Remember me
Chapter 24
"The twists of destiny"
Terry had arrived in New York the night before without making any noise. He sneaked into the house and his bedroom and had an agitated night. He remembered Juliet's words, not to discourage himself and everything will be fine, and that he had to make the right decision… To leave Susanna and stay with Candy? He tried to stay with Susanna, and he had been miserable. The months he spent with Juliet were paradise! The choice was clear…
He woke up in the morning and got ready and went downstairs. The employee of the house were surprise to see him but they didn't say anything. They served him breakfast. Susanna came down a little later and she was surprised to see Terry having breakfast.
- Terry? Good morning! When did you come back? She asked with a smile
- Good morning Susanna, I arrived last night…
- She got her memory back?
- Yes…
- So you're back?
- Yes, but not for what you're thinking
- You're staying with her ,aren't you?
- Susanna, I can't let her go a second time, I won't survive it…
- But you survived it the first time…
- Barely… I was on the verge of a mental breakdown if you hadn't noticed… I wanted to leave you and drown my sorrow in alcohol
- Alcohol? I thought that if you left me, it would be to go back to her…
- No. Not after our break up… any how, if Candy's friends hadn't come…
- What about me? I love you…
- But I don't love you, Susanna. I love Candy. I tried to force myself to love you, I tried, believe, Susanna… you can't command those things…
Susanna had tears in her eyes. She knew Terry didn't love her, but to hear it say, it hurt her.
- I'm sorry if I hurt you, said Terry
- I'm sorry too. I love you Terry
- Susanna, you can't want me when you know that I'm thinking about another woman… you deserve better than that!
- I know… You're right. You would've end up hating me in the long run…ok… stay with her…
- I'll continue to take care of you…
- No, no need, Terry. I'll be fine…
- Are you sure?
- Yes…I'm sorry. I have to get out of here…
Susanna ran out of the house and went to see Lionel. She found him having breakfast with a beautiful young woman with brown hair. She felt a little twinge in her heart.
- Susanna said Lionel, Good morning! What brings you by… ? Did you talk to Terry
- He came back last night…
The woman he was with was his secretary, she stood up.
- Sir, I'll see you at the office later… bye
- Bye, Martha said Lionel
Susanna approached Lionel and kissed him on the lips.
- So… you told him? Asked Lionel when they stopped
- Not exactly…said Susanna
- What do you mean?
- Candy got her memory back…
- Oh….
- So, he came to tell me that he was staying with her…
- Ok, so you didn't get to tell him the news?
- No… he must still be asking himself how come I took the news so well… I love you Lionel, thanks for opening my eyes…
- I was stating to get desperate… I'm so happy Susanna…
Susanna had finally admitted that she loved Lionel when she came back from Chicago. The kiss he gave her on the train, really did made her think. Two days passed without Lionel going to see her. She couldn't stop thinking about the kiss… that kiss had made her forger Candy and Terry…she was thinking about Lionel… day and night. She finally couldn't take it anymore, she went to see Lionel the night of the second day. She had found him with a young woman. She felt bad.
- Susanna, hi… he said when he saw her
- Lionel…
- Margaret is helping me organizing the presidential gala… Thank you for your help.
- Bye, Lionel said Margaret, bye Miss
Margaret left, they were alone.
- Lionel… you're not coming to see me anymore
- I wanted to leave you some time to think…
- I missed you…
- I missed you too…
- I can't stop thinking about you….
Lionel had held his breath, waiting for the rest.
- I love you ….Susanna continued
- What about Terry?
- I was obsessed with Terry…I was blinded, so blind that I wasn't even seeing what was in front of me… you, my happiness. The fortuneteller was right, that's why I was angry… Terry loves Candy, I should've accepted it, but I was blinded… you were very patient with me, Lionel. You never threw the night we spent together at my face, to force me to be with you…that night was wonderful, I want to spend all my nights with you…and wake up with you every morning… if it's not too late…I hope…
- Oh Susanna! I didn't think I could convince you anymore! Finally!
Susanna had burst out laughing and ran as fas as she could, with her prosthesis on, into Lionel arms, who greeted her with joy and laughs. They kissed passionately for a while. Susanna had finally seen the light.
"Love the one who loves you, not the one you love…"
For Susanna, that was the case, she had finally understood what was important, what was staring at her for months without her knowing or realizing it. It was better to have a man that loves you, than a man that's thinking about another woman.
- I have to tell Terry…
- He will come when Candy gets her memory back…
- You mean we let him squirm a little?
- Why not?
- Ok, she said laughing
That's how, Susanna had given up on Terry and why she took the break up so well; she wanted to do the same thing! All was well in the best of worlds!
Lionel was treating her already kindly, now that she shared his feelings, he was treating her like a princess. She had finally got Terry out of her head. He kissed Susanna passionately.
- You want to go to the bedroom?
- Don't you have to go to the office…? Asked Susanna
- I'm the boss, I make my own hours…
- Ok, my love…
Terry was still at the villa still a little puzzled by his conversation with Susanna. She didn't seem all that devastated by the news… Was he disappointed? No… she finally gave in to her feelings for Lionel? What ever it was, Candy had to accept it, now. He spent two days in New York, to put his affairs in orders for the employees of the house. He talked to Robert who told him that he could stay in Chicago for good. He went to see his mother.
- Terrence, baby, hi she said smiling, are you better ?
- I broke up with Susanna..
- Oh…
- I'm going back to Chicago…
- You're staying with Candy…
- It she'll have me…
- Oh… she'll have you… Juliet made sure of it…
- What do you mean?
- You'll see… good luck honey
- Thanks mum…
He left for Chicago, to try and convince Candy that they were made for each other.
In Chicago, Candy was arranging her things in the apartment she or Juliet, shared with Terry. She came back after she finished reading Juliet's notebooks. After all it was the apartment she shared with Terry and there was no other place she would rather be. She still couldn't believe that she had lived all those adventures. She went to the Andrew manor to see her friends. She found everybody in the dining room, having lunch.
- Candy, said Annie, smiling, come in, have a seat!
- Thanks… she said smiling, how are you all?
- We should be the one asking you this question…said Albert
- Mr. Albert, thanks for the food. I woke up in the middle of the night starving !
- Oh, you're very welcome, it was the least I could do…Candy let me introduce you to my fiancée, Josephine
- Pleased to meet you said Josephine
- Pleased to meet you said Candy, welcome in the family
- Thank you
- And this is Paolo and his fiancée, Mary- Alice, I met him in Italy and her in Dover
- Pleased to meet you said Candy
- Happy to make you acquaintance, said Mary-Alice
- I'm very happy to finally know you, said Paolo, Albert talked a lot about you… he was sorry he couldn't help you when you lost your memory, he was sorry he couldn't be there for you like you were there for him…
- But he helped me when my memory came back and I was disoriented… you were right on cue!
- And I'd just arrived, said Albert laughing
- It's like he contaminated you, said Stear laughing
Everybody burst out laughing. The great aunt Elroy arrived and was nice to Candy to this last one big surprise.
- Candy, what a nice surprise! How are you? Are you ok?
- Yes, said Candy a little puzzled
- You want to eat ? I'm sending a maid with a plate for you…
- Thank you said Candy, still puzzled
The great aunt left the room.
- You're asking yourself what's got into her? Said Archie
- Kind of…said Candy
- She realized that it was you who took care of Albert while he had amnesia…she's very grateful…
- Oh…
- Where's your husband? Asked Patty, you do know that Terry is your husband?
- Yes… I haven't forgot…said Candy laughing, he's in New York…
The others were also laughing.
- To Susanna? Asked Annie
- Yes…
- But, he's not going back to her? Asked Patty
- That was the deal we made with him said Annie… do you remember Juliet, Candy?
- No…but she left me notebooks with everything that happened, all her adventures…
- What? Said Archie, she was really full of surprises…
- You can say that again! It was like reading and adventurous romance novel…it's so weird not to remember anything… I also wanted to thank you all for everything you did to stop Neil from marrying me, by sending Terry to be with Eliza!
- You're very welcome said Annie, we couldn't let Neil marry you…
- We would've, at least Terry would've kidnapped you to stop the wedding if nothing had worked…Said Archie
- Thank you said Candy moved. I'm very happy to have friends as you… and Archie, you made peace with Terry… Thanks. Stear… how are you?
- I'm fine thank you…
- I'm happy I didn't have to suffer much for you supposed death, I didn't remember anything about you, until the morning of the wedding
- Thanks Candy…
- Juliet encouraged me to believe that Stear was alive, said Patty
- Oh…thanks Juliet, said Stear laughing. The stories of Juliet's adventures must be very interesting… you should publish her memories…
- Why not? When I'm old and wrinkled, maybe said Candy laughing
- I'm serious… said Stear, I can't wait to leave this cast to go back to my inventions…
- About that, said Albert, you were building your own cars and your own engines… what would you say to go to school and learn how to properly do it, so you could build something that would work more than a week…?
- Or a minute, giggled Archie happily
- Glad to be back too, bro! Said Stear, ever since I was confine on that hospital bed, unable to move, I just have all those ideas that I want to try…
- That's perfect, you'll be able to build engines in the future… said Albert smiling, Archie, what do you want to do?
- I would like you to show me the commands of the company, I want to start in the mail room, like everybody, then climb the corporate ladder…
- Ok. If you show how smart you are, you'll climb the ladder faster, you're not my nephew for nothing!
- Thanks said Archie smiling
- Candy, said Albert, I suppose you're going back to work at the hospital…?
- I don't know yet, I have to get Juliet's memory back… and cleat things up with Terry
- You're going to be together, said Patty, Juliet made sure of it…
- What do you mean Patty? Asked Candy
- Nothing, just that Juliet wanted you to stay with Terry, knowing her, I'm sure she did everything in her power for it to happen…
Candy didn't answer. She didn't know what to say. It was like she woke up one morning and she was the same, but the rest of the world had moved on without her. She spent a big part of the day at the manor and she went back home in early evening. She got in and she found the lights on.
- Terry?
She saw him packing his suitcase, he was going back to Susanna! She thought. He turned around.
- Freckles? He said coming out of the bedroom
- Terry!
She ran to him and jumped to his neck. She hugged him hard. Terry was a little surprise by her reaction.
- Candy?
- Oh Terry, I love you so much… she said with tears in her eyes. You're going back to Susanna?
- No….
She was surprised to hear that. She wasn't expecting a negative answer. They went to sit in the living room, without letting go of each other.
- No…but how?
- I can't live without you, my love… I won't let you go a second time…
- But Susanna…
- Susanna is fine, she's in the arms of her new love, I think… I'm free, Candy…
She had decided to let destiny work, and it was doing a good job!
- No, you're not free…
- I'm not? He said stunned, but…
- You're my husband…
- Oh…yes. You remember Juliet?
- No…so it means that for me there's only the almost-fiasco stolen kiss followed by the slapping that I have as a memory of your kiss… and our wedding hasn't been consummated yet, in my head…
- "Almost-fiasco"?
- Yes, I played the offended little prude, but I never forgot that kiss… it was so good…
- Really? So you slapped me because it was good?
- No, I slapped you because I was surprised…why did you slap me?
- Because you slapped me…it was kind of a reflex reaction…
- And I slapped you again…I'm sorry for slapping you, Terry. All that was new to me… I was a kid, I didn't know what a deep kiss was…
- I'm sorry for slapping you too…you made me angry… I wanted to tell you how much I loved you after the kiss…
- Oh my God, I ruined everything as usual…I'm sorry, honey…the kiss was really good…
- I'm glad…That's ok, you were pretty young…I behaved like a lout…but for our wedding night, there's an easy way to make you happy…but how do you know?
- Juliet left me some notebooks with the stories of her adventures…it was more interesting than a adventurous romance novel!
- Oh… she thought of everything
- Do you miss her?
- A little, but you're here, Freckles…..
- She was a part of me that I didn't dare show… she wanted us to be together…this train accident had saved us, Terry, she said with tears in her eyes, I left that hospital without looking back; if you had held me one more minute, I wouldn't have been able to go…
- I didn't want to let you go. You don't know how much I wanted to keep you near me…Forgive-me my love…
- What for?
- For not telling you about Susanna's accident and the pressure I was getting to marry her, for letting you come to New York…but the accident happened after I had already send you the letter, the invitation and the one-way ticket… and especially for letting you go…
- There's nothing to forgive Terry. It's in the past… I also made the decision to leave you quickly… we should've sat down, and talk calmly… I wanted to make things easy for you by removing myself, so you wouldn't have to choose, I sacrificed myself, even if I loved you with all the fibers of my body. The decision was not the right one, because a few hours later, the train accident happened… the universe got rid of me, and got Juliet out to put us back together…it literally shut me up… I wanted to think that we weren't destined to be together; I followed you to the habour in England… I screamed your name, I wanted to go with you…
- Really? I heard your voice, I thought I was dreaming…Oh my God, Candy! You can't know how much I blamed myself for not taking you with me!
- I didn't stay in college, I came back to America after a thousand ups and downs… I went to the Pony house, Jimmy told me that you were there… I got into the house, they told me you'd just left to go to the…
- …hill, and you followed me, and I had already left…
- How do you know that? Oh, yeah, I read it in Juliet's notes…
- Juliet relived the memory, literally when we went to the Pony house. It was so intense that she thought that it had just happened, because the memory came back to her while she was running to join me on the Pony hill
- Oh my God, she must have been happy to see you…I imagine
- You have no idea…
- Then there was the King Lear… Susanna, the train… we kept missing each other… and finally, I come to New York… In the return train, I only had one thing in my head, I wanted to forget you… and my wish was granted… I forgot everything, only to wake up Mrs. Terrence Grandchester…I decided to let destiny take matters into it's own hands, it's more stubborn than me…even if the Susanna was still there, I wouldn't have let you go… I love you Terry, and I don't want to lose you anymore, it's much too painful
- I'm here now, honey. To avoid a repetition of the first kiss…can I kiss you, Freckles?
- What took you so long? Yes… she said with a smile
Terry took possession of his lips and kissed her passionately ardently. He carried her to the bedroom and put on the canopy bed. They took their clothes off without rushing and laid down on the bed . Terry kissed her neck and Candy had a moaning of pleasure. He continued kissing her everywhere, on the neck, on her breast; he took one and caress it with his mouth one, by one, with his tongue and he was biting it softly. Candy felt ready to receive him and she could feel that he was ready too. Since it wasn't the first time for her body, there was no pain, but an immediate pleasure that was only rising, higher and higher to the summit of ecstasy. They yelled their mutual pleasure together. They were both in sweat and breathless.
- You're not angry with Juliet for using your body?
- It would've been ridiculous to deprive yourself, when you were legally married…I don't mind. If she had turned me into a prostitute, yes, but it was you, Terry. You were my first…There's no one else I would've want in that role… it's certainly better than Neil Reagan…
- No kidding!
- I'm sorry for turning to Albert and for calling our marriage a disaster, when I learned I was your wife, but in my mind…
- I know, Freckles… it's ok. Don't worry about it…
- Thank you, Terry. Thank you, for coming and save me from Neil… when I think that I could've waken up Mrs. Neil Reagan…
- You're welcome, my love. The pleasure was all mine…
- Making nice to Eliza was a pleasure?
- No, that was torture!
- I thought so…I love you for that; you went out with that viper to be near me…
- I would've done anything for you… You know that I was thinking of leaving Susanna to turn to the bottle?
- I read it in Juliet's notes…
- I couldn't live without you, Candy… You're the one I live for and I love you so much…
- Oh Terry, those last months showed us, that I couldn't live without you either…even with amnesia, it's you that my heart recognized…
They fell asleep. While she was sleeping, Candy had a dream. She saw herself;
- Hi, it's me Juliet…
- Oh hi…
- I see you're ready for me to come back. You're with Terrence. I'm happy…
- Thank you for everything, Juliet. Thanks for the beautiful memories…
- Thank the train accident that started everything… it was a providential accident… the universe rectified the mistake made with your break up…
- Yes, as a matter of fact…
- See you later!
Juliet approached Candy and disappeared in her. Candy woke up suddenly. She closed her eyes for a few minutes. She got out of bed and put on a robe, she was still naked.
- Terrence
- Juliet? Said Terry
- I remember everything! It's a weird sensation…oh…My God! She yelled putting her hand on her belly
- What? What's wrong? Asked Terry worried
- Juliet left me a little bombshell… she wanted to make sure that we stayed together…
- What?
- Terry, I'm pregnant…
- What! Oh my God, Candy! That's wonderful!
He ran to her and hugged her and he turned with her for a while.
- I love your Freckles…
- I love you British… you're happy for the baby?
- I'm in seventh heaven… That's the surprise my mother was talking about?
- Yes…
She remembered the scene when she was alone with Eleonor, after Terry left them alone.
- Juliet, I've never seen my son so happy, you have to do everything in your power to this situation permanent; a bun in the oven, for example…
- Mom, I'm one step ahead of you…
- Atta girl! We're on the same page…
Candy came back to reality.
- Doctor Green knows… it's really funny all those information coming to me like I'm reading a book … that's why my old clothes didn't fit me, that's why I'm always tired and always starving, I'm eating for two…I'm fat!
- You're not fat, Freckles, you're full of life…
- Oh, Terry. That's really nice of you to say that she said moved, like I was reading a book…Stear suggested that I publish Juliet's memory…
- That's not a bad idea, I can have a play based on that for example… we'll have to change the names…
- You're not kidding?
- No I'm really serious, it would make a great play…
- What ever you want… I'm pregnant…I'm going to have a baby… she said with dreamy eyes…your baby…our baby…
- That's why the doctor was telling us to buy fresh fruits and vegetables! We have to celebrate… diner is ready… we just have to reheat it…
- Yes, but what don't we celebrate in bed first? We have time to eat, British…British…. It's true that the way you pronounce my name with your accent , it's cute…
- Candy… your desires are orders, said Terry to his wife, my Julie darling!
They went back to the bedroom and they had fun for hours and then they went to have diner and went back to bed again…He, had always been there, but she; Juliet had been there, but a part of her, Candy, was celebrating the reunion with Terry, for the first time. They now had their whole life in front of them… the train accident that had put everything into motion, the train accident that destiny allowed to put things back in place, the train accident the universe had authorized to correct a fatal mistake, the train accident that brought Juliet out, so she could make sure that those two beings that loved each other more than anything in the world, stay together for the rest of their remaining days on this earth, was a providential accident.
THE END