Once Within A Lifetime (11 page)

“
Oh, please do not awaken me from this dream,” she sighed.

Their
meal came and it looked marvelous and so very appetizing. They began to eat and talk and tossed out many ideas and questions.

“
What about a wedding in Monaco? We love the spot,” he said.

“
It sounds perfect,” she replied, “but what about the family, can they all come there? Would they want to come so far?”

“
We cannot settle on a honeymoon right now for there are so many options from which to choose. We will have to cover it thoroughly, discussing many points of each area.”

“
Oh, is this really true?” she exclaimed. “Me, here, in a real, live dream. I could never have imagined anything so wonderfully marvelous. Can we keep this evening from ever ending?”

“
No, my precious,” he reached out for her hand and kissed her again, “nor would we want to. There are so many more wonderful things in store ahead when we are living it instead of just attempting to plan it.”

“
Yes, of course, you are right. I hope every moment will always be as wonderful and exciting. This evening will never end, especially in my heart and mind. It will just be continued.”

With
the meal finished, they sat as long as they could before they left. He looked at her, stood and reached out for her hand, “Shall we go? You look simply radiant, you wear excitement very well. I want to keep that element alive in our lives as much as possible.”

He
took her hand, helped her up, put her wrap over her shoulders and they got ready to leave. The waiter came over wishing them well in their life together and thanked them for choosing this place as their engagement location.

“
I have never seen a more radiant or happy couple. I am truly honored to have had such a marvelous opportunity to take care of this most precious event in your lives. Are you marrying a princess? She truly looks the part. Here, take these two glasses from which you drank your champagne tonight as a perfect and long lasting souvenir of this night. I know they will mean much more to you and each use will bring back this memory. No one else could ever use them and make them have more special meaning. They are yours and yours alone, take them with our compliments. Others using them would break the wonderful spell and you will keep it alive.”

“
Yes, she will always be my princess, the most precious jewel that I could ever find, lovelier than an exquisite, large diamond. Jewels are precious, but she is far above the value of all of them together. They are only cool stones, with all their beauty they cannot love. She is real, alive, warm and wonderful. Thank you so much for the glasses, they will be truly special. What a wonderful, romantic, and special gesture. You are a great waiter and we are honored to have known you and had you serve us on this special night. There is no way imaginable where it could have been any better. What is your name, sir?”

“
Sebastian,” he replied, “and it has truly been the greatest pleasure I have ever experienced in my years as a waiter. Thank you for the joy it has brought me. You are certainly an unusual couple and I know you have a wonderful future ahead of you.”

“
Thank you, sir. It has been our pleasure to share this with you. We want others to know of our joy and bliss.”

He
took her back to the hotel, parked the car, and escorted her to her door. “I must leave you, my precious, though I do not want to, but only for a short time. We will be back together tomorrow.” He held her and kissed her goodnight. This was a time for soft, gentle kisses of love and romance. “Thank you so much for saying you will become my truly spectacular bride, future Mrs. Noble. I will pick you up in the morning and we will have breakfast. Isn’t your show at one o‘clock in the afternoon? We meet at noon for a luncheon. Will it all be combined?”

“
Yes, this time it is. Sometimes it works well this way. My line of fashions will be the second showing. I get nervous when I have to wait. And now it will be very difficult to stay calm after tonight.”

“
Do not worry, I am sure yours will be tops, no matter how many they have,” he encouraged her.

“
Thanks for your vote of confidence. You are going to be a great source of encouragement and inspiration. I can always use that.” She felt confident as a rule but did not want anything to take up the time they could spend together.

She
floated into her room and he glided upstairs to his room.

The
night finally passed and they were both up early, eager to be together again as soon as possible. He knocked on her door about eight o’clock in the morning and asked if she were hungry and ready for breakfast. They went to a charming little restaurant and lingered over the meal reliving the excitement of the previous evening. She held her hand up and looked at her ring.

“
Yes, it was real, I was not dreaming.” The sparkle in her eyes truly rivaled the sparkle of the gems. He was so delighted to see her excitement. Life would always be different from now on, a total combination of hearts and feelings, no more separate people.

They
finished breakfast and walked outside into the beautiful sunshine and decided to take a walk about the place. It was amazing how bright and beautiful everything looked today. They did some window shopping for an hour or so, looking at some bridal gowns and tuxedos. They would know when they saw ‘the ones’. Soon they left to get ready for the fashion show. She had to pick up her portfolio and samples kit to take along and may change her outfit. He also wanted to change but would be right back.

They
left for the fashion luncheon. It was a delightful and beautiful setting and the lunch was really special. The models paraded around the room showing off the fashions to the customers.

“
I felt so unusual,” she told him, “Not at all like before. It was so hard to get my mind on the show. It felt very strange. I am already anxious for it to be over and done with. The thrill of the sale and the attitude of the audience toward my line of fashions is hard to keep in mind.”

It
was easy to tell she was living a special moment because of the special glow in her cheeks and eyes which had a sparkle like her diamond in bright light. Her friend Phylicia who introduced them came up to say hello to them.

“
What has happened to you, Triessa? You’re glowing like a sapphire.” She looked at him and he, also, had a special look about him. “Oh, I get it, you two hit it off, fill me in. I felt you had something going from the start. How wonderful, I feel sort of like Miss Cupid. Please keep me informed and involved. How does that sound?

They
told her that they had spent some time together since the beginning and were now engaged. She held up her hand to show off her special ring.

“
We are deeply in love and plan to marry as soon as we can,” recited Triessa. “We definitely will not leave you out of it. You are one person who will always be special to us for bringing us together.”

At
three o’clock in the afternoon tomorrow she was to meet some people to show her fabric pattern designs to the design company for a fabric line. After the show was over, they would go to a very special place he loved and have dinner there. When they arrived she was spellbound at the beauty and elegance. As they walked out on the balcony, a wide arc of water spread out before them like blue velvet dotted with many small sail boats. He pointed out one that belonged to him and told her they would go for a ride in it one day real soon. They spent a long, leisurely evening over their meal and made a toast with champagne to the upcoming gala extravaganza that would unite them forever and ever. They were still up on a huge, fluffy cloud and it seemed like they would be floating for a long time, maybe forever. How difficult it was to think of having to make plans. But the moment would come.

The
evening finally ended and they went back to her hotel and parted for a short time, planning to meet again for breakfast tomorrow and spend part of the day shopping until she had to be at her meeting at three o'clock in the afternoon. The nights alone were becoming more and more difficult to endure. It seemed she could not manage many more of them and was not sure she could endure any more. She got ready for bed hoping she would go to sleep quickly and have the night pass so she could be up to meet Todd again tomorrow for breakfast.

She
awoke early the next morning and got ready for breakfast downstairs at the hotel where he was to meet her. After breakfast they drove over to the area where her meeting was to take place and looked in some of the shops there. They looked around for quite some time and stopped in a little ice cream parlor for a quick lunch. At about two-thirty in the afternoon they left to drive to the place of her appointment for her fabric designs viewing.

Once
there, they were accepted eagerly and the store owners asked her to show them her sketches. She did so and they chose three of them to work with and told her they might consider some more once they began to see how they could work these into some of their fabrics. They took her address and telephone number so they could reach her if they wanted to use more later. She was so excited.

Once
the meeting was over they went back to their hotel to get ready for an evening of dancing. He would be back to pick her up in an hour and a half so they could have dinner first.

“
Why don’t you try to get a little rest, my dear? Will you please wear the blue dress you had on the other night? It was truly elegant and I want you to be with the belle of the ball, which will be inevitable. It was a perfect dress for dancing. We will be outside on a lovely moonlit patio. It is very balmy and romantic.”

The
next day was free and they planned to spend it together but had made no particular plans yet. It would be a do-as-you feel day. The following day she would accompany him for the first time on one of his jewelry sales meetings.

The
day was clear and bright. They awoke feeling the same and were so eager to get together again and spend the whole day without interruptions, just going over many things they wished to do now and in their future.

“
Such a glorious day and it will be great to take a sail,” he suggested to her.

“
I would love that. I already have on a pair of slacks that I made for the trip and a jacket to go with it in case the weather gets cool.”

They
drove to the area where they had seen all the boats in the water while they had been at the restaurant. He showed her where his boat was moored. He stopped at a little store near the dock to have a picnic lunch prepared, some delightful sandwiches, sweet pickles, and a bottle of wine with some ice. Some little pastries would add a nice touch. Once it was ready, they headed for the dock to take a small boat and go out to his yacht. They pulled up alongside the boat, he helped her up onto it, passed her the picnic lunch and then secured the small boat to the mooring and climbed the ladder to the yacht. She took the lunch into the cabin and stored it for later.

He
went up on deck, freed the boat from its mooring, then started it so they could be off on their sail. He took her along the shore line for a while so she could see it from off shore. She was spellbound and thrilled.

He
asked, “Did you spend any time in a boat growing up?”

“
Yes, my dad used to take me out on a nearby lake when I was small and I loved it.”

When
they got to the end of the point of land, a small island loomed up on the near horizon. He headed in the direction of the island with plans to take her ashore for a picnic. There were a number of moorings there and a small dock which could handle his boat. It was a short ride and they arrived quickly. He pulled up to the dock and moored the boat. He helped her out onto the dock, passed her the picnic lunch, and then got out himself.

They
held hands and walked along the dock to the sandy beach. They stopped, turned around and looked at the mainland from here.

“
What a beautiful sight,” she exclaimed. “The clearness of the day is perfect for the view.”

“
Yes,” he agreed, “It is a delightful day for a sail. I am glad we came.”

They
looked for a few minutes, turned to look at each other, gently kissed, and turned to walk up onto the island. It was so easy and natural to be together. There was a small hill and they climbed the path to the top. She looked ahead into a green, clear space dotted with wildflowers and in the center of it was a small cottage which looked like some she had seen in other parts of Europe. The windows were small on the front with window boxes full of gorgeous plants. On one end was a large picture window where the water and mainland could be seen clearly.

They
went inside; she loved the country air and quaintness of the interior. There was a lovely fireplace that could be seen from a table in front of the large window. They walked over to the table and set the picnic basket on it. He then turned and went back to a small cupboard, took out some dishes adequate for the meal plus two pieces of stemware for the wine. He took them to the table and she placed them where they could sit to look out at the sights, which filled the window like a fabulous painting inside a rustic wooden frame. He poured the wine, she took the napkins from the basket and placed one by each plate.