Impulse:
Book Four
MOVING
ON
“Impulse: A sudden inclination or urge”
The American Heritage dictionary
By Mezzo
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ONE)
Copyright: Copyright © 2002 by Mezzo All Rights
Reserved
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INSTALLMENT TEN
Cole Crawford looked out the window at the
scenery he had seen all his life. After being away for almost four month’s, he
looked at his childhood home with renewed fondness. The car pulled up to the Crawford estate as
he anxiously prepared to see his family.
The car came to a stop and the driver stepped out and opened the
door. Cole got out and stretched his
legs, happy to finally be at the end of his long journey home. He had been in
“Mr. Crawford, sir…. I can get those?” The driver rushed to Cole’s side and
attempted to take the luggage from him.
“Please. There are four others in there. Let’s
not fight over these.” Cole smiled and
the driver gave him a puzzled look.
“Sir…. it’s my job and my employer would have my
head if they found out that a client had to carry their own bags.” The driver looked very worried but Cole did
not intend to have the man fear for his livelihood.
“Please… there’s only you and me here. Unless there’s a camera in that car, no one’s
going to know. I’ve been away a long
time and my luggage is very heavy. I
promise not to tell anyone if you don’t, okay?
Besides while we’re out here arguing about the luggage, I’m losing
valuable time that I could be spending saying hello to my family.” Cole pleaded with the driver and the man
acquiesced. “Thank you.”
Cole proceeded up the stairs to the front door
and as he approached, the door flew open.
Cole’s father, Paul, rushed out and gave his son a bear hug.
“It’s good to have you home, son.” Paul Crawford said giving his son a warm
welcome. The two had always shared a
close relationship. Cole was a carbon
copy of his father and they both had the same good looks and warm nature.
“It’s good to be home. I can’t tell you how much
I’ve missed all of you.” Paul took
Cole’s garment bag and the two made their way into the house, they left the
bags in the front foyer and went out to the breakfast lanai. Cole’s sister
Pamela, her husband Ian Hull, his mother Diane and his niece and nephew,
Dominique and Marcus were seated having breakfast.
As soon as Cole stepped out on to the lanai, his
sister and mother surrounded him.
“We’ve missed you, Cole. This place hasn’t been the same without you.” Pamela looked up at her older brother and
Cole quickly picked his sister up and gave her a big kiss and hug.
“I’ve missed you too sis. Well look at you! For someone who’s given birth just a few
short months ago, you look incredible!”
Pamela blushed at her brother’s compliment and they hugged again.
“Hey…. don’t I get a hug and kiss?” Diane held her arms open for her son. Cole bent down, swept his mother in his arms,
and twirled her in the air. They shared
a laugh as they often had. Her son was
home and the joy of having her family under one roof again filled Diane
Crawford’s heart to overflowing.
“Put me down you brat.” Diane playfully slapped her son on the chest.
“Never. I haven’t been able to do this in four month’s and I’m going to
enjoy it.” Cole hugged his mother and
felt the love that only a mother could offer surround him. Cole finally placed his mother back on the
floor and gave her a kiss.
“I’ve missed you mom. I missed all of you very much.” Cole looked around the table and smiled at
the faces that were his family.
“Well you look like you’ve lost weight. I’m going to have to get the cook to fatten
you up. Come, join us for
breakfast.” They all took their seats
and Cole went over to the crib to get a look at his new niece and then picked
Marcus up.
“Hey little man. You’ve gotten so big.” Marcus’ face lit up seeing a somewhat
familiar face and quickly lifted his arms to be picked up. Cole bent over and lifted Marcus up. He
brought him over to the table and had him sit with him on his lap.
“Hey Ian, how are you buddy?” He reached over the table and gave Ian a
handshake.
“I’m doing great. Pam and I just came back from a nice long
vacation.” Ian turned to his wife and
they shared a kiss. “We were having a rough time of it for a while but we’re
doing better.” Ian looked at his wife
and hoped she felt the same way. Pamela
nodded in affirmation and a grateful smile came to Ian’s face. He took Pamela’s hand and brought it to his
lips, kissing it gently. “We’re trying
to make more time for each other. It’s
easy to take one another for granted when you’re working and you have kids.”
They had started to go to couples therapy sessions and were committed to making
their relationship work.
“That’s good to hear. You two have been together forever. It’s hard to think of either of you without
thinking of the other. I admire what you
have. I wouldn’t mind settling down
myself.” Cole smiled at Ian and they
shared a knowing look. Cole had dated
Ian’s sister Victoria in high school and they had seen each other whenever
possible throughout the years. Although
they were not dating exclusively, Cole still loved Tori
very much. A part of him still had hopes that someday they would find their way
back to one another. Cole had been patiently
waiting while Tori figured things out for
herself. Cole knew in his heart that he
loved Tori and would patiently wait for the beautiful
Victoria Hull. The last time Cole saw
her they had spent time together as they had always done the past few years. It was understood that they could see other
people. Although Cole hardly ever found
anyone that could hold his attention like Tori could,
he knew that she had been with many people throughout the years. He couldn’t
help himself. He still loved
Marcus screamed for his uncle’s attention and
Cole quickly entertained him.
“Hey little man. What can I get you?” Marcus
pointed to his awaiting bowl and Cole fed Marcus a spoonful of cereal making
airplane sounds before it landed on the runway that was Marcus’ mouth. Marcus laughed at his Uncle Cole’s antics and
begged for another spoonful.
“So son….What are your plans? Are you going to take a few weeks off before
you get back to work or are you going to jump right back in?” Paul observed his son and thought it best
that Cole take time off before he got back to business. Fatigue was written all
over his face and the light in his son’s usually brilliant eyes was somewhat
faded.
“Well I was thinking of taking a couple of weeks
off. I am really drained. I can’t tell you what it’s been like
overseas. The market is so uncertain and
it took a lot of shoulder rubbing to get through the red tape, but we got it
done nonetheless. I just want to totally
vegetate for the next two weeks.” Cole
slumped back in his seat as Marcus finally tired of the game and was on his way
to a midmorning nap.
“That sounds like a good idea, Cole. Besides things are a little slow right now so
you just take things easy.” Paul smiled
at the sight of his son and grandson halfway asleep.
“Yeah. I was also thinking of dropping in on Tori. I’m so excited that she’s finally back in the
states. I’ve worried so much about her
these past few years. I know she did a
lot for the European offices of Hull Enterprises while she was there, but I’m
glad to see her home again.” Even though
he was tired and his eyes slightly watery from the lack of sleep, his energy
seemed to pick up at the mention of his childhood sweetheart. Cole yawned and blinked his eyes a few times
trying to hold back his sleep.
“We are too.
I can’t tell you how good it is to have Tori
back here with us. She’s starting to
prepare herself and the company to take over as CEO. So far, everyone is very excited at the
prospect of that. She’s just
brilliant. Our family all agree that’s
she’s the best one for the job.” Ian was
so proud of his younger sister and was so happy that she was home and finding
happiness in every part of her life. He
looked at his childhood friend and knew that Cole was in for a bit of a
disappointment. Tori
and Brett seemed so happy together and from all signs, were very committed to
one another.
“It will be nice to be able to see her on a
regular basis without having to get on a plane for at least six hours.” Cole got a wistful look on his face when he
talked about Tori.
He was obviously still very taken with her.
All eyes met as Cole went on about the future
CEO. They had promised Tori that they would not say
anything about her and Brett. She had
asked that she be allowed to break the news to Cole in person. After everything
they shared, she thought it only right that she give Cole that courtesy.
Cole looked up and caught the exchange. He wondered what it had been about. But at
the moment, he decided it could wait until he got some sleep and was thinking
more clearly.
“Well folks….I’m
beat. I think I’m going to go upstairs
and take a nap. I’ll probably sleep for
most of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon.” Everyone understood and Cole gave each of
them a quick hug or kiss. He placed his
sleeping nephew in his sister’s arms and left to catch up on some much needed
rest.
TO BE CONTINUED. Installment
Eleven
Impulse:
Book Four
MOVING ON