Bridgette - Chapter Twenty Three: Paradises - Part Two

 ***Carson****

The next month flew by and soon we were all on our way to Paradise Island. While we were on the plane, Bridge and I watched the kids with smiles on our faces. They weren’t much younger than we were the first time we went to Paradise Island. At one point I whispered into Bridge’s ear. “Can you believe we weren’t much older than them when we got married here?” It was almost a frightening thought. We had just been five years older than Trev and Will when we got married.

“No, but we knew each other for a long time. None of them really have that.” I was kind of sad to think that she was right. Where Bridge and I had known each other all through high school, the kids didn’t really have anyone like that. They all had groups of friends that they hung out with, but no one that any of them seemed interested in. 

“It’s funny to think how rare it is that people meet in high school and end up marrying each other. I mean, you’d think that was the norm if you looked at our group of friends.” I stated. It was true. Charlie and Kate, Bridge and me, and then a couple years later Julia and Trent got married.  Our kids were the complete opposite though.

Soon the plane was landing and we were on our way to the house I had rented for all of us to stay in. There was no way we could have stayed in the same house Bridge and I had stayed in during our honeymoon since we needed more room this time. I had found a house that would fit our large family and was on its own island. We took a boat taxi to the island and stood outside looking at the house. 

“Oh my gosh, Carson! It’s beautiful!” Bridge exclaimed.

“Wow, Dad, this is amazing.” Trev proclaimed and the rest of the kids echoed his approval.

“I’m glad everyone likes it! Why don’t you all pick your rooms.” They started running to the house. “Just remember that the front bedroom is your Mom’s and mine!” I yelled after them.

I looked over at Bridge and she was still staring at the house. I put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me. “I should have known that you’d find us an amazing house to stay in.” She smiled at me. 

“It took a little doing, trying to find a house that was big enough for all of us; but I think I did a decent job.”

She turned toward me and kissed me. “What would we do without you?”

“I don’t know but I know I’d be completely lost without you, beautiful.”

****Trevor****

It was a mad dash into the house. When we finally all got upstairs we found the room that was supposed to be Mom and Dad’s. We all walked around to and looked at the other two bedrooms. Two of us guys would have to share a room which we were fine with. We eventually decided that the smaller room would work for Charlotte and of the last two rooms, Will and I would take the largest.  We all threw our bags in our rooms and got ready to do what we each were interested in. Me, I wanted to go down to the water and do some wind surfing. I put on my swim trunks and told Mom and Dad I would be down by the water.

It felt amazing to be on the water! I had been dreaming about doing this since Dad had told all of us that we were going on vacation here.  I was about to finish my second loop around the island when I heard someone call from behind me. “Hey! Trev!” I turned around and saw Dad coming up behind me. We spent the next hour windsurfing around the island together. When we were finished we spent some time on the beach hanging out.

“So how do you feel about this coming football season?” Dad asked.

“Feel pretty good! I think we might have a good chance at winning the championship.”

“I think you’re right! I sometimes wish I hadn’t have gotten hurt my senior year. I had really hoped to play when I was in college. But, if I hadn’t gotten hurt and had to go through physical therapy, I might not have the job I do today.”

“You and Uncle Charlie used to tear up the field, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, we had a great time playing ball together; but I was a much better player than him.” He joked. I always thought it was funny how Dad and Uncle Charlie acted more like they were actual brothers who had grown up together.

“The way he tells it is that he was the better player.” I kidded with him.

 “Yeah, well he’s getting older and his memory isn’t what it used to be.” Dad said with a smile and we both started laughing. After we stopped laughing we stood there on the beach not saying anything, just looking at the ocean.

After a little while I broke our silence “Hey, Dad? Did you have lots of girls who wanted to date you, you know, cause you were a football player?”

“You got girls breathing down your neck?” He joked with me and I blushed. “I had some girls who were interested but for the most part, I only had eyes for your Mom. I knew from the moment I saw her that she was special. I kind of lost sight of that somewhere in our senior year, but thankfully I got a good kick in the head and since then, I’ve never lost sight of how special she is.”

“How did you know she was “the one” though?”

“It’s like it knocks you over, the feeling you get. The first time I saw your Mom, the breath was knocked out of me, I couldn’t stop staring at her, and all I could think about was how I could get to know her better. If you’re wondering if you’ll know “the one” when you see her, you will Son. Trust me.”

I wasn’t so sure but I knew Dad had never steered me wrong before. “Come on. We better get back to the house. It’s almost dinner time.” He stood up and patted me on the back.

****Carson****

We walked back to the house and when we got inside I saw Bridge finishing making dinner in the kitchen.  “Did you and Trev have a fun time?” she inquired.

“We did.” I lowered my voice. “We even had a discussion about knowing when you’ve met “the one.”
 

Bridge immediately stopped what she was doing and turned around. “You don’t think he’s met someone, do you?”

“I didn’t get that indication but he did say he had a lot of girls who acted interested. . .”

“Oh my gosh!”

“Shh, Bridge, quiet down or he’ll hear. It’s not that big of a deal! I mean he’s a good looking boy, he plays football so he’s fit, and he’s a decent guy. Did you think girls wouldn’t notice?”

She got a nervous look. “I just. . .I have no idea how Mom handled this with the four of us. I freak out thinking about any of them dating and she made it through all of us with what seemed like little stress.”

I chuckled. “Well, he’s got a good head on his shoulders so I wouldn’t worry too much.”

She gave me a look which I knew was her skeptical look but didn’t say anything else as she turned back around to finish dinner. I helped her finish preparing dinner and we then all sat down to have dinner.

The kids cleaned up the dishes and then retreated to their rooms. Bridge and I decided to go stargazing on the beach and told the kids we’d be back soon.

****Charlotte****

As I laid on the bed I thought about how excited I was that the next afternoon I might be able to see a performance by a local group. I had walked around the main island a little that afternoon and heard about a place that popular groups performed at. I knew I couldn’t go alone so I had asked George to go with me since he was interested in seeing the local culture. All I had to do was get Mom and Dad’s permission. I knew Mom would likely say no if I asked her first so I needed to ask Dad and then get him to convince her it was okay.

I noticed Mom and Dad walk past my room and I called out to Dad. “Hey, Dad! Can you come here a sec?”

He backed up and walked through the door. “What’s up princess?”

No one, I mean no one except Dad could call me that. Not that anyone else would think to, I guess it wasn’t too big of a shock to people that I was somewhat of a tomboy since I was pretty much surrounded by guys.  If someone else tried to call me princess, I’d probably deck them.

“When George and I were walking around earlier we heard some people talking about a local band performing tomorrow afternoon. I thought it would be great to hear some local music and you know George, he thought it would be a neat way to learn more about the culture. Do you think he and I could go?”

“I don’t know, Princess. . .where is it?”

“It’s on the main island at a local place.” I didn’t want to tell him it was at a bar.

“It’s at a local bar, isn’t it?” Damn it! How was it that he always knew what I was trying to hide.

“Well. . .yeah, I guess it is but it’s in the middle of the day so I can’t imagine many people drinking, and even so, surely you aren’t worried about George and I drinking. I mean, we don’t look close to twenty one, and we’d just go there to listen to music and then come right back. . .” He just stood there looking at me with a straight face. I had no idea how this was going to go.

He sighed and rubbed his neck. “As long as George goes and you go straight there and back, I don’t have a problem with it.” I started to celebrate but he cut me off. “Your Mom still has to agree though.”

I sighed and he looked somewhat sternly at me. “She’s always so much more strict than you.” I complained.

He chuckled. “You know, Charlotte, it’s not so much that she’s strict, it’s that she’s more cautious. And believe me, there is a place and a time to be cautious; especially when you’re a young lady.”

“Oh whatever, Dad! It’s not like people are out to get me.” I rolled my eyes.

“No, but you may find that as you get older, in some cases if you don’t use caution, you could find yourself hurt or even in a dangerous situation.”

I pretended like I was really listening and smiled at him. He smiled at me. “I’ll go talk to  your Mom about you and George going out tomorrow.” 

He walked away and I felt pretty certain that George and I would be going to the bar tomorrow.

****Will****

The next morning I woke up and jumped out of bed. I had been wanting to relax on the beach and read since we had gotten here and I wasn’t going to waste any more time. I took a quick shower and then started looking through the stack of books I brought with me. I had thought I was being quiet but Trev told me otherwise.

“Jesus, Will! Could you stop making so much noise! Not all of us want to wake up at the crack of dawn!”

“Sorry! I’ll try to be quieter.” I finally found the book I was looking for and made my way downstairs. Mom and Dad were in the kitchen smooching like usual and I cleared my throat to let them know that I was in the room.

“Oh! Hey Will! Did you sleep good?” Dad asked.

“Yeah, I may have accidently woken Trev up though.”

“Well, he doesn’t need to sleep the day away.” Mom informed me.

“I’m going to the beach to relax and read. Is that okay with you guys?”

“Sounds good.  Your Mom and I talked about going there later so maybe we’ll catch up with you.”

“Okay.” I got in a boat taxi and rode to the nearest beach. Once I arrived, I found a place on the beach that had an umbrella. I hurried over and placed my towel down on the sand. I sat down and stared out at the ocean for a while. I honestly wouldn’t mind moving here one day. It would be a fantastic place to write from. I eventually pulled out a book and laid down to start reading. I was so into my book that I didn’t initially hear someone talking to me.

“Excuse me, did you hear me?” I looked up at who was talking to me and I was shocked to see a beautiful girl looking right at me.  I stood up quickly and looked around to see if she could possibly be talking to anyone else. I didn’t see anyone nearby though. I turned back around to look at her and I could feel my palms getting sweaty.

“I’m. . .ssorry, were you ttalking to mme?” I knew I sounded like an idiot.

“Yes, I noticed you were by yourself and all the other umbrellas are taken. I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing with me.” I just kept staring at her. She had the most beautiful eyes and freckles that spread across her nose and cheeks. I started wishing that I had my book out so I could look at it instead of gawking at her. Just then, I heard another voice.

“Hey Will, you already making friends?” It was Dad.

“Oh! I thought you were alone. I’m sorry.” She looked embarrassed which I didn’t know why since I was the one who couldn’t form a sentence or stop staring. “Sorry to have bothered you. Have a great day!” She walked off and continued to search for an umbrella.

“Wow, Son. You’re here for less than an hour and girls are already starting to hit on you.” I started blushing and rolled my eyes. Yeah, that was exactly it; she was hitting on me. NOT!

“Well, I’m going to go swimming. Are you coming, Carson?” Mom asked.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Mom ran into the water and I stood up to help Dad put their stuff down.

“Hey, Will, why did you roll your eyes when I mentioned that girl was hitting on you?” Dad asked. This was the last discussion I wanted to have with Dad. 

I shrugged. “I’m just not very comfortable around girls.”

“Why?” He just wasn’t going to stop.

I sighed. “Because I get nervous around them and don’t know what to say. I mean girls at school are always throwing themselves at Trev and even George, but no one seems interested in me. I mean, look at me, why would they?”

Dad looked shocked. “Will, surely you don’t think you’re not  as good looking as Trev and George?! I mean, first of all, look at your Mom and I, you didn’t come from two ugly people.” He joked. “Second, some people have even said you look like me when I was in high school and although you’ve got some of your Mom’s looks, you do look a lot like me. So if you’re saying you’re not good looking, you might as well say that I’m not good looking; and that’s not cool dude.” He said all of this while smiling and joking and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Seriously, Will, don’t stress about talking to girls.”

“Easy for you to say. You’ve never had that problem, have you?”

“No, but there’s a reason.  I’ve never pretended to be who I wasn’t and if that meant a girl didn’t like me, well, it was their loss.” He said without a hint of joking.

“Yeah, but what about with Mom; didn’t you ever act differently to get Mom’s attention?”

“Nope, and honestly as much as I have always liked your Mom, if she hadn’t liked me for who I was then we would never have gotten together. Don’t worry about trying to impress girls, Will. You’ll eventually meet a girl who likes you for you.” He patted me on the back. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go swimming with my wife.” He got a huge grin on his face and ran into the water. I watched and smiled as he and Mom splashed each other and had a good time.  

I sat down and pulled out my book to start reading it. Maybe Dad was right, maybe I needed to relax and not worry so much about what girls thought about me. It would definitely make it easier to talk to them.

****George ****

After Charlotte and I returned to the house, Mom was immediately grilling us on what happened.

“Did you have any trouble going there or coming back? Did anything bad happen while you were there? You didn’t talk to anybody who looked or acted strange, did you?” She was always worried about us and while I somewhat understood, Charlotte was less than enthused by Mom’s questioning.

After dinner I was sitting in the living room when I heard Dad come up behind me. “Hey there G. What’cha doing?” I always thought it was funny how he called me “G.”

“Not much just reading about the local culture.”

“Did you learn anything today?”

“Oh I learned all kinds of stuff. Like, did you know that the majority of the people here walk around in their swimwear? If we tried to do that at home, we would be thrown out of just about every establishment! But here, people walk into places with their swimsuits on and nobody bats an eye. It’s just a perfectly acceptable piece of everyday clothing here.”

“Now that you mention it, I guess that is true. I’d just hadn’t really noticed. Anything interesting happen while you and Charlotte were out?”

“Well. . .don’t tell Mom but while we were at the bar, a guy and a girl were having a big argument and all hell was about to break lose.”

“About to?” Dad raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“I may have stepped in a calmed them down. . .” I cringed waiting for him to scold me. I was shocked when I heard him laughing instead.

“Leave it to you to go to a bar and stop people from fighting. You know, maybe if there ever comes a time that people start negotiating for world peace, we should send you in.” He kept laughing and I blushed. “Seriously though, G, you know you need to be careful doing stuff like that.”

“I know; I’m always careful. I just can’t sit by when I know I can help people though.”

“I understand. You’ve always had a big heart and have this ability to make others care. It’s a rare gift, I hope you know that.”

“I do. Sometimes I worry that people think I’m a goody-two-shoes though.” My siblings had often made fun of me while we were growing up for being the peace maker and there were several times at school I had heard people call me names because they thought I was a do-gooder and brownnoser when really I just wanted to help people.

“Don’t worry about what anyone else thinks, G. The world needs more people like you in it and less of the naysayers. Believe me, there will come a day when even your siblings may be glad that you’re the way you are.”

“Thanks, Dad.” He stood up and walked up the stairs. I always enjoyed my talks with Dad. He always knew how to give me the pep talk I needed.

****Carson****

I walked up the stairs and into the bedroom. Bridge was standing by the window, looking out at the ocean.  She didn’t turn around when I walked into the room so I figured she didn’t hear me. I stood there looking at her for a while admiring the sight of her. She often complained about how she wasn’t as thin as she used to be or how she had more wrinkles than she used to, but to me, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world. She shifted her weight and I couldn’t help but look down at her butt. I was getting some pretty dirty thoughts in my head when she shocked me.

“How long are you going to stand there, staring?” She wondered. I looked back up at her reflection in the window and noticed that she was looking at me.

“I didn’t think you had noticed that I was in here.” I admitted as I walked up to her.

“I saw you your reflection in the window when you entered the room.  What were you standing there staring at?”

I put my arms around her and she leaned back. “I was admiring the view.” I noticed she blushed a little. “After all these years I can still get you to blush.” I teased her.

“After all these years you still act like you’re proud of yourself.” She teased back.

“Maybe I am.” 

She giggled. We stood there for several minutes looking out the window at the ocean before either of us spoke. “Sounded like you and George were having an interesting conversation. . .”

“You know, I’ve had several of those and with each kid the last couple of days. It’s been kind of neat. There’s one thing that I thought about after each conversation though.”

“What’s that?”

“That I hope that each of them finds what we have. They’re all so worried about getting through high school, going to college, and making names for themselves and it would be a shame if they got caught up in all of that and didn’t find what you and I have; you know?”  

She turned around and placed her arms around my neck and smiled. “We do make a pretty good team don’t we?” 

I smiled back at her. “We most certainly do, Beautiful. I wouldn’t be half the man I am if it wasn’t for you. The only reason I’m where I am today is because of your love and support.” She reached up and stroked my cheek. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. 

“What’s that for?” She asked.

I opened my eyes and smiled. “I’m still waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up from this dream.”

“This isn’t a dream, this is Paradise.” She said and kissed me until I lost all control.

Credits:
Poses:
Forever Hailey's - Twilight Saga #2
Skylar's - We Heart It
Blakc's -Say That You Love Me
Ms. Adrienne's - Roses For Beloved

Island Paradise House:
Pralinesims': Colonial Home