The Playboy's Touch (Book 2)

Chapter 3

Rachel

Mother and I were eating breakfast outside when Oliver walked out from the back door.

“Oliver!” I said rushing to stand up. I made my way to him as fast as I could and he pulled me in to a large hug. I pulled back and got a good look at him, I hadn’t seen him in almost a year. His light brown hair was a bit longer and tousled and his blue eyes were tired, but he smiled nonetheless.

“How are you little sister? Still annoying mother with your pessimistic comments?” He said laughing.

Mother got up from her seat and pulled him in for a hug. She was a short fuller woman; she was warm and kind and everyone loved her. “I think I’ve gotten used to it at this point.” She said playfully. She was about to continue talking when one of our cooks stepped outside and asked for help regarding the dinner we would be hosting for the Harris family the next day. Mother walked away with her chatting, and gestured for us to keep eating.

Oliver and I sat down. He took a biscuit from a tray and chewed it loudly to annoy me. He looked over at me and grinned. “How are you with the husband search? Any lucky fellows yet?”

I rolled my eyes and pointed at my leg under my skirts. “I’m not even close, remember, I am undesirable. I’m basically a spinster at this point.”

“Don’t say that.” His face got serious and his smile faltered. “ I hate how you talk yourself down. You don’t even let yourself open up enough to find love.”

Again, I rolled my eyes at him. Oliver was too much of a positive person, he had too much faith in me and at this point I felt like he began to believe his own lies about how great I was.

“Trust me Oliver, if I was meant to fall in love, I would have met the man who loved me by now. And yet, it hasn’t happened.”

“I’ve told you this a million times, love doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. It creeps up on you. There is no lightening, grand music or lit candles when it happens, sometimes love is just there.” He began to frown and looked at his hands. “Sometimes love is standing right in front of you and some people just let it slip away.”

My heart broke seeing my brother like this.

When he was younger, before he married his wife Janet , he was deeply in love with a girl named Emily. She was a couple of years younger than him, but they spent so much time together. They became fast friends when they met and over the years they realized that it wasn’t just friendship between them, it was love and devotion to one another. My brother was open with mother and I about wanting to marry her when she was introduced to society. But a month before the season began, we found out that father had arranged a marriage for him before he passed away. Which is why he had to marry Janet.

I remembered the night he told Emily about the engagement, Emily had a broken down into tears and left without another word. I heard my brother crying in his room that night as well. I knew that he loved her so much and it was killing him inside to have to marry another woman. Even from his grave, our father was hurting us.

For months Oliver tried to find a way out of the engagement, he was determined in marrying his love. However, a couple of months later we were told that Emily was engaged to an older man from Switzerland. She would be moving after the wedding and would probably visit at least once a year. At that point, my brother felt like his world was falling apart and just accepted that he would not be able to be with the woman he loved.

Janet and Oliver were married and had three kids. Wendy who was 10, Davis who was 8 and Robert who was 6. My brother was devoted to his children, and even though him and Janet were not in love, they were both amazing parents. Janet did not have the warmest feelings towards mother and I. I think a part of her blamed us for forcing her into a marriage, even though she knew that we did not know that the arrangement even existed. From what I heard, she was also planning on marrying for love and all of that was ruined for her as well.

“Not all of us can be as lucky as you brother.” He looked up at me in shock but I continued to talk. “Not everyone gets an opportunity at love, even if that love does not have a happy ending, you at least had the privilege of knowing what it is to be in love and be loved back. I just don’t have that opportunity.”

He shook his head frustrated with me, “maybe you would have that opportunity if you let yourself be open to the idea that a man could like you..could want you and wouldn’t care about the condition that your leg is in. You are too in your head-that has kept you from letting someone in.”

I looked out at the meadow behind our house. I didn’t have anything to say. He was right, of course he was right. He knew me when I was happy, young and excited to fall in love. And then he knew me afterwards where I shut myself off and distanced myself in order to keep my heart safe.

The only people who knew me for who I truly was were Mother and him. They knew me completely. Not even Celeste, who is my best friend, knew my deepest secret. I was too scared to open up to someone that wasn’t my family and have them leave me. I knew it sounded foolish but it was a fear of mine. That someone would leave me over some thing I was so insecure about, what would I do then?

I saw two birds flying right above us, they were white with red on their wings. My eyes filled with tears, it seemed as if everyone and everything had an opportunity at finding their equal, at finding someone or something who cared.

“Do you really think I could be loved Oliver? Like, truly loved. Seeing all of my imperfections and my insecurities, would someone stick around for that?” I looked at him, allowing a couple of tears fall from my eyes. “After such a long time do you still think someone could possibly love me?”

Oliver looked at me with his blue eyes which shone with love and honesty- he smiled at me and handed me a biscuit. “Of course I do, and I’m not saying it as your brother. I’m saying it as a person. The man you are meant to love and be with is out there, they are just waiting for you to realize it as well.”