"A New Beginning"



The young woman walked down the street with her arms crossed and her shoulders hunched forward. This posture made her seem shorter than her height of five feet and six inches. Her dark brown, shoulder-length hair was curly and looked as if it was streaked with red coloring. She walked with a weariness that made her seem older, even though she had just turned twenty-one.

Renee Mackenzie had loved in New York City for three years. She was still not comfortable there though. She grew up in a small town. This was a large change from that. However, this was the only place she could go to a school for just writing on a full scholarship. Before she had received the scholarship, she had never even heard of Vorschlag Industries. Of course, she did know who Kenneth Irons was; everyone did. He was the most powerful man in the city.

Walking into her apartment, she slipped out of her coat and tossed it onto the couch. Her answering machine blinked, telling her she had messages. When she hit the play button, she heard the automated voice say, "You have two new messages."

"Renee, I'm sorry I didn't call a week ago," her father's voice said over the machine. "I know your birthday was last week, and I missed it again. I'll try to call again sometime when you're more likely to be in."

"Empty apologies and promises," she muttered as the message ended.

"Hey, hon. Wish I could have caught you. Anyway, just wanted to remind you that I'm gonna be leaving here in the morning. I should arrive around lunchtime. So, I'll see you then. Love ya."

Renee had to smile even though the message wasn't for her. As she was turning away, the door opened. "Hey, Kota," she greeted her friend and roommate. "Jason called," she told her, nodding at the machine.

"What did he say?"

"Just wanted to remind you that he's leaving in the morning."

"Like I'd forget," she said with a smile. "Oh, yeah. Someone called for you earlier."

"Yeah, my dad," she said bitterly.

"No, someone else. It was a guy," she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Stop teasing, Kota."

"Hold on. I wrote the name down somewhere."

While she looked for the name, Renee walked into their bedroom and changed into some old jeans and a t-shirt. "Found it," she heard her friend, Dakota, say as she came to stand in the doorway. "Gabriel Bowman. Left his address, too. Gonna get a date, Renee?" She teased.

Renee just rolled her eyes. "Yeah right. He's the one who runs that website. What's the address?"

She told her the address she'd been given. Then, Renee grabbed her coat and left. She walked the few blocks to the address, saw the name of the website on the door, and knocked. After waiting a minute, she knocked again afraid the first one was too soft. The door swung open, and a young man not much older than her stood there. His brown hair looked liked he hadn't taken a comb to it yet. His soft brown eyes seemed to fit with the smile on his face.

"Are you Gabriel Bowman?" She asked.

"Yep. And who are you?"

"Renee Mackenzie. I contacted you about..."

He interrupted her. "A necklace. Can I see it? Otherwise I don't think I can help."

"Sure."

They walked inside, and she pulled a box out of her pocket. Opening it, he scrutinized the necklace. A rose sat in a horseshoe, and two hearts were connected to the rose. There was an amber stone in the middle of the rose. He nodded his head. "I've heard of it before. Oige rath ghra." When he saw her confused look, he apologized. "Sorry. That's Gaelic. Youth, luck, love. It's been around for over 500 years. From Scotland. The head of clan Kenzie had it made for his wife, Aideen."

"How sweet," she said in a sarcastic voice.

"You don't sound like a typical hopeless romantic female," he said with a smile.

"I'm not."

"Ok. Anyway, the horseshoe supposedly stands for good luck, the hearts for true love, and the rose for youth. The stone is said to be magical which has caused this amulet to last for so long."

"This is the original?"

"Yep. It's the only one. How'd you get it?"

"My dad gave it to me. Said he had to continue the cycle. Still have no idea what he meant by that."

"Well, the story goes that Aideen gave it to her youngest daughter, Aine, before she married. Aine died before she could pass it on to her youngest daughter though. So her husband gave it to her. Since then, before the youngest daughter leaves home, her father hands it down to her."

"But my dad didn't have any sisters, so it must have been given to him instead. He is the youngest of three boys," she said more to herself than to him.

"So did you want to sell that or just see how much it is worth?" Gabriel asked as he tried to figure how much money he could get out of it either way. Whether he made it now or later didn't matter.

"Huh?" She had been jerked from her musing by the sound of his voice, and it took her a moment to think about what he had said. "Oh. Neither, really. I just wanted some information on it. Did you want some kind of payment for that?"

"You could let me take you to dinner."

"You're forward."

"Nope. Just being friendly."

"Well, sorry, but I don't even know you."

"You sure about that?" He asked with a teasing grin.

"Something about you seems familiar, but I know I've never met you before. I remember people's faces and names. And sorry, but I'm not gonna go out with a complete stranger."

The corner of his mouth lifted in a surrendering smile, but disappointment was etched in his face. "Thanks for the info," she said, then turned and left.

Gabriel couldn't help but watch her walk away. There was determination in her gait. She wasn't one to just wander around. when he had looked in her eyes though, he had seen uncertainty. She was beautiful even though she wore no makeup. Her brown eyes were sharp with intelligence. He felt drawn to her by something besides her beauty though.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Renee walked slowly to her apartment. "I can't believe he asked me out to dinner," she muttered to herself. "I can't trust him yet. I don't even know the boy." She stopped when she noticed the looks other pedestrians shot at her. She mentally shook her head. When was she going to learn not to talk to herself when other people could hear? And why was she calling him a boy? He has to be at least the same age as me, she thought to herself.

When she walked through the door, Dakota bombarded her with questions. "What was he like? Cute? Nice? He sounded so nice on the phone. And smart. Was he? Come on, tell me."

Renee laughed at her friend. "Kota, it wasn't a date."

"Please tell me," she begged.

"Fine. Yes, yes, and yes. In no particular order," she said, and they both laughed.

"Your dad called again while you were gone."

"What did he want this time?" She asked as she looked through the cupboards for something to eat.

"To talk to you. Why don't you call him back, Renee?"

"Because," was all that she would say.

"That's not a good answer, Renee. Both of us know you don't hate him."

"I know that. I love him. He just never realized that."

"Maybe he has now.

"Well, it's a bit late now, don't you think?"

Dakota knew it was pointless to argue with her friend when her mind was set in the stubborn mode. She took two microwave dinners from the freezer and handed one to Renee who had given up on the cupboards. Twenty minutes later they had finished eating and were sitting quietly at the table. A knock at the door startled them. Dakota was closer to the door, so she answered it.

"Come in," she told their guest. When she stepped out of the way, Gabriel Bowman walked into the apartment.

"What are you doing here?" Renee asked, genuinely surprised.

"You left your necklace at the shop. Just wanted to return it."

"How did you know where I live?"

"Looked you up in the phone book."

"Oh," she replied, blushing with embarrassment. "Of course."

"Would you like to stay for a bit?" Dakota asked him with a mischievous look.

Seeing Renee tense up at the suggestion, he declined. "I have to be leaving. Maybe I'll see the two of you again though."

Once he had left, Renee asked, "What did you do that for?"

"Do what?" She asked innocently.

"You know what."

"Just trying to get you to smile more. Thought maybe he could help."

"Well, will you stop trying to set me up? I'll find my own guy in my own time."

"Fine. Was just trying to help."

The next morning, Renee was sitting at the computer after eating breakfast. Dakota had woken up late and was just starting to eat. She looked up at Renee and asked, "Why don't you go see him? You know you've got it bad. When you're on that computer, you forget what you got on to do. And when you try to write, you completely lose track of your thoughts."

"Who is it I'm supposed to be seeing?"

"Um, how about a young man who has an interest in ancient artifacts and talismans. Lovely brown eyes. Nice. Smart. Ringing any bells?"

She shook her head and lied. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

"Renee, why don't you give it up? You're definitely thinking about him. I can tell you like him."

"He's cute," she admitted. "But I don't even know him."

"Well, how are you supposed to get to know him if you never talk to him?"

Renee just rolled her eyes at Dakota's persistence. Before either of them could say anything else, the phone rang. Glad for the interruption, Renee answered it on the second ring. "Hello?"

"Glad I was finally able to catch you, Renee."

"Hi, Dad."

When she returned the phone to its receiver ten minutes later, Dakota grabbed their coats and handed Renee's to her. "Where are we going?"

Dakota didn't answer her. She just walked out the door and waited for her friend to follow. When she saw where they were going, Renee stopped. "Kota, I don't want to see him."

"Too bad. We're gonna solve your problem now."

After several more minutes of persuasion, Renee finally gave in. "Fine. I'll go see him. But nothing will come of it. I don't like him. I just think he's cute."

Dakota knocked on the door of the shop and waited for it to be answered. When Gabriel opened the door, she told him, "Renee wanted to talk to you." Before either of them could say anything, she added, "I have to get going. Supposed to be picking Jason up in about an hour. Need to get ready. You two have fun." She smiled at them and hurried out of the room before Renee could stop her.

"So what did you want?"

"I didn't want anything. She forced me into coming here."

"So you didn't actually want to see me?"

"Nope." When she saw the pained look he tried to hide, she apologized. "Sorry. I don't have anything against you personally. In fact, you seem rather nice. But still, you're a guy."

"Yeah, last time I checked anyway."

Renee laughed, then said, "You are a bit of a smart ass, aren't you?"

"I do my best."

His phone rang, and he left to answer it. Renee wandered around the shop, picking up and replacing the objects. When he returned, she was looking at a large silver pocket watch.

"That used to belong to Winston Churchill."

She jumped at the sound of his voice and almost dropped the watch. "Really? Wasn't he the Prime Minister of England or something?"

"Yeah, he was."

"Is that just a spin to sell it?"

"Nope, that's the truth."

There was a moment of awkward silence when they realized that they didn't have anything to talk about. Then she asked, "Who called?"

"Just a friend. She's gonna be stopping by."

"Maybe I should be going then."

"Don't worry about it. You'll probably like Sara."

About five minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Gabriel let his guest in. She was tall with long, dark, brown hair and green eyes. She was slim and looked to be strong, both mentally and physically. "So, who's your friend, Gabriel?" She asked with a smile.

He returned the smile. "Sara, this is Renee Mackenzie," Turning to Renee, he said, "this is Sara Pezzeni. Now that the introductions are over, let's go in and sit."

Renee declined. "I need to be going. Have an assignment due Monday, and I've hardly even started on it."

She said goodbye to both of them and walked outside. As the door closed behind her, she heard Gabriel tell Sara, "Hey, I'm glad you called." Then she was out of hearing range.

All the way home, she berated herself. "What are you doing, Renee? Don't go and fall for another guy. Don't be stupid. You'll just get close to him, then he'll either get tired of you and leave or something will happen to him. That's what always happens when you get close to someone. This time won't be any different." By the time she reached the apartment, Renee had convinced herself that there was no point in starting a relationship with Gabriel Bowman no matter how interested she was in him.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You like her." Sara stated it as a fact, not a question.

"Huh?" His mind hadn't been on their conversation, and now he was confused about what she was saying.

"That girl, Renee. You like her."

He shrugged. "She's not interested. I gathered from the way she talks that she doesn't have much faith in men. Probably not in people in general either. Her friend had to drag her down here to talk to me."

"Well, she seemed nice. Stay near her. She'll come around."

"I hope so."