Free Beyond Chance by Karice Bolton

with
emotion, and nodded. “I’ll forgive you if there are no more
secrets.”
    “Then I have a lot of explaining to do,” he
whispered, as he brought my body to his.
    A waltz echoed down the hall and he smiled.
“I think the festivities have begun.”
    “I thought these were the festivities.”
    He smiled and backed up a few steps, giving
a slight bow. I knew he was teasing, but I had to admit that being
in this new city, surrounded by ghosts from another era made me
fall right into his plan. I was forgetting the earlier events
already. I was forgetting Elizabeth.
    Arching my hand in his, we walked down the
hall and turned into a room that made my jaw drop. It sounded like
a symphony was playing because one was playing. The orchestra was
set up in the far corner of the ballroom, and the entire space was
filled with graceful couples waltzing on the gleaming marble floor.
It was like a scene out of a movie. I looked up to see not one, but
three crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The walls were
painted peach, which somehow fit the entire décor. Ivory and gold
columns and pedestals were spaced evenly down three of the walls,
and the fourth wall was filled with paintings and sculptures. It
was absolutely fanciful, and I was beyond grateful to Aaron for
picking out my dress. Seeing the women dressed in their beautiful
gowns as they glided across the floor made my heart override my
mind as I looked on in awe as the entire crowd swayed from one
direction to the other. This was what I wanted to remember from my
first night in Paris.
    The waltz drifted away and the crowd
stilled, and I suddenly felt all eyes on Aaron and me as he took my
hand in his and walked me to the floor.
    Gregory Sennet announced to the room that
Aaron Sullivan would be taking my hand in our first waltz in Paris
and my entire body seized up. I suddenly felt like I was thrust
into a high society gambol that I wasn’t fit for. Gregory repeated
what he said in French and before I had a chance to object, Aaron
brought me into his arms as Shostakovich’s Jazz Suite II hummed
through the air. It was my favorite waltz in spite of it appearing
in Eyes Wide Shut . I was surprised that Aaron remembered,
but that was who he was. Regardless of what information I’d found
out tonight, this was why I loved this man.
    “You are way too slick,” I laughed, feeling
his arms tighten as our bodies melted into the waltz.
    Our bodies swayed and flew to each beat of
the waltz as the rest of the couples joined us. We were swallowed
into the ballroom as the waltz serenaded through the air, and my
world felt whimsically misplaced.
    “I love you more than anything, but you have
a lot of explaining to do,” I whispered.
    “Don’t I always?” His eyes twinkled and
between the bubbles of the champagne and the magic of the moment, I
let myself drift into another world as he carried me across the
floor.
     

 
     
     
     
    I pushed down the sheets and stretched my
arms as the bright light shone through the sheer curtains,
introducing my first Parisian morning. I saw brioche and a glass of
orange juice sitting on the small table by the window. Aaron had
gotten up a couple hours earlier. I vaguely remembered him kissing
me and telling me to sleep as long as I needed and that he’d be in
the studio. Every so often, I’d hear a scrape of metal against the
wood floors or his footsteps walking quickly across the floor
upstairs, but I generally slept through most of whatever he was
busily working on.
    Now I was faced with nursing this slight
headache from too many flutes of champagne and too little to eat.
We were out late last night, and I’d crawled right into bed the
moment we got back to our apartment. Between the champagne and my
flight, I was completely exhausted and every welcome home move I’d
thought about unleashing on Aaron was extinguished the moment my
eyes closed. It also didn’t help that I ran into his
ex-fiancée.
    Elizabeth!
    I grumbled aloud and