Please kindly let me know what you think of my idea for Ch. 7. I'll be waiting, anxiously :) Thank you!
- Story starts here -
7. I'm Engaged!?
In one quiet weekend, Albert was accompanying aunt Elroy to spend a leisure evening. He was reading newspaper and she was reading and replying letters. Candy was out with Patty and Tom.
"William, when are you going to marry Candy?" asked aunt Elroy suddenly breaking the silence.
Albert was caught off guard. He wasn't prepared to discuss his marriage topic and tried to avoid the discussion by saying calmly that he'd just wait and see.
"Goodness William, how long will it take you to wait and see. Don't you think you know her well enough already?"
Albert made some excuses and mentioned some trivial problems like age difference and other things.
"What age difference? You two only have a few years age difference," said aunt Elroy.
Aunt Elroy said, "Do you love her? Regardless, that doesn't matter either. Love matters only for the first year. You know her well enough, you two get along very well, why don't you just marry her and have babies soon."
Candy was getting more and more beautiful each day. It's stupid to believe that he's interested in her only as a brother or a father. When they were dancing together, the feeling was strong as he held her in his arms. He loved her company and really loved doing things with her.
One night, Albert planned to propose to Candy. He took Candy to a romantic dinner. He was about to kiss her in her lips when, again, an image of a woman appeared in his brain. As usual, the image distracted him so much. Suddenly, he felt so wrong to propose to Candy no matter how much he tried to ignore it. Out of confusion, he changed his mind about proposing her. He kissed her cheek as usual, they had the dinner and went back home.
At home, Albert was thinking about the image. These past few months, this woman's image had appeared so often in his brain. Every time he wanted to be closer to Candy, he always saw someone else's face in his mind and his heart felt so wrong. He had tried to ignore it, but recently the image had appeared more frequently. It distracted him greatly and became impossible to ignore. He even dreamed about her. In his dreams, he saw a woman who looked like Candy but she's not Candy. Countless of times he woke up with cold sweat.Without all these, he would have had kissed Candy and proposed to her since long time ago. He wondered if that woman was part of the past memory that had not come back yet. Who is she?
Albert felt really awful. He felt less and less comfortable to be with Candy. A few days later, as usual in the summer, Albert went to London to visit Ardlay London office. Albert felt relieved that he's far from Candy. He was sad that he felt that way. He wished he could regain the memory quicker so he could stop being suspicious to Candy and behaved normally to her.
One day, he got what he had been wishing for.
One night, suddenly Albert woke up and shouted, "Christine!" I can't believe it. I am engaged! My goodness, how to explain this to Candy?
Finally, Albert remembered the event that took place two years ago. The morning before he rode on that faithful train, he had just proposed to Christine. He didn't remember yet the details other than he loved her so much. He remembered that they promised to meet each other every year on July 23rd in London bridge should they lose contact because of the war. After proposing to Christine, he rode the train, the train was blown up, he lost his memory and of course he didn't come to meet her last year. He never told her his identity, so did she.
Next week is July 23rd,I'll go to see her, thought Albert. He wondered if she would come considering he didn't show up last year.
On the specified date, Albert went to the bridge. He heard a woman call him.
"Albert?"
He turned around and saw a woman who looked like Candy. The height was about the same, the hair was blonde too. He had not yet remembered what they did together in the past, but he knew definitely she was Christine.
"Christine?" he said.
"Albert you come!" Christine shouted excitedly.
She ran to hug him but Albert just stood there frozen not sure what to do. He thought, this is her, this is her. But his mind was heavy thinking about Candy. How to explain to Candy that he had engaged? In addition, he didn't remember much about this woman other than he's supposed to love her so much.
Seeing Albert gave no reaction, Christine stopped running to him.
"Christine, I need to explain," Albert said.
Seeing how cold he was, Christine wondered if Albert was in love with someone else especially that he didn't come last year.
"There were many things happened in this past two years," Albert said, didn't know where to start. "Last year, I was sick, I lost my memory. It's a long story. And Albert is only my middle name."
She stared at him surprised.He looked odd. His behavior was very different from Albert she knew. He seemed remote and very far away. His eyes didn't seem to recognize her. She wondered if he knew who she was or perhaps he found someone new. Her heart ached with the latter possibility.
"Well, Christine is also my middle name. But why is it important? Are you with someone else, Albert? Is that what you want to tell me?"
"I am not with anyone but there's this woman who saved my life. I told you last year I was sick," said Albert.
"Are you in love with her?" asked Christine.
"Christine, no, but... It's complicated," said Albert. "To be honest with you, I don't really remember much about us. I need some time..."
Christine felt so disappointed. She really didn't want to hear his complicated excuses. She's so sure he's in love with that other woman. So she cut him off.
"Albert, that's okay."
Christine's eyes were flooded with tears although she didn't show that to Albert. She's very disappointed and sad. She thought he was her soul mate. She should just walk away but she couldn't help to give one quick farewell kiss on the cheek of the man whom she loved so much. She then took the engagement ring Albert gave her and put it in his hand. With a heavy heart, finally she turned around and walked away.
At that kiss, Albert suddenly remembered more of the past. Her aroma, the hair, her look, the ring brought new pieces of memory back. Seeing her walk away, Albert felt something was wrong. He should call her back. But what about Candy? Albert was glued on his spot debating what to do as he watched Christine walked away farther and farther. When she almost disappeared, he knew for sure it's not right to let her go. He should be with her instead of Candy.
"I am so sorry, Candy. I am very sorry but I belong to Christine," Albert whispered.
He clenched the engagement ring as hard as he could and ran to chase her.
"Christine, wait!" called Albert.
Christine was happy that he called her back. She turned around and saw Albert running to her. She couldn't resist anymore, she ran to him and hugged him tightly. She missed him so much. Feeling her hug brought back the past memory. Now he remembered all. He met her in one of his adventures in Africa. She's one of the volunteer doctors. In one occasion, she told him that she lived in London and they went back together to the UK. He proposed to her and went on that faithful train.
This is she, Albert thought. This is the woman that I had in my dreams, the one I have been feeling. It's her not Candy. All this time, I mistook Candy for her.
Finally, every bit of his memory was back. Now he understood why he could never be intimate with Candy. Why he always felt wrong whenever he wanted to kiss her lips. Because deep in his soul he knew he belonged to someone else. After a while, Albert slowly returned her hug. He then put the ring back in her finger and kissed her. He felt so sure that it's her that he loved. The feeling, the emotion, everything was right. All fit, matched and flowed perfectly and smoothly. He took her to his room. They shared more kisses, unbutton each other's clothes and had such a magical night together.
When they were done as they lay in bed, Christine said, "I was waiting for you last year. I knew there's something that's why you didn't show up." She cried. "I had waited for you for two years and not a single day passed by when I doubted your love."
Albert was so touched. He hugged her, "Christine, from now on we will always be together."
Christine looked at his eyes and found the Albert she knew there. No more an empty stare like what he gave her just now. She felt very happy.
"You look super handsome with short hair, Albert." She kissed him.
Albert kissed her again and started an even more magical time together.
When he woke up in the morning, he found Christine in his arms. He felt happy to finally remember their past, but he also started to worry thinking how to explain this to Candy.
Christine looked at him and said, "You're thinking about her, aren't you?"
"Last year I got a pretty bad amnesia. I didn't even remember who I was. She saved me. Without her, probably I'd be dead by now."
"Do you love her?" asked Christine.
"I enjoy her company. Probably she does too because we are the best of friends. But about love, I don't know what she exactly thinks of me. We never discuss what we feel to one another."
He paused.
"I guess somehow I mistook her as you. Unconsciously, I think I knew she wasn't you because whenever I tried to be closer to her, something within me resisted that. It's like my heart had been telling me that I got a wrong person. We can't fool love."
Albert looked at her with a smile.
"Christine, my full name is William Albert Ardlay," said Albert.
Of course Christine knew that famous man. She said,"My full name is Mary Christine Stanley. Daughter of Lord Stanley and Lady Mary."
Albert also had heard about her parents. They are famous UK socialites. Lady Mary was a respected patron of many important hospitals in London. Her work in health care won international respects and accolades. Maybe that's why Christine was interested in the medical field too.
Albert smiled and said, "Well, nice meeting you." He kissed her. "By the way, the woman who saved me is also my daughter."
Christine looked at him surprised.
"Adopted daughter, of course. It's a long story, I'll tell you more about her next time. Now let's do this first," said Albert and started to make love with her again.
-TO BE CONTINUED-
Albert is (much) older than his nephews or Candy. If they can have love interests, so can he...
