CHAPTER 40
Wild Night
Mara insisted on taking me shopping on November fifth, the day before I would turn seventeen. My birthday just so happened to be on a Saturday this year and now my weekends were free. As soon as school let out on Friday afternoon, we hopped in her car and drove to Savannah where she was determined to find the perfect party ensemble for Saturday night's festivities.
So much had changed since the first time we'd been shopping. I no longer felt awkward when Mara used her money for our purchases. I had become part of the family and she was closer to me than my own sisters.
I still didn't care about fashion the way she wished I would, but that gave her free reign to dress me. She knew that I wouldn't wear anything too fancy or frilly and chose accordingly. I ended up with a beautiful sand-colored dress made of soft taffeta with a criss-cross top, sweetheart neck and spaghetti straps over an empire waist with a thick cocoa brown band that Mara said matched my eyes perfectly. The hemline was a couple of inches above the knee. She chose some brown leather strappy sandals with four inch heels as well as a double wrap leather bracelet with pave glass bead closures; she said the leather bracelet would allow me to wear the shell necklace that Ty had given me at the beach, since I never took it off. Mara relished the task of dressing me and explaining the couture. All I heard was blah, blah, blah, but I had to admit that my outfit was amazing. I could hardly wait to wear it.
After a whole afternoon of intense shopping, Mara wanted to go out to dinner, but I convinced her to get it to go so we could get back to her house and watch a movie. We'd be back in Savannah to get our hair and makeup done after lunch on Saturday and I really just wanted to go home. We got Chinese take-out and drove back to Eden at almost twice the speed limit. After all, we had to get home before the food got cold. It was exhilarating to know that we could do whatever we wanted without consequence.
Ty was sitting on the sofa in their enormous living room when we walked in. He jumped up to give me a quick kiss and simultaneously took the bag of food that I was carrying. He set everything out on the coffee table then excused himself to get us some drinks from the kitchen. I had told Mara that I wanted to watch "Bright Star" again, so she dimmed the lights and lit several candles to set the mood.
When Ty returned and saw the room, he just said, "Nice." He put his arms around my waist and pulled me backward onto the sofa so that I was sitting on his lap.
"I don't think we're in a good position to eat dinner," I said laughing, trying to roll my way off.
"I'll let you up for now, but as soon as we're finished eating, I want you right back here," he insisted, smacking his thighs with his outstretched hands.
"Enough already," Mara interjected before I could respond. She looked at Ty and pretended to stick her finger down her throat. "I'm going to start the movie now," she said tersely.
My tears flowed unashamedly during all the sad parts as Ty held me close and stroked my hair. I nestled comfortably into the nook that was formed in the space between his anterior deltoid and pectoral muscles. When he was relaxed, and not trying show off his amazing physique, his chest was like a memory foam mattress that was perfectly fitted to my contours.
As the credits rolled, and I reluctantly reminded my favorite twins that I needed a good night's sleep to be ready for my birthday festivities, Ty scooped me up in his arms and insisted on carrying me to his car despite my protests. "Bye, Mara," I waved over his shoulder. "Thanks again for everything. I can't wait till tomorrow."
"Bye, Essie. Pick you up at eleven."
? ? ?
I was wide awake when my digital clock changed from 6:59 to 7:00. Despite my best efforts, I had spent another restless night dreaming about Ty and Michael dueling with swords in the Ataroth and I was sleep-deprived. Again. I was learning, though, to live on much less sleep than I truly needed, although my marshmallow eyes always betrayed me.
Since I was the first one up, I put on some coffee and retrieved the paper from the front porch. My mother's and my morning routine hadn't been followed in months since I was always either working, going to school, or having breakfast with Ty on Sundays. This would be a chance for the two of us to catch up if the kids slept in.
She breezed down the stairs just a couple of minutes after the coffee had finished brewing. "Essie," she cooed. "It's so nice to see you at the table. Happy birthday, sweetie."
"Thanks, Mum. I was just thinking how long it's been since we've done this. But between school, work and Ty, well..."
"I know you're getting older and you have your own life now. It's okay, sweetie. But I do miss you."
"I'm sorry, Mum. But I'm here now. Sit. I'll get your coffee."
"Thanks."
"DB's been around a lot," I opened as I poured her a cup of coffee. "What's going on with you two?"
"He treats me well, Essie. And he's great with the kids. And he makes me laugh. I really like him."
"That's great. You deserve to be happy and if he makes you happy, then I'm happy for you."
"Speaking of making someone happy, you and Ty seem to have worked everything out. Are you serious about him?"
"Oh, I am," I gushed.
"On that note, I wanted to talk to you about something. I'm not exactly sure how to begin so I'm just going to say it. I'm afraid that Ty has had a negative effect on you. You've changed a little since you've been with him."
"Did Jennie say something to you?" I demanded.
"No, sweetie. Jennie didn't say anything. But if she noticed it too, you might want to consider what we have to say."
"You know what, Mum, I don't want to do this today. It's my birthday and Ty and Mara have an amazing day planned for me. Don't ruin it."
"Essie, I certainly wasn't trying to ruin your day. It's just that we never get a chance to talk and I merely wanted to voice my concern."
"Consider it voiced," I said coldly as I downed the remainder of my coffee and went upstairs.
I rummaged through my closet for something decent to wear. Although I would never be the fashionista that Mara was, I had acquired a few nice pieces over the past few months, although most of them were hand-me-downs from her closet. As I was searching, my phone rang. It was Jane.
"Happy birthday to you," she sang.
"Thanks, Janie. I wish you were here with me. I miss you."
"Me, too, bestie. What do you have planned?"
"I know that Ty and Mara have planned a party for tonight that my family has been invited to, but I don't know any details. Mara's picking me up at eleven and we're going for lunch in Savannah and then getting our hair and nails done at her friend's salon."
"That sounds like so much fun. I'm jealous. Promise to take lots of pictures and post them, okay?"
"I will. I've got to go for now, though. I need to shower and find something to wear."
"No worries. Call me later if you get a chance."
"I'll try. See you, Janie."
"See you."
Just like her brother, Mara was never late. In an attempt to forget the tiff with my mother, I had danced around my room blasting my Joan Jett playlist through my earbuds for far too long. I hadn't been paying attention to the time and almost jumped out of my skin when I turned around to see Mara standing right behind me. My mother must have invited her in. I ripped my earbuds out, embarrassed.
"Oh, please, keep dancing," she laughed. "On second thought, we'll have plenty of time for that tonight. Right now, we need to go if we're going to be able to have lunch before our one o'clock appointment at Nicole's."
"I'm ready," was all I could say, grabbing my purse and my jacket.
"Awww, don't be embarrassed. I do that all the time. Just ask Ty."
As we headed out the door, Mara asked, "Aren't you going to say goodbye to your family?"
"Oh, yeah. Bye everyone. See you tonight," I yelled without waiting for a response.
"Anything you need to talk about?" she asked once I had closed the front door.
"Like?"
> "Like I've never seen you leave your house without saying goodbye before. Everything okay?"
"My mother and I got into it this morning, that's why I was dancing like a fool. Just trying to erase it from my head. But I really don't want to talk about it."
"Okay, Ess. Hey! Happy birthday!" she said animatedly, giving me a huge hug.
"Thank you. I'm so excited."
"Then let's get started," she said as we got into her car.
She took me to my favorite Thai restaurant for lunch. It was never busy. I had no idea how they stayed in business. It was a bright, sunny day and when we walked in to the dimly lit restaurant, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I saw Ty standing next to a table where some girls were seated. What was he doing here? I wondered. I didn't think I'd be seeing him until tonight. We walked toward the table and the girls all turned to look at me.
"Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh," was all I could say.
"Just the reaction I was hoping for," Ty said, smiling broadly.
It was Jane, Peggie, Annie, and Karen. "Surprise!" they shouted in unison.
"Oh, my gosh," I said again, hugging each of them tightly. "I can't believe you're all here. This is the best birthday ever!"
After a few more oh, my goshes and I can't believe its, I went to Ty, who had been hanging back, letting us do the "girl thing". I threw my arms around him, squeezing him. "You're the best," I whispered in his ear.
"Happy birthday, Essie Claire," he whispered back.
"Don't make me get a hose," Mara teased.
"Sorry. I'm just so happy right now," I gushed, extricating myself from Ty's arms and taking a seat between him and Jane. "So, you've obviously all met Karen, my only real friend here other than Ty and Mara. She's made school bearable."
We talked non-stop over lunch and I was excited to learn that all the girls were getting makeovers at Nicole's. I was also informed that we'd all be staying at The Mansion tonight and we'd be able to hang out all day Sunday since the flight back to Boston didn't leave until six o'clock.
We drove the cars to the hotel and checked in to our rooms so that everyone could unload their bags. It was an unseasonably warm day so we decided to make the ten minute walk to Nicole's and give the girls an opportunity to see a little bit of Savannah. Ty stayed at the hotel, having no desire to sit around for hours in a salon.
No other clients were booked during the time that we were there and we were treated like royalty; Mara even had massage therapists brought in, a first for everyone except her. We were having a really good time and the afternoon flew by much too quickly. When we were all finished, we got a taxi to take us back to The Mansion. Mara didn't want anyone to get "all mussed" walking back.
Ty had reserved four adjoining rooms and we decided to pair Annie with Peggie, Mara with Karen, me with Jane, and Ty would be all alone. We opened the doors between the rooms while we finished getting ready so that we could continue talking.
"Wow, Essie, you're different," Jane said quietly as we were getting dressed in the bathroom.
"I don't know what you're talking about. And you're the third person to say that recently. Did my mother or sister put you up to this?"
She looked at me, confused. "No one put me up to anything. I had noticed things during our conversations ever since you found out that Ty was a demon. But now that I'm with you..."
"Please don't refer to him as a demon ever again. That's just rhetoric from the other side. He's good. Look at what he's done today. He flew you down here, put you up at this beautiful hotel, we did the salon thing, lunch..."
"Ess, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to diminish all he's done for us and for you. It's just that I'm supposed to be your best friend, the one who tells you the truth even if it hurts. And the truth is that you've changed. You're kind of like... like Mara. Don't you see that?"
"No, I don't, not that there's anything wrong with being like Mara. You're not here. You don't see how it is every single day. The Gregorys have been nothing but kind and gracious."
"This isn't about them, Essie, it's about you. But, you know what? We don't need to be having this conversation right now. I'm sorry. It's your birthday and I'm here to celebrate. I love you," she said contritely, giving me a hug.
What she didn't know was that at that moment I wished I had Ty's forthcoming ability to cause her to not be able to speak. What was wrong with everybody? Why couldn't they see what I saw? Talk about being deceived. But since I had no abilities and I wouldn't have really used them even if I did, I hugged her back.
"I love you, too. I'm glad you're here."
"Hey, you two," Ty interrupted. "Y'all look beautiful."
"Thank you," we trilled at the same time. "So do you." He always looked beautiful, but tonight even more so in his cocoa brown suit. Mara must have chosen it because it complimented my dress.
"Shall we?" he asked, extending his arms to escort us.
We each took an arm and strolled to the other two rooms to pick up Mara, Karen, Peggie and Annie. Dinner, I was just told, was to be next door at 700 Drayton Restaurant in a private dining room. When we arrived, everyone else was already there - Mum and DB, Jennie, Laurie, Hollie, Danny, Mr. and Mrs. Gregory, Nicole and Christine, and several friends from school, including Jace, Colton, Jackson and Savannah, who had done everything she could to ingratiate herself ever since the first day of school when Ty introduced me to the Senior class in the lunchroom. I wondered now if Ty or Mara had "pushed" her into that behavior. She made sure she was the first one to welcome me and say happy birthday.
Dinner was course after course of the most delicious Southern-inspired food I'd ever had. Our servers were attentive and personable. I felt like a princess and leaned in to Ty to tell him so.
"I'm so glad you're having a good time," he said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"I'm having the best time," I clarified. "If I forget to say it later, thank you for the best day of my life. I couldn't imagine anything better than this."
"I have one more thing for you, but it's a surprise that will have to wait until we're alone."
That sounded intriguing. I kissed him softly on his lips with my eyes wide open and whispered, "I can't wait."
When dinner was finished, we all went to the rooftop lounge that overlooked Forsyth Park. A section of the terrace had been reserved for our party and, as we made our way to the table, all eyes were on us. An 80s cover band was rocking the stage and I didn't want to sit down. As I stood next to my chair, Ty stood behind me with his arms around my waist and we both bounced to the beat. When the song ended, the lead singer walked over to me and Ty.
"Everyone, this is Essie Claire and it's her birthday. It's in her honor that we're here tonight. You know, normally, there'd be a blues band or a jazz band playing, but a little bird," he paused for a second and looked at Mara, "told us that Essie loves classic rock and she got special permission for us to rock this place just for her. Come on up here with me, Essie," he said through the mic as he took my hand and led me to the stage. With a huge smile on his face, Ty let me go. It seemed to be as much of a surprise to him as it was to me.
Once onstage, the band started playing The Beatles "Birthday" song. In an effort to save me from dying of embarrassment, Jane, Peggie, Annie, Mara and Karen rescued me from the stage and we all danced. It was difficult to walk, let alone dance, in those four-inch heels that Mara had picked out for me so I kicked them off near our table and danced my way back to the girls.
Needing a breather after back-to-back-to-back hair metal songs, during which Karen insisted we all thrash our heads maniacally, I searched the crowd for Ty and spied him sitting alone at a table for two, his attention focused on me. I smiled and wove my way through the guests, keeping his gaze. I hugged him contentedly and hung out for a while in the shelter of his arms.
I enjoyed watching Jennie dance with Jace, happy that she was happy. Jane was flirting with Colton, unaware that I wanted to fix him up with Karen, although she hadn't said
a word about my suggestion since I mentioned it three days ago. She was happily dancing with Peggie and Annie. Mara had attracted the attention of not one, but two ardent admirers who had joined our party and were both zealously fawning over her, something she was obviously accustomed to. Mr. and Mrs. Gregory were sharing a table with my mother and DB and they appeared to be enjoying each other's company.
My life was a fairytale, replete with my very own handsome prince. Ty had always been thoughtful, intuitively knowing what would make me happy, but this was so much more than I could have ever imagined. Flying my best friends from Boston to Savannah so that they could celebrate my birthday with me was something that only happened in the movies. My insides were swooning as I considered how lucky I was.
What an unbelievable night! Mara must have given the band my classic rock playlist because they covered all my favorites. I talked with everyone. I danced with everyone. At two a.m., the band had to quit. With Ty's arm around my waist, I said my thank yous and goodbyes to all the guests and then we sat and watched the band pack up their equipment.
Finally, everyone was gone. The rooftop was empty. "It's time for my last present," Ty said with a sparkle in his eyes.
"I can't imagine anything I'd like better than just being in your arms after this amazing day."
"Speaking of being in my arms, come here," he said, summoning me with his index finger as he stood up.
I rose from my chair and walked into his waiting arms. He wrapped them around me tightly and said, "Hold on."
As soon as I embraced him, he bent down slightly and pushed off as though we were going to jump. But we didn't jump. We flew.
"You can fly!" I shouted excitedly above the rush of air all around us.
"I'm sorry for frustrating you all those days at Black Creek. But when I realized I could do it, I wanted it to be a surprise. I know I'm not an ikran, but I hope this will do."
We flew high above the lights of Savannah, then headed toward the river.
"I have a surprise for you, too."
He looked at me with eager curiosity.
"I gave my notice at the Gardens of Eden. Karen has taken over my shifts."
"Are you sure?"
I nodded and an Emerson quote came to mind. He said, "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen". As we glided above the water, I was confident that I could continue to successfully navigate between the two worlds, but I no longer wanted to.
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