Chapter 11 (second part)
Dear Juliet,
My hand is shaking too much for writing and I'm not sure my mind is no less troubled. I wanted to share with you this big news, this great joy that fills me since – I dare not believe it yet – since we met again… Oh Juliet, she's here, sitting before me, at that café terrace, witness of our reunion, and my eyes are burning to stay too opened, so much afraid I am she'll disappear if I close them. My hand brushes hers regularly to be sure she's real, I see her looking down, blushing, and my heart jumps each time with amazement. I'm unable to stop watching her. She 's so beautiful! Even more beautiful than I remember. I look at her, and I find on her face these young girl's features I had left but with more purity in the lines, more harmony in the frame. The profile of her nose that I liked so much to tease, her eyebrows, the curve of her mouth I am personally reminded with such intensity that I can hardly breath. I'm rediscovering her and I'm going into ecstasies before the perfection of her whole being. My gaze crosses her, suffused with shadows and mysteries, and I quiver with voluptuousness before the power she has over me…
- Stop looking at me that way, Terry, you're embarrassing me… - said Candy, once gain looking the other way.
- I'm sorry, Candy, I can't help myself. I feel so much like I'm dreaming!...
- You're not, Terry… We… We are not…
She had said this with a shy voice, hardly daring to look at him. Despite the joy of the reunion, an annoying modesty prevented her from opening up to him more freely. She would have hoped to express him all her happiness to have him well present in front of her, but she could not help from showing some reserve. It was still difficult for her to overcome what she had forbidden to her for so long. One thing so simple and so natural – loving him – this thing she had so often blamed herself for still feeling it, had made grow inside her a heavy feeling of shame and confusion. But now, as she was free to live her love in the open, she did not feel comfortable yet. She knew that she would need time not to be afraid of being happy. But Terry's tender look on her reassured her on her last fears.
- I've been looking for you for so long, Candy, that it's still difficult for me to realize that I found you back.
- I've the same feeling – she said, chuckling nervously to hide her trouble – It's crazy! Until a few hours ago, I believed you were in New York, wondering with anguish if we would see each other when I return. And you are here, facing me, in flesh and blood! I feel so stupid…
- Stupid?
She looked down, sighing, fiddling vacantly her paper napkin.
- Stupid, yes… Stupid for lacking so much of spontaneity before you. I am so impressed like if I was standing before my former hospital manager in Chicago.
A little smirk appeared on the young man's lips.
- If it can comfort you, Candy, I have this strange feeling too, like… like if I was facing the mother superior of saint-Paul…
- Really? – She asked, giggling – the mother superior? This is what I am doing to you?
- Well, you've just compared me with your former hospital manager!
- I have, but it was an example among so many others! While "mother superior" is far from being a compliment… - she answered, grinning.
- Don't worry, you don't have as hair on the chin as her. But, thinking about it, you both really have some resemblance…
- Oh, Terry, really, you'll never change!
He tilted his head back, bursting out laughing while she was throwing a napkin to his face. But in the bottom of herself, she was delighted he had remained the same, full of mischief, always ready to tease her until making her crazy. She leaned against the back of her chair and entertained herself with the delightful sight he reflected to her. She loved to watch him laugh. She quite simply loved him…
Suddenly, she realized he had stopped and was watching her, through half-opened eyes, as she was absent-minded,. She looked at him interrogatively and the gaze full of love and tenderness he sent her back shook her for good.
- Candy, I… - he did, moving his hand forward to recover her own. But she did not have the time to know what he wanted to tell her, for being interrupted by the waiter's arrival.
- Two lemonades for our lovebirds, two!
The young aristocrat frowned before the waiter's cavalier expression, and embarrassed, withdrew his hand, as two big glasses of iced lemon drink were put on the table. Terry reached out a note to the waiter and specified him to keep the change. The man thanked him warmly, and then returned inside the establishment with his empty tray, leaving them alone. This little break called them back to reality, and this is Candy who began bringing them back on earth definitively.
- You haven't told me yet about the cause of your injury…- she noted while drinking a swallow of lemonade.
A slow smile bloomed on the young actor's face. He comfortably settled himself in his chair and said:
- Are you sure you want to know?...
- I'm absolutely sure!...
- You won't be disappointed?...
- I don't think so…
- Well, so be it, if you want…
He pretended to take a big breath and begun his tell: how, more than two weeks ago, as he was resting in his living-room after an exhausting working day, he had discovered, noticing the abandoned hat on the coffee table, that she had come to his apartment. He had had an immediate reaction and had hurried to interrogate his housekeeper who had quickly confessed all.
- Oh Terry! – Candy interrupted him, shaking her head, drifting her pretty blonde locks in the move – I don't know how I found myself in front of your home that day. It seemed like everything had been planned for this purpose. I even wonder if your housekeeper was not waiting for me…
- I think, Candy, that many things in this story did not happen by accident and that many people participated in it.
- Really? Do you think that Albert could have something to do with this?
- Albert and many other people…
- What do you mean?
- If you stop interrupting me, I will be able to give you an explanation… - he said, kindly castigating her with his index finger.
- Ok, I'll shut up! – She said with a nod, not without perfidiously sticking her tongue out at him.
- Perfect! - He chuckled – So, where was I? Ah yes! Miss Denise said that you had come and left like… like a thief!...
He had said that with a big ironical smile, revealing two rows of provocative teeth that let guess a restrained jubilation. Candy's reaction was not long in coming, which he faced with a slight backward movement, eyes blinking.
- A thief? – She cried out, starting, her voice getting chocked up with a tremolo – How could she tell you this? I was troubled, Terry. I was bowled over! I…
- Calm down, I was joking. On the contrary, she had very glowing terms for you.
But she was not listening him anymore. Almost crying, she was stammering:
- I had discovered that painting in your study. The painting of Pony's Home, and I had thought that if you were keeping it, isolated from people's gaze in this room, it could be because… because…
- Because it meant a lot to me… Because you meant a lot to me… Again and again…
In saying this, his voice had broken. But this time, he found the courage to take her hand and recovered it with his own.
- I had found that means to keep you with me without raising suspicion of… of you-know-who…
Candy nodded, looking down. Despite all her efforts to convince herself otherwise, it was still difficult for her to evoke Suzanne. Though she was not there anymore, her presence remained painfully palpable.
- She did not know about Pony's Home – he followed – and consequently, she never paid any attention to this painting I had found by accident in London and brought back to New York. She could not know that each time I looked at it, I was drifted towards you and, for a moment, a flicker of life would spring in me. It was my way to fight against the miserable existence I was meant for…
- I'm so sorry, Terry – moaned then Candy – I'm so sorry you had to suffer all of this… All these years to…
- All these years do not exist anymore since we are together – he said, holding her hand tighter – I would relive them a second time to feel the great joy I felt when I saw you again, Candy… Let's not look back. The most important thing now is what we are going to share together, don't you think?
She nodded, holding back a sob, then with a grinning smile, she asked:
- This Slim who painted it, could it be the Slim I knew in Pony's?
- He is! He was so surprised that I knew the place where you both had been raised. He is living in London now and I've preciously saved his address until being able to give it to you one day.
- It's wonderful, Terry! I would like so much to see Slim again! I liked him very much… Despite his bed-wettings that slowed my daily tasks… - she added with a nostalgic smile.
- Hahaha! Speaking of which, he wanted to tell you that he does not wet his bed anymore and really insisted that I tell it to you.
- Well, that makes me feel a lot better! - She said, giggling with relief.
Once again, he narrowed his eyes, leaning slightly his head on the side, and spoke to her with an enigmatic tone.
- If you must know, he's not the only person knowing you, that I've met…
- Really? Who?
- Think a little bit!
- I must tell you that I've no idea!... – she said after a pause – Is it an acquaintance?
- An acquaintance? I don't know what you mean by that? – He said with a mischievous smile – Let's say that you've shared the same bilge for a few days…
- What? A bilge?... You are not talking about Cookie, aren't you?
- Well, actually, yes, I am.
Before her stupefied look, he let out a satisfied little laugh then began telling her the conditions of their meeting.
- I can't believe it!- She cried out – Cookie! After all this time!...
- I can't, neither! – Noted Terry, frowning like a schoolteacher – I can't believe that you crossed the ocean as a stowaway! Anything could have happened to you! You could have been on a boat of pirates, been thrown to the sea or worse, been…
He had interrupted himself, a chill of horror running down his spine as he thought about the horrible things she could have suffered. With a calm voice, she reassured him:
- Nothing like that happened to me… I've sailed with very nice people…
- You've been lucky! – He retorted with cynicism, still convinced that she had taken a big risk. Then, recovering his temper, he added – I wonder why you told me anything about it when we met in New York…
- Because you didn't ask. And because I knew that you would react that way. Am I wrong? – She did, mimicking his reproachful tone.
He shrugged, half-smiling to her provocation.
- I'm reacting that way because I care about you. I had forgotten how bold and daredevil you could be… I thought you had come back on a cruise ship, like your cousins, instead of taking such risks!
- I couldn't wait anymore, Terry. I wanted to join you as quickly as possible. This is the reason why I had sneaked in the first boat on departure for America.
- Like I did when I saw you again on Manhattan harbor…
- Yes… - she did, looking down, blushing. This time, events had reversed. It was him who had gone and looked for her, and who had found her back. She quivered.
Let's hope nothing and no one come between them!
- How is Cookie? – she asked to break the embarrassing silence that had descended upon them – He must have changed. He must have become a man!
- To be true… - answered Terry with a hesitating voice – He's not in great shape…
- How's that?
- We've had an accident during the crossing…
- An… An accident?
The blood which had just suffused her cheeks, flew immediately back to her heart, covering her ravishing face with a worrying pallor. Waiting for a fast answer, she was staring at the young man, who, before her livid look, hurried to tell her his misadventure: the storm, the fire in the engine room, Cookie's rescue, the sinking of the tanker, and his wake up at the hospital of Plymouth.
- You… - she muttered, trying to recover her mind after such a news – You are fine? Nothing broken?
- I am very fine, don't worry. As a sequel, I have a slight cough that bothers me on night, some nasty stiffness, and this wound above the eye that will disappear in a few days…
- So, that's it… - she did, watching carefully the arch of his eyebrow – The cut is neat and the stitches are regular. I could take them off in a day or two…
- Wowowowow ! Hang on! – He cried out with a vivid cringe – I really don't want to be disfigured!
- What do you mean by "disfigured"?- She retorted, standing up, outraged, her skin recovering suddenly some colors. She was fulminating, tightening her fists, as he was laughing stupidly. She had forgotten how irritating he could be… Finally, she sat down again, laid back against the back of her chair, crossed her harms, and looked down on him through narrowed eyes.
- You must know that I've put down more recalcitrant than you, my young friend. They have often ended tied up on the examining table, begging for mercy…
-Hmmmmmmm!... When you put it like that, I only ask to experiment it! – He retorted, giggling, with a falsely lustful look.
- You are definitely a hopeless case, Terry! – She launched, sighing with rolling eyes. Then, becoming serious, she asked, with a solemn tone:
- So, Cookie, how is he?
- He's suffering numerous burns and several fractures. But don't worry. My father left him between the hands of the best surgeons of England.
- Your father?
- Yes, he was at my bedside when I woke up at the hospital… - he did, looking the other way with embarrassment.
- If he was there, Terry, it's because he's very concerned about you. I hope you didn't push him away, as usual…
- Not this time. Actually, we talked a lot. We got our stories straight and I think that we've reached some understanding.
- I'm so happy for you, Terry! I've so often prayed for reconciliation between you both. You'll certainly need time to heal these wounds but you've taken a great step towards each other. It bodes beautiful things for the future…
- As long as you stay with me, Candy, only beautiful things will happen to me…
She quivered, blushing, and murmured as she looked into his eyes:
- I will never move away from you, Terry, never again. Nothing and no one will be able to take me away from you.
- Someone almost had it made, though…
- You're speaking of that person who made you believe that I was married? I've read your – wonderful – letter, Terry, and I'm aware of this…
- I know… I've met the girls of the club… They've explained everything to me.
Once again, the surprise left her open-mouthed. But stupefaction quickly gave way to scrutiny. Annoyed by his enigmatic answer and the slowness with which he explained himself, she demanded a clarification. He told her his arrival at the club following Patty's recommendations, and the warm welcome, with all the ladies chirping up around him like if he was a rooster in a barnyard. Sitting in the middle of the room, politely pushing back biscuits and cups of coffee, he had tried to capture through their enthusiastic chatters, the message they wanted to give him. Finally he had learnt that Candy had read the letter, that she did not understand that story of wedding, and that she had gone after him. In the beginning, they had recommended him to wait for her at the club, but after a long moment, unable to hold on, he had decided to go back to the hospital, especially as he knew that Candy lived near there. This is then on his way back that, against all odds, they had met each other, on this piazza delle Erbe, in front of the fountain, and under the benevolent eyes of the Madonna who blessed their reunion.
You were like a heavenly sight, here, before me, very close, wrapped with light… Paralyzed of stupor, blinded by all your being, I stayed without moving before you since I had the feeling to live a dream. Then, noticing your dismay, I tried a movement towards you. I said your name. I had not said it anymore for years. As I heard my voice, I thought it was not real, that someone else had said it. I saw you quivering and I walked closer to you. And when I was able to embrace you, to feel your frail body against mine, the beatings of your heart against my chest, the softness of your skin, I thought that death could strike me down now since the happiness I was feeling was unspeakable. There was no happier man on this earth. From this moment, I knew that I would never be able to live without you…
Waking from his dream, he noticed she was looking at him with a tender smile like if she had heard what he had told to himself. He smiled at her in return, savoring the perfect harmony that united them.
- It's Elisa – he finally confessed with seriousness after the passing by of a third angel over their head. He did not ignore that with this revelation, he would break the delightful moment of peace they were living but he wanted to end with that hateful person as fast as possible, to chase her definitively form his mind, to throw her on scrapheap for not having to evoke her anymore. She could not do anything against them anymore. She only deserved their contempt, thing that he would not hesitate to tell to her face when he returns, but it was not part of his priorities for the moment…
- Elisa? – Candy cried out, her eyes wide-opened with stupor – But how?
With a tired voice, he told her about the Machiavellian trap her cousin had hatched, in which he had fallen with a disconcerting naivety. The extreme prudence, with which Albert had proceeded in good faith, had facilitated Elisa's task who, with few lies, had almost succeeded in separating them forever. Of course, he had voluntarily forgotten to tell her about the sad episode on the banks of the Grand Canal of Venice, and had only evoked his meeting with an old member of the Stratford Company, Sidney Wilde, that had brought him to Verona.
Candy had listened to him all along without saying anything, biting her lower lips to repress her anger. With time, she had believed that Elisa had taken a step back and had set aside the deep grudge she had for her. Her remoteness from Chicago following her wedding with the fabulously wealthy August Withmore had stupidly convinced her that this bitter hatred she harbored towards her would vanish under the bright lights of New York, that she would realize the poor country girl she was, was not of any interest in comparison with the crazy nights in Long Island. She had been seriously mistaken. Eliza would never heal from this insane jealousy that lived in her, from that obsessional will to make her suffering, to punish her for all the imaginary humiliations she accused her of. For a brief moment, the enjoyable vision of the redhead sinking in a never-ending hole, crossed her mind, but her good conscience called her to order, into which she resigned herself though protesting inwardly.
- I should hate her, curse her for this… - she let out, staring at her hands that had curled up of contained rage – But… We should perhaps be grateful to her for what she did…
Unsettled by what he had just heard, Terry remained speechless for a while, open-mouthed, his jaw almost falling down.
- Excuse my frankness, Candy, but heat is making you lose all common sense! Grateful? How do you want us to be grateful to her for having always done everything possible to separate us?
- Let's try to see it differently, ok? If this "misunderstanding" had not happened in Venice, you would never have wanted to leave and you would never have met your friend at the train station, and you would not have come to Verona. No one knew I was there. You would have searched me in vain in Venice while I would have kept on ignoring your presence there. Thinking about it, she is the one who, involuntarily, has allowed us to get reunited…
The young man emitted an annoyed grunt.
- This is a very special perspective of these events…
- You know I'm right – she retorted with an infectious smile.
- Women are always right anyway… - he sighed, mocking, holding himself from taking her face between his hands and kissing her lips that were deviously provoking him. He wanted it so badly!
- They are always right because they have, by their nature, a wisdom foreign to many of you… - she followed with flirting eyes, ignoring the turmoil she was generating in him.
- As I recall, wisdom has never been what most characterized you – he responded, ironical, trying to chase those sulfurous thoughts – the meditation room, your night outs in town, your monkey jumps in the trees, were not the expression of a big moderation.
Candy burst out laughing and stuck her tongue out at him.
- Your right (this time)!... I'm not a good example.
- On the contrary – he did, lovingly wrapping her with his intense and troubling gaze – This is what I loved in you. This is what was making you different from the other whiny turkeys of Saint-Paul. You were unique, and you still are.
Candy looked down, blushing, unable to confess that it was this rebellion that they used to reproach to him, that had seduced her, this strong and determined temper in which she had recognized herself and that had brought her closer to him, to this aristocrat who used to hide under an arrogant and haughty attitude, deep wounds she had, since the beginning, hopelessly wanted to heal…
The metallic noise of a chair getting pulled back made her straighten. Terry was standing up before her, reaching out his hand to her.
- Should we walk, Candy?
Candy nodded and offered her petite hand to her companion who helped her to get up. The end of the afternoon was near and the bistro tables were dressing themselves with their evening finery under a concert of cutlery clinking and glasses jingling.
They were walking without really looking around them, so much absorbed they were by the happiness of being together. When they arrived to the amphitheater square, Candy understood that euphoria was coming to its end…
- It is here that you are playing tomorrow night, Terry?
He nodded in silence, guessing what she was about to say and he did not want to listen to her.
- Shouldn't you be rehearsing, then?
- I should, but…
But I want to stay with you. Nothing matters now, except you. I've just found you, don't ask me to leave you, even one evening…
She was standing straight before him with this determined gaze that he feared to see and did not augur anything good for him.
- I know what you are thinking, Terry, and I don't want either to leave you, but you cannot abandon your company, even for me. This is your duty to be with them. You don't have much time left for rehearsing. They need you, they need your experience, your advises, and they need their... Romeo! I don't want you to be blamed because of me. I won't do more steps, anyway!
- So be it – sighed Terry, his face painfully dissimulating his disappointment – But you are right, I've to go. It has always been a pleasure for me to play, but today it's like a chore to me.
- Don't say that. Theater is your life! What are few hours away from each other compared with the years together that are waiting for us? I'll come and see you tomorrow before going to the club.
Terry nodded with resignation.
- Let me at least escort you to your home.
- It's not very close. You will lose time.
- Not with modern means... - he said while running towards a taxi not far from them, that had just dropped off an elegant lady.
Both young people went up in the vehicle. Candy pointed the direction to the driver and few minutes later, they were arriving at Roberta's boardinghouse. A good flavor of soup was escaping from the kitchen window, and Candy's starving stomach began to squish. Standing on the house's steps, dominating Terry of few centimeters, she remained still without knowing what to say. The young man looked embarrassed too. His hands in his pockets, he was staring at his feet busy sweeping the dust of the ground.
- Well... It's time, I think, to say good-bye... - she did with a hampered smile.
- Yes... Good-bye... - he answered with a clumsy relaxed look.
Why do I suddenly feel so gauche and ridiculous?
- We'll see each other tomorrow...
- Yes... Tomorrow... - he repeated like a machine.
Should I shake her hand or kiss her on the cheek?
- I'll come and visit you at the amphitheater...
- Ok... - he said, shaking frenetically his head.
I would so much like to embrace her, to plunge my face in the hollow of her neck, to seal my lips on hers...
- Then, I'll go to the club. I want to let you work quietly. You must be in the best possible conditions until performing...
- Ok, Captain!
She shrugged, laughing. She knew that through his mischievous remark, he was trying to dissipate the trouble that was establishing between them. They were staring at each other, each one waiting for a gesture from the other.
- So, see you tomorrow? - She said with an ultimate hope.
- See you tomorrow, Candy. Have a nice evening.
- Same to you, Terry. Thank you...
He remained few more seconds before her, with arms dangling along the seams of his pant, tapping nervously his thighs, then, with a shuffle, he returned to the taxi that was waiting for him down away.
How stupid I am!... How an idiot! ...
- Hold on! - He thought he heard – Hold on, Terry, please!
With beating heart, he went back to her. She was still there, standing on the stairs, her emerald gaze staring at him with innocence. Troubled, he mumbled:
- What's going on, Candy?
She did not answer immediately, then, like in a slow motion, he felt her taking his face between her hands to draw it towards hers. The innocent eyes she had laid on him narrowed under the effect of the jollying smile she was sending to him.
- You had forgotten this...
A thrill ran all along his body as she roosted on her tiptoes and seized his lips in a tender kiss. Unable to react, he let him drift by this soft and intoxicating warmth that invaded him. Finally, she stepped back and perceived his astonished gaze, like struck by lighting. She brought her hand to her mouth for not bursting out laughing.
- Good evening, Terry – she whispered, lovingly tapping his cheek. Then, taking advantage of the stunning state in which he was, she disappeared behind the door and ran away to her bedroom. He remained dumbfounded for a while on the pavement until the taxi's impatient horn makes him start and brings him back to reality. Groggy, stumbling, he mechanically came into the vehicle, and let himself docilely drive back downtown under Candy's tender look, who, trembling with emotion, was observing him, hidden behind her window's drapes…
End of chapter 11