Once Within A Lifetime (45 page)

He
looked at her and said, “Better yet, I shall call down to the desk and see if they can pick them up and get them in the mail today. Then we can be free to go on to meet Phylicia.”

“
Wonderful, I am so glad you thought of that. You are just what I need in every way. I am grateful that you are so thoughtful and always know just what to do in any situation. That is why we women need men like you.”

He
called and the clerk told him to set the letters outside on the small table in the hall by the door, and they would pick them up very shortly. He did that, then they decided it may be good to rest a while. They went back into the bedroom, hung up the clothes from the bed and put the rest of the things in the closet. They laid on the bed and looked out the window at the marvelous view. They laid there talking of their future and knew there was a lot to work out as soon as they got a chance to consider everything. Now was not the time to get into it. So they laid there, relaxed and fell asleep. After about an hour they awoke, so surprised that they were actually tired enough to fall asleep. It was now four-thirty and it would soon be time for dinner. They needed to call down to order and tell them when they wanted it delivered.

“
How about six-thirty?” he asked. “Or do you want it sooner?”

“
That will be just right,” she answered.

He
called and asked if they had a menu he could come down to pick up so they could make an order. He hung up and went to get the menu. They looked at it, decided what they wanted, and he called back to order. They would keep the menu for future reference.

“
Do you want to do any shopping for fabric while we are here?” he asked her.

“
I don’t really know. I may wait until after I meet with Phylicia to see what is going on, to see if she has something in mind that she would like me to do.”

“
Then we can plan if we need to shop,” he said.

They
went to the living room, sat on the couch near each other and she laid her head on his shoulder. It was good to just sit there, relax and hold each other, not moving or talking for a while. They sat for some time, then got up to get ready for dinner which would be arriving very soon. She went into the bedroom, touched up her makeup, pulled her hair back and tied it with a ribbon. She came out and walked over to the windows to look out again. It was so breathtaking she wanted to fill her mind and emotions with this wonderful sight.

The
phone rang. It was Phylicia as she had expected. They talked a while, then Todd took the phone to get directions to the place. They hung up and went back to the window to continue looking at the view.

She
stood there just watching the view. Soon he came over to stand beside her and after a short time the doorbell rang. He went to answer it to find the waiter there with their order. He wheeled the cart over to the table. They sat down and he laid out the meal for them and poured the wine in their glasses. It was still light so the candles would not do any good at this point. They began the meal, and then after a bit, he poured more wine in their glasses. They ate slowly, enjoying the pleasure of the fine tastes of the meal.

After
the meal was over it was getting a little dusky outside and they decided to go out and sit on the patio to watch the city light up. The lights would take on more brilliance as it began to get darker. The evenings were shorter now and it soon became a magnificent show across the landscape and the water. They watched it for a while, then decided to go to bed.

They
got into bed and lay there for a while in each other’s arms. They turned to each other and began to snuggle and kiss. Soon they were getting more involved in the process and made love in a gentle fashion. They then lay and held each other for a while. Soon they fell asleep and rested very well. They awoke the next day and saw a mist hovering over the area again. It was quite early, so it may burn off before they had to go out. They got showered and dressed, got the coffee from the hall and sat at the table to drink it. After coffee was finished, he went over to order breakfast which would be up very soon. They continued to sit at the table and soon the waiter came in with the breakfast and placed it on the table. They thanked him and began to eat. They planned to take their time for they did not have to meet Phylicia until one o'clock in the afternoon. They didn’t plan to go anywhere else before that. It would be good to just take a leisurely morning to get ready and wait for time to go to the restaurant. It would take about twenty minutes to get there so they would plan to leave about twelve-thirty, which would get them there in plenty of time.

They got ready and left early to stop in the gift shop downstairs. It was a fairly large shop and they looked around for a while, then left to go to the restaurant. When they got there, Phylicia was already there and had acquired a lovely table by the window with a spectacular view. They came over and said hello. Triessa and Phylicia hugged each other and then Phylicia held Triessa off at arm’s length to look at her.

“
My, are you aglow! Life has been good to you. You both look great. Where have you been? Well, I guess I can wait until we get seated and place our order.”

The
waiter came and took the order, then they began talking. Triessa and Todd told her of the places they had been and how wonderful it had been.

Triessa
told her, “We have some marvelous shots on video and some snapshots as well. We plan to make a travel album with which to relive our memories and show them to the family. It is truly been a super time. We will spend some time here, then go on to Todd’s place for a while and back to mine. We will have to make some decisions on how we are to live at both places. That will not be easy for we love them both equally.”

The
meal came and they began to eat. Triessa asked Phylicia about the fashion world and what was in the future that affected her.

“
There is going to be a real special show here next week and I wonder if you would like to attend to check on the recent arrivals. Of course, if you don’t want to, it will be understandable. It will tie up most of one day for you. Unless you have planned on something like this, you may not want to take the time away from your personal plans.”

Todd
spoke up and said, “If you really want to, my precious, you should. I won’t mind attending and you will be able to get filled in because some shows are not repeatable. So please, if you want to, feel free to do so. We have plenty of time and have already done a lot. Then after it is done we can go on to my place. It is in five days so we can do things here until then and be ready to drive on to my place after the show is done.”

“
Well, I would like to touch bases again since we are here now, to know what I need to do in the future and when to do it. We can get our plans organized when we get back. It would be hard to be so close and not stay. Yes, Phylicia, we will be glad to go. It is the same place where we met, very interestingly. How reminiscent. I had not thought of going there, but now that the show is there, I am actually glad to go back to see it again. Shall we have lunch at the same place where we were that day?”

“
Why not,” replied Todd. “It will be very interesting and we can relive it in a way. How nice that it will be there where we met. This is too remarkable.”

They
finished lunch and Phylicia told them she really had to get back to work but would see them on show day and they could have more time together.

“
I am sure you won’t miss me and can find plenty to do. Are you planning to do any shopping for fabric while you are here, Triessa?”

“
I had not really thought about it, but I may consider it since I will have plenty of time. Then I can have plenty of material to begin when I get ready to design.”

Phylicia
got up, said goodbye, and told them she would be in touch again soon. They parted and Triessa and Todd went to the car to go back to the hotel and decide what to do.

“
Is this the day we want to go to have the picnic we had thought about by the falls? Do you mind if we put it on the back burner for now?”

“
Yes, I would rather do that and if we do not get to it, it will not be a really big deal right now. I need to plan what I want and when to shop for fabrics. We can go back to the stores we looked in before. They are probably the best ones I know of and we know what they have. Of course, they always get in new things and I will be interested to see what they may have that is totally new. I am not up on the recent fashions either. Do you want to come with me?”

“
Oh, yes, I would love it. I really enjoyed the last time we went and now I know a little more about it. So, let’s go tomorrow, if that sounds good to you. We can see if there’s anything else we will need to get to go with it while we are here.”

“
That is great and we can have it shipped as before and won’t have to worry about it. It will arrive long before we do and be waiting for us.”

“
It is settled then. Tomorrow is planned, then we will have four more days before the show. It seems somewhat like when we were here for a fashion show a while back, except we know it is a different situation and we are going out of interest, not participating.”

Back
at the hotel they looked at the time, saw it was already nearly three o’clock, so there was not time to do much more today. They would sit around again and discuss the rest of the trip and see if they needed to make any extra plans. They both changed and sat on the couch looking out at the view of the whole area; it is so expansive and breathtaking. It was good to have more leisure time.

He
said to her as he put his arm around her shoulder, “I know of a road that will take us to the top of the hill there and we can look down here and see everything we are now a part of. Would you like to do that and plan to take a lunch with us? We can have them make us up a basket downstairs and we can pick it up when we leave. There’s lots of area to drive around up there and we can see far and wide.”

“
Oh, that sounds simply marvelous. I think that would be a wonderful idea. A picnic would be super up there, looking down at the world. I will call to have the kitchen do it for us and mention a few things we would like.” She went to the phone and called to place her order. “How about placing an order for dinner while we are at it or would you like to go out? I can do it all at once.”

“
I am beginning to feel like a married man and enjoy being here with you. But if you would like to go somewhere it will be fine as well.”

“
No, I had not really thought about that. I, too, enjoy being here, just the two of us. I will order for both occasions and then we can sit and talk some more about the rest of our trip after we leave here.”

She
called in the order and went back to sit beside him on the couch.

“
We can drive from here to my place when we get ready to leave. It will be nice to spend some time there. We’ve always been in such a hurry when we’ve been there. After we get there we can drive to the restaurant where I proposed and we can eat dinner there again and have the same music played as before. I will order the same champagne. We will soon be coming up to our first month anniversary. That would be an ideal time to plan on going back to the place. Wouldn’t that make it special? It will come out to just the day after we get to my place so we can plan on going that evening. That will be perfect.”

“
Yes, that would be ideal. I will, no doubt, feel close to the way I felt then. Nothing can replace that ever; it is a one-time event, and the emotions were so genuine and special. I would not ever want anything else to come even near it. All the rest of these things will be new experiences. We can get shots this time as well, which we didn’t plan before and that will be a great part of our trip and collection of memories.”

“
That is right, each day will have its own special features that can add to our life. That is as it should be. Each day we are growing and becoming a different person just a little bit because of our experiences. That is wonderful when we look ahead to a whole lifetime together.”

“
That will be one of the highlights of our trip and be real special. This is another one being here in this wonderful place so close to where we met and fell in love. We will spend some time at my place, our place, and when you are ready, we will go back to the Rose Garden before we get back to any type of work and schedule planning. It will be a perfect ending, a grand finale.”

“
Exactly, precisely,” she exclaimed. “I will be glad to see it again; it has been so special in our lives. I never dreamed of such a thing when I had it done. I am so pleased with the way it worked out. I think it couldn’t have been done better.”

“
I agree wholeheartedly, my precious princess. It had to be something grand to fit you and your style. I am so grateful it worked out that way. Though it happened spontaneously in a sense, it was waiting to be discovered. We would not have thought of it if we had not been there looking at it right then. We could not have had all the beautiful things if we had done it elsewhere. We should have shared it with the whole world because it was such a spectacular event and so glamorous.”