Fateful (6 page)

After the third dance he leaned down touching
his cheek to hers and whispered into her ear, “Thank you.”

Shuddering in response, the tickle from his
breath caused goose bumps to spring up all over her arms. Danielle
blinked in surprise and then he was gone. She didn’t even have time
to respond. Once again, he’d left her standing there wanting more,
confused by his sudden disappearance.

* * * * *

“Danielle! The bell’s for you!” called Aunt
Charlotte the next morning before she’d come down to breakfast.

Figuring it couldn’t be Ethan, Danielle
wondered who was calling as she made her way down the stairs. After
getting home last night she’d decided his behavior was just too
strange and he likely didn’t really like her that much. She’d
probably never get a date out of it. Perhaps she should consider
the blind dates Brianna had planned. “Thank you,” she whispered,
reaching for the receiver. “Hello?”

“Hello, Danielle, this is Ethan.”

Alright, so she’d been wrong.... His elegant
accent caressed the eight letters of her name, and somehow, it
wasn’t as thrilling when her British relatives addressed her. “Hi,
Ethan. What can I do for you?”

Brianna was now hovering, jumping up and down
in un-bottled excitement.

“Have you been able to see any of the sites
of England since your arrival?”

“No, not yet.”

“Good, I’d like to take you to see Van Kampen
Gardens. I think it’s absolutely worth the drive. Can you get away
for the day tomorrow?”

“Um ... let me check.” She turned to Brianna,
slipping her hand over the mouthpiece. “He wants to take me out to
the Van Kemp, or something gardens. He said we would be gone all
day. Do we have plans tomorrow?” Danielle knew she didn’t have any
classes, but her relatives could have made plans.

Brianna snapped her head to her mother, an
inquisitive look on her face. “Mum, date! Tomorrow?” she whispered
eagerly, pointing at Danielle.

Charlotte chuckled and nodded her okay.
Brianna started bouncing again, catching air this time. She
chanted, “Yes … yes … yes,” in a hushed voice. Danielle pushed her
back a little. She appreciated Brianna’s enthusiasm on her behalf,
but this bouncing in her space was a bit much.

She uncovered the phone. “Hi, Ethan?”

“Yes,” he responded sweetly.

“Sure, tomorrow would be fine. What
time?”

“Lovely. I’ll be there to pick you up at nine
A.M.”

“Okay. Thanks, Ethan.”

“I’m looking forward to it. See you
tomorrow.” And with a click he was gone.

Danielle gaped for a moment at the now dead
receiver. She sort of wanted to keep talking to him, but supposed
that she could wait until tomorrow. “Bri, where’s Van Kamp … Kemp …
Van…?” Danielle was trying to ask.

“Van Kampen Gardens,” Brianna corrected.

“Yeah, that, is it nice?”

“It’s a four hour drive from here, but
amazing, and super romantic.” Brianna punched her shoulder. “You
lucky little brat! Will doesn’t like taking me to things like
that,” her cousin then complained.

Before going to bed that night, she asked
Brianna to help her decide what to wear for her date. “Well, this
is a good time for one your girly skirts,” Brianna said, again
choosing the red one Danielle had rejected the other night. “Except
you do need comfortable shoes, it is a big garden,” she revised.
She then selected a pair of comfortable flats that would go nicely
with the skirt.

As her cousin looked over her creation,
Danielle wondered if Brianna liked the long red skirt more than she
was letting on. She’d said earlier that Will didn’t take her to
such romantic places and now couldn’t help but wonder if she sort
of wished he did. Did her cousin have a secret girly side hiding
under that cool exterior of hers?

Before she could ask about it, Brianna added,
“And don’t forget to bring your jumper and jacket, just in case it
decides to chuck it down.”

Forgetting whatever it was she meant to ask,
Danielle gawked at Brianna while her brain tripped over British
slang. “Huh? Come again?”

“Oh, sorry. ‘Jumper’ is a sweater and ‘chuck
it down’ means to rain heavily.”

“Right.” Danielle snickered. How could she
have possibly known that?

It took her forever to fall asleep that
night. She felt like a young child on Christmas Eve: excited, but
also worried she would sleep in too late and miss everything.
However, when unconsciousness finally took her, it was deep and
dreamless.

* * * * *

Danielle took too long getting
beautiful for her date the next morning. She didn’t have time to
eat breakfast when the doorbell rang at nine A.M. sharp.
Butterflies jumped in her stomach at the sound of the bell.
Why am I so nervous?
she
thought.
I’m being so silly. But, wow!
He’s prompt!

She heard Uncle Nick answer the door. “Hello,
Ethan, please come in.”

“Thank you, sir.”

With her foot moving to the next step as she
descended, she didn’t fail to notice that Nick barely let him get
seated before he started in with his lecture. “Now, son, you do
need to know, just so there are no misunderstandings, that I am
responsible for Danielle while she is here in London. With that in
mind, I expect you to take very good care of her. I wouldn’t be
letting you go out with her if I didn’t already know Beon, so
consider yourself lucky.”

“Yes, sir, of course. She will always be safe
with me.”

As Danielle moved off the last step and
entered the living room, Ethan quickly stood. Her uncle followed.
Danielle watched as Uncle Nick scrutinized Ethan. It appeared that,
from his observations, he was impressed. She was also flattered
that he stood for her. Apparently modern-day gentlemen
did
exist. Danielle had thought they were
extinct, or endangered, or only existed in romance novels. It
seemed this dichotomy in his personality would remain. Vintage
clashing with contemporary.

Ethan smiled at her and then turned to her
uncle to shake his hand. “Sir, thank you for allowing me to take
Danielle out.”

Uncle Nick seemed pleasantly surprised.
“You’re welcome.” the old man paused for a moment before saying,
“Oh! And don’t have her back too late. She has a curfew.”

Danielle couldn’t stop her eyes from rolling
at that. Of course she felt she was too old for it, but Uncle Nick
had insisted if she was living under his roof, as he’d put it. But
she’d let it slide since it was a great deal cheaper living with
him than getting her own place.

“Yes, sir. I also have a curfew, and I will
make certain she’s home quite early.” Hmm, he really knew how to
sweet-talk her uncle. Impressive—but Ethan had a curfew? He seemed
too old for that, early twenties maybe? Turning to offer Danielle
his arm, Ethan said “Shall we?”

Staring at that arm a moment, Danielle had
flashes of a regency film she watched recently. Swallowing, she
hooked her hand around his bicep, and said, “Yes.” Thinking she’d
never had a date behave so courtly. This certainly made all of her
past dates look like barbaric cavemen.

Ethan led her to his car, opened the
door, and helped her into his Jaguar. Nice car, nice looking, nice
manners, even nice smelling. She wondered what horrible, dark
secret could be hiding in his closet. He seemed a bit
too
perfect. But that wasn’t going
to stop her from going out with him, because he was far too
irresistible for that. Danielle doubted she would have ever cared
what was lurking in his closet, even if she did find out. There
were too many good things about him that overshadowed any possible
bad things lurking beneath the surface.

When he appeared in the driver seat, Danielle
said, “Bri told me it takes a long time to get to this garden.”

“Do you not like the idea of being alone in a
car with me for that long?”

Danielle hadn’t meant for him to take her
comment like that. “Uh, no … I don’t mind at all. It sounds like a
nice drive actually.”

“It will give me a chance to get to know you
better.”

He gave her a little more of his blue eyes
then. Feeling suddenly bemused, a thought occurred to her. Maybe
that’s why he chose the long car ride: less eye contact. “Yes,” she
agreed, pushing her thoughts aside. “A long car ride is a good time
for conversation.”

“But first, did you eat?” he asked.

“No, I didn’t have enough time for that.”

“Good, I have breakfast for you.” He reached
into the back seat and pulled up a fancy, pink bakery box.

Danielle felt like she was opening a gift as
she pulled the lid off. Inside she found a delicious looking
variety of pastries. “These look—scrummy!” she said, using one of
her cousin’s British words for yummy. “Thanks, Ethan.”

“You’re welcome. Would you like milk with
that?” He reached back again and brought up a small bottle of cold
milk.

“Thank you. How did you know?” How did he
know that’s what she would like with her pastries? Some might have
preferred coffee or tea.

“
I have a knack for that sort of
thing.”

That’s an odd
talent
, she thought, then decided it didn’t matter and
selected one. She sank her teeth into the flaky treat, and was glad
she’d missed breakfast.

After licking her fingers clean of the glaze,
she pushed the open box toward him, offering to share. He had
purchased a lot more than she could eat by herself.

Ethan shook his head, his tempting hair
swayed with the movement. Danielle’s fingers twitched in response.
“Thanks, I already ate,” he said.

“Oh.” She looked down into the full box. This
would go to waste. Too bad.

Danielle finished her pastry and milk, then
leaned back to enjoy the ride.

“You’re only going to eat one? Take another,”
he suggested.

Danielle felt bad about wasting food, so she
took another one, a dainty one, but she couldn’t eat any more than
that or she would have been sick.

When she leaned back in her seat again, more
than satisfied this time, it appeared Ethan was truly disappointed
she couldn’t eat more because he sighed. Although, when the sound
drew her gaze, he smiled. Had he actually expected her to eat the
entire box of two-dozen sweets? But he seemed to accept that she
was done this time, and said nothing, so she kept quiet too.

Then after a few moments of silence, Ethan
said, “Danielle?”

She loved the way her name melted from his
tongue, like a tender endearment, made sweeter by his British
articulation. “Yes,” she said a little breathlessly.

“Tell me about yourself. I want to hear
everything.”

“Everything? Where should I start?
Everything
is
a
lot.”

“Tell me about your talents and hobbies. Tell
me about your parents, your family. Tell me about your hopes and
your fears.”

Staring back at him, probably looking like a
fish but feeling too bewildered to care, she wondered why he hadn’t
started with the easy questions like, What’s your favorite color?
No, instead he’d gone right for the tough ones. She’d never had a
date do that either.

“Um … okay. Talents: I’m an artist. I’m
no
Da Vinci
, but I do okay, I
suppose. For hobbies, I would say art again, but also photography,
Pilates, yoga and karate.”

“I’ve seen your karate. I must say, I was
rather impressed.”

“I don’t know how
helpful
it really is. It hasn’t worked for me in
every situation,” Danielle complained. It had worked at the club,
but he was easy to deal with, he hadn’t really attacked her. It
didn’t work on that creepy, evil.…

“Lucas is an exception. Don’t judge your
skills against him.”

“Why? How is he different?” Danielle folded
her arms. This was something that still irked her.

“He just is. It wasn’t a fair contest.”

“But—”

“Danielle, you’re better than you think.
Please trust me in this.”

“But I don’t see … I mean it worked—”

Ethan silenced her by firmly but gently
grasping her knee. She stared at his hand for a moment and then met
his gaze as he returned his grip to the steering wheel. “Your
family?” he said, changing the subject.

Why wouldn’t he explain? Feeling a little
irritated and confused, she reluctantly returned to the previous
conversation. “I have a younger brother, his name is James. My
father likes to hunt and fish. My mother likes to paint like
me.”

“Are they still married?”

“Yes.”

“How long have they been married?”

“Thirty-one years, I think.”

“That’s a rarity.”

“Yes, it is actually.”

“How did they do it? Stay happy for so long,
I mean.”

Danielle thought about it for a moment. “I
guess, tolerance, and treating each other with respect, and
unselfishness. I guess maybe loving the other person more than you
love yourself.” She glanced at him while he drove. He wasn’t
looking at her, just staring out at the road. “I’m no marriage
expert, but those are the differences I see between their
relationship and others I know who are divorced.”

“Hmm,” was all he said. There was a hint of
genuine interest in his voice, like he was taking mental notes for
himself.

“Um, what were the last two questions again?”
Danielle asked.

“Your hopes and fears.”

Why had she asked? “Right … hmm, I need to
think about those. Hang on…” Danielle stared out the window,
wondering what her hopes were as the lush green landscape streaked
past in colors of emerald and jade, mixed with the varied shades of
civilized structure. After a few moments she began, “I guess I hope
to graduate from art school, and I hope to accomplish good things
with my talents, and…” Danielle wasn’t sure she wanted to share the
next part with him on their first date. “Uh, never mind.”