Hurriedly she climbed the stairs and walked down the hallway, pausing at the guest room door. Her hand on the door knob, she slowly pushed it open and peered inside, smiling at how immaculately clean it was; his clothes folded neatly on the dresser and his robe and pajamas carefully placed at the foot of the bed. It was a far cry from her room-his room, soon to be their room-for tonight anyway. The thought both excited and intimidated her.
In the course of barely a week, she'd managed to claim his room as her own, her clothes strewn all over. Although not in complete disarray, it was nothing like his guest room, which was as neat as a pin. But it shouldn't have surprised her. Niles was always that way; so meticulous about everything. And to think that it used to annoy her to no end. Now she embraced it, just as she embraced everything about him. Never again would she take him for granted. Ever. They would be together forever. She was certain of it.
The sight of the impeccably neat room made her smile. They were two different people from two completely different worlds. In the real world there was no possible way a relationship such as theirs would ever work out. He, a sophisticated, well-educated psychiatrist with a family that consisted of a brother who could have been his twin (in demeanor anyway), and a father who was worlds apart from his own sons. And she, a home health care worker from Manchester with a very large family. But somehow, through what could only be considered fate (which she'd never really believed in until this week), they'd found their way to each other.
She was happier than she'd ever dreamed she could be.
She entered her room-his room, their room and walked to the bed, sitting down upon it. Her heart was racing and then began to flutter as she ran her hand over the soft comforter. Sometime in the not-so-distant past, perhaps he had been in this bed, the comforter keeping him warm, just as it had her, as she'd cried herself to sleep all of those nights. If only she'd had him to hold her while she cried, perhaps she wouldn't have felt so alone.
But that was over now. She'd never be lonely again, and neither would he.
Her heart was still beating rapidly as she picked up the receiver and stared at the numbers, saying them silently in her mind. It was a phone number she knew by heart; a number she called almost every day. She chided herself for not doing this sooner, for not getting in touch. But she was calling now, and perhaps that's all that mattered. She wasn't certain of what the reaction might be. The conversation could go any number of ways and she prepared herself for anything. But she could only pray that in the end there would be understanding and even forgiveness.
Her fingers trembling she held the phone in her hand and began to dial.
