Legacy Part One Each time I look upon your face, That face I love above all else, I cannot comprehend how my world Could look on you and be afraid, Could look on you with naught but love. The beauty of your soul shines through Your face, your eyes - and I am lost Forever in their wondrous depth. They take me somewhere I have never been, To a world of crystal, candles and night, To a world of darkness, a secret place, A place of dreams for us to share. Each moment with you is a lifetime, And only with you am I whole. Let me lay safe and warm In the shelter of your arms, For only there do I find peace, And only there will be my heaven.’ ‘Elysium’ by Katrina Relf. Unable to concentrate on his business dealings any longer Gabriel threw down the fountain pen in disgust, blotching ink across the various sheets of paper upon his desk, and leaned back in his chair to scan his brother’s face, “What’s the use Snow. I may as well admit it, the boy is a disappointment to me!” Looking up, startled, from his reading of a ledger, while he stood by a open window overlooking the vast grounds, Snow regarded his brother thoughtfully, “ Who Julian?” “Is there any other!” Gabriel ejaculated, rising to his feet to join Snow in glaring out of the window, “I had such hopes, so many dreams, ambitions...” He splayed out his hands in a hopeless gesture, his voice trailing away to nothing. “Look!” He crossed the room back to his desk, and from a locked drawer extracted a sheaf of papers, “Long jump, high jump, javelin, long distance, martial arts, the list is endless Snow, all these certificates....For what!” “Well the boy certainly has the abilities that you hoped for Gabriel.” “Huh! Abilities yes, but will he use them? No! He has incredible physical strength, I’ve seen him uproot a tree, no mere sapling mind, but a tree planted five years hence, and doors, walls, just like the beast, he will crash through them. He is unstoppable Snow...He is...unique...” “Then what is the problem, I thought you were pleased with his progress, you are always introducing him to your colleagues as your son.” “Pleased with his progress! Huh!, And where now do you think he may be now....” before Snow had time to answer, Gabriel went on through gritted teeth, “I’ll tell you shall I...?” “Snow shook his head, “He’ll be where he always is.” “That’s right, where he always is, by the waterfall...” the sinister voice grated with menace. “He likes it there, hell I like it there myself when I find the time, its a place to unwind.” “Unwind yes! But Julian spends every moment he can there. I wouldn’t mind if he went there to test his strength against the forces of nature, no I wouldn’t mind at all, but have you seen him! Do you know why he spends so much time sitting by the waterfall?” Snow exhaled a short sharp breath of humour, “Yes, I know. He goes there to read.” Gabriel swung around, sweeping the sheaf of certificates from off his desk, so that they fluttered indiscriminately over the plush blue carpet, “To read! And would that be reports and ledgers from my businesses that he goes to study so faithfully?” Gabriel sneered. Snow felt a bubble of laughter rise in his chest, but squashed it, his laughing albino eyes though, were enough for Gabriel, “So you too make a mockery out of me, my own brother.” “He’s still young, let the boy be Gabriel.” “Young! Young! When I was less than his age I was building empires, I had plans, great plans, and I fulfilled those plans before I reached adulthood, you know that. Snow. Yet the boy is fifteen, fifteen! He has been shaving facial hair since he was thirteen, he has the strength of ten horses, great physical strength, he should be putting it to good use, not sitting by waterfalls reading Shakespeare!” “So he’s a disappointment to you, so what, perhaps its this place, there is too much tranquillity about it. Put the boy in the city and you may see the man in him yet.” Snow ventured. “No, I don’t think so.” Gabriel spoke quietly, dejectedly now. “He is the beast’s child, in every way I see it in him, but the ferocity is not there. Look at these photographs Snow,” Gabriel opened the second drawer of his desk, extracting colour prints taken from footage of security cameras, “See the blood on those fangs, see the claws drip with blood. This is the beast Snow, the real beast, and this is what I had hoped for!” “Perhaps the child inherited more of his mother.” “I know that! Don’t you think I know that! So what am I to do? Fifteen years wasted! Fifteen long years of hopes dashed to this! A boy that reads poetry by the waterfall!” Gabriel buried his head in his hands. “Perhaps if you showed him more respect, or, or, love...” Snow’s voice trailed away at the last nervously. “Love! You know how I feel about love, how can you bring it into this conversation, it has no part in my life.” “Love is a strong emotion, Gabriel, perhaps if the boy thought that you loved him more...” “Love is a weakness!” Gabriel flared, smashing his fist down hard against the desk, “I have seen strong men take their own lives because they dared to love. And it is an emotion I will not allow in Julian’s life, or in my life ever!” Snow was shaking his head, “No you are wrong...no let me finish, for once you are wrong Gabriel. If you showed the boy any affection at all, he might want to be with you, but by your refusal to love him you have driven him away.” “Is that how you see it? I have given Julian everything, everything, he could wish for no more. All the gold, all the power, the authority, why, grown men look up to my son, he will go places, with my name behind him, he can be someone!” “Yes with your name behind him, you yourself, said it Gabriel, but in his own right, who knows. People look up to him, because they fear him through you, they have seen his strength in the shows you delight to hold to show him off, but what does Julian get from these, pride? Ambition? I think not Gabriel. A boy is only his father’s son, when he has respect for that father, grown from love and affection. I have seen this coming Gabriel. Tell me, when have you ever sat down and talked to the boy, I mean really talked, do you know his feelings, his thoughts, his ambitions....” “I do not need to know his ambitions, they were mapped out for him the day he was born.” “Exactly!” “What are you saying!” Snow spoke to his brother like someone would a child, gently, “You never had him from birth Gabriel. The future that was mapped for him came from his parents. I don’t know much about Catherine Chandler or the beast, I only know from what you have told me. But it seems to me that those first six months being with them, left more of an impression on him than the other fourteen and a half years to follow with you.” “That’s absurd! He was only a baby.” Snow shrugged his shoulders. “Prior to his birth he had nine months with his mother, I’ve read about these things Gabriel, the bond between the unborn with its parents to be is remarkable. His parents thoughts, feelings, emotions, shaped Julian’s future before he was born, and the first six months he spent with them intensified those feelings.” “So I lost him even before I took him from them, is that what you are saying?” “More or less. Though something can be salvaged from the wreckage so to speak. But I believe only if you take him away from all of this.” Snow nodded through the open window to the paradise beyond. “Being here on this island, only serves to emphasise the boys’ natural ability for freedom, nature, love of solitude. Perhaps it is time that you took him back to the city.” “To New York you mean?” “Yes.” Gabriel shook his head, “I cannot. The beast would surely seek out his son.” “How would he know?” Snow almost laughed, it was absurd! “I don’t know the answer to that. How did he know when Catherine Chandler was in danger, answer me that! Surely he would know if his son were near.” “And you are afraid of a confrontation?” “Snow, you’ve seen him, you know what he is capable of!” “I never thought I would see the day.” “For what?” “When my great and mighty brother would admit to fear of another.” “This is no ordinary man Snow! And I am not afraid!” “No?” “No!” Snow shook his head, “For so long you have denied any emotion, yet now your eyes betray your words. If you are afraid of the beast...” “I am not afraid of him!” “...if you are afraid of the beast,” Snow reiterated, disregarding his brother’s outburst, “Then you must have Julian on side with you.” “How can I do that! I have already tried and failed, and failure I will not tolerate, least of all in myself!” “Then you must dare to love. It is not a weakness Gabriel! No, listen to me!” Snow cried out, as Gabriel made to interrupt, “Love is not a weakness! It has its own strength. Finds it’s own way. You said yourself that you have seen grown men take their lives because they dared to love. Who then is the stronger of the two? The man or the emotion? Can you touch a man Gabriel? Can you touch an emotion? By its invisible force alone, love is the strongest manifestation on earth, the strongest emotion in the whole universe, and nothing can thwart its purpose.” “Then it is too late...I know not how to love...and Julian would not expect it of me... Not now... Not after all this time... He is my son... But he is a stranger to me.” Gabriel sighed, his voice ragged. “You could try, it is never too late. Bridges can be repaired.” “What bridges? There never were any! I have never loved Julian. How could I? He has not turned out as I’d hoped.” “Then perhaps you should hope for the next generation, and a fresh start.” Gabriel turned to glare at his brother, trying to understand, “What do you mean?” “That sometimes a trait misses a generation. Julian no doubt inherited from his grandparents as well as being moulded by his mother, and he has the beast’s strength, but a child of Julian’s? Do you get my drift, or do I have to spell it out for you.” A sinister smile plucked at Gabriel’s lips, as his eyes hardened, “Son of my son. Grandson of the beast. Of course it is perfect! Why did I not think of this!” He swung around to make his way back to his desk, picking up the pen again, and began to write in silence, until done at last he glanced up at his brother. “We must make plans. It has to be a strong woman, someone also with great physical strength, someone who will let nothing stand in the way of her ambitions. We must plan for this down to the finest detail. Offer her a fortune....” He laughed wickedly, “but never part with the money. We will have no further need of her after the child is born. Yes it is perfect. Son of my son, it has to be! I will re-create the beast, and then I will be unstoppable!” *** *** *** A few days later, and hiding behind a fragrant shrub of wild bougainvillaea, Lauren searched for sight of him, as she had done many days since. There was something different about him, but as yet Lauren had been a little too nervous to introduce herself. Watching as he sat thumbing through a much-loved copy of Great Expectations, Lauren was spellbound by her surroundings. Drinking deeply from the fragrance of the blossoms around her, the sound of birdsong all around, and the thunderous sound of a waterfall in her ears, Lauren had never felt so happy. Back in the city there was nothing like this. Though there was sunlight, and fluffy white clouds, they were obscured by the tower blocks and there the fresh air was polluted by the smog of traffic. Besides, Lauren had seen enough of the sunlight, the sand and the ocean to last her a lifetime, but this place, well it was something else, its beauty was spellbinding, and then of course there was the added bonus of him. Ever since her father had brought her to the island, Lauren had explored it. There was so much to see. The high cliffs covered in dense vegetation, the flowers, vibrant colours only ever before imagined, and the waterfalls, they were the best of course, with their long steady stream of water, cascading over mighty rocks, falling thousands of feet to a spiralling whirlpool of foaming water at her feet. This side of the island she knew, was off limits, and to get where she stood, she had to wiggle beneath a security fence. But in her opinion, this side of the island was the most spectacular, it was unfair that one man owned it and kept it to himself, such beauty should be shared, she’d decided, and she aimed to tell him so if ever she met him. Watching the young man who read so avidly, she wondered for the umpteenth time whom he could be. A worker perhaps? She knew he couldn’t be the owner, for she had heard all about that man from her father, well that wasn’t strictly true, she had heard enough from her father, all too little actually, but in the main the description just didn’t fit. The owner was dark haired, her father had told her, tall and thin and not to be offended. This young man was none of those things. And Lauren loved to watch him. His hair was the most wonderful shade of red gold that she had ever seen, and he had a physique most men would die for, tall, broad shouldered, and though she had never met him, she had decided by his love of books, that his personality would be gentle, charming. He intrigued her in a way no other boy ever had, and she wondered how best it would be to get to know him. Moving closer, coming up behind him, Lauren carefully picked her way over the loose rocks and lush grasses, until she was within feet of where he sat absorbed in his reading. To the left of them was the waterfall, thunderous in her ears, and she wondered how he could concentrate with such a sound nearby. Then for a moment he looked up, and Lauren held her breath at her first sight of those intense blue eyes. The way he tilted his head to listen disturbed her, sending warm waves of emotion rippling through her body, and then she gasped as he spoke, his voice rich with a velvet that melted her, sending her body into spasms of desire that she had no control over. “I know you are there.” He spoke so quietly, Lauren had to strain her ears to hear him, but even as the words reached her ears, somehow they also penetrated her heart, as if by some miraculous means he had delved deep inside her. “Won’t you come and sit with me?” she heard him ask, and timidly, Lauren left her hiding place to walk slowly towards him. Scanning her with a hand held to his brow to shade off the glare of the sun he looked up at her, his blue eyes blazing with friendliness. And instantly Lauren relaxed, coming to stand at his side, and slowly taking up the rock that he patted at the side of him. “What is your name?” He asked her, liking her at once. He had not encountered many girls in his lifetime, and to him, she was the first and last most beautiful girl on earth. “Lauren.” she rasped, dismayed by her own inability to stop the word coming out as a croak. He smiled, and Lauren felt her heart constrict in her breast, Lord but he was gorgeous, those eyes, that hair, that smile, she thought, as wave after wave of desire washed over her entire being. “Are you on holiday here?” He asked her. Lauren’s voice had vanished, she nodded, her large grey eyes nervous and wide. “Please don’t be afraid,” he told her, “Relax, I’m not going to bite you.” Immediately, the absurd humoured Lauren, and she laughed. “That’s better,” he told her, “So how long are you here for?” Lauren shrugged, “My father is on business here, I never know how long he will take.” Silence followed, as he thought of something else to say. Her presence made him feel funny, and there was a sensation with her that he had never had with anyone else. He frowned, she noticed, “What is it?” she asked. “Can you not feel it?” He asked, drawing his brows together. “Feel what?” “I dunno, some kind of magic, does that make sense to you. I feel as if I know you.” He hesitated, “No, its not that, its more than that, I feel....” He laughed nervously, “this is gonna sound so stupid... and I can’t believe I am actually gonna say this...but...” “But what?” Pursing his lips into a thin line, he looked at her, really looked, and into those beautiful grey eyes he was lost, as mesmerised by her, she heard him whisper with wonder in his voice, “I feel as though I am a part of you.” “A part of me?” Lauren sounded incredulous. “Yes can you not feel it?” He shook his head with disbelief. “I think you’ve been reading too many books.” He laughed, nervously, shaking his head, “No it’s not that. Its more like you are inside me...look.. For instance, I know what you are feeling.” “You do...how?” “I don’t think I should say.” Suddenly he stood up, letting the book fall to the ground, landing haphazardly over a rock half open, half closed. He stooped to pick it up. “This is my most favourite story, have you ever read it?” He held the title up for her to see. Lauren shook her head, “Can’t say I have. I don’t get time for reading. I prefer exploring.” “Is that why you have come here day after day to this place?” “You know about that!” “Of course.” “Weird.” “Isn’t it?” He shook his head, “I’ve never experienced anything quite like it before. But I knew from the first day that you came by. I sensed your presence. I couldn’t see you of course, because you were further away.” “Where? Okay clever clogs, tell me exactly where, and I might just believe you?” He laughed down at her, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners, and Lauren didn’t care much if he did know for certain or not, all she knew was that from this day forth she never wanted to be apart from him again. “Just over there, see it, there is a Jasmine bush, its a wonder you weren’t knocked out by the scent, it is very heady.” “How do you know?” “You haven’t answered my question, Lauren?” “Yes, I was there, but how do you know how heady the fragrance is? Are your powers so good that you can smell it from here?” He laughed, “No. When you had left, I went over there, lay down for a while. I imagined what it must have felt like for you, watching me from that vantage point.” Lauren felt a ripple of excitement and fear rush through her. This guy was weird, no matter how gorgeous he was. “I am not weird...maybe a little unusual...but never weird.” He told her. Lauren gasped! And so did he. “I’m sorry, please forgive me, I don’t know how that happened. Suddenly I heard your thoughts in my head. Perhaps you’re right to use the word, though not directed at me. This whole situation is weird.” “Its never happened to you before?” “No, never.” “Not even with your father.” “Why do you say that?” “Because connections with a family member are usually much stronger.” “Oh...No never with him. Sometimes I even have doubts that he is my father.” “Why?” “Just the way he is. Cold, ruthless, not a bit like me at all.” “Perhaps you inherited your gift from your mother, what is she like?” “I don’t know. I’ve never met her. My father won’t ever talk about her.” “Why ever not?” “Dunno. Whenever I have asked him, he changes the subject. I get the feeling he never loved her at all. In fact, if I ever found he loved anyone, I’d be surprised.” “Surely not! He must love you!” “I don’t think so, at least he has never given me that impression. It’s almost as if we have no ties at all. Sometimes I feel like more like a house guest than his son.” “You can’t mean that!” “But I do. Have you ever seen him?” “Not that I am aware of. He’s the guy my father is here on business to see. Dad has described him to me, but I don’t know his name. Actually dad doesn’t even know his name come to that.” “That’s the way he likes it. And I’m not about to tell you. I’m afraid my father, for reasons known unto himself, feels that if anyone should ever discover his name, they must die for the privilege.” “For real?” Lauren stared at him with disbelief. “Yes.” “That’s terrible, what is he some kind of member of the Mafia?” “I try not to think too much about what he does. He certainly has a lot of businesses, and he is very wealthy.” “Why are you telling me all these things?” Lauren shook her head, “You don’t even know me, and hey, I don’t even know your name.” “I’m sorry, where are my manners. My name is Julian, and as to your other question, I don’t really know the answer to that, except it doesn’t seem that you are a stranger, its more like I have known you for years. I can’t believe you don’t feel it too.” “I didn’t say I didn’t.” “Then you do feel something?” “Perhaps, I don’t know. I have the most unusual feeling when I look at you....” She laughed shakily, “but I think it is because I find you so attractive.” Julian looked as though he was about to choke, his eyes lit up with laughter. “Now that is the funniest thing I have ever heard. And something I find very hard to believe, and yet...for the strangest of reasons, I know that you mean it.” Lauren smiled at him, sheepishly, slightly inclining her head so that he could not see into her eyes. Maybe that was it, the eyes were the window to the soul, perhaps some way he could very cleverly read eyes, but then how did he know she was sat beneath the Jasmine bush on that first day? “I’m not going to tell you I know what you are thinking, but I do know, and you’re right, the fact of the Jasmine bush does kinda throw that theory out of the window doesn’t it?” Julian laughed at her, nervously, testing the atmosphere. Lauren shook her head, “I suppose I should run to the hills and never come back. Cast you aside as a weirdo, but something tells me that what we have here is bigger than the both of us, and besides, you will probably know where to find me anyway, wherever I go.” Julian nodded, his blue eyes sparkling, “I believe I would. So what are we to do about this...this...I dunno what would you call it...a connection?” “A gift, I guess, though perhaps stronger than that, it really is weird Julian, but pleasant too, in a funny kind of way.” “Mmm, just what I was thinking, almost as if all of my life I have only been half a person, and you’re coming into my life was meant to be, as if you are the other half of myself and I was meant to find you.” “My father told me to be aware of weird chat up lines, boy, would he be amazed at this one.” Julian contrived to look hurt, “Its not a chat up line.” “I know that, somehow I believe you, don’t know how, perhaps a little of your gift is rubbing off on me now.” “Or perhaps you are tuning in to me. Perhaps we are fighting against a destiny here. Lauren, do you believe in fate?” “Nope, never have and never will, but this...” She shook her head, “It really is weird.” “Perhaps it is, but we can’t go around speaking of this weird thing between us, surely it needs a name.” “Then we’ll call it our connection. Like a telephone line, without the need to dial a number.” Lauren laughed. “Now you are humouring me.” “Sorry.” Lauren thought about it seriously for a few minutes, seeing that she had hurt his feelings, he was deadly serious about this thing between them. “A bond then...a bond which is unbreakable...something that transcends time, space, places, miles...Do you think it would do that?” “What?” “Do you think we would be able to feel one another if there were miles between us?” Julian shook his head, “Dunno, I don’t want to try it though.” “Why do you do that?” “What?” “Why do you speak so well, and then suddenly slip into street talk, saying Dunno, and things like that?” Julian smiled, “Glad you noticed, I hadn’t realised that it slipped out so easily now.” He laughed, “Would you believe I do it to annoy my father?” Lauren’s grey eyes crinkled at the corners with laughter, “Yes I would.” She laughed. “He’s such a...oh what can I say...unless you know him... It’s hard to put a name to what he is...” “I heard he is dangerous, sinister, wicked.” “Oh yes he’s all of those things, and more besides, believe me you don’t ever want to cross him.” “Yet he lets you get away with it.” “Huh only because I’m useful to him. Makes me wonder if one day when I have outlived my uses, if he will do away with me too.” “You don’t mean that!” Lauren exclaimed. “Oh yes I do. That’s one of the reasons I try to keep out of his way so much.” Julian started to chuckle, “And one of the reasons I try to antagonise him too. Almost goading him if you like. Boy does he get mad with me. If nothing else, if he does one day bop me on the head, he will never forget me that’s for sure.” “He likes you to talk proper then does he?” “Oh yes, absolutely. Yet, for all my private schooling...” Julian went on, plum in cheek, making Lauren laugh, “he makes me grow my hair long so that it frames my face like a lion’s mane. I ask you, is he crazy or what?” “Is that why you keep it short, it does kinda stick up all over the place?” “My hair has a mind of its own, just like me, and cutting it really gets up my father’s nose. I love it.” “Boy he must hate you.” Lauren laughed. “Never a truer word spoken in jest.” Julian spoke seriously now, his voice low. Lauren fell silent watching the expressions chase across his face, sorrow, and was that bitterness too, that she detected there, just for a moment? “Hey, have you been lonely?” She asked him gently. “Loneliness is my buddy.” Julian told her. “But there is comfort in aloneness Lauren, peace, solitude, being at one with nature, and sometimes, I don’t know what it is, but its almost as if there is someone out there connected to me. Thinking about me.” “It was probably me.” Julian shook his head, “It may have been, but even now, with you beside me, I can’t shake off the feeling that somewhere out there, someone is calling to me.” “You get stranger and stranger by the minute you know that....” Lauren laughed, “Nonetheless Julian, don’t take that the wrong way, for all your strangeness, I don’t think I have ever felt so attuned to anyone in my life. I like you Julian, no, more than that...Does that make sense to you?” “Now who’s being the weirdo?” Julian laughed out loud. “Thanks.” “See, it’s just as I told you Lauren, what I feel is rubbing off on you.” “Perhaps I was a late starter, yet I think it goes deeper than that. I get the feeling that its as you said earlier, two sides of a whole, and all that. What we have here is very special, you know that?” “Yes, and I particularly like your use of the word Bond. That’s exceptional. I like it. That’s what we’ll call it shall we?” Lauren nodded, watching him closely, “You know, you don’t seem like a Julian to me?” “What funny things you say. Why not?” “It doesn’t suit the type of person that you are.” “No doubt when my father named me, he’d hoped for greater things. I’m a disappointment to him, though not to myself. Sometimes I think I have more brains than he has. Everything to him, is so black and white. Tell me then, who do you think I should be?” “Oh I don’t know...what about me, do I look like a Lauren?” “You act like one.” Lauren drew her brows together, “How do you mean?” Julian laughed heartily, “Why Lauren and Hardy of course!” “That’s Laurel!” “So, its close, and you are a real comic you know that?” “You don’t know the half of it!” “Oh yes I do, I bet you are a right little imp when you set your mind to it, it fact I don’t bet it I....” “I know, don’t tell me, you know it.” Lauren groaned. Julian smiled, “I don’t like to say I told you so.” “But you will anyway.” They laughed together, then when the laughter had faded, a silence settled between them, not an uneasy silence, but a silence borne of companionship, that both of them delighted in. “I guess I had best be off.” Lauren said at last, “My father will be about wrapped up with your father by now, and sending out the search parties.” “Well at least he won’t be sending them here, this area is private.” “Don’t you believe it, my father knows me well.” Julian laughed, “Nonetheless, I don’t fancy his chances getting through my father’s security system.” “I did.” Lauren giggled, remembering how she had to wriggle beneath the fence, “A determined one always finds a way.” She laughed out loud. “Will you come tomorrow?” “I hope that I can, will you be here?” “Wild horses wouldn’t stop me.” “But a drug baron might.” Julian frowned, “Hey, you be careful who you say that to, if my father hears you say such things, he’ll have you terminated.” “I thought you were just joking about that, you really do believe that about him, don’t you?” “I know it. I’ve seen it. Believe me Lauren, my father is one very dangerous man. And I don’t want anything to happen to you, ever, not now that I have found you, not even before. I get the distinct impression sometimes that my father hopes that I will protect him from foes, and do all his dirty work.” “You, why you?” “I’m stronger than most.” “So, what’s that to do with it?” “Hey, I don’t know, but father seems to think I have super powers.” Julian spoke the latter in a deep voice, making Lauren laugh out loud again. “And once I saw a picture of this... This... thing...” “This thing?” “Well that’s the only way to describe it, Father keeps pictures of it locked up in his desk drawer, wherever we go he takes the pictures with him, and looking at it, I can see my likeness to it. I think that’s why father harbours those dreams. You know making me grow my hair long, so that I look like his ‘super hero’ sending me to martial art classes to enhance my physical strength.” Julian spoke deeply again as he went on, “There is power in these muscles,” before bursting into laughter once again. “God, Lauren if I didn’t make a joke of the life I live with him, I think his madness would crack me up.” “So who was this super hero of his?” “That I do not know. Though I got the feeling at the time that I’d seen someone like him before, though not looking so ferocious. And my father isn’t even aware that I’ve seen the pictures, so I dare not ask him. As brave as I am around him, there are some rules I would not over-ride. He’s a mean one Lauren. I wouldn’t really like to take him too far. I like life too much.” Julian added happily. “Well, “ Lauren looked at her watch, sighing, “I guess I had better get going, its been nice meeting you Julian.” “Educational.” His eyes creased into a smile. “I feel as though I should kiss you goodbye or something,” Lauren swallowed nervously, amazed to hear herself say it. “Well don’t mind me.” Julian told her, with humour in his voice. Leaning forwards, Lauren placed the briefest of kisses upon his lips. The contact was electrifying! Eyes open wide with shock, both stared at one another, “You feel that!” Lauren exclaimed. Julian could only nod, dumbfounded, his blue eyes open wide, stunned. Lauren shook her head, there was no more room for words nothing could have convinced her more. The strength of the impact hit her whole. She had come home. She didn’t know how or why, but suddenly being in his arms was the only thing important right now, and that his arms came up and encircled her body only served to emphasise to her how in tune they were, how really he knew her mind. Standing there within the circle of his arms Lauren could have fainted when she heard him whisper, “Lauren, do you believe in love at first sight?” “Not until now.” She told him, breathlessly. And then it was the most natural thing in the world to have his lips on hers, deep, demanding, sensuous and extremely passionate, and Lauren felt herself drowning, drowning, into the depths of a desire so fathom-less, that she never wanted to rise out of it again. *** *** *** Waking the following morning, Lauren remembered and groaned. What on earth had possessed her! “I don’t believe I did that!” She spoke out loud, grabbing a handful of duvet and pulling it over her head in an attempt to hide her shame. “Dad would have a fit if ever he knew.” She told herself. “Talk about chat up line. A warning against that was bad enough, but this!” Groaning Lauren hauled herself from the bed, going to sit at her dressing table, to scrutinise herself in the mirror. Her eyes large and dark rimmed told of her sleepless night, the dreams that had disturbed her, as clarity had stolen into her mind, and reminded her of her foolishness. “I bet he won’t even be there today. I bet if I go there, he will keep away. In fact, Lauren,” she reproached herself, “I bet you will never see him again. Bond indeed! A clever master of illusion, that’s what he was, far cleverer than she, and yet, and yet....” Lauren drew her brows together, she had felt it, that certain something... Slowly realisation dawned, “Attraction!” She said out loud, “that’s all it was you stupid girl, attraction, and you fell for it, hook, line and sinker.” Holding her head in her hands, Lauren felt the hot tears scald her fingers, before she knew she were crying, “And what if I’m pregnant... Oh God...no.... not that, please... I’m only fourteen!” She could hear her father now, his ranting and raving, she supposed he’d force her to have an abortion, and could she do that? Either way it would ruin her life, that she did know. Picking up a hair brush, she ran it through her blonde hair slowly, remembering with joy the feel of Julian’s fingers sliding through the silken folds only the day before. How she had delighted in the feel of his hands as they caressed her body with such love and tenderness, and the warm breath from his kisses that fanned the coolness of her skin as they lay beneath the breeze from the waterfall, and his eyes, those eyes! Vibrant filled with fire, a blue so deep she felt she would drown in the love from his eyes alone. That beautiful feel of his body soft like velvet with a rich downy covering of golden hair. Lauren shuddered at the remembrance of its silkiness beneath her gliding fingertips and how she had wanted never to stop touching him. And though he’d assured her that he had never been so intimate with anyone before in all of his life, he seemed to know everything that she needed, every want, every desire, he had fulfilled them. Gloriously. Lauren felt a ripple of fresh desire invade her thoughts, a ripple that infused her body with love as she thought of those intense blue eyes filled with desire and love for her. She couldn’t have been mistaken, he couldn’t have been that good an impostor, he did love her, she was sure of it, wasn’t she? Perhaps he did love her, then. Perhaps now, when he had got what he had wanted, he would find her cheap, easy, and would never want another thing to do with her, even if she were to see him again. Lauren had to know, had to go there, had to be sure. These thoughts were driving her insane. And she had to know, had to be assured that he would always be there for her, especially... No! She didn’t want to think of that...she couldn’t be pregnant, she just couldn’t...she was far too young. Relieved somewhat, Lauren dressed in a hurry, slipping out of the villa, grabbing an apple for breakfast as she passed through the kitchen. Her father was still sleeping, or else he was already out, the villa was silent, nothing stirred, and Lauren was soon stuffing her feet into her sneakers, to run full pelt towards the private side of the island. *** *** *** “Julian I’d like you to stay home today. I have someone coming over whom I should like you to meet.” Gabriel’s intense dark eyes surveyed his son, as he had picked up an armload of books intent on going to his usual place to read. “Who?” Julian asked, not a bit interested. His father was always showing him off to someone, he was well used to it. “You don’t know her.” “Your girlfriend?” Julian asked uninterested. “Don’t be insolent! And no, she is not my girlfriend. I do not have girlfriends.” “Then perhaps you should.” Julian continued to bend to tie up his shoes, intent on doing his own thing anyway. “It might make you human.” Gabriel was furious, “I said you are not to go out today! Am I to lock you in your room?” Julian glared at Gabriel, “I’d like to see you try it,” he challenged, noticing Gabriel wince. Triumphant, he turned the door handle, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours, will she be here by then?” Gabriel looked as though he might blow a gasket, and Julian tried hard to keep his face straight. Boy was his father mad or what? “Julian! This is important, you will be here!” Gabriel stormed, reaching out a hand to grasp the boy’s arm. Julian shook him off, his eyes glinting malice, “Don’t you dare touch me like that again.” Bold now, the first show of fear upon Gabriel’s face encouraged him, and Julian shook off the arm that held him, yet the fury he had expected from his father did not come. Instead Gabriel was jubilant. Never before had he seen such ferocity in his son’s eyes. “That’s the first time, the first time!” He cried joyous, “So what’s so important about today?” His tone relaxed hoping to pacify his son. “Nothing.” Perplexed, Julian was guarded, and Gabriel knew it. “Then you will stay until my guest arrives. And then you can take her down to the waterfall if you like.” Gabriel told him, a hint of something in his tone that Julian did not like to analyse, “What are you up to?” he asked Gabriel. “My business is of no account of yours.” Gabriel challenged, hoping to see the blue eyes spark again. For the first time in fifteen years, there had been the air of the beast about him. “Then neither is mine to you!” Julian retorted, making to leave once again. “Oh but it is, I am your father!” Gabriel sneered. “In word only.” “What do you mean? What do you know!” Gabriel flared. Julian turned intense blue eyes to him, “What’s that supposed to mean, what should I know?” A shiver passed right through Gabriel, for despite the fact that he had said too much, it had had the required affect. Julian‘s piercing blue eyes were looking at him so deeply, as if to penetrate his soul, that Gabriel shuddered with excitement. “Nothing, there is nothing to know. I am your father! And you will obey me!” “Or what old man?” Julian flared. There was something about the way Gabriel had insisted on his parenthood, that unnerved the boy. A spark flared and died at the back of his mind, a sudden flash of memory...too weak to grasp, but perturbing him nonetheless. Gabriel did not reply, just stood chest heaving, expectant, waiting... For what? Suddenly the fight drained out of Julian, he didn’t want this, he didn’t want to challenge this man, he had no time for playing games with him, Lauren was waiting, he could feel her unrest, and knew she was anxious to see him. “I’ll be here. Don’t worry. For now there is something I must do. What time is this woman arriving?” Gabriel shrugged, the fight had gone out of his son, he could see that, but for now the mere fact that he had brought it out pleased him, he glorified in it, and at that moment he could deny Julian nothing. “Lunch time.” He told him, “Be back by lunch time.” Julian nodded, then turning walked away from the man he knew to be his father, watched by cold eyes that had shown their first hint of misguided warmth as almost fifteen years of dreaming had started to become reality. *** *** *** “I thought I must have dreamed it.” Julian told Lauren, coming towards her, his arms outstretched, “That I’d come here today and find myself alone.” “And I thought I would never see you again, that you were a con man, and you would think me easy.” “You really thought that?” Julian felt hurt. “Yes, I’m sorry, but when I woke to the cold light of day, what we did yesterday was frightening Julian.” “Not at the time though, huh?” Julian bent his head and brushed soft kisses, over her flushed cheeks, “I love you Lauren, I would never leave you.” “Never? But how, sometime, if not sooner, then surely later, my father is going to whisk me back off to America, and I may never see you again.” Lauren sobbed. “Julian we have to face facts. Yesterday may have been real, but it was still a dream, and I might be left with the consequences to face alone.” “Consequences?” “Yes, what if I’m pregnant Julian?” Julian gasped, “I’m sorry, I never thought of that...” Julian shook his head, his heart aching, “We must be more careful in future, just in case you got away with it before.” “In future?” “Hey if you think I am going to keep my hands off you now, you have another think coming.” Julian laughed, but Lauren remained serious, “You are laughing at me.” “No Lauren.” Sorrow touched Julian’s heart, “Trying to make light of the situation, yes, but not laughing at you. I will be here for you, always, always. You hear me? Not time, nor space, nor distance will keep me from you. Where you go, I go, I promise. I promise.” “Easier said than done though. I think my father would kinda notice if you were sat on board his plane with us.” Lauren joked, still within the circle of his arms. “Yes, I admit it will be difficult, but my father’s brother keeps talking about carting me off to New York, he has some misguided notion that I will tow the line if he does, I always show him different though.” Briefly Julian thought back to what had happened earlier, the showdown with his father. “New York! But that’s where I live. Oh Julian don’t you see....” Lauren’s heart raced, “If you could only make your father believe that you would become the son he has hoped in, he might take you there, and we can be together.” “You’ve got that wrong, my father would only take me there, if I showed I had no intention of being the son he hoped in. My uncle, well he has a notion that the city will make me harder.” “Then let him believe that. Play on it Julian, make out its the last place on earth you would want to go, play him at his own game. He’ll pack you off there so fast your feet won’t touch the floor, trust me.” Lauren’s eyes were bright with joy, as she tried hard to convince him of these things. “It might work. For the moment, he has some other plan up his sleeve. There’s this woman he wants me to meet later on today. I must say he’s being unusually persuasive about it. Not like him at all. I got the impression this meeting is really important to him, makes me almost want to not turn up. Boy, would that incense him. Ha!” Julian laughed. Lauren shook his head, “It’s a wonder you don’t keep a book to write down points in. You know, one point to Julian, one point to father and all that.” “I keep a mental note of it, though I do keep a book, a journal actually, in which I write everything down.” “Everything? Have you written in it about us?” “Not yet, haven’t had the time, but I will do.” “Is that wise?” “Its all right, he wont find it, he wouldn’t even know where to look, even if he did know what he was looking for.” Julian told her. He felt her relax, “don’t know what he would say if he knew about us, I wouldn’t like to think on it.” “So how do you propose that we get together, for the future I mean?” “I’d leave him, find someplace, where he could never find me, rich as he is, a place he would never think of looking.” “And where can you find such a place. I wish I knew?” “Come sit with me, let me tell you something.” Julian pulled her down to the ground, his arm still around her, quite close to where they had lain to make love the day before. A shiver ran through Lauren as she noticed the place, and Julian smiled. “What should you tell me?” She asked softly. “That I love you, that your eyes are the most gorgeous I have ever seen, that I want to lie you down in that hollow just there, and make love to you again.” Julian’s eyes were on fire for her, and Lauren felt swamped by his desire. “Later” She trembled, “Tell me what you were going to say?” Julian frowned, “What...oh yes that...” Remembering, “I don’t know what it is Lauren...but somehow, some way, I know there is a place... A place where my father would never find me, a safe place...” “Do you know where to find it?” Julian shook his head. “Sometimes I see flashes of it. The waterfall reminds me, or, or, the fountains, the ones around the courtyard of my home. Here on the island, when I stand by them, for moments I am transported to a place. I see people, they are shadowed, I cannot detect their faces, but I feel their happiness and their sorrow too. I feel a part of them...like they are family. Yes that’s the word, family. I have never known what it is to feel that kind of belonging with my father.” “Do you think that this place is real, or only in your dreams?” “I believe it is real. I have dreams. In those dreams, I know that I see everything so clearly, but on waking, I cannot grasp enough of it back to know what it is I saw. But the feelings stay with me, they are poignant to me. I have a yearning to seek out this place, and I am certain it exists.” “Where do you come from Julian? Here? You have an unusual accent.” “I was brought up and educated in London, Britain. We moved to the island about six years ago. Though father has taken me around the world, they were only vacations. I only know Britain and this island, and that’s the strangest thing...” “What?” “This place, this place of my dreams, it is not here, and it is not in London, don’t ask me how I know that, but I do. And another thing, whenever I see yellow, or lilac, the colours of Spring, I am reminded of grass. Can you believe that! Grass. Yet when I try to go beyond it, I can only capture space, like I am standing in a large area covered with grass, save for these colours, yellow and lilac.” Lauren watched Julian’s face, he seemed far away, and she was afraid to speak, glad that she hadn’t when he went on, “The first time I saw one of those pictures in my father’s drawer, you know the one I spoke of yesterday?” Lauren nodded, “it was funny, like I wasn’t afraid, he was weird true, scary in a way, but I was intrigued, and more to it than that, a feeling it gave me, it sent a shiver down my spine, like, like....” Julian shook his head. “Like I knew him. Does that make sense to you?” Lauren shook her head “Such a person could not be real Julian. He must be a fabrication, someone in drag maybe.” “That’s what I always thought. Yet for a time, I dug around a little, television shows and the like, tried to find from where my father had gotten those pictures, but I came up with zilch, nothing. Like he didn’t exist, but I know he does, Lauren, that’s the strangest thing, I know that he does. And you know Lauren, this place, this place of my dreams, he fits in there somehow... I just can’t explain it.” He shook his head, “but I know that its real.” Lauren held him tightly, stroking her finger nails down the contours of his back beneath his T-shirt, and Julian shuddered with longing. “I haven’t anything on me Lauren to make it any safer for you, but God I want you.” “And I have nothing either Julian, but if we are to be together always, then what does it matter?” Lauren told him, her eyes filled with love. “Are you sure?” “Yes.” “Even if it turns out that we may have to be apart until we can find a way to be together?” “Yes even that.” “Lauren...?” “Yes Julian.” “This place...this place of my dreams, if its real... It’s a safe place... I feel it in my bones. Find it Lauren, if you need sanctuary... find it, I know you’ll be happy there.” “I can only be happy where you are Julian, and this place may not exist.” “It does, I’m certain of it... And Lauren... If we... should be forced apart... I’ll find you...you know that...wherever you are... We are connected, we have a bond and I’ll find you.” “You make it sound as if this place you are searching for is in New York, and that I will find it first, and in so doing I will guide you there. But that’s absurd Julian.” Lauren’s eyes were wide with humour, but Julian was searching her eyes, his serious, and slowly it dawned on her, “That’s what you do believe isn’t it?” She asked tenderly, “And my faith in that, the belief that is so strong, is coming through you to me?” Julian nodded, “Don’t ask me how, for I don’t know, but Lauren it is the truth... Find it Lauren... Find that place...and in so doing... You will lead me home.” Lauren nodded, as a strange calmness shrouded them both, a feeling of rapture, yet somehow peaceable, a truth, and Lauren found she did not disbelieve any more. *** *** *** To be continued in Part 2.