.

She heard Fern’s voice, Don’t fuck up, ‘tard.  No, she would try really hard not to do that.  Gotta do this, Deb, she heard Dave’s voice whispering to her.  Yeah.  Rock and Roll.  Full weight.

She was itching to get at it.  She had felt her confidence returning by degrees these last few weeks and was feeling like this could actually happen.  Writing songs with the band Manny would help her put together, recording them, getting airplay, going on tour.  The whole enchilada.  She wanted it.  Suddenly she wanted it almost as much as she wanted Rusty.

That they would be separated by an entire continent was what was giving her pause.  She needed him so much.  And the fact that he would be working didn’t escape her.  They hadn’t been through this yet.  What would it be like?  She knew from reading about him that he was dedicated in the extreme to his work.  What time would he be able to spare her?  Would she have any for him?  Schedules were going to have to be coordinated with artistic flair and she imagined she’d be flying more than she had ever dreamed possible.  Now she couldn’t breathe.

Debra got out of bed and ran for the bathroom.  Stood wavering in front of the john forcing herself to calm down.  With tremendous effort she kept herself from getting sick and made her way back into the bedroom, finally able to crawl back into bed next to Russell.

“Everything okay, Deb?” he murmured.

“Yeah,” she replied.

He spooned into her and his arm reached around her to hold her breast, massaging it gently.

“Mmm, love you.”

“Love you, too.”

He pulled her leg up onto his hip and thrust his cock into her.  “Love this cunnie, love sliding in and out of it.”  His voice was turning her on more than his cock.  “Debra Gale, you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I’m gonna love you forever, baby.  I promise.”

Debra moaned, staring at the dozens of roses he had filled the room with on Boxing Day that still looked so beautiful and permeated their scent throughout the room.

“I promise too, Rusty.”

“What do you promise me, luv?”  Still sliding inexorably in and out of her, she could feel his passion rising.

“I promise you’ll always be in my heart.  Forever.”

“Mmm, nice.  Come, Deb, come with me.”

Loud, satisfied grunt from him as she did, crying out his name.

~*~

New Year’s Eve at Nana Glen was a time Russell looked forward to most.  The bash was always more spectacular than the year before’s and the amount of beer he got inside him was noteworthy.  By eleven that night he was completely knackered.  Deb was right there with him.  They roamed through the party, laughing and joking with friends and relatives from all over the world.  Unlike Christmas Day, Russell kept Deb at his side every minute.  He couldn’t be separated from her, and found more than one opportunity to smuggle her off to a secluded corner for a quick cuddle.

Two weeks.  In two weeks they would be separated and as much as he loved working, he didn’t know what he was going to do without her to wake up with every morning.  And this was going to be an intense shoot.  The man whose life he was portraying was an enigma even to himself and Russell knew he’d need to focus, even during this preproduction time before production began in earnest.  He was looking at long days and nights for the next several months.

Midnight was almost upon them.  As the party-goers started chanting the countdown, Russell pulled Deb to him and whispered in her ear.

“I love you, Debra Gale.”

Deb looked at him with a happy smile.  “I love you too, Russell Crowe.”

Midnight .  He tipped her chin up and kissed her.  She melted into his embrace.  2001 had begun.

~*~

“Okay, let’s take it again from the top.”

Heavy guitar intro and then Deb leaned into the mike and belted out the song they were all trying so desperately hard to get right.

You looked so hard for all the right things to say

You didn’t know you would give your all

You couldn’t see the reasons behind this day

You stood alone, back up against the wall

A hand reaches out to touch you

Bringing you back from the edge

How many times were you told to

Keep your ass off that treacherous ledge

Fallen angel

Don’t fall too far

Someone wants to hold you

Someone knows who you are

Out of the night

Something was right

You’ve got to fight

For your freedom

Into the day

Some people say

Let come what may

Don’t you listen

Fallen Angel

As the guitar chords faded into a jangled whisper, Deb watched Manny intently, hoping this was it, this was the one that would make him happy.  His smile made her whoop with joy.  The band joined her.  High fives all around.  Debra ripped the headphones off and ran to the window.  She pressed her face up to it and laughed loudly.  Then noticed the studio clock.  It was after midnight and her heart sank.  It would be too late to call Russell by the time she got home.  She grabbed for her pack of smokes and lit one.  She didn’t know why she had taken up smoking, it had just happened.

Well, that wasn’t entirely accurate.  She had found that her appetite had increased now that she was separated from Russell and she refused to give into it.  Half the band smoked and she had found herself bumming so many from them that she’d finally given in and bought her own.  Anything to keep herself from the “comfort food” she found herself constantly craving.  She kept up her workouts, cut down on the food intake and now she was a smoker.  She refused to gain one pound and so far, was successful.

Around six the next morning her cell rang with Russell’s special ring.

“Hey, baby,” she whispered.

“How’s my special girl?”

“Sleepy.  Randy.  Lonely.”

“Two days, luv, I’m gonna fuck you right in the limo.”

“You can meet me at the airport this time?” she asked, a smile spreading across her face.

“I’m gonna try.”

The smile disappeared.  He’d said that before and hadn’t yet been able to make it happen.  “’Kay.”  She couldn’t keep the disappointment from her voice.

“Deb, come on now, you know I want to be with you.”

“I know.”  Her throat tightened.  She needed him.  Bad.

“How’s the album coming?”  Changing the subject like he always did.

“We’re almost done.  Manny says he’s gonna set up a few gigs on the East Coast for March when the album gets released.  Says he knows you’ll be pleased.”

“That you’ll be able to see me more?”

Deb laughed.  “Of course, ya wanker.”

“Mmm, speaking of…” he trailed off, waiting for her to continue.

“It’s nine o’clock for you!  Aren’t you on the set?”

“Yeah, but I’m alone.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m in one of the dormitories.  Gettin’ a feel for life at Princeton.  Told Ron I needed a few minutes to myself in here.”

“A few minutes?  Mate, yer killin’ me.”

His chuckle made her squirm.  “Okay, a lot of minutes.  Have at me, woman.”

“I am not gonna phone fuck you while you’re trying to get into character.”

“Okay, now who’s killing who?”

“Guess you’ll just have to figure out a better way for us to ‘relieve’ ourselves.”

His answering groan made her giggle.  “Fine, luv.  But next time I call you best do me, hear?”

“Love you, Crowe”

“Love you, too, Gale.”

Debra sighed as she ended the call.  What he did to her.

During the next few weeks, Deb and her band, Ebony’s Cradle, laid down all the tracks for the album which they were still deciding the title for.  Manny thought her name & the band’s would be good.  Name recognition was paramount in this business, he explained, and first albums usually reflected that.  Deb wanted to call it Fallen.  Manny won.

Ebony’s Cradle was booked for several gigs in local bars for the month of February.  Debra hadn’t worked this hard in her life and by the time March arrived, she was exhausted.  And lonely.  She and Russell were barely able to see each other, barely managed two days in a row for any given visit.  She begged Manny for more time, but Manny told her that she needed to stay hot.  “Fallen Angel” was now in the top five on most radio stations across the nation and he needed her to stay with it.  Again, he won.

Debra knew that Manny was only trying to help her succeed.  She wanted to follow all of his advice and make this happen.  The timing was terrible, that was all.

And she didn’t understand how tired she was all the time.  She knew she was working hard, but, hell, she was only twenty-seven, she should have all the energy in the world for this.  She put it down to missing Russell and amped up on coffee.

At last it was time to board the plane for the month long tour of the East Coast.  Manny had lined them up to play several venues in New York City, Philadelphia and Boston.  He had specifically chosen these cities to get her as close to Princeton as possible and still stay highly visible.  She would be able to see Russell almost everyday for a month.  The album had been released that morning to record sales and as they took off, Debra held onto the knowledge that her success was around the corner.  But all she wanted was Russell.  And sleep.

She had been to the doctor and they ran some tests.  They were still waiting on a couple results, but the doctor, after listening to her, assured her that she was most likely just overstressed.  He urged her to take it easy as much as she could.  She left him hers and Russell’s cell phone numbers so he could contact her with the final results, and promised to get some rest.  With the amount of time she hoped she and Russell would be spending in bed, she was confident she could.

~*~

Russell made sure he was in her hotel room when she arrived.  Along with ten dozen roses and champagne.  Debra dropped her bags and ran to him, jumping into his arms.

“You’re here, you’re here!” she cried, kissing him all over his face.

“Yeah, baby, I’m here.”  He kissed her, taking them down to the floor and undoing her jeans.  “Need you Deb, need you so bad.”

Debra wriggled out of her jeans as he pushed his own off, kicking off his shoes and tearing off the rest of his clothing along with hers so he could feel as much of her against him as possible.  He pushed into her, already hard, and groaned with the sheer relief of being inside her again.  His heart was pounding with his need of her.  He was so desperately in love with her and being apart was the worst feeling he’d ever experienced.  He slid his cock in and out of her velvety softness, moisture soaked in her need for him; he knew she felt as he did, that they were never supposed to be apart.  Work was work though, and he had to reconcile that with his love for her.

Her tantalizingly smooth skin enticed his hands, her warm lips crushed against his in heated contact, her soft belly pressing up against his repeatedly as they thrust against each other, her hips grinding into his as she cried out against his mouth again and again.  He dropped one hand between them and rubbed her hard little nub, loving how she came for him.  He kept driving into her, needing to fill her up with his cock, needing to fill her up with himself.

She screamed out his name and he felt his body tighten in orgasm, spurting into her, wishing this feeling of completeness could last forever.  He just wanted to fuck her continuously and cursed his male anatomy that he couldn’t.

“Fuck, Debra, you are so beautiful.”

“You too.”

He grinned at her.  She winced.

“Sorry, luv.  Let’s go to the bedroom.”

He picked her up and carried her to the bed.  Spooned into her and held her close.  They napped for a short while.

Russell woke to Debra’s murmurs.  She hadn’t talked in her sleep for some time and he was surprised to hear it.

“What is it, luv?”

“No,” she said softly.

“’No’ what?”

“Don’t…don’t take it away.”

She was becoming agitated and he tried shaking her awake.

“Baby, what is it?  Wake up!”

“No!”

“Deb!  Wake up!”

Her eyes opened and she stared at him for a few minutes.  He couldn’t tell if she actually saw him.  Then her eyes cleared and she said, “What’s wrong?”

“You were having a bad dream.”

“I…no, I wasn’t.”

“Well, it sounded like it to me.  Do you remember any of it?”

“I wasn’t dreaming.”

Russell didn’t know how to respond to that and sighed.  “Okay, baby.  I’ll let it go.”

Debra turned around and snuggled into him.  “Hold me,” she whispered.

“Yes, ma’am,” he giggled at her and wrapped his arms around her.

He looked down and saw her twirling the ring around her finger.  He wanted to give her another ring and soon, but this was not the time.  They needed to both get through their projects and have some time to enjoy each other when he proposed to her.  He also needed to find out more about her father.  Russell was an old fashioned thinker and didn’t feel right asking for her unless he asked her father first.  Given the tenuous nature of that man’s relationship with his daughter, Russell wasn’t sure if that was a plan he could put into action.

She was wriggling sensuously into him, distracting him from his thoughts.  This kind of distraction he welcomed.  She pushed herself down his body and had him in her mouth before he realized it.  He gasped with the delicious feel of her mouth around his cock.  He hardened immediately from the sensation of her tongue licking him, pushed into her as she stroked him with her mouth and hand.

“Mmm, baby, feels good,” he moaned.

She sucked the head of his cock hard, practically pulling him off the bed with the force of it.

“God, Deb, fuck!”  He put his hand on the back of her head and began fucking her mouth, wanting to come.  She eased him back down from it.  “No,” he groaned.

“Yes,” she whispered and then began again.

He was almost out of his mind by the time she released him sucking in his hot liquid as he bucked into her, coming heatedly.

“I need your cunnie,” he whispered, pushing her onto her back and pulling her hips to him.  He loved the velvety feel of her against his mouth, her moisture dripping out of her slit, inviting him to taste her.  He licked at her slowly, growling his pleasure against her as she moaned and writhed under him.  He sucked her nub into his mouth and teased her into coming until she was crying out that she couldn’t take anymore.

He was hard again.  Crawling up her body, thrusting into her, taking her as no other man would.  He’d see to that.

“Love you, Deb.  More than anything.”

“Love you, Russell.  Yes, more than anything.”

Stroking inside her, feeling her wetness against his cock, feeling her tighten against him and come around him.  Feeling her arch into him, wrapping herself around him with her arms and legs and cunt.  Loving every inch of her.  Coming into her.  Russell didn’t know what else could make this better.

~*~

New York City.  Land of the Free, Home of the Partiers.  Ebony’s Cradle rolled into town around noon , setting up for that night’s sold-out concert.  The auditorium seated about three hundred and Debra found herself amped up to a frenzy of nervousness.

Just before she went on stage that night, Russell called.

“Baby, I wanted to be there, I promise, but –"

“Fuck, Russell, this is my big night!  I’m scared out of my fuckin’ mind!”

“If I could be there, Debra, I would, you know that.”

Deb fetched a sigh and swiped angrily at her tears.  She had signed on for this.  She was “Rusty’s Girl”.

“All right, yes, I know.  But you’ll come as soon as you can?”

“I will.  I love you.”

“Love you, too, baby.”  Debra ended the call and stared at herself in the mirror.  “Time to do this, Gale.  Don’t fuck up.”

She made her way to the stage entrance, joining her band.  When the lights went down, they all walked on stage together and Sam began the opening chords to “Fallen Angel”.

The crowd went wild.  They rocked through the entire album and several cover songs, ending the evening with a song from Disturbed, “Voices”, and a reprise of “Fallen Angel”.  Debra chatted with the crowd throughout the show, reveling in the abandon of being able to say almost anything and get away with it.  When the show was over, she went backstage, sweaty and exuberant, expecting to find Russell waiting for her.

He wasn’t there.

But the party sure was.

Deb grabbed a bottle of vodka from the bar and began drinking steadily, whooping it up with her band mates, the roadies, friends upon friends of those involved with the success of the night.  To say she was drunk would be putting it mildly.  Even knackered didn’t quite make the mark.  Annihilated.  There you go.

So when one of the hangers-on grabbed her and propelled her to a room in the back, she was too out of it to know what it was she was being led to.  Sam tried to pull her away, back to the main party, but Deb just laughed and told him she could take care of herself.  The girl she was being led by told him the same thing and dragged her off.  Sam reached for his cell phone.  Only one person would get Deb out of there, and hopefully before she found herself tempted to try the cocaine being served.

~*~

Russell’s day had been dreadful.  Take upon take and the damn pigeons wouldn’t cooperate.  Then the constant stopping for equipment adjustments.  It didn’t help matters any that he had to be polite for the onlookers who apparently didn’t give a rat’s ass about his work ethic.  They went long as always and it was after ten-thirty before he found himself in his car, being driven, at last, to New York.

His cell phone beeped.

“Hello?”

“Mr Crowe?”

“Yes.”

“This is Dr Hanlon, Deb’s physician?  She said I could call you with her final test results.”

“Test results, what are you talking about?”

“Look, I know it’s late where you are and I’m sorry to be calling but I thought this was something she should know right away and she isn’t picking up her phone.  She came to see me before she left for New York and we ran some blood tests for her because she was complaining about being overly tired.”

“Okay, mate, sorry, Dr Hanlon.  Deb hasn’t mentioned this to me, so my apologies if I sound out of it.”

“Oh, that’s all right.  I didn’t think it was anything serious, and it really isn’t well, anyway, here it is.  She’s pregnant.”

“You…what?”

“Pregnant.”

“But, she’s on the Pill.”

“It’s been known to happen.  She needs to get in to see an Obstetrician as soon as possible, and I’m sure you’ll love giving her the news right away anyway.”

“Thanks, mate, yeah I will.”

“Good luck to you, then,” the doctor rang off.

Russell shut his phone and sat back with a grin.  Well, this would be unique.  The father telling the mother she was preggers.

“Uh, mate, we need to get there a lot faster than the speed limit allows.”

“Yes, sir, Mr Crowe.”

They arrived at the concert hall a short while later.  Russell was entering the backstage area just as his phone beeped again.  He could hear the same music that was coming from the room he was headed for blaring over the ear piece.

“Yeah?” he said loudly.

“Russell, it’s Sam.  Are you on your way?”

“Mate, I’m here, what’s up?”

“Deb’s gonna be in trouble if you don’t get her out of the back room.  Someone brought cocaine to this party and –"

Russell hung up on Sam and ran to the party room.

“Where is she?” he demanded as soon as he found Sam.  Sam pointed in the direction the girl had led Debra in and Russell went in that direction at a dead run.

When he burst into the room, Debra was just standing up from the table where there was a mirror with traces of white powder on it and a straw.

“Deb, no!” he cried out.

He grabbed her around her waist much more roughly than he intended and carried her out of the room over his shoulder.  She was giggling at him the whole way out to the parking lot.

“Are you out of your mind?” he yelled at her.

She was holding her middle where his shoulder must have bruised her and he hoped to God he hadn’t hurt the baby.

“What the fuck’s your problem?” she demanded.

“My problem?  My problem?  I’ll tell you what my fuckin’ problem is, you were doin’ cocaine!”

“Just a little, just wanted to see what it was like.  Fuck, Crowe, don’t tell me you’ve never done drugs before.”

He had, but that wasn’t the point at the moment.  He was about to make that point to her when she grabbed at her stomach and retched horribly.  She fell to her knees and cried out in pain.  That was when Russell noticed the dark stain of red spreading between her legs.

“NO!” he screamed and grabbed for his phone as he pulled her into his arms.

An hour later he was sitting at her bedside, holding her hand, waiting for her to wake up.  No one had told him anything but he knew he had to be here when she woke up instead of out hunting down information.  Soon enough, though, a doctor came in to check on her.

“Doc, ya gotta tell me, did we lose the baby?”

“Yes, Mr Crowe, I’m very sorry.”

“How –"

“I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure.  Combination of stress and not knowing she was pregnant, Debra most likely wasn’t taking care of herself properly.”

“Could me carrying her out on my shoulder have done it?”

“It certainly couldn’t have helped, but I just don’t know.  I’m sorry.  Sometimes, these things just happen.”

“Will she still be able to have children?”  Russell’s heart was pounding heavily.

“I should think so.  There wasn’t any permanent damage.  She needs to take it easy for a while.  Time will tell.”  He left Russell and Debra alone again.

Russell put his head down on the bed and wept.

~*~

Debra woke in pain.  And then felt Russell holding her hand.  She could hear him crying softly.  That scared her a lot more than any pain she was having.

“Russell?”

“Baby, you’re awake.”

“What is it?  What’s happened to me?”

Russell stood up and kissed her gently.  “Debra, I love you.  You know that?”

“Yes, I love you, too.  Tell me what the fuck’s goin’ on!”

“Sweetheart, you were pregnant.”

“Pregnant?  Holy fuck!  Wait, what?  ‘Were’?”

“Luv, we lost the baby.”

“No! No, no, no, no, NO!”

Russell brushed her hair from her forehead.  Brushed her tears away from her cheeks as they spilled over.  When she turned away from him and curled into a tight little ball, weeping as if her heart were broken, his heart broke with hers.

“It’s all right, luv.  I promise.  Everything’s gonna be all right.”

“It’ll never be all right.  This was you and me.”  She cried harder.  “You and me,” she repeated softly.

Russell pulled her to him and held her.  “Shh, baby-girl, it’ll be all right.  We’ll make another one.  I promise.”  He rocked her in his arms as they both wept for their lost child.

~*~

Fern was waiting for her at the airport.  The drive home was silent except for two phone calls.  One Debra answered, the other she ignored.

The first call was from Manny, Debra and he made alternative plans for after her recuperation.  The album was still doing well and a few weeks off wouldn’t hurt too much.

The second call came through shortly after she hung up from Manny.  It was Russell.  She pressed the button on her phone that silenced the ring.

“Who was that?” Fern asked.

“Him.”

“Aren’t you going to talk to him?”

“No.”

“Do you think that’s wise?”

“Yes.”

Fern went quiet.  Debra was grateful.

Over the next few days, dozens upon dozens of roses showed up at the house.  And Debra’s phone rang to the point that she turned it off and gave Manny Fern’s number if he needed her before she was due back.

It was soon after that that Fern’s phone began to ring.

Deb shook her head when Fern tried to hand her the phone.

“You really have to talk to him.”

Debra sighed.  “No, I really don’t.”  She got up and left the room.  She heard Fern speak for a few minutes, then closed the door to her room, crawled into bed and wept.

Two days later, unable to take the constant delivery of roses and the constant barrage of phone calls, she got into her car and drove.  By evening’s end, she was in San Simeon, holed up in a darkened hotel room, weeping uncontrollably.

~*~

“She’s what?”

“Gone, Russell.  No one knows where she is.  She didn’t even leave a note.  I don’t know what to do.”

“She’s supposed to be meeting with Manny next week!”

“He says he hasn’t heard from her either –"

“I know, I just spoke with him,” Russell interrupted her.

“What do we do?”

Russell sighed heavily.  Stubborn fucking beautiful woman, he thought to himself.

“Look, I can’t get away for at least two days, but I’m coming out there when I can.  In the meantime, I’ll have my Security firm see what they can find out.  Just call me if you hear from her.  I don’t care what time it is, you call me.”

“I will.”

Russell shut his phone and made three more calls.  If Deb was using any kind of electronic form of payment, he’d find out about it immediately, he was assured.  Hours later, he had the name and address of the hotel she was staying at in San Simeon.  He called the front desk and after a few minutes of verbal struggle, he managed to convince the woman he was talking to that he was who he said he was and got her to let him know that Debra was okay.  With a sigh of relief, he was finally able to go back to work.

Two days later, he was in San Simeon, knocking on Debra’s hotel room door.  One of the hotel’s housekeeping personnel saw him and told him that the senora was not in the room.

“Where is she?”

The maid looked concerned about telling him this information.  He turned on the charm.  Pulled out his wallet and showed her pictures of him and Debra and finally convinced her that he wasn’t a stalker, just a very concerned boyfriend, el novio, and needed to find her.

“Senora go to the Castle, Senor,” she finally told him.

Hearst Castle.  She had to mean that.  Russell ran out to the parking lot and told Mark to get them there as fast as possible.  As they pulled into the parking lot, Russell instructed Mark to drive around until they found her car.  A half hour later, they did.  Russell got out and waited.

When he spotted Debra, Russell ran to her.  She stopped in her tracks when she saw him, her confusion rooting her to the sidewalk and thankfully so, because he was able to get to her before she could try and get away.  He grabbed her and pulled her to him, holding her as if he would never let her go.

“Baby, how could you do this?  How could you run away?  We’re in this together.  If you hurt, I hurt and we need to get through this together.”

“That’s exactly what we can’t do.”

“What?  What do you mean by that?”

Debra took off the ring and handed it to him.  He refused to take it from her.

“Russell, please!”

“No, baby, I won’t let you leave me.  No.”

“Everything bad that has happened since we met has been because of me.  Everything you’ve had to put up with and now this.  I can’t do this to you anymore.  I just can’t be responsible for ruining your life.”

“No, baby, you’re everything good that has happened to me.  Everything good.”  He tried to kiss her, and she pulled away from him.

“No, Russell.  This isn’t going to work.  I’m a fucked up mess and I need to be away from you.  You have this incredible life and I’m a hindrance to that.”

“No you fucking aren’t,” he growled.  “Stop talking that way.  We’re gonna get through this, luv.  We’re gonna love each other through this.”

“I can’t.”  Debra threw his ring back at him and ran.

She was in her car and out the parking lot before he could stop her.

~*~

I can’t, she had told him.  And she had been so sure it was true.

But the pain she was living with was becoming too much to bear.

The roses had finally stopped arriving in May.  Debra followed news of him only peripherally.  When she reached the pinnacle of her success in June, Manny finding out from insiders that she was a shoe-in to be nominated for an MTV VMA for the video of “Fallen Angel”, she finally felt like she was actually coming into her own.

But still, the ache in her heart would not go away.

She found herself starting and deleting email upon email to him.  When she heard that he was headed home for a rest before the promotional tour she finally did send an email.  To her father.

Dad,

You know everything now.  Tell me why you left me.  Tell me why it hurt so much to be reminded of her.

Deb

The reply she got forced her to make a decision.

Debra,

I can only tell you that living without her was more pain than I could take and seeing you every day hurt more than I could bear.  I’m a weak, selfish man and don’t deserve you.  If you found happiness with this man, you need to hold onto that.  Hold onto it with all your being.  Don’t ever deny yourself happiness, Deb.  I did that enough for both of us.

I’ll always love you, Deb.  Please forgive me for what I did to you.

Dad

Debra sat crying in front of her computer.  How could she have been so stupid?

~*~

Russell sat in his living room, television on, unwatched.  He couldn’t remember ever feeling this low.  He missed her desperately.  Her beauty.  Her voice.  The feel of her.  He ached with the need of her.  He needed to see that beautiful lopsided smile and to run his hands through her black tresses and to kiss her again.  Hold her, love her, enter her, have her be with him again.  Listen to her crying out his name in her need for him.

His mother had just left after sitting with him, holding him as he cried, just like she had when he’d been little.  She hadn’t told him it would be all right, hadn’t made any empty promises to him.  Just held him and quieted him until he’d stopped.  Then she’d left to make supper.  He was supposed to go over in a little while, but he didn’t know how he could.

There was a knock on his door.

It had been raining and he got up quickly to let whoever was visiting, most likely Terry or Dean, in out of the rain.  But he was greeted by someone he thought he would never have seen again.

The lopsided grin.

The black hair.

Her beautiful alto as she said, “Russell, please forgive me.”

With a cry of joy he pulled her into his arms.

His Raven Haired Beauty was home.

THE END