Remembrance (The Transcend Time Saga) (15 page)

CHAPTER 24

That night I curled up in my bed with only my nightstand lamp on for light, continuing my second read of
Pride and Prejudice
. It was the paperback from school—not the valuable first edition given to me by Alistair. Last year I would have thought it was pathetic to sit by myself on a Friday night, but now I treasured my time alone.

A knock on the door jolted me out of the world of Jane Austen. “Lizzie?” my mom said from the other side. “Can I come in?”

“Sure,” I answered, scooting up to lean against the bedpost. I hugged the book to my chest like it could protect me from what I suspected were more questions about Jeremy.

She entered carrying my bag. “You left this downstairs,” she said, dropping it on the ground next to my desk.

“Oh.” I placed the book facedown on my bed. “Thanks.”

She walked over to my bed, sitting down on the end near my feet. “I wanted to talk with you,” she said, her eyes flashing with concern. “I’m still worried about your decision to break up with Jeremy.”

I took a deep breath, annoyed to be hearing this for the second time in one day. “It’s not something I could have worked out with him,” I said, surprised by how calm I was. “We’re going in different directions, and I can’t just ask him to change who he is. Well, who he’s become.”

She studied me like I was one of her patients. “Are you sure there’s not something else going on? Another guy, perhaps?”

My mouth dropped open in surprise. How could she know about Drew?

“I do deal with this all the time,” she explained with a knowing smile. “But tell me. Who’s this new guy?”

“Just someone from school,” I replied. There was no way I could tell her that it was Drew, since she knew he was Chelsea’s boyfriend.

“Is he worth it for you to break up with Jeremy?”

I nodded, not needing to think about the answer. How could I compare three years with Jeremy to someone who I was bound to from a different time?

“That’s what I thought,” she said with a smile. “Did you know that I met someone else right before I married your father? Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I’d stopped the wedding. Of course I’m glad I didn’t—I never would have had you—but I still think about it from time to time.” She paused, scooting closer to me on the bed. “What I’m saying is that if there’s someone else, I don’t want you to regret not doing anything about it because you’re worried about hurting Jeremy so soon after the breakup.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “So you’re telling me to see what happens with … this other guy?”

“I’m saying you can’t know if it will work out if you never try.”

I took a second to contemplate what she’d said. “Thanks, Mom.” I smiled, opting against telling her that the other guy was Drew. “I’ll think about it.”

She stood up, straightening the crease in the comforter from where she sat down. “You do that, and try not to spend the whole weekend alone. It’s not good for you. Go out and have fun—it’s what you’re supposed to do at your age.”

“It’s just for this weekend,” I promised, knowing I couldn’t lock myself in my room forever.

“Good.” She walked toward the open door, pausing before leaving. “And you know I’ll want to hear about this new guy soon. You can’t keep him secret forever.”

“Right,” I said, my voice wavering at the threat she didn’t mean to make. “But I think I’m going to go to sleep. It’s been a long week.”

She said goodnight and closed the door, leaving me alone with
Pride and Prejudice
once more. I was at one of my favorite parts—when Lizzy had a run-in with Mr. Darcy at his house after he’d arrived home earlier than expected. It was a huge turning point in their relationship. He revealed a nicer side of himself, and Lizzy began to realize how much she loved him.

I sunk into my bed and opened the book to continue reading, but it was impossible to concentrate on the words. I kept replaying the conversation I had with Drew on the swings, wondering if I should listen to my mom’s advice. After a few minutes of being unable to get through an entire paragraph without my thoughts interrupting me, I reached over to my nightstand to grab a bookmark from its spot next to my phone, deciding it would be best to go to sleep and worry about everything in the morning.

Then something clinked against my window.

I jumped and dropped the book on the floor, losing the place where I was reading. Attributing the sound to the wind, I reached down to pick it up, but another clink hit the glass before I could get it. It was louder than before. Annoyed, I got up and opened the doors to the balcony, trying to see what was going on. No trees stood near enough to the house to whip their branches against the glass, so I looked down, gasping at what I saw.

Drew stood on the ground below my room, the moonlight glowing off his dark hair and light skin. He looked better than ever. His arm was mid-throw, but he dropped it to his side when he saw me.

I rested my hands on the rail and leaned forward to get a better look at him, surprised by how warm it was for early November. “What are you doing?” I asked in the loudest whisper I could manage. I didn’t want to risk my mom hearing and coming back into my room. It would be best if she thought I was asleep.

“Getting your attention.” He grinned devilishly, causing my heart to do that pounding thing it did whenever I saw him.

I bit my lip to try to keep from smiling. “Couldn’t you have just used your cell phone?” I asked, reminding myself not to smile. I was supposed to be annoyed with him.

“I tried,” he said. “You didn’t pick up. Besides, this is more fun.”

I glanced at the bag that my mom had just dropped off in my room. My cell was inside it, still set on silent from school. “I left it downstairs,” I explained, staring at the object in his hand to figure out what he was throwing. “Are those pinecones?”

“Yep.” He tossed it in the air, catching it with his other hand. “I almost used rocks, but I didn’t want to break the glass.”

I laughed at his reasoning, watching a pale light spread across his face as the moon came out from behind the clouds. He looked up at me and smiled—a true, genuine smile that made his eyes glow. This was the Drew that I remembered, who danced with me at glamorous balls and listened as I played our song on the piano.

He tossed the pinecone from one hand to the other, preparing to throw it again. “Are you going to come down here, or will I have to come up and get you myself?” he teased.

I shook my head, still amazed that he was there. “I’ll be down in a minute.” I started to close the door but paused after it was halfway shut, leaning back out. “Stay there.”

I changed into jeans and a zip-up sweatshirt, and put on sheepskin boots to protect my feet from the slight chill outside. After a glance in the mirror to make sure I looked decent, I tiptoed down the steps, making sure to be quiet when I passed my mom’s room. The back door barely made a sound when I clicked it shut behind me.

I stepped onto the deck and looked at the spot below my balcony, smiling when I saw Drew standing there waiting for me, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket like going to girls’ houses in the middle of the night was an everyday occurrence. He walked towards the deck, stepping up to stand next to me. He was so close, and I stared at him in wonder, unable to figure out why he decided to drive to my house in the middle of the night.

“After the other day at the playground, I wasn’t sure if you would want to talk to me or not,” he said, his eyes serious. “What made you change your mind?”

“You were throwing pinecones at my door.” I laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. “I should be irritated at you, but it was kind of cute.”

“Well, ‘cute’ wasn’t what I was aiming for.” He chuckled and dropped the pinecone that he was holding to the ground. “But I’m glad it worked.”

Worried that my mom might still be awake, I glanced at her window, glad to see that the lights were off. I felt guilty for leaving without telling her, but it wasn’t like I was going any further than the backyard. It didn’t count as sneaking out if I was still on our property.

“So, what’s going on?” I asked, trying to hide my curiosity. A voice in the back of my mind told me to go back inside, but then I remembered the advice my mom had just given me. I wasn’t about to throw away what I have with Drew and end up regretting it forever. 

“I shouldn’t be here.” He reached forward to take my hand, but decided against it. “I know you’re confused, and I’m not doing much to help. But I can’t stand hurting you any more.” 

I didn’t move a muscle, afraid that any movement would cause him to turn around and leave like he had many times before. “What changed?” I asked, tilting my head in question.

“Last Friday in the music room, every word I said felt like I was taking a knife to my own skin, cutting so deep that I thought I would never know how to not feel pain again,” he said, his voice remarkably calm for such a strong statement. “The worst of it was knowing that in fighting us being together, I was still causing you pain. I can’t do it anymore.” He stood still, focused intensely on me. “Do you believe that we have the ability to change destiny?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, and my voice trembled, either from fear or excitement. “We’ll never know unless we try. But I just don’t understand what happened before that was so horrible. Were we unable to be together?”

“Something like that,” he said, taking a step back. “But let’s not worry about it right now. I want to show you something.”

“Show me what?” I asked, intrigued. 

He grabbed my hand, leading me off the deck and around the house. “It’s a surprise,” he said, “but I think you’ll like it.”

CHAPTER 25

His black BMW was parked on the road near my driveway, looking out of place in my neighborhood. At first I was hesitant about getting in—unlike talking in my backyard, driving somewhere with Drew definitely qualified as sneaking out. However, I wasn’t ready to tell my mom about Drew just yet, and I was curious about the surprise he had to show me. Promising myself that it would be a one-time thing, I got into the car and tried to put the guilt in the back of my mind as he drove out of the neighborhood.

His house was only ten minutes away from mine. I’d been to Lakeside Circle a few times before, but the sizes of the homes sitting on what appeared to be two or more acres of land never ceased to amaze me. The road wound around in a big circle, since the houses sat around Pembrooke Lake, where the families kept their jet ski’s, speedboats, and other water vehicles.

Halfway around the circle we pulled up to the largest of them all—a two and a half story grey-stone country estate on top of a hill, with a steep shingled roof that made it resemble an English palace. White columns surrounded the double door entrance, and bay windows extended from each side. The house was wide enough for four or more houses from my street to fit inside his one. Bare trees towered over the sides and back of the house, and a stone path went from the street to the front entrance, passing a fountain on the way up. He pulled up to the side of the house and parked in the four-car garage. Three other cars were inside—a black Hummer, a silver Mercedes convertible, and a dark grey Porsche Cayenne.

“That’s a lot of cars for just you and your mom,” I observed, standing up and looking around.

His car beeped when he locked it, and he glanced at the others in the garage. “We each have a sports car for when it’s nice out, and an SUV for when the weather gets bad,” he said, like having two cars was completely normal.

“Right.” I nodded. “Of course.”

Not seeming to want to discuss the cars any further, he walked towards the door on the inside corner of the garage, holding it open for me to enter. I stepped up onto the platform to go inside, and the first thing I saw was a straight hardwood stairway leading to the second floor. The narrow hallway continued further back, leading to a family room with a huge plasma screen TV hanging on the wall above the fireplace. Open paneled double doors were on the far side of the family room, revealing a billiard table inside a room with dark wooden walls.

I felt like an intruder inside the gigantic house, and he tugged my hand to direct me around the corner into a cherry wood kitchen with a granite-topped island in the center. Another open entrance on the other side of the kitchen led into a huge great room with an elegant French country sofa facing a pair of complimentary antique chairs. Peeking into the foyer, I saw another stairway, this one curved in a dramatic semi-circle across from the columned entrance.

“I’ll give you the grand tour later,” Drew said, walking towards the French double doors in the back of the great room and unlocking them. “But I want to show you something outside. Come on.”  

Disappointed to not be able to explore the rest of the house, but curious about what Drew wanted me to see, I followed him through the doors onto a huge wrap-around porch with thick wooden rails overlooking the lake.

“Did you buy this place right before moving here?” I asked, feeling like an insect next to the hugeness of the house.

“We built it as a vacation home when I was a kid.” He leaned against the railing, waiting for me to follow. “We would come here every summer. All of my friends had summer homes in the Hamptons, but my mom grew up around here and she insisted we come back every year.”

I walked to where he stood, shaking my head in amazement. “How many houses
do
you have?” I laughed, trying not to be too intimidated. Pembrooke had a good amount of people who were well off, but the Carmichael’s were in a completely different league.

“Four.” He chuckled again, glancing up at the house towering above us. “There’s this one, the condo in Manhattan, the house in Palm Beach, and another in Aspen.”

“That’s … nice.” I tried to act like this was normal.

“But my house isn’t what I wanted to show you.” He took a step down on the stairway leading to the lake and held out his hand. “Are you coming or not?”

I nodded and took his hand in mine, heat rushing up my arm when we touched. He pulled me closer towards him so my body pressed against his, and I breathed in his warm scent that reminded me of the forest on a winter day. He wound his hand through my hair and I looked up at him, amazed by how much had changed since a week ago.

But Drew is still Chelsea’s boyfriend
, I reminded myself, even though it wasn’t something I wanted to think about.

I took a step backward, breaking the spell between us. “What was it you wanted to show me?”

He blinked, surprised that I ended the short moment between us. “This way,” he said, grabbing my hand again to head towards the dock. The wooden planks creaking beneath our feet were the only sound in the quiet night. I knew I should let go of his hand—Chelsea would be devastated if she saw the two of us right now—but we were already together in secret in the middle of the night. Holding hands wasn’t as big of a deal in comparison.

I looked around to try figuring out what he wanted to show me. Then I caught sight of a small speedboat floating next to the dock. The boat was small; it looked like it could fit about four people. It bobbed in the water, completely unthreatening.

“You wanted to show me a boat?” I asked, looking around to see what else was in the area. There was nothing. I was surprised—he knew I hated speed.

“My dad and I used to go water-skiing and fishing when we came here over the summers,” he explained. “But now it’s just me and my mom, so I like taking it out when I need a break from everything.”

“And you want me to go in it?” I crossed my arms over my chest, not happy about the idea.

“Tell me, Elizabeth,” he said, like he knew where he was going with this. “Why don’t you like speed?”

I took a moment to think. “I guess I don’t want the car to slip off the road.”

“Well, that can’t happen in a boat,” he said, lifting a leg and placing his foot on the side of the boat. “There’s no road. Only water.”

He squeezed my hand and waited for a response. I knew he was giving me a choice. I could say no, but this was something he enjoyed, and he wanted to share it with me. For weeks I’d wanted nothing more than to get to know him, and now I had my chance.

“Okay,” I gave in. “I’ll go. Just don’t drive too fast.”

A smile spread across his face. “I promise.”

Drew’s grip was firm as he lowered me into the boat, and I wondered why I doubted that he would let anything bad happen to me. My feet landed against the cushiony seat that wrapped around the back, and I nearly fell as I went to take a step down. His hands wrapped around my waist as he helped me step onto the floor, his face inches from mine. 

“You’ll be fine,” he whispered in my ear, letting go so I could stand by myself. The boat was sturdier than I expected, and I smiled to let him know I was okay. Swinging the keys around his fingers, he walked backwards toward the captain’s seat, never breaking eye contact with me the entire time.

I took a step forward, breathing steadier when the floor stayed sturdy under my feet. It wasn’t much different from walking on the ground. Feeling more confident, I made my way over to the seat next to him.

He wrapped his hand around my forearm before I could sit down “Sit with me,” he said, pulling me towards him. My body fit perfectly in the curve of his, and I brought my arms up around his neck. It was highly unlikely that I would fall over the edge, but I felt safer holding onto Drew.

He put the keys in the ignition and I leaned against his shoulders, closing my eyes as the engine revved to life. I didn’t panic when the boat jolted forward. I felt calm, and I opted to enjoy the moment, focusing on the steady beat of Drew’s heart beneath my ear and smiling to myself as it pumped faster when I wrapped my arms tighter around him.

“You can open your eyes now,” he whispered in my ear after bringing the boat to a stop.

I opened them slowly. We were in the center of the lake, and I lifted my head to look at him, my breath catching in my chest as my nose brushed against his. Neither of us moved, and the boat bobbed on the lake, the water lapping against the sides the only sound in the night.

“I have to tell you something,” he said, leaning back to look at me and taking my hand in his. “I broke up with Chelsea before I came to your house.”

I stayed silent as I took in what he said. A part of me wanted to jump for joy at the fact that Drew and Chelsea were no longer together. The other half wanted to run to Chelsea with a pint of ice cream to help her feel better. Which of course I couldn’t do, since I was sitting in a boat in the middle of a lake. With her ex-boyfriend. Who I was falling for more and more with each passing second.

“I want us to be together,” he continued, pushing a strand of hair behind my ear that had been blown out of place during the boat ride, his fingers leaving a line of heat where they brushed against my skin. “I knew it could never work if I didn’t do something about Chelsea. I never loved her. I could never love her, because I love you, Elizabeth. It’s been you the entire time.”

His lips connected with mine before I could respond, erasing all thoughts of Chelsea, Jeremy, or anything other than the two of us together on the lake. No one existed other than Drew, and I leaned into him, my body melting into his. The kiss was soft and tender, and I allowed the undeniable pull between us to take over, savoring the electricity that passed between us.

I wrapped my arms around him and he pulled me closer, pressing his body against mine as the kiss became more urgent. Being with Drew was the only thing that felt right since the beginning of the school year, and I knew that it was too late to turn back.

I opened my eyes, my lashes brushing against his cheeks. “Promise me everything won’t go back to the way it was when school starts again on Monday,” I asked, catching my breath as I tried to focus on what I was saying instead of on the array of emotions rushing through my veins. “I don’t think I could handle it again.”

He laughed like the notion was ridiculous. “Everything’s changed now, Elizabeth,” he said, leaning back to look at me. “We could never go back to the way things were before. You’re everything to me—you always have been, and you always will be. Always and forever.”

My head spun and I tried to gather my thoughts. “I just have so many questions,” I started, unsure of where to begin. “The first time I saw you—that day in history class—I knew you were different from everyone else. But you seemed to know everything before me. You spoke French perfectly the first day in class, but it took weeks for it to come back to me. Am I super slow in picking up on things or something?”

“You’re not slow,” he said, smiling and shaking his head. “Two years ago I went on a family vacation to England to visit my grandparents. We toured the countryside and I saw a few things that caught my interest. One of the houses we visited seemed so familiar, and after we returned home I started dreaming about a girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes. She was like an angel, so different from anyone I’d ever met in New York. I thought I was going crazy.” He paused, his eyes darkening for a moment before continuing the story. “Some of my friends found girlfriends, but all I did was go from girl to girl, hoping one of them would live up to my expectations. None of them did. Then I saw you on the first day of school, and I think I went into shock. I knew we should be together, but I had this sinking feeling that all I would do was hurt you in the end.

“I tried keeping my distance,” he continued. “But Chelsea was so insistent that I pay attention to her, and for some convoluted reason I decided that being with Chelsea would allow me to be close to you without being
with
you. That way I knew I couldn’t hurt you. It was stupid, but you were all I could think about. Plus you were with Jeremy, and I didn’t want to cause trouble between the two of you if you were happy with him.”

“But it just made everything harder,” I said, tears welling up in my eyes with the mention of my best friend and ex-boyfriend.

“I know.” He pulled away, his eyes flashing with guilt. “If it’s too much, we can stop now. This doesn’t have to go any further.”

“No.” I didn’t have to think about my response. “That would be even worse. It would hurt too much; it would be like losing a part of who I am.”

He smiled, the golden flecks in his eyes shining like tiny sparkling lights. “I’ve wanted to hear that for so long.”

“It’ll be okay with Chelsea,” I said, hoping it was true. “She’s been my best friend since elementary school. We can get past this.”

He looked away, and I worried that I’d said something wrong. “I promise I’ll always be here for you,” he said, confidence returning to his eyes as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “Even though I haven’t done much in the past few months for you to believe me.”