AD-versaries

  “Neville.” Victoria mouthed the word. No sound came from her mouth.

  “Victoria. I…” He began to walk over to her. Shame filled him as he realized that he wasn’t worthy to be in the same room as her, to talk to her, to even say her name. Yet, he came with a task to do. It was now or never. “Victoria, I’m…”

  “I don’t want to hear ‘I’m sorry.’”

  “…am an idiot.”

  “What?” Victoria expected some half-cocked apology, not this revelation of self-awareness.

  “I never had any intention of letting that stupid account come between us. I just got carried away.” She tried to interject, but Neville grabbed her by the shoulders and spoke again. “But I did let it. And it cost me more than my job and my pride. It cost me you.”

  He could feel her start to loosen in his grip. Her muscles relaxed as she melted at his words, the most genuine words she had ever heard.

  “And these last two weeks without you,” he continued, “have been the worst of my entire life. Because I realized something. I realized that I could have all the money in the world, the best job, the fastest car, but if I don’t have you and your love, then I’m nothing. And even though everything that I used to have is gone, I know that I could still be the richest man alive if you would just give one more chance. You don’t have to take me back, just give me…”

  Victoria lunged at him and pressed her lips tightly against his own. It wasn’t over-the-top or gratuitous like you might see in the movies, but it was filled with love and passion the likes of which neither had experienced before. For all the trials that had come and gone in the last month, for all the crime in the big city and the hustle and bustle just beyond the office doors, in that little square of tile, occupied by two people sharing one kiss, there was peace.

  Epilogue

  The next year held many surprises for Neville and Victoria. Their reunion came at a pivotal time for ATA, as they were bringing on more clients than the little agency could handle. Neville agreed to lend his expertise to the company. Although he never really got used to calling Victoria his boss, with his help, ATA outgrew their little office and moved up to a beautiful building on Fifth Avenue with a view of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park.

  A week after the new office opened, Mr. Richter passed away. He was old and had lived a long life, so no one was surprised when it happened or overly sad. Instead, they chose to focus on the highpoints of his life and reflect on the pride that he would have had had he been alive to see where his little company had gone.

  Victoria was shocked to see that he had left the company to her in his will. But not wanting to get away from directly working with people, she handed the reigns over to Neville, who took the company to new heights.

  The two of them were married just a couple of months later. Neither Neville’s dad, nor Sammy came to the wedding. But it was still a beautiful ceremony, presided over by Father Leonard Sykes. In his address to the crowd on that wonderful day, he included the speech that he had given Neville on the day that he and Victoria reunited. He was so proud of that speech that he began working on a book entitled, “Relationships are Meant to be Broken.”

  Neville’s dad passed away later on that same year. The high levels of stress that he put on himself finally took their toll and his heart couldn’t handle it anymore. Neville cried that day like he had never cried before. He mourned the loss not of his father, but of the relationship that he would never have with him. It was then that he decided that he wanted to be a father and give his child the love that he never received.

  Nine short months later, little Sarah Rebecca Pearson was born. There was nothing left that Neville wanted in life, nothing that could pull him away from his family. His life was complete when Victoria married him and now, with little baby Sarah, he had more joy in his heart than he ever thought possible. His heart was full. His joy was complete.