Chapter 2
Swan Family History
As Sydney woke up the next morning her phone started to ring. She stretched and got out of bed. When she finally answered the phone she heard a familiar voice on the other end of the line. "Hey, Sydney, it's Sark. I wanted to know if we could get together for lunch today to talk about what happened last night."
"Sure, I was going to call you sometime today to see if we could get together to talk about that. You must have read my mind, Sark." Sydney said with a smile on her face realizing that it wouldn't be that hard to apologize after all. When she had first heard his voice she could see those bright blue eyes in her mind. She couldn't wait to see him again today.
"Ok, I'll see you at noon then. Bye."
"Ok, bye." Sydney hung up the phone and went to take a shower.
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When Sark knocked on Sydney's hotel room, she answered the door wearing a not too formal, but not too casual sundress. Sark saw what she was wearing and just stared until Sydney spoke. "You know, you should take a picture. It would last longer than just staring at me like that." She noticed that he was wearing his usual black pants and a white dress shirt tucked just perfectly into the perfectly fitted pants. She too couldn't help, but stare.
"Same to you, ever since you opened that door you couldn't keep your eyes off me. Oh and are your things packed? You are going to stay with me for a while." Sark said as Sydney looked at him with a mysterious look on her face.
"I'm staying with you?" Sark nodded. "Ok, well, I hadn't unpacked my bags. There right over here." Sark grabbed her things and Sydney followed him down the hall and out to where Sark had parked his car.
They were silent all the way to Sark's house. He knew that they could talk in privacy there. He turned down his street that led to his house, though most people would have called it a mansion.
As they turned into the driveway, Sydney's eyes widened. "Whose house is this?"
"It's mine. Like it?" Sark said as he pressed the code to open the tall iron-gate that was blocking his way to the driveway up to the house.
"It's yours? Wow, it's beautiful. How many bedrooms does it have?" Sydney asked as they came to a stop.
"Eight. I also have full bathrooms for each. When I have parties some of the guests stay here in one of the guest rooms. There are of course seven guest rooms and the one master bedroom that is mine." Sark said as they got out of the car and walked up to the front door. He got his keys out and unlocked the door and walked in.
Sydney couldn't believe her eyes. She saw two staircases on each side of the room going up to the top of the balcony. In the middle of the ceiling she couldn't help but notice a chandelier that was bigger than her apartment bedroom back at the States. "When was it built?"
"It was built in 1945 by a British man named Edward Swan. He was a soldier in WWII and when it was done he decided to build a house big enough for him and his seven children. Each child was from a different mother." Sark was saying until Sydney interrupted.
"Seven children came from seven different women?" Sark nodded. "What happened to the women?"
"No one knows. One day they all just disappeared." Sydney looked around.
"Why isn't the family still living here?" Sydney asked. Most families would pass the house off from generation to generation.
"They're all dead now. Five years later he went crazy and killed all of his children when they were all sleeping in their rooms. There was a severe thunderstorm out and it was so loud the children didn't here their doors open. The age range of them was from 4-16. The next day when he finally realized what he did, he went to his own room and killed himself the same way he had killed his children. They were the last ones of their generation. There are no more Swans out there that were related to the ones who had lived here." Sark said as he began to walk up the stairs to show Sydney which room she would be staying in.
Sark opened the door to the bedroom that was closest to his. Inside, Sydney saw a king sized bed with beige covers, sheets, and pillows. Almost everything in the room was beige except for the oak bed stand and dressers. All the walls and even the ceiling were beige. Sydney thought even though it was mostly one color, it looked amazing. She noticed that there were two doors. She went over to one door and opened it. Inside was a walk-in closet. It was huge. Sydney couldn't believe that she was actually in a walk-in closet. There were places for her to put her shoes! Well, it wasn't like she would be living there forever or anything, but she couldn't think of how much she was glad to be able to use one of them.
She went out and closed the door. She walked to the next one and saw that it was her own personal bathroom. It too was huge. It had a whirlpool and even a separate showering stall. She was really happy. The bathroom matched the bedroom. It was beige. The counter top was chrome. She loved it. When she walked out of the room Sark was standing by the door. She noticed he had put her suitcases on the bed. "Do you like it?"
"Like it? I love it! It's amazing! I bet your bedroom is probably better because you have the master bedroom. Which one is yours, anyway?" Sydney asked hoping it was the last door next to hers. For some reason she wanted to be closest to his room. Just in case.
"It's the one next to yours. Come, I'll show you. Just to warn you, it actually is basically the same as this one. I like beige for some reason. Just the texture is appealing. So don't worry if you have déjà vu." Sark said as he showed her to his bedroom.
"Wow, your right. It's a major déjà vu. Anyway, like I said. I love it." Sydney said with a big smile.
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Sark and Sydney sat in the parlor after he had showed her around his house. They sat in silence for a little while until Sydney finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry about what happened last night. I don't know what came over me."
"That's alright, Sydney. If I was you I would have probably left too. The reason why I wanted to talk about last night is that you never got to hear what I had wanted to tell you. You left too quickly and I knew that I shouldn't run after you. You needed some time. Then I said to myself that I would come in the morning, and I did. Anyway, what I wanted to say to you is that I feel the same way for you and always had. I know that we have been enemies, but I had always loved the way you are when you're on a mission. It's just so sexy." Sark said. He tried to remain calm. This was the first time he had ever expressed his feelings for anyone.
Sydney just sat there speechless. For a while, all they did was stare at each other, until Sark got closer and kissed her on the lips. They parted for a while and Sydney then went back and kissed him. The kiss became deep and long until Sydney pulled away. "It's getting late and I'm tired. I think I'll go and unpack and maybe take a nap. I just remembered that it's only 1." She got up and left him there without letting him have a chance to say anything.
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Sydney didn't come out of her room until it was almost six. As she was walking down the steps she could smell something cooking in the kitchen. She walked into the dining room and found Sark sitting at the far end of the table eating what looked to be a juicy steak with fried potatoes. There was also a plate setting at the seat next to him.
Sark looked up. "Sorry, I would have waited, but my cook insisted I eat it quick. I would have waked you, but you had looked to peaceful to wake you up. How are you feeling?" Sark asked as he put a forkful of potatoes into his mouth.
"I'm fine. Not tired anymore. Another thing, I am so sorry about earlier. I guess I just wasn't prepared for that. May I join you? I'm starving." Sydney asked. Sark nodded and Sydney sat down at the seat next to him. One of the maids came out holding a tray with a plate full of potatoes and steak. Sydney's mouth started to water. When the plate was set in front of her, she thanked the maid and immediately took a bite of the potatoes. Mmmm... I'm in heaven. She thought. Then she took a bite of the steak. Again, she loved it. Sark watched her take every bite. He could tell that she was really enjoying it.
"Sark, this is delicious. You have a great cook. I wish I was this good." Sydney said with a look of appreciation on her face.
"Thank you. He's the finest in the country. I'm pretty sure there are better ones out there, but Alfred has been the best for me. I'm hoping I will never have to let him go. He has only been here for about 2 years now. The other one tried to steal what I had and kill me. I ended up getting him arrested." Sydney just listened with curiosity.
For the rest of the meal, they sat I silence. At times they would glance at each other and just smile knowing what they both wanted.
