by Diana Nixon
“What about the lucky bastard you were supposed to go on a date with?”
“He’ll survive.”
“I’ll pick you up at 6:00 PM.”
But what was waiting for me at 6:00 PM was not a date, or wine, or food.
Liz stormed into my office about fifteen minutes before the workday was about to be over and screamed, “We have an emergency!”
“What happened?”
“Quick, take off your clothes and put on this dress,” she threw a knee-length ivory dress on my desk and waited.
“What’s going on, Liz? Where’s the fire?”
“Right in the showroom. And you need to be there in fifteen minutes.”
“I can’t. Liam’s waiting for me outside.”
“He will have to wait a little longer. Now, get changed and come to the showroom.”
Without saying another word, she left, leaving me and the dress alone.
I stared at the ivory piece of fabric and reached for my phone to send Liam a message. I didn’t know what was so important that Liz wanted me to do, but if she called it an emergency, it was an emergency.
I took the dress she brought with her and came to the mirror. I had never seen this dress before and I was sure I saw all of Liz’s designs, new and old. Its belt was made of gold crystals that scattered all over the top of the dress and its three-quarter sleeves. The skirt was simple and flowy; the back – open. I loved it.
I put the dress on and it fit me like a glove, showing and hiding just enough to look both sexy and classy. It was one of my favorite colors and I wondered why Liz wanted me to wear this particular dress for whatever was waiting for me in the showroom. It reminded me of my graduation ball dress, presented by Liam. I still had it hidden somewhere in the wardrobe.
I shoved my feet into ivory velvet stilettos I had in my closet and headed for the showroom.
It was dark and quiet.
“Liz?” I called out.
The lights above the runway went on, illuminating the smooth surface with its soft glow.
“Okay, this is not funny at all.” I looked around and added, “If it’s a joke, Liz, I don’t have time for it.”
When I turned to the runway again, I saw a single chair standing on it.
“What am I supposed to do with it?” I said into the darkness.
No one responded.
“You wanna play? Fine, let’s play.” I went to the chair and sat down, with my legs and arms crossed.
The sounds of a slow song filled the room.
I frowned and looked around again. Just then, a huge screen in front of me came to life. First, it was white, and then I saw dots jumping there, as if in a text message.
“Remember the idiot who left slugs on your pillow?”
I smiled.
“I bet he wanted to leave a flower or something like that, but like I said – he was being an idiot… Too scared to admit that he was hopelessly in love with you.”
“He used to come and peek through your window just to make sure you found those slugs.”
A line of smileys followed the words.
“But what he really wanted to see was you…”
I felt tears running down my cheeks. The music made it even harder to keep my emotions under control.
“Like an addict, he followed you everywhere, watching you grow up and turn into one incredible young lady, so blindingly beautiful; he looked away whenever your eyes met from across the room.”
“Admitting that he had a crush on you was still a terrifying option.”
Another line of smileys followed.
“But the day he saw a guy from the neighborhood flirting with you, it nearly killed him.”
“He wanted nothing more than to punch the poor guy in his smiling face.”
“And he would, if you didn’t see him watching you. The look in your eyes was full of thoughts he couldn’t read.”
“And he suddenly realized that he would spend his whole life looking into your eyes, trying to guess the thoughts running through your head.”
“It was like a bomb exploding inside his coward heart. It hit him with a love so strong, he wanted to run away and hide from what the realization made him see.”
“He’d been running away for years… Hiding in a cocoon of lies and meaningless affairs.”
“Until one day, his lips touched yours…”
“He got trapped in the prison of their sweetness and tenderness.”
“He never felt so high before…”
“He never wanted to fly even higher…”
“But then something stopped him, pulled him away from you.”
“He walked away, hoping he would be able to forget the sweetness he could still feel on his lips, even though you were no longer around.”
“He stepped aside, and watched you living your life, without him.”
“When in fact, he always wanted to be a part of it…”
“He thought you were happy.”
“He thought you were okay.”
“Until the day he saw something that crossed out years of his blindness...”
Instinctively, my hand touched the belt of my dress, covering the spot where the ugly scar used to be. After the operation, it was barely visible. But my lungs still lacked air at the memories of the day I brought a knife to my skin.
With my eyes full of tears, I looked at the screen again.
“There were so many questions he wanted to ask…”
“And so little desire to hear the answers that he somehow knew would be terrible.”
“Hours turned into day, days – into sleepless nights…”
“But the desire to see you got even stronger.”
“And then you fell asleep in his arms, and he felt like it was the very thing he had been missing for so long, trying to replace it with something that never really mattered.”
“He wanted to stay.”
“To take your pain away.”
“To kiss every tear you dropped.”
“To heal every wound you might have.”
“He still loved you more than life itself.”
“Because without you, it was empty and dull.”
“Pointless and lonely.”
“You made it whole.”
“You made him whole.”
“You made him happy...”
The screen faded away and the room filled with silence.
For a few moments, nothing happened.
Then I heard footsteps behind me and turned around. Liam walked from behind the curtain separating the runway from the backstage and walked to where I was sitting.
He kneeled down on one knee and lowered his head to kiss the back of my palms, one by one.
His forehead touched my knees and I felt more tears rolling down my cheeks.
We didn’t talk. But no words were needed. It was as if with his silence he was saying everything he couldn’t say aloud or write on the screen.
In my heart, I heard his every unspoken word. And it was priceless.
Just when I was about to say how much I loved him, he looked up and said, “I don’t know what’s waiting for us in the future: hurricanes or storms. But I want to see it all, with you.” He took out a small velvet box and put it into my hands. “If you open it, there will be no way back. If you keep it closed, I will still be somewhere nearby, watching you through the window, like I did when we were kids. But my love for you will never fade away.”
I looked at the box in my hands. It was my turn to say something. But I just couldn’t make myself speak. So I did the only thing that I wanted to do at that moment.
I opened the box…
And saw a beautiful ring with a heart-shaped diamond.
“This heart is yours,” Liam said. “Just like the one beating inside me.” He took the ring out of the box and put it on my finger.
He then stood up and pulled me into his arms, covering my lips with a kiss – the most amazing kiss ever.
What do th
ey say about love?
“Being in love gives you strength, but loving someone gives you courage.”
It was true. Only with him, I felt like I could do anything, live my new life and never look back.
What else could I wish for?
I heard someone talking nearby.
I broke the kiss and saw Liam’s smiling eyes watching me.
“Damn it, guys, no tissues are enough to watch you two.” Liz stepped out of the darkness, holding Olivia in her arms.
“You have been here all this time?”
She nodded and came closer to give me a hug. “Me, Stanley, Kameron, Jeff and even Bob, who made sure the screen that for some stupid reason wouldn’t stand still, stayed where it was supposed to be.”
The next second, our friends surrounded us, saying how happy they were for us. Even Jeffrey, a missing part of my brother’s ‘band’ arrived from New York to celebrate the engagement.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said, hugging Liam.
“You knew I would open the box, didn’t you?” I asked Liam.
“Well, I really wanted you to open it.”
“What would you do if I kept it closed?”
“He didn’t think about it,” Kameron responded for him.
“True,” Liam said. “I didn’t even want to think about it.” He kissed me again and then the rest of the lights in the showroom went on and I saw a table served nearby with champagne, chocolates and fruits.
“I hope you liked the dress,” Liz said.
“I loved it. Thank you so much. But… When did you have time to create it?”
She and Liam shared a mysterious look.
“How long ago did you plan this night?” I asked him.
“I called Liz the day my father removed your bandages. I couldn’t wait to give you the ring.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping it secret from me!”
Liz laughed. “A deal is a deal. I promised Liam to keep my mouth shut.”
“So everyone was sure I would open the box, right?”
Stanley took a glass of champagne from the table and then gave it to me. “If you didn’t open it, I would have to cancel my flight to Washington and stay here to babysit you for the rest of your lonely and pitiful life.”
“Well, thank you very much, dear brother. But I’m not that much of a lost cause as you think I am. I would buy myself a cat to keep me entertained.”
“But entertainments that involve me are so much more fun, right?” Liam said into my ear.
I punched his chest playfully. “I will have to check it out later tonight.”
“I’m game. Just tell me what you want me to do, and I’ll obey.”
“Damn, I love you being so obeying.”
Everyone laughed.
“Be ready, he asks for something in return,” Kameron said. “I don’t remember a single game he played fair.”
“Time changes everything,” Liam said, with his eyes shining as brightly as ever.
I couldn’t agree with him more. Time changed a lot; it changed us.
But the only thing that stayed the same was our love. I hoped it was strong enough to live for many more years that he and I were going to spend side by side.
There were so many things we needed to catch up on; so many dreams to make come true. Our past might not be perfect, but we had our future and we could make it whatever we wanted it to be. And even being apart, we could still be together, keeping each other in our souls, holding to the love that bonded us, helping it grow and become even stronger.
I used to think that I didn’t believe in fairy tales anymore, but I was wrong. I did believe in them. And one of them was now happening around me, with the man I loved with all my heart endowing me with love so pure, it glowed all around him, like magic you can never see, only feel washing over you.
Someone once said that true love stories have no endings. I wanted to believe it was true, because in my heart, I knew I would never love anyone as much as I loved Liam, neither in this life nor in all my future lives, if any existed. I knew there would be no other man to take his place, no other souls to mate with mine, no other love to take my breath away. There was only him, always and forever.
Going through bad and good times, we stayed strong, we kept love in our hearts and never let it die, no matter how many times we died, looking for something to fill out the emptiness we lived in. In quite understanding and forgiveness, we found what we thought was lost forever.
We found us…
THE END
About the author
Diana Nixon is an International Bestselling Author of contemporary and paranormal romances. She was born in Minsk, Belarus.
In 2008 Diana graduated from Belorussian State University. She has a Master of Law degree and speaks several foreign languages, including English, Polish and Spanish.
Visit author’s website:
www.diana-nixon.com
Books by Diana Nixon:
Love Lines (Love Lines, # 1)
Songs of the Wind (Love Lines, # 2)
From Scratch (Love Lines, # 2.5)
Diamond Sky (Love Lines, # 3)
The Curse of Blood (Love Line, # 4)
Upon the Stars (Love Lines, # 5)
The Souls of Rain (Heavens Trilogy, # 1)
The Prisoners of Dreams (Heavens Trilogy, # 1.5)
Hate at First Sight
Love Undone (Love Undone, # 1)
In Your Eyes (Love Undone, # 2)
Checkmate (Checkmate, # 1)
No Strings Attached (Checkmate, # 2)
Back in the Game (Checkmate, # 3)
Louise (Louise, # 1)
Louise: A New Beginning (Louise, # 2)
Set Me Free (Set Me Free, # 1)
In A Whisper (Set Me Free, # 2)
Shattered (Shattered, # 1)
Fragile (Shattered, # 2)
