Love's Destiny (Love Trilogy #2)

The rain poured down so ferociously the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up. The headlights only seemed to make things worse as they glared against the onslaught. The painted lines on the slick winding road were nearly invisible. We really should have pulled over. But the radio told us that the storm would not be passing soon, and we were so close to our destination.

Only a few more miles and we would be safe inside the cabin that awaited us. The storm would be gone by morning and the rest of the weekend promised to be beautiful. You wouldn’t have guessed it looking at the wild tempest that was raging around us.

The steep winding mountain road was consumed with flood waters making it resemble a raging rapid. The wind violently shook our car anytime we left the protection of the tree cover. Yes we should have pulled over, but we were eager.

We had been trying to plan this trip for so long. It was so hard to find the time. There was never enough time anymore. I longed
for the peaceful quiet of the
cabin and the camaraderie of friends. I needed it now more than ever.

Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way you thought it would. Our lives hadn’t been the same since we’d moved away from San Diego; our family hadn’t been the same. Somewhere along the way, we’d lost each other. I was hoping that this weekend we would be able to find what had been missing for too long now.

We used to come to the cabin every year, but time had gotten away from us. It had been four long years since I’d laid my eyes on the place. It had been too long. Knowing how close we finally were had us pushing on through the storm. It was just a few more miles.

Our friend’s car disappeared around the corner ahead of us as we followed them up the mountain. When we finally rounded the corner I still couldn’t see them, although it was nearly impossible to see anything through the torrents of rain pouring down on the car.

I had never seen a storm like this. I strained to see through the sheets of water washing down over the windshield. Just a few more miles, I told myself. We were almost there.

The last thing I saw were the headlights of the oncoming car as it swerved around the sharp corner and skidded into our lane. The last thing I heard was the screeching scream of twisting metal. The last thing I thought of was Tyler.

My childhood had been one that every child dreams of. We had a beautiful home on the beach in San Diego. My dad had inherited a lot of money just before I was born, and as a small child I didn’t realize how different our life was from others.

My first real memory was of my fifth birthday party. It had been a princess theme. Dad had gotten carried away as always, transforming our huge house into a mock castle. It must have taken thousands of yards of blue tinted cellophane to create the moat that circled the house, and he’d actually had a real wooden drawbridge constructed for guests to cross the “moat” as they entered.

Our foyer already resembled a castle in some respects with high ceilings and twin winding staircases on each side of the large room. It must have taken hours to cover the walls in the faux stone wallpaper. He even replaced my mother’s beautiful wall sconces with mid-evil wrought iron torch stands. I couldn’t even begin to imagine where he had found those, or the ancient looking heavy wooden table that replaced Mom’s much more elegant glass center piece table that usually sat in the middle of the room.

After guests passed through this extravagantly decorated front room and left their gifts on the ancient wooden table they were escorted under the staircases and through the glass sunroom into the backyard, which was by any standard a fairytale wonderland. Dad had even rented a white horse for me to ride around on wearing my beautiful princess dress Aunt Amy had bought for me.

Of course at the time I was only five years old and wasn’t really able to appreciate all the time, effort and money that must have gone into that one afternoon. Looking back now I understood why Mom had chastised Dad telling him he had done too much. Dad had just shrugged and told her I’d only turn five once and it was a special day. She tried to look stern, but Mom never really could look mad when she looked at Dad. There was a happiness that radiated around them when they were together.

I remembered that day for several reasons I suppose. Of course the magnificent extravagance of it all was something no one could ever forget, but it was also the first day that I realized that not everyone lived the way we did. Dad had invited every kid I went to school with. There were kids there I didn’t even know. I guess most of them showed up out of curiosity, wanting to see the inside of our house. It had been the only house I’d ever lived in, so I didn’t realize it was different from most until I heard a couple of kids whispering about it.

“Must be nice to live in a mansion.” One girl had said to another.

“I’ve never seen a house so big.” The other had replied.

It bothered me to hear them talking about my house like it was something abnormal; to me it was just my home. For the first time in my life I felt different, alienated. I didn’t like it. I began to wonder if all the kids at the party felt that way about my house, about me. I didn’t want to face them anymore.

Uncle Dan found me upstairs hiding in my playroom.

“Hey Kiddo, what are you doing up here? The party is downstairs.”

I just shrugged not sure how to explain the way those girls had made me feel.

“Mind if I hang up here with you for a little bit?” he asked coming over to sit next to me on the bench seat by the window.

I scooted over to make room for him.

“So your parents told me about how much you liked going to the symphony the other night.”

“It was so amazing! The music was beautiful! I’ve never heard anything like it. I wish I could make music like that.” Just thinking about the concert brought a smile to my face.

“That’s what your parents said. They said they were going to turn this into a music room for you.”

“Yep, Daddy said something about fixing the walls so they had good… “

“Acoustics.”

“Yeah that’s the word! He said if I picked an instrument he would buy it for me.”

“So have you picked one?”

“Violin. That’s my favorite.”

“Well I sure am glad to hear that, since your birthday present from me and your Aunt Amy is violin lessons.”

“It is? Oh my gosh that is so great! Thank you Uncle Dan! Thank you!” I exclaimed throwing my arms around his neck to hug him.

“I’m glad you like it,” he laughed “but act surprised when it’s time to open presents okay?” he winked at me conspiratorially and I giggled.

“Boy you sure look like a real princess in that pretty dress Aunt Amy brought you. I know she can’t wait to see you in it. Ready to go downstairs?”

“Okay!” I said jumping up.

Uncle Dan had helped me forget my worries about what the other kids were saying about me. I was excited to show Aunt Amy my dress, she hadn’t seen me in it yet. As Uncle Dan and I reached stairs I heard some heavy footsteps stomping their way up.

“Fee Fi Fo Fum…” Uncle Charlie’s deep voice boomed.

“There’s the birthday girl!” He exclaimed when he saw me at the top of the steps. “You’re Aunt Claire is about to start telling her story, but we can’t start without the princess. I’m supposed to be the mean ogre.” He grinned at me before reaching down and sweeping me up into the air and over his shoulder.

I squealed and squirmed as he carried me down the stairs and into the living room where everyone waited. All the kids from school were there sitting in a circle at Aunt Claire’s feet. But I didn’t mind anymore, because everyone I loved was there too.

“The princess has arrived!” Aunt Claire exclaimed as Uncle Charlie set me in front of her.

Mom and Dad were sitting on the couch with Aunt Amy, Uncle Dan went over to sit with them and Uncle Charlie sat beside Aunt Claire as she got ready to begin the story. Aunt Claire was the best storyteller! I looked around the room at my family and knew I was the luckiest girl alive to have so many wonderful people who loved me.

Then there was Tyler. He was Aunt Claire and Uncle Charlie’s little boy. He was a total pest! He followed me everywhere, always broke my things and never played the games right. Mom said I needed to be patient with him because he was only three, she said he looked up to me. Most of the time I wished he would look up to someone else, he was totally annoying!

So I wasn’t really surprised when he ended up ruining the party by climbing onto a table to lick the icing off the princess cake Mom had made for me and knocked over the table completely destroying the beautiful cake. It never failed, Tyler always ruined everything!

Looking back now I could laugh at the memory, at the time it felt like the end of the world. But everyone is overly dramatic when they’re five.

I wasn’t five anymore. I was much more mature now.

I must have been smiling at the memory of Tyler sitting on the floor covered in cake. I knew I was starting to wake up because I was conscious enough to realize I had been dreaming about my fifth birthday party. It didn’t take me long to realize why. My eyes were still closed but I could tell the room had gotten brighter all of a sudden.

“Happy Birthday, Princess” I heard Dad say.

I stretched and slowly opened my eyes squinting against the brilliant light. Dad had opened the heavy curtains that covered the large windows in my room and the bright morning sunlight was filtering in through the gossamer drapes that hung from my canopy bed giving everything a pinkish glow.

“Awake?” Dad asked peeking his head through the sheer drapes. I snapped my eyes shut again pretending to still be asleep.

“Michael, I told you to let her sleep, it’s barely after sunrise.” I could hear Mom’s voice coming from the door.

“Aw come on Katie, our little girl only turns 10 once, today is a big day.” I heard Dad respond.

He sounded farther away now and I imagined that was because he’d probably crossed the room to give Mom a hug just like he always did when she came into a room.

Dad was the only one I’d ever heard call Mom Katie, to everyone else she was Katherine or Mrs. Carter, but she didn’t seem to mind the nickname Dad had given her. At least not when he said it. One time I heard Aunt Amy call her Katie and Mom had rolled her eyes and said “not you too!” After that Aunt Amy went back to calling her Katherine.

Dad was back at the foot of my bed again. I could feel the mattress bend under his weight by my feet.

“Destiny?” he crooned searching under the covers for my feet. I pulled them up closer so he couldn’t find them and kept my eyes closed tight, but I couldn’t contain the little giggle that escaped from my lips.

“Oh well, I guess I won’t be able to wake her up…” he pretended. I knew he was pretending we always played this game.

“What a shame.” Mom said, playing along “She’ll have to miss her birthday party.”

I fidgeted a little under the covers. It was hard to keep my eyes closed now. I was awake and the excitement of the big day ahead was starting to sink in.

“Whatever will we do?” Dad asked slowly, I giggled again as the anticipation built up. I knew what was coming.

Suddenly Dad found my foot and began tickling it. I had the most ticklish feet in the world! Mom laughed and grabbed the other foot doing the same. I wiggled and giggled as they tickled me awake and finally opened my eyes laughing so hard the bed was shaking.