All went well until the engagement party. Albert and Candy were engaged now. They couldn't be happier.
Archie saw Candy all glowing with happiness. How elegant and lady like she became. Her manner, her style, her dress and everything. Aunt Elroy indeed did a great job in transforming her. It's a far outcry to when he saw her the first time. Now she's William Ardley's fiance, one of the richest and powerful men in America.
When Candy did the first dance with Albert, Archie just couldn't take his eyes off her until Annie's voice startled him. Annie knew he liked Candy. Although Candy was her best friend, it couldn't stop her from feeling sad. However, she's very happy to see Candy and Albert together. How lucky she was to have someone looking at her with so much love as Albert did. How much she wanted Archie to love her too.
"You will go to Harvard tomorrow," she said.
"Yes," Archie said shortly.
Somehow he just couldn't forget Candy. Now Candy was definitely taken, but he just couldn't keep himself from being disappointed.
Annie tried so hard not to cry. She really wanted to tell Archie how much she loved him and that she would wait for him to come back. But, Archie didn't seem to care, his mind was too full of Candy. She remembered how much in the past they, with Stear and Anthony, all played together with joy. Too bad all ended too soon. And now the gap between her and Archie got wider by the minute. All happy times passed what remained just memory, Annie thought.
While Albert was busy entertaining his guests, Candy busied herself with friends she knew. They had made a deal not to push Candy to meet guests.
During the intermission, Archie came to congratulate Candy.
"How's Annie?" asked Candy.
"She's doing fine," replied Archie briefly, trying to avoid that topic. "I will go to Harvard tomorrow. I heard that you will start in U. Of Chicago soon?"
At this point Annie came to join the conversation. Archie tried to avoid the encounter. He mumbled some excuse words and left.
"The person he loves is you, Candy. Not me," sighed Annie.
"But Annie, you know that's not realistic. He is never anything but a brother to me. Come on, today is even my engagement day! With Albert not him!" for a second Candy forgot to be a lady and couldn't help to raise her voice slightly.
"Everyone loves you, Candy. You have a great personality, not like me. Stear told me that he, Anthony, and Archie were so into you in the past."
"Come one, Annie," stopped Candy. "Look, in the past all I thought about was Terry. I even traveled a long way to NY to see him, while Albert, the man whom I was with everyday, the one who did everything for me, I ignored. I am sure one day, Archie will realize his mistake too."
Candy hugged her best friend. Annie couldn't help but to smile, feeling gratitude for the encouragement and returned her hug.
"I am happy for you Candy. Too bad Archie..."
Candy gave her a hug and said, "Don't worry. One year will pass quickly, next year he will come back, also, the Christmas."
"I wonder if he still remembers me then. He's going to school and will meet lots of friends, you know what I mean..."
"You will work too, Annie. You will get to know lots of friends. I will introduce you to many gorgeous young men too, I'm sure Albert knows a lot of qualified..."
"Thanks, Candy. But no," cut Annie.
Candy said assuringly, "Don't give up my friend. There's still a long way to go."
"Done about me, congratulations again to you, Candy," Annie said and hugged Candy again. "Hey... What do you think of Patty? What if we introduce her to someone?"
"Absolutely! Actually, I am thinking of Tom. We know him since we're very young and he's very good. In addition, Patty will go to school to study about agriculture. Don't you think they make a good match? Tom is a farmer, you know," answered Candy.
"This July 4th, let's arrange a barbecue in Tom's place. We all go and we take Patty with us. How's that?"
"Can't be better, Annie. We all like Tom. Let's hope Patty will too!" They both laughed and looked for Patty to tell them about their plan.
The day couldn't be better for the BBQ. The weather was good, and the sky was blue. Albert and Candy of course came, also Annie, Tom and Mr. Stevens (Tom's step father), some other friends, folks from Pony's home, Patty, and more.
The BBQ was very successful and delicious. Tom and Mr. Stevens cut their best cattle for the meat. It was succulent and tender. Being a good chef, Albert and Mr. Stevens did most of the cooking. Tom was busy preparing the meat. Candy and Annie worked hard for the plan to introduce Patty and Tom.
They took Patty to meet Tom. Initially, both of them looked shy, stiff and limited to a small talk that went nowhere. After a while, Candy and Annie withdrew slowly to leave both of them alone cutting meat. They joint the rest of the group eating and cooking. Surprise, surprise, after a while Patty and Tom appeared together carrying the cut meat and chatted happily as though they had known each other for years. Patty blushed heavily when seeing Candy and Annie who couldn't stop smiling quietly.
Albert really loved being in the farm. He really loved animals. He rode several of Tom's horses and chatted a lot to Tom and Mr. Stevens on how to take care of the cattle. Candy sent him a signal to stop talking to Tom and leave him to Patty alone. Albert understood and gave her a meaningful smile back, then he hurriedly made some excuse to see some cattle with Mr. Stevens without Tom.
They took every kid from the Pony home to ride horses. Each adult helped to supervise with Albert and Candy as the team leaders. While they were doing it, they let Ms. Pony and Sr. Lane to just watch and take a break from their kids duty. At the end of the day, everyone was happy and exhausted. Before leaving, Patty and Tom exchanged addresses to write letters to each other...
oOo
Archie couldn't help to be excited when he arrived in Harvard. He studied hard but being a rich young bachelor in a prestigious school, he couldn't help to have fun too with all new friends he had. He got to know so many friends, male and female and had wonderful time, partying, traveling, in addition to studying together. He really enjoyed his time there and felt over the moon with his new friends. Without long he had a string of girls dating him. With a hard feeling he went home for Christmas and summer holiday - just for the sake of family duty. Needless to say, he tried to avoid Annie.
Back in Harvard as a second year student, all what seemed very bright and fun started to wane. He was still studious if not more, but after a while, he started to feel let down by his dates. They seemed fake and were interested only in his name as one connected from the Ardley family. Soon he felt lonely. One by one his friends started to have steady relationships while he started to be disinterested to them other than for professional friendship.
At the lowest moment, Annie's face started to appear in his mind. Funny, he thought, it's not Candy that he missed. Annie had been gentle, beautiful, and genuinely caring for him.
He didn't believe that he hadn't visited her for a year.
What have I done? What if it's too late? Should I write her a letter?, Archie mused.
To avoid miscommunication, he decided not to write a letter instead he would visit her in the thanksgiving holiday. He couldn't wait for the day to get back to Chicago to look for Annie. He studied even harder and determined to be a successful person instead of a spoiled partying boy.
Finally, thanksgiving holiday arrived. Archie took the earliest train back to Chicago. He arrived just in time for the dinner hosted by Albert and Candy. Two of them were such an ideal hosts. Candy was beautiful and even more polished than the last time he saw her. Together, they greeted guests and family members cordially and really made everyone felt welcome.
"How is your study, Archie?" asked Albert and gave him a hug.
"Fine, I am sure you saw my transcript, aren't you, Uncle William?" teased Archie.
Albert laughed and said, "That's true, congratulations on all A's for the midterms. Good nephew." Albert teased him back. "You are not bringing any date tonight?"
Albert gave a meaningful gaze to Candy.
Knowing his reputation in Harvard, Candy was also surprised to see him coming alone. Archie didn't answer.
Candy hurriedly hugged Archie and said, "Welcome home. You look wonderful."
A string of guests came and took away Albert leaving Candy and Archie alone much to their reliefs.
Archie asked Candy directly, "Where is Annie?"
Candy pointed to a direction where Annie was. He couldn't believe his eyes. He saw a very beautiful brown hair woman.
"How she has changed," murmured Archie to himself. But, wait a minute, who is that next to her? Oh My Lord, am I too late?
"Go after her," urged Candy, "It's not too late yet."
"Who is he?" asked Archie.
"Go ask her yourself." Candy winked. "Annie has been busy doing family business these days and has many new acquaintances. He might be just one of them."
Determined to find the answer, Archie walked straight to Annie. Annie couldn't believe her eyes, one year more later, finally she met Archie again.
"Annie, how are you doing? Who is this lucky gentleman?"
"Hi Archie, this is Steve. Steve this is Archie."
"How are you doing Steve?" said Archie with a sharp look that could melt ice. Then finally, he said politely, " Well... I won't interrupt you two, the meal will be served soon. I go to my seat first."
Throughout the meal, Archie couldn't help stealing to see what Annie and Steve were doing together. To him, Steve seemed to be too nice to Annie. He couldn't wait for the dinner to be over so he could talk to Annie privately. But, haven't been at home for a few months, there seemed to be no time to talk to Annie alone. Almost all family members came to ask how he's doing. There's Neil to greet, aunt Elroy, George and more. Patty and Tom were there too and they looked more and more like a couple. Worse, Steve took Annie home. But, Archie didn't give up. In the morning, he went to look for Annie at her home.
The servant recognizing Archie invited him to come in which he replied, "No thank you. It's too early. I don't want to disturb aunt and uncle. Is Annie up yet?"
"She is, Mr. Archie, I'll tell Ms. Annie that you are here."
"Could you tell her that I wait for her outside then?"
"Sure, Mr. Archie. One moment."
Archie waited for Annie. While waiting, he kept repeating and practicing the lines he would tell her. He kept giving himself encouragement to boost his own confidence too. Smelling a soft perfume, he knew it's Annie, he turned his head, and found his goddess right in front of him. Suddenly, he forgot all the lines he's been memorizing. Trying to remain cool he kissed her hand politely and said, "Annie... You look very beautiful."
"Thanks Archie, likewise. It's been a while, how do you do? Last year you didn't come home for the thanksgiving holiday, did you?"
Archie bit his lips knowing how a fool he was. Last year, he was partying and enjoying life with his friends. How could he even not come home at all, then hurriedly answered, "Ah right! I was new at Harvard. So it was kind of fun. I wanted to explore more my new life as a student, you know, so I was reluctant to come home. What about you and your work?"
Both of them walked together amid birds singing in the background to welcome the morning day.
"I have been working with mom and dad. It was hard in the beginning, after a while it's great. I start to know people and build business relations."
And what about Steve?, thought Archie.
But Annie didn't talk about him, so he tried not to ask that directly yet. Instead, they keep walking and sharing what their life was for the past one year. Many times Archie secretly looked to see and admire Annie's beautiful face.
Annie's not a little girl anymore. She's much less shy, more confident, and definitely more beautiful. Her dress, make up, appearance and style really were more striking. She's a grown up woman now. But above all, he felt very happy to meet an "old friend", someone who had been sincere and genuinely nice to him. Someone that he felt he could talk to about anything. Someone who came to him not because he had a close relation with the Ardley. He felt like coming home and in peace around her.
Finally Archie decided to tell her the reason of his visit. "First time I came to Harvard, all seemed to be fun. I made so many new friends. Especially MIT and Harvard are very closed, we kept coming to one school or the other to have fun or party. It was great. I studied hard too, but I also had fun partying."
His pace went slower, his tone also got softer. "I went out every time with different dates. Many girls came to me, I thought it was fun. But soon I realized they were interested only in my status. We could only talk about superficial stuffs especially boring socialite topic, I just couldn't connect and talked freely like when we were together. After a while, I realized how a fool I was to take you for granted. I wonder if it's too late, Annie. I mean… You and Steve?"
Annie couldn't believe her ears. She stopped walking but continued looking down. Slowly she lifted her head only to meet Archie's eyes.
"Are you still available?" Archie asked. "I was blind, but now I see. I was a fool, I hope it's not too late to tell you that I love you," he whispered softly.
"When you went to Harvard and disappeared for so long, I felt very very sad, but I had done all I could to show you how much I wanted you. Steve is a very good friend, but I love no one else but you. I have been waiting for you and will keep waiting forever if needed."
With that they shared a kiss... Archie promised Annie he'd come home for Christmas. Then, Annie would visit him during the mid term holiday and Archie's graduation too in the summer.
EPILOGUE
Yes, Albert and Candy got married! They had a long and happy life together with children. Archie and Annie also got married and had children. They too had a long and happy life together.
In addition...
In 1929 all businesses went down due to world economy crisis. Albert and Candy went to England to solidify the business in Europe. Archie became Albert's second hand person and took care of the business in the USA while he and his family were in Europe. Neill lead the South America's business. His residence was in Florida. Albert and family came back to the USA five years later.
Believed that they need to keep looking for a new opportunity for the business to grow, Albert decided to try to enter technology sectors such as the aviation and early computing industry. The investment turned out to be a perfect one, the business bounced back to the new height in 1940's driven by this new line of business. Ardley research and development centers worldwide attract the brightest scientists of the generations and became worldwide leaders in the sectors.
Later on, probably because it's in his blood, like some of his ancestors Albert ran for a public office (something that was predicted and prepared by dear Aunt Elroy long ago). Of course, his past with Candy was heavily mentioned in the tabloid across the country. Forever stood by him, rather than having people to speculate, Candy wrote a book about her fairy tale relationship with Albert. Needless to say, it became a best selling book.
Tom and Patty got married too and had kids. Patty graduated with a degree in agriculture. Both she and Tom pioneered one of the first modern farms in the USA.
Terry and Susanna became very well known Hollywood actors. Being his first love, Candy always held a special spot in his heart. But, like many other Hollywood actors, Terry then had a string of superstar and supermodel lovers later on. He won a couple of academy awards and many accolades. Susanna didn't let her legs slowed her down. She participated in early research for prosthetic limbs. She became a well known activist that appeared regularly in the news and tabloid. Her dates included a billionaire and a famous singer. Terry never stopped supporting her and be there for her. Both of them remained in good terms, always.
Eliza opened a business like no other Audrey did before: fashion model designer. She worked very hard to make it successful. She met Terry and Susanna often especially during academy award ceremonies and were in good terms with them. Susanna, in fact, wore many of her creations to many celebrity ceremonies.
Now that they all were grown up men and women, Eliza and Neil kept good terms with Candy. They apologized to Candy for what they did to her in the past which Candy accepted with big laugh and hugs, "Don't worry about it. We're kids and teenagers!" she said with a big heart. Other than that, they just laughed off the past incidents. Children's game: back then it hurt, but time erased the pain. Candy also wore many of Eliza's design. Eliza also personally designed Candy and Abert's daughters' wedding gowns! The success was immense. The styles were literally copied and copied by many designers after that.
Un-erasable pains that remained were Anthony and Stear's death. They passed away way too early. The memory was still too painful to everyone. Albert named after them many charity works and business done by the Ardleys. The famous ones being "Stear" for the airline model of Ardley's aviation industry and "Anthony Brown" for the hospital he donated to Dr. Martin.
Their life became more and more exciting everyday. But that's for next time story...
- THE END -
Note:
In the manga, it's illustrated how Archie still has a feeling towards Candy and Annie notices it. I wonder why that's important and it's even brought up. I thought they've been together all along since London time and that they are a couple already. Because of that, I wrote at length about them here.
Patty: Well, Stear is gone. It's sad she's all alone. That's why I matched her with Tom. The manga doesn't talk much about Tom. But the anime does and it seems that he's a good boy. So I matched him with Patty.