The Race of Love
Chapter 2
"The Reunion"
Candy was getting ready to go to the train station with her little suitcase, when she saw Alistair waiting for her.
- Hey Candy!
- Alistair?
- Yes! Annie told me about your little journey
- Oh…
- I'll take you to the train station…
- Thanks Alistair, said Candy smiling
She got in the car.
- You want some company in New York?
- No, I'm fine
- Are you sure?
- Yes, I'm a big girl
- It's a big city, for a young girl alone…
- I'll find a hotel and take a room…
- I'll give you money, in case something happens
- That's not necessary…
- Candy, better safe than sorry… or I'll come with you and ruin your reunion with Terry!
- You wouldn't!
- Try me!
- All right Alistair, thank you…I can't wait to see Terry!
- I got you the exact address of the Stratford Troupe…
- Oh… Thank you so much
- You can relax now, you know where you're going… just take a cab when you get to New York
- I don't know what it is, but I got this weird feeling…
- What kind of feeling?
- Like the one I had in London when Terry left…
- You think he's going back to England?
- I don't know, I just have this really weird feeling, that I have to hurry to get there or it's going to be too late! !
- All right, well you're on your way…
- Yes I am, I wish I could fly to him!
- I wish I could take you there with my airplane…
- Your airplane? No thanks, I want to get to Terry whole, not with broken bones!
They burst out laughing. They arrived at the train station. Alistair took Candy's suitcase and he went inside the train and helped her settle in. It as first class and a private cabin with a bed.
- Oh my God Annie…!
- She wanted you to be comfortable…
- I'll say! Said Candy smiling
- Have a safe trip, he said
Candy hugged him.
- Thanks for the ride Alistair
- Anytime! Good luck Candy
- Thank you! I'm going to need it
- Everything is going to be fine, you have to be optimistic! Think positive!
- Right! Think positive!!
- Ok, I better get off the train before it leaves with me! Bye Candy!
- All right, bye Alistair!
Alistair got off the train and Candy went to the window too wave at him while the train was leaving. She waved at him until he disappeared. The trip was going to be a long one!!
- It's a good thing I brought a book to read this time around…Sister Maria gave me this; The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come…
She started reading the book, which was very interesting and she put it down only when she fell asleep. She woke up hours later and it was diner time. They brought her dinner and she ate in her cabin. She took her book and read it again…She woke up in the morning, a few hours before the train got to New York. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, had breakfast. She continued reading her book, until she finally arrived to New York. She took her suitcase and she took a cab to go straight to the theatre…
Terry woke up that morning with a weird feeling. He was going to get Candy. He needed her in his life… His bag was ready, he didn't take much things, he would buy whatever he needed in London… He got out of his apartment, stopped a cab and he was on his way to the harbour to get on the Mauritania. He remembered the last time he took the Mauritania from New York ; he had met the girl of his dreams, and he made fun of her freckles… That was one of the best nights of his life, the night he met her… He put his bag in his cabin and he went to wave at people like everybody…
"Just for the heck of it! He thought smiling, I'm happy, I'm on my way to see Candy"
Candy's cab arrived at the theatre. She paid her fare and she knocked on the door. Susanna Marlowe opened the door. She was stunned to see Candy again! She panicked what if Terry sees her? No he must be on the boat already.
- You again?! You followed him here? Can't you just leave him alone?!
- Miss Marlowe, I'm not a fan, I need to speak to Terrence Grandchester, it's an emergency…
- He's not available…
- He's not asleep, this time, so please, could you tell him I need to see him?
- I told you he wasn't available
- Please Miss Marlowe, I need to speak to him! Said Candy louder
Stan who was passing by, heard them talk.
- What's going on? He asked, Susanna?
- I'm here to see Terrence Grandchester, said Candy happy to see a new face
- Terry? Said Stan
- Yes, Terry said Candy smiling
- He's gone…
- Gone? Said Candy
- I told you he wasn't available! Said Susanna
- Gone where? Asked Candy to Stan ignoring Susanna
- He went back to England to get his fiancée…
- Fiancée? Said Candy surprised
- Yes… her name is Candy, he wants to protect her from the war by bringing her here…
Candy looked at Stan surprised, but all she could think about was Terry was going to England to get her!!
- Oh my God! Said Candy, I'm Candy, I'm here! That's why I came to see him, to tell him I was here in America!!
- Oh Lord! Said Stan, the boat should be leaving in a few minutes, you have to catch him before he goes to England for nothing!
- Not again! Said Candy, thank you so much sir! Bye! I have to catch Terry!!
Candy ran out of there, stopped a cab, got in and almost yelled breathless:
- Take me to the harbour as fast as possible! She said
- Very well Miss, said the driver
The cab went at the harbour quickly; the driver was going very very fast. Candy thought she was never going to make it! When the car finally stopped, Candy jumped out, ran to the harbour but the boat was leaving…She had a déjà vu feeling… Her heart breaking into a thousand pieces…
- TERRYYYYYYYYYY!! She yelled her lungs out
Terry was on the boat and he thought he was dreaming… He heard her voice calling him, like in Southampton, like in Chicago. He started looking for her with his eyes. When he finally saw Candy trying to make her way through the crowd, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on her ... He called out her name.
- CANDYYYY!!
- TERRYYYYYY!! Don't go! I'm here!!
- Candy!! Oh my God! I have to get off…!!
- How??
- I'm going to jump!!
- Oh my God!!
Terry went to the side of the boat where it was safe for him to jump and he did! People started screaming the coast guard took a boat to go get him, thinking he was a lunatic! They picked him up, he was swimming to his love without getting tired. They gave him a blanket. Candy went to wait for him. When he got off the little boat, she jumped to his neck. And they hugged.
- I can't believe you just did that!! She said
- I was going to England to get you…and you were here all along!
- I'm so glad I caught you on time this time…!
- This time?
- At Southampton, I arrived too late, the boat was gone
- I heard you calling my name, it was really you! Oh my God! If only I had seen you!
- You would've jumped in the water too?
- You bet your life I would've! You came …
- I wanted to go with you! How could you leave me in that awful school without you??
- I thought I was saving you… your cousins were saying that you might be kicked out of the family…
- For being expelled? Then that family is not really worth it is it? Unable to take a little mistake …
- I wanted to marry you…
- Marry me? Then why didn't you? Oh Terry…how could you leave me?!
- I love you Candy. I was a fool for leaving you. I'm so sorry… how did you know where I was?
- Well you came to Chicago with your troupe…
- Chicago? He said stunned
He thought about it…
- The fans, the crowd yelling my name, I thought I heard you…
- You heard me? She said surprised
- Yes…
- Why didn't you stop?
- I did, and I looked, you weren't there
- That must've been when I fell on the ground pushed by your numerous fans…
- Oh my God! You were there!! I thought I was going crazy!! I saw that mean girl, Eliza, she didn't say a word about you being in Chicago. I asked her where you were…
- After what she did to us, you didn't really expect her to answer you, did you?
- I thought she had grown up…
- Eliza wants you; never in a million years would she help you get to me…
- I was so excited to see her…
- Excited to see Eliza??
- Yes, after hearing your voice at the theatre, I couldn't stop thinking about you… so when I saw her, I knew you were cousins, I had hope that she would tell me about your whereabouts…
- Oh Terry, you were happy to see Eliza because of me?? That's too funny!
They burst out laughing.
- By the way thanks for paying your friend Charlie's bill…at the hospital
- How do you know about that…? How do you know Charlie?
- I haven't told you yet, I'm studying to be a nurse…
- A nurse? You were a good one when you helped me out that night
- Really, you didn't even show any gratitude…
- I'm sorry, I was a boar…, he said laughing
- That you were! She said laughing with him
They were now walking to take a cab and check in a hotel. She told him how she knew Charlie and what happened with Neil and Eliza. They were now inside the cab.
- Oh my God!
- Thanks for saving me, even if you didn't know it…
- You're very welcome… Now I'm dying to do something here, Freckles
- You want to kiss me?
- Yes…
- So what on earth are you waiting for?? I'm dying too!
- Really? I thought that…
He was interrupted as she pulled him to her and their lips were welded. Candy had been dreaming of the kiss for so long, she couldn't believe it was finally happening. If the first one was wonderful, this one was marvellous, fantastic and out of this world!
