It's up!! I'm sort of unsatisfied, but yeah, that's me. Thanks for the reviews! Please keep them coming! Oi..hoi...it's all coming to a...well, you'll see.

Teddy stood in front of the covered painting of The Smiling Girl. It would be the next day the painting would be unveiled. And when the question he was pining to ask would be answered. Teddy felt deceitful at that moment, but brushed it aside. She wasn't taken, not yet. How would she react? Could he lose her friendship forever?

No, he thought to himself. Someone you loved could never be lost. After all, hadn't fate thrown them together again? She was his. Would always be. And even if she left him or refused, she would always bring the color on the easel as his inspiration.

But...

She had made him so happy in the past two or three weeks. She had somehow magically wrought out a change in his mother who had become gentler and sweeter and whose possessiveness had faded. Somehow, the link Teddy shared with her assured him that she had done this. She also allowed his dream to come to fruition by forcing his mother to allow him to attend Shrewsbury High School .

What if he did lose her? Could he bear it?

At least, he reasoned. His feelings would no longer be hidden. At least she would know that he had always loved her.

---

Emily quietly entered the museum, wearing a chiffon gauzed dress and fingering her mother's old pearl necklace that Aunt Elizabeth gifted her when she turned 21. Teddy had invited her to the opening exhibition of The Smiling Girl. As reluctant as she was to accept the invitation, she had said yes. When his happiness brimmed over in his eyes, she thought that it was worth it. Well, she would be the only one at the opening. Ilse had decided to pay a long overdue trip to P.E.I. and Perry was preparing for a major court case.

The beauty of the museum intrigued her. Paintings galore splashed colors on the off-cream walls. Sculptures crowded the main floor with shining placards describing their histories and travel from ancient lands and long-ago kings. Eager crowds of people followed tour guides and peppered them with questions. Emily stopped to see a painting. The man and his wife looked dreamy as if they were setting off into an adventure where no one else dare follow. Possibilities swirled around in her mind...dreams they could have had. But Emily came back to earth, as the sting of her unborn Seller of Dreams pinched her. That and Dean's heartbreaking pronouncement.

Dean. Emily reminded herself, in a puzzling manner. The engagement seemed to be forgotten for a few moments.

She had just written a letter to Dean, in an off-hand way, toiling over sheets of paper and crumbling them when it struck her fancy. He would not be pleased, as the letter contained none of the gentle sparring and pleasant camaderie Dean usually enjoyed and complimented Emily on. In fact, Emily was confused tonight, as any young woman might be, caught between two lives. The old one with Teddy, Ilse, Perry, her writing and New Moon and the other she wanted to forge with Dean and the Disappointed House. Thus, her distractions let to unsatisfactory letter after letter, in which Dean frowned upon back on the green hills of Japan. This would be another one added to his list. Her letters seemed to speak of melancholy and of sadness, but Dean indomitably refused to see that. She was merely tired, he reasoned, and thus what she wrote reflected this. After all, she was recovering from an illness that had plagued her for many months.

"Emily!" Teddy swooped upon her. Suddenly, Emily smiled to see the warmth on his face. She missed him, ever so much during their estrangement. It was so good to be with him, to see him, to talk to him...to laugh with him.

"Emily," Teddy bubbled over with excitement. "You'd never guess. Apparently, a record-breaking crowd came for my painting! My painting!"

"And why wouldn't they?" Emily assured him.

"But if I disappointed them...and you..." Teddy's voice faded, as he seemed to draw back from her.

"Don't worry," Emily touched him in a friendly fashion. "You never could disappoint me,"

When she moved to draw back her hand, he placed his over her's. They shared a look.

"Mr. Kent!" One of the workers at the museum forced them both out of their shared reverie. "They all be waiting for ye, sir."

Teddy nodded curtly and whispered to Emily, "come with me," He took her hand and placed it on his arm and together they walked to the covered painting where Teddy would tug the tassel and reveal it.

"Where should we put this?" came a question from another worker, and Emily watched as Teddy directed and instructed. She marveled at how professionally he viewed his work. Even she could not maintain that poise and professionalism when it came to her writing. Impatience seemed to suit her and her somewhat moody nature, whereas in Teddy, waiting was fine for him.

How different they were in personality somewhat, Emily mused, but they were both dreamers, seekers in search of rainbow gold and Alpine Paths (at least she used to), so that was what brought them together.

When it started, Emily was not paying close enough attention. She listened to the introductions and the purpose of the exhibition half-heartedly. She heard Teddy speaking about inspiration and such, but again, she was caught up thinking so much about what the future held and about what Teddy had said about her writing, that she barely restrained her impatience, wanting to leave before. After all, how different could this painting be from the others?

But Emily regretted immediately that bit of selfishness. She should be happy for Teddy, that's what she was here for, not worrying about herself.

Emily glanced at Teddy who to her surprise was watching her with a half-nervous look. As he was handed the tassel to pull, he cast another glance at her and pulled. The white sheet fell, and the audience burst into applause.

When Teddy looked for Emily, he was frantic to see that she had disappeared. Quickly excusing himself and fighting through the spectators who milled around The Smiling Girl, he looked for her wildly.

But she was gone

----

Emily was running heedlessly, no idea where she was going, hurting herself as she ran into an elderly woman. She needed to go, go away from Montreal, and Blair Water and New Moon and Ilse and Dean and Perry and Mrs. Oliver and Mrs. Kent and...Teddy. She couldn't be anywhere near him

Oh! How could she have been so blind, so unseeing? How could she have denied and wiped her feelings under the carpet? And his as well?

The explanations for everything had fallen into place. How she longed before for him to love her, and now that he did, she couldn't reciprocate.

But he did...she now realized. For how long, she did not know, but for some time,

otherwise how could he have depicted The Smiling Girl in such a way. For The Smiling Girl was her, to the core, to her very being. He had even captured the flash. And in a panic, she had fled.

"Emily!" His voice called out, and she almost turned. But no, she couldn't face him, least of all. What had she done?

"Emily," he caught up to her finally, and almost forcibly turned her to him. No longer did she blindly see the playmate as she fooled herself before, but the passionate, handsome young man he had become.

"How could you?" She trembled. "When---"

"Don't tell me you can't love me, Emily, you can, you must," He pulled her to him and she felt safe and secure but then pulled away.

"I can't," she whispered. "I'm engaged."

"You know I love you, Emily," Teddy said. "Ever since we were young. I wanted to ask you to wait for me on the Tomorrow Road but you said the night air was bad for you and that set me back for years. And when I heard about Dean, I couldn't almost take it. I thought I lost you. I was moving on with my life until you came back in all of a sudden, and that's when I realized, Emily, that when...fate gives you a second chance," his voice rose for a moment. "You take it. And you need to know. I've tried so many times; I've tried to forget you...but nothing ever works. But I can't let you leave without knowing now."

At that moment, Emily's flash struck in front of her, and she knew her love wasn't dead for Teddy. She had been so sure that Teddy no longer meant anything to her, but the Flavian...this.

The dreams rushed back and she saw herself with him....together...with a child...in the Disappointed House...she shrank back from the powerful image.

"You've never said you loved Dean, Emily," Teddy continued. "Give me one chance...forgive me...let me be with you as it should be. We were meant for each other, Em! You can't deny it," And in a sudden move, he kissed her.

Emily threw caution into the wind and responded. How she had longed for this moment!

But no...she was betraying the man she promised to marry! And what if that happened to her? She would not be like that!

"No, Teddy, I can't," she said, pushing him away. "I don't love you. I never did. Forget me if you can. Move on like you did before. I can't let you do that. And I can't let Dean down..."

"But Emily..."

"No," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Forgive me,"

The rain began to pour in earnest, as it was an already cloudy day.

And Emily left the man she loved and who loved her, but never could marry in the rain.

----

I'll make Teddy and Emily both jump off the roof if you don't review (LOL!)