Forevermore

by Cristiane Serruya

  Ava waited, but the men just quietly sipped their champagne as if their story was done. She blinked. “So you met in a bar fight?”

  Aleksander looked at the ceiling consideringly. “More of a street fight.”

  “Or melee.” Benedict shrugged.

  “Then they became friends and the rest is history,” Hannah finished for them.

  “Yes,” Markus said, while Benedict shrugged again, as if the outcome was self-evident.

  “I don’t understand,” Ava muttered under her breath.

  “I think what they’re not saying,” Hannah answered for them. “Or, rather, what their egos think goes without saying, is that they obviously won the fight because no other outcome was possible. And that’s how they became friends.”

  “Elementary,” Benedict said. “Blood has a kind of male bonding effect.”

  “Your blood, you mean,” Aleksander countered.

  She blinked again. “And you were untouched?”

  That presumption was too much for Benedict.

  “Blackthorn had both eyes blackened,” he said, with what sounded very much like satisfaction. “And Maximilian’s lip swelled so much he talked with a lisp for a month.”

  “A fortnight, merely,” Aleksander interjected.

  “Three weeks at the very least,” Markus corrected, amused.

  Benedict grinned. “You were still lisping on Labor Day when we, ah…”

  “Rowed down Charles River dead drunk at dawn,” Markus said. “With the don’s stolen bulldog.”

  “Quite,” Aleksander murmured, amused.

  Ava’s eyes widened as she chuckled, imagining the scene.

  Markus’s mouth cocked up. “So you see why Benedict and I both had to be here. There is no stronger bond than the male bond.”

  “Oh, yes,” Ava said weakly.

  “We spent the next few years at Harvard trying to get him to drink more and study less,” Markus said.

  “And we spent those two years attempting to keep you from succumbing to your worst urges,” Benedict said far less lightly. Turning his head in the general direction of Ava, he said, “At one point, I was certain he had a death wish.”

  “I’ve mellowed in my old age,” Markus announced. “I’m a far more careful fellow.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes at her husband. “Sure. You drove eighty miles an hour on the way up here. I thought I was going to die at least three times.”

  “He was excited for the the stag party.” Benedict shrugged and clapped awkwardly Aleksander on the back.

  Ava blinked at Aleksander. “Are you having a stag party?”

  “Of course not. That’s so 20th century.”

  “Besides,” added Markus, smiling at Ava, “I’m very happily married, and Alek only has eyes for you, so we declined to have a party where Benedict would have all the fun.”

  “Hmph. Their lack of charity and good will is appalling,” replied Benedict.

  “Well,” Hannah said, standing. “I’d better go see if my in-laws have arrived. God spare me leaving Senator Blackthorn waiting.”

  “Wait, Hannah,” Markus said, drinking the rest of his champagne. “I’m coming with you.”

  As the two left the library, Aleksander put a hand on his friend’s arm and said, “I’m going to get Olivia.”

  They had debated telling others about the upcoming surgery, but since Benedict—and Markus—had not only accompanied every step of Olivia’s sickness but also helped him through it, in the end they decided that having them as their allies would be the right thing to do. Besides, having Benedict talk with Olivia was an opportunity they could not allow to pass.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, marrying this big lug,” Benedict said when they were alone, his dark glasses tilted toward her.

  She laughed. “He didn’t give me time to think about it.”

  “Best man I know.” He smiled then leaned towards her and asked in a low voice, “Is the surgery date set?”

  “Next week.” She blew a long breath. “We are, at the same time, excited and frightened.”

  He nodded. “I can understand.”

  “Since we told Olivia about the surgery, she has been…kind of obsessed by learning everything she can about blindness. She even started walking in her room using a blindfold,” Ava told him. “She has a million questions to ask you.”

  “Children adapt easier, and if she is eager to learn, it will not be so hard,” he said with an encouraging smile. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to go on, but Aleksander and Markus held me together, made sure I never wallowed in self-pity.”

  “I hope we are ready for it when the time comes.”

  “We are never ready, Ava. But there are great schools where Olivia can enroll and technology helps a lot. The worst part is not the learning, it’s…people’s reaction to your handicap.”

  There was a mix of pain and anger in his voice that tugged at Ava’s heart. “People are fools.”

  “Some more than others,” he mumbled.

  “I can agree with that,” she said, knowing the source of his bitterness was his ex-fiancée, who left him after he became blind. She looked up to see Aleksander coming down the stairs with Olivia. “And here she comes. Are you ready?”

  A genuine smiled opened on his face. “In this case, I guess I am.”

  With all her childhood resiliency, Benedict’s disability had previously never been more than a passing curiosity for Olivia.

  But now she was facing a living example of what she could—would—become. She was shy at first, almost as if she was afraid to ask questions and hear answers that would change her opinion about doing the surgery. But Benedict was so charming and open about his disability she was soon getting him to demonstrate how to use the cane.

  “I move it around like this.” When his right foot went forward, the cane swung to the left. When the left foot went forward, the cane swung back to the right. “This way I don’t run into things.”

  “Is that why you have a cane?” Olivia asked. “Not to bump on things?”

  “That’s exactly why.” Benedict smirked at her and added, “And it makes me look even more dashing to the girls.”

  Olivia giggled, then she asked, “If you can’t see with your eyes, then how do you see?”

  “He can’t see at all, not with his eyes,” Ava said, moving her hand in front of his eyes and then putting his hand on Olivia’s face. “But he can see with his hands.”

  The girl stood still as he demonstrated what he did when he wanted to learn the form of something he couldn’t see. And then she did the same on his face.

  “It’s…strange.”

  “It might be strange, but you will use your other senses, too,” he explained. “I smell and hear better now.”

  “Like the Big Bad Wolf in Little Red Hiding Hood?”

  Benedict let out a chortle. “Kind of.”

  “Oh,” Olivia said. “Was it hard to learn, Uncle Ben? Did it take you too long?”

  “Life has its hardships for everyone, Liv,” Benedict said. “What matters is how you deal with them.”

  “It’s hard being sick all the time, too,” Olivia said, then her brows furrowed the way they did when she pondered something. “Uncle Ben…would you rather be dead?”

  Aleksander who had been quietly listening to them felt a lump clog his throat.

  Benedict took a deep breath then released it. “No, Liv. To be very honest with you, it was no walk in the park to learn what I know now and I am still learning. I have applied to get a guide dog, for example, so I still have things to learn. In the beginning, there were days I just wanted to quit. But I’ve never been a person who would give up easily.”

  “At least not until a restraining order is filed,” Aleksander joked.

  Benedict chortled in response to Olivia’s gasp. “Nevermind him. He’s joking, while I’m being very serious.” He could still remember the time his cane had stuck in a crack on the concrete and he ran into the top of it with his
stomach, doubling over with pain in the middle of Fifth Avenue.

  Measuring his words, he told her, “When the…loss settled on me so that opening my eyes in the morning to a continuing dark was no longer…strange, I rediscovered life is worth living for as long as we can. Doesn’t matter if we’re blind or if we’re sick, or even if we’re stubborn old scrooges like your father.”

  Olivia giggled.

  “Liv, what I want you to understand is being blind wasn’t the end of my life. Instead, it was just a new beginning.” Benedict smiled at her. “And believe it or not, some things are actually better. If you end up being like me, you’re going to love desserts even more than you do now.”

  Ava was teetering between excited and nervous as she waited for her grandparents’ car on the porch.

  Excited because she hadn’t seen them in person for more than three years now; and nervous because they had never met Aleksander and Olivia, and although they had backed her up in her decision to marry in haste, she didn’t know what to expect of the meeting.

  She knew they would love Olivia and Aleksander, and that they would go along well with them, too. Still, Ava’s stomach fluttered about.

  A black limousine pulled up to the entrance and Hildegard stepped out, spotting Ava instantly. Eirik got out from the other side of the car and Ava half ran to greet them.

  “Mormor, Morfar,” Ava greeted, and gave them both hugs and kisses. “Thank you so much for coming.”

  Her grandmother squeezed her tightly and asked, “Of course we’d come. Where is this new family of yours? I can’t wait to meet them.”

  “They’re out on a walk right now. Alek’s blind friend, Benedict, is teaching Olivia how to walk with a cane and a blindfold. You’ll meet them as soon as they return.”

  “What?” Hildegard asked, her eyes wide. “Isn’t that a depressing thing to do with the poor little thing? It sounds terribly dark, almost morbid.”

  Ava saw her grandmother’s point, but laughed just the same. “Mormor, it was her idea!”

  “That’s one smart child,” said Eirik, passing an arm over Ava’s shoulder as she led them inside the house. ”Few people get a chance to prepare for a calamity.”

  “You’re right, Morfar, Olivia is very smart. And you’re both going to fall in love with her.” Ava gestured for them to follow her as she guided them into the house. “I’ll show you where you’ll be staying, then you can come down and meet Alek’s parents.”

  As they crossed the main room, heading toward the stairs, Meredith and Graham emerged from the kitchen, each carrying a fresh drink.

  “Meredith, Graham, these are my grandparents who raised me, Hildegard and Eirik.”

  “Ms. Larsen, you look very much the same,” Graham said gallantly, bowing toward Hildegard, and extended his hand to shake Eirik’s, “Mr. Huitfeldt, I’m so pleased to meet you again.”

  Meredith rose to her full regal height and said, “Likewise, I’m sure.”

  Hildegard air-kissed her cheeks, and as Eirik approached, Meredith extended her hand, palm down. Eirik didn’t know if she expected him to kiss her hand or shake, but he opted for the later, grasping it gently and bowing as he pressed his thumb lightly on the back of her hand.

  Before the introduction could get more awkward, Ava excused them, saying, “They’ll be back down shortly, after they’re settled in,” and resumed heading toward the stairs.

  Upstairs, in their assigned room, Ava said, “Alek’s staff will bring your things up.”

  “Your future mother-in-law is a piece of work,” Eirik said, winking at Ava.

  Ava smiled. Meredith had sought her, apologized profusely, and then if nothing had happened, she had towed Ava to the sofa and demanded Ava told her everything that had happened in Trondheim since she had left. Ava understood Meredith had never really meant harm, she was just one broken soul in a too harsh world. “She is, isn’t she?”

  She stood looking at them for one more second and then rushed forward and gave each of them another big hug. “I’m so happy to see you. I can’t even tell you how much this means to me.”

  A discreet knock interrupted the embrace and she turned to see Aleksander at the door, with Olivia peeking from behind his legs, with the ever present Toddy.

  “Mormor, Morfar, this is Aleksander,” Ava introduced. “My future husband.”

  “Oh, Ava, you did a poor job in describing just how handsome he was,” Hildegard said as she bypassed his outstretched hand and enfolded him in a hug of hers.

  Ava laughed.

  Then taking a step back, she eyed him from head to toe and back, and repeated, “A very poor job, indeed.”

  “Nothing I could have said would have done him justice.”

  While Aleksander stepped toward Eirik and they shook hands, Ava turned towards Olivia, standing by her with a bright smile. “And this little princess is Olivia.”

  “And what a beautiful princes she is,” Hildegard knelt on the floor to hug the girl.

  “And this is Toddy,” Olivia said, patting her faithful companion on the top of his head.

  Hildegard smiled and patted Toddy, too. “Hello, boy.”

  Matthias and a hired servant appeared at the door with their luggage.

  Ava wanted to stay more and talk, but they had known it would be a rushed meeting and they would not have lots of time to talk in private, since they were having a kind of rehearsal dinner. “Well, I will leave you to rest a bit.”

  But there would be plenty of time for catching up after she was married and Olivia was cured.

  Or so she hoped.

  Chapter 37

  Saturday, November 28, 2015

  10:35 a.m.

  * * *

  Everything felt surreal for her, and it wasn’t until the hairdresser finished her make-up and hair, put on her veil, and turned her to look in the mirror, that she fully realized that she truly was going to marry Aleksander Maximilian.

  “Ava?” the faceless whisper of Aleksander followed by a double knock on the glass had her smiling and running to open the veranda French doors.

  “Come on in before Olivia finds you,” she urged.

  He looked wonderful dressed in a gray three-piece suit, perfectly tailored to showcase his tall, strong frame, paired with a cranberry red silk tie. On another groom, the red might have seemed garish; on Aleksander, it illuminated.

  “I need some help,” he told her showing in his palm the delicate buttonhole made of natural cedar leaves, dried white star flowers, mini pinecones and a cluster of holly berries trimmed with twine for a more masculine effect.

  That was only an excuse to see her. He had spent the night in the guest room, banished from his own rooms by Olivia, who has slept in his bed to make sure he wouldn’t, in her own words: be a bad boy and invade the bridal chambers.

  “There. You’re ready,” said Ava to Aleksander as she pinned the boutonnière on his lapel.

  He looked down at her and picking up her hands in his, he whispered, “You are breathtaking.”

  She tsked and shook her head at him. “I am not even dressed. I’ll bet you say that to all your brides.”

  Despite knowing that she was trying to lighten the mood with humor, Aleksander responded seriously. “No, actually, I don’t. You’re the only bride I’ve met, who in less than a month has made my daughter’s dream come true in the most perfect way and have given me hope for a future which was utterly impossible and beyond my ability and resources,” he assured her, softly. “Add to this, that you’re also the only bride who truly turned my world upside down in the moment I met her.”

  “I suppose that just makes me unique.”

  “Unique…” He nodded as he savored the word. He placed a chaste kiss on her mouth and, lowering his voice, he said, “Yes, that describes you perfectly. And I couldn’t ask for better or more.”

  “Neither could I.” She reached up and placed her palm over his heart, and they shared a moment full of mixed emotions: grief, joy, desire, concern, and
hope swam through each of their eyes, but none of it was spoken.

  “Daddy? Where are you?” Olivia called from the corridor. “The guest will be here at any moment!”

  He put a finger on his lips with a mischievous smile on his face, but before he could stealthy leave the room, Hildegard entered the walk-in closet.

  “Oh!” She waved her hands. “Young man, haven’t you heard a groom can’t see the bride before the wedding? Shoo, shoo.”

  “See you downstairs in a bit!” Smiling, he placed a quick kiss on her mouth and made his escape through the veranda.

  Hildegard put her hands on her hips. “Tell me you didn’t show him the dress!”

  Ava laughed. “I haven’t, Mormor.”

  Ava had probably tried on what felt like five hundred wedding dresses. While she found one or two she liked, she still wasn’t sure of what she wanted. She didn’t want the dull fantasy element of a bridal designed dress, as Olivia envisioned; but still, she didn’t want to marry in a middle-length dress, as suggested by a few of the many designers who had flocked to Lake Tahoe solely to show her their options, each one of them eager to please the new Mrs. Maximilian. Even though none was chosen for their bridal dresses, they all flew back to their places with huge smiles and each thousands of dollars richer, since Ava and Hannah acquired a few pieces.

  And then on Tuesday afternoon, when Ava was almost giving up, Alicia brought the yet to be released Carolina Herrera Spring/Summer 2016 collection and the designer herself.

  When they showed Ava the light-as-butterfly-wings dress, with fluttering long sleeves, featuring white-on-white and emerald-and-silver embroidery in a delicate floral and leafage pattern, she fell in love with it. And when Ms. Herrera told Ava she had been inspired by Byron’s She Walks in Beauty, Ava knew she had found her dream dress.

  “Perfekt!” she’d exclaimed, in her native accent the instant she saw it.

  Now, closing her eyes, Ava fought to regain her calm as her grandmother helped her put it on.

  She took long, deep breaths. Gradually, she felt the tiny gurgle of hysteria dissipate.