Falling for Your Madness (22 page)

I wiped the dirt from his face.

“I gave you complete control over my future, and I’m asking you …” David couldn’t get the words out. “Please, Laura, please.” My strong, courageous David was trying so hard to keep his emotions under control. “Don’t release me. Don’t ever release me. I need you. I am nothing without you.”

I pulled my dear, sensitive David up next to me and held him. I stroked his hair. “I am not going anywhere.” I put his filthy, dirty face in my hands and looked him in the eyes. “Never. I am never releasing you. I am bound to you body and soul. I promise. I always keep my promises.”

I held him for a very long time, and that look in his eyes came back. The one that I loved to see from across the table at tea, lunch, and dinner. The warm look of hope and affection. David took my hand and kissed it. “I abdicated for you. I would do it again. Nothing is as important to me as you.”

“I saw you! I saw you on the news! I thought you were going to kill William! You said you were going to slay the dragon and …”

“I’m not going to kill anybody! I would never, not unless your life was at stake. The dragon was a metaphor, Laura. You know, poetry? I went to 'slay the dragon'. The dragon was me.”

“Please stop! Speak so I understand you!”

“The dragon was this crazy destiny I’ve been carrying around my whole life. I had to get rid of it. I have long been afraid that the woman I marry wouldn’t understand it, and until I met you, I hadn’t met a girl who made me want to get rid of it so badly. Perhaps I shouldn’t have called it a dragon. There is, as you know, no such thing as a perfect metaphor.”

“You really think you’re the true king?”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? I can’t be king. I won’t be king. My idea of happily ever after is just you. That’s it. I gave William Excalibur because I’m removing as many obstacles as I can between me and your hand in marriage. There was no other way.”

I wiped tears from my eyes. “I kept the sword with me all night. I thought for sure you’d come back to it. Then it disappeared!”

“Merle did get that right. It came to me at the perfect time. I had just gotten by the Prince’s security. I’m glad I had magic on my side.”

“I really thought you were going to kill William!”

“Why do you think I would kill someone?”

“Fay said that she has a file and …”

He stiffened. “What did Fay say to you? I knew this was all her doing. We were having such a lovely time at the house, and you were—oh Laura, you bore my family with such grace and dignity, I fell in love with you all over again. But then something happened. I was with Father and Aunt Honoria, and you were not with us. Then it was as if you were under a spell. I realized after I got to my apartment that Fay was alone with you, and it was enough to poison you. What did she say?”

It was my turn to blubber. “She said that as a social worker, she documented your deviant behavior and …”

“A social worker?” David shouted. He looked angry. As angry as he had the night he’d chased Trey. “She lied to you. She is not a social worker. She is an assistant manager, and not a very good one, at the local Dunkin Donuts.” He stood up and clenched his fists.

“But she called the night you were arrested. It made sense that she would …”

“She called because she calls us every Saturday night and asks for money!” He shouted.

“Is she jealous of you? She said that in the feudal system, the prince gets it all. What does that mean?”

“Another lie. She’s getting ten percent of my father’s estate. Which, let me tell you, is plenty for her to live on comfortably the rest of her life, but she’s got some nasty habits that keep her down.”

“Only ten percent?”

“I told you that my father is eccentric. That’s significantly more than Aunt Honoria got.”

“That’s hardly fair, if she’s sharing the inheritance with you.”

“Fair? Life is rarely fair. Laura, my financial situation is not for sweethearts to know. If you were my fiancée, though, I would certainly tell you everything.”

“I’m getting closer and closer to that every day.” I hesitated. “David, are you rich? Not that it matters. I love you too. I love you as an ordinary college professor.”

He sighed. “Not as rich as I might have been thirty years ago. My parents’ divorce and the current economic climate have not been kind to my family’s fortune. But yes, I am.” He looked embarrassed. “Wasn’t it obvious? College professors rarely can afford to live on Commonwealth Avenue.”

“So Fay said all of these things because she’s angry with you? Because you have most of the money?” This was how Ruby had treated me.

“Money, I’m afraid, is all she does see. She doesn’t see that ‘To whom much has been given, much would be required.’ I do get ninety percent of the estate, but I also get this mantle of greatness, this expectation of leadership, this madness, this destiny, this pressure to carry on a very muddled and crazy family tradition. When my father finds out that Excalibur is gone, she may get the money she wants. I don’t care.” He clenched his fists again and shouted. “Why did she have to go and say those things to you?”

“Are you angry with me?”

He pulled me to my feet and took my hands. “No. Well, yes. A little. Why did you let one little conversation with her taint my character? One minute, I was your hero. The next minute, you were afraid of me. That hurt, Laura.”

“I’m so sorry.” I held him and kissed his dirty, scruffy face. “Please forgive me. I’ll never doubt you again. You’ve always been a gentleman.”

And everything was all right. It didn’t matter whether he was the true king or not. It didn’t matter what Fay had said. It didn’t even matter that David was wealthy.

“Does it bother you that I’m a mad man?”

“Not at all. You’re
my
mad man. That’s all that matters.”

“Darling, I have class today. I shouldn’t miss my commitment. I need to shower and shave, and then we can meet for tea at 3:30.”

“David, would you do something for me?”

“Absolutely anything.”

“Shave the stubble off, but keep the beard. Just like last night.”

“Do you think it makes me look distinguished?”

“It makes you look
hot
.”

“Laura! You’re making me blush!”

ENGLAND

Monday, November 19, 2012

The Boston Tea Party Tea Shop

1477 Beacon Street

Brookline, Massachusetts

3:29 p.m.

“David, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, love. Are you warm enough?”

David kissed me hello outside the tea shop. There was definitely something wrong; he didn’t actually greet me. He had forgotten his overcoat, the black one that made him look even more distinguished
and
hot. And for the first time since I had known him, he did not have any flowers to give me.

He did open the door for me, pull out my chair, and take my hand. “Now, you were going to tell me the plans for the weekend?”

“Mom confirmed everything for me. You and Merle will pick me up at my apartment Wednesday morning at ten. Merle will drive us to Logan Airport
and we should be there by eleven. Then we’ll check in and go through security. We should be at our gate at 11:45, but that’s probably optimistic. Our flight is at 1:50. We should have time for a quick lunch. Our flight is two hours and ten minutes long. My mother and father will meet us at the airport, and …”

“I cannot greet your mother without first buying her flowers. I looked it up: there’s a shop in the airport. Would she prefer roses or lilies?”

“Oh David! She’ll love whatever you give her!” He was going to love them. They were going to love him. There was no reason for me to be nervous. “The drive to their house is about forty-seven minutes long. I can’t get any more accurate than that. When we get there, we’ll rest and you’ll meet my sisters, brother-in-law, and brother-in-law-to-be. We’ll have dinner. I have no idea what’s on the menu, but my mother really wants to impress you. Then I imagine we’ll do something lively as a family, like card games or charades, because we’re from the Midwest and the winters are very cold. Is that satisfactory?”

“Sounds lovely. Wait. There is the matter of where I am sleeping.”

“I thought of that. Mom wanted you on the couch in the family room, but I reserved a room for you at a La Quinta a mile from us. Dad agreed to pick you up every morning, but when you get in the car, please remember to ride in the front, not the back.”

“Naturally. Your mother isn’t offended that I refused her hospitality, I hope.”

“I was going to tell her that you were concerned about upsetting the delicate boundaries of the females in the household or something like that, but when it came out, all I said was, ‘David is fussy.’”

“No point in gilding the lily.”

“On Thanksgiving morning, we’ll all have brunch together, then we’re going to my Aunt Patti’s house for a large Thanksgiving meal with my grandparents and more aunts, uncles, and cousins.”

He gasped. “Will she have roast turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie and all the trimmings?”

“Oh yes. And plenty of kielbalsa and pierogis.”

“Sounds charming. My mouth is watering already. I’ve never had a traditional American Thanksgiving feast.”

“What? What did you do all these years?”

“We’re British. We had Indian take-away. Now, what about Friday?”

On Friday, my sisters and mother and the rest of the women in the bridal party were going to a day spa. The men were having some sort of bachelor party, the details of which I knew nothing about. “Friday. Yes, you’ll like it. The house will be empty. You can read alone all day.”

“Excellent. Then, the big day?”

“The wedding is at two. I’ll have to leave you in the care of my brother-in-law, Derek. I won’t be able to really talk to you until the reception, at which I anticipate dancing with you all night.”

“I am a very good dancer.”

“Of course you are.” Oh boy. Bringing my sweetheart home to meet my family was the last big step before I told him what I wanted to do. I wanted to ask him if I could have an engagement ring for Christmas. Maybe we could have a June wedding after he finished his classes. That’s what I wanted: a big June wedding, with all my friends around me.

One thing at a time.

“Our flight back to Boston is Sunday afternoon. We won’t have time for social-stroke-cultural events, but I think we’ll need to rest.”

“Agreed.”

“Now, Dr. Bowles. What is going on? You didn’t bring me flowers.”

“What?” He look startled. “Oh! No! I didn’t! I forgot the flowers? Laura! How can you forgive me?”

“By telling me what’s on your mind. I know you. Something’s up.”

“I was going to wait until Monday to tell you. You have enough on your mind as it is, dragging me to Chicago. I couldn’t put this on you now.”

“Spill it. Whatever it is, we can handle it.”

He swallowed. Man, I am getting really tired of that look he gives me when he’s afraid

I’ll release him. Every time he sees me, does he think I’ll do it? Does he have to face that fear every tea, lunch, and dinner?
His courage amazes me. I had told him I wouldn’t
release him. I wasn’t going to. He had surrendered the power to me. That must be immensely difficult at times.

“I heard from Oxford about an hour ago.”

“And?”

“They’ve been given the all-clear from the government. All bureaucrats are satisfied. I am free to go. They’ll need a formal commitment from me next week.”

“David! That’s fantastic!” I jumped up out of my chair, and he jumped up, and I hugged him and kissed him. “This is wonderful! I am so happy for you. When are you going?”

“Never.”

“What?”

“I’m not going. I’m staying here.”

“You can’t be serious. You
have
to go. You’ve worked so hard. Your father’s been waiting. It’s your holy grail.”

“No. You are mistaken. I have only one holy grail now, and that is your hand in marriage. I am systematically removing all the obstacles that block me from that goal. If I go, I won’t be with you, so I’m not going.”