A/N: Here's a new chapter…enjoy! Don't forget to R/R!! The more reviews the more motivated I am to write, so thanks to those who have and keep them coming!
~Shelby~
I sighed as she took one last look around the classroom she would soon be leaving. The desks were shiny and newly cleaned, smelling of Apple Green with the chairs placed neatly on top, exposing the carpet that would also be cleaned. The walls were bare and only slightly hinted, with rouge pieces of tape, of the smiley faces and large sunflowers that had adorned them weeks earlier. The walls echoed with the long gone laughter, singing and learning of children that moved on but their presence still lingered like an old perfume. My tear filled gaze moved to my old desk, like a treasure chest it stood, that once stored the gold of A's and the jewels of exciting new subjects to be explored. Now it was empty, dull, dead, void of life but the memory was always there.
Now there was only one thing left to do, I slowly lifted my hand and shut the light off, shrouding the once sunny and welcoming room in an eerie darkness. I hugged the class picture I had removed from the wall to my chest not noticing how the wooden frame dug into the skin of my arm. Then, with as much resolve as I could conjure up, I walked out of the room subsequently walking out on another phase of my life.
Deciding to stop teaching had been one of the hardest things I had ever decided to do, besides leaving Scott, and as I walked down the halls of the school I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision. It seemed like teaching was the one thing that anchored me to the world, the one thing that didn't demand so much emotional strain from me and the one thing that I truly loved without feeling guilty for it.
When I got in my car to drive home I went through a mental checklist to make sure that I hadn't forgotten anything important. The suitcases were ready and waiting to be thrown in the backseat, my apartment was spotless and prepared for the next occupant and all of the rest of the loose ends were tied up. The only thing left to do was to get the willpower to finally do it. Cameron had urged me to go and I knew that it was time; I had no more excuses, no more reasons to fight it. Scott was getting married or most likely already married by now, it had been two months since I last saw or talked to Monique and Jess was safe in college. Now it was my time. I was going back, back to the place it all started and maybe ended, I was going home…to Horizon.
~Heather~
The limo bounced around the street and I had to keep adjusting the diamond-encrusted tiara that lay amongst the curls of my hair. My hand rested on the fluffy tulle of my dress with a wine glass in one and the other trailing up and down the silky material. I stared passively out of the window, blocking out the boisterous sounds of bridesmaids who were talking with each other like schoolgirls. No one seemed to notice that the bride wasn't paying a bit of attention to anything they had to say. Immediately I worried if they had had too much to drink, the last thing I needed on my wedding day were drunken bridesmaids stumbling down the aisle and yelling at the top of their lungs.
They weren't exactly my closest friends and confidants. They consisted of two southern cousins, Karli and Corrine, blonde, beautiful and with a keen taste for fine wine. Christina, Rachel and Claire, assorted friends from my numerous travels and Tracey, Laurel and Justine, I couldn't remember where I met them at the moment. They seemed to be taking to each other well because Karli and Claire were exchanging the woes of recent failed relationships. Once again I tuned them out and went back to staring out of the window at the countryside that moved quickly past. I wished that I could stop it, rewind and walk slowly up the dirt rode with my dress gathered up in one had and the wine glass in the other.
"You're so lucky, Heather." Karli drawled in her usually charming southern accent but today it seemed to grate on my nerves. Hearing my name had knocked me out of my reverie and back into stark reality.
"I am?"
"Yeah." Someone said and they all piped in to agree.
"I mean look at you, you're getting married! You found the one! He's gorgeous and wealthy. You can settle down now, start a family. Now it means that there's one less eligible guy in the world but I'm happy for you…I really am."
I gave them a slight smile. "Thanks." Then back into my trance. I didn't realize until they all started tugging on my dress and wiping off smudged lipstick that we were at the church. They ushered me up into the bride waiting room of the humongous chapel, shut the door and left me alone. Sighing, I braced myself for the ceremony, snatching the last moments of solitude before I was happily married. I went to the mirror that stood in a far corner of the room and took a last look at myself as I was before I gave my life over to holy matrimony.
The dress was perfect of course, it was a strapless number with a drop waist and a bust embroidered with real gold thread, pearls, small diamonds, and the bottom flared out in mass amounts of silk and organza. The bottom was adorned with the same type of embroidery as the top and small pearls were dropped like rain on the veil. The tiara was nothing less than what a princess would wear and I sparkled every time I moved my head, which was not often because the weight of it, and my hair and the veil was incredible. I was beginning to feel hot and nervous and I desperately wanted to sit down but I couldn't do that either because the skirt wouldn't fit in any chair. I was about to begin crying in distress when a knock on the door interrupted my latest pity party.
"Heather? " My mother.
"Come in." I commanded and she entered with my bouquet tucked reverently into her hands, I could tell it was important for her to bring it to me.
"I just wanted to give this to you and bring you downstairs, they're ready."
I nodded mutely, with little emotion on my face.
"You're so beautiful and I know that you will make him very happy. He's waited forever for you and you two have been through so much. I thought this day would never come, really. I was worried about you especially with that whole-…"
"Mother, it's my wedding day…can we not talk about that please." I pleaded icily. She merely smiled and took my hand, leading me down the steps and into the doors that separated the isle from the foyer. Suddenly the familiar music began, the doors were opened and with one final "Good Luck" the wedding planner gave me a little nudge into the isle.
I could feel the heat of a thousand eyes on me as I walked, never glancing at anyone but staring straight ahead, counting in my head the steps that we had practiced at rehearsal. The music blared around me and I was keenly aware of the tons of red and white roses that adorned the chapel. Every so often a bridesmaid would dab her eyes, careful not to ruin her mascara, with a tissue and then tug on the expensive material of their blue dresses. Finally the music stopped and I was left standing, feeling horribly alone in the center isle with all eyes on me. It was only then did I allow myself to look at the groom, the man I was about to marry. He smiled encouragingly at me and then led me the rest of the way to the flower filled arch we would say our vows under.
I knew I was fidgeting and the ceremony, with all its formalities, slipped past me as quickly as the limo on the countryside. I heard myself say "I, Heather Lisette Natalia take you…" and the "I do's" after the long list of things we promised. Absently I wondered if I should have written the list down, it seemed like a lot to promise too. I felt the cold metal of the three-karat diamond and platinum ring as he slid it down my finger. I know I saw his handsome face lean towards mine for a kiss and I know I must have kissed him back because a loud cheer went up from the crowd. Before I knew it was standing outside, walking between familiar faces and strangers and into the waiting white 1930's vintage car with my hand encased in the large one of my husband. Before I knew it…I was Mrs. Robert J. Van Horn.
~Scott~
It was a beautiful day, nothing more, nothing less and I was cooped up inside my office finishing briefs but for the third time that hour I had to put my pen down. I leaned back in the leather chair I had occupied for much of the day and closed my eyes against the sunlight that filtered through the room between the blinds. It was days like these that I thought about the past and the future.
Today was the day that Heather was to be married to Robert J. Van Horn, handsome heir to the Van Horn fortune; apparently his dad was big in the cheese industry. He knew one thing, her parents would be more than thrilled that their daughter hadn't married me. I remembered that day that Shelby had left for good, the day that I told Heather I couldn't marry her. Marriage without love was nothing more than a binding contract, one that I couldn't place either of us in because it wouldn't have been fair. The look on her face was akin to horror and then she calmed, packed and was gone before I could say anything meaningful. I hadn't talked to her since then but through the grape vine I had heard she finally relented to letting Van Horn marry her in my heart I wished them well. In a strange way I felt free but I also felt a slight tinge from missing Heather but in the end I had done the right thing. I still hadn't contacted Shelby and every time I attempted too a fear gripped me and I made some excuse not to. Suddenly the familiar loud beep of the intercom invaded the silence in the room and the wall of my thoughts.
"Mr. Barringer." The slightly muffled voice carried through the speaker and filled the silence of the room.
"Yes, Kathy…what is it?" I said wearily but trying not to show it.
"You have a visitor. She says she's a friend."
Involuntarily my eyebrow rose because it was rare for people to just drop into the office but lately I had learned to take things in stride.
"Send her in." I said and then I went about buttoning the top button of my shirt and straightening my tie when the visitor walked into the room without knocking.
"No need to get all dressed up for me."
I jumped up in my chair and succeeded in knocking over a cold cup of coffee on the desk.
"Monique!"
"In the flesh."
She smiled and leaned over to give me a kiss on the cheek and then magically produced napkins from the tiny purse in her hand. I mopped the spilled liquid from off of papers and my pants while she seated herself in a plush chair across from the desk.
"I'm glad I wasn't a client. It'd be kind of embarrassing for the law offices of Jones, Rawlings and Barringer, to be known far and wide for a clumsy lawyer."
I laughed good-naturedly.
"I'm so proud of you, Scotty! You're a partner…I know how bad you wanted it."
"Thanks, it still seems a little unreal to see my name up their in gold with the rest of them. I have a lot to live up too, Richard and Nolan don't let me forget that easily either. But enough about me, how have you been?"
"Great." She said dismissively and I contemplated changing the subject but I wouldn't let her get off so easy this time.
"Just great? You won two Oscars and an Academy award!"
It was her turn to laugh but she waved her hand as if they were nothing but items on a shopping list.
"Three more pieces of useless junk to clutter my already cluttered storage closet…Aren't you even going to ask what I'm doing here?"
"Oh right, what are you doing here?"
She smiled excitedly and I silently wondered what could have her so captivated.
"I want to adopt a child."
There was silence in the room as the words jumped off of the walls and into my ears. Monique continued to grin and waited patiently for my response.
"Well…I think that's great." I said sincerely.
"Me too. Which is why I wanted to ask your opinion. I'm so glad you think it's a good idea. I want to start right away."
"As long as you're sure…I'm willing to help you but Mo, with acting and everything do you think you'll have the time? It takes a lot of time and energy to raise a child."
Her smile faded a little. "That's another thing, I've decided to take a break. I have more than enough financially to last me a long time."
"This is what you want?"
"More than anything, Scott." The feeling behind her words wasn't lost on me.
'Then…let's get started."
