The beautiful brunette in the backseat of his cab whisked yet another tear from beneath her eye with her fingertip and the cabbie, not for the first time, toyed with the idea of asking her what was wrong. He, once again, decided against it. The brunette was deliberately avoiding eye contact with him by staring out the window as the nightlights of Paris began to glow. She had spoken perfect French to him when she'd given him directions at the airport but her American accent was unmistakable. He knew many cabbies and other Parisians would hold that against her but as he had a soft spot for crying beautiful women this cabbie was going to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Sabrina was annoyed at the tears that kept escaping her eyes and running down her cheeks. Crying over Linus Laraby seemed, to her, beyond futile. The past few weeks had opened her eyes to many things. Thanks to Linus she was able to see her love for David for exactly what it was: a childhood crush that due to her own stubbornness and fantastical imagination she had been unable to let go of. Although she knew she should feel embarrassed for holding on to something so childish for so long, when she thought of David she felt no shame. She felt only fondness and a little sadness for the girl who loved him and who was now gone forever. There was a responsibility that tagged along with accepting unfulfilled dreams, a straightening of the back and a banishment of tears. But she wasn't crying over David, or the farewell to her childhood. She was sitting in the backseat of a Paris cab crying over Linus. How ridiculous! Linus was somehow even more unreachable than David, if that was possible.
She examined Linus in her mind, comparing the man she thought she knew all of her life up til her return from Paris to the man she grew to know, and love, since Maude's birthday party. The Linus of the past was all edges and suits. He was bowties and adding machines and perfectly positioned Hamburg hats. Linus of her youth was humorless and calculating. She never saw him romance women or give his mother sentimental gifts. He was the picture of practicality. But what of the Linus of now? There was a softness to him now, a depth that had been hidden behind his desk and his legal papers. He was a good listener and even had a thoughtfulness about him. She thought about Linus sitting cross-legged on the beach tending the fire and eating baked clams. She'd made him laugh and that brought her the most pleasure of all, for his laugh wasn't forced or strained as she had imagined it would be, but it was full and deep and his smile was dazzling. The Linus she knew now could relax even while keeping his seriousness that made up so much of his personality. Somehow he made the two halves of his personality fit together so it didn't feel like knowing two different people, just two halves of the same man.
Sabrina scraped at another tear and sighed, this train of thought wasn't making her feel any better. What Linus had done to her and David was despicable. Unforgivable even. What a complicated ruse he had performed! Dinner in the city, Martha's Vineyard, the helicopter and the plane! All for what? Just to get rid of her? He thought she was in love with the Laraby fortune and not with David. He thought her affection was so flimsy it could be easily flip flopped from one brother to the other. Well, I guess he had been right about that. Her affection for David had been flimsy, it had faded and changed in the shadow of Linus's attention. But, did it follow that her love for Linus had the same fragile quality? Sabrina hoped so. She hoped that a few weeks back in Paris and she'd be able to banish Linus from her thoughts as quickly as he had forgotten her. Though she tried hard to ignore it, she knew her heart wasn't nearly so optimistic.
Mercifully, the cab came to a stop in front of her apartment and so allowed her to focus on other things. Sabrina climbed out of the backseat and paid the cab driver with the sad eyes after he'd pulled her luggage from the trunk. "Merci." She thanked him as she grabbed for her luggage. Movement across the street caught her eye, and as she looked up she saw Linus step out of the shadows. Her brain scrambled to process this, how could he - but there he was wearing a frumpled suit and no tie and carrying a single bag. He fixed his eyes on Sabrina's and stepped toward her, "Paris is always a good idea, you said. You said I'd be happy here, you couldn't have meant without you." The quiet night sounds of Paris encroached upon them, protecting them, keeping them separate from the rest of the city.
"How did you know where to find me?"
"Your father. I told him, I need you. I told him I'd make you happy. I promised him."
"I thought it was all a lie?" Sabrina pleaded, desperately clinging to her decorum that was hanging by a thread.
"So did I." He admitted, "But something happened, It was a lie, and then it was a dream."
"I don't know how to believe you, how can i eve-"
"Because you know me, better than anyone else - I think you know I love you. And you promised, if there was anything you can ever do -" He had almost reached her, she could reach out and touch him if she dared to risk it. "I've been following in footsteps all my life, save me, Sabrina Fair, you're the only one who can." Sabrina couldn't resist, she pulled him to her and held on, running her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. Drawing back enough to look into his eyes she searched one last time for any traces of the lie that could slay her all over again, but the ruse had melted away, she saw only yearning and hope, and love. Giving up all anger and hurt she let him kiss her, and she returned his kiss with a passion worthy of even a moon soaked Paris street.
They walked the streets of Paris that night, hand in hand, arm in arm. They walked and kissed and bathed in plans for the days and years to come. As the sun came up they stood on her favorite bridge wrapped around each other and marveling at a brand new day.
