A Short Ride

Marci struggled up the steep steps to Mrs. Castillo’s apartment. The elevator wore an OUT Of ORDER Sign for the second time this month. With the baby, bag and her briefcase, climbing the three flights was more exercise than she wanted.

“Carlos, go help Senora Baker! The elevator is out!” Mrs. Castillo yelled over her shoulder then turned down to holler at Marci. “Don’t move, Carlos will be down in a minute.”

Carlos was Mrs. C's oldest son and though he was a little slower at learning, he had a way with the children. They loved him and he loved them.

“Here, I will take the baby and the bag.” With the ease of practice, he had the baby and her bag in hand and was bounding up the steps. Marci huffed and puffed the remaining flights to lean at the apartment doorway catching her breath..

“Come in and have some coffee before you must climb down the stairs again.” She preceded Marci to the small kitchen and gave her a steaming cup of coffee. “Sit, you have time to catch your breath. You ride the bike again today?” at Marci's nod, she shook her finger at the younger girl. "You be careful."

Marci bought an old bicycle at a pawn shop. With Spencer in a front body carrier and the bag tied to the back, she saved the bus fare and time. The bus trip meant she had to transfer and a 30 minute wait between the buses. Riding the bike, she could make the trip in just over 35 minutes instead of a hour and a half.



Marci arrived at the office building and locked her bike in the janitor's office. Ramon, a friend to Mrs. Castillo, let her keep it there. She felt ashamed to lock it in the company's rack with all the other high priced bikes.

The office was a buzz with the speculation about the emailed memo announcing a mandatory meeting to be held that morning. At the appointed time, employees moved toward the stairway and elevator to go to the designated floor up stairs.

When everyone had assembled in the unused space, the head of HR stood on a table and whistled for silence. “I'm sure you're all are wondering what's going on. Your boss, Mr. Winters, was taken into custody yesterday and charged with fraud. There are no details, but all or some of you may be questioned. Please cooperate. From now on the company will be run by the parent company who has sent a man to straighten out the mess and set a new course for the future. I introduce our new COO Dirk Wellington.

Marci gasped and stepped back bumping into a hard body behind her. “Hello, are you okay?”

Marci looked up, “Sure fine. Just got some air in the wrong pipe. I think I'll see if there is a fountain somewhere.” She turned and pushed her way to the back of the room. From her partially hidden vantage point she watched the man she had met last year on her vacation, jump on to the table.

She'd won a trip for two on a cruise and had taken her mother. The entire seven days of the cruise her mother had been hit with sea sickness. Marci spent her time divided between their cabin and the ship's infirmary. Marci met Dirk on the second night. She'd been watching a late show and dozed off. When she felt someone gently nudge her, wakening her. She apologized to the man, explaining about her mother.

"Dirk Wellington. I'm here with my family for my father's sixtieth birthday."

They danced the into the early morning hours and sat on deck and talked. The following day Dirk paid for Marci to go with him on one of the excursions. During the week they snorkeled and swam with dolphins. They climbed a waterfall and toured historic buildings. One night after a catered dinner in his suite, she gave into his lovemaking and they ended each night the same way. On the last morning they were to disembark, she went to his cabin to say goodbye, but the door was open and he was gone. He'd left the ship as soon as it had docked. Not a word or message left for her.

Marci was hurt, but she rallied and picked up the broken pieces of her heart and went home. Two months later she found herself sick every morning and went to the doctor. She was pregnant. There was never a thought of trying to locate Dirk. He'd left her and he had a lot more money to waste looking for her than she did him. Now, almost eighteen months later, he stood not more than fifty feet away from her.

There was clapping and yelling. As soon as they were dismissed, she hurried back to her desk, she'd get the news later.

“What is going on? I couldn't hear what he said from the back of the room,” she asked Sandy, her cube mate.

“This guy is going to make some changes and our company will have a new direction. We'll be working closer with the parent company and there are new spots open for hire. Marci, isn’t he just the handsomest man you have ever seen? I wonder if he is married.”

“I doubt it. Why should you pay for a cow if you can get the milk free?” She muttered.

“What? Are you talking about that cow movie we went to Barb’s and watched?”

“Oh yes, that's what I meant.” Marci wiggled her mouse and the screensaver cleared revealing the drooling smile of her baby boy. In a flash she changed the desktop picture to a generic beach scene. She didn’t want Dirk to walk by and see a picture of Spencer on her screen. She pulled the little guy's pictures from the cube walls and put the framed photo in her desk.

"What are you doing that for?" Sandy frowned at her.

"I don't want the new boss to see a desk cluttered with baby photos. It might send the message I don't think about work and am not organized. At this point I think a clean desk will be a plus if he walks around the office looking at his subjects." She tried, unsuccessfully, to keep the bite from her voice. It was lost on Sandy.

"I guess you are right." She began to pull off the mini dragons, faeries and goblin figurines from their perches. She pulled the pictures of her in her costumes from the wall and when she was done, it looked like a productive cube. "There, we look like an awesome team of workers, don't you think?"

Marci looked at her friend's flamboyant dress style. "It sure does."



For the next few weeks she avoided meeting Dirk face to face. When she saw him coming in any direction she ducked into a cube and made sure her back was to him if he passed.

One evening as she rushed down the hall to the janitor's room she turned the corner and ran into someone. Strong arms grabbed her to keep her from falling as they both teetered, striving to maintain their balance.

“I am so sorry.” Marci glanced up to see the familiar face only to duck her head and push against the well defined chest.

“Hey, it is ok. Are you alright?” Dirk was still holding on her arms.

“Yes, Sir, I am fine. I am sorry. I have to get going.” her head down.

“Where're you going in such a hurry?” Dirk tried to look around to see her face but she kept bobbing her head so her hair blocked his view. “Do you work here?”

“Yes.” She tried to step away but he held firm.

“What's your name?

“Ms. Baker. Look, as long as you are alright and I'm fine can we just call this an accident and leave it?” she rushed the words.

There was a long pause and a hand pulled the hair from one side of her face and tilted her chin up to meet his gaze.

“It is you.” He stared at her, looking at her face as if to make sure he was not mistaken.

“Who?"

“You are the girl from the ship. Maggie, no Margaret?” He shook his head trying to get the name right. “What is your name?”

“Like I said it is Ms. Baker to you. Now please let go of me.” She firmly pulled her arm from his grasp and stepped away.

“What's wrong?’ He frowned.

“You're my boss. There's nothing wrong.” She made her eyes open very wide and innocent as she took another step back.

“I'm sorry I had to leave so suddenly but-“

“I am sorry too, but I have somewhere I have to be. I'm sorry I ran into you.” She turned and strode off down the hall without a backward glance. At the corner she quickly opened the janitor's door and unlocked her bike. She made for the back door to the service area and in a flash she was on her way to Mrs. Castillo’s apartment.



Dirk had HR send up her file and he located her address. It wasn’t a very nice area of town. A ways to work and not somewhere you wanted to be long after dark. He suspected the rent was low.

He climbed the stairs to the second floor and found her apartment number. Just as he raised his hand to knock her heard the crying of a baby. There was some shushing, but the crying continued. Frowning he listened, then shrugged and knocked

The crying sounded on the other side of the door. He knew she was looking through the peep. The door unlocked and opened.

“What are you doing here?” Her face was puffy with tears and the baby was still crying.

He pushed the door open and reached for the squalling child, but she quickly stepped away and turned her back to him. He shut the door behind him.

"Here let me have the baby." She resisted at first, but he was insistent, so she let him take Spencer into his arms.

The baby stopped crying when he spoke to it, this made the tears fall faster from Marci' eyes.

“What is wrong?”

“He won’t stop crying no matter what I do. You come in and he shuts up," she blubbered.

Dirk had been an only child, but he had a passel of younger cousins he'd babysat. He rubbed the baby’s back and they heard a big belch. The baby cuddled into his neck.

“Go wash up and I will make something to drink. Do you have tea?” He moved toward the kitchenette.

“First shelf next to the stove. Pot is on the microwave.”

He found a pot, filled it with water and put it on the stove. A crib stood in the living room and he laid the baby down and covered the child.

The baby’s face was chubby and round. A tuff of blond hair stood up and he bet the eyes were blue. He looked at the baby again. It was big and a boy that was for sure. Marci was small with dark hair and eyes. He looked up to see a picture of Marci and the baby. The little tike was smiling and there on the right cheek was a dimple. Just like Dirk's.

Heat flashed though him. This was his baby. She never told him. He would never have known he was a father.

“I’m sorry about all that. Was there something you wanted?” she brushed her hair from her face and stood between him and the baby.

“Were you going to tell me?” He spoke low and enunciated the works.

“Tell you what?” She didn't look at him, but at the wall over his shoulder.

“Don’t act dumb. This baby is mine.” He pointed to the crib.

“No.” She spoke low and firm, “This baby is mine.”

“You know what I mean. I fathered this baby.”

“Yes, you were the sperm donor.”

“Sperm donor?” He roared and the baby whimpered.

“Lower you voice.” She ordered and turned to the kitchen area.

“That was what that was. I was just a sperm donor? Did you have it all planned? Cozy up to some rich sucker and then get pregnant?”

"Let me see, If I picked someone rich, that would mean I wanted money from them, I would of course be blackmailing the "sucker" as you described yourself, and getting money. I didn't do any of that so you can blow that theory."

Dirk paced the small room and rubbed his neck. He remained silent.

“Dirk what do you want? You are the father. Just tell me what you think is going to change? You're single, I assume, still dating I presume, so what do you want with a baby?”

“It’s not that. I never knew.” He stopped and faced her placing his palms on the tiny table table.

“So now you know.” There was a long silence. The sound of whistling interrupted the moment. They both reached for the pot holder their hands grabbing each other’s. Marci won. “Why did you come here?” she asked, pouring water into the teapot and adjusting the lid.

“I came to talk to you. To tell you that I looked for you, but the cruise line wouldn’t give me any information about you. I didn’t know where you lived.”

“Why did you want to find me?” she continued to stare past him to the silent child in the crib.

“Marci I know you felt the same way I did when we were together. I wanted to talk to you before the ship docked and make plans.That changed when I got a ship to shore call. My father had a heart attack. I left early the next morning when the helicopter came to get me. There was no chance to call you. I tried once I was on land, but you didn't answer your room phone and I didn’t have your phone number. We were always too busy to exchange information.” He stepped forward and she didn’t move back.

“I was in love with you then and I'm in love with now. I haven’t dated in over a year. Can you see I even lost weight.” he tried to make it a joke but it fell flat.

Marci saw the truth in his eyes and moved into his arms. When they closed around her she knew she was home.



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