20
Adrian
I arrived at Nina’sapartment, after receiving her Whatsapp message earlier in the afternoon. I had invited her out on a mystery date. She begged for the details of the location but I declined.
I got off the dank and musty elevator which had lumbered to Nina’s fifth floor with the noise of a freight train. I walked along the worn carpet, which thankfully didn’t smell like the elevator. I exhaled in relief and hastened my steps to push the button on Nina’s door.
But before I got to press the doorbell, the door opened and my heart slammed against my ribs, hard enough to cause me to take a deeper intake of breath, to stare unabashed. I’d been rendered speechless—I even forgot to blink.
I stood still, not wishing to interrupt the moment. The girl who’d stolen my heart on the beach in Nassau opened the door, dressed in a long white flowy dress, a carved-feather gold pendant around her neck, and matching gold feather earrings. She smiled with her eyes, her mouth, her cheeks alight with the happiness she was feeling. She looked like she’d just won the lottery.
In the stillness, I gave her back the same smile, because I was the luckiest man on earth. I had won a far greater prize. I had won her love by choosing her. I forgot why I was at her door. I wanted to take her in my arms and hug her into eternity.
“Adrian, where are you taking me?” she asked, soft and sweet. Her question snapped me out of the wonderful moment and out of my dream. I woke up with a smile, settled back into my satin pillow, and willed my heart rate to decelerate. Soon I would take her to my favorite spot in New York. My Nina.
Would she be excited when I unveiled one of my favorite places in New York to her? I sure hope so was my last thought as the sleep fairy claimed me again.
Seven days later, I drove as fast as I could to Nina’s apartment. The plan was to execute my dream but to make it a hundred times better.
I arrived at her door, but before I knocked, the door opened and my breath stilled, my heart stopped pumping, my eyes popped, my legs turned to noodles, I grasped the side jamb. A slow smile took over my face, I tried my noodle legs and they allowed me to reach for her face. I brushed my fingers in a lingering touch down her cheeks. She smiled and her dimples beckoned me to touch them. I dipped my finger into her dimple, she jumped and squealed. My smile broadened as wide as the Hudson River.
“I’ll have to do this often.”
“Please, nooo,” she said in a breathless rush of words.
“Okay, but you must know I missed seeing your dimpled smile during the dark months of our forced separation.”
Before me was the angelic being of my dreams, resplendent in white and gold. A light flirty, flowy white dress with a braided rope designed neckline. The same carved-feather gold necklace and matching earrings from my dream. Tory Burch bracelet cuffs, a white and gold Chanel bag, and white shoes with a gold chain around the ankle and down the arch of the foot.
Nina. The picture of bohemian chic and sophistication. She smiled at me with her smoky eyes. I smiled like a man who’d been given the key to every bank vault in New York. With Nina in my life, I was the richest man in New York.
My heart recovered and pumped blood with the power of a fire hydrant into my veins—the noise in my eardrums was like clanging cymbals. My hand was still glued to the doorjamb. I broke out into another spontaneous smile of pure joy.
Will my dream play out in full technicolor?
I opened my dry mouth and was surprised it worked. Slowly, smoothly, silkily, I said, “You are so beautiful. You astound me with your beauty, with your sense of fashion. My fashionista chef. My beautiful baker. I am hooked on you, Nina. I am stuck on you,” I whispered into her ear then caressed her ear for two seconds with my lips. Unable to resist, I made a trail of kisses down to her chin.
“Have you been listening to eighties music, Adrian?” she asked, her voice a sweet blend of humorous notes.
“Why do you ask?”
“Your words. Isn’t ‘Stuck on You’ a song.”
I laughed aloud with joyful abandon for the first time in months. “It is, but this is about us. Let’s get this show on the road. I am taking you to a very special place.”
I erased the half inch space between us, claiming her luscious lips with my mouth. She gasped into the kiss and I groaned with the months of pent-up longing. A surge of electric passion zipped through us. She fastened her hands behind my neck, drew me closer to her and captured my lips, making them hers. For months I’d dreamt about kissing her. In that kiss, I could feel her passion, her joy. And so much more.
Twenty minutes later we disembarked outside the front door of my godfather’s mansion.
“You have to put on this blindfold to complete the surprise,” I said, holding out a black silk blindfold.
“Why the blindfold? I hate to walk around blindfolded,” she said, frowning.
“I will lead you. You have to trust me, Nina,” I said, calm as I stepped behind her.
I tied the blindfold and led her through the mansion and into her new favorite place. I removed the blindfold once I had her in the middle of the room.
I would do anything to repeat that day.
Her eyes fell open in shock; her mouth refused to close. She brought each hand to a cheek and pinched her cheeks into pink globes. Then she broke into a little happy dance.
My body flushed with warmth. I shivered into a goosebumps watching her react to my favorite room in my godfather’s house. Back at Skyford Cay, she’d refused to accept we were kindred souls. Surely, she must see it now.
“Oh, my God, Adrian. Is this in a private house? Is this a private library?” she exclaimed, her voice rising with wonder and excitement.
She looked up at the two stories of bookshelves and gold-studded ladders. “Are these gold ladders, Adrian?” she shrieked, and it echoed off the library ceiling.
“I love, love, love this library room, Adrian,” she said with excitement. “I never want to leave here,” she declared.
For the next two hours, we walked around the room. We touched and talked about books.
I had a surprise in store for her. “There are several original books in this room. You see this temperature-controlled case,” I said and walked to the middle center wall.
“Ah, that’s why there’s a combination lock on it,” she said in a hush, reverent and awestruck.
I entered the code and opened the case.
“Your godfather gave you the code,” she gasped out. “Why?”
“My godfather is my father’s best childhood friend. He is my mentor. I am the only person outside his lawyers who’s privy to this code.”
I searched for a certain leather-bound volume. A volume commissioned by my godfather from a skilled bookbinder in London. “This is a copy from only one hundred and fifty copies known to be in existence in various languages. My godfather paid an exorbitant amount to get this copy.”
“Can I touch it?” she said in a mere whisper.
“Sure,” I said and handed her the tome. I watched as she caressed the leather and traced the gold letters on the cover. She flipped the book open and her eyes welled with tears.
“This is so beautiful Adrian. This book is so rare. It is a dream.” With watery eyes, she looked at me and smiled. Her lips trembled when she murmured, “Thank you”. My heart exploded in gratitude, but the magic moment dissolved when Kenneth the butler interrupted to say lunch was served.
I led her outdoors with the blindfold on again. Round and round we went through a cultivated maze to a secret walled garden. In the center of the garden stood a special structure. The maze was a small replica of the hedge maze of Villa Pisani, with nine concentric repeating patterns, each hedge taller than before.
I had conquered this hedge over many summers spent here reading from Thomas’s—my mentor’s—library. I led Nina, blindfolded, with confidence to the central tower. It was grand but not as grand as its European version.
It had a roof, lounge furniture, antique table and chairs. I removed her blindfold once I positioned her at the table set with lunch; and at the same time, I signaled the jazz quartet, dressed in white, with their gold and white instruments, to start playing. Once again, I wasn’t disappointed with her response.
This time she squealed with joy. She jumped up and down. “Oh, Adrian, this is perfect,” she said. “A band. A table laden with food. You are spoiling me beyond reason.”
“Nothing but the best for you, Nina. I am making it up to you,” I said, thrusting my chest out. This was my main goal today. To shower Nina with the best experience.
“Look at the plates, the flatware. Are they gold?”
“Yes, Thomas only eats with gold flatware.”
“How much money does this man have?” she asked, unable to hide her incredulousness.
“A couple of billion.”
“Tell me again, how do you know each other? What is he, to you,” she asked.
“My mentor. My godfather.”
“What do your parents think of him?”
“Why do you ask? They can’t touch him. His money surpasses ours—correction, their money—by miles. Let’s just say his inherited and heavily-invested money will never run dry.”
“Unbelievable,” she said, looking around at the garden, at the band.
“Shall we sit to eat?” I said playfully.
But she did a little dance before I could get her to sit down.
My face was fixed into a permanent smile for the rest of the afternoon.
When our food was done. I looked at Nina, took her hands into mine, and plastered each one with five kisses.
“Nina, I brought you here to show you what lies ahead with me. I want to spoil you. I want to take care of you. I want to protect you.” I loved this woman who allowed me to be vulnerable, yet still feel safe in her presence.
Without missing a bit, Nina declared, “All of this sounds so old fashioned.” She was calmer than I’d felt in a week. “Adrian. I need you to be more. I want you to share your heart with me. I want you to lay bare your feelings. I want to know your deepest thoughts. I want companionship. I want friendship. I want passion. I want to explore all forms of Eros love with you. Are you ready to get wild with love in our marriage in and out of the bedroom?” On the last question, she spoke soft and low and quaking with bravado.
She wasn’t going to let me escape.
“I am so glad to meet your forthrightness again, Nina. So happy to make its acquaintance,” I answered.
Unruffled, she replied, “This is the twenty-first century. We do everything together. When the babies arrive, we will be a duet—with changing the diapers, and with the feeding bottles. Are you ready, Adrian?” she asked. all smiles at the end. “Oh, and there will be no Adrian the fifth, right? Say yes, or this whole thing is off.” Her threat was high-pitched with humor.
“Is this your deal-breaker, Nina?”
“Yes, it is. But I may make a concession—Adrian can be a second name.”
“Thank you so kindly for that concession, your royal highness, Chef Nina.”
“Adrian, every day my confidence has grown. I believe we can face anything together, from here till eternity.”
“I feel the same way, Nina;” I said, taking her hands to bring her fingers to my lips. I kissed each of her fingers in turn. “I look forward to starting our future without much delay. Nina, I choose you above all else.”
“I will tell you the same . . . once you tell me how you convinced my grandfather to accept you back into the fold.”
“I will accept you without that knowledge then,” I said laughing. “You’ve said enough. My heart is at ease. You are in this with the same investment and energy as I am putting out.”
I stood up and walked around to the side of the table. The band struck up a ballad of the eighties. Strains of sweet love floated through the air.
I pulled my sweet love into my arms and enveloped her in mine. For more than a minute, I swayed with her to the strains of the music. I trailed soft, sweet kisses across her forehead and down her nose to the very tip. I looked into her eyes so she could see my love for her.
I whispered into her ear, “I love you, Nina.” I shifted my head so I could look into her eyes. I spoke from the love birthed within me. “My mind says yes. My heart says yes. My soul says yes. Yes to loving you, always.”
She blinked. But the blink failed to keep her tears in check.
She leaned, tilted her head so our foreheads and noses connected.
“I love you, Adrian. More than anything else in this world.” Her eyes were watery pools. “I promise to love you in season and out of season. I promise to love you through whatever is appointed for us. I promise to love you through every delight, event, or purpose under the blue skies. I promise you my respect from here till eternity.”
On her last word, my lips descended on her gold shimmering lips and then we sealed the afternoon with sweet kisses until we were satisfied.