Smitten at First Sight: A Contemporary Romance Novel

by Astor, Marie

  At the sight of the familiar face, Maggie’s heart lurched. She was about to greet Shawn, when he silently picked up her bag and began walking down the hall. For a moment she stood frozen, stunned by his icy reception, but then a wave of anger swept over her: it was as though a fuse had blown, stirring her out of her grief-stricken lethargy. I will not be treated like an outcast, Maggie thought, as she hurried after Shawn, determined to speak her mind.

  Once they were past the crowded part of the hallway, Shawn turned around so abruptly that Maggie almost bumped into him.

  “How could you do this to Taylor?” demanded Shawn, his voice seething with contempt, as he threw Maggie’s bag on the floor.

  Maggie was shocked by the anger on Shawn’s face. “I wanted to say goodbye. I understand that you’ve known Taylor your whole life, and I’ve only known him for a brief time, but we fell in love! It was magical and wonderful, and I will always love him, more than you could ever understand.”

  “If you love him, then why do you abandon him when he needs you most?”

  “What are you talking about?” Maggie felt her legs growing weak, barely able to stand upright.

  Despite his anger, Shawn noticed her shock and rushed to help her, offering his arm for her to lean on.

  “I didn’t abandon him!” Maggie sobbed, unable to hold back any longer. “I went back to New York to tell my parents that I was moving to Eagleville. I was going to come back in a week. And then I got a phone call from Jeffrey this morning and he told me that Taylor died in an avalanche. So I rushed over here: all I wanted was to say goodbye. I don’t understand what I did to make everyone so angry.”

  Now it was Shawn’s turn to be shocked, as he stood back with his mouth agape. “Jeffrey told you that Taylor died in the avalanche? He told us that you and him were back together and that you wanted nothing to do with Taylor,” Shawn muttered in disbelief. “Maggie, Taylor was seriously injured in the avalanche. He is in a coma, but there is still hope. He is in the hospital in Vancouver. If we hurry, we could still make it before the visiting hours are over.”

  “In a coma?” Maggie mouthed.

  “I’ll tell you everything in the car.” Shawn grabbed Maggie’s arm and steered her in the direction of the lobby.

  Chapter 32

  “We should be there soon, Maggie.” Shawn checked his watch impatiently.

  While they had been able to make good timing during their drive to Vancouver, the city was blocked with traffic, and now the car barely inched down the clogged street, stopping at every light.

  Maggie nodded, clasping her hands. According to Shawn they were about ten miles away from the hospital – a distance that would normally be covered within a matter of minutes, but now seemed endless. Move! Get out of the way! Maggie wanted to yell at the rows of cars that surrounded them, keeping them captive. She yearned to fling open the door and race atop the car roofs, flying through the air. Alas, things like that were only possible in dreams and action movies, and now, she had no choice but to endure the tormenting wait while they stood paralyzed by the traffic gridlock.

  Taylor was standing at the top of an incredibly high peak, surrounded by vast, endless snow. He had never seen a mountain this tall in his entire life: it reached into the very sky, and standing on its peak, he found himself level-eyed with the sun. With the sunrays shining brightly at him, a feeling of elation descended upon him. The nightmare was over: the avalanche had never happened; the helicopter, the hospital had all been a dream.

  Taylor breathed in the fresh, sweet air. He felt agile, nimble, and powerful beyond bounds. Rejoicing in his newfound strength, he looked onto the endless curtain of snow before him. He would stay here forever, conquering new, unknown heights.

  Overcome with anticipation, he plunged down the mountain. He had never skied like this before: the skis seemed to float underneath him, obeying his command without the slightest effort. He tore into the steep incline, plummeting down with abandon, jumping over a distance of several feet and finishing with a perfect landing.

  No sooner had Taylor finished his descent than he was standing at the top of another cliff, having magically flown to its top. He was about to point his skis down when he heard a familiar voice calling him. He hesitated, unwilling to interrupt his pleasure, but finally turned around.

  “Maggie! What are you doing here?” he exclaimed, perplexed by the realization that he had forgotten about her completely until now.

  “Taylor! I missed you so much.” Maggie’s voice carried like chiming bells.

  She was standing at the top of a cliff a few steps away from him, smiling, reaching out for him. He rushed towards her, closing the distance between them in two giant leaps.

  A moment later they were entwined in each other’s arms and he was covering her face with kisses. She pressed herself closer to him, burrowing her face in his chest. Suddenly, he realized that she was trembling. He wondered if she were cold and pulled her closer to him, but somehow even without a word said between them, he knew that the source of her shivering was not cold, but fear.

  Gently, he took her face into his hands, lifting it so that he could see her eyes. He was struck to see that her eyes were red and swollen with tears.

  “Why are you crying?” he asked.

  “Because you have to leave.”

  “But I don’t have to go anywhere,” he whispered, smiling at her foolishness.

  “Yes, you have to,” she said, pointing down.

  He followed her glance, and saw his body, frail and weak, entangled by a myriad of machines, on a hospital bed. “I’m not going back there,” he protested, “I’m staying here, with you.”

  “But we can’t stay here. You have to get back before it’s too late.”

  “Sure we can, we can do anything we want. I’m right here, Maggie. Nothing will ever keep me away from you.”

  But she only shook her head.

  Suddenly, everything around them began to change. A monstrous shudder pierced the air, and the mountains around them began to crumble, disintegrating with lightning speed. The bright sun vanished behind the clouds, replaced by gray fog.

  Gusts of wind tore Maggie from Taylor’s embrace, widening the distance between them with every second. He reached for her, but his arms felt strangely heavy and constricted. Still, he fought on, trying to bid his body into submission, not understanding what had suddenly gone wrong – just a few moments ago, he was bursting with limitless strength, and now, his limbs were buckling underneath him, as though they were made of clay.

  I must get to her, Taylor thought, but with each move his body only seemed to get more unyielding until, finally, his legs fell from under him, and he collapsed on the ground.

  “Come back, Taylor – fight to come back,” the wind trailed Maggie’s voice.

  A moment later, she was gone.

  In another minute, the last of the mountains had disintegrated, and Taylor found himself falling down. He had to find a way to climb back up - he had to get back to Maggie.

  At first he struggled and kicked, vainly attempting to grab fragments of the mountains that were floating by him, slipping through his hands. But despite his struggle, he only seemed to be falling down further. Finally, exhausted, he submitted into the lulling sensation of the fall.

  Hannah steered her car into the hospital parking lot. After turning off the ignition, she remained seated for a few moments, hoping to achieve some clarity in her thoughts. Then, she began to slowly walk in the direction of the hospital entrance. She was beside herself with anger – to think that Maggie had stormed into Taylor’s life, turning it upside down, only to desert him when he needed her most. Hannah clenched her fists as tears began welling up in her eyes – for years she had longed to be with Taylor, but he had never looked at her in any other light than that of friend.

  Memories of her friendship with Taylor flooded her mind, taking her years back in time. She remembered Taylor as a shy, scrawny kid at the age of six - his mother had just died
in a car accident and he was sent to stay with his grandparents because his father was overwrought with his own grief. From the first moment she met Taylor, Hannah wanted to be his friend. There was an air of solitude around him that made him seem older than all the other kids their age. Forced to grow up by the tragedy that had interrupted his childhood, Taylor kept to himself, his demeanor a stark contrast to the raucousness of the local kids. Even back then, his eyes were striking: big and green, they were full of sadness beyond his years and seemed too big for his face. Hannah did not have any brothers or sisters and even though they were the same age, she immediately felt protective of Taylor, as though he were her younger brother who needed her help. Despite his preferring to keep to himself, she kept coming over to his grandparents’ house, urging him to join her and the local kids in their play. Reluctant at first, he grew less so with time and the two of them became inseparable. Shortly after that, Taylor discovered his talent for skiing and quickly became admired for his skill by all the kids in town. But despite his newly acquired popularity, Hannah remained his closest friend with the exception of Shawn who joined their duo shortly afterwards, turning it into the trio it had been ever since. But now all of that had changed.

  Hannah opened the heavy, creaking hospital door and headed for the reception desk to sign in.

  When she walked into Taylor’s room, Hannah pulled a chair by his bed and gently took his hand into hers. Looking at him lying there, she barely recognized the Taylor that she knew: there was an unfamiliar look of resignation on his face, as though he had decided to abandon all attempts at a fight.

  “Taylor, can you hear me?” Hannah whispered, “Come back to us. Come back to me,” she added, her voice breaking off. Her feelings for Taylor had been bottled up inside her for years - she would have never summoned the courage to say it to his face otherwise, but now, she finally let go. “I love you, I have always loved you and I will never betray you.”

  The blackness had parted, and for a moment Taylor thought that he was still trapped underneath the snow. It was difficult to make sense of things, as he did not have any idea of how much time had passed or where he was. Then, slowly, it began to come back to him. He remembered the agitating struggle against the relentless tide of snow: in that moment he was full of fear and adrenaline, his heart beating so furiously that he thought it would jump out of his chest. Survival, survival at any cost was the only thought he was conscious of, as instincts took over his mind, blocking out the pain of his body being hurled and twisted by the merciless wave of snow. And then, the impact of the fall reverberating through his body, as the avalanche finally came to a halt, relenting just as suddenly as it had attacked. He remembered the gladness of being alive that was almost immediately extinguished by the realization that he was trapped underneath a mound of snow with no chance of escape. It was then he had felt the first temptation to drift away: his body was pierced with chilling cold, making it tempting to escape into sleep. He was almost gone when something brought him back – a voice, it was a woman’s voice. Taylor struggled to remember her face, but it remained foggy in his mind. Her name, what was her name? He had promised her something, but he could not remember what.

  Then there was the drive to the hospital, and the havoc of voices and people rushing around him. At first, he had tried to hang on, remembering his promise, but the temptation to drift away was too strong, and eventually, he gave in. It was an entirely new sensation as he left his body and floated away effortlessly. He could go anywhere he wanted. In an instant, he was where he longed to be: he had never seen cliffs so high or snow so deep. He was in the world of his own creation. She came to him again then, as she did when he was trapped in the avalanche. The sight of her filled him with breathtaking joy. He wanted to stay there with her forever, but she begged him to return, warning him that there was little time. He did not believe her and refused to leave. That was when it all went wrong, and the perfect world he had created collapsed into blackness.

  The last thing Taylor remembered was the sensation of falling. He remembered his frantic attempts to get back to her, his heart beating wildly at the sound of her voice calling his name. He had struggled as hard as he could, but she was being drawn further away from him, and he knew that he was fighting a losing battle: the ground underneath him had dissipated - he had no choice but to surrender into the fall. He had been afraid at first, but then he found that falling was not scary at all: it made him feel weightless and carefree, like a leaf carried by a wind. Next came the lulling sensation of sleep, and he slipped into its blank, soothing current.

  The blankness threatened to reclaim him at any moment, and Taylor knew that he had little time. He had left his body, confident that he could come back at his will, but now, he could not find his way back, hauled further away from the shoreline of reality by some invisible, relentless tide. If only she would come back to him, he was sure that he would find the strength to return. A myriad of disjointed recollections flashed before his eyes, but her face was not among them. Her name, what was her name? Maggie, the sound of her name flashed like a bright beam of hope. Her name was Maggie.

  Chapter 33

  Hannah had been sitting by Taylor’s bed for some time when suddenly, the hollow silence of the room was broken.

  Hannah sprang up in her chair as she felt Taylor’s hand flutter in hers - for a fleeting moment Taylor’s face became illuminated with consciousness and she heard him murmur, “Maggie…”

  “Taylor? It’s me, Hannah.” Barely able to keep her mind straight, she quickly pressed the button to summon the nurse. “Taylor!” she grasped his hand, but it remained motionless. “Taylor! Wake up!”

  Her cries received no response as Taylor lay still, his lips unmoving. As she looked searchingly into his face, it seemed to her that a faint shadow of disappointment crept over it, leaving his expression even more dejected than before. Hannah shook her head, telling herself that she was imagining it all, and yet, she could not help feeling that it was true.

  “You called?” the nurse rushed inside the room moments later.

  “Yes! Call the doctor. I think he is regaining consciousness.”

  Moments later, Dr. Evans was in the room, listening to Hannah’s account of what she had witnessed.

  “Are you certain that you heard Taylor speak?” asked Dr. Evans.

  “Yes,” Hannah replied, her voice strained. “I’m sure. I wouldn’t make something like that up.”

  “I apologize. It is not what I meant. Sometimes, people see and hear what they hope to see.”

  “No.” Hannah shook her head. “I’m certain of what I heard. I felt his hand move too. Does it mean that Taylor is going to wake up soon?”

  “Sometimes comatose patients utter noises, but usually those are simple sounds or cries. You are saying that you heard Taylor call someone – was it someone he knew? There have been cases when coma patients regained consciousness upon hearing the voices of those close to them. Perhaps if this person could come and visit him…”

  “Yes,” Hannah interrupted hurriedly - there was no time to waste. “I have to go, but I hope to be back soon.”

  Hannah rushed down the hall, hastily reaching for her cell phone. Hearing Taylor whisper Maggie’s name had hurt her terribly at first, but once she found out that it meant hope for Taylor’s recovery, her anger vanished. As much as she wanted to be with Taylor, she understood that he loved someone else and that someone was Maggie. Now, Hannah was determined to get to Maggie – Taylor’s life depended upon it, and Hannah was ready to drag Maggie to him if need be.

  When Hannah reached the parking lot, she was stunned to find Shawn’s truck pulling in. She rushed toward the car to tell Shawn what she had just witnessed, but was struck speechless when she saw Maggie exit from the passenger side.

  “Hannah, I came as soon as I heard…” Maggie started.

  But Hannah had no patience for any more lies. A new tide of anger swept over her, as she faced Maggie, instantly reminded of her b
etrayal. “How could you do this, Maggie?” demanded Hannah, her voice raging with hurt. “How could you abandon Taylor like that?”

  “Hannah,” Shawn cut in, “you don’t know the whole story – it was all a lie. Maggie never left Taylor – Jeffrey made the whole thing up.”

  At the sight of the tormented look on Maggie’s face, Hannah felt in instant pang of remorse. “You must go to him now,” said Hannah. “Taylor asked for you.”

  “Is he conscious?” Maggie’s voice rang with hope.

  “No, but he murmured your name when I was with him, just a few minutes ago. Go, he is waiting for you. Go and bring him back.”

  “I ran into Maggie at the Ritz. Can you believe that that bastard Jeffrey told her that Taylor died in the avalanche?” exclaimed Shawn after Maggie had left. “I mean, how twisted one has to be to do something so evil! And the way he lied to all of us that he and Maggie got back together.” Shawn frowned, shaking his head. “But I’ve got to say that some of it is our fault as well – we believed Jeffrey without giving Maggie the benefit of the doubt.”

  Hannah bit her lip and remained silent. She had been a true friend to Shawn and Taylor for years, but now it was all Maggie, Maggie, Maggie. She was willing to make peace with the fact that Taylor loved Maggie - the instant she saw the powerful emotions on Maggie’s face, Hannah was forced to admit that her own feelings for Taylor were nothing but remnants of an adolescent crush that should have been outgrown years ago - she never loved Taylor the way Maggie did. Still, her coming to terms with this realization did not mean that Hannah had to be happy about Maggie’s invasion of their lives. And now, hearing Shawn defend Maggie was the last straw. She might have been dazzled by Taylor’s stunning looks and gregarious personality, but Shawn had always been her rock, and hearing him defend Maggie made Hannah’s eyes well up with resentment.