Smitten at First Sight: A Contemporary Romance Novel

by Astor, Marie

  But of course she could not help wishing that Taylor were here now, already missing him intensely. Maggie stroked the ring on her finger - the ring that Taylor had given her - his mother’s ring. She felt her heart overflow with emotions that were too powerful to be put into words. She closed her eyes, remembering the previous day’s events that were now forever etched in her mind.

  “This looks like a good spot for a break,” said Taylor casually, taking off his skis. “Let’s take a seat over there.” He pointed to a tree stump a few steps away.

  They were at the top of the Heaven Ridge, about to begin their second descent of the day and Maggie was surprised by Taylor’s suggestion. She could tell that he was not tired: his endurance never ceased to amaze her - whenever he offered to take a break, it was always on her account, but she was not tired either. Yet, she followed his suit and sat down next to him, sensing that there must be another reason for his request besides fatigue. That was another amazing thing that kept happening between them: she found that the connection between them was growing deeper each day, to the point where they were able to intuit each other’s thoughts. It was especially so when they were in the mountains together - the two of them understood each other’s thoughts without a need for words.

  “Maggie, there is something that I wanted to ask you.” Taylor’s voice trailed off, his gaze surging over the mountaintops as though he was hoping to draw strength from them for what he was going to say next.

  “Yes?” she said, gently squeezing his hand.

  “Your two weeks here are almost over,” Taylor murmured, looking into her eyes.

  Up until now, they had not discussed the details of her departure, and while they both yearned to do so, each had waited for the other to broach the subject.

  “I will come back and visit soon,” Maggie murmured. What she really wanted to say was that she wished she could stay with him forever, but instead she averted her eyes, embarrassed by the intensity of her own feelings.

  “But that would mean that you would have to leave again,” said Taylor softy.

  “You could visit me too,” she ventured.

  “But that is not what I want,” he said, his voice breaking off again.

  “It’s not?” she asked, her own voice cracking.

  “No, no, that’s not what I meant!” Taylor exclaimed. “I can’t believe how clumsy I am,” he muttered, hitting himself on the forehead. “Maggie, what I mean is, I want you to come back here for good – I want you to stay here, with me.” He looked at her intently, taking her hand into his. “I understand that we’ve only known each other for two weeks, but I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. Our meeting here was no coincidence - from the moment I met you, I knew that I wanted you in my life – not to visit, but to stay in it forever.” Taylor took out a small velvet box from the inside pocket of his jacket. Bending on one knee, he opened the box, revealing a magnificent emerald ring. “Maggie, I love you. Will you be my wife and share my life here, in Eagleville?”

  “Yes,” Maggie whispered, her eyes growing misty. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Her heart leapt at the realization that their minds and spirits were so aligned. “And I can’t think of a better place for us to spend our life together than the place where we met.”

  “So you don’t mind moving to Eagleville?” Taylor murmured, and she could see that he was overcome with tenderness for her willingness to leave her life in the big city in exchange for a modest and simple life with him.

  “I’ve fallen in love with you from the moment I met you. I know that the mountains are a big part of you – how could I ever keep the two of you apart?”

  “I love you.” Taylor placed the ring on her finger.

  “It’s beautiful!” Maggie whispered. The ring was truly striking: a deep green emerald stone in a delicate gold setting.

  “It was my mother’s ring.”

  “I will cherish it forever, just like I will cherish our love for each other.”

  Their lips met in a passionate kiss, as both of them were overcome with the intensity of their feelings for each other. They remained quiet for a few moments: there was no need for words as their hearts beat as one.

  “I don’t really have to go back now, you know?” said Maggie. The thought of leaving without Taylor seemed even more intolerable now. “We could wait until the filming is over and fly to see my family together.”

  Taylor shook his head. “Our engagement will be major news for your family. We can always visit together later, but I think it will be better if you go by yourself to tell them first. Besides, didn’t you say that your dad would be leaving soon for two months on his mission trip?”

  Maggie bit her lip, torn – her dad would want to see her before he left. Every year Dr. Robin participated in an international volunteer mission that delivered the care of the best specialists in the field of ophthalmology to people in need all over the world. The destinations varied each year, ranging from regions that had been struck by natural disasters to countries that were in dire economic need.

  “You should spend time with him.” Taylor’s voice was gentle, but firm, and Maggie knew that she would not be able to convince him otherwise. Deep down, she knew that Taylor was right, and that she had to go back to New York on her own to tell her family about the big changes that had occurred in her life – changes that could take a lifetime to occur, but had only taken a handful of days.

  “Besides, I would not want you to be bored while I’m filming,” Taylor added with a wink.

  “And I wouldn’t want you to get all vain on me, Mr. Movie Star,” Maggie teased him, and then added, her expression turning serious, “I could never be bored when I have you to look forward to.”

  Chapter 26

  There was a knock on the door. Maggie thought that must be the cab, but when she opened the door, she was stunned to see Jeffrey.

  Her first thought was that something had happened to Taylor. “Jeffrey, is Taylor all right?” she murmured.

  “He’s fine,” Jeffrey assured her. “I’m sorry I scheduled the meeting this morning, but there were some last minute details that had to be straightened out. Taylor hoped to see you off, but the meeting ran late, which is why I’m here – Taylor was worried about how you’d make it to the airport.”

  “Well, thanks, but that’s really not necessary – the cab should be here any minute.”

  “But I promised him I’d see you off.”

  “Taylor asked you to see me off?”

  “You can call him and ask if you don’t trust me.” Jeffrey shrugged.

  Maggie could not help but feel embarrassed: she was going crazy with suspicion when all Jeffrey wanted was to see her off at Taylor’s request. “No, no, that’s not what I meant. I’ll call him real quick to let him know you’re here.” She dialed Taylor’s number while Jeffrey waited on the porch, but the call went straight to voicemail.

  She looked at the clock: it was almost noon, and still no sign of the cab. Her flight was at two o’clock, and she was cutting it close.

  “What time was the cab supposed to get here?” asked Jeffrey, as if reading her mind.

  “It should have been here by now. I’m not sure what happened. I’m going to call them.”

  “Hey, I could drive you.”

  Something in Jeffrey’s tone unnerved her. “You don’t need to bother,” Maggie stammered, not wanting to say yes.

  “It’s no bother: I’ve got an hour to spare. And I dare say that my car is a lot more comfortable than those rickety cabs.”

  Maggie looked at the clock – it would take at least another twenty minutes for another cab to get here on such a short notice and Jeffrey was already here. Perhaps, she was overreacting: he was merely offering to help, so she nodded and said yes.

  Taylor stepped on the gas pedal and saw the speedometer arrow approach the one hundred mark. He had to clutch the wheel firmly to prevent the car from veering off the snow-covered road. He hated the idea of not seeing Maggie off, silently
cursing Jeffrey for making him late. The meeting had been long and tedious, as Jeffrey went over the numerous changes to the filming schedule. At the last minute, the network requested that the film be expanded from the initial hour to an hour and a half. But since the production budget remained the same, the filming schedule would have to be condensed significantly in order to fit in all the expanded skiing scenes and the film crew would have to begin shooting the easier descents today.

  From the corner of his eye Taylor glanced at his watch: it was ten minutes past twelve. I’m too late, he thought, Maggie is probably getting into the cab right now. Well, maybe he could still catch her at the airport. He pressed on the gas and steered the car out onto the highway. He wished he had his cell phone with him, but seemed to have misplaced it.

  An hour later, Taylor slammed on the brakes, maneuvering his truck into the airport’s parking lot. His heart pounding, Taylor headed for the entrance, hoping that Maggie would still be there.

  As Taylor scanned the departure area, he was stunned to see Jeffrey walking toward him.

  “Maggie already went to board her flight,” announced Jeffrey, staring straight at him.

  Taylor’s mind swarmed with turmoil. “What are you doing here, Jeffrey?”

  “Taylor, we need to talk. We can talk in my car if you’d like,” Jeffrey offered.

  “We can talk here.” Taylor felt a hollow, ominous feeling swelling up in his chest.

  “I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Maggie and I got back together – she didn’t want to face you, so she asked me to be the messenger. I’m truly sorry, man.” Jeffrey made an attempt to pat him on the shoulder, but Taylor stood back. “Maggie said that she realized that she belongs in New York with me: what the two of you had was nothing more than a vacation fling.”

  The sound of Jeffrey’s words made Taylor feel as though the world around him had come to a standstill. He could not believe what he was hearing.

  “But Taylor, I hope that you will be man enough to put aside your personal feelings. We’ve got a contract and I hope that this won’t affect your part in the documentary in any way.”

  “You needn’t worry about that, Jeffrey – I told you that I’m a man of my word.” Taylor clenched his teeth: every inch of his being ached to wipe the smugness off Jeffrey’s face, but he would not yield to his urges for fear that he might beat the bugger into a pulp. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Ryan is waiting for me. I’ve got to get back.”

  Without another word, Taylor stormed through the front door. His face burning, he got into his car, slamming the door shut. The thought of Maggie being gone from his life seared through him, but her dishonesty hurt even more. He considered himself to be a pretty good judge of character, but he had clearly been mistaken about her. He had been naive enough to ask Maggie to share the rest of his life with him, but she turned out to be just another tourist girl, eager to have her fun with him and ready to forget him the minute she got back to her real life in New York.

  Jeffrey’s lips curled in a wry smile as he watched Taylor walk away. The plan had gone off without a hitch, and Jeffrey felt like a cat that had just swallowed a canary. Everything happened just the way he had scripted it. First, he delayed Taylor with a pretense of a meeting that really did not need to take place. Then, he called the cab company and cancelled Maggie’s cab, which was an easy thing to do since there were only a handful of cab companies in Eagleville. The icing on the cake came when Jeffrey saw Taylor leave his cell phone behind in the conference room earlier in the morning – it was only too easy to swipe it - presently, Jeffrey made a mental note to slip the phone back to Taylor. After that, Jeffrey showed up at Maggie’s doorstep, a vision of friendly help: he could tell that she got suspicious at first, but he played it cool so that she would finally drop her guard. He had no doubt that Taylor would show up at the airport: the guy was so gung-ho about Maggie, he was bound to try to see her off. And Jeffrey knew exactly where to strike too: several days ago he had overheard Hannah and Shawn talking about how Taylor’s past romances with tourist girls always ended in ruin. The two friends were worried that this time too would prove to be no different, with Maggie breaking Taylor’s heart. Well, Hannah and Shawn might have been truly concerned about their friend, but they had unwittingly given Jeffrey the ammunition he needed. Once he saw the chink in Taylor’s armor, it was easy to plant the grain of doubt, and now, Jeffrey was certain that it was only a matter of time before Maggie would be his again.

  Almost mechanically, Taylor parked his truck behind the Owl Lodge, and headed for the ski shop to pick up his skis. When he walked inside, he saw that Hannah was there, sharpening the edges of her skis.

  “Hey, Taylor, ready for your first scene?”

  “Yeah.” Taylor nodded, looking away. He was in no mood to talk to anyone at the moment.

  “You don’t sound too excited.” Hannah frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing – I just need to clear my mind, that’s all. I’ll see you on the mountain.” Taylor grabbed his skis and began heading for the door.

  Hannah promptly blocked the doorway. “You can’t go out there unless your mind is one hundred percent focused, and right now, it is clear to me that it’s not. So, come on, what is it?”

  “Believe me, I wish I could tell you, but this is something I’ve got to deal with on my own.”

  “Hey.” Hannah reached for Taylor’s arm. “We’re friends, remember? You can tell me anything.” She paused. “Does it have something to do with Maggie?”

  Taylor hesitated. The last thing he wanted was to go into the painful details with Hannah, but he did need to talk to someone, and she was the only one there. “She and Jeffrey got back together.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Jeffrey told me. He drove Maggie to the airport.”

  “I knew that girl was trouble…” Hannah murmured. “But Taylor, you can’t think about her now! You’ve got to focus on the Needle Eye and the documentary. You have friends who love you and care about you. Put Maggie out of your mind.”

  “I know.” Taylor squeezed Hannah’s shoulder. “I know. Thanks for the talk.”

  “Are you sure you’re okay to go out there?”

  Taylor nodded. His heart might have been broken, but that had nothing to do with his ability to ski.

  Chapter 27

  The thick law school binder lay on Maggie’s desk where she had last left it. Without hesitation, she quickly found the acceptance form, checked off the “will not enroll” box, and sealed it into the enclosed envelope. Come to think of it, she really did not have to send her reply since the cover letter stated that if she did not respond by the deadline, her spot would be forfeited. However, doing so allowed her a feeling of closure, and she reveled in the satisfaction she felt at knowing that she had made the right decision.

  Now all she had to do was tell the big news to her family, and she was fairly certain that her decision not to pursue law school would take a second seat to her decision to move to Eagleville. She had not told her parents anything about Taylor - not because she was secretive, but because she wanted to break the news to them in person. She only hoped that her parents would support her, but if not, she was prepared to go ahead without their approval.

  “Mom, I have something important I need to tell you and Dad.” Maggie took a deep breath in preparation for the big talk.

  “Is everything all right?” Mrs. Robin asked, fixing her gaze on Maggie.

  “Yes, I’m fine. It’s just really important.”

  Without another word, Mrs. Robin opened the door into the living room where Maggie’s father was already seated in his favorite armchair. At the entrance of his wife and daughter, he put away his morning newspaper – one of the guilty pleasures that he allowed himself on weekends.

  Slowly, Maggie began telling the story of how she and Taylor fell in love. Then, she spoke about her decision to pursue photography and her decision to move to Eagleville.

  When s
he finished, both of her parents remained quiet for a while.

  Her mother was the first to speak. “Maggie, do you really think it’s a good idea to get involved with someone so soon? You just broke up with Jeffrey - how do you know you’re making the right decision?”

  “I know it because I feel it in my heart. Before I met Taylor, I did not even know that love like that existed. I thought it only belonged in books – turns out it can be found right here, on earth.” Maggie paused. “But you’re right – I don’t know what will happen next – there is no guarantee, no safety net. And I’m not deluding myself; if anything, I do know that the life I’ve chosen will not be easy, but then that’s what makes fighting for the things we want worthwhile. I’d rather be uncertain and happy than sure of everything and miserable.”

  With a sigh Mrs. Robin looked away, shaking her head. When she looked up, Maggie saw that her mother’s eyes were tearing up.

  “Please be happy for me. This is what I want,” Maggie whispered.

  “I am happy for you,” her mother whispered. “I’m just sorry that I’ve made you miserable all this time. I didn’t mean to force you into law school - I didn’t realize that you were so serious about photography. It’s just that I wanted what’s best for you.”

  Maggie took her mother’s hand into hers. “You didn’t force me into anything. It was my own fault - I didn’t have the confidence to stand up for my dreams, but I know what I want now.”

  “Do you love him?” Maggie’s father asked.

  Maggie nodded.

  Dr. Robin rose from his chair to hug his daughter. “I won’t deny it, Maggie, this is a big shock for both your mother and I, but if you are certain of your choice, then your mother and I both wish you the greatest happiness. From what you’ve told us, Taylor sounds like a remarkable young man and I look forward to meeting him.”