Sanctity (24 page)

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that, you’d be
surprised how quickly that would all change if she thought you were
in any danger.  Was that your boyfriend that I stole you away
from?”

“Oh, no, Michael, I don’t have a
boyfriend.  I never have.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

“But why, you are so beautiful, surely they
are lined up in droves hoping to gain your affection?”

I blushed and shook my head, “I have
forgotten many, many things Michael but I don’t think I have ever
truly forgotten you,” I placed my fingertip on his lips, “Now you
will be a part of me forever; that is what you said Michael.” 
I shamefully looked away.

“I’m so sorry Elayna.  For
everything.  I wish I had known; I wish I had understood and
could have accepted…”

Tears were welling in my eyes; his words,
they felt like rejection.

He gently took my chin and forced me to meet
his eyes, “No,” he whispered, “please don’t cry.”  He took his
fingertip and put it to my lips, “It went both ways Elayna.  I
am just as much a part of you as you are of me.  I just wish…I
wish it could have been different; that things didn’t happen the
way they happened.”

“Lily, there you are!”  Danielle was
calling me from the doorway.

I blinked the tears from my eyes, forced a
smile and waved to her, “What do I tell her?” I looked to Michael
for help.  He pointed to the window to remind me what Danielle
would see.  By the time she reached us I had come up with what
I hoped was a viable story, “Hey Dani, this is Michael.  We
met a few years ago, when I was taking Kaley to obedience
school.  We were in the same class together.  He just
came back from college and decided to look me up.”

“I stopped by your house a few days ago but
your Aunt said you were out biking with your friend, Charlie, I
think that was it,” Michael took up a bit of the explanation, “she
told me all about your prom plight and I thought it would be a nice
surprise if I popped in to see if I could help.”

“Isn’t that sweet?” I asked Danielle.

“Actually, it’s our Spring
Formal,” she said as she eyed Michael.  He looked so handsome
as he stood there laying on the charm that she couldn’t help
agreeing, “Any friend of Lily’s is a friend of mine,” she said as
she extended her hand.  “I’m Lily’s 
best
 friend, Danielle,” she
made sure to throw some weight on best so that there would be an
understanding between her and Michael that she was looking out for
me.

Zach appeared in the doorway, “Are you guys
coming back or what?”

Dani motioned with her head, “What do you
say?”

I looked to Michael, “Lead the way,” he said
as he placed my hand in the crook of his arm. 

Danielle took Zach’s hand as we reentered
the gymnasium.  They immediately trotted out onto the dance
floor and regained the group of friends they had been passing the
night with.

“Well, let’s see what you’ve got,” Michael
grinned down at me.  I was a mediocre dancer at best and very
self-conscious of that fact.  Michael saw my hesitance and
took the initiative.  He put his hands on my hips and a little
thrill ran through me as he swayed me side to side.  Somehow
his touch was encouraging me and I began to relax and follow his
lead.  We moved around the dance floor and soon I forgot
myself completely.  We were causing a little scene as the
other couples gave us a bit of room and stepped back to watch our
little exhibition.  As the song ended we got a few nods of
approval before the next song was taken up.  Thankfully it was
another ballad and I had a chance to catch my breath.

“Where did that come from,” I wondered out
loud.

“I bring out the best in you,” Michael
teased.

He was holding one of my hands to his
chest.  My other hand was on his shoulder while his free hand
rested at my hip.  I couldn’t stop smiling and looking up into
his eyes, I felt like I had just come home after a very long
vacation.  It was as though all my favorite things were right
before me and I was anxious to rediscover them all again.

“Michael, where have you been?  Why
have you been gone so long?”

“I promised Margaret,” his voice was full of
apology.  “It was for the best.”

The song came to an end, “Can we go
somewhere and talk?”  I asked.

“I would like that, very much,” he took my
hand from his chest and brought it to his lips. 

“I’ll let my friends know.  We can meet
up with them later since they are all going out for a bite to eat
after the dance.” 

I tracked down Danielle and Zach and let
them know my plans.  Danielle asked me “Are you sure,” she
glanced at Michael then quickly back, “are you sure you want to
leave so soon?”

 I just smiled and turned to
Michael.  He twined his fingers in mine and we made our way
through the crowd and out to the parking lot.  Michael was
parked some distance from the school since he had come so
late.  He opened my door and helped me in then made his way
around the front of the car and glided into the driver’s seat
beside me. 

“Where are we meeting your friends?”

“They have a reservation for the Italian
restaurant not far from here.”

“Ah, yes, I know it.  How much time do
we have?”

I glanced at the clock, “About two
hours.”

He nodded and pulled the car out.  I
was too absorbed in my thoughts to care where we were going and let
myself sink back into the passenger’s seat.  It was nice to be
away from the crowd and the noise of the dance.  It was nice
to be there with Michael, wonderful actually. 

“You haven’t changed a bit Michael. 
You are just as I remember you,” I started the conversation.

“I will always be this way, Elayna, you know
that.  You haven’t forgotten, have you?”

“No, Michael, I know; I may not have fully
grasped the truth at the time but it never mattered to me,” I
paused unwilling to admit my full understanding.  “We are not
so very different though, are we?”  My voice begged for
reassurance.

He took my hand and gave it a sympathetic
squeeze before he brushed a kiss across my knuckles.  “We are
very different Elayna and I am not sure we will ever…”

He couldn’t finish the thought and I could
feel him trying to put up one of those little walls in my mind to
keep me from understanding the meaning behind his words.

“Please don’t, Michael.”

“You caught me,” he innocently smiled. 
We pulled into a driveway and stopped at the front of a sprawling
single story home.  It took me away from my previous
thoughts.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Sometimes it’s my home.”

“You mean you have been this close to me the
whole time and I never knew it.”

He laughed, “You weren’t meant to.”

He kissed my cheek and hopped from the
car.  Hardly a millisecond passed and he was at my door,
opening it and helping me out.  He unlocked the front door to
the house and motioned me inside.  The wide hallway was lit
with a soft glow that reflected off the tiled floor.  I looked
left and right and saw that there were rooms in either
direction.  The floor plan was open so you could see almost
the entire length of the house as one room spilled into the
next.  There were several low, half-walls that gave a sense of
separation between the different areas.  They were wide enough
to act as shelves and many of them were covered with plants and
other decorations as well as books and framed pictures.

I tried to take it all in at once. 
Michael was looking at me clearly wanting an opinion.  “It’s
very beautiful; simple and elegant and open.  I love it.”

“Good, I had really hoped you would one
day.”

“So you weren’t going to stay away
forever?”

“No, of course not but I wasn’t sure, I
wasn’t sure what you wanted.”

“Oh, Michael, you know, you know, how could
you not know?  There will never be anyone else; there never
has been anyone else.  I have tried, just to fit in; I have
tried to care for someone but now I know why I have never been able
to…that I never will be able to.”

I threw my arms around his waist and rested
my head on his chest.  He started taking the pins out of my
hair and it was falling around my shoulders in little
cascades.  I savored his touch as he stroked the loose strands
and comforted me.  Before I realized it I was standing on my
toes and kissing him, not the safe, soft kisses we had shared in
the past but deep, passionate ones.  My heart was pounding and
I could feel my insides swimming in an all-encompassing
elation.

“Elayna, you need to stop, it can’t be like
this, not for us, not now, not yet.”

I refused to accept that, “No, no, it has to
be!  It has to be like this.  It must be!  It
doesn’t make any sense to wait, not for either of us.  I will
never have feelings like this for anyone else, I can’t.  I
won’t,” I insisted.

I took the pin from the rose he gave me and
watched the flower fall to the floor.  I pricked the tip of my
finger, held it to his lips and whispered in his ear, “It must
be.”  Michael sighed with a sudden disregard to propriety and
effortlessly swept me up and carried me to the nearest
bedroom.  As he put me back on my feet he turned me away from
facing him.  I could feel his fingers brush my back and the
pressure of his lips on my neck as he slid the zipper of my dress
down.   He was so careful, so gentle, I always thought I
would be terrified no matter whom I shared this experience with but
every fiber of my being seemed to be at peace and was welcoming
everything as it happened to me.  He brushed the straps from
first one shoulder then the other and my gown fell to the
floor. 

I stepped out of it and turned to face
him.   He fumbled with his jacket and let it slip off his
arms as my fingers found his tie and stripped it from his
neck.  He unbuttoned his shirt while I fumbled with the belt
he was wearing.  We covered one another with kisses until I
stepped back to admire him.  He was so beautiful, every single
feature beckoning me, inviting me to touch and smell and taste
him.  I ran my fingers through his hair and across his
shoulders and over his chest. 

He smiled, lifted me and gently laid me on
the bed.  We lost ourselves in our ecstasy and passion for one
another and it was so much more than I ever imagined.  When it
was over I felt as though I were drifting in a sea of happiness and
sighed contentedly.

“I love you,” I thought to myself, fearful
to say it out loud as I drowsed beside him. 

“I love you,” he said putting his voice to
my thought.

He pressed his lips to mine and for a moment
it was as though I could see clearly into his mind and knew that
what he said was true. 

“Your friends are going to worry about you,”
he suddenly steered me back to reality.

“Oh, God, what time is it?”

“Don’t worry, there’s still time. 
Here,” he stepped up and handed me out of the bed.  He
gathered my dress and shook it out.  He stood behind me and
bent down while holding it for me to step back into.  The
caress of his fingers as they zipped the dress back up made me want
him all over again.

“There’s no time for that, though” he
admonished.  He slipped first one leg then the other into his
pants.  I bent down and retrieved his shirt.  I tossed it
over his shoulders and slowly buttoned it back up as I gazed into
his smiling eyes.

Once we were dressed he began pinning my
hair back up.  He was surprisingly dexterous and did an
unexpectedly good job. 

“Do this often?” I asked half-jokingly,
jealous of the thought that he might have had a practiced hand at
it.

“First time,” he assured me and kissed me on
the cheek.  He stood me before the mirror to admire his
handiwork.

“Well, thank goodness for professional
make-up,” I grinned, “no one will ever know.”

“Oh, they’ll know,” he teased, “that glow is
unmistakable.”

I pretended to be shocked, “Michael?!”

“What?  It’s true,” he was
laughing. 

I had never seen Michael really happy, not
like this.  In all the memories through all the years of
knowing him, something had always seemed to be hanging over him and
keeping his emotions in a rigid check. 

“We need to hurry,” he said and motioned me
toward the front door.

“A bit eager to get rid of me, huh?”

“I would keep you if I could; you know I
would but if you don’t make it to dinner, what do you think will
happen?”

I imagined Danielle and her frantic fingers
calling Margaret to tell her I was kidnapped by some guy named
Michael who went to obedience school with me, “Yes, let’s go, go,
go.”  I practically ran to the door.

Michael was there before me and graciously
opened it for me, “After you,” he bowed. 

There was no traffic and we arrived just as
the others were stepping out of the limo.  I was surprised to
see Brooke and Jake were still in the party.  At some point
after Michael and I left they must have managed to make-up.

“Hey,” I caught Dani’s eye as Zach was
handing her out of the limo.

“Oh, good, you made it.”

“Yeah, we just drove around for a bit and
talked,” I was desperately trying to suppress my guilty grin. 
I was certain that it was telling a very different story.

Brooke, though Jake had his arm around her
shoulder, was studying us with a look of wonder, “You’re that guy
from the dance, the one that nearly knocked me over.  You two
know each other?”  She asked me with a rather repugnant look
which just evaporated when she glanced at Michael.

“Brooke, Jake, this is my, Mi…” I wasn’t
sure what to say, my friend, my boyfriend, my lover, Michael, I
almost giggled.

“Michael, just Michael,” he said as he took
Jake’s hand, then Brooke’s.  He brushed the back of her wrist
with a kiss, which made my skin crawl with revolt.  He turned
his back to them and flashed me a devious little grin and I
realized that there was something more taking place than just an
introduction.  I was dying to ask but held my tongue hoping
for a later explanation.