Beyond Chance (23 page)

I reached into my pocket and pulled out my
phone with the newly broken screen and handed it to Aaron.

“I did this upstairs. Apparently the screen
doesn’t like to fall flat onto hard surfaces.”

Aaron let out a whistle and examined the
cracked screen. “Could be worse.” He clicked the phone on and slid
the screen on. “Looks like it still works. Might be kind of hard to
see detail, but we can get it replaced.”

“Here or when we get back to the
states?”

“Probably here, but I’m not sure. I’ll add
the wireless for you though. It might take some finagling to see
what you’re trying to look at. I’ll leave my phone in here for you
to use.”

“Thanks. Maybe I’ll stick with this and miss
all of the bad news with a broken screen.”

“You never know.” He handed me the phone
that was now hooked up to wireless, and I felt my chest tighten as
I thought about checking my emails.

I set the phone down on the table and
decided to wait. Waiting a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt a
thing.

Scooping the last bit of scrambled eggs onto
my fork, I took a bite and sat back in the chair. The breakfast was
delicious, but now I was ready to go back to bed.

“I think I’ll be able to get another two
pieces put together today and that will leave only one more for
tomorrow. There’s a town, Chartres, not far from here that I
thought you might enjoy visiting tomorrow afternoon.”

I nodded and watched Aaron’s expression
soften as he spoke. “It’s known for some Gothic cathedral. I
thought it would be a nice change.”

“I can’t wait. I’ll probably need it after I
spend today finding out about who knows what.”

Aaron reached for my hand and squeezed it.
“I can push off putting the pieces together. We could go to town
today, or I could stay inside with you while you look into things.
I’m game for anything.”

I shook my head. “That’s very sweet of you,
but I want to get it over with by myself. I think what you have
planned is perfect.” I smiled and took a deep breath in as I
thought about what I might find. “I’ll take care of the dishes.
It’s the least I can do after getting spoiled with breakfast.”

He stood up tentatively and pushed the chair
into the table before stretching toward the ceiling. It looked like
every leg muscle must be sore, but for the life of him he wouldn’t
admit it. His shirt rose slightly, and my eyes traveled down his
bronzed skin.

Aaron caught me looking and grinned.
“Something catch your attention?”

I laughed and realized that he was indeed
guarded, but he was also a little arrogant, and I happened to be
hopelessly enamored with all of him.

“You are irresistible,” I muttered.

“That’s what I like to hear.” He walked over
slowly and draped his arms over my shoulders and gave me a big hug.
Feeling the strength of his embrace made me think that nothing was
impossible. No matter what I found online, I had Aaron to lean on
and that meant more than anything.

Aaron let go of me and set his iPhone on the
table. “You know the password. If you need anything, you know where
to find me.”

I smiled, and he swept a kiss on my cheek
prior to heading out to the workshop. I debated about showering
before I started the pursuit of information, but I decided against
it. The longer I put it off, the worse it would get. I quickly did
the dishes and went into the sitting room. I turned on my cracked
phone.

Pressing on my email, I waited for the new
messages to populate. To my surprise, there was only one update
from my mom. I read through the message quickly and was cautiously
relieved. She felt the trial was going well and the evidence was
convincing. She praised the prosecuting attorney’s clear and
concise arguments. She didn’t want to give me false hope, but she
felt things were looking promising. Her thought was that the trial
would be over by early next week. I let out a sigh, thankful that
there wasn’t any bad news in her email and closed it up. Not that I
didn’t trust my mom’s thoughts on the subject, I went to some of
the bookmarked sites and reviewed some of the snippets from the
trial.

As I glanced at one of the articles, I
realized why my mom didn’t say much. They’d called her as a
witness. My heart sank as I read the transcripts and journalists’
recap. I cringed at the depths of deplorable questioning that the
defense attorney had been willing to go to. My pulse raced as I
read his accusatory statements about my mother. Somehow the defense
attorney managed to turn the entire situation into a condemnation
of my mother’s legal defense of Derek’s mother versus my attempted
murder. Several of his questions got stricken from the record, but
the jury was still able to hear them. As much as I hated to admit
it, Derek’s defense attorney was good, but I’d like to think the
prosecuting attorney was better. I still didn’t know if Derek would
be getting on the stand. I guess only time would tell.

A rather uplifting article showed up in a
Google Alert I’d set up about the cult link to Derek. It looked as
if there would be new charges brought against the person who sent
the letter to me. I quickly scanned through the discussion boards
and saw some of the followers of Derek sounding off on this latest
revelation. It concerned me, but my hope was that if Derek got
locked behind bars, they’d find some other bandwagon to jump on.
Unfortunately, I’d also seen how once a person was behind bars,
they almost achieved a celebrity status.

Ever since I was a kid, I always got the
heebie-jeebies when the Charles Manson specials would come on, and
I couldn’t believe he actually had fan clubs. I shivered at the
thought of Derek gaining more recognition and tried to push the
thoughts aside.

One step at a time.

I glanced out the window and saw the blue
skies completely trading out for heavy clouds. In the distance it
looked as if buckets of rain were pouring down. It probably
wouldn’t be long before the storm arrived here.

Without even realizing that hours had gone
by, I glanced at the time and forced myself to stop searching. It
got me more nervous. I should have read my mom’s email and stayed
oblivious to the rest, but that wasn’t how I operated. I clicked on
my mom’s message again and quickly typed a reply, thanking her for
everything she did and congratulating her on the snide comments she
managed to slide into her answers. I could only imagine the
laughter some had to hold in. As I hit send, I saw a message from
Ayden with the subject: Lily.

I quickly opened the email and read the
first line,

Would you be okay with me asking Lily to
marry me while we’re in Paris? I bought the ring already… So I hope
the answer is yes, knucklehead.

My heart beat wildly as I reread Ayden’s
question. Seriously? My best friend and brother were getting
engaged? I could barely hold in my excitement. Now I really
couldn’t wait for everyone to get here. I wondered if she had any
idea? I hit reply and filled my message with exclamation points and
hearts. This was exactly what I needed to end on today so I
wouldn’t be all doom and gloom.

I nearly skipped my way into the shower. I
made it a quick one since I was so excited and had to share the
news with Aaron. This was way too awesome to keep to myself. I
rinsed the soap off my body and the conditioner out of my hair as I
thought about how Lily was going to absolutely die when he popped
the question. Miss anti-love was about to get engaged. She’d talked
about them spending the rest of their lives together, but then she
would stop herself, worried that it was moving too fast. But I knew
how my brother worked. He wouldn’t want Lily to slip away.

I turned off the water and stepped out of
the shower, drying off quickly and dressing even quicker. I went
through the kitchen to grab a glass of water since the ham was
making me extra thirsty. I heard Aaron’s phone ding and polished
off my water before going into the dining room to take Aaron’s
phone to him.

Sliding the phone on, I looked at the screen
and saw Elizabeth’s text flash onto the phone. My chest tightened
as I saw her words.

Please tell me what it is that I did. I’m
sorry for anything I may have done. It wasn’t on purpose. If you
could just give me a few minutes of your time to explain whatever
it is…

For some bizarre reason I felt bad for her,
but then I remembered Tracy and the guilt left as quickly as it
came. Taking the phone, I walked out to Aaron’s workshop and was
caught completely off guard when I spotted Aaron. Rather than being
dressed in his protective gear, he had stripped off his shirt and
tucked it in the waistband of his low-hanging shorts. His wide
shoulders and strong legs were stretched as he reached for
something on a shelf. I couldn’t help but be distracted by Aaron’s
physique as I stood in awe and imagined myself tangled within his
embrace.

As Aaron managed to pull a box off the
shelf, he spun around to see me ogling. He broke into a smile.
“What do you think?”

“About what?” I asked.

He shook his head and laughed, pointing to
the sculptures. My cheeks heated as I realized I hadn’t even
noticed. How horrible of me. I took another step inside and became
completely mesmerized at the fully formed sculptures. Seeing them
completed in their full size literally took my breath away. I
hadn’t expected him to be done with one, let alone two.

“They’re fantastic. I can’t even imagine
what people are going to say…”

“I don’t care about what people say, only
you.” He set the box on a worktable and walked over to me. “How’s
the trial going?”

I shrugged as he slid his hands onto my
hips. “I’m afraid to say one way or another. My mom went on the
stand yesterday. She didn’t tell me. I looked it up. The defense
attorney was a complete ass, but that’s what he’s paid to be.
Anyway, I came out here to share some pretty exciting news.”

Aaron took a step back just as thunder
clapped in the distance.

“Well, that’s quite the Lily dramatics.”

Aaron furrowed his brow in confusion.

“Sorry. That just seems exactly how Lily
would want me to tell you the news if she were here… thunder
clapping in the distance.”

“Tell me what?” Aaron questioned.

“Ayden just emailed telling me he plans on
asking Lily to marry him while they’re here in Paris.”

Aaron’s mouth dropped open, and he slid his
fingers through his hair. “You don’t say.”

“Oh, it’s happening. He’s already bought the
ring.”

Aaron smiled and brought me into him. “Well,
that’s a perfect way to end our time here in Paris. Wouldn’t you
say?”

“Totally. I wonder what my parents
think.”

“My guess is that they’re thrilled.”

I nodded and rested my head against Aaron’s
chest, taking a deep breath in. “I bet they are.”

Closing my eyes, I celebrated silently for
Lily and hoped one day it would be me.

Chills ran through me as I stared at the
11
^th
century Gothic cathedral directly in front of us.
The grandeur of the building was breathtaking. the scale was
unbelievable, and to say the steeples reached the heavens would be
an understatement. The stained glass windows sparkled even in the
cloudy weather. The ornate façade with flying buttresses sweeping
around the building and pinnacles projecting into the air were
unlike anything I’d ever seen before. The tapered rooflines and
jagged towers created an intriguing spookiness. The structure
eerily oozed resilience that had somehow withstood centuries of
war, peace, love and hate.

Chartres was right out of a picture book
with medieval architecture dotting the streets and gothic buildings
pushing toward the sky throughout the town. Brightly colored
shutters bejeweled the ancient buildings of Chartres and created a
charming feel throughout city, but the cathedral was the crown
jewel.

“I don’t even think a photograph will do it
justice,” I said, glancing at Aaron.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and
pulled me close to him as he placed a quick kiss on my
forehead.

“I’m glad we got to see it in
person…together,” he murmured.

We walked up the steps and went inside the
cathedral, which was even more jaw dropping than the exterior. The
cathedral was lit by flickering candles and what few rays of light
shone through the stained glass from the otherwise dreary day
created a sense of tranquility. The bowed buttress supports and
spired interior created a haunting space cloaked in mystery and
history. I couldn’t stop shivering with each step deeper into the
cathedral with its endless pointed archways and irregular vaulted
ceilings.

I glanced at Aaron who seemed to be in as
much awe as I was as we walked throughout the cathedral. The glow
of the candles welcomed us further as the warmth of the wooden pews
and the harshness of the stone walls provided an evocative
contrast.