The Astral Ordinance Book I

by Meltem Y. K

CHAPTER 22

  With only three days left to Jayna’s Astral wedding, the mother of the bride could not be talked into relaxing. Grace had booked the rest of the week off work so she was free to devote herself to Jayna’s wedding preparations. They were gathered in Grace’s kitchen sitting around the table, passing magazine clippings to one another and writing notes on post-its. Jayna had used her artistic talents to sketch various wedding gowns; today they were finalizing the details.

  Ayshen and Pavlina were also at this gathering to help with the last of the preparations. Jayna had informed her family that Ayshen was also a Lightworker, but not an Astral traveler. However, Jayna had made it clear that Ayshen had been their support system for the last four years when they had to operate in secrecy.

  Ayshen had always been respected by them, but since the family had learned of her help to Jayna and Pavlina, she had now attained the most exalted position in their family, second only to Sir Arthur. Who would have thought that Ayshen was also a Lightworker.

  As calm as Jayna had been about her wedding, today she was feeling exceptionally nervous, because Estelle and Roy would be joining them shortly. Jayna hadn’t seen this coming, when she was speaking to Estelle about their preparations and all the magazine clipping they had been doing, Estelle suggested that she could come and discuss everything in person with Jayna and her family. After all, there was no restriction to her visiting Jayna on Earth; that restriction was only for Ethan. Estelle argued that it would be a good idea for her and Roy to come and meet Jayna’s family.

  Everyone was thrilled that they would get to meet Ethan’s parents, even if not him, before the wedding and here on Earth where they were at home. Travelling to the Astral dimension still felt like a dream to them. This would make the whole wedding seem more real to everyone.

  “Jayna, you keep checking the time, stop it,” Pavlina said.

  “They will be here soon,” Jayna said.

  Estelle had only asked Jayna her address and said they would be there. She hadn’t divulged any information about where they were coming from.

  “We’ll have coffee and cakes and talk about the wedding preparations, then we’ll have a meal. They aren’t staying overnight, but they will be here most of the day.”

  “Honey, everything will be just fine. We are thrilled to meet them, to get to know them a little and talk about the wedding. I am sure they are just as excited to meet us. You need to relax,” Evelyn said. There was no denying that everyone was excited.

  Estelle and Roy’s visit made everything more real. They had witnessed Sir Arthur materialize in their family room and had been eating from the endless supply of food he had manifested on their dining room table, but the prospect of meeting the future in-laws had taken the whole experience another notch higher on the reality scale.

  When they heard the front door ring, everyone dropped what they were doing and headed to the door. Jayna’s knees felt like rubber; would her legs carry her, the few steps, to the front door to meet her future in-laws? She wasn’t sure.

  Hope had heard every nervous thought that was going through Jayna’s head. The little girl, wise beyond her years, came and held Jayna’s hand.

  Let’s go, she said telepathically so only Jayna could hear her. Ethan’s parents like you a lot, you have nothing to worry about. They can’t wait to see you and meet everyone in your family. I promise; everything will be perfect.

  Jayna squeezed Hope’s hand, Thanks kiddo. It’s good to have you here.

  There was a lot of noise being made at the front end of the house, people saying hello, shaking hands, greeting one another. There were also many bags of stuff that were carried in. Jayna wondered what they were. Did Estelle go on a shopping spree before heading this way?

  Estelle was the most polished yet down to earth woman they had seen. It was impossible to tell her age. She was simply ageless. Not a single wrinkle on her face, her figure that of a model, not an ounce of excess fat was on her. She wore a cream color linen dress and pearls around her elegant neck; a diamond and turquoise broach adorned the shoulder of her dress. On her left hand, she wore a simple wedding band. Estelle had amazing green eyes, her skin was peaches and cream. Jayna understood that her inner light was reflecting out. As soon as she made eye contact with Estelle, Jayna felt all her tension dissolve. Estelle came and hugged Jayna, kissing her cheek.

  “It is so good to see you in the flesh, my dear,” she said not worrying about censoring her speech. She knew that everyone here was privy to their secret lives as Astral travelers and Lightworkers.

  Roy gave Jayna a bear hug. “Good to see you, Jayna,” he said, happy to see his future daughter-in-law.

  Bill was bursting with pride. Gone was the Doubtful Thomas of a few days ago when he had rudely accused Jayna of lying. He was a total believer now and determined to somehow make it to the inner circle. He wasn’t voicing his plans to be a Lightworker, but Jayna was hearing his every thought loud and clear. Now that he had two mature adults to question, he planned to take full advantage of this opportunity.

  “This is so exciting. I can’t wait to see all the work you’ve done for the wedding. Why don’t we join you wherever you were working,” Estelle said.

  Grace smiled, “In that case, we are heading to the kitchen table.”

  “Ladies, you got everything under control; you don’t need us, do you?” Bill asked. “We can have coffee in the family room.”

  “Of course,” Evelyn said, knowing how much Bill was looking forward to chatting with Roy.

  Grace quickly brewed a pot of fresh coffee and served it with a tray of the pastries Evelyn had brought from Sir Arthur’s endless supply.

  Bless you, Sir Arthur, Grace thought as she served the coffee and the sweets.

  The men were in the next room while the women worked around the kitchen table.

  “What a perfect hen party,” Estelle exclaimed, totally pleased with the busy kitchen scene. Jayna and her helpers had done most of the work. There really wasn’t much for her to do, but take the clippings back with her. She would take them to the Astral dimension and make sure that everything was just so.

  “I love the color scheme, Jayna,” Estelle said, “and the plumes. They are lovely. May I suggest that we use live birds, instead of just feathers?” she asked.

  “Sure, but how?” Jayna asked.

  “We’ll ask the birds to attend the wedding and just put their plumes on display. The peacocks will strut around displaying their majestic tails, which they love to do anyway. We can ask a few white peacocks to come as well; it will be a nice mixture of the traditional peacocks with the white ones. Ostriches can be saddled up to carry trays of food for the guests, they can be the servers. What do you think?” Estelle asked Jayna. “Of course, these are just suggestions, you have the final say,” she added in a hurry.

  The group of women around the kitchen table just stared at Estelle open mouthed; live peacocks as decorations, and ostriches acting as servers at the wedding? This wedding was going to be incredible.

  “I love it,” Jayna said. “It sounds wonderful. I do have a rather silly question though.”

  Estelle smiled, “No question is silly. If you don’t know the answer, you have to ask the question.”

  “I am wondering if we should be thinking the wedding in terms of people sitting at tables, like an Earth wedding, or would it be more like a cocktail?”

  “Honey, it will be however you want it to be. The invitations were sent to all the Lightworkers that we know; most will be attending. There are also guests who are permanent residents of the Astral plane. You think about what feels right to you,” Estelle advised.

  Jayna nodded, “Okay, in that case maybe I prefer the cocktail style wedding, not a sit down one.”

  “What about our dresses, and the guys’ tuxes,” Grace asked. “We’ve chosen all these nice outfits from the magazines but I am not sure how it will all work. You say that you can have the dresses and everything else ready, but where will
we be getting dressed?”

  Estelle listened carefully. With the exception of Jayna and Hope, everyone around the kitchen table were nodding their heads, seconding Grace’s question.

  “Ladies, the dresses and the tuxes you have chosen including all the flowers will be created for you in the Astral dimension. You can go ahead and add jewelry to your choices if you wish.” Estelle saw that all their faces registered another shock.

  “I assure you that there is no cost to this, since money is not used on the other side. I will ask maybe a friend or two to help me, but really it’s not a big deal at all. You will be transported to the Astral plane; your physical bodies will remain on Earth, as will ours. Once you are on the other side, you will see how easily this works.”

  Everyone giggled nervously and smiled to Estelle’s comment. This was definitely the most exciting event in their lives. If people got excited over trips to exotic locations, how much more would they be excited if they could travel to a different dimension? This was the ultimate destination wedding.

  “Ethan told me that you have chosen a venue for the wedding,” Estelle said.

  Jayna’s face broke into a beaming smile. “Yes, we have. We’ve asked the unicorns if they would allow us to have the wedding in their valley; they agreed. They will also be present, of course.”

  “Unicorn Valley is a perfect location,” Estelle said while everyone else around the table chorused, “Unicorn Valley?”

  “This is getting better and better,” Pavlina said, and everyone agreed. “We can’t wait for this wedding.”

  Estelle rose from her chair and went to retrieve the smallest bag from the many she had brought with her. She brought the bag to the table and emptied the contents on the kitchen table. Everyone was watching her curiously, but not saying anything. The bag held many beautiful objects; all were adorned with Turquoise. There were key chains, pens, rings, bracelets, earrings, broaches, cuff links, tie pins, decorative hair clips and combs, and charms that could be hung on a chain.

  “I wasn’t sure what to bring each of you so I brought everything I could find that was inlaid with Turquoise. Jayna knows this, but I am not sure if she told you. Turquoise is used as a protective agent. It works both on Earth and in the Astral plane. I would like you to take whatever pieces appeal to you and make sure you carry it on you at all times, but especially on the day of the wedding when you will be making your trip to the Astral plane.”

  Everyone was eyeballing the array of gifts that Estelle had put on the table, but nobody had made a move to take one.

  “Go on, don’t be shy. They are for you, so please take whichever one appeals to you. Some of these objects are calling your name, that’s how you will know which ones are meant for you.”

  Ayshen was the first one to reach and take a broach. As soon as she touched it her face lit up. “I feel something, a buzz,” she said.

  Estelle nodded, “Yes, that’s one way of knowing it’s meant for you.”

  Once the first article was claimed, the ice was broken and it was a free for all. Grace chose a ring, the smallest design in the ring collection that was displayed on the table. Most of the rings were big pieces, but this one was a delicate piece that depicted a dragonfly; its body was outlined in silver, the rest of it was inlaid with Turquoise.

  Pavlina’s hand immediately went to one of the pens. There were several of them, but she picked the one that was the slimmest, had a feminine quality about it. She pulled the cap off and looked at the point, tried it on a piece of paper and liked the way it wrote.

  “You can replace the ink with any of the brands you prefer,” Estelle said.

  Pavlina smiled while turning the pen in her hands, “I have a thing for pens,” she said.

  Estelle laughed, “So do I, honey; but I think you should help yourself to a few more pieces. I think you like the comb; it will suit you. Why don’t you go and try it on?”

  Pavlina took the decorative comb, went to the foyer where the closet doors were mirrors and put the comb in her hair. To her amazement, it held her hair. She hadn’t expected it to actually hold her hair; usually hair ornaments just slipped off her hair, but this one was staying in place. Pleased with its functionality, Pavlina came back to the kitchen to show off her comb.

  “It’s gorgeous,” Jayna said. “I love it. Look there is a little one, maybe Hope can have this.”

  Hope was eyeing a pair of earrings that were shaped like flowers. “Those are calling my name” she said and everyone cracked up laughing.

  Jayna took the earrings and put them on Hope’s ears. Hope touched with her hands first then ran to the foyer to check out her new earrings in the mirror.

  “Some of these charms can be attached on your bra or camisole, and be worn under your clothes,” Estelle said. With that little clarification, the charms found their new owners. Each woman now had a little pile of Turquoise collection in front of her.

  “Grace, honey, give me a tray, will you?” Evelyn said. She put the pieces that were left on the table and took them to the family room for Bill and Paul to see and claim for their own. Within a few minutes she came back with the empty tray.

  “That was fast,” Grace said.

  “Yeah, once your father found out what they were for, he was ready to take them all; I had to slap his hands away so Paul could have a couple of pieces.”

  Estelle went and got the rest of the bags. She gave one to Grace and one to Evelyn. “These are from Roy and me to you, just a little something.”

  Grace and Evelyn looked at each other, astonished; they weren’t expecting any gifts from Ethan’s parents.

  “Oh, Estelle, you shouldn’t have,” Grace said. “But thank you very much.”

  “This is awfully nice of you. Thank you,” Evelyn echoed her daughter’s sentiments.

  “You are very welcome,” Estelle said and gave the rest of the bags to Jayna. There were three more. “These are for you, Jayna, from Ethan.”

  Estelle almost choked up when she said her son’s name. Jayna burst into tears. Big drops of tears ran down her cheeks. This was the first time she was receiving physical gifts from Ethan.

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, but definitely teary eyed. Grace’s heart broke into a million pieces seeing Jayna cry. She couldn’t possibly imagine being in love with someone, but not seeing them except in her sleep; as yet Grace could not distinguish the difference between being asleep and floating around in a non-physical dimension.

  Estelle took both of Jayna’s hands and willed herself to infuse her with patience. Estelle knew in her heart, without any doubt, that the restriction placed on this young couple was only temporary, that one day they would meet in the physical plane; she just didn’t know when. I know that one day you will meet and be together in this dimension, but until that time be strong.

  Estelle’s infusion of patience worked and Jayna smiled, blinked away the tears and hugged Estelle. The four pair of eyes that witnessed this silent exchange understood that the emotional crisis had been averted.

  “You probably want to open those gifts later, but I have something for you, too,” Estelle said reaching her purse.

  The women all admired Estelle’s beautiful purse, their mouths watering. Estelle heard their thoughts and smiled, making a mental note to send them each a purse of her favorite brand. She would courier it to them tomorrow.

  Jayna heard Estelle’s mental note. Oops, looks like they forgot about our mind reading abilities.

  Hope heard both Estelle and Jayna’s thoughts and laughed outwardly, making everyone wonder what was so funny. They all looked at one another and shrugged. Their attention was drawn to the box Estelle had removed from her gorgeous purse.

  “This is our wedding gift to you, Jayna,” she said.

  “Thank you,” Jayna said in a soft voice and took the velvet box from Estelle. Her heart was pounding; she just knew there was something obscenely expensive in there. Slowly she opened the box. Everyone around the table sucked in their bre
ath at the site of the bracelet the velvet box held.

  “This is so beautiful,” Jayna said. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “No thanks are necessary, sweetheart. You make our son happy. This is only a token of our thanks to you.” Estelle reached and took the bracelet from its box. It was a single row of diamonds that had to be several carats each. She clasped it around Jayna’s wrist. The diamonds sparkled brilliantly, as if winking at the women admiring it.

  The bracelet was fit for a queen.

  “This is a magnificent piece of jewelry,” Ayshen said. “You have perfect taste, Estelle. Bravo.”

  “Yes, it’s simply gorgeous,” Grace agreed.

  “A gorgeous bracelet for a gorgeous bride,” Evelyn said.

  Pavlina only smiled, happy for her friend. Jayna deserved all the happiness that came her way.

  Bill happened to walk into the kitchen at that moment and saw the object of everyone’s admiration. He whistled softly.

  “Wow, Jayna, that is some bracelet,” he said.

  “It’s a wedding gift from Estelle and Roy, dad,” Grace informed her father.

  “Madame, you have exquisite taste,” Bill said to Estelle with much appreciation. “I was wondering if you ladies are ready for a break so we can have a meal?”

  “Yes, dad, we can go to the dining room. Everyone, let’s eat.”

  Grace’s dining room table was overflowing with the food that Evelyn and Bill had brought from Sir Arthur’s endless feast. Jayna had told Ethan about the food that had appeared courtesy of Sir Arthur, and was certain that he had told his parents. This was Sir Arthur’s way of helping the family stick to a vegetarian diet.

  Jayna heard Estelle’s compliment to their benefactor. You have outdone yourself, Sir Arthur.

  Everyone helped themselves to heaping plates of food and sat in the family room. Bill had become fast friends with Roy. Since both Paul and Roy were not as talkative as Bill, he was most definitely leading the conversation. Bill loved it when he had a captive audience.

  Jayna had given her grandfather strict instructions about not asking any questions that would put them in an awkward position. No one was to ask anything that would be a clue to where they lived. Bill was extremely careful about that subject, but figured he had free rein on every other topic. He had been grilling Roy with all kinds of questions; his gargantuan curiosity was satisfied for the moment.

  The current tale was how Bill had fallen head over heels for Evelyn when she was a senior in high school and he was the dashing, new teacher.

  “Old Mr. Parker had gone on sick leave and I was assigned his math classes. I was brand new at the school, arrived there right after the Christmas break.” Bill was in full-throttle, story-telling mode. He had everyone’s attention.

  Roy and Estelle listened to this high school love story; it promised to be entertaining. From the sounds of it, Bill never tired of telling it.

  “I went through my first day, introducing myself to class after class. Evelyn’s math class was the last period of the day,” Bill said.

  “And by the time he came to our class, the rumors were running like wildfire in the school about how tough the new teacher was. I was petrified,” Evelyn interjected.

  Bill puffed out his chest, pleased with himself. “You see, I was a new and dedicated teacher. This was my first assignment. I wanted to make sure that my students understood my commitment to them.”

  “More like you were determination to terrorize them,” Evelyn said.

  “As I was saying, Evelyn’s math class was the last period of the day. They were the seniors. The students arrived, and I took attendance. Of course, I introduced myself first and said that I would be calling their names out and that I wanted them to put their hands up when I called their names so that I could put a face to the name. Evelyn was sitting at the back of the room, next to her boyfriend.”

  “He was not my boyfriend, Bill. How many times do I have to tell you that?”

  “Well, he sure had designs on you.”

  Everyone burst out laughing. “Who was this guy?” Estelle asked.

  “One of the many admirers Evelyn had,” Bill answered, his eyebrows drawn together.

  “Bill, you make it sound like I was inviting the attention,” Evelyn chastised her husband. In her opinion, Bill had a way of twisting the story, and she wanted to set the facts straight.

  “No dear, I do not mean that you invited the attention of all those boys; simply that you were the most beautiful girl in that high school.”

  Evelyn blushed. Estelle squealed with delight and clapped her hands. “I love this; go on Bill, tell us the rest of the story. Did you have to chase all those boys away with your ruler?”

  “No, but I almost had to,” Bill said. “It wasn’t easy being so young and the newest teacher in the school. I had to assert my authority. Mr. Parker was too easy on them so when I encouraged them to try harder, they thought I was a monster.”

  “No, not everyone,” Evelyn said. “Most of the girls had a crush on you, especially the ones who weren’t in your class and didn’t have to put up with your strict rules and high standards. You should have heard those girls talk about Mr. Rushton; they all fancied him.”

  Bill continued his story, “Evelyn came to see me after class that day; I had to muster every ounce of self-control I had not to ask her out, right then and there and get myself fired first day on the job. Apparently, Evelyn had a special arrangement with Mr. Parker; he would give her extra marks for doing homework and showing it to him. Evelyn asked if I would do the same. I said I wouldn’t honor an arrangement I didn’t agree with. Math is not a spectator sport; you have to do homework if you want to learn it. As far as I was concerned doing homework was part of the deal, it couldn’t be considered extra effort. Instead, I offered to tutor her after school.”

  “That was pretty gutsy of you, Bill,” Roy said. “What if she said ‘No’ to you?”

  “Well she did, but I convinced her that if she came to me with specific questions about what it was that she didn’t understand, I would do whatever it took to make it clear to her, and give her a few extra marks for the effort. I thought that was fair; not simply doing her homework which she should have been doing anyway.”

  “So, did you ever ask her out?” Roy wanted to know.

  “I did, but not for a while. I wanted to gain her trust first, and not look like I was taking advantage of the situation.”

  “Bill, if a teacher did that now, they would be fired,” Pavlina said. “Teachers are forbidden to have any kind of personal relationships with their students.”

  “I know, but that was back in the day when that wasn’t considered a crime. I was not the only teacher who married his student. I knew that I had found the girl of my dreams the minute I laid eyes on her. It was love at first sight, for me anyway.”

  “Wow, Bill, that is sooo romantic,” Estelle said. “Evelyn, you are a lucky woman.”

  “Don’t I know it?”

  “So, how did the tutoring go?” Roy asked enjoying the story.

  “It wasn’t easy. Evelyn was petrified of me, and I was petrified that I would lose my self-control and say something to betray my feelings for her, worse yet I wanted to kiss her. Those tutoring sessions were equal part pleasure and torture for me.”

  “I was positive I would fail the stupid class and not graduate.”

  “No darling, I would have tutored you until the cows came home. I would have presented the material to you in different ways to make you understand it.”

  “So, did you pass your math class, Evelyn?” Roy asked.

  “Yes, I did. Bill was a motivating teacher. Once I overcame my fear of him, I actually enjoyed his teaching and realized that all I had was a mental block about math.”

  “I was actually torn when I gave my first test to the class and Evelyn scored a not-so-shabby mark.”

  “What did you get, Evelyn?” Estelle asked.

  “Oh, thanks to all the e
xtra tutoring by my teacher, I actually got a seventy.”

  “And you still remember the mark you got,” Pavlina asked.

  “How could I forget?”

  “So, after class that day, she came and asked if I wanted to end the tutoring. I was heartbroken. I loved having her all to myself for those thirty minutes after class. I didn’t want it to end. I suggested we keep the tutorials going and see how she would do on the next test.”

  “That was a reasonable suggestion,” Roy said.

  “Yes, so another month went by before the next test. This time she scored seventy-seven percent, a definite improvement from her fifty-three percent with Mr. Parker.”

  “That day after class, Evelyn approached me and said, ‘Mr. Rushton, thank you for all your help. I guess it wouldn’t be fair to keep you working after class now that my average is decent.’”

  “What did you say to that, Bill?” Estelle was all wrapped up in the story.

  “I said that in my opinion she was now a better than average student, the class mean was seventy-two percent; but I still wanted to see her. So I asked her to go on a date with me; we could celebrate her success.”

  “Ohhhh myyyyyy God,” Estelle screamed in delight. “Did you say ‘yes’ Evelyn?”

  “No, not right away; I thought I would pass out from excitement. Every girl in school was fantasizing about him, and here he was asking me out. I just collapsed on the nearest chair.”

  “Oh, I would, too, if I were you.”

  “Bill was a perfect gentleman. He could see how surprised I was, and he didn’t want to come across as forcing me to go out with him. So he clarified by saying he would be honored to go out with me only if I felt comfortable about it.”

  “I love this story,” Ayshen said. “I love romance, especially innocent first-time love.”

  “When she finally looked at me, Evelyn’s face was beet red. Obviously she had gone out on dates before, but with boys, not with a grown man.”

  “Yes, I was an innocent, but secretly in love with the dashing Mr. Rushton. I finally found my voice and said yes. You should have seen the look on his face. He couldn’t hide his excitement anymore. He asked if I would meet him a block away from school. He would pick me up in his car and we’d go to a little European café and have a non-alcoholic drink.”

  Evelyn smiled as the memories rushed. “I felt so grown up suddenly. Here I was, in my senior year of high school, dating my math teacher. He picked me up a block away from the school as we planned and we went to the café. I had hot chocolate; he ordered coffee and insisted I have a slice of their heavenly cakes the place was famous for. He told me that as much as he wanted to, we could not date openly; we had to keep our dates secret. He didn’t want people to gossip about us.”

  “How considerate of you, Bill,” Estelle said with genuine.

  “That was our first date, but way too short. I spent most of that time trying to get Evelyn to stop calling me Mr. Rushton.”

  “It was hard to change gears in one afternoon,” Evelyn defended herself.

  “I wanted to spend more time with her. Evelyn was my dream girl. I wished that I could openly date her and not have to keep our relationship secret.”

  “In those days, it was quite common to graduate from high school and get married. Few girls went on to higher education and mostly to a business college to train as secretaries.” Evelyn recalled. “I wanted to go to university and study Fine Art. I had a passion for it, and I was good at it.”

  “Now we know where Jayna gets her artistic side,” Roy said.

  “Jayna is a talented artist and a scientist,” Bill declared. “Most people are often one way or the other, very seldom both like da Vinci and our Jayna.” Bill was making no secret of his pride in Jayna.

  “How did your relationship with Evelyn progress?” Estelle prodded.

  “Right, I had to come up with a plan so I could see her as much as possible without letting our relationship be fodder for the gossip mill at school. I had a marvelous idea. I rented a small house within walking distance to our high school. I met with Evelyn in the privacy of my home. Sometimes we met during lunch, sometimes after school and sometimes both.”

  “Weren’t you afraid that her parents would find out? You could have gotten her in a lot of trouble.”

  “No, I wasn’t afraid at all. I had honorable intentions. I wanted to marry her; I was just waiting for a reasonable amount of time to pass before I popped the question.”

  “When did you pop the question?”

  “Mr. Parker returned to work but only on reduced hours. When we had a meeting about it, I asked the principal to give him back Evelyn’s class. I said something about it being the graduating class. My argument seemed reasonable to them. Of course, my real objective was to remove myself from a situation where it would be considered a conflict of interest for me to be teaching her. No one knew that we were dating, but once we became officially engaged the situation would be viewed differently.”

  “I had told my friends that I was seeing someone, but never hinted that it was a teacher at school. My friends wondered about my mystery boyfriend, but didn’t push me. They were wrapped up in their own little dramas,” Evelyn explained.

  “I remember the look on Evelyn’s face when I announced to the class that Mr. Parker was coming back. Her face went ghost white. I thought she would pass out in the classroom. I hurried to say that I was still going to be teaching at the school. Evelyn walked right past me at the end of the class. I had to call her to come back; for a minute I thought she wouldn’t. She came though, and asked me why I hadn’t told her, given her a heads up. I said that I had just found out about it that day. I am not sure that she believed me.”

  “What I did was have a panic attack when I heard that he wasn’t going to be teaching our class anymore. For some reason, I thought that he was leaving the school and leaving me,” Evelyn elaborated.

  Bill shook his head. “I was, in fact, trying to figure out how fast I could run to the nearest jewelry store and buy her an engagement ring. I told her that since I was no longer her classroom teacher, I would come and pick her up from her house and take her to dinner that night, and meet her parents.”

  “Well, that sent me into another panic attack. My nerves were raw. I wasn’t sure how my parents would react to meeting him.”

  “I told Evelyn to wear her nicest dress and be ready. I would pick her up at six.”

  Evelyn sighed deeply remembering that day with fondness. “I wore my nicest Sunday dress. My mother asked where I was going. I said that I was being taken to dinner. She raised her eyebrows and gave me a piercing look, and wanted to know who was taking me out. I said that I was seeing someone for a while and his name was Bill, but didn’t say that he was the teacher that was responsible for my considerable improvement in Math. She gave me her most serious look and told me to behave like a lady. I promised that I would. Bill arrived precisely at six o’clock. He parked his car in our driveway, came out and rang the doorbell. I ran to open the door, but my father beat me to it. I think my mother had blown the whistle on me. I knew that they would scrutinize him thoroughly.”

  “Mr. Schmidt opened the door and said ‘Yes?’ I think he was a bit confused since he was expecting a high school boy, not a high school teacher. I introduced myself and said I was there to take Evelyn to dinner, and promised that I would bring her back in a few hours, I would not keep her out too late.”

  “Bill brought me a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates. My parents were very impressed. Here was this well dressed, well behaved gentleman calling on me. I think at that moment they realized that their little girl had grown up and was in a serious relationship.”

  “I couldn’t have been more serious as I was going to propose to her that night. We went to a very nice restaurant and had a romantic meal out in public, no more hiding in my house. I waited till the end of the meal and then I took out the little velvet box from my pocket. I declared my undying love to he
r and asked her to marry me.”

  “And I burst into tears at the site of my engagement ring,” Evelyn said.

  Estelle sighed at the happy ending to the love story of a high school senior and her teacher. “This is the most romantic love story I heard in years. It should be made into a movie.”

  “How did her parents react to your engagement news?” asked Roy. “You showed up at their door, took their daughter out to dinner, and brought her back an engaged woman.”

  “I had ordered an engagement cake from the restaurant ahead of time and asked them to write our names on it. We took the cake home to her parents’ house; Evelyn invited me in and told her parents that we had brought cake for them. They were certainly surprised, but also happy for us. I told them that I was a teacher at Evelyn’s school, and asked them for their permission to marry their daughter. We set the wedding date that night.”

  “You should have seen the excitement at school on Monday. Students and teachers alike, everyone was caught up in it. Every girl in the school wanted to see my ring.”

  “I called the principal at home on Saturday and told him that I had given Evelyn an engagement ring, received her parents blessing, and that we were going to be married that summer. He congratulated me and said that he had actually bought my story about giving Mr. Parker back his graduating class. Now he understood that I had an ulterior motive.”

  “We were married that summer and Grace was born the following year. I didn’t go to university to study Fine Arts until much later. When Grace started school I enrolled in university and got my art degree four years later; eventually I become an art teacher.”

  “Evelyn and I taught in the school we met for many years, until our retirement.”

  “What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it with us,” Estelle said.

  “Yes, that was obviously a match made in heaven, as I assure you that Jayna and Ethan’s marriage will be made in heaven,” Roy said.

  “We have every reason to believe that they will be happy together for the rest of their lives,” Estelle added. “We are told by the Masters that when people love each other at the soul level, they stay together for eternity, and even if they come back for another incarnation, they find each other and marry again.”

  “I believe that,” Ayshen said. “I pray that Pavlina find her soul mate and be happy, too.”

  Estelle nodded, “I am sure she will.” She turned to Pavlina and continued, “You could not have given birth to a Lightworker of Hope’s caliber, if you weren’t a special person yourself.”

  Pavlina blushed. “I am not looking for a soul mate, I am happy with my life,” she said.

  “And that is precisely the reason you will find your soul mate. You could never find one if you go looking for him. He is out there somewhere, you will meet each other when you least expect it.”

  Pavlina said no more, she only shrugged, closing the subject of a heavenly match for herself.

  “This has been an excellent visit,” Estelle said, “but it is time for us to head back home. We shall see you again in a few days. I am so glad that the Masters agreed to bring you to the Astral plane for the wedding. Once you’ve experienced it for yourselves, you won’t have any doubts about its reality. If anything, the Astral world is more real than this one, you’ll see.”

  Estelle rose from her seat, “Grace and Paul, thank you so much for your hospitality.” She then turned to Evelyn and Bill. “It’s been a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for the wonderful story Bill; you are an awesome story teller. Ayshen, thank you for everything you’ve done for our Lightworkers in the last four years. You’ve given them a safe haven when they needed one desperately. All of them needed you more than you realize.”

  “My pleasure; I wish I could do more,” Ayshen said modestly. “And thank you for all the Turquoise you brought us. We use it a lot in Turkey.”

  Estelle smiled, “I know that; your people are smart to have made Turquoise part of their culture.”

  “I’ll be sure to make good use of my gifts,” Bill said.

  “We highly recommend that you have at least one piece of Turquoise on you at all times. It will keep the lower energy forms away from you,” Roy suggested.

  The visit having come to an end, everyone was deflated. A limousine with a uniformed driver came to pick up Roy and Estelle. They hugged everyone and promised to come back for another visit when they could.

  “I hope you do that regularly,” Grace said. “We’d love to see you again.”

  “I am sure we’ll see each other soon, and I don’t mean just at the wedding,” Estelle replied. “Let me give it some thought, see how we can work things out.