Chapter 16
Mariah watched the raindrops fall on the glass of the tall ballroom windows. They danced and skated their way down the glass and disappeared from her view. Each one that disappeared reminded her that she was far away from what was familiar to her and she couldn’t get to her comfort zone because a storm raged outside.
Through the glass, she saw that the clouds in the sky bared their hearts through heavy rainfall and whenever lightning flashed, brightening the room and thunder boomed, shaking the walls, she quaked, wishing with all her might that she was back in her apartment, or that at least James would return. He had gone out in the rain, ignoring her protests. He had gone to check up on the car.
It was her fault that he had gone, as she had suggested to him that the bears would leave when the rain got heavier. When it did get heavier, James offered to go check if her guess would play out. He had left over five minutes ago and he hadn’t returned.
For some unknown reason, she had always hated rain storms. Her doctor had said that anything she felt a strong aversion to could possibly be linked to her past.
The wind howled outside rattling the windows and Mariah’s attention returned to the room. The ballroom looked sadder now in the gray light of the afternoon. She glanced at her phone and noticed two things: it was going to be evening soon, and her battery was on the low side.
Mariah sank to the ground, dropped her phone on the marble floor, and pulled her knees to her chest. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she rested her head on them and tried to control her breathing. Everything was getting to her at this point: the rain, the approaching darkness, the cold, and a creeping hunger.
She stayed hunched that way, facing the tall windows, until she heard footsteps echoing through the ballroom. She lifted her head and saw James entering the room. She smiled up at him, relieved to see him. He smiled back.
When he reached her, he sat cross-legged on the ground beside her. He wasn’t as wet as she had expected him to be and arched a brow at him.
James chuckled and said, “This was my playground, remember? I found an umbrella in the broom room before I went outside.”
“There isn’t an actual room just for brooms in this house, is there?”
“There is,” James nodded. He stretched his hands behind him and straightened them, then placed his palms on the floor behind him and leaned backward a little. He supported himself with his arms. “It was my hiding spot from my grandma during our games like hide-and-seek.”
Mariah stared at him wide-eyed. It was the way he talked about the broom room so nonchalantly that made her believe James was an extremely wealthy person. His family had been extremely wealthy for a long time and what he considered normal was not normal to her.
“But… my expedition into the rain proved fruitless,” James continued with a sigh. “Turns out those nasty bears damaged our tires and we are not driving under this rain with those tires.”
“The damage is bad?” Mariah sighed.
“Yes,” James replied. “More than that, I know this area. In heavy rainfall like this, trees fall, flash floods can occur, and the road can be coated with slippery mud that is at least ankle-deep. People shut themselves in till storms like this pass. We would have to sit this one out.”
“Sit it out?!” Mariah shrieked. “But it would be night soon, and we have no power here, and we would need warmer clothes for the night and…” Her breathing turned shallower as she talked and a shiver ran down her spine.
She felt nervous at the thought of spending the night in an unfamiliar area and house that had not been inhabited for years. She also didn’t like the thought of bears outside.
James sighed and pushed himself to his feet. “I’m so sorry I got you stuck here, Mariah.” He offered her his hand and she took it. He pulled her gently to her feet. She was lifted easily and he held her in his arms tightly to comfort her.
She felt worried about how warm the house would be for the night. The storm sounded fierce and she unhappily felt that it might not be over by tomorrow. James’ embrace felt like an anchor.
He spoke up. “For what it’s worth, I tried calling for help but the call wouldn’t go through. The storm must have knocked out a cell tower or something. Our best bet is still to sit it out.”
“I understand,” Mariah sighed and another shiver raked her body. She was getting cold and it was all her fault. If only she had listened to James when they were back at Ore and had brought a jacket or sweater with her. “It’s just that—”
James cut her off, “I know you are cold,” James smiled and she felt his arms drop to his sides. He then reached for his coat that was draped over a chair. He had taken it off before going outside because he had not wanted it to get wet in the rain. He draped it over her shoulders.
Instantly, she felt a little warmer. “Now c’mon.” he took her hand again and led her out of the ballroom. “On a day like this, the best place to be is—” They emerged in the antechamber again but he didn’t stop. Instead, they crossed it to the other side and entered the large living room. “—here. This is the warmest room in the house in my book.”
James let go of her hand and walked deeper into the room. She stood by as he pulled the white drapes off one of the chairs by the fireplace. Mariah gasped as a beautiful red velvet armchair gleamed in front of her. The chair looked soft and comfortable. James didn’t stop there. He walked to the fireplace and tinkered with it before turning to look at her.
“Sit,” he said. “I’ll try to get the fire going.”
She walked slowly to the chair and plumped herself down in it. She pulled the coat tighter around herself and tried to imagine herself on her drawing table in her apartment on a bright sunny day. James took some logs from the floor and put them in the fireplace.
“Edgar’s still a terrible groundskeeper but he kept wood here at least,” James said in a disappointed voice as he tossed the wood into the fireplace.
The fireplace must have had an automatic lighter as Mariah watched James get on his knees and after a few minutes of doing something she couldn’t see, the fireplace sparked with bright orange flames. He turned and gave her a triumphant smirk and she smiled, welcoming the sweet warmth of the fire.
He dusted his hands and rose to his feet, coming to stand by the armchair she was sitting in. “There,” he said, “now all that’s left is a meal and we are set for the night.”
Mariah wanted to believe that. She leaned deeper into her seat, surrounded by the light of the fire. Then thunder boomed again and she made the mistake of looking behind towards the large windows of the living room.
The sky had darkened to evening and she couldn’t see much outside anymore, but the storm still raged. She found herself reaching for James’s hand without thinking.
“Can we see if the lights can turn on?” she said, giving him a slight smile to hide her building anxiety. “I mean, the power lines must still be connected, right?”
“Well,” James said, rubbing his chin in thought. “If Edgar was doing his job that could be possible. I’ll have to go check,” he cracked his knuckles and gave her a reassuring smile. “Hopefully it would work and I would return with something for dinner. Wish me luck,” he loosened his hand from her grip and made for the dining area at the far end of the room.
“Good luck,” she whispered but he was already out of earshot. She settled into the seat again and willed herself not to look behind her at the storm raging and the sky darkening with every second.
Years ago, sometime after entering the orphanage, she had noticed a pattern. She noticed that the combination of darkness, heavy rainstorms and an unfamiliar place made her very nervous more than it made the other children nervous.
She remembered that the doctor who had treated her when she was younger had told her that this was likely due to something in her past before she had gotten amnesia. He had told her that there was almost nothing he could do about it. He had taught her to reduce her reactions by breathing deeply.
Over the years, she had gotten better at dealing with her reactions. It had been years since she had found herself reacting to the combination of these three things.
But now, in this mansion with James, she felt that her reactions were rearing their head again. She wondered if the return of her memories over the past weeks had caused this. So now she had to recall the techniques her doctor had taught her.
Her doctor had said, “One breath, then another, then another. Count a number with each breath but don’t rush. Imagine each of the numbers. Number one would be a lonely old man in a mansion. Two would be a couple sharing an umbrella and jokes in the rain. Three would be friends having a picnic at the park…”
He would attach the silliest things to the numbers until she laughed, forgetting that she was worried about something in the first place. Trying her doctor’s technique again, she counted the number out loud with each deep breath thinking of the funniest pictures she could.
“… fifteen is a group of frat boys at a bar. Sixteen is a bunch of teens at a church picnic. Seventeen is the sound of girls at a sleepover—”
She didn’t know when James re-entered the room, not until he spoke.
“You look comfy,” James’s voice made her stop her chanting. He appeared from the antechamber holding Tupperware. Mariah wondered where he had gotten them from as he dropped them on the floor next to her chair.
His hair looked slightly damper than the way it had been when he had left a few minutes ago and she figured he had gotten the containers from the car. “So!” he said walking back to stand by the door that led to the antechamber.
His hand rose to a switch she hadn’t noticed was there. “I present to you, the warmest room in the manor!” he flipped the switch and the room came alive in a golden glow.
From the ceiling hung a crystal chandelier, much like the one that hung in the ballroom. A million pieces of crystal were washed in light. Mariah noticed the room had accents of gold everywhere--on the walls, curtains, and windows—amid the royal red theme.
Even the chair she was seated on was done in red with a pattern of gold thread on it. With the fireplace roaring and the warm golden light, it was beginning to feel warm.
He smiled brightly at her as he returned to her side. “We have the lights for a few hours only though. As I had suspected, the house was off the grid, but I found some petrol in the shed and fired up our old backup generator, and boom! Power.”
Mariah noticed the smudges of soot on his arms and cheek. Fighting the urge to reach out to wipe them off, she gave a wide smile. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Nah,” James said, sitting on the floor beside the Tupperware. “It’s the least I could do, for getting you stuck here. And now—” he pulled his phone out of his pocket and scoffed. “—it’s 6:30 PM already. Shall we have dinner?”
“6:30?!” Mariah gasped. “Have we been here that long?”
“We have,” James said and motioned for her to come to the floor where he sat. She slipped down from the armchair and rested her back on the side of the armchair.
He pulled the covers off the Tupperware to reveal jelly-filled scones and honey-glazed apples. “These were for the children at the orphanage, but…” James said and offered her one scone. “Guess we can steal two Tupperware, you know… so we don’t die and all.”
Mariah giggled as she lifted the scone to her mouth. She took one bite, then another, and another, shocked that she was that hungry. The scones were so tasty she was on her second helping before she spoke. “This is good,” she mumbled with a full mouth.
“I know, right,” James said, licking jelly off his lips.
Mariah stared, mesmerized, as his pink tongue ran over his lips and a shiver ran down her spine. It had nothing to do with the cold.
She knew he hadn’t notice her stare when he continued, “A friend of mine has this cute bakery, Heaven’s Treats, that makes the best pastries. You should try their Turkish Delight. I swore Rodney must have been importing them from Turkey, but no, he makes them here in the States!”
“Sounds heavenly indeed,” Mariah laughed, trying to shake off the butterflies gathering in her stomach. She helped herself to her third scone.
“So…” James said, eating his second scone. “How do you like my manor?”
“It’s nice,” Mariah said licking jelly off her fingers. “I can see why you have high expectations of the orphanage building. You’ve lived like a prince in huge and beautiful houses all your life. You just want to give the orphans, the experience of living in a beautiful home too.”
“Yeah…” James stared at her with a shocked expression. “I just want to give them beautiful memories.”
Mariah smiled at James as he reached for a glazed apple instead of the last scone. Past all the wealth and pomp, James Sorenson had a beautiful heart, ready to share the very best of his life and time with others. She didn’t want to but she began to wonder why he wasn’t married already.
As she wondered, she drifted into her thoughts and James didn’t seem to mind. He stared deeply at the crackling fire, probably lost in thought too. She ate her share of the apples quietly and wiped her hands on the napkin James had given her. Then she put the Tupperware away.
She leaned more heavily into the chair, her stomach full of sweet food. She watched James. The golden glow of the lights caught his brown hair, making the strands shine. His sharp jawline was highlighted by the orange glow of the fires.
He cast a small look of appreciation at her for clearing the Tupperware and stretched out on the floor before the fireplace. His hands were behind his head, serving as a pillow and his eyes fluttered close. Mariah watched him wondering what childhood memory he was reliving.
Even with his eyes closed, his face was full of emotion. A small barely visible smile played on his lips and the faint glow from the fireplace cast shadows on his face, softening the sharp angles of it. He looked so young, so peaceful, so much like someone she could fall in love with. The thought alone pleased her.
She closed her eyes. Minutes later she sensed that the lights had gone out. Alarmed, she opened her eyes to find that the room dark had in fact gone dark. She looked at James. His breaths came slow and steady.
It was like he knew she was watching him because his eyes suddenly flicked open. Their gaze locked. Mariah felt a blush creep into her cheeks and then the room went dark again, save for the light of the fireplace. She gasped in shock and her breaths became shallow and audible.
“It’s just the lights, Mariah, nothing to worry about,” she saw James’s outline sit up. His eyes glinted dark green in the orange glow of the fire and in them, she saw worry.
She couldn’t quite bring herself to tell him that she felt very nervous when she was in a strange place during a rainstorm and it was dark. It was embarrassing. Every symptom she had from amnesia was embarrassing.
“I just… I need light to—” she glanced at the fire and said, “—brighter light to help me…” she choked on her words.
Must I expose my every weakness to this man?She groaned inwardly. At least he’s understanding of my weaknesses so far.
She saw James scoot closer to her until she could make out the tan of his skin. “We all have our fears, Mariah,” he said and his breath was warm on her hair. “It’s okay. I’m here,” he said and pulled her closer to his side. She leaned into his side and rested her head on his shoulder with a relieved sigh. They sat in silence, listening to the crackling of the fire until the knot in her chest lessened and her breaths came easier.
“If it’s brighter light you want,” he said after a while. “I could go search for a flashlight,” he began to rise and Mariah caught him by the arm.
“No,” she pleaded. “Stay here instead,” she didn’t know how to tell him that his presence was soothing.
“Oh… all right,” he said and sat back down.
She was sure he was shocked at her behavior but he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he told her stories of the people who lived on the surrounding properties. Most of them were senators, army generals, and diplomats.
Some envied his grandparents’ wealth, others wanted to buy their way into Sorenson’s favor with gifts. Few were actually good friends with his grandparents but he was certain those people didn’t live nearby anymore, or would hardly remember him.
He told her about each family and when he was at the height of a funny story about the Benjamins—their neighbor two properties east—he stopped and chuckled. “Know what I just remembered?”
“What?” Mariah mumbled her head on his shoulder in bliss.
“That we have flashlights on our phones.”
“Oh yeah,” Mariah laughed and fished out her phone from her pocket. James did the same, and they turned on their flashlights and dropped them side by side next to each other, sending two small torchlight-like beams into the room. “And God said ‘Let there be light!’”
“And there was light,” James said laughing in response. “Now, where were we?”
Mariah chuckled and rested her head on his shoulders. “Where Dorothy Benjamin fell into the lake.”
“She was a funny old lady, that one. Very fussy too...” The sound of his voice helped calm her nerves and she tried to ignore the storm, the surrounding darkness, and their situation. Suddenly thunder boomed and shook the house. She was sure the thunder had struck the house directly.
Every hair on Mariah’s skin stood on end and a chill ran through her body. She trembled from the crown of her head to the sole of her feet and her breath quickened again.
Warm arms wrapped around her almost instantly and she buried her face in the warmth of James’s chest. “Hey… hey, it’s okay.” James’s soothing voice filled her ears. She managed to look at him, embarrassed that he had to see her like this. But his eyes held so much worry that she almost burst into tears. “You are going to be okay. I’m here,” he nodded, lifting a hand to rub her shoulder.
She imitated his nod and closed her eyes trying to steady her breathing but her hands still trembled. James encouraged her to lay her head on his thigh and try to sleep.
He whispered reassuring words to her, dropping little jokes and stories about his childhood in the manor, until her eyes felt heavy. The trembling of her hands stopped after a few minutes. She had no idea when sleep overcame her only that she slept to the sound of James’s calm voice.