From Scratch (Love Lines) Read online

  “Oh, my God! It’s so beautiful, Evan.” Her lips trembled, and a small tear ran down her cheek. “Thank you,” she said, embracing me tightly. I put the ring on her finger and kissed her palm, silently vowing to love her forever. But something was wrong, as if our small world full of love and warmth was shattering into thousands of small pieces. Right in front of our eyes. And we both felt it. I immediately wanted to take her away from all those people and laughter, just to be with her for a little while. This time I felt like I was the one losing her. As if she was disappearing through my fingers like water, or like sand that I used to create her portraits. “I will never forget you,” she said as if she knew something I didn’t. Then she kissed me so desperately I wanted to cry out loud. Because it felt so final….

  “Can we just leave? Please,” I whispered. This time she nodded and followed me out of the garden.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I have one more surprise for you,” I said, opening the back door of the Great Hall’s tower.

  “You must be kidding me… the tower? Seriously? But.…”

  “Don’t worry. No one will find us.” I knew it for sure, because Christian took care of making a copy of the key, and as the tower had been locked for ages, no one would ever be looking for students there.

  We came to the biggest room that I had cleaned out of all the mess and boxes, turning it into our secret place. There was a bed, covered with silk sheets, a table with burning candles and a bottle of champagne that my best friend left here earlier tonight.

  “How did you manage to bring all these things here?”

  “I have my own secrets, Sweetheart,” I said, pulling Tara into my embrace.

  “I hope they are not dirty?” She smiled, locking her arms around my neck.

  “All my dirty secrets include you.” I smiled back, kissing her lips. Something was still missing, but I didn’t want to think about tomorrow. The girl in my arms was everything I cared about at the moment.

  Every time Tara and I were together felt very special. But today my feelings, my emotion and the temperature between us racked up several degrees, taking me higher to the heaven where there was nothing but a pure pleasure and delight. My blood warmed deliciously. A flutter formed in my chest, spreading slowly over my body, as if Tara was trying to fill me with her love and tenderness, giving me herself, and claiming every inch of me as hers.

  There was so much passion in our every move as if she was… saying goodbye, and I… was trying to make her stay. As if she was giving me a silent promise to remember me forever, and I was trying to make her spend forever with me. As if she was taking away my heart and my soul leaving me with nothing at all….

  When I woke up at dawn I wasn’t surprised to see the place beside me empty. Tara wasn’t anywhere around. And I knew I wouldn’t find her in my room or anywhere in Dever. She was gone….

  I put on my trousers and a shirt and went out into the chilly air of a late November’s morning. I was like a ghost, walking absently down the road. I didn’t stop as I passed by the dorms. I headed straight for the gates.

  There was no one else on the street, but soon I saw a lonely silhouette standing at the guard post.

  It was Tara.

  She was talking to one of the Keepers, signing some papers he gave her. He said something I couldn’t hear, she smiled, nodded and went slowly to the open gates.

  “Going somewhere?” I asked her, coming closer. I could almost feel her fear. She wasn’t expecting to see me there.

  “Yes,” she said without turning around. And I knew that nothing would make her stay. It was over….

  “What about me?” I asked again, knowing beforehand that this time her answer wouldn’t be any different from all those times I tried to ask her about our future. Now I realized that I was right. She didn’t see me there….

  “You know we can’t be together,” she replied. I didn’t want to come closer. I knew that if I moved, I would reach her aura, and I didn’t want to feel its vibrations. It was just enough to see its colors, full of despair and pain.

  But something inside me still refused to give up. “So everything that happened between us meant nothing to you?”

  “I’m sorry,” Tara whispered before walking away into the night.

  That was it. The end.…

  Chapter 12

  Some time later when I was alone in my room, I was thinking about my reaction to Tara’s leaving. I didn’t run after her, I didn’t do anything to stop her. And she knew I wouldn’t try because we both realized that this moment was about to come. And we both were ready to face it. No matter how hard it was to accept the truth.

  And I didn’t accept it.

  The night after that I called Christian and asked him to go with me to the club. He hated clubs, but I need a distraction. And he knew it. And I knew there would be at least a dozen distractions. Blonds, brunets, redheads… I didn’t really care.

  We spent a few hours dancing and drinking, and when I thought I was ready to go back home, someone caught my eye. It was a girl about my age. Slender, tall and pretty. Her hips were swaying slowly with the music and her eyes were closed as if she were dreaming. Her palms reached for her hair and she raised them, letting the long black curls fall freely to her shoulders. The girl was damn sexy.

  I came closer, wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her ear, whispering something I will be sorry for for the rest of my life. She nodded once and followed me to the exit.

  We stopped at the nearest hotel, went to the second floor and into a small room that smelled like a rubbish bin. But we both were too drunk to pay any attention to it. Actually I could barely stand on my feet. The only thing I remembered about that night was the girl’s red dress, swaying in front of my eyes. I passed out before the fun started.

  “Thank God,” I muttered sleepily to myself, waking up the next morning. I was still fully dressed. A sexy creature I brought there with me last night was sleeping peacefully beside me, half naked. “Sorry, Love,” I said quietly, covering her with the blanket.

  I left the smelly hotel in an awful mood. My head was spinning and I desperately needed a tooth brush to get rid of that awful taste in my mouth. When I got back to Dever the first person I saw there was Christian. He was waiting for me in my room, sitting in my favorite chair and drinking coffee.

  “You look like shit,” he said, half-smiling.

  “Thanks, man. But I would really appreciate if you just shut up. I’m not really in a mood for your smart comments.”

  “I guess last night didn’t go the way it was supposed to?”

  “Not even close.”

  “Want some coffee?”

  “Yeah. That would great, thanks.”

  I went to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. My appearance left much to be desired, so I get rid of my clothes and took a shower that felt like the best thing ever.

  I had enough time to think about everything that had happened and I promised myself I would never ever drink so much again. Once was more than enough.

  Epilogue

  It’s always hard to lose what we love. People, things, memories. Too bad we can’t control time, can’t stop it, or turn back the clock.

  Everything consists of time – our life, our pain, our love… and no matter how hard we try to pretend that time doesn’t go anywhere, it runs away too fast, taking away everything that had ever been cherished – the last fairytale from our childhood, the last day of so long-expected summer warmth, the last page of a good book, and the last moments with those we love….

  But life goes on despite everything that’s going on around us. And it means that there will be millions of happy seconds, thousands of hours of laughter, hundreds of days full of joy, and a whole eternity of love. And all these things are worth the hoping, living and dreaming. Because no one knows what tomorrow’s sunrise will bring. But it’s always up to us what the next day with end up with….

  “Can I come in?” Eileen asked,
standing at the threshold of my bedroom.

  “Sure,” I said, throwing the last page of my past into the fireplace.

  “Are you okay, Evan? You left without eating your favorite desert, and I thought… maybe I shouldn’t have….”

  “No, Eileen,” I interrupted her, taking her hands in mine. “You did everything right. And I’m glad you’ve made me come here. Sooner or later I needed to face what I’ve been running away from for ages. I feel much better now. More alive and free. As if I have just gotten rid of something very bad, and heavy. I feel great. Thanks to you.”

  “Really? So you are not angry at me?”

  I laughed and pulled Eileen to me, embracing her tightly. “No, I’ve never been angry at you. I’ve been angry at myself. But you helped me to see what I refused to see for so long.”

  “What is it?” she asked, looking into my eyes.

  “Life around me,” I replied, smiling. She embraced me again, and I felt the waves of relief and joy coming from her. Yes, I was truly blessed to have her as my personal guardian angel.

  “So what are you going to do now?”

  “Start everything from the very beginning. Go back to my magical experiments, think about my career, find love maybe. In other words.…”

  “Start from scratch?” Eileen said.

  “Exactly!” She knew everything that was going on with me at the moment. Better than anyone else. But I wasn’t afraid to show my inner world to the people around me. Because now I liked everything about my world….

  “How about you start with unwrapping your Christmas presents?” Eileen asked, pulling me to the door.

  “Don’t we have to wait for the morning?”

  “Uh, for God’s sake, Evan! As if you ever waited!” she replied, laughing as we went downstairs to join the rest of the family. Now they were my family too.

  And suddenly I realized that this Christmas turned into one of the best I had ever had.

  The end.

  About the author

  Diana Nixon was born in Minsk, Belarus, where she still lives and works on her books.

  In 2008 she graduated from Belorussian State University. She has a Master of Law degree and speaks several foreign languages, including English, Polish and Spanish.

  She has always liked reading fantasy novels, so when she came up with the idea of writing a book, she already knew what genre to choose.

  At the moment D. Nixon is working on her Love lines series.

  Visit author’s website:

  www.diananixon.webs.com

  More books by Diana Nixon:

  Love Lines (Love Lines # 1)

  Songs of the Wind (Love Lines # 2)

  Acknowledgements

  Many thanks to my family, friends and readers. I would have never been able to write this story without your love and support. I’m truly blessed to have you all in my life. Love you!

  A special thanks to Mona Tippins for her help in proofreading.