by W. J. May
So Lanford was dead. She didn’t care. She knew she should, but she really just wanted to forget. She needed something to help her do that, so she refocused on classes, and didn’t even mind when the dean took over class in the Oratory. His attitude had changed dramatically, making it easy to engage him as a teacher and Rae began to enjoy class again. Carter never focused on or brought any extra attention to her, and she appreciated it.
The ten remaining weeks of the school year flew by. During one of the final dinners with the entire student body, Carter stood and walked to the podium. “I have a few announcements to make. First, I’d like to let everyone know I will not be returning as the dean of Guilder next year.” He paused, then grinned. “I’ll be returning as Headmaster. Someone needs to keep a good eye on you folks.” He waited till the students quieted. “Devon’s father, Randolph Wardell, will be the new dean of Guilder. All the professors are in full agreement he will do an excellent job.”
Rae sat at a table a few rows away from Devon. She smiled and clapped with the other students.
Devon seemed slightly embarrassed, but stood. “My dad’s pleased to have been offered the position.” He smirked. “And I’m happy to be graduating.”
Students erupted in laughter throughout the room, everyone but her. Rae didn’t want to think about next year without Devon. Maybe, if he was gone, she’d get rid of the crush she had on him. But who was she going to talk to about her father? Or how frustrating her ink was? Or help her deal with all the baggage and crap that had come with Lanford’s actions? She blinked rapidly, forcing the sudden tears away, and tried to push back down the anxiety that had tried to rise up and overtake her.
Carter clapped his hands for attention and everyone once again settled down. “I’d also like to mention Riley Johnson has been offered a job and is finishing the year at his current location.”
Rae’s eyes flitted around the room. The students didn’t bat an eyelash with this news. Seniors must leave quite often before the end of the year, probably secret jobs from top secret tatù businesses. No one cares that Riley left or why. No one really knows what happened that night. Molly threw an arm over Rae’s shoulder and gave her a quick squeeze, without saying a word. Rae smiled at her friend. Someone did care. She wasn’t alone, and it was nice to be reminded of that every once in a while.
A few days later, Dean Carter asked Devon and Rae to meet him in his new office in the Oratory building. Carter sat behind the desk, hands interlaced casually across his stomach in a distinctly relaxed posture that Rae had never seen him in before. He spoke first to Devon. “I’m hoping you’ll come back next year, as a paid employee of the college. I’d like you to continue helping Rae with tutoring and training with her abilities.”
Devon’s and Rae’s mouths both dropped open.
“One of the reasons is that you know the whole story. Rae will need someone to work with and she’s comfortable around you.” He straightened and rested his large hands on top of the desk. “We’ll offer you living accommodations, of course. There are two penthouse suites above the senior’s floor on Joist Hall. One would be yours. You won’t have to live by your father or answer to him – just to me.” He chuckled, like it was some kind of private joke. “You’ll be paid a very fair salary and any university correspondence courses you take will be paid for by the school.” Carter twiddled his thumbs and smiled pleasantly.
Devon glanced at Rae and then took a few moments before answering. “I’d be honored to help as best I can.”
Rae wanted to jump up and down. YES! However, the feeling was short-lived when Carter spoke again.
“We’ve been working diligently, but haven’t been able to find out anything more about Lanford or your father’s connection to him.” He nodded at Devon, but looked at Rae. “Devon’s been caught up to speed completely with what happened the night of the dance. The laptop was unsalvageable. The Privy Council hasn’t found any records or anything else regarding this so-called HOC file. Hopefully, the two of you may be able to uncover some information next term.” He stared down his nose at the both of them.
“What about the camera on the ceiling?” Rae asked. Maybe Devon and she could get some extra correspondence out of it during the summer months. And I’ll, of course, focus completely on Devon – I mean on learning.
“It was wireless, connected to some kind of satellite we weren’t able to trace.” Carter leaned forward and shuffled a stack of papers against his desk. “If we learn any vital information over the summer, I’ll let you know. If you are able to recall anything between now and the start of the new school year, write it down and let me know. The Privy Council will continue to search for anything connected to your father.” He pointed to the door. “Now, get out of here and spend a bit of time with your friends before you fly back to New York for the summer. I’m here if you need me.”
They walked down the hall and through the empty Oratory quietly together. Devon spoke once they got out into the sunshine. “I hope you don’t mind if I stay on next year.”
“No, no, not at all,” she gushed. “I mean, I really appreciate you being willing to stay here. It won’t be too bad with your dad? Doesn’t he want you at Oxford or something?”
Devon grinned, his adorable dimple popping through.
“Nah, I’ll deal with him. It’ll give me some time to figure out what I want to do with my life.” He stopped talking but stared at her, as if he had something more to say.
When the silence began to get awkward, Rae shifted her weight and glanced toward the playing fields full of students. “I should probably get back to Molls. She gets a bit paranoid now when she doesn’t know where I am.”
“I have to ask Carter something, so I guess I’ll see you later?” He didn’t wait for her reply, but headed back toward the large Oratory doors. Just before disappearing, his hand shot out to keep the door open and his head popped around. “By the way, Rae.” His dimple flashed again, “Tell Molly she did a cool job on your hair. It totally suits you.” Then, he was gone, and Rae was left feeling vaguely let down.
Chapter 26
The Letter
Rae finished packing her suitcases and checked her watch. She needed to hurry. Julian had probably fallen asleep waiting for her downstairs. She needed to be at the airport about two hours before her transatlantic flight took off. She did a final check around the room to make sure she had everything. When she came back in seven weeks, she’d be living in one of the rooms on the floor above and wouldn’t be coming back to this room. It’s a bit of a shame…
Part of her felt sad to leave, but she wanted to head back to America and spend some time with her aunt and uncle. Hopefully, Uncle Argyle would be willing to tell her about her mother and grandfather and even talk a bit about her father. She could get information out of him which she couldn’t get from anyone else, if she could get him to talk.
Rae headed down the marble stairs with her new, larger suitcases, courtesy of Molly, and set them by the door. She ran back up to grab her duffle bag. She had already said good-bye to everyone except Devon. He’d seemed preoccupied when he popped by yesterday to say good bye to Molly. She’d wanted to give him a proper farewell, but he’d left before she had a chance. Plus, she wasn’t quite sure how to handle him now…after their awkward conversation outside Carter’s office.
Julian stood waiting in the foyer. He took her suitcases from her and set them by the door. He smiled his warm, friendly smile. “I have something for you.” He handed her a white envelope.
“What’s this?” The blank cover of the envelope gave away nothing.
He scratched behind his ear. “I had a vision early this morning and thought maybe you could help.”
Rae opened the envelope with apprehension. The last time he’d handed her a vision it hadn’t turned out so well. However, the reveal was anti-climactic. Inside was a piece of paper with nothing on it. She stared at Julian, confused.
“Rae, this is going to sound kind of corny but…pre
tend it’s a letter. I know I didn’t draw anything on it, but just work with me here for a moment.” He paused and gave a small smile when Rae nodded. “That paper’s trying to tell you something, you just need to open your mind to what it says.”
She blinked, trying to make sense of what Julian was asking. She held the sheet with both hands and tried to pretend she was about to read a letter. She closed her eyes and exhaled a long, slow breath.
Julian started talking quietly. “There’s this dope I know, who wanted to try and write you a letter. First he tried emailing, but that didn’t work. He wanted tell you how he felt and ask you to forgive him. So, he thought that if he wrote it to you, it would be better. Except, this dummy doesn’t know how to say it. He’s all messed and confused in the head himself.” Julian sighed, as if he understood the writer’s frustration. “If this guy could just realize his feelings would explain everything to you… Ahh, but his pen never moves. The idiot doesn’t know how to start, or finish, the letter. He wanted to tell you how he’d made a mistake and he wished he’d never listened to those around him, or allowed himself to step back from you.” Julian grunted. “He should’ve just followed his heart all along.”
Julian stopped talking and Rae heard him move toward the door. She opened her eyes and stared at the blank paper. She gazed at the pretend letter for a long time and then back to Julian.
“Where is he? Do I still have time to see him before we have to go?”
Julian grinned and glanced at his watch. “You’ve about ten minutes. He’s in his room packing.” He grabbed both of Rae’s suitcases. “I’ll get these in the car for you in the meantime.” He disappeared out the door with a smirk on his face.
Rae looked down one more time. Go to him. She heard her mother’s voice and knew that was exactly what her mom would have told her to do. Rae dropped the letter and took off running through the front door toward Joist House.
She barreled through the entrance, and straight up the marble stairs to the top floor, not caring what kind of scene she made. Winded by the time she got to Devon’s door, she took a few deep breaths. She knocked once before barging straight into the room. Devon stood behind the suitcase on his bed.
“Julian, I told you already I’m not --” he stopped short when he saw Rae standing in the room.
“Hi.” All the self-confidence Rae’d felt a minute ago, disappeared. She tucked a curl behind her ear and tugged it behind again when it popped back immediately, refusing to obey. Great, here I am, tongue-tied with my hair flying everywhere…What now?
“Hey.” Devon stared at her for a moment and then focused on refolding a shirt he’d already packed into his suitcase.
“Julian’s taking me to the airport. He said he had a vision this morning.” She swallowed nervously, not sure what to say. When Devon stayed silent and continued to gaze at his suitcase, Rae mustered what courage she could find. “He said you tried to write me a letter…”
Devon’s head popped up in surprise. Rae could feel tears fill her eyes, so she glanced at the ceiling, begging them not to fall. She took a deep, shaky breath and glanced back toward Devon. She trembled as she watched him walk over to her. He put both of his hands gently on her face, his fingers silently brushing the tears from her cheeks.
“I’m so sorry…About…About --” His voice broke as he spoke. “I didn’t know what to write then, or what to say now. I’m just so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault.” She reached up and removed Devon’s hands from her face, keeping them held inside of hers. “Nobody saw it coming. Everyone trusted Lanford. Carter said he went off a gut feeling and had to follow the hunch, hoping he might be right.” She blew her bangs from her face. “Julian’s taking me to the airport in about five minutes. I don’t want to spend the summer worrying if you’re never returning to Guilder because of me. I don’t want to lose your friendship.” I don’t want to lose you. I need you.
“I’m coming back.” He smiled and showed his adorable dimple. Worry lines appeared on his forehead as his brows mashed together. “I’m the idiot. In so many ways, I can’t even begin to explain, or try to show you.”
“Don’t—” Rae started, but Devon cut off her words off with a kiss. He pressed his warm, soft lips against hers. The kiss felt like the flutter of a thousand wings from butterflies setting off into flight. It was like time stood still and nothing else mattered at that moment or was ever going to matter again if Devon wasn’t with her. At the same moment he stole her breath away, he stole her heart.
He slowly pulled away, but barely. As he spoke, his lips brushed lightly against hers. “I have, for a very long time, been very much in love with you. I’m just a fool who didn’t know how to say it. I kept trying to follow the path everyone else instructed us to go down – the one I’m expected to follow.” Devon swallowed. “When, all along, I should’ve just followed my heart.”
Wow! Can life get any better than this? She smiled, sure the corners of her mouth were close to touching her ears. “I’ve never really been one for doing what’s expected.” She shrugged nonchalantly, but couldn’t stop the excitement coursing through her body. This is ten times better than the morning of my sixteenth birthday.
Devon grinned and rubbed his nose against hers. When a knock sounded on the door, and Rae and Devon jumped apart, suddenly conscious about how wrong this could be. Getting caught before anything had started could ruin everything, on so many different levels.
Julian popped his head inside the room.
“I really hate to be the one to interrupt the two of you, but Rae needs to head to the airport or she’s going to miss her flight.” He tossed a balled up piece of paper at Devon. “The offer still stands, if you’re interested.”
“Offer?” Rae glanced back and forth between the two guys.
Devon chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders. “Julian made two offers to me this morning. I could come with him to bring you to the airport, and try to tell you how I felt. Or, use his car and take you myself. I think I’ll take him up on the second offer.”
“You don’t mind?” she asked Julian.
“Silly girl with the super-ability. Do you think I could say no?” Julian tossed his car keys at Devon. “Just don’t let her drive. She may be talented, but she’s a bloody American.” He laughed and jumped back when Rae forced the door closed with a gust of wind.
Devon and Rae stared at each other, both smiling like lunatics. They walked down to the car in a companionable silence.
“Do you have plans for the summer?” Rae asked once they were on the motorway.
“I’m heading home for a week and then Carter wants me and Julian to come back, and apply to the Privy Council academy. Plus, my dad wants me to help set his office up.” He rolled his eyes. “What about you?”
She touched his knee, still thinking this had to be a dream. “Not much. I’ll work on my tatù, and I’ve got a hundred questions I want to ask my uncle.”
“Let me know if you learn anything. Email or, if you’re allowed, call me?”
“Of course.” She glanced at his tight jaw line. “What’s up?”
“Nothing, really,” he said. “I…I just think we maybe shouldn’t say anything… to anyone, you know, about us.”
She should have felt guarded. A boy asking a girl to keep their relationship a secret couldn’t be a good sign. But this was different. They were different. She knew they weren’t any normal boy and girl. “I think you’re right. After the year I’ve just had, and my parents’ history…We’d give the professors, and my uncle, a massive coronary.”
“We can figure stuff out when you get back next term.” He winked at her. “I’m still mentoring you, and I’ve got my own place next year. Nobody’ll suspect a thing.”
“Yeah, it’s almost as if Carter knew, when he set up the position for you.” They both glanced at each other and after a moment, broke into laughter. Fat chance!
At the terminal, Devon gave Rae a tight hug
and leaned in to kiss her. A voice announced on the speakers that her flight was now boarding.
Devon deepened the kiss. Again, the flutter of butterfly wings floated around Rae. She totally got what Molly had been talking about all year. This was how a first kiss was supposed to feel. She understood her tatù’s wings gave her the fluttering wing-feeling and smiled at her deep, personal understanding.
“This summer’s going to take forever.” Devon rested his forehead against hers.
“I’ll let you in on a little secret.” Rae loved the wild abandonment feeling being with Devon gave her. “The first kiss is something a girl never forgets. This feeling, at this very moment, could carry me through a hundred summers,” she whispered, lightly pulling on her bottom lip with her teeth.
Devon groaned. “One summer apart is enough for me.”
Rae kissed his ear and whispered, “I’m glad we stopped hiding and told each other how we feel.” I can’t wait till next year, and a lot more kisses. “I guess we owe Julian.”
Devon shook his head slightly. “He’s never going to let me forget.” He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist. “It’s totally worth it.” He kissed her again.
Slowly, she stepped back from him, and, after a few reluctant seconds, he let go of her hand. “See you in seven weeks,” he said.
She laughed. “You’re counting already?”
“You better believe it!”
THE END
TUDOR COMPARISON:
Aumbry House ----A recess to hold sacred vessels, often found in castle chapels.
Aumbry House was considered very special to hold the female students – their sacred vessels (especially Rae Kerrigan).
Joist House ---- A timber stretched from wall-to-wall to support floorboards.
Joist House was considered a building of support where the male students could support and help each other.