Fateful

by Cheri Schmidt

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.”

  “Oh, now you can’t leave me hanging like that. Tell me. Please.”

  After the desperate look he just shot her, she decided to just spill it. “I hope to find the perfect husband, or a mostly perfect husband, and then have children.”

  “You want to get married?”

  “Well, someday. Don’t you?”

  “Yes, that is something I want too. And your fears?” he prompted.

  “I guess I fear never being able to find that person, amongst other things.”

  “What other things?”

  She sighed. She didn’t really want to talk about her fears. Danielle answered anyway, knowing she may have skipped a few—important ones. “I fear spiders. It’s stupid, and I know it. I just hate those big hairy ones. They creep me out, and … I fear creepy men in dark alleys.” She shuddered at the memory of Lucas. She feared any person who was immune to her skills.

  “What about snakes?” Ethan asked, eyeing her.

  “I guess I would fear a poisonous snake in the wild. But I have seen pet snakes, and I don’t really fear them. I wouldn’t like to hold it, but I might pet it,” she said, wondering if she’d lied. In truth it was likely she wouldn’t dare touch the thing either, just in case.

  “So you wouldn’t be afraid of a tame snake, even though it still had fangs?”<
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  Danielle got a peculiar feeling he asked that question for another reason. Repulsion slithered through her mind as she recalled the little garden snake James had found when they were younger. The way it slithered between his fingers, the way he played with it and giggled when it twisted. While the creature was surely wild, it had never tried to bite him, still she’d run inside to tattle when he tried to set it in her hair. With her gaze shifting to Ethan’s she felt her eyes widen at the glimmer of amusement in his gaze as he watched her squirm. Had she misinterpreted the good manners to mean he was something like the dashing Mr. Darcy? Perhaps he was one of the rogues, teasing her about reptiles, taking notice of her fear, taunting her with it.

  Chancing another look his way, she changed her mind at the sight of his crooked little smile. It was charming and certainly not evil.... What was she thinking? He’d shown nothing but admirable traits so far. Understanding her tendency for exaggerating, Danielle decided he was simply teasing her. Just as James would ... there was no menace behind it. When his tawny eyebrow lifted, she realized she hadn’t answered the question. “I-I still wouldn’t want to hold it,” she repeated, not really knowing what else to say.

  “Hm...”

  Before he asked any more tricky questions, she decided that maybe it was time to turn the tables on him. Grinning, Danielle asked, “We’re not going to talk about me the whole time, are we? Tell me about you?”

  “Same questions then?”

  He seemed a little reluctant, but it was his idea. “Sure,” she said.

  He dove in regardless of any hesitation she’d heard. “Okay then, my talents—I can play the mandolin, the guitar, and the eight string bouzouki.”

  Danielle had no idea what a bouzouki was, but it sounded interesting, and she suspected it was just another stringed instrument since he lumped it in with the others she had heard of.

  “Hobbies—I hunt.” An odd grin danced at the corner of his mouth when he said that.

  “What do you hunt?” Danielle asked what seemed like a natural question to her. She knew what her father liked to hunt: pheasant, quail, geese and deer.

  But Ethan eyed her suspiciously, as though it had not been an ordinary inquiry at all. And his response was curt. “Deer mostly.”

  “My dad too … and pheasant?” she asked because that’s what her dad liked to hunt.

  “No,” he said flatly. “Never fowl.”

  “I see.”

  “My parents were wonderful, but they have passed away, and I miss them.” He paused staring ahead into traffic.

  “And your hopes and fears?” She wasn’t letting him get off any easier than she did.

  “I hope for a new life. I hope to find my one true love, my soul mate, like Beon has. I hope to be a good person.” Danielle got chills as he spoke. His hopes seemed a bit more intense than hers. He went on, “I fear, well, I don’t fear much. But I do fear never finding my one true love, or missing her if I did find her but didn’t realize it, and … I fear losing control.”

  While the conversation had been different from any she’d experienced on a date so far, she decided none of it proved to be a sign of skeletons in the closet either. At least it seemed that way, though she did wonder what he meant by “losing control.” Did he have anger issues? That didn’t appear to be likely. She got the impression he was extremely patient.

  Thinking the long drive had flown by when they arrived at the garden, Danielle was finding that it was quite easy to be around him, comfortable, like someone she’d known for many years. He parked the car and ran around to open the door for her. Reaching in, he lifted her hand, and then gently wrapped it around his brawny arm as she stood. Danielle could feel his muscle ripple every time he moved, and secretly liked that a lot.

  Ethan led her around the garden as he spoke to her about what he liked most about it. She felt like they were almost dancing with his graceful way of leading her. Sometimes he would place one hand on the small of her back as he guided her along, and Danielle could sense the power behind his touch, though it was never forceful or bossy. But she did find it interesting that he seemed to control eye contact carefully as he stayed by her side or behind her most of the time.

  He took her through a flower garden with ornamental water steps and canals, all linked gracefully by plantings that reminded her of what one might find growing near a cottage. Leading to a center gazebo, the borders brimmed with blue, purple and yellow flowers that nodded cheerily in the breeze. Stopping her under the wisteria arch, he told her it was planted in the nineteenth century. He ran his fingers along the draping, lavender-colored blooms, releasing their fragrance. Danielle thought it was delightful.

  The sunken garden made her think of fairies and pixies with its woodland design. They paused at the waterfall and pool, which was surrounded by more colorful plantings. Danielle gazed into the clear water and was startled with what she saw. In the refection, Ethan was looking at her, and not their surroundings. Reflexively, she turned to face him. An unabashed smile greeted her. It seemed he knew he’d been caught, peering down at her through half-closed slits, still avoiding any full eye connection. “I like how you seem to wear a lot of skirts, like a lady. Girls these days don’t dress-up enough. They dress in men’s attire far too often.”

  Girls these days…? A puzzled look formed on her face. “You sound like my grandfather.” While he didn’t look older than twenty-something to her, sometimes he did act older, especially when he made such peculiar comments. Was this a British thing? she wondered.

  Her statement sent him rumbling with laughter. “I’m sorry. I just miss the time when women dressed beautiful and elegant.”

  “You say that like you lived through it.” She continued to eye him curiously.

  “I mean like you see in old movies and read about in old books. That seemed like such a romantic time.”

  “I see.” Danielle liked old movies too, but those movies were usually chick flicks, and not usually liked by guys. “Don’t you like shoot-em-up, gory guy movies?”

  An impish smirk took to his face. “Of course I do. I do have a slightly aggressive side to me, as does any other man, I would suspect.”

  Oh, good! Then he is a normal guy. She was beginning to worry a little.

  Ethan chuckled nervously while taking her hand into his and she wondered if he meant to distract her from this topic of conversation, especially when he said, “There’s a maze here too. Let’s go do that next, shall we?”

  There’s a maze? Definitely distraction was his plan, and it worked. Disturbed by the idea momentarily, she finally decided that as long as she’s with him she won’t have to worry about getting lost, and went along when he tugged her to the right.

  “The maze contains over a thousand full-grown yew trees. It’s my favorite part,” he said as he pulled her along swiftly.

  Danielle found it difficult to care about the yew trees, but he was apparently thrilled. Just the sight of it was troubling when they arrived at the entrance, and she hesitated, digging her feet in as she tried to slow down his momentum. Not that he noticed.

  Pointing to a tall gothic tower in the center, Ethan said, “Meet me there, and we’ll go to the top of it.” Letting go of her hand, he stepped into the maze.

  “What! You’re leaving me?”

  “It’s a race. We’ll see who gets there first,” he said, emitting a chuckle from a challenging grin.

  “Okay then. I had fun … this was nice … I’ll see you another time.” Danielle waved goodbye. She knew she’d never make it to the tower. It would get dark and she would still be wandering aimlessly through that thing. Walking into a maze was like asking to get lost, at least in her opinion.

  Some of the excitement fell from his expression. Seemed he was catching on to the fact she didn’t like this part of the garden so much. “Please, Danielle. It’ll be fun. I promise.” When that didn’t get the response she figured he was hoping for, he changed tactics, moved close and then used his eyes on her. A
t the sight of those baby-blues, the feeling of daze returned and another surge of familiarity hit her. Danielle tried to shake it off, but found she couldn’t resist because this gaze of his was actually more convincing than his gentle words.

  It took her a moment to realize he’d gathered both of her hands and already drawn her in well past the entrance. Panicking now, she spun around when he released her and found she already didn’t know which way to go. “Don’t worry, darling. You’ll find your way.” The soft words came to her like the whisperings of a spirit and she couldn’t tell which way they’d come from. Surely she couldn’t already be lost. With shoulders drooping, she thought, He’s going to be so disappointed when I don’t actually show up.

  Wondering what she should do next, she heard a low, husky chuckle as he apparently moved further away. Danielle merely glowered at the jovial sound and turned back the way she’d come ... or thought she’d come. Which way had she come? Great, she really was already turned around.

  Guessing now, she stomped down one way, but not without wobbling a bit after the influence of his trance-like eyes. What was with his eyes? After finding one dead-end and another, she decided she must have chosen wrong and turned around. Again she never found her way back to the entrance that shouldn’t have been that far away. Danielle had hoped to exit, go around the maze and see if she could find a way to the tower without going through it.

  It soon dawned on her that that wasn’t going to happen. Danielle abandoned the idea and began wandering, at first hoping she would be able to hear him ahead of her and be able to follow, but soon realized she’d lost him already. She then prayed she would get lucky, be able to see through the yews and accidentally find the end. But that hope dissolved as well when she couldn’t see through the greenery and came to a wall of solid greenery with no exit. She tossed her hands in the air and turned around angrily.

  Picking up her pace to a slow run, she wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Growing frustrated, Danielle stumbled into another dead-end. Crap! She changed directions again. With heart pounding, she chose another path, then hit the yews with her fist when she ran into yet another dead-end. I’m going to find every single dead-end in this stupid maze, she complained in her head.