I arrived at the staircase half an hour early and nervous as hell. I stood at the foot of the stairs, blanket under arm, tapping my fingers nervously on the banister. What if she didn't show up?

I soon realized that I shouldn't have been so nervous. Sylvia showed up promptly at ten. If possible, she seemed more nervous than I was. She looked incredible, though. Her long, ebony hair was pulled back to show off the delicate curve of her neck. The way the light hit it reminded me of something from a James Joyce novel that I once read. She was dressed very modestly. In fact, it looked as if she had gone to great pains to cover herself up, but I could tell that underneath those clothes, she had the most gorgeous body.

"Hi." She said.

"Hi." I replied. "Come with me."

I led her outside to the oak tree. Fred was right. The night was perfect. The air was tinged with the sweet scent of night-blooming jasmine, and the stars shone with unrivaled intensity. The scenery could have come out of another novel, maybe even one by James Joyce.

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked.

"To look at the stars. They say Venus is closer than it's been in a thousand years or something. I thought you'd like to see."

"The sky does look beautiful tonight." She replied while sitting down beside me.

"Yes. I don't think I've seen anything more beautiful." I replied gazing into her eyes.

We talked all night. We tried to name all of the constellations and even made up some of our own. Sylvia smiled more than I had ever seen her smile before. She had a lovely smile, and when she was really happy, she'd do this cute thing where she'd bite her bottom lip. She also had the most adorable little pixy laugh I'd ever heard; it was so soft and genuine, and when she did it, her eyes laughed with her. God, I was in love with her already…

The whole night, I had been working up the courage to do something I had wanted to do since the moment I'd first seen her that night by the fireplace, but could I do it? My heart seemed to grow wings and fly up into my throat. Why was this so hard?

"I-I'd really like to kiss you now, Sylvia." I managed to stammer somewhat coherently.

She didn't say anything. Okay. This is bad. What if I scared her? What if it was too soon? What if she didn't like me like I liked her? Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there? I leaned in and kissed her, but afterwards, she quickly pulled away. What was I going to do? Well, I might as well get on with it.

"Y-you know, I really like you, S-Sylvia, and umm...well, I was just wondering - maybe - I mean - that is, if you want to - maybe you could be my girlfr-."

"Don't." She interjected covering my mouth before I could finish my sentence. "Please. Just don't. You wouldn't want someone like me to be your girlfriend."

"Why not? You're a wonderful girl, Sylvia. Any guy should count himself lucky to have you."

"Just look at me! I'm ugly!" She showed me the collection of scars on her arms and lifted her shirt slightly, revealing still more pale white scars on her stomach and back. "They make me ugly." She said her voice trembling and eyes brimming with tears.

"No. No they don't. You're beautiful, and no mark - no matter how deep - can change that. If anything, they make you even more gorgeous.

"How?"

"You've been through a lot - more than you should have had to endure, but you're still here. You've survived, Sylvia, and those scars show that. They don't make you ugly at all. They show that you're a strong person. If you didn't have the strength to fight for so long, you probably wouldn't be alive right now.

When I first saw you, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. Those scars don't make me feel any differently. You're still beautiful, and you always will be."

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me. I really don't deserve you."

"You're right. You deserve better than me, but I hope you wouldn't mind settling for a little less than you deserve because." I paused a moment. Could I really say it? "I-I think I'm in love with you, Sylvia."

I waited for her response. It seemed like forever before she finally spoke.

"I really like you too. I think I might even love you, but - it's just - well - I'm afraid."

"I can totally understand if you're afraid. You've been hurt a lot, and you don't want to get hurt again, but I would never want to hurt you, Sylvia. You can trust me on that."

"I can?"

"You know I wouldn't lie to you." I said cupping her face in my hands. I kissed her again. It was a deep but gentle kiss. When I pulled away, she smiled and bit her bottom lip.

We made love that night beneath the old oak tree on the castle grounds. Gazing down at her lying there, naked, on the soft spring grass, her body seemed to absorb and reflect the pale moonlight and glow with renewed radiance.

I kissed her scars - on her arms and legs, her back, and her stomach. They weren't ugly to me. She could never be ugly to me. She was something indescribeable.

"You don't think they're ugly?" she asked.

"Not at all, sweet. They make you who you are." I replied.

"And who am I?"

I stopped nibbling the smooth skin of her neck and looked directly into her eyes.

"You are the most amazing girl I've ever met, and I love you."

"I-I love you too, George."

Words cannot describe the mix of emotions one feels when someone says that to you, and you know they mean it with all their heart and soul. It's just the most wonderful feeling in the world.

For a long time after that, we both just lay there breathing in the night air, the scent of jasmine replaced with the even sweeter scent of midnight sweat. We finally walked back to the castle just as the sun was coming up on the horizon. She paused for a moment to gaze at its glowing splendor.

"I wish I could take a picture of this moment and keep it forever." She said.

"You can." I replied. "Here. Take your hands and put them like this." I took the thumb and index finger of both her hands and formed them into a rectangle. "Now, look through your lens." I said moving her hands and placing the rectangle in front of her face. "Do you have the picture?"

"Yes." She giggled.

"Okay. Now, take it and put it in the little photo album in your head, and you'll always have it."

"Alright. Now, I'll never forget this." She replied turning to face me.

"I won't either."

And that was it. In the course of one week, it seemed like my wonderful world got a whole lot more wonderful. Although I used to take it for granted, I now believe with all my heart and soul that some things are just meant to happen, and this was definitely one of them.