فصل 19

Chapter 19: Forever My Love

When I got back to the room Ostin was packing what few things he possessed. “What did they want?” “Nothing,” I said.

“You mean nothing you want to tell me.” “Right,” I said.

“Great,” he said. “Now I’m going to spend the rest of the night trying to figure out what it is.” I grinned. “Did Taylor come by?”

“Oh yeah. I gave her the box.”

“What?”

“I’m just kidding,” he said. “I told her you’d be back in a few minutes.” “Thanks,” I said. I picked up the box, then walked over to Taylor’s room and knocked on the door.

Tessa opened. “Let me guess, you’re looking for Taylor.” “You’re a genius,” I said.

“You can call me Ostin. No, don’t. That’s kind of creepy.” She turned around. “Taylor, it’s lover boy.” Taylor came to the door shaking her head. She stepped outside, shutting the door behind her. “She makes me crazy.” “Tessa is crazy,” I said. “I think it’s from eating all those mashed Amazon jungle slugs.” “I just threw up in my mouth,” Taylor said. She looked down at the box I was carrying. “What’s that?” “It’s a present.”

“For me?”

“Of course.” I handed her the box. “Open it.” She tore the paper from the box, then lifted its lid. “Oh, wow.” She pulled a dark grape-colored chiffon dress from the box, then handed me the box and held the dress out in front of her. “Michael.” “Sydney Lynn and my mom took care it.” “It’s beautiful.” She looked into my eyes. “What’s it for?” “Tonight.”

Her forehead furrowed. “What’s tonight?” “That’s a surprise. I’ll be back at seven to get you.” Taylor tilted her head. “What are you up to, Vey?” “I’m not telling you.”

She reached out to take my hand. “You can tell me.” I stepped back. “Don’t read my mind, you’ll ruin the surprise.” “You’re finally on to me.”

“I’ll be back at seven.” I smiled as I walked to my room.

Later that evening Ostin and my mother watched as I put on a suit coat and tie. The coat was a little large, but under the circumstances it was the best we could come up with.

“You look so handsome,” my mother said. “Here’s your corsage.” She handed me a white glossy box containing a cluster of white roses. Considering where we were, I didn’t know how she had managed the box, let alone the flowers.

“What time is it?”

“It’s almost seven.”

“Is everything ready?” I asked.

My mother smiled. “Yes.”

“All right,” I said. “So am I.”

My mother and I walked to Taylor’s room. I knocked, and her mother immediately answered.

“Hi, Michael. Come on in.” As she stepped back, she opened the door all the way, revealing Taylor in her new dress. It fit perfectly. It was an elegant floor-length, sleeveless dress that wrapped tightly around her middle, accenting her slim waist. For the first time in months she was wearing makeup and her hair was pulled back in an updo. She looked Photoshopped beautiful—beautiful enough to make me tic.

I stepped inside her room. “You look . . . amazing.” Taylor looked at me dreamily. “And you look very handsome.” “I brought you this.” I handed her the corsage.

She opened the box and took out the corsage. “Where did you get this?” I looked at my mother and she just winked.

“I have connections,” I said.

“Will you put it on?” she asked.

“I’ll try.” I fumbled awhile with the needle, but eventually pinned the flower to her dress without drawing blood. I took her hand. “Shall we go?” “If you’ll tell me where we’re going.” “I’m taking you to the prom.”

Her face was a mixed expression of surprise and gratitude. “The prom?” “You said you wanted to go to one.”

“Before you go,” Mrs. Ridley said, “we need pictures.” “Mom,” Taylor said.

“We are definitely taking pictures,” she said. “And don’t even think about rebooting me.” Between my mother and Mrs. Ridley, they took what seemed like a hundred pictures before Taylor finally said in exasperation, “Okay, we’re good.” “It’s just so exciting,” Mrs. Ridley said.

Our mothers followed us out to the front of the Ranch House, where a horse-drawn carriage was waiting. Abigail and Jack were sitting on the front porch and Abi screamed when she saw Taylor. She ran over to us. “Omigosh! You look so beautiful!” Taylor beamed. “Thank you.”

“No really, you look like a princess.” She looked at me. “You’re a lucky guy.” “I know,” I said.

Jack gave me a thumbs-up.

“Your carriage awaits,” I said to Taylor.

The driver was standing to the side of the carriage wearing a cowboy hat, a Western-cut suit, and a bolo tie. He opened the door for us and I helped Taylor up.

“Have fun,” my mother said. Jack and Abigail waved to us, and Taylor’s mother began crying.

Our driver flicked the reins and the carriage started off.

When we were a little way off, Taylor asked, “Where are we going for prom?” “Well, there isn’t a school or a restaurant within a hundred miles of here, so we had to improvise a little.” The carriage drove us down a dirt road to a redbrick building about a mile from the compound. The driver pulled up to the front of the building, then got down and helped us out. “Have a good time,” he said.

I opened the front door of the building and Taylor stepped inside. She took just a few steps in, then stopped. “Oh, Michael.” In the middle of the room was a small, square table set with crystal and china and lit by two long tapered candles. Strings of small lights hung from the ceiling. The floor was scattered with rose petals. There was some equipment that was too large to move, so it had been covered with sheets.

Taylor turned to me. “How did you do all this?” “I had help,” I said. “Our moms were busy.” I pulled a chair out from the table and Taylor sat down. Then I sat down across from her. A dark-haired man dressed in a white linen suit and vest with a baby-blue ascot walked out of a side door carrying a bottle in a bucket of ice. Following him with a bread basket was a beautiful, petite woman with short, curly dark hair and large brown eyes.

“Monsieur, madame, good evening,” the man said. “My name is Benoit, I am your serveur. And this is my assistant, Monique.” Monique smiled and tipped her head a little. “Good evening.” “Hi,” we said in unison.

Benoit continued, “Tonight’s meal comes all the way from Paris. We begin with a bottle of fine sparkling grape juice and warm egg-basted croissants.” Monique set the basket of rolls on the table while Benoit uncorked the bottle and poured our glasses half full of the juice.

“We will return shortly with your hors d’oeuvre. Bon appétite,” he said. They left the room.

“This is so much fun,” Taylor said. “Do you know them?” “My mom introduced me to Benoit this morning. He’s the ranch’s head chef.” “Is he really French?”

“I think so.”

Benoit returned a few minutes later carrying a small oval plate with crackers and some salmon-colored pasty stuff I had never seen before.

“This is pâté de foie gras. It is a fine goose-liver pâté. Enjoy.” He turned and left.

Taylor just looked at me with a funny expression.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t order goose liver.” “It’s not that,” she said, smiling. “I just can’t believe you would go to all this trouble for me.” “You mean like, compared to breaking into the academy?” She laughed. “I shouldn’t be surprised.” She spread the pâté on a cracker and took a bite. “Mmm, this is delicious.” “Really? You’re a lot braver than I am.” “No,” she said. “I’m definitely not.” She held the rest of the cracker up to my mouth. “Try it.” I opened my mouth and she fed me. “What do you think?” “It’s good.”

“Of course it’s good. You didn’t think Benoit would lead us astray, did you?” “I don’t really know Benoit,” I said.

She reached over and took my hand. “So I’ve been thinking. I was complaining the other day about the things I’ve missed out on, but the truth is, I have something every girl dreams of: a real-life fairy tale. The brave knight stormed into the castle and rescued the princess from a fire-breathing dragon. How many girls can say that?” “In this scenario, Hatch is the fire-breathing dragon?” Taylor laughed. “Yes, he’s the dragon.” She looked at me a moment more, then added, “And I’m the princess.” “Yeah, I figured it out,” I said.

Ten minutes later Benoit returned with two bowls of French onion soup. He waited for Taylor to try it. “C’est à votre goût?” he asked. “Do you like it?” “It’s delicious,” Taylor said.

“Très bien,” he said, again leaving us.

For our main course we had lobster and filet mignon topped with blue cheese crumbles and burgundy wine sauce. On the side we had a baked potato and wild asparagus. Monique came out a few times to check on us and fill our water glasses. As the night waned Taylor spoke less.

After Monique brought out our dessert, a crème brûlée, I said to Taylor, “You’re kind of quiet tonight.” “Sorry,” she said. “I just have a lot on my mind. It’s too bad you can’t read my thoughts.” “You’ll just have to tell me what you’re thinking.” “I was just thinking about when we first met.” I nodded. “It’s hard to believe how much things have changed.” “I know, right? Jack was bullying you. Now he practically worships you.” “And I practically worshipped you back then.” She playfully cocked her head. “You’re saying that you don’t practically worship me anymore?” “Now I actually worship you.”

She smiled.

“I’ve never told you this, but my first Valentine’s Day at Meridian I made a Valentine’s card for you. I was going to give it to you, but then I got scared. So when no one was looking, I shoved it in your locker.” Her eyes lit up. “I remember that card. That was you?” “There’s no way you remember that,” I said.

She looked into my eyes. “It said, ‘You are the most beautiful girl in the world.’ ” I looked at her in surprise. “You do remember.” “How would a girl forget that?” She shook her head slowly. “The sad thing is, I had a boyfriend at the time. But I knew it wasn’t from him because he wouldn’t do anything that nice.” She frowned. “What was wrong with me? Why would I go out with someone who didn’t treat me very well? Why wasn’t I with you?” “Because I wasn’t cool,” I said.

Her frown grew. “That makes me feel bad.” “I’m sorry,” I said. “Maybe it was because you didn’t know I existed.” “I knew you existed. You were that cute boy who sat next to me.” “Who blinked a lot.”

“Who blinked a lot,” she said. She grinned. “I remember the first time I saw you, you winked at me. I didn’t know you had Tourette’s, so I just thought you were flirting.” “How do you know I wasn’t?”

She leaned forward. “Because you were way too shy.” “I wasn’t shy.”

Her eyebrows rose in disbelief. “No?” “No. I was just terrified.”

She laughed.

After dinner Monique cleared away the table; then soft music started playing, Colby Cross’s “Forever My Love.” “You know Colby’s my favorite singer,” Taylor said. “I got to sit in the front row at her concert when . . .” She stopped. I knew why. The pain of remembering was too much. Her smile fell. “I betrayed her.” “I know,” I said. “You told me about it. But it was Hatch’s fault. And it certainly hasn’t hurt Colby’s career.” She looked at me gratefully, then took my hand. “Let’s dance.” I really didn’t know how to dance, but I put my arms around her and we just kind of swayed to the music. Sometime during the second song she said, “Me too.” I looked at her. “Me too what?”

“I’m sorry. Your thoughts are so strong right now, I thought you said that out loud.” “Said what?”

“I wish this would never end.”

I held her tighter.

We danced for a few more songs; then Taylor started crying, gently at first, then hard. Some of her tears ran down my cheek. I looked at her. “What’s wrong?” “Nothing,” she said, laying her head on my shoulder.

“What is it?”

“It’s just that, I’ve never felt this way before.” “What way?”

“So afraid.” She looked up at me as another tear rolled down her cheek. “Tonight’s been so wonderful, but it is going to end. And tomorrow we go to Taiwan. . . .” For a moment she couldn’t speak. Then she said, “I’m scared. If something happens to you . . .” “Nothing will happen to us,” I said. But the second I said it, thoughts of Wade came to mind. I quickly forced the thoughts out, hoping she hadn’t heard them.

She just clung to me tighter. “No, you’re right. Nothing will happen.” * * *

I’m not sure what time it was when we returned to the Ranch House, but it was way past midnight and I had to wake our carriage rider, who had fallen asleep on his seat. After we got back I walked Taylor to her room and we stopped outside her door. She gazed at me sweetly. “Thank you, Michael.” “I just didn’t want you to go through life without a prom.” “That was the best prom I could ever have.” She leaned forward and we kissed. We must have kissed for a long time because Mrs. Ridley came to the door and neither of us even noticed her until she cleared her throat.

“It’s late,” she said.

“Sorry,” I said to Taylor.

Taylor grinned. “I’m not.” She leaned forward and kissed me again. “Good night, Michael.” “Good night.”

Her mother looked at me and mouthed, “Thank you.” I turned and walked down the hall to my own room, where Ostin lay fast asleep. Even as late as it was, I couldn’t sleep. For nearly an hour I just lay there thinking. I was new to this romance stuff, so maybe that’s why it was so confusing, but I couldn’t understand how tonight could simultaneously be the happiest and saddest night of my entire life.