Summer
Of
The Diarist
By Atonia Walpole
I’ve been in his room early this morning and I have to say I haven’t a clue. There’s something nostalgic about it. Crazy, but it reminded me of my grandparents' room. Surely the house is not sending me a grandpa! Ha! The room smells blue and green. I’m not that familiar with what that means, like newly mown grass, rain maybe. Interesting. The walls are painted green with red print curtains and a green and white striped bedspread. It’s the furniture that looked old fashioned. It’s blond.
Something else, the house has redecorated. I think that’s so cute. It smells different, too, like a lemon pie. There’s a wreath on the door with real flowers and the gardens are just blooming away. I really like this house and sometimes wish it was mine but then I think about the seasons and think I couldn’t live like that forever. No, one day I will find someone and settle down, but I’m not ready for that yet.
I just heard a horn blow, Oh gosh, he’s here!
Hallie Madison
Summer Romance Discovered
At
The House of Four Seasons
Part 1:
Alex Ross tooted the horn and parked the car down by the garage. Might as well announce himself, he thought. He shut the car door and pushed his hat back on his head, hands on hips, and surveyed the house and gardens. Nice place. He thought he might have been here before but couldn’t remember. Something about it seemed familiar. He’d been briefed and knew who was here. He also knew about Maximus and was glad he was summer and not spring.
Hallie, dressed in a short white skirt and red knit top, ran down the stairs and opened the front door. He was walking toward her but she didn’t recognize him, good looking young man with a hat on. He stopped a few paces from her. Nice looking doll. She reminded him of a doll, blonde and blue-eyed, petite.
“Hi, Alex Ross. You must be Hallie?”
Alex Ross. Still didn’t ring a bell but then she’d not watched all of the movies stacked in her room, too busy with Maximus. “Hi, won’t you come in?”
Alex came inside, removed his hat, took a quick look around and turned to her. “You don’t know me, do you?”
“No, as a matter of fact I don’t. Sorry I’m not up on all the characters.”
“Good,” he smiled, “no preconceptions to deny.”
He had a nice smile that lit up his face. “I’ve just made some tea. Would you like a glass?”
“Oh, sure would.” He followed her through to the kitchen and stood at the island while she filled two tall glasses with ice.
“Since I don’t know you, you’re going to have to fill me in. What do you do?”
“Ah, bit of this and that. I’m a stringer…reporter for an LA newspaper, and lately a sometime PI, private investigator.”
“Sounds interesting. What do you investigate?”
“Missing women,” he grinned, accepting the glass of tea.
She smiled back. “None of them around here…only me.”
“Maybe I’ll investigate you.” He met her eyes for a moment then walked over to the glass doors. “Oh jeez, I forgot about the ocean. There’s a beach, right?”
“Yeah, it’s down the bluff. There’s a path. You’ve been here before?”
“It’s been awhile. Let’s go outside.” He opened the door and stepped out on the stone patio
He had a lot of thick chestnut hair combed neatly, broad shoulders and a trim waist. Hallie smiled as she followed him out on the terrace, wishing she had watched his film. “What was the name of your movie?” she asked, walking up beside him.
“Rough Magic. Now don’t go sneakin’ around and watching it while I’m here. Just let it happen.” He tilted his head and grinned.
“Magic? I’m all caught up in it here. I never believed in magic until I came here and discovered it could really be true.”
“I believe in it. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Yeah, pretty powerful stuff, magic.”
“Your movie was about magic?”
“I’m not sayin’.”
“Okay, if there’s one thing about you I should know, what would it be?”
Alex turned to her. “I hate sausages. Don’t ever try and feed me a sausage.”
Hallie laughed, “No, seriously, what?”
“I am serious. I don’t know, Hallie.” He looked down, swirling his tea round. “I wanted to be a writer.”
“Why aren’t you?”
“Well, the war came. I just couldn’t write about it…I bummed out.”
“Which war?” He looked too young for Desert Storm.
“World war II. I guess you don’t know, that’s the era I’m from, right after the war, after the bombing in Japan.”
“Oh, I didn’t know.” But that did explain the bedroom. “I feel so stupid not to know these things.”
“No way you could know. You haven’t done your homework.”
“And you won’t let me do it now.”
“It’s too late for homework.” He drained his tea glass. “I’m here already. We’ll see what you pick up in class.”
“I’m not a school girl, Alex.” There it was again. Was she going to have to paste her ID on her forehead? She sat down at the table under the umbrella.
Alex turned, looked at her and walked over and sat down. “I never said you were. We were talking in abstract here. I know how old you are.”
“You know more than I do. How old are you?”
“Thirty-three,” he answered but he felt older. “I was thirty-three in April.”
“You look younger.”
“I suppose I should take that as a compliment.” He looked up at her a little shyly and smiled.
He had the prettiest blue-green eyes and that smile. “I thought we might take a picnic down to the pond if you’d like”
“I’m game. Anything I can do to help?”
“Carry the basket,” she smiled and went into the kitchen where a basket with fried chicken, potato salad and other goodies awaited.
“Hey, I can do that. Lead me to it!” Alex took the basket and they walked down to the pond, finding a spot to lay out the blanket she carried.
Hallie still was not comfortable with Alex. She didn’t know him at all but liked what she was finding out. He was friendly and open, and she thought he might be fun for the summer. Alex thought she was cute but noticed she wasn’t giving anything away. He might have to investigate her after all.
They spread the blanket and Hallie began unloading the picnic.
“I told you want I wanted t be when I grow up but you haven’t told me about yourself.” Alex took a chicken leg and began eating.
“Probably because I don’t know. I’ve been out of school for a year and can’t find a job.”
“What did you major in?”
“History.”
“Maybe you should teach?”
“Seriously ,Alex, would you think of me as a teacher?”
He looked at her a moment, smile twitching his lips. “Probably be trying to make a date with you.”
“See what I mean. I may go back to school. I just don’t know right now.”
“You’ve got plenty of time.”
“That’s about all I’ve got going is time.”
Alex picked at his potato salad. “Maybe you should just get married, start a family. Not everybody is cut out for the business world.”
“Married, ha…no, Alex, nobody is standing in that line either. I wouldn’t mind working with children, though, younger ones, like a preschool or something.”
“Yeah, I can see you doing that.”
“Can you…really?” she asked, glancing at him.
Truthfully he couldn’t see her doing anything because he didn’t know her and she wasn’t opening up to him. Maybe it was too soon? It would take time and he had three months. “Honestly I can’t because I don’t know you well enough. You don’t tell me enough about yourself, what you feel or think, for me to form an opinion.”
“Sorry, I’ve never been good about that, talking about myself. I don’t share, I guess. I was an only child and never had that many friends that I opened up to. That’s why I keep diaries.”
“Locked ones?”
“Yes.”
He smiled and lay back on the blanket. “Guess I won’t be reading them then..”
“Why would you want to? I can’t imagine my secret thoughts would interest you or anybody else.”
“Because,” he rolled over on an elbow, “I’d like to know what’s behind those pretty blue eyes.”
“Sometimes I wonder that myself. Maybe there’s nothing?” She widened her eyes.
Alex gave her a strange look, picked her hand up from the blanket and played with her fingers. She was young, not much life under her belt. “I was a wide-eyed innocent myself one time. I believed in something and I joined the Marines, fought at Iwo Jima. I was a journalist and sent to Japan right after the atomic bomb was dropped. I think something died in me. All that gung ho shit was just that. When you see people's possessions melted together in the streets and you think about the people who owned them just disappeared into thin air…it…I couldn’t write about it. I couldn’t write home to my mother and tell her what I was seeing. I couldn’t go home and began drinking pretty heavily trying to blot it all out. Got a job with a newspaper and nearly lost that. I ended up in Mexico sending in crap, hoping something would get published and send me enough money for another bottle.” He looked up at her, “That’s some of what’s inside me.”
Hallie laced her fingers through his. “Oh, Alex, that’s awful!” He looked down at their hands locked together, Hallie had a strong desire to take him in her arms and comfort him but she didn’t, lacking that confidence with him.
“Well, it is but that’s part of life, Hallie, It’s not all good but it’s all we got.” He suddenly sat up. “ I don’t usually talk about this shit.”
“I’m glad you felt comfortable enough with me to talk.”
He looked at her. “Strangely…I do.” He brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them.
That he would tell her that made her feel good, warm inside. He’d given her something of himself and she treasured it. “Thank you, Alex.”
He sighed and looked around. “Is that a boat house…with boat?”
“Yes, there is an old wooden boat. Want to take it out?”
“Sure, we can do that.” He got up and pulled her to her feet, standing close for a moment, looking into her eyes and then moved away. “It won’t sink, will it?”
“I hope not,” she laughed and ran along side of him to the boat house.
Part 2:
Later that evening they came back to the house and Alex set the basket on the kitchen island. “Want to see your room?” Hallie asked.
“Yeah." He picked up his jacket and hat, following her up the stairs.
“Here it is, right across from mine.” She opened the door and he went inside, placing his hat and coat on the bed. She noticed the scent in the room was stronger when he entered, though she stayed by the door.
Alex turned around. “You can come in.” He removed his tie and Hallie sat on the arm of a chair.
“I couldn’t figure out who was coming. I was in here early this morning. The room reminds me of my grandparents' room.”
“Well, I guess you thought grandpa was coming,” he smiled, dimples showing.
“I didn’t know. I don’t think of you as being from that time period.”
“People don’t change that much, only the body language.”
“Body language? Are you talking to me?”
“I’m trying here, Hallie,” he grinned and sat on the bed.
“You aren’t my grandpa.”
“No…I’m not.”
Hallie thought after Maximus she wouldn’t feel this nervousness. She’d been so confident with him, so sure of herself, and now here was Alex Ross and she was feeling all virginal again.
The silence in the room was becoming loud. Alex knew if anything was going to happen it would be up to him. She’d retreated again.
“Are you hungry? Should we have dinner or something,” she finally said.
“No, not especially hungry. Come closer, you’re too far away.” He stood up.
Hallie got off the arm of the chair and went over to him. “This better?”
“Much better. You aren’t afraid of me, are you?" He was very close to her face.
“No…no, not afraid at all.”
“You won’t run away if I kiss you?”
“No.”
She wanted him to, wanted him to break the ice…there was heat below. He kissed her softly and again tasting her mouth. He came out of his shirt and she placed her hand on his chest, feeling his heart though the tee.
“Alex,” she said against his lips, her arms going around his neck. He kissed her again and lay her down on the bed.
He took his time with her and was a little surprised at the heat she was generating. He was overjoyed. This was something he had not expected. He didn’t mean for this to happen. He was only going to kiss her but he threw off any reserve he might have thought of and lost himself in the moment. Maximus had taught her well. She knew how to please him and in return he satisfied her completely. It would only get better as they learned each other’s desires and became familiar with each other’s bodies.
The House was totally satisfied with its choice for summer and it would appear that Hallie was, too. The light in the bedroom dimmed as the sun gave up and hid behind the trees. Two fat candles appeared in Alex’s room and the house sent a warm loving embrace around them as they lay together.
They slept for a little while, woke and made love again. Later she lay on top of him and traced his lips with her finger, his brows and across his lashes. She thought how easy it might be to fall in love with him. The treasure he’d given her about himself, and what he’d given her in bed made her want more of each.
There were layers and depth to her and Alex wanted to dig to the bottom. He wanted to know this doll stretched out on his body, inside and out. She was very loving and affectionate. Hell, she was hot and sexy! He wanted more…and he took it.
Later, she murmured, “Alex, you must be hungry by now?”
“I don’t know if I am or not but I’m thinking you must be.”
“I think I am…but no sausages, right?”
He laughed, “No sausages!”
They pulled themselves out of bed and padded barefoot down the stairs. It was after nine o’clock and they were both a little surprised at the time.
The house had prepared a plate of sandwiches, and a warm apple pie.
“Oh, pie!” Hallie bent down to get a good whiff. “It’s apple.”
Alex placed the plate of sandwiches on the table while Hallie started the coffee pot.
“This looks yummy,” Hallie commented, sitting down at the table.
“I knew you were hungry.” Alex picked up a sandwich.
“How observant you are,” she smiled across the table and found a sandwich.
After they ate they walked outside and down to the bluff. It was high tide and the waves were crashing below and the breeze felt good. Alex turned to her. “Hallie, I don’t want you to think I was rushing you or anything tonight. It just kinda happened, you know. I didn’t mean…” Hallie silenced with her fingers on his lips.
“It was meant to happen, Alex. I’m glad it did. Hey, we aren’t strangers anymore.”
“No, we aren’t strangers but there’s still a lot we don’t know about each other.”
“We have time to figure out all that matters. I really like you, Alex. I know we just met today but there’s something…”
“Yeah, I know…there is something. Let’s don’t name it yet, let it grow.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her then, smiling, took her hand and they walked along the bluff, found the path down to the beach and sat on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff watching the ocean for awhile. The beach disappeared at high tide.
“Alex?”
“Um hm.”
“I’m glad it was you who came for summer.”
He put his arm around her.
Hallie leaned her head on his shoulder. He’d only been there for a little over twelve hours. It didn’t seem possible as she felt so much had happened. She wanted to tell him how she felt she’d known him for a long time, but of course he was probably right. They had much to learn about each other…but still.
“Ooooh,” the spray hit her.
“We’re going to get wet. Do you want to go back?”
“No, I don’t care if I get wet but if you do?”
“Not at all.” He tightened his arm around her. “Hallie, what made you decide to stay after you found out what was involved here at this house?”
“I wanted it. I’ve never been in love before. I’ll admit the thought of four different companions kind of put me off at first but I thought…I haven’t experienced anything, you know. I wanted to know what it’s like…I just wanted to be loved. I didn’t have anybody, no family or close friends. I didn’t even have a place to live. When I walked into this house I felt at home.”
He couldn’t see her face in the dark but he heard the emotion in her voice and he kissed the top of her head. It was the most she’d said about herself since he got there. He sensed a very lonely young woman. Maybe she’d been lonely all her life? He wanted…he didn’t know what he wanted…it was too soon.
“Let’s go back, back to the house,” he said quietly.
“This is your room?" he asked. "How do you sleep in here, purple walls?”
“I like purple. I’ve always had a purple room.”
“It’s a strong color.” He noticed the scent in the room. Was it lilac? No, something else, definitely floral, but strong. He looked at her, tilting his head. She smiled slightly, went to the balcony, opened the doors and walked out. He followed her and stood behind her, putting his arms around her. He was trying to figure out the strong color and scent and what it said about the girl in his arms. She was much more than she appeared to be on the surface.
Hallie was thinking she hadn’t really spent many nights in her room. She’d slept with Maximus in his room when he was there. She loved her room and wondered about Alex. Would he want to sleep with her in her room? How would she go about asking him? She didn’t have to worry; he wasn’t going to.
“I should let you get some sleep.” He turned her in his arms. “Good-night kiss?”
She lifted her face up and he kissed her, stepped back and looked into her eyes. “I, uh, I’ll see you in the morning.” He turned and left her room.
Hallie stood where he left her, surprised, her eyes wide.
Alex went to his own room and closed the door, leaning against it. He’d wanted to sleep with her but it didn’t seem right to him. He’d only just met her. He began taking his clothes off and noticed the covers on his bed still in disarray. That shouldn’t have happened, he chided himself. He’d taken advantage of her. What kind of a man was he?
He paced back and forth. He was here to be her companion…so…she had such an innocence about her. He didn’t want to destroy that. God knows he’d lost all he ever had! He’d seen the back end of it all and it wasn’t pretty. But she was so sweet…she would have. He stopped and looked at the bed again, remembering the way she’d loved him. She wasn’t that innocent. He looked up, sighed, and opened his door.
Hallie came out of the bathroom in her sleep shirt, still not over him walking out of her room. She began to have doubts about herself. She brushed out her hair. She really liked him, something about him…her door opened.
“Hallie, I, uh…if you don’t want me here that’s okay. I can go back to my room.”
“I do want you here, Alex. It’s okay.” She put her brush down and walked over to
him. “You probably think I’m awful.”
“No, I don’t think that at all. It’s only that we’ve just met.”
“I know that’s true but I feel like I’ve known you for a long time.”
That was it. That was the thing. “Yeah, me too.” He touched her hair, smoothing it back with his hand, and when she closed her eyes, he kissed her softly.
Later, lying in his arms she told him about Jason. “When I was about fourteen, you know I told you about the diaries, well, I had an imaginary boyfriend. His name was Jason. He was a couple of years older than me and he used to come home from school with me and we’d go up to my bedroom and do my homework. Afterward we’d talk or play cards, sometimes he kissed me and gave me a hug. Alex, you remind me of him. I mean I made him up but you’re a lot like him even in looks.”
“If I’d been up in your bedroom, we wouldn’t have been playing cards. At sixteen I was…well, I was.”
Hallie chuckled, “I bet you had a lot of girls.”
“Umm, a few. I’m not a couple of years; I’m eight years older than you. I couldn’t have been Jason.”
“Jason was a fourteen year old girl’s fantasy. I’m not fourteen anymore and you’re real, but if I was going to have a fantasy…”
“You are having a fantasy. I’m glad I’m in it.” He kissed her, exploring her mouth until she moaned.
The next morning Alex walked out on her balcony and asked what she wanted to do today. Hallie was thinking about it and also about what he’d said the night before.
“Alex, is this really fantasy?”
“It’s magic, Hallie. It’s all magic.”
“But you’re real. I mean, I know the difference.”
He smiled, “Am I? Maybe you’re the fantasy?”
She ran her fingers up his arm, looking at his tattoos.
“Leftovers from the Marines?”
“Marines are tough. It takes a lot to be a Marine.”
His eyes held a lot of pain for a minute. She caught it and then he looked away. “Let’s go swimming.”
After breakfast they went down to the pool and played away most of the day. Hallie was having a good time with Alex. He was fun to be with, fun to play with. She adored him. He was so handsome and had such a great body she had a hard time keeping her hands off him.
Alex was enjoying Hallie, too. He liked that she touched him and she played hard. He tossed her around in the pool like a toy. But she was no toy when she would swim up to him and run her hands over his wet body. He responded and she matched his passion.
Later they were up in his room. He was playing some records he'd found on the shelf, big band music and songs from the 40’s. Hallie had bathed and combed out her hair, parting it on the side and pulling it back a little. She found a dress in her wardrobe she thought was really funky. It looked like it might have come from his era.
“Hey, look at you! You look really cute.” He noticed the dress.
“It all fits, doesn’t it, the dress, the music, this room…and you.” She sat down on the arm of his chair and he put his arm around her, pulling her into his lap.
“You fit with me, a perfect fit.” He brushed his lips across hers.
“Do I really, Alex?” She wanted to tell him, tell him she was falling in love with him.
Alex looked into her eyes. She didn’t have to tell him. He knew and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. What could happen if he fell? Where would it lead? Three months was not long enough…if he fell. “Hallie…”
She placed her fingers on his lips, smiled, and worked her way off his lap and left the room.
He sat there for a minute, cursing himself for being a heel then got up and went looking for her. He found her downstairs in the living room pouring out a glass of wine.
“Hallie, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to…”
“Mean to what?”
“Well, you…I…I didn’t say it.”
“Say what?”
“I didn’t say I love you.”
“Neither did I.”
“I know, but…you do.”
“No, I don’t. I never said I love you
“Hallie…”
“Did you hear me say it? Did I say the words 'I love you'? No, I didn’t. So there.”
“You didn’t have to but I did.”
“But you didn’t so…”
“Say I love you. I never said it.”
“I know. It’s impossible anyway. They’re just words, like ‘how are you’, you know. 'I love you'…words.”
Give in, say it! You know you do. “Hallie…I love you.” Alex stared, his eyes wide open.
Hallie stared back for a moment. She felt she was stepping off the cliff in back of the house. Stepping off…”Alex, oh, Alex, I love you, too!” He pulled her to him and she rested her head on his chest, listening to his rapid heartbeat. It matched her own.
The House was excited. Love, it had found them at last. Across the hallway the dining room came alive, candles were lit, the table set for a romantic dinner for two. Curtains were drawn, allowing just the right atmosphere. The music from Alex’s room began to play downstairs.
Alex with his arms around Hallie began to move her to the slow ballad. She placed her arms around his neck and they stared into each other’s eyes until the song ended and he kissed her.
Excerpt from her diary: July 4, I am so in love with Alex. I can’t imagine there was a time I didn’t know him. We rode over to Gloucester and watched the fireworks over the ocean. They set them off a fishing boat. Just to be with him, no matter what we are doing, fills my life.
Romance blossomed in July where it had only been budding in June. They were lovers but also in love with each other. They spent a lot of time in the pool and on the beach, sometimes taking the boat out on the pond and walking over the property. They drove to Salem, Gloucester and several small villages along the coast, ate fresh seafood and drank lots of beer. They were a beautiful couple, young and in love and turned heads wherever they went, especially dressed in period clothes and driving Alex’s car.
They’d stopped on one of the little side roads and Alex lit a cigarette.
“Alex, I wish we could just keep driving, keep going.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know. Somewhere where we could be just like this forever.”
“That drive would take us to the house.”
“No..I mean I don’t know, to a little house somewhere with our name on the mailbox.”
“Ross/Madison?”
“Oh!” She hadn’t meant to imply…oh.
He knew what she meant. He wished he could do that, drive up in the driveway to their own house, carry her over the threshold…wait a minute!
He hadn’t asked her to marry him. What was she thinking? She was way ahead of herself, of him. But, oh, it would be so nice. She would marry him if she could. She sat back on the car seat. They could have children; he would work at the newspaper office. She could see it all.
They turned and looked at each other, ash falling off his cigarette, eyes wide.
“But..of course that can’t happen.” Her eyes turned dark.
Alex knew it could but would it…a year from now would she still feel the same way? “Well…it might.”
“What do you mean? What are you talking about?”
“Let’s get out and walk, see where this road leads.” He was mentally kicking himself now. Should never had said that.
“Alex…are you going to tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“Tell me about how we could have that little house with the mailbox.”
“Ah, it wouldn’t work.”
“Why? Oh, you don’t want to get married. Is that it?”
“Who said anything about getting married?”
“Well, nobody but I thought…I’m sorry.”
“Oh, now, Hallie, don’t get all…okay I did think about it.”
“And what did you think?”
“I thought it would be great, house, mailbox, driveway, wife.”
“Oh.” The road ended and they walked down to the edge of a steep cliff, ocean beyond stretching out forever. “And it might be able to happen?”
“That would depend on you. It’s a long road, Hallie, with a lot of pitfalls. I’m afraid I’d get lost on it somewhere.”
“I don’t understand. How could I lose you?”
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this. I mean we’ve got a year. It would have to be next summer. You have to go through three seasons and anything can happen there.”
“Not if I don’t want anything to happen.”
“Be realistic, Hallie. Nine months, three guys, it’s gonna happen. Besides there's the ring. It has to happen.”
“You’ve lost me completely.”
Alex pulled her down on the ground. “I’ll explain it. Rules of the house magic okay? You have to live here for at least a year. You will fall in love with each season, each guy. You will love them enough to marry them. They each will give you a ring. At the end of the year or however long you want to live here like that, you must choose one and you can take him away from the house and…find that little house with the mailbox.”
Hallie couldn’t believe it, believe that she’d ever love anybody more than she loved Alex. “I won’t fall in love.”
“You will. Hey, you already said you wanted the experience. Now you’ve got it and this is the kind of thing that can happen, Hallie. I don’t like it, the thought of you with someone else, but there’s nothing I can do about it. If I could I’d drive right back to Salem, find a JP and marry you today. I love you, Hallie, and that’s the truth of it.”
“Do you love me that much, Alex, really, do you?”
He took his hat off and pulled her in his lap. “I do. I didn’t want to, Hallie, because I know how it’s going to end. I’ll drive away at the end of August. I can’t stay with you and I want to. Ah, shit, I love you.” He held her tightly to him.
Hallie felt tears running down her face and buried it in his neck. He wanted to marry her and she wanted to marry him. She wanted that life they could have together. “Alex, I want it, too. I want you.”
“Don’t cry.” He tasted her tears and kissed her. He wanted her now and he lay her down on the ground.
“Alex, I’ll do whatever it takes, I will,” she said against his lips.
He pushed her skirt up.
He waited until almost the last day. Tomorrow he would be leaving. Alex felt the ring in his pocket and walked around with it all morning. He knew what he was setting in motion and doing it without even knowing which of his brothers would follow him. It was a gamble, a big gamble, and he may well lose. But he loved her with a passion. Giving her the ring would bind them together for eternity and if she did choose to take him away from the house and leave all the magic behind, he would always be bound to his brothers.
There was nervousness about him, restlessness. He couldn’t be still, Hallie noticed as soon as they got up and dressed for the day. She wanted it to be special, their last day together, but it was starting out like any other, breakfast, a walk down to the pond. He spotted the gazebo and walked around the pond with her to the other side.
The ring weighed heavy in his pocket. Simple little thing with a diamond, an engagement ring, really, but it was the meaning behind it that was heavy. He brought her up to the gazebo and his hand found the ring in his pocket.
“Hallie, I’m asking you to be mine for all eternity and with this ring,” he managed to get it on her finger, “I am making you my wife, a magical marriage, Hallie.”
Hallie looked at the ring, a sparkling solitaire, and her eyes filled. “Oh, Alex, I accept you for my husband. I love you!”
He picked her up and kissed her, carrying her over the threshold of the gazebo. “Maybe, someday, it will be a real threshold.”
Excerpt from her diary: Alex is gone. I can hardly write. I miss him. We were married yesterday and he left today. It’s not fair. I tried to go into his room and it’s locked. I wanted…oh, I wanted him. We were both standing by his car crying before he left, like two little kids. But we aren’t kids and I know what is to come. I have to be strong he said and I will. I’ll be strong for him. I have to take this ring off before midnight he said. I don’t want to. He only gave it to me yesterday. I don’t like this magic anymore. It’s not fair.
ON TO HARD FALL
BACK TO SPRING AWAKENING
BACK TO HARVEST OF HOPE
BACK TO A VACATION FROM LIFE
BACK TO SUMMER IS SUMMONED
BACK TO A PAINTERLY EYE ARRIVES
BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE ORIGINAL HOUSE STORY
BACK TO INDEX OF ALL THE HOUSE STORIES
BACK TO LIBRISCROWE