masq22

Chapter 22 - Another…er…Complication

“…and that’s why the judge must…” she trailed off, as she looked
at the window of the classroom. He was there, standing, wet, and he
looked like he needed her.
An odd feeling…being needed.
“Um…I think I’ll let class out today twenty minutes early, if you
don’t mind,” she said, as she checked her watch. “You all look tired
anyway. We’ve covered a lot of work today. By next week, I want you to
read through the next two chapters, and we’ll discuss more. Class
dismissed.”
The students all sighed with relief, as they stood up, and packed up
their things. She answered all last questions, and walked to Darien, who
now had come in.
He stood there, hair rumple from travel, and a slight five o’ clock
shadow, but nevertheless there. He immediately took her into his arms,
and he kissed her, thoroughly, at first hungrily, then gently. She wound
her arms around him, taking him into her embrace, showing that she
sincerely missed him.
He liked the feeling. A lot.
So did she. A blush crept into her cheeks as she realized what she
had just done…but it was excusable, right? What else did a fiancee do
when she saw her fiancee for the first time in two weeks? Never mind the
fact that they weren’t really getting married.
“Darien, what are you doing here?” she whispered against his
warm chest, as he held her, bound tightly in his arms. She felt his heat
through the many layers of clothing she wore.
It had taken a lot to get him there. He had gone out of an operation
when the patient died anyway, and it hurt more than anything. It
happened, and the chances for success were slim to none. Standing in the
empty corridor, having nurses and surgical assistants tell him that it wasn’t
his fault, got to him. He didn’t need them there. He only needed Serena,
because Serena would know how to comfort him. Serena knew
everything. He needed her. He loved her.
“I needed to see you, I guess,” he said calmly. She started to back
out of his embrace, looking at him carefully. He didn’t want to scare her
away. The look in her eyes was one of fright and bewilderment. It stated
to come to him. He didn’t want her like this. Her wanted her to be
relaxed with him.
“Come on, let’s go back to my place…” she said, as she got her
coat and umbrella.
The walked through the rain in silence, but he found immense
comfort in holding her hand…immense warmth. they arrived, and Serena
turned to him, and softly smiled, waveringly.
Serena bit her lip. “Why don’t you come in and sit down?” she
looked up at him.
She was a vision. The raindrops were playing like clear pearls in
her tendrils, and her eyes glittered with a small happiness and fondness.
Her cheeks, which were lightly coated with a sheen of rain, glimmered
lightly.
“Yeah, I’d like that,” he said, as he followed her in.
She went inside, and grabbed a flannel blanket, and draped it
across his shoulders. “You’re all wet. You must be so cold!” she said,
softly.
“Well, not anymore,” as he caught her arm, and twisted her into his
arms again, holding her warmly.
She backed away, after sharing a few minutes of warmth, and
cleared her throat. “What’s wrong, Darien?”
“It was an operation…and the patient didn’t live. He wasn’t
supposed to, but…”
“Darien, you know those things aren’t your fault…” she said, as
she caressed his face lightly, looking softly into his eyes. “You can’t play
God, and as much as you’d like to believe you can save everyone, there
are some…” she trailed off. “We’ve had this conversation enough times
for you to know what I’ll say, so we’ll just sit here for a while, while you
gather your thoughts, all right?” she said, as she sat down next to him,
leaning her head on his shoulder.
He looked at the golden head at his shoulder, and felt a warmth, a
care. No one had ever been able to toss aside work just to sit next to him,
and tell him things off life, and no one ever knew when to ever talk with
him, and when to leave him alone. He drew a breath. It was only right.
She had to know.
“Look, I know things have been difficult, and we’ve been through
so much that it’s frightening. We’ve essentially gone through the part of a
romantic couple. Things are so different now. I wasn’t counting on this,
but I’ll tell you one thing. Serena, you know me more than anyone else
does, and now I see why you’ve always seemed…different to me.”
“What do you mean? We play games, if that’s what you mean by
different…”
“Look, Serena, it isn’t a game anymore. Don’t you see that? This
is serious. When we entered the engagement, maybe it was a game. But
things have changed. You have changed, and I have changed. It’s
different because now we’ve gone though things together. I know you,
and you know me, more than anyone else has ever known me in my entire
life. I think about you every hour of the day, and if I don’t, I make up for
it when I feel my heart cry for you. You are solely the most important
person in my life. Wheatever you do, I feel it. Whenever you smile, I feel
it. When I stand in Washington, feeling a hollowness in my heart, I am
glad to know it will fill up again when I see you. When I am cold or
depressed, I know that when I see you, the warmth of your smile will
evaporate all sadness or disappointment. When I’m with you, I can
believe that stupid superstitions like the gold mistletoe work, even IF I
don’t know why. When I’m with you, I can almost believe that everything
in the world is made of gold and pearl, simply because you love it. When
I’m with you, I can almost believe that life is perfect. Let’s face it, Serena,
I…care about you. I think I’m…”
“Don’t say something you’ll regret, Dredsdale.” Serena
interrupted. She stood up from her chair, feeling her knees shake. No, this
couldn’t happen to her now. It was too soon, and too fast, and this
shouldn’t have happened. She was Larynce, and he was Dredsdale, and
there was nothing that would ever make them both of the same world, the
same name. She DIDN’T care for his theatricals. “You’re only saying
this because you’ve had lack of sleep, now, you can go into my guest
room and rest. I know you’ve had a lot of things going around in your life
in the last few days, and that’s why you think that what we have is special,
why you think we…but Dredsdale, you’re lying to yourself. You just
need rest.”
“Don’t you see that I love you? I NEED YOU!!!!!”
Serena looked up, startled. A moment of silence passed between
them, and Serena could not remove her eyes form his face. Finally, she
stammered out some words, carefully. “Rest…you need rest. I think I
need to go out for a walk,” she said, as she got up, and grabbed her
umbrella.

Chapter 23 - A Revelation

She cried every night before she fell asleep. *What’s going on
with me?*
It was pain. He never called her anymore, and when she called, he
never answered the phone. She wanted to talk to him, but he wouldn’t.
The past two months were torturous. She’d go to various society things
without him, and come up with excuses for the people who were
concerned.
She’d come up with excuses for herself.
Finally, she just got sick of everyone and everything, and decided
to back away and hide out. She stopped calling her friends and talking
with them a week ago, because she got sick of all the pity and comforting.
SHE WOULD NOT BE COMFORTED FOR BEING IN A
RELATIONSHIP THAT NEVER EXISTED!!!!
So now she was alone, because that was the only way for her to go
on now. She didn’t want to deal with her problems, and she didn’t want to
think about HIM. Her friends would only want to talk about her feelings,
which she had yet to understand herself.
She missed him…his companionship. He was…everything. He
could comfort her, make her feel drunk with happiness, he could make her
feel strangely mad and pleased with him at the same time, and he could
kiss her with something that she had never felt before, no matter how
many times they had kissed. He could make her love him. What they had
was special, and he ruined it all by telling her that he needed her.
It was what she needed to hear.
But it wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
It was true that she loved him, and it was true that she needed to
hear that he loved her, but she didn’t want to fall in love, ever, in her life.
She liked her life the way it was. But lord, she needed him, no matter how
much she was telling herself that she didn’t. Every minute of this was
torture, killing away her heart, leaving nothing but pain and sorrow and
tears.
*Life’s so complicated now. It was perfect before he entered the
picture.* She was ready to kill her grandmother the next time they met,
which was only two months away, at the Christmas dinner.
*God, the Christmas dinner.* That was when she and Darien had
chosen to break it off. Who knew what was going to happen now. They
hadn’t broken it off officially yet. But they were going to, undoubtedly
soon.
She loved him, that was true. But she didn’t want to believe it.
Admitting that she loved him was admitting that she had a weakness, that
no matter how hard she was, and how remote she was, and how strong and
smart she was, that she was still as weak as anyone else, that she could be
crushed in a second by one gesture of his hand. She didn’t want that. But
even though she didn’t want to admit it, that pain was in her now.
She had spent her life building that reputation of hers, and she
spent even longer than that telling herself that she didn’t need anyone or
anything.
But it all changed when she was engaged.
Getting engaged had to be biggest mistake of her life. She thought
that it would only be a long game, but now, it had been a path of
discovery, and she found that every engagement, no matter how false,
influenced life.
Just the concept of being bound to someone else, to feel what he
felt, and to go though his troubles, was enough to make her learn life. But
when love played a role, then the whole engagement changed.
As she sat in her room, she looked to the window, up to the moon,
as the radio announcer introed the latest from “savagegarden”.

“She’s taking time, making up the reasons
To justify all the hurt inside
Guess she knows from the smiles and the look in their eyes
Everyone’s got a theory about the bitter one
They’re saying ‘Mamma never loved her much’
And, ‘Daddy never keeps in touch
That’s why she shies away from human affection’
But somewhere in a private place
She packs her bags for outer space
And now she’s walking for the right kind of pilot to come.
And she’ll say to him

I would fly you to the moon and back if you’ll be…
If you’ll be my baby
Got a ticket for a world where we belong
So would be you my baby?

She can’t remember a time when she felt needed
If love was red then she was colorblind
All her friends they’ve been tried for treason
And crimes that were never defined
She’s saying, ‘Love is like a barren place,
And reaching out for human faith
Is like a journey I just don’t have a map for’
So baby’s gonna take a dive and
Push the shift to overdrive
Send a signal that she’s hanging all her hopes on the stars
What a pleasant dream

I would fly you to the moon and back if you’ll be…
If you’ll be my baby
Got a ticket for a world where we belong,
So would be my baby?”

At that moment, she realized something.

Chapter 24 - Letting Her Go…

He sat in at his office, taking in the morning around him. He was
depressed. He blew it. She wasn’t ready. *But I AM!!!!*
She was perfect, everything he wanted in life, captured in one
smile, one person. Pure and beautiful. He loved her so much.
He had never felt such a bond and such an understanding as he had
when he was with her. She was so special…a delicate moon beam, right
in his hands, which so quickly vanished.
It wasn’t going to be the same anymore. Whenever he stood with
her, or danced with her, he’d know, that deep inside, she didn’t love him,
and the pain of having her in his arms, but not having her in his heart, was
too much to bear.
He was going to let her go. She had to realize it too. And this was
the only way.
Besides, it was best for them right now anyway, because he
couldn’t stand to look into her eyes again without those feelings he wanted
in there.

“Darien Dresdale announced earlier today outside the White House
that he and Serena Larynce will not marry, and that the engagement just
isn’t working out. Larynce is in hiding in her Cambridge home, she
refuses to give a press release.”
Serena stared at the radio as she heard it.
He had broken it off.
It was not possible. It couldn’t be.
He had broken it off.
It was three in the morning, and she had just settled down at her
bed after furiously cleaning her Cambridge home. She had thought all day
after that revelation, and decided that she needed to stay busy, because the
revelation scared her.
She WANTED to marry him. She loved him. She wanted to be
loved by him. It was a risk, but not worth it, definitely. She was willing
to take the risk, and yet, the risk wasn’t there because she knew he already
loved her. Loving him was one of the best things she had ever done,
because loving him made her feel whole.
Love wasn’t the weakness. It was the strength.
She shivered as she thought of her revelation again, the words
echoing in her mind. She wanted him to love her.
The song was important. The song knew. And now, she knew.
She loved him. He loved her. They could get married. And she
could live happily ever after. It was all so perfect it was scary.
As she sat back in bed, she had turned on the all news radio station,
and had just heard that her fiancee had called it off.
It was then she realized that he might not love her anymore.
Of course she was angry.
She immediately picked up the phone and got Dredsdale’s
apartment in Washington. Of course, an answering machine picked up.
“Dredsdale here, but busy. Leave a message.”
“DREDSDALE!!! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IN BREAKING OFF
OUR ENGAGEMENT? WE HAD AN ARRANGEMENT!” Not really
realizing why she had called, she hung up, shocked at herself.
As she breathed heavily, looking at the phone, she started to cry
even harder.
The engagement was off, and the chapter was closed.
He didn’t love her anymore.

Chapter 25 - We’re Here For You

As she sat in her office, mindlessly working on a case study by the
Supreme Court, she looked up as Lucy entered.
“There are some ladies here to see you. They said that you invited
them for lunch. It wasn’t on your schedule, but the first lady was in the
group, so I…”
“Don’t worry, Lucy. Show them in.”
The minute Mina, Lita, Raye and Amy entered the room, Serena
smiled and went to the and they embraced.
“Welcome back into the human world, Rena,” Mina smiled softly.
“We were worried for a while.”
“It was nothing,” Serena smiled, pathetically.
“So what’s been going on?”
“Well, why don’t we go to a restaurant first and I’ll tell you
everything you wanted to know.”

“…and now, here I am, in love, and he’s broken off the
engagement, and I can’t really blame him.”
They were speechless. Serena picked more at the salad.
“So you two never really fought?”
“No.”
“But he still loves you, right?” Mina asked, gently.
“No, he doesn’t. That’s why he broke it off, don’t you see? In the
White House, we’re fine. I just do my work, and he does his, and we don’t
usually cross paths now, because I’m reviewing some Supreme Court
decisions, and he’s doing something or another. So now, we’re back to
where we began, only worse than that.”
“I don’t think he broke it off because he didn’t love you, Rena,”
Raye said softly. “I think he broke it off because he loves you still. He
wants the best for you. I know him.”
“I don’t think he knows what’s best for me. If he did, we’d still be
engaged, calling each other at insane hours, and deliriously happy
together.”
“But given the circumstances…”
“I love him. That isn’t a circumstance. That is pure pain and
torture. I can’t say I regret loving him, because it makes me feel special
when I think he did love me. And I can’t deny that loving him has made
me a better person. I love him, and he doesn’t love me. I’d accept the
situation if I were less determined, but I’m not. I want to fight for him, but
I can’t if he won’t let me. It’s horrid! And I don’t even regret this pain!
You know, this is the reason why I always thought love was a weakness,
but even now, I won’t admit that.”

Chapter 26 - Someone Else?

She caught his eye from across the room at the gala. He was there,
but he brought an escort. Candy Larynce.
Serena had a deadly flame in her eye at the moment. He had the
nerve to bring Candy Larynce to a White House function.
She was ready to kill him.
But she calmly told herself in her mind that this chapter was over,
and that Darien would always be in her heart, no matter HOW dumb he
was acting.
Though this came close to pushing him out of her heart.
She couldn’t believe it. She still would love him after he did
THIS?
She felt tears in her heart, but wouldn’t let them come to her eyes.
It would be humiliating. Not that it wasn’t humiliating enough.
Candy Larynce.
*Love is strength, yeah right.*
She wanted to just give up and become herself again, the late
Larynce that wandered around , distinct from everyone else. She wanted
to be alone and the Ice Queen again. But Darien just wouldn’t let that
happen, not would he?
She felt her heart, and life, falling out of her grasp and to the floor.
She didn’t want to see this.
Everything was in tailspin now, all because of one man, and he had
to be the one man she’d spent her life building her heart and mind against.
She knew that he would eventually find someone else, but why did
it have to be soon, and why did it have to be Candy? She wanted to leave.
She couldn’t breathe, and she wanted to think by herself.
“Would you like to dance?”
“Yes, sir, I’d love to,” she said to the perfect stranger.

It was killing him inside. He only brought Candy to make her feel
jealous, and only Serena knew if he and succeeded. Now she was dancing
with her fifteenth partner that evening, and he desperately wanted to go
and rip that man from his princess.
He hated this waiting. He had to do something.

Serena sprawled out on her bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to
sleep, but her eyes were reluctant. Her pillow was wet, for countless tears,
as she tried, once more, not to think of him…
She sat up, and, depressed, she turned on the light, and tried to read
a romance to novel to cheer her up. However, the story was too
depressing for her…it told of two childhood enemies, who met later, at a
masquerade, and fell in love, and so on, and they lived happily ever
after…happily ever afters never existed.
She turned on the radio as she started to cry again, and she looked,
from her place on the bed, out the window, to stare, once again, at the
moon.

I am thinking of you
In my sleepless solitude tonight
If it’s wrong to love you
Then my heart just won’t let me be right
‘Cause I’ve drowned in you
And I won’t pull through without you by my side

I’d give my all to have
Just one more night with you
I’d risk my life to feel
Your body next to mine
‘Cause I can’t go on
Living in the memory of our song
I’d give my all for your love tonight

Baby can you feel me
Imagining I’m looking in your eyes
I can see you clearly
Vividly emblazoned in my mind
And yet you’re so far
Like a distant star
I’m wishing on tonight

I’d give my all to have
Just one more night with you
I’d risk my life to feel
Your body next to mine
‘Cause I can’t go on
Living in the memory of our song
I’d give my all for your love tonight

Chapter 27 - Deja vu

She ran up the steps at 5:47.
*Never cut it THIS close.*
“Miss Serena! Your mother’s been worried sick!”
Serena smiled. *Nothing’s changed HERE, at least.*
It was difficult, but Serena had finally closed the chapter of being
engaged. She was all right now. She smiled as she thought of the past
year.
She HAD changed. A year ago, she was not even aware that she
was going to be engaged, that she was going to fall in love. She now
wondered if she was better off then, not loving, and not hurting inside
every time she heard the name Darien Dredsdale. She loved him. It was
the experience. She had to go through it. She was happier now, because
she had left that behind her, and let that experience improve her.
Or at least that’s what she told herself.
But did she believe it?
“Rena!” Mina came running forward for a hug.
Lita smiled as she approached her friend as well, and Amy walked
slowly, with Raye, both with slightly swollen tummies.
“Your mother’s going to ground you!”
“Nothing new, now is it?”
They laughed.
Raye hugged Serena meaningfully. Only she knew how much
Serena was thinking of not coming. She whispered into her ear, “He’s
here alone, Rena. Didn’t bring a date. I think he’s hiding in his room
right now.”
Serena looked, startled, at her cousin.
“So what are you naming the kid?”
“Don’t know if it’ll be a boy or girl yet.”
“Serena Rebecca Larynce, you are now grounded for a year!”
Serena smiled at Ilene Larynce.
“I was worried about you,” Ilene sighed. “But I’m glad you
came.”
Ilene had figured that Dredsdale’s presence in the house must have
contributed to her daughter’s already tardy nature. She wished she could
understand what her daughter was feeling, but Serena didn’t talk much
about her relationship with the Dredsdale prince, and Ilene decided that it
was her daughter’s choice whether she heard it or not.
“Mother, I’m glad to see you,” Serena said. “I think that I’d like to
talk to you and dad; we haven’t talked in a while.”
Ilene smiled, and realized what her daughter meant.
“Our door’s always open,” she said, meaningfully.
“And there is my favorite granddaughter!” Gail Larynce smiled
carefully, approaching Serena. She had not talked to Serena since the
break off of the engagement, and was feeling slightly guilty.
“Gram. I missed you.” Serena smiled, hugging the old woman,
showing her that she forgave easily.
“Where’s daddy?”
“Right here, Bunny.”

Dinner was long and difficult. Serena didn’t really want to eat
anything. Not when he was in the room, sitting with his great aunt.
It was like putting salt on an open wound. It stung. She wanted to
cry, but she didn’t. She told herself that she was a better person, and that
though she loved him, she didn’t need him.
She finally gave up and went up to her room, saying she had a
headache, which was true. All this forcing herself to go on was getting to
her, and her heart was starting to weigh a thousand tons.
As she got some mail from her mailbox, she noticed a small
package at the foot of her door. It was in gold paper, and tied with a
cream ribbon.
She picked it up, and went into her room.
Curious, she opened it up first.
There was no note, there was no card, and nothing to identify who
the giver was, but Serena knew.
The gift was a gold chain, with gold snowflake with a diamond
embedded in the center.
Serena smiled, as tears came to her eyes, and as she suddenly
thought that she had a lot of things to do for the masquerade tomorrow.

She entered the room, golden hair, golden glitter sparkling in the
golden folds of her hair, and among it, a gold hair clip. She had rosy
cheeks and a smile, both with gold glitter on. She wore a dress of gold
satin with a large skirt, sparkling, and belling with gold lace and gold
embroidery. Her bodice was gold with gold sequins and gold thread
embroidery, and she wore a gold satin sleeveless and low-cut top, with a
gold necklace on. It was a gold snowflake. She wore a gold crown, and a
gold mask…HIS mask, as he noted form the far corner of the room. The
gold eyes underneath glittered sadly with tears about to form. Wouldn’t
he have loved to see her now? She flaunted the diamond engagement ring
on her ring finger, as she walked about the room on her gold high heels,
secretly searching for him.
And she saw him. At the far corner of the room, there stood a man
with white satin, and silver embroidery robes. His hair was black, but
streaked lightly with silver frost. He wore a silver mask…her mask.
She walked up to him, feeling a burst of courage as she
remembered the necklace around her throat. She offered him her hand,
and he took it, wordlessly, noting in his mind, however, that she was
wearing their engagement ring.
As they danced, she realized how much she had missed him, and
how much she still loved him, even though she had known that before. It
was a reality check. She had not seen him in a so long, and she wanted to
hold on to him forever. The chapter might have been closed, but she
couldn’t help but go back to it again and again.
Her courage was quickly dissolving, as she felt her heart dissolve
into tears once more. But she wouldn’t let it take her over.
As the evening drew to a close, the fairy tale started to drift away,
as Serena realized that he wasn’t going to ask her again, that this night was
the last night for them, and she whispered to him. “Darien…I, I…”
“Okay, it’s midnight!” Gail Larynce said into the microphone.
“It’s time to unmask!”
Darien softly took of her mask, and looked away. He wasn’t going
to look into those eyes expecting to find that the emotion he wanted wasn’t
there. He didn’t want to know what her response was. He already felt bad
enough.
He felt the mask being lifted off his eyes, and he looked down at
her, as her eyes were averted and she looked at the mask in her beautiful,
metallic gold-colored nails. He didn’t want her to look up at him.
“And let’s see who’s under the mistletoe this year!” Gail was
saying. “Serena and Darien again! I think it’s trying to tell you
something.”
Serena, surprised, looked up to find the gold mistletoe indeed
above their heads, and a sudden tide of courage overtook her. She smiled
quietly, as tears brimmed over her cheeks. It WAS meant to be. She
turned to him, and said bravely, teasingly.
“So, my Ice Prince, what say you? Should we just give it up and
accept fate?”
He smiled back, said silently, “What do you mean, my Sun
Princess?”
“I think you are crazy about me,” she teased.
“I think you are insane about me,” he smiled back.
“What if I said you were true?”
“And what if I say that YOU were true?”
“Then I’d tell you I love you.”
“You would?” he was startled.
“Yes, I would.”
“And what if I said that I loved you?”
Serena was silent. The chapter wasn’t over. It just begun.
Darien kneeled down before her, and took her hand. “What if I
told you that every time I’m without you, I want to scream injustice, and
curse love? What if I told you that every time you smiled, I wanted to keel
over with happiness, even if you weren’t smiling at me? And what if I
told you that every time you talk to another young man I want to pull him
away and keep you to myself? What if I asked you to marry me?”
Serena gaped. He was asking her again. She started to cry all over
again, and looked into his eyes, and saw a world in there, and all of it was
reflecting her. “What if I answered yes?”

Chapter 28 - I Love You

She sighed, dancing in his arms, in the empty ball room. Her arms
were wrapped tightly against his neck, and his tightly against her back.
They danced to the haunting echoes of a distant melody, in the next room.
The grander ballroom was a setting for new love stories, and a new
year, but for the two in here, their story was becoming even sweeter.
She leaned her cheek to his shoulder, as he kissed her softly on the
ear, and traveled the kiss down from the curl of the ear to her neck, throat,
and then her mouth.
It was warm, passionate, true, and everything that was good in the
world. She clung to the warmth, knowing it’d always be there.
“I love you!” she said, for the hundredth time this vacation, kissing
him with a passion that had continued throughout the week.
He kissed her, and held her tightly, and smiled, “You are so…”
“So what?” her head came back to look at him.
It still happened.
When they looked into each other’s eyes, there was overbrimming
joy, and undulled love, and dark passion. Always. The meeting of the
eyes was a meeting of loves and feelings, and Serena’s heart always felt
touched after such a gaze.
“So beautiful, intelligent, perfect…perfect…” he said, kissing her
nose, then forehead.
She loved his kisses. They made her feel dizzy. Tears came to her
eyes, as she kissed him softly on the lips. “The minute I saw you, that first
night, I felt something in me, and when I found out you were Darien
Dredsdale…” she laughed lightly, as he met her forehead with his, softly.
“When I found out you were Serena Larynce, I laughed…”
Serena frowned. “At what?”
“Me, not being smart enough to see a princess when she walks up
to your face.”
Serena smiled shyly.
“I love how you smile like that…”
“You love everything about me…” Serena teased. “In the last
twenty-four hours, you have told me you love my laugh, my tears, my…”
“I love you…everything about you, Serena. When I look at you, I
wonder how you and I ever got to be…”
“Join the club!” she teased.
“Incompatible from the start…”
“Probably argue ourselves to death…”
“At least life will be interesting…”
“Yeah…interesting.”

Chapter 29 - Married Life…Now and Always

Dancing in his arms in white satin and lace, she smiled at the
handsome man and said, “I love you…”
Jealous, her husband cut in.
Serena blushed.
“Sorry, DAD,” Darien tried out the new name on his father in law.
“Even former presidents can’t take my beautiful wife from me for long…”
Serena smiled, and went into her husband’s arms, as he held her
closely.
“Hmm…Serena Rebecca Larynce Dredsdale…long name, but it
feels so wonderful to hear!” she craned her head back to look up at the
ceiling of the tent, as if looking to heaven.
Darien kissed her neck, and then cheek as she looked to him again.
“It’s a beautiful name…I love it…”
Serena giggled against his cheek. “Not as much as I love knowing
that I am your wife!”
“That sounds even better…”
“How about I love you?”
“That’s music…Honey, if you keep this up, I probably will never
let you go…”
“Can I get that in writing?” she laughed in his arms.

She looked peaceful, her face turned to the window of the train, the
sunlight filtering down on her face, catching in her golden hair, pooling at
that arch of her neck, and glittering on her soft eyelashes. She looked
peaceful, and he caressed her hand, and brought it to his lips.
She fell into his chest cozily and leaned on him as he placed his
chin over her golden mass of hair, kissing her temple, her ear, and tracing
a line all the way down her neck, and nuzzling at the crook of her neck,
feeling rather lazy himself.
“Tickets?”
The attendant looked him questioningly.
Darien took both from his pocket and the attendant punched holes
in them.
Serena smiled in his hold, as the attendant smiled to them, “I hope
you and your wife enjoy Washington…”
“We already are…” Darien whispered into Serena’s ear, as he saw
her a sliver of smile pass through her lips.

It was 5:30 pm. She was home early today. Now that she took
only taught two days of classes at Harvard, things were better for her.
Most of her meetings were done via computer and phone now, and Serena,
though not spending as much time AT Cambridge, still spent as much time
working with the people there.
Today wasn’t a work day, though. She had to go up to rearrange a
few courses though, and that was a meeting early this morning.
The minute she closed the door, she fell back on it, closing her
eyes and smiling. It was over. Two days away, even though it was only
two days, was still torture.
But now, she was home, and she’d be with her husband, and
perhaps they’d go out to eat tonight at a beautiful restaurant. Then perhaps
they’d go to a movie, or walk around a while and then warm up at a cafe.
She wrenched off the beige pumps, and tugged at her beige suit
jacket buttons, and went up the stairs in the penthouse apartment.
She found her husband already asleep on the bed. She pulled off
the blazer, and pulled off the annoying pantyhose, and decided that there
was nothing more romantic than just spending the night in your husband’s
arms.
She promptly slipped into bed in her blouse and skirt, and hugged
her husband. She felt the sensation of being moved closer to him, as he
put his arms around her, kissed her forehead, and whispered, “Welcome
home…”

They walked up the steps to the Castle at 5:30, arguing.
“We wouldn’t have been this late if you had done your Christmas
shopping earlier.”
“Give me a break!”
“I would, but I give you too many already.”
“It’s not my fault I’m pregnant.”
“Back to the point, why did you suddenly decide you absolutely
HAD to go out and buy a present this morning at eleven o’ clock?”
“Mrs. Dredsdale, your mother…” the maid who opened the door
began.
“…Is very worried about you,” they both completed, rolling their
eyes.
As they entered the house, Darien took her hand, and held it
possessively. “We’ll probably be grounded.”
“We needed a vacation anyway,” she smiled, leaning into him, and
kissing him sweetly on the lips.
“I love you, Serena.”
“I love you, too.”

THE END

Copyright 1998 by Crystal Heart