I Remember (Remembrance Series) (33 page)

He continued to hold one of my hands as I used the other to depress the button. The spinner began to rotate and light up, as the bear began to sway to the music. The lyrics, to ‘our’ song, “I Knew I Loved You,” by Savage Garden, came out, as the spinner lit up with hearts, then the words,
“I Love You. You Are My Life. My World…”

I continued to watch, in slow motion, as Gregory got down on one knee, right when the spinner lit up with, “
Marry Me! Be My Wife!”

He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a velvet ring box and opened it. Inside was the most stunning Asscher-cut diamond ring, I had ever seen. A seductive smile spread across his face, as he presented his ring to me.

I was in shock, slowly processing the scene before me. My mind kept screaming,
“It’s too soon. You have only known him a few weeks.”
My words failed me as I continued to stare at him and the ring.

Gregory finally spoke up, his voice shaky, “You are leaving me in suspense here, Jordan.”

I wanted to say we needed more time. However, an ethereal voice in my head told me,
“This is your destiny, where you are meant to be.”
A soothing calm spread through me.

Suddenly, I found myself nodding, still full of emotion and unable to speak.

His face looked puzzled. “Is that a yes?”

I nodded again, more certain of my decision. “Yes.”

He quickly slipped the ring onto my finger and leaned in, wrapping his arms around my neck and pulling me into an intense kiss. I quickly followed his lead, letting my hands run through his hair, pulling him closer to me.

My heart was beating wildly, my mind scattered and an overwhelming feeling of love coursing through me. It wasn’t until he pulled back to stare into my eyes and whispered, “Do you know how happy you have just made me?” that I came back to earth.

I could only smile and manage to whisper back, “Only as happy as you have made me.”

A few minutes passed, before we broke off our embrace. Gregory picked up a lighter from the table, which puzzled me, then walked a few paces away and knelt down to the ground to ignite something.

As he walked back, I watched a fuse spark to life and make a path down toward the water. Suddenly, the air was filled with loud sounds of fireworks being catapulted towards the heavens and exploding.

I looked at Gregory with quizzical eyes. “What are the fireworks for? Is this why you, and everyone else, have been acting strange all day?”

He laughed sweetly as he came to stand beside me, pulling me close to his side. “Your insightfulness never ceases to amaze me.” He kissed my neck, just below the earlobe, making me melt. “The fireworks are to celebrate our engagement and to let my family know you said, ‘Yes.’”

I leaned back and looked up into his eyes, “So this is what you were up to earlier? Was your family in on it too? The champagne?”

A gentle smile spread across his face as he nodded, confirming my suspicions. Then it suddenly dawned on me that he had been planning to ask me to marry him for the entire week. My heart was bursting at the seams with the love I felt for this handsome man.

When the fireworks were done, we walked hand in hand, him carrying the flowers, and me the bear, back to the patio. There, waiting for us, were his parents and grandfather, clapping and giving us congratulatory wishes. On the table was the chilled bottle of champagne, glasses and the strawberry tart, to celebrate.

Lorraine was the first to walk around and draw me into a bear hug. “I am so pleased you will be part of our family, Jordan. I’ve never seen Gregory as happy as he has been the last few weeks.”

Douglas was next to give me a hug and light kiss on the forehead. “Welcome to our family, Jordan.”

Frederick walked over next. “Now you can definitely call me Grandpa,” he said proudly, giving me a tender embrace and a peck on the cheek.

I was elated, realizing these amazing people would now be part of my world and my life.

Suddenly, I felt nervous. How was I going to break this sudden engagement to her, given all that has happened this year? Then, I had an epiphany. “Was my mom in on this, too?”

Gregory pulled me close to his chest, as he ran his hands up and down my back in a soothing motion. “Why do you think your mom was so insistent about you having a wonderful weekend with us?”

I leaned back staring into his face. “How? When?”

He took a deep breath, before elaborating. “The night you fell asleep and your mother and I talked on the phone…I told her how I felt about you and how I couldn’t imagine my life without you. I requested her permission to ask for your hand in marriage. You should know by now that I’m extremely old fashioned.” He laughed a little at the last part.

I shook my head in amazement at how thorough he had been with all the details of his proposal. I leaned up to kiss him chastely on the lips. “You truly amaze me and I love you for that!”

The rest of the night was spent discussing wedding options. Lorraine was quick to throw out some names of bridal dress shops, wedding venues, florists, caterers, planners and everything wedding. I could tell she would be taking the lead on planning everything, but I didn’t mind. I wanted my focus to be on Gregory and ensuring my mother would be all right.

Gregory spoke up in regards to when the wedding would occur. “I don’t mind scheduling the wedding date out a little bit, in order to prepare; but, I don’t want to wait too long to make you my wife and start spending forever with you.”

Eventually, we decided we would need six to eight months to plan things accordingly; so we opted for a January Winter wedding, pending the venues of our choosing were available. Gregory’s family offered to help with the costs and planning. I graciously told them I needed to talk with my mother to see what her thoughts were, before I could accept such an offer.

The rest of the night was full of discussing upcoming events that Gregory’s family wanted me to attend with them. We also planned for some shopping for both me and Mom to get to know Lorraine a little better. I felt grateful, knowing that this close knit family already considered me one of their own.

We finally decided to call it a night and go up to bed. Suddenly, I was exhausted. As we arrived at his bedroom door, Gregory quickly picked me up in his arms. “What are you doing?” I shrieked in surprise.

“Just getting in a little practice of carrying you over the threshold,” he responded, smiling, as he leaned in to give me a peck on the lips.

I changed first and then waited for him under the covers. He crawled in shortly, wrapping his arms around me, and pulling me close to him. We soon fell asleep, dreaming about our future, together.

My early dreams were filled of nothing but Gregory, holding me safely in his arms for all eternity. But, as we looked out at a sunset, across a lake, I felt his presence slip away.

Dark shadows began spreading like a fog across the ground, forcing me to my knees and enclosing me in complete darkness. I could not move my limbs, no matter how hard I tried.

A low, threatening voice loomed close to my ear. “You were told to stay away from him. Master will be angry that you didn’t follow her orders. You will learn your place, that you don’t belong in this life.”

A shadow grabbed my arm, holding it down, while its sharp fingernail dragged across the flesh of my forearm, slicing it open. I cried out in pain.

It released my arm when someone began to shake my shoulders. Muffled words began to awaken my senses. “Jordan, wake up. You need to wake up, NOW!”

I bolted upright in bed with a scream. “Leave me alone!”

Gregory was sitting on the edge of the bed, pressing a towel firmly against my arm. His face laced with anxiety. “What the hell happened? Are you okay?”

I shook my head with uncertainty, confused with my surroundings. My heart rate was racing and I was barely able to catch my breath. “Why does my arm hurt?” I winced when he applied more pressure to it.

“Here, let me take a look and see how bad it is.”

“What happened, Gregory?” At that moment, I recalled the nightmare, realizing my dream was reality.

He took a deep breath in. “I got up to use the bathroom and when I came out, you were surrounded by shadows. I realized something was wrong when I saw you were struggling to right yourself.” He used his free hand to rub the bridge of his nose, before continuing, “One of the shadow figures tried to mark you and get a sample of your blood.”

My breath caught and my other hand flew up to my mouth, not wanting to believe what I was hearing, but knowing in my heart it was true. I glanced down at the arm he was holding. He released the towel and I saw a six inch line down the under-side of my left forearm. The skin was cut open and bleeding, but nothing too deep. What surprised me more were the hand marks left by the shadow figure. They were bright red, and burned.

Gregory leaned down and kissed the marred area of my skin. To our astonishment, as soon as his lips touched my skin, the pain disappeared and the burn began to fade. He decided to kiss the cut area in several locations and, to our surprise, the skin began to seal itself up and disappear into non-existence.

I reached my hand towards his face and cradled it to show my affection. “Thank you for saving me.” I leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.

“You are my world, Jordan. I would do anything to keep you safe.” He pulled me into a deep hug. “Why don’t we leave some of the lights on for the rest of the night and then discuss this in the morning?”

I was too tired to argue and realized I needed a clear mind to analyze everything. Maybe the light of day would help me make sense of it all. “Okay.”

He rinsed the blood out of the towel and let it dry on the side of the tub, before climbing back into bed, spooning with me, his arms holding me close.

I awoke with Gregory’s arms still wrapped tightly around me, holding me to his chest. His heart was beating in a steady rhythm that soothed and relaxed me. I tried to move ever so slightly, as not to wake him, but upon the smallest movement, his arms clamped down on me, drawing me closer.

“Where do you think you are going?”

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I just needed to stretch my legs and use the bathroom.”

He pulled me up on his chest until I hovered over him, drawing me down into an intense good morning kiss. “I love waking up with you in my arms. Are you sure we have to wait until January for the wedding?”

I pushed up onto my knees, breaking our contact. He frowned. “You heard your mother. The earliest she can get for some of the venues would be about six months from now. I don’t know that I really want wait, either. I don’t need a fancy wedding, all I need is you.”

I jumped off the bed and headed to the bathroom, as he sat up smiling. “Hurry back, Sweetheart,” he said teasingly.

I quickly brushed my teeth, washed my face and straightened my hair a bit, feeling giddy. As I turned to exit the bathroom, I caught sight of the towel he used to stop the bleeding on my arm last night. Suddenly the reality of what happened caused my good mood to come crashing to the ground.

I exited the bathroom with a sullen face. “What’s wrong?”

I sat at the edge of the bed next to him. “We need to talk about what happened last night.”

He pulled me across his lap and held me securely, like his life depended on it. “I should have never left you last night. I feel so responsible for everything.” His voice was sad and strained.

“How is it your responsibility? I’m still trying to figure out what all this is about. I haven’t had any physical harm like this since…” I suddenly remembered the first time I started dreaming of Angeline and Daniel again, when a demonic witch spirit gave me a warning and left a burning hand print in my skin.

His eyes widened in horror. “This has happened before?!”

I quickly explained the dream I had and how the burned handprints lasted only a few hours.

He took a deep breath, still holding me tight to his chest. “Our dreams are much more than they appear. Apparently some force out there doesn’t want us together. But, I know nothing that could ever keep me away from you.”

He pressed a warm kiss against my temple, before lifting my chin “I don’t know why ‘WE’ keep dreaming of Angeline and Daniel. My only guess is that maybe we’re related to them in some way and we need to figure out how. I just wish I knew their last names. It would make my search for them easier.”

“You mean ‘OUR’ search. Something evil is trying to keep us from being together and somehow they are related to this mystery. I’m tired of getting hurt and want to take a stand against the spirits,” I said, adamantly.

“I don’t want you risking yourself. I’m the one who promised your father I would take care of you.”

I gaped in shock. “What?”

He realized his mistake. “I don’t know how I came to find you in your dreams, that night, only that I did and I talked in detail with your father about watching over you and guarding you with my life.”

My heart sank. He had withheld this information from me. Suddenly my emotions were conflicted.