Six weeks after the tragedy, Chris’s wife gave birth to a baby girl who she named Taylor. Fox helped to support the baby until Michelle could get things settled for the two of them. Fox and Michelle actually became good friends. After Fox went to Prudhoe Bay to work, Michelle married a man that she was dating, though not before naming Fox as her daughter’s Godfather.
Taylor walked up to Fox and gave him a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. John couldn’t take his eyes off Randa. She was aware of his engaging stare. She couldn’t help but peek at him, though a bit of shyness prevailed and she quickly looked away.
Fox made the introductions. “John, I would like you to meet Taylor Taxen. Taylor, this is John Williams who you’ve heard plenty about.”
“Yes, I have,” Taylor said laughing. “It’s very nice meeting you John.”
“Thank you. It’s all my pleasure Taylor”
“And John, this is Randa Dean. Randa this is John.”
The rest of the world seemed to slip away as John turned and focused on her.
Randa looked up directly at John and said, “Hello John! It’s wonderful to meet you!” in a very open and exalted manner.
Their eyes met and suddenly there was so much energy in the air between them. It was palpable and it jolted his senses. John could feel it course throughout his body. He was completely silent. Gosh, have we met before? He asked himself. John was sure that he would have remembered her. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they already had met or that they were connected to each other in some ambiguous way.
“Hello Randa,” were the only words that came out of John’s mouth as he continued to look at her. Fox and Taylor stepped back and observed what was happening with looks of wonder on their faces.
Randa extended her hand out to John as if to shake his. John saw her hand and he reached forward with his right hand and put it in hers. The softness and warmth sent a powerful surge directly to his heart. John leaned over and Randa watched him place a sweet, gentle kiss on her hand. The chivalrous deed melted her heart. John looked up at her and smiled because he somehow knew with much certainty that this incredible creature before him was the one woman who could capture his heart and captivate his soul. He reached out his left hand and covered the bare part of Randa’s hand. Time seemed to stop as both of their hearts beat wildly.
After a moment, Fox stepped forward as if to break the contented silence and asked Randa if she had ever attended one of Wade and Noel’s parties before. John released Randa’s hand quickly, but did not move a step.
“No, I haven’t Fox. This is my first one and I am having a terrific time,” Randa said glancing at John. “Thank you for having Noel invite Taylor and me. She and Wade are just as delightful and as down to earth as they can be. Plus they certainly know how to make sure that everyone is having a great time.”
Wade and Noel Anderson’s parties were renowned in northeastern Oklahoma, but they only recently bought the ranch neighboring Buck and John’s ranch. Buck still owned the ranch, but he never came back to it after the night that he confronted Claire. It remained John’s home because Buck wanted to make sure that his only son continued to have that stability in the wake of their divorce. Claire moved off the property when John graduated from high school. Fox continued to run the ranch and John considered it home even when he was on the North Slope.
“You are very welcome Randa. Noel asked me to invite some friends and the very first person I thought of was Taylor. You know how I adore her,” Fox replied. Even though he and Taylor did not get to see each other very often, they always stayed in touch.
“Taylor is definitely adorable,” Randa said as she laughed and looked at her friend. Taylor stepped up beside Fox and laid her head on his shoulder. For a split second, Randa thought she saw an odd resemblance between the two, but she didn’t know what it was. She thought about mentioning it when John spoke.
“Taylor, I must tell you how much I love some of your songs. There is something so genuine about them.” Taylor was a Grammy award-winning singer who currently kept America on its knees pleading for more chart toppers. Many of her songs were upbeat and her fan base ranged from the very young to senior citizens.
“Thank you John! Just in case you don’t know,” Taylor grinned, winking at him, “Randa wrote “Hitching” and two of my other top 10 hits.”
John smiled at Taylor said, ‘Wow!’
Taylor said, ‘Yes!’
John looked over at Randa, simply speechless. He gazed into her beautiful chocolaty eyes as he reveled in the feeling of a deeper connection to her. “That is so impressive Randa,’ John told her.
“Thank you! I am very proud of that song!”
“Did Fox show you and Taylor the rooms you’ll be staying in while you are here?”
Randa answered, “Yes, he did, thank you John. We appreciate you letting us stay in your home. Even though the drive home would only take a few hours, it’s so nice to get away for the weekend.”
“You are very welcome. It will be nice to have some female presence around here, especially as beautiful as you two ladies are.”
The band started playing and Fox asked Taylor if she would like to dance. She accepted and they strolled to the makeshift dance floor.
Randa replied, “thank you,” and then she looked at John and scrambled for something to say. She didn’t want him to walk away. Unfortunately, she didn’t know that he couldn’t have been pried away from the spot he was standing on.
“Fox said that you work on the North Slope in Alaska most of the time.”
“Yes, I do. My father started a company there before I was born and he has turned more and more of the responsibility over to me. The first summer I went there, I was thirteen years old and I fell in love with the serenity there. I’ve went back every summer and I’ve been there full time since I graduated from college.”
“Goodness! Don’t you miss things here in Oklahoma or at least the things that we take for granted here in the lower 48?”
“I usually come home about four times a year and that seems to take care of any needs or wants that I might have. Arctic Circle living is definitely a less complicated way to live, even though it includes lots of hard work in extremely cold weather. I love life on the ranch also. At some point in time, my dad needs to decide whether to keep the company or to sell it.”
John didn’t want to bore Randa. “Would you care to see the rest of the Anderson ranch? There are some magnificent gardens and a flowing creek behind them.”
Wanting to spend more time with John, Randa eagerly accepted his invitation.
Taking Randa by the arm, they started walking toward the back of the property. As they entered the gardens, they looked around in awe at the beauty. The bright colors proved to be a rewarding palette and John caught himself enjoying the look of wonderment on Randa’s radiant face. They continued along the path, occasionally pausing to gaze at the pink, red, and white impatiens and the colorful summer snapdragons. There were numerous waterfalls built into the scenery. The path ahead led into a thicket of trees. They looked at each other and Randa smiled at the thought of a mini-adventure into the woods. They hadn’t talked much since entering the garden, but it was a comfortable, pleasant silence. Once into the woods, they came upon a sparkling stream and stopped to enjoy the blissful sound of the clear water lapping over the rocks. Randa reached down, putting her hand into the cool water and letting it flow up to her wrist in an attempt to feel the soothing serenity that it emitted. Gazing down at her, John wanted to pick her up and take her into his arms. He reluctantly dismissed his desire and simply offered her his hand when she looked up at him. Grabbing it, she rose and followed him as he led the way across. John hoped that he wasn’t overstepping the bounds with this trek, but there was a very special place that he wanted to show Randa.
“Are you okay?” John asked her.
“I am fantastic! I love being outdoors. My grandparents lived in the country and the times that I spent at their place duri
ng my childhood are some of my favorite memories. They lived at the end of a road and their land backed up against a river. I enjoyed so many summer afternoons sitting on that secluded riverbank just thinking, writing in my journal, and enjoying the peacefulness.”
“Ahhh,” John replied, smiling and obviously pleased with her response. His ideal female was one who not only looked elegant and beautiful, but also one who could truly take pleasure in being comfortable in the outdoors. “Then you should like what we are about to see.”
Coming to a fence that separated Noel and Wade’s property from his own, John held the barbed wire as far apart as he could, so that Randa could get through it without getting her hair or her clothes caught on the sharp barbs. They entered a clearing and saw a pond just ahead. It wasn’t a normal pond, which was usually brown and muddy. The sky reflected down on the water, giving it a brilliant dark blue hue. The banks were made of flat, stacked rocks with bright, beautiful azalea bushes in a variety of colors, including reds, whites, mauves, and pinks covering surfaces everywhere. Large green lily pads, stately cattails and weeping pussy willows with their fluffy silvery catkins and studded golden anthers added charm to the scenery. The outer trees were tall enough to give the place an aura of being a million miles away from everything. Randa sucked in her breath. It was a piece of paradise exquisitely taken from the heavens above and placed right here on Earth. There were two benches on the bank. Claire had placed them there years before when she discovered the pond. John loved their visits to this small piece of heaven when he was a child. Now they provided a seat for the couple.
They began to share details about their lives such as family and jobs.
“You actually wrote ‘Hitching?’” John asked Randa
“Yes,” she said with the biggest and brightest smile ever. “‘Hitching’ was in the number one spot on the charts for sixteen weeks. You look so flabbergasted.”
“I am,” John replied, “a little bit. It’s just that I strongly identify with some of the lyrics of the songs you’ve written, like I could have penned them myself.”
“That is wonderful John and it makes me feel so good! When I write I always hope that I am expressing what someone else really doesn’t know how to and then they hear my song and they say something like, ‘this is my song’ or ‘this song describes exactly how I feel.’”
He could not resist asking her, “How do you come up with the lyrics?”
“Most of the time, it’s my personal feelings. For example, “Hitching” is the song talking about my search for what I call The One for me that I think is somewhere out there. I really feel all of those things and I will look high and low and far and wide and I won’t stop until I find him or until he finds me,” she giggled. “And I know that when we are finally together, our love will be so rare and so true that we will be together forever. I wrote that song right before I graduated from college, though many of the lyrics I had jotted down years before. In fact, that was the song that got both Taylor and I discovered.”
“I love that song Randa. Often I have felt the same way about The One being somewhere out there for me too, but sometimes,” his voice trailed off, “I think it’s all a dream that other people get to realize, but one that will never come true for me.” John was surprised at what he had just said. Not because it wasn’t true, but because he was sharing his deepest feelings with her.
Silence permeated the air for a moment, but Randa assured him, “Almost everyone feels that way from time to time. I know I do. Just know that it is completely normal to feel that way and don’t let the pessimistic feelings remain in your thoughts.”
“So, you’ve never been married or even engaged?” Randa asked, changing the conversation and intent on satisfying her curiosity all at the same time.
“Oh no, I haven’t even been in a long-term relationship since I was in college. And she wasn’t even someone that I was totally crazy about. It just seemed to be the ‘right thing’ to do at the time.”
“I don’t picture you as a person who would just do something because of peer pressure or because you care what other people think.”
John laughed, “I’ve always tried to be a good person and do the things that I am ‘supposed’ to do. I’ve always been the ‘good son’ and the ‘good student’ and on and on. In essence, that’s what I am. That girl from college was nice and we had a lot of fun, but I knew that I would never marry her. She just wasn’t The One for me as you would say. There was something missing. When I do meet the ‘right’ one for me, I will harbor no doubts.”
Now it was Randa’s turn to sit in startling silence. She could definitely identify with something always missing in the people that she dated.
“Since then I’ve been on the North Slope. Sometimes when I come home, I do get fortunate enough to have a great date with someone, usually a blind date arranged through a friend, but then the woman won’t have the patience to let a relationship with me grow when I am over 4000 miles away. She gets bored or we don’t have love to use as a foundation to build upon.”
“So, what about you Randa, how is it that with all of your insight, talents, passions and not to mention your stunning beauty that you don’t fall to sleep each night in the strong arms of a man who truly appreciates all that you are?
Chapter Eight
Randa glanced out at the calm waters, letting them guide her thoughts. “It’s as simple as not having met The One yet. Some people may look at that as a fantasy or a fairytale. The last thing I would ever do is to settle. It’s not that my requirements are set too high or are impossible to meet. It’s as you said, that there always seems to be something missing. But my faith never wavers. For one thing, I think that you truly have to ‘believe’ for something like everlasting love to come to you. Everything that I have ever truly felt strongly about has come true. I imagine in my mind what The One will be like. I believe with every fiber of my being, to my very core, that he and I will meet and live happily ever after. I imagine us doing lots of things together.” Randa blushed immediately after saying it, but John did not take it out of context, he was just listening intently.
John turned and looked at Randa. She looked into his eyes. She was still trying to figure out exactly which color of blue they were. Was it cornflower or periwinkle?
“Randa, have you and I ever met before?”
“No, I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
“It just seems like we have. You seem so familiar, but it’s more than that, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. “
Oh yes, it’s much more than that Randa thought. It’s the fact that I could hardly breathe when Fox was introducing us because my heart was racing madly. It’s that when you touched my hand to shake it, and each time you’ve touched me since, my senses became enthralled, and they cried out for more. It’s that every time you look at me with those beautiful blue eyes, time stands still. It’s that when you speak to me, my spirit is drawn to the urgent calling of yours fiercely seeking its impassioned destiny. It’s that when I get close enough to inhale your scent, an ache inside of me comes roaring to life.
They began to compare a few places or events where their paths might have crossed, but there was no apparent connection.
“It is so tranquil here,” Randa reflected.
“It’s one of my favorite places on the ranch.”
It was starting to turn dusk. “C’mon Baby Doll. I need to get you back to the party.”
“What did you call me?” Randa looked at John with a puzzled expression.
John, just realizing what he called her, quickly said, “I’m sorry Randa. I’m not quite sure where that came from.”
“No worries John,” she said as she grabbed his hand and led the way back up the path.
Making their way back through the lush gardens, Randa and John were feeling and acting like a couple of carefree teenagers laughing and seeming to be sharing a private joke. Taylor spotted them and made her way toward them.
“Randa, y
ou and John missed it! Noel asked me to sing and everyone loved it.”
“Of course they did Taylor,” Randa said. “You are always amazing. I’m so sorry we missed it. John would have undoubtedly enjoyed hearing you sing live. We went on a walk and he showed me more of the property. We came across a beautiful blue pond and there was a bench on one of its banks, so we sat down and talked and let the enchanting surroundings embrace us.”
“I’m afraid that the time slipped away from us Taylor. My apologies to you and Fox,” John said as he squeezed Randa’s hand that he was still holding.
John seemed more relaxed and carefree than Fox had seen him in years. When Buck and Claire got divorced, Fox knew that John lost a lot of his innocence. It was hard to watch, but there was little Fox could do other than to be there for John in times that he was needed, which were rare because John shrugged things off and tried to keep his sadness to himself.
John and Randa said their goodnights to the partygoers and he walked her to his home.
Opening the door, John stepped aside letting Randa enter the house first. “Can I fix you a drink?”
“How about a Mai Tai?”
John laughed. “The only reason that I know how to make one of these is because my mom drinks these too.”
“How wonderful! I don’t drink hard liquor, but I love a sweet, fruity drink.”
John nodded. He was so riveted by this beautiful lady. “Occasionally, I will have a mixed drink, but I prefer a nice ice-cold Budweiser Longneck,” he said as he handed her the drink and opened a beer for himself.
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