Chapter 50
Nora , eleven o’clock in the evening
There they were, right by the sign for the Charles de Gaulle-étoile Metro station, just like Daniel said.
Rachel and Bianca were already well into each other’s personal space, chattering away like they’d known each other for years.
Nora understood the closeness—probably to share body heat. It was absolutely freezing. She hadn’t noticed it on the walk here, not with Daniel’s arm around her. But now that they were standing still, it hit her full force.
Even Daniel was feeling it, if the way his teeth were chattering was any indication. He went up to Bianca and hugged her, and Nora did the same with her aunt. Then they switched partners, and Bianca squeezed her tight enough to break a rib.
“I’m so happy for you,” Bianca said. “For both of you!”
“I’m just glad to finally meet you in the flesh,” Rachel was saying to Daniel. “And that everything worked out in the end, even if someone ,”—she nodded at Bianca—“kept going to the wrong places.” But she was laughing as she said it.
“Thank you,” Nora said, once Bianca let go of her and she was in Daniel’s arms again. “I don’t know how we could ever repay you guys for this.”
“Well, I already assumed I’d be Maid of Honor when you got married,” Rachel said. “So you’ll have to top that somehow.”
“I was thinking you two could name your first child after me,” Bianca chimed in.
Nora expected Daniel to blush, or cringe or even just hesitate. But he didn’t. “Even if it’s a boy?”
Hearing him just accept the idea of having a baby with her—like it was the most natural thing in the world—shook her all the way down to her toes. She had to cling to him to keep her balance.
He loved her that much?
Of course he did. As much as she loved him.
“Hang on, Daniel,” she said. “We won’t have room for a baby on the houseboat.”
He kissed her, and she shivered again.
“Remember, we’re buying two houseboats,” he said. “The nursery can go in the second one along with your closet.”
Bianca and Rachel both stared at them.
“I was joking about the baby,” Bianca said. “Well, ninety percent joking.”
“I don’t think it’s such a joke,” Daniel replied. “Nora already asked me to marry her.”
“You didn’t!” Rachel said. She looked—maybe horrified wasn’t the right word, but Nora didn’t know how else to describe it.
“I did. And if he’d said yes, we’d be married right now.”
That probably wasn’t true, now she thought about it. Even if they’d figured out where to go, they might not have been able to get a marriage license today. Back home, you had to wait a few days, unless you were in Las Vegas.
“Smart move, Danny,” Bianca said. “Aunt Marie would never forgive you if you eloped.”
Daniel pulled Nora even closer. “That’s what I told her. We’ll get married at home, so everyone can come.” He turned to her, lowering his voice. “But did you see the Cartier store on the way here? We’ll go tomorrow. If they’re open, you’re flying back home with a ring on your finger.”
Daniel , eleven-fifty p.m.
They’d been dancing to French pop music for the last half hour,
Daniel had maneuvered Nora away from the Metro entrance—people kept pouring out of it like water from a broken faucet. They finally found a spot with a little breathing room, in front of a tiny souvenir shop a couple of hundred feet back.
The crowd was massive, bigger and louder than anything he’d ever seen. Eleven years ago in Times Square felt like a neighborhood block party compared to this.
And now there was a huge roar as spotlights clicked on one by one, illuminating the Arc de Triomphe in brilliant, almost blinding white light.
“I still can’t believe we found each other,” Nora said. Even with her face inches just from his, and her nearly shouting, he could barely hear her.
“I know!”
He couldn’t believe he’d promised to buy her an engagement ring less than an hour ago. But how could he not? He couldn’t let her go again. And she deserved it—she deserved the biggest and boldest promise he could possibly make.
He had no idea how the logistics of a life with her would work. She was still in Boston. He was still in Charlotte.
But that was a problem for tomorrow.
Right now, it was enough that he was holding her and they were going to ring in another new year together.
Nora , eleven fifty-five p.m.
Only five minutes to go, and their little pocket on the edge of the crowd was rapidly shrinking. Nora felt herself pushed even closer to Daniel, not that she minded.
He was so strong, so warm, so… everything .
Even when he leaned in and shouted right in her ear, she couldn’t hear a word he said. But that didn’t matter. There was nothing they needed to say now. The look in his eyes, and his smile and the way his arms wrapped around her—those said more than words ever could.
The countdown ticked down—four, minutes, three, two…
They were pressed closer still, locked together by the press of bodies all around them. She couldn’t see a thing around her, not even the Arc de Triomphe itself, just a few hundred feet away.
And then the sky exploded in bright, brilliant color, and even over the roar of the crowd she heard the booming thunder of the fireworks.
She leaned in that final inch to Daniel. Kissed him, eyes wide open.
He kissed her back, and in that moment, the fireworks, the cheering crowds, the whole world disappeared. There was only him.
When they finally broke apart, both breathless, the world came rushing back and she heard the echoing shouts of “ Bonne ann é e!” all around her.
That was it.
It was the year 2000.
Which meant tomorrow was now officially today. And today was the day she was going to get engaged—really, properly engaged, with a ring and a promise and everything.
Bonne ann é e indeed!
Daniel , January 1, three a.m.
“I hope you and Bianca are in separate rooms,” Nora said, when they walked into the quiet lobby of H?tel Le Six .
Now he understood.
Bianca hadn’t booked two rooms for her privacy, or to spare him from her snoring—not that she’d ever admit to that anyway.
She’d done it for this moment. Because she believed. She knew he and Nora would find each other in Paris, and once they did, they’d want— need —to be together.
Daniel nodded, and led her up the stairs to his room on the second floor. He unlocked the door, and held it open for her.
She walked in and gave the room a once-over.
“You haven’t changed a bit,” she said after a moment. “All your clothes are in the drawers, aren’t they? I bet you unpacked the second you got here.”
He shrugged. “What can I say? It’s a habit.”
She took his hands and gently pulled him toward the bed. “Good habit. Maybe it’ll rub off on me someday.”
He didn’t care. She could leave her clothes all over the floor, leave a mess everywhere she went—none of it mattered as long as they were together.
“I know it’s silly to ask this,” he said softly. “But…are you sure? I know what we said. I know how I feel, but—it’s been so long.”
She kissed him, long and slow.
Somehow, when she pulled away, he was on his back, shirt unbuttoned, heart pounding. He didn’t even know when that had happened.
“The body always remembers,” she whispered, lying down next to him.
“And the heart never forgets,” he murmured, turning to face her. “That’s what you said the last time we were together . I never forgot.”
He kissed her, pulled her close. “I never stopped missing you. Not ever.”
“Me neither,” she said, and he could feel her heartbeat, so close to his. “Never ever ever.”
And then there were no more words.
Just her touch and his.
Her heart and his
Her love and his.
No. Their touch, their heart, their love.
Always.
Nora , six o’clock in the morning
Someone was shouting her name. Loudly.
For a split second, Nora panicked—was the hotel on fire?
She opened her eyes… and there was Daniel, sitting up in bed, grinning and almost shaking with excitement.
“Daniel?” She glanced at the clock. Six a.m.? She’d only fallen asleep an hour ago. What was he doing waking her up? What was he doing up, for that matter?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know we’re both tired. But I had a dream, and I woke up and I remembered it, and it was a message, and I have to show you right now.” He stood up, went over to the drawers and started pulling clothes out. “Get dressed, we have to go down to the lobby.”
This was a side of Daniel she’d never seen back in college.
But if he was this excited about—whatever it was—then she wanted to know about it too. She threw her dress back on, and followed him out the door and downstairs. He led her through the lobby to a little alcove hidden away in the back, with a…
“Why do we need a computer at six o’clock in the morning?”
He took a deep breath. “I guess I’m not making much sense.
I had a dream, I was doing one of those dot puzzles, where you connect the dots to make a picture?
” She nodded. “It was a picture of you, and I woke up right after I finished it, and then I remembered the emails I saw Thursday morning and it hit me. I wasn’t connecting the dots. ”
“You’re still not.” Nora managed to smile as she said that; she wasn’t sure how.
“Here, see for yourself.” He tapped away at the keyboard, pulling up his email. “Starting from this one,” he clicked on a message halfway down the list. “And then the next two. Read them and you’ll understand. See, that one from Kristin…?”
“You dragged me out of bed to show me an email from another woman?”
“Yes! I mean, no, not like that.” He paused, trying to collect himself. “I worked with her in Chicago. She’s asking for help because her company’s being bought out.”
Nora skimmed the message. “Okay… that’s unfortunate for her.”
“Now look at the signature. Where’s her company based?”
“CentraLine Systems. In Boston.”
“Exactly. Now this one—that’s my boss. He wants to meet right away when I’m back. Major opportunity, big raise, life-changing stuff. But he didn’t say what.”
She nodded slowly. “And…?”
“Now read this last one. I didn’t finish it Thursday—Bianca dragged me off.”
It was a company-wide announcement. Piedmont Integrated Systems had just acquired… CentraLine Systems.
In Boston.
Boston!
It all made sense now. And as much as she needed several more hours of sleep, Daniel had been right to wake her up for this. “You think it means…?”
“I know it, Nora. That’s what Mr. Dellaplane wants to talk about, sending me up to Boston to manage CentraLine. It has to be.”
If he was right—and she agreed, he was definitely right about this—the last obstacle was gone.
The one thing they hadn’t talked about yet, hadn’t figured out, had just been solved for them.