Portal (31 page)

“Looking good, Shrimp. Kellan’s a lucky guy.”

“So is Maria, but ‘girl’ of course! You look great.”

I grinned self consciously, and then turned around to Kellan again. He was dressed in a beautifully cut tuxedo, he looked amazing. I took his hand as he put his arm around my waist.

“I guess we’re ready to go?”

“Yes, let’s go. Kellan, you look amazing.”

“Not so fast, young lady,” complained Grandma, “I need some more pictures of you, and the boys of course… and Ella.”

I laughed and relented. After several dozen more photographs we were finally allowed to go. Grandma had certainly learned how to use her digital camera! We climbed into the limo and headed off to pick up Ariele and Maria. There was another photo shoot in progress as we arrived at Maria’s house. She looked beautiful in a short, lilac, cocktail dress with a diamante halter. Ariele looked gorgeous too, in a cobalt blue flowery, chiffon gown. In her hair, she wore a tiara like mine.

We made our way to the ball as soon as the picture onslaught was over, only to exit straight into another one as soon as we arrived. Once the official pictures were taken we headed right to the refreshments. I was parched. Kellan got hold of my waist with his hands as I rushed toward the stand, and turned me around to face him.

“Wait a minute, Shrimp.”

I looked up at him waiting. He gently brushed his finger against my lips and kissed me.

“You took my breath away when I saw you on the steps this evening. You’re like an angel, so beautiful.” And then he brought his lips down on mine again and kissed me gently. He pulled away and looked at me again. “
Now
you can run off to get some grub!”

“I just need a drink, then I’m all yours again,” I replied as I pulled him back and kissed him. We grabbed some Cokes and headed in to the ballroom to find the others. I stopped short as we walked through the entrance, and stared at the wondrous sight before me. I hadn’t expected all this! I wasn’t sure what I had expected really – I didn’t even know where we were. I turned around and looked up at Kellan’s amused face.

“I didn’t want to spoil your surprise by telling you that the ball always takes place at the Planetarium.”

The planetarium? Yes, of course, it looked magical, the planets and stars all lit up. Images of blackholes and cosmic collisions brightened up the dome. It was a breathtaking sight.

“May I have the pleasure of this first dance?” he asked, as he chivalrously bowed in front of me reaching for my hand. I smiled as I placed mine in his and he led me to the dance floor.

Who knew? I could dance! I was glad to have Arizona Darley living inside me at times.
Living inside me
I mused at my thought as Kellan held me close. Could she somehow be living inside me? Could that be possible? Had I killed a part of her, myself? My thoughts were distracted by Kellan’s warm breath against my ear. He brushed his cheek against mine and I pulled myself closer to him and rested my head against his shoulder.

“I have another treat in store for you, Shrimp,” he whispered against the nape of my neck.

I looked up and whispered, “What?”

He took my hand and led me outdoors. We weren’t alone. Dozens of students where outside, sitting or laying in the grass looking up at the sky.

“What are they all looking at, Kellan?” I whispered as I spotted Harry and Maria and waved at them. Kellan took my hand and we headed over to them.

“Where’s Ariele?” I asked, as Kellan and I joined the others on the grass.

Maria chuckled, “She was descended upon as soon as it was realized that she was here without a date. Her dance card is filled.”

“Dance card?” I queried.

Maria held up a silver bound booklet, “Yes, one of these…. Kellan?”

Kellan brought one out from his pocket and gave it to me. I took it and looked through it. Kellan’s name was filled in all the spaces. I looked over at him incredulously.

“I’ll let Harry have one dance, but that’s all I’m relenting to,” he said firmly.

I lay back in his arms and looked to the sky and whispered, “What am I looking for? Shooting stars?”

“The Orionid meter showers…” he started saying as I squeezed to let him know that I understood. I lay in Kellan’s arms silently as we shared the awesome display and was only brought back to earth when I felt someone tap my tiara. I looked up to see David.

“May I have your dance card, poppet?” he asked gallantly while nodding courteously at Kellan who I could feel suppress a snicker. I handed David my card booklet and watched him go through it looking frustrated. He looked over at Kellan and said, “You’re kidding right? Just one dance?”

Kellan sighed and nodded, “One….. Just add your name next to one of mine, but not the last one.”

David looked over at me and bowed saying, “I’ll come and find you for my dance,” and left.

“Kellan, this is such a cute idea,” I said pointing to the dance card, “Who came up with it?”

Kellan shrugged, “It’s been a tradition for this dance ever since it started. It’s very handy!”

I started to turn my face back to the sky to enjoy the show but Kellan stood and pulled me up, “I believe I have this dance, he said as he led me back indoors to the dance floor.”

Harry found me in his arms some dances later and claimed me. It was awkward dancing with Harry, I was not sure where to put my hands, but he seemed to know what he was doing so I followed him lamely, keeping a polite distance between us.

“So, what’s up between you and Kellan? How did you get so close so suddenly. What brought that on?”

I shrugged and he laughed, “I guess I should have seen it coming, the two of you spend enough time with each other. I’m just a bit surprised. I thought David was about to make a move. He talked to me about it a few weeks ago. You turned him down?”

“David’s really nice and I do like him, just not like that.” Thankfully the music stopped and Kellan rescued me from further interrogation.

“Later, Shrimp,” said Harry as he kissed my forehead and left to look for Maria.

I spotted Ali and Ariele on the dance floor with their partners and waved. I had not seen Ali at all this evening until now. She looked amazing, easily the most attractive girl here. Kellan and I continued dancing until we were interrupted by another shoulder tap, David. The boys did their bows and Kellan left.

David took me by my waist and pulled me up close, very close. It didn’t feel uncomfortable like it had with Harry. Being this close to David felt comfortable and warm. He cupped my head from the back and moved my face to look at him. He was incredibly attractive especially now with his lips turned up at the sides into a mischievous smile.

“Poppet, how could you turn your prince down?” he whispered as he drew me in closer. I looked at him with no understanding of what had gone past and simply shrugged and said, “I’m with Kellan now.”

He looked hurt, but tightened his grip as he led me around the floor until the music stopped and he brushed his lips against mine.

“I’m not done fighting for you.”

He let go of me as Kellan promptly arrived by my side. I took Kellan’s hand and pulled him toward the refreshments. The gang was there.

“You look gorgeous,” exclaimed Ali as I walked up to kiss her. I smiled, “Thank you, you look amazing.”

“The next one is the last dance,” said Harry. “Let’s meet up by the limo after.”

Kellan nodded as we all walked together to the dance floor for one last magical dance.

Olivia surveyed the Orionid night sky as she lay comfortably in Rupert’s arms. They had brought a bottle of Cuvee out to the backyard where they plonked them selves down on a mountain of cushions. She felt the chill of the October air and pulled herself closer to Rupert’s warm body. He tightened his grip around her and caressed the softness of her hair with his cheek.

“What are you thinking about?” she whispered softly trying not to destroy the magic of the moment.

“Ollie, did we do the right thing?”

She didn’t reply right away but pondered the question.
Right thing.
What exactly did that mean? This was definitely the right thing for Rupert and her. They were meant to be, that had always been profoundly clear. This was even right for Dillard. He had found himself a more suitable companion with whom he had been happy longer than he had ever been with Olivia. It ended sadly for Dillard and his wife but that was inevitable. Dillard was unable to sustain love and sooner or later that would drain any relationship he had.

The question of
right or wrong
was really only applicable to the kids. Her kids. Neither Arizona nor Ella had been happy living in the dysfunctional family situation that she and Dillard had manufactured for them. The biggest issue had been that Dillard was totally unwilling and perhaps unable to try to make the situation tolerable. She was sure that she had done the right thing for Ella. However, this new situation made her question her decision about Arizona.

“This new issue with Arizona does raise a lot of new worries for me. I thought I had it all covered, it’s been perfect for so long. No matter what happens now, I would never
not
have had this time. So, yes I’m sure we did the right thing,” she mused.

“I have no explanation of how this happened. If I did I might be able to think of a solution. At the moment though, I’m going to have to work this out with Arizona without the benefit of any idea as to what’s going on. All I know is that this change happened when we brought Gertrude back… how this could affect Arizona? I don’t understand, not yet anyway. Larry did mention that he thinks someone’s tampered with the portal. It’s too early to tell whether that’s got anything to do with this though.”

“Ollie, what if she wants to go back?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, Rupert. I’m not sure how I would handle it. What do you think?”

Rupert sighed and turned Olivia so she was facing him, “Honey, it would destroy you.”

She felt herself tearing up at the thought of losing her daughter, but she wouldn’t be able to keep her a prisoner either, she wouldn’t want to.

“Rupert, I’ll have to let her go if that’s what she wants. I’m going to try to make her see that it’s best if she lets things be, for now anyway. With more time Larry and I could maybe figure out what caused this and we may even be able to reverse it. But there is no time. The portal has to close tomorrow due to the new complications. She has to go through now if she wants to reconnect with Dillard. It’s only been a matter of days, things won’t have changed at the other end.”

Rupert hesitatingly added, “Have you thought about the possibility of the reverse happening. What if she goes through the portal and in time switches back to Arizona Darley, what then? Our daughter suddenly finds herself lost in the future, in another dimension.”

Olivia shook at the vision. There was really only one way to deal with this at the moment and that was to be as honest as possible with Arizona. Especially about the possibility that her recollections may disappear and she may find herself stuck where she wouldn’t want to be.

“Rupert, if she decides to go back we do need to be able to protect her. I’ll have Kevin keep an eye on her progress and let us know if we need to bring her back again. Larry trusts Kevin implicitly, he was hand picked by Larry to control the portal at the other end. We’ll also need to convince her to keep the information about the portal and our lives here to herself. That’s going to be an overwhelming secret for her to keep.”

Rupert offered, “She may decide to stay here and locate Dillard in Leeds. Are you are going to tell her?”

“Yes, I guess so. It will at least buy me some time,” she sighed and closed her eyes.

“Imagine it though, Rup. What if she decides to go and find him? He doesn’t even know that she exists. It will be disastrous.”

“We’ll work it out, Ollie.”

Rupert sat up with Olivia still in his arms and poured champagne into a glass and brought the rim to her lips. The sparkles felt good against her lips and she took in the aroma as she sipped on it. She turned around and looked into the loving eyes of her fairytale and kissed him. She needed to make this ok. But could she?