Blessed

by S. J. West

  “Hello, Jack,” Brand said to the man.

  Jack jumped a bit in surprise and turned to face us. He was an older man of about sixty and short of stature. Since I was 5’5”, Jack could only have been an even five feet tall.

  “Brandon, my boy! I should have known you would be right on time,” Jack said with a less cultured British accent than Brand. He smiled at me with unabashed joy. “This must be the lovely Lilly you told me about. Jack Sneed,” he said holding out his hand to me.

  I shook it. “Lilly Nightingale.”

  “She’s as lovely as you described, my boy, just lovely.”

  “Are we ready?” Brand asked Jack.

  “Go on in. I’ll take care of everything else. It should be nice and warm in there. I turned the heat on for you.”

  Brand took my hand and escorted me into one of the glass pods of the Ferris wheel.

  “What is this?” I asked as he escorted me to the other side of the capsule.

  “It’s the London Eye.”

  “We’re in England?”

  “Yes, my love.” He turned me so I could look out at the London city skyline. He stood behind me with his chest at my back and put his arms around me loosely.

  I could barely feel us move as the wheel slowly turned and took us higher into the air. It soon became evident that the steel straps I had seen on the outside of the pod were used to keep the pod level while the wheel turned. From our vantage point, I could see the Thames River, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. It was a gorgeous view at night. The city was lit up with a myriad of lights showcasing how lovely London really was.

  “What time is it here?” I asked just as we were nearing the top of the wheel.

  “Around two in the morning,” Brand said hugging me closer.

  “Poor Jack! How did you talk him into doing this for us?”

  Brand slowly turned me around to face him. He held both my hands in his and stared down at them for a few seconds before answering. He seemed shy to meet my eyes.

  “Jack’s been a friend of mine for a long time. I told him I needed his help to make this moment special for us and he was more than willing to lend a hand.”

  Brand finally looked into my eyes and I saw the uncertainty in his expression by the dim light of our glass bubble. There wasn’t an actual light inside the pod but the illumination of the wheel itself cast a soft glow around us.

  Brand knelt in front of me on one knee. I thought my heart would stop beating from the implication of such a gesture.

  “I know you want to wait until after you get out of school to get married, and I’m more than fine with that, Lilly. I’ve waited for centuries to find someone like you. A few more years doesn’t bother me. But I don’t see any reason why I should wait to ask you to be my wife. Even if we don’t actually speak our vows to each other for another four years, I want everyone to know how much we love one another. I don’t want you to ever doubt you are the center of my world, my life. Lilly, will you accept me knowing all my faults and officially grant me the privilege to marry you?”

  I was speechless. How had my life led me to this moment? Picture perfect was too cliché to describe it but no other words came to mind. How else do you describe the perfect setting, the perfect man and the perfect question?

  It was only the doubt in Brand’s eyes at my continued silence which finally prodded me into giving him my answer.

  “Yes.”

  Brand reached into an inner pocket of his tuxedo and slipped a ring on my finger. I didn’t even look at it before I made him stand up. I kissed him so hard I hoped he wouldn’t have any more doubts about how much I loved him and needed him.

  When I finally let him go, I noticed we were back on the ground. Jack had his back to our pod obviously trying to give us some privacy.

  I looked up at Brand and smiled. “Did you really think I wouldn’t say yes?”

  “I hoped you would but I wasn’t sure how you would respond to me doing it so soon. I was a little worried you might think it was too early. We still have almost four years until we can make it official.”

  “It seems almost silly doesn’t it? Waiting so long,” I said, wondering if I was making the right decision.

  “No, it’s not silly,” Brand leaned down and kissed me softly. “I want to make your life as perfect as you’ve imagined it for yourself. If waiting until you have your degree is what you want, then that’s what we’ll do. I need for you to feel good about yourself because as long as you do our life together will be that much richer. In a way, I’m actually being selfish by asking you now.”

  “Selfish?” I asked confused. “What makes you say that?”

  “I mostly wanted you to know how committed I am to you but a small part of me wanted to let Will and Malcolm know how committed you are to me too. I know that probably sounds completely childish, but I can’t help it. I get a little jealous of your relationship with them.”

  I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head at Brand. “It’s not childish but it does sound very human.” He grinned at that. “They know how much I love you, and if making it official makes you feel more secure, I have no problem with that. I just wish you wouldn’t feel jealous of them. They’re my friends, nothing more. I’ve given myself to you mind, body, heart and soul, Brandon Cole. There’s no reason for you to doubt my feelings for you.”

  “I don’t doubt how you feel about me, Lilly. If I did, I wouldn’t have had the courage to ask you to marry me. I just hope I’m worthy of you.”

  “Do you remember saying you thought we were meant for each other?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think you’re right. You need to stop doubting things and just accept them. Accept the happiness you’ve found with me and stop questioning if you deserve it or not.”

  “I’ll try,” he said but I could still see uncertainty in his eyes. I knew he had lived a long time, and I could only assume the guilt he felt from disobeying God and cursing Abby with her affliction was why it was hard for him to accept true happiness for himself. I hoped I could erase his pain in time and show him just how wonderful a person he was.

  When we stepped out of the glass pod, Jack looked at us expectantly.

  With an almost shy smile, Brand answered his friend’s unasked question, “She said yes.”

  “Never doubted she would, my boy,” Jack shook Brand’s hand in congratulations and raised himself on his tip toes to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Now take her home before she catches a cold,” he ordered, turning his back to us.

  Brand phased us to a bedroom I had not been in before.

  “Where are we now?” I asked.

  “This is my house right outside of London. I thought we would stay here for the night if that’s all right with you.”

  “As long as we’re together I don’t care where we are.”

  “I bought you some things to wear while we’re here,” he said indicating a set of clothes laid out on the bed with matching shoes sitting on the floor in front of them.

  “Would you mind helping me get my hair down? I’m not sure what Tara did to it exactly. I just remember Malcolm instructing her to use a lot of bobby pins.”

  “Malcolm?” Brand asked like he was sure he had heard me wrong.

  “He thought my hair would look good up so he came up with the design,” I shrugged. “He’s full of surprises.”

  “Hmm, yes, I guess he is.”

  Brand sat me down in a chair in front of a cherry wood vanity table. It looked like the table had been prepared ahead of time in anticipation of my visit. There was a silver handled hairbrush, various perfumes, and a small make-up bag arranged on its surface. I watched him in the mirror as he carefully removed the pins from my hair and gently laid each section down onto my shoulders.

  I still couldn’t believe he had asked me to marry him. Never in my wildest fantasies had I imagined feeling this all consuming love for anyone. I became even more determined to make sure we got the chance to li
ve a life filled with as much happiness as we could possibly have within my lifetime. I knew we still needed to find out what plans Lucifer had for me and who was trying to stop him by killing me, but I needed this night, just one night where we didn’t have to worry about things and could simply be together.

  “Does Jack know what you are?” I asked, thinking back to how Brand’s friend kept his back to us when Brand phased us to and from the London Eye.

  “No, he doesn’t know the complete truth. But he does know I’m different. He said he didn’t need to know everything. Our friendship was enough for him.”

  “Do you have many human friends?”

  “No.”

  I could see an unspoken sadness in his eyes and knew what he was thinking. Humans were fragile and died easily. I could well understand why he wouldn’t want to grow attached too often. But tonight wasn’t supposed to be about sadness or regrets.

  After he removed all the pins, he picked up the silver handled hairbrush and began brushing my hair out for me. His touch was so delicate I felt like he was treating me like a porcelain doll, easily broken if not handled with care. After he was finished with my hair and put the brush back on the table, I stood from the chair and turned my back to him lifting my hair over one shoulder.

  “Would you mind unzipping it for me?”

  I watched him in the mirror as he swallowed hard enough to make his Adam’s apple move. He raised his hands to my shoulders in a tender caress and slowly moved them inward over my bare shoulder blades to the zipper at the back of the dress. His eyes never left my back as he lowered the tab of the zipper. Once it was as low as it could go, he ran the palm of his hand down the newly bared skin. His hand lingered at the small of my back and he looked into the mirror meeting my gaze as I watched him.

  There wasn’t any mistaking what he wanted. I wanted it too. Why shouldn’t we? What could be more natural than two people who loved each other to share their bodies in the most intimate way possible?

  As if knowing where my thoughts were going, Brand dropped his hands to his sides and backed away.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and change?” He said in a hoarse voice. “I have supper prepared for us down in the kitchen.”

  He walked to a window on the other side of the room and turned his back to give me some privacy. It was the same thing he’d been doing since I escaped from Justin. There were times he actually left the room but they were few. He was too scared to leave me alone, afraid I would be abducted again.

  I quickly changed into the set of clothes on the bed and told him to turn around when I was putting the shoes on. It was then I finally took notice of the ring on my finger.

  I wasn’t much for jewelry but the ring Brand had chosen for me was breathtaking. It was either white gold or platinum with a large square-cut diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds embedded in the setting which extended half way down the band. It sparkled brightly in the light of the room.

  “Do you like it?” Brand asked coming to sit beside me on the bed.

  “It’s gorgeous. Where did you get it?”

  “I know a jeweler in France. He designed it especially for you. Does it feel comfortable on your finger?”

  “It’s fits perfectly. How did you know my size?”

  “I took a measurement the other night while you slept.”

  “How long have you been planning this?”

  “Since the moment you got back,” he said with a guilty grin. “Come on. I have supper waiting in the oven downstairs.”

  On the way to the kitchen, Brand showed me some of his home. From what I could tell, it was large. We must have passed at least five bedrooms and that was just on one side of the house on the second floor. It reminded me of an English manor you might see in a Merchant and Ivory film, full of grandeur and history, impeccably decorated in a Victorian style. As we descended the grand staircase, I felt like Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind.

  The kitchen was very modern and I could tell Brand spent a lot of time here from the easy way he moved around it. Besides the bedroom we had been in, it was the only room in the house so far which felt like home. It had dark cherry wood cabinetry with brushed silver hardware and black marble countertops with all the modern amenities including stainless steel appliances. The center island was equipped with a built in stove, sink and bar. Brand pulled out a casserole dish from the double wall oven. Apparently, he found the time to come here in the two hours he was absent from me that day to make what looked like lasagna.

  We ate at the small kitchen table tucked away inside an attached circular room made of glass. From my seat, I could look out over a large green lawn with a winding river in the distance. Brand told me it was the Thames River while we ate our meal and that he bought the house just for the view. After we ate and cleaned up the kitchen, Brand took me to his study. The study was lined with bookshelves on all four walls and filled with leather bound editions of all types of books. There was a brown leather couch and two matching wing backed chairs sitting in front of a fireplace with a black marble mantle.

  In no time at all, Brand had a roaring fire going to drive away the chill in the room. When he came to sit beside me on the couch, I did what any newly engaged female would do. I grabbed my man and pulled him down on top of me. I think what followed is called snogging in England. Eventually I fell asleep in his arms and didn’t wake up until the next morning.

  Chapter 5

  Apparently Brand had planned for everything I might need on our London excursion. When I woke up the next morning, he showed me a wardrobe full of clothes just for me in his bedroom.

  “I wasn’t completely sure what you might want to wear so I had Abby buy you a few things to keep here when we visit.”

  From the collection of clothes, I picked out a black and white abstract print shirt with a v-neckline, flutter cap sleeves and banded empire waist with ruching at the sides, black slacks and black loafers to wear that day. Brand dressed simply in a light grey knit shirt with a darker grey trim along the v-neck and cuffs, dark blue jeans and black sneakers with grey stripes on the sides.

  “Are we going to see your friend with the lab?” I asked him sitting on the side of the bed, slipping on my shoes.

  “Yes, he lives here in London. His house isn’t very far away.”

  “Good. I hope he can find something; otherwise, I’m not sure how we’re going to figure out what’s different about me.”

  Brand took me in his arms and kissed me. “We’ll find the answers, Lilly. I know we will.”

  We went down to Brand’s garage and got into his car. He told me it was a Weismann GT MF5. It was pearl white with a black leather interior. It looked a bit like an old fashioned roadster with a modern twist. Almost everything inside was covered with premium black leather except for the central panel where the gauges and radio were housed. Seeing expensive things like this car and Brand’s house kept reminding me how different our worlds were from one another. Would I ever get used to it all?

  As we drove out of the garage, I was finally able to see what Brand’s home looked like from the outside. It was just as I had thought from the way things looked on the inside. It was a mansion built of dark red brick covered in English ivy. As we drove off the estate, I turned to Brand.

  “What’s your friend’s name?”

  “Allan Westwood.”

  “Does he live alone?”

  “He has a daughter named Angela who takes care of him. She and Abby are good friends. I think she might have helped Abby pick out the clothes for you.”

  “Is something wrong with him? Why does she need to take care of him?”

  “Allan has a mental compulsive disorder. It makes it hard for him to go out in public. After you add in the fact he has the same craving for human blood all the Watchers like me do, you have your classic shut in. It’s one of the reasons we couldn’t come here until today. Allan likes for everything to be in order and he never starts a new project until he has every little detail worke
d out.”

  “He doesn’t go anywhere?” I asked never having heard of someone who didn’t go out at all.

  “He has to change residence every once in a while so people don’t get suspicious like we all do, of course, but Angela usually handles those details for him.”

  “Sounds like a lonely life for both of them.”

  “Angela has her friends. She’s never acted like she minded taking care of Allan, at least not that I have seen.”

  The drive to Allan’s took about twenty minutes through the lush green English countryside. I suddenly felt like a world traveler having already traveled to Paris, Venice, Egypt, Hawaii and now London. It still amazed me how much my world had broadened in just a few short weeks.

  When we reached Allan’s house, we were met by a large imposing black iron security gate with two large ‘W’s in the middle of each door. Brand rolled down his window to push the button on the intercom system.

  “Yes,” a very proper male British voice said through the speaker. “Can I help you?”

  “Brandon Cole here to see Allan Westwood. I have an appointment.”

  “Come right in, Mister Cole. He’s expecting you.”

  The gate doors swung open and we drove onto the property. Allan’s house looked more like a medieval castle than a home. For someone with his phobias, I had to assume the thick stone exterior made him feel better protected than just living in an ordinary home made of brick. Before we got out of the car, the front door opened and a young girl came bounding down the steps which lead from the door to the gravel drive.

  “Brand!”

  The girl couldn’t have looked much older than sixteen, but I knew from what Brand and Abby had told me about the children of the Watchers that she was certainly much older. She flung herself in to Brand’s arms like a kid who was being visited by a great uncle.