Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (24 page)

“What a magical
story.
Maggie never mentioned it by name.
”
She pointed to Maggie’s house. “
Oh, there’s
the
Lady in White.”

“La Dama De Blanca
.
”

“Oh, the names
are
so
romantic. How do you say h
ouse of beautiful dreams?”

A
nother
red light glowed
ahead so
I waited until I stopped again.
“
Villa
del Sueños
Hermosos
.”

“Your name, Delatorre—it’s Spanish?”

“My
paternal
great-
grandfather was
of Spanish descent.
I’ve been told I take after my great-grandfather
.
Maggie is the image of our grandmother on
our father’s side—
same red hair
and
green
eyes
.
”
The light changed
and we continued
.

Sam’s smile said how much she adored my sister, I was glad.
I pointed to the house sitting on the bluff. “Your first glimpse of
Villa del Sueños
.”

Chapter Seventeen

My he
art is making wishes
.
I
f I made a list of what I want
ed
in a man, I
would only need one word.
He’s trustworthy. He’s caring. He’s
great with Goldie. And I
sense an adventurou
s spirit in him.
Logan
.
Do
I dare
allow my imagination to build castles
?
~
Jou
rnal e
ntry

House of Dreams loomed maj
estic, high on the bluff,
extending an invitation to step into a timeless era
.
“
It’s breath
taking.
”
I wanted
to
find the exact word
to describe
the view before me
,
but words failed me. B
eaut
y. G
race.
Neither
of them did the
grand
home justice.

Stone pillars guarded
the double iron gates,
the words
Villa
del Sueños
scroll
ed across the fancy ironwork. He
aimed a remote at the gates and pushed a button
. They
swung inward and revealed a
cobblestone drive
that
curved alo
ng an expansive carpet of green
.

Seeing the Victorian home
from a di
stance had
n’t prepare
d
me fo
r the regal gables and towers.
Growing up,
I
attended home tours with my mother
, usually
fundraisers
for
committee
s
she chaired
. The
style of the
homes we toured
pale
d
by comparison
.

He drove aroun
d to the side and
parked in front of
a
three-door garage
.
He faced me with a trace of a smile.
“Shall we eat first? Otherwise we’ll miss the show.”

“
The smells
coming from those baskets
are
wonderful
.
I feel
like I haven’t eaten in days
.
”
I laughed as
Goldie stuck her nose in the a
ir
sniffing.

We wound
our way down the path. Logan
fanned a blanket on the ground and each of us claimed a spot. The waves lapped
against the craggy
cliffs, and the faded light
bejeweled
the silvery
water covered by
diamond
-crusted
wave
s
.
I inhale
d—
peace and calmness
fed
my soul.
“The view is
surreal, like
b
eing given a glimpse of heaven
.
”

He nodded and
his eyes locked
with mine
, as though he
might kiss me—I wanted him to
. He
merely
winked and tu
rned his attention to the hampers
.
I helped peel the lids off the warm bowls
.
One contained brochette of b
eef—b
ite
size pieces
of beef
alternated
with sections of onion
s,
bell peppers
, and tomatoes on wooden skewers.

“T
his is A
bby’s idea of a picnic
?
”
Logan
chuckled, removing
the foil wrappings from
a
crisp loaf of French bread.

We ate. We talked. We laughed. I imagined the refrain of our laughter bouncing from bluff to bluff and carried across the sea to faraway places. I pressed a hand to my chest, com
mandi
ng my heart to behave.
No
skipping beats at the sight of his lips forming words. And no speeding up each time his hand
touched
mine.
No wondering how his mouth would feel on mine.
It refused to listen.

The sky presente
d hues of magenta
and gold
,
joining
t
he sea and sky. He
laced
hi
s hand under my hair and pulled me closer, nature’s beauty spread before us
.
All too soon darkness doused
the blaze
.

Logan stared
at the sea
,
a faraway look in his eyes.
He faced me
.
“I have faint memories of si
tting on this bluff with my parents. My father
,
his arm around my mom,
ho
lding her,
and
whisp
ering to each other
.”

“A true fairy tale
.”
A
s
park inside me warmed my heart
.

“What good are they
without a happy ending
?”
He looked to be pondering his own question.

“Y
ou
don’t buy
in
to
the magic?” How could he not believe
—surrounded by a majestic sea under a celestial display
of floating stars?

“L
ove
’
s not
the issue—i
t’s the h
app
il
y ever after
s
.
Life tends to
have
its own agenda.”
A breeze stirred
, and brushing
the
hai
r from my face
he
stared
into my eyes
, as
though
trying to get a glimpse of my soul.

With velvet softness, h
is
lips
brushed
mine
and
when his mouth lingered
,
de
mandi
ng more,
I
surrendered to the fire of his kiss
. If I’
d opened my eyes,
the sky would’ve been bursting
with colors of romance as sparks
ignited and fell
.
Unquestionably
, it
wasn
’t the first time the
sea cliff
had wi
tnessed the flames
of
passion
.
We sat cuddled
in each other’s arms,
and
I sensed
the
past
merge
with the present.

His eyes held
a new intensity.
Breathlessly, I broke the spell
. “I’m ready for the grand tour of the house.”
I hoped my voice did
n’t
reflect
the trembli
ng inside me, but
I didn’t trust myself to sit there with him one minute longer.

After th
e baskets had been stashed in
his truck
,
we
strolled up the wide steps
of the
house.
T
he interior
lived up to Maggie’s description
. Chandeliers floated above the entry and the winding
staircase.
The same words
kept coming to
my mind—m
aje
stic, regal
,
and
wow
.

“I live in
the guesthouse near the pool
. This is too much house
for one
person
.
”
H
is gaze
wa
ndered over the interior
, his eyes opened wide with
the
awe
of someone
seeing it for the first time.
But most likely it was due to the memories stirring inside of him.

We continued through
the house. T
all windows stood like
sentries
over each room. The hi
gh ceilings with their
elegant
crown molding created
spaciousness
.
I rubbed the satiny wood of the banister. “So
tell me,
did you ever slide down the rail
s
?”

Red patches for
med on his cheeks. “Fastest way down
. Magg
ie and I
were notorious for hopping on opposite sides in a race to the bottom
. Almost
every time, there stood our grandmother
waiting to scold us.” His chest vibrated with laughter. He took my hand and led the way deeper into the room.
“My grandparents updated the kitchen and added a couple of bathrooms. And my grandfather wan
ted the garage
s
.
E
ach time I walk into this house
,
I
still
expect to find them here.
”

“How long
have they been gone?”

“
My
grandmother—e
leven
ye
ars ago. My grandfather—c
lose to ten years
ago
. My mom’s parents were older.
They both died before she did
.
”

Attacked with
melancholy,
pang
s of jealousy twisted my insides
. What had it been like having grandparents
who loved and protected you?
Maggie a
nd
Logan
had been blessed with
two sets
.
N
o one claimed
life had to be fair
.
“You must miss your grandparents
?”

He
nodded
with a grimace
. I
tucked my arm into his
and
we made our way
into the kitchen. It no longer had the antique
stove like Maggie’s. O
ld-fashioned compared
with
the contemporary, yet
modern compared
with
the early nineteen hu
ndreds. B
utter-cream
walls enhanced the natural cherry wood cabinets.
“The granite
c
ountertops are popular now—are
they original to the house?”