Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (6 page)

“Are we phasing somewhere else?”

“Yes, and please stop asking questions.” He smiled at me, which made me unable to say another word. “Make sure to bring your shawl, though. It will probably be chilly where we’re going.”

We parked the car and got out. I placed my shawl around my shoulders as Brand came to my side and took hold of my hand. Before I knew it, we were standing in front of the largest Ferris Wheel I’ve ever seen. It was white, lit up with lights, and must have had over thirty large glass-enclosed oval pods attached to it with steel straps. There was a man standing in front of the wheel with his back to us, wearing a dark grey woolen newsboy cap and matching jacket.

“Hello, Jack,” Brand said to the man.

Jack jumped a bit in surprise and turned to face us. He was an older man of about sixty and short of stature. Since I was 5’5”, Jack could only have been an even five feet tall.

“Brandon, my boy! I should have known you would be right on time,” Jack said, in a less-cultured British accent than Brand. He smiled at me with unabashed joy. “This must be the lovely Lilly you told me about. Jack Sneed,” he said, holding out his hand to me.

I shook it. “Lilly Nightingale.”

“She’s as lovely as you described, my boy, just lovely.”

“Are we ready?” Brand asked Jack.

“Go on in. I’ll take care of everything else. It should be nice and warm in there. I turned the heat on for you.”

Brand took my hand and escorted me into one of the glass pods of the Ferris Wheel.

“What is this?” I asked as he escorted me to the other side of the capsule.

“It’s the London Eye.”

“We’re in England?”

“Yes, my love.” He turned me so I could look out at the London skyline. He stood behind me with his chest at my back, and put his arms around me loosely.

I could barely feel us move as the wheel slowly turned and took us higher into the air. It soon became evident that the steel straps I had seen on the outside of the pod were used to keep the pod level while the wheel turned. From our vantage point, I could see the Thames River, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Buckingham Palace. It was a gorgeous view at night. The city was lit up with myriad lights, showcasing how lovely London really was.

“What time is it here?” I asked just as we were nearing the top of the wheel.

“Around two in the morning,” Brand said, hugging me closer.

“Poor Jack! How did you talk him into doing this for us?”

Brand slowly turned me around to face him. He held both my hands in his and stared down at them for a few seconds before answering. He seemed shy to meet my eyes.

“Jack’s been a friend of mine for a long time. I told him I needed his help to make this moment special for us, and he was more than willing to lend a hand.”

Brand finally looked into my eyes, and I saw the uncertainty in his expression by the dim light of our glass bubble. There wasn’t an actual light inside the pod, but the illumination of the wheel itself cast a soft glow around us.

Brand knelt in front of me on one knee. I thought my heart would stop beating from the implication of such a gesture.

“I know you want to wait until after you get out of school to get married, and I’m perfectly fine with that, Lilly. I’ve waited for centuries to find you. A few more years doesn’t bother me. But I don’t see any reason why I should wait to ask you to be my wife. Even if we don’t actually say our vows for four more years, I want everyone to know how much we love each other. I don’t want you to ever doubt that you are the center of my world and my life. Lilly, will you accept me, knowing all my faults, and grant me the honor of becoming my wife?”

I was speechless. How had my life led me to this moment? Picture perfect was too clichéd to describe it, but no other words came to mind. How else do you describe the perfect setting, the perfect man, and the perfect question?

It was only the doubt in Brand’s eyes at my continued silence that finally prodded me into giving him my answer.

“Yes.”

Brand reached into an inner pocket of his tuxedo and slipped a ring onto my finger. I didn’t even look at it before I made him stand up. I kissed him so hard I hoped he wouldn’t have any more doubts about how much I loved and needed him.

When I finally let him go, I noticed we were back on the ground. Jack had his back to our pod, obviously trying to give us some privacy.

I looked up at Brand and smiled. “Did you really think I wouldn’t say yes?”

“I hoped you would, but I wasn’t sure how you would respond to me doing it so soon. I was a little worried you might think it was too early. We still have almost four years until we can make it official.”

“It seems almost silly, doesn’t it? Waiting so long,” I said, wondering if I was making the right decision.

“No, it’s not silly,” Brand leaned down and kissed me softly. “I want to make your life as perfect as you’ve imagined it for yourself. If waiting until you have your degree is what you want, then that’s what we’ll do. I need you to feel good about yourself because, as long as you do, our life together will be that much richer. In a way, I’m actually being selfish by asking you now.”

“Selfish?” I asked, confused. “What makes you say that?”

“I mostly wanted you to know how committed I am to you, but a small part of me wanted to let Will and Malcolm know how committed you are to me, too. I know that probably sounds completely childish, but I can’t help it. I get a little jealous of your relationship with them.”

I couldn’t help but smile and shake my head at Brand. “It’s not childish, but it does sound very human.” He grinned at that. “They know how much I love you, and if making it official makes you feel more secure, I have no problem with that. I just wish you didn’t feel jealous of them. They’re my friends, nothing more. I’ve given myself to you, mind, body, heart, and soul, Brandon Cole. There’s no reason for you to doubt my feelings for you.”

“I don’t doubt how you feel about me, Lilly. If I did, I wouldn’t have had the courage to ask you to marry me. I just hope I’m worthy of you.”

“Do you remember saying you thought we were meant for each other?”

“Yes.”

“I think you’re right. You need to stop doubting things and just accept them. Accept the happiness you’ve found with me, and stop questioning if you deserve it or not.”

“I’ll try,” he said, but I could still see uncertainty in his eyes. I knew he had lived a long time, and I could only assume the guilt he felt from disobeying God and cursing Abby with her affliction was the reason it was hard for him to accept true happiness for himself. I hoped I could erase his pain in time and show him just how wonderful a person he was.

When we stepped out of the glass pod, Jack looked at us expectantly.

With an almost shy smile, Brand answered his friend’s unasked question, “She said yes.”

“Never doubted she would, my boy,” Jack shook Brand’s hand in congratulations and raised himself on his tiptoes to give me a kiss on the cheek. “Now take her home before she catches a cold,” he ordered, turning his back to us.

Brand phased us to a bedroom I had not been in before.

“Where are we now?” I asked.

“This is my house right outside of London. I thought we would stay here for the night, if that’s all right with you.”

“As long as we’re together, I don’t care where we are.”

“I bought you some things to wear while we’re here,” he said, indicating a set of clothes laid out on the bed, with matching shoes sitting on the floor in front of them.

“Would you mind helping me get my hair down? I’m not sure what Tara did to it exactly. I just remember Malcolm instructing her to use a lot of bobby pins.”

“Malcolm?” Brand asked, like he was sure he had heard me wrong.

“He thought my hair would look good up, so he came up with the design,” I shrugged. “He’s full of surprises.”

“Hmm, yes, I guess he is.”

Brand sat me down in a chair in front of a cherry-wood vanity table. It looked like the table had been prepared ahead of time, in anticipation of my visit. There were a silver-handled hairbrush, various perfumes, and a small make-up bag arranged on its surface. I watched him in the mirror as he carefully removed the pins from my hair, gently laying each section down onto my shoulders.

I still couldn’t believe he asked me to marry him. Never in my wildest fantasies had I imagined feeling this all-consuming love for anyone. I became even more determined to make sure we got the chance to live a life filled with as much happiness as we could possibly have within my lifetime. I knew we still needed to find out what plans Lucifer had for me, and who was trying to stop him by killing me, but I needed this night, just one night where we didn’t have to worry about things and could simply be together.

“Does Jack know what you are?” I asked, thinking back to how Brand’s friend kept his back to us when Brand phased us to and from the London Eye.

“No, he doesn’t know the complete truth. But he does know I’m different. He said he didn’t need to know everything. Our friendship was enough for him.”

“Do you have many human friends?”

“No.”

I could see an unspoken sadness in his eyes and knew what he was thinking. Humans were fragile and died easily. I could well understand why he wouldn’t want to grow attached too often. But tonight wasn’t supposed to be about sadness or regrets.

After he removed all the pins, he picked up the hairbrush and began brushing my hair out for me. His touch was so delicate. I felt as though he was treating me like a porcelain doll, easily broken if not handled with care. After he was finished with my hair and put the brush back on the table, I stood from the chair and turned my back to him, lifting my hair over one shoulder.

“Would you mind unzipping it for me?”

I watched him in the mirror as he swallowed hard enough to make his Adam’s apple move. He raised his hands to my shoulders in a tender caress, and slowly moved them inward over my bare shoulder blades to the zipper at the back of the dress. His eyes never left my back as he lowered the tab of the zipper. Once it was as low as it could go, he ran the palm of his hand down the newly-bared skin. His hand lingered at the small of my back as he looked into the mirror, meeting my gaze as I watched him.

There wasn’t any mistaking what he wanted. I wanted it, too. Why shouldn’t we? What could be more natural than two people who loved each other to share their bodies in the most intimate way possible?

As if knowing where my thoughts were going, Brand dropped his hand to his side and backed away.

“Why don’t you go ahead and change?” he said in a hoarse voice. “I have supper prepared for us down in the kitchen.”

He walked to a window on the other side of the room and turned his back to give me some privacy. He’d been doing the same thing since I escaped from Justin. There were times he actually left the room, but they were few. He was too scared to leave me alone, afraid I would be abducted again.

I quickly changed into the set of clothes on the bed and told him to turn around when I was putting the shoes on. It was then that I finally took notice of the ring on my finger.

I wasn’t much for jewelry, but the ring Brand chose for me was breathtaking. It was either white gold or platinum, with a large square-cut diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds embedded in the setting, which extended halfway down the band. It sparkled brightly in the light of the room.

“Do you like it?” Brand asked, coming to sit beside me on the bed.

“It’s gorgeous. Where did you get it?”

“I know a jeweler in France. He designed it especially for you. Does it feel comfortable on your finger?”

“It’s fits perfectly. How did you know my size?”

“I took a measurement the other night while you slept.”

“How long have you been planning this?”

“Since the moment you got back,” he said with a guilty grin. “Come on. I have supper waiting in the oven downstairs.”

On the way to the kitchen, Brand showed me some of his home. From what I could tell, it was large. We must have passed at least five bedrooms, and that was just on one side of the house on the second floor. It reminded me of an English manor you might see in a Merchant and Ivory film, full of grandeur and history, impeccably decorated in the Victorian style. As we descended the grand staircase, I felt like Scarlet O’Hara in
Gone with the Wind.

The kitchen was very modern, and I could tell Brand spent a lot of time here from the easy way he moved around it. Besides the bedroom we had been in, it was the only room in the house, so far, which felt like home. It had dark cherry-wood cabinetry with brushed silver hardware, and black marble countertops with all the modern amenities, including stainless steel appliances. The center island was equipped with a built-in stove, sink, and bar. Brand pulled out a casserole dish from the double wall oven. Apparently, he’d found the time to come here in the two hours he was absent from me that day to make what looked like lasagna.

We ate at the small kitchen table, tucked away inside an attached circular room made of glass. From my seat, I could look out over a large green lawn with a winding river in the distance. Brand told me it was the Thames River, and that he’d bought the house just for the view. After we ate and cleaned up the kitchen, Brand took me to his study. The study was lined with bookshelves on all four walls and filled with leather- bound editions of all types of books. There was a brown leather couch and two matching wing-back chairs sitting in front of a fireplace, which had a black marble mantle.