The Gravity of Love (23 page)

Her mother nodded with her lips in a thin
line. Any compliment about food was quite artificial her mother didn't cook.
The only food that was good came from the hired chefs.

"So Molly," Her mother started
instead, "How is your love life going? You're getting too old to remain
single now."

Molly groaned. The food might be delicious,
but it would be a very long meal.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Here Jake, this way!" Aiden
called as the dog started to wander off in his confusion.

Harrison was busy dragging his saw through
the snow and passing by all suitable trees without a glance. He liked the tree
he cut to be worth something he got the thickest, tallest ones that usually
didn't even fit in the house, let alone the front door. But there was no
stopping Harry.

He whistled and the dog immediately came to
attention. Running back to the group, he let out a few sharp barks to show his
excitement. That dog always was easily pleased. And he loved trees. Forests
were surely what he dreamed about.

Aiden came walking up beside Molly.
"I'm guessing that with your calmness, your mother is still omitting the
big event of tomorrow, right?"

She looked over at him with a confused
face. "What big event?"

He smirked. It was always that certain
smile that made him look so much like a young Harrison. "The dance."

She swallowed. "A...a dance?"

"You're going. So is Harrison. I
believe it might be partially in your honor, actually. You know, for finally
coming home?"

She felt dizzy. "But I don't want to
go to a dance."

"A dance with Harrison, you
mean?"

She wrinkled her nose. "Are you sure,
Aiden? Sure that there really is a dance?"

"I saw your dress myself. You'll look
so delicious Harrison won't be able to keep his hands off of you."

"Oh God, tell me that isn't the
intention!" She exclaimed.

"That part I'm not so clear about. I
think it might have something to do with you not having anyone so you're going
to get one..."

Molly ran to Harrison, grabbing his
shoulder and turning him to face her. "Did you know about this
dance?" She demanded.

"Dance? No. When?"

She stomped her foot. "The dance my
mother is apparently throwing so I can get a man because I can't get one on my
own!"

He looked like a deer in the headlights.
"She's going to fix you up?" He asked, his voice low.

"She's going to try."

"I'm not very fond of that idea."
He mumbled, looking towards the trees again as he walked away.

She didn't chase him. He looked awfully
strange, his voice awkward when he said the last.

Aiden appeared at her side again.
"Somebody isn't very fond of that idea." He mocked, with a hint of
real meaning behind his raised eyebrows.

She sulked against a tree. "I wanna go
home."

_______________________________________________________________________

It was after supper, Christmas Eve. The
tree had been put up and decorated, supper of ham and never ending side dishes
were eaten, and the fire was roaring. The Redford family plus Molly were all in
the living room, slouched on sofas and chairs, not very excited at the idea of
moving any time soon.

"The tree looks very pretty. You all
did a great job." Mrs. Redford noted.

Molly looked over at the tree. The top was
not pointed, but flat from Harrison having to cut some off of both the top and
the bottom. The limbs were awkward from having to make it thinner. And the
decorations were over twenty years old Molly remembered helping to make them
when she and Harrison were mere toddlers. And yet, it did remain with a certain
appeal to it.

"I think it looks very well."
Harrison replied, looking proud, his saw beside him.

Aiden let out a low snore. He had fallen
asleep an hour or so ago he was never one to be able to stay awake after an
eventful day. Holidays were always touch on him. Even though he was cured of
his illnesses that he had when he was young, he still remained weakened from
them.

Mrs. Redford looked at her youngest son
with a sad smile. "I'll get him to bed then call it a night myself. Merry
Christmas, children."

Molly and Harrison both wished her a Merry
Christmas and a goodnight, then were left by themselves.

Her thoughts fell back to the dance the
next day. Her mother had confirmed what Aiden had told her. It was meant to be
a surprise, and Aiden had ruined it. Molly never loved the boy more. But she
was still wary in going. She was never much for a dance, especially when it was
put on for her.

"I say we call a truce." Harrison
broke in to her thoughts.

She looked at him, thinking she must have
misunderstood him. "Excuse me?"

"I said, we should call a truce. If
not just until we get back to Nevada. We won't be here for long, let's have
fun. Enjoy being here. And you know as well as I do that neither of us will
have a good time if we're bickering and not being good friends. You'll need me
tomorrow to save you from many a bad partner and I'll need you to keep me from
curling up and dying in boredom. So...how about a truce?"

She grinned, holding out her hand. "I
say that's a good idea."

He shook her hand in his big one.
"Have you heard from Marty yet?"

"No. Have you?"

"Nope. I haven't had a minute to call
Joe and find out how things are going."

"We'll have to remember to do that
tomorrow."

"Oh yes, they'll both get a big laugh
at the thought of a dance thrown in your single honor."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not old, am
I, Harry? My mom keeps saying I'm too old to be single. But I'm only going to
be twenty-nine this year. I mean, sure, we thought it was old when we were
young and that's why we did that thirty pact, but it's not old anymore, is
it?"

He chuckled softly. "No, it's not old,
Molls. Better not be, I'm single and I am already twenty-nine. Why? Are you thinking
of moving the pact or something?"

She laughed at him. "The pact? God no.
I don't even think of the pact. It's not serious or anything. It's not like
we're really going to marry out of desperation. I mean, maybe if we were fifty
or something but no."

Harrison looked away. "Yeah, whatever.
It was a stupid idea. I mean, we were thirteen. What did we know how we'd turn
out?"

Molly stared at him. He was acting
different. Like everything she said affected him in a different way than she
had intended. Why didn't he laugh and really agree?

"I think it's time for me to head
home. I'll see you tomorrow, Harry." She said, walking over and kissing
him on the forehead before going out.

He didn't move or say a word. Just sat
there, staring straight ahead.

_______________________________________________________________________

When Molly looked out her window the next
morning to close the shades and go back to sleep, she noticed a single figure
standing in the snow. Squinting harder, she noticed it was Harrison. He wasn't
doing anything, just standing. Staring straight ahead. In the freezing cold.

Enticed enough to know she wouldn't get any
more sleep, she slipped on her boots, grabbed her coat and ran out to him.

"Harrison, what in the world are you
doing out here?" She asked, already bitter cold.

A slow smile appeared on his lips. His eyes
seemed to be glazed over with memory. Slowly, he raised a hand and pointed
ahead of him. "Remember the good days, Molls? When we had no
responsibility and we spent all our days in there?"

She followed his gesture and saw the old
barn that was falling down. Her father had fixed it up for them when they were
eight so they'd have a place to play instead of getting in trouble all the
time. The top layer was transformed in to a game room. Just for them.

"It looks so sad. It used to be quite
beautiful."

Harrison nodded. "It looked like that
before we left. We let it get that way. There was no one to play in it anymore
so it didn't really matter."

She looked at him, her thoughts flowing. "Maybe
we should try to fix it up. I mean, one day at least one of us is bound to have
kids. And they're going to want to see their grandparents and where their mom
or dad spent all their childhood days at."

He looked at her in surprise. "You
want to try to fix it up? Really?"

"What else do we have to do with our
time? We have a week to go. We could spend all day in there working. It'll at
least be some improvement."

He grinned, the first real look of joy that
crossed his face since they had started fighting about Candy Grey. Or perhaps
longer. It made her want to fix up the old place even more.

"Lets get started now. The dance isn't
until eight tonight and it's only seven in the morning. We can hurry to the
nearest Home Improvement store, pick up whatever we need...my dad still has
tools in his old shed, I'm sure."

And so it was what they did. They started
resurrecting their childhood on Christmas Day, before anyone was awake.

"Thank God for lazy families."
Harrison laughed at the thought as he climbed in to the truck he had rented.

_______________________________________________________________________

The barn wasn't as bad as it looked, though
half of the floorboards needed to be replaced and a side of the wall that had
wind damage to it needed better wood supporting it.

Before the dance, they managed replace the
wall and rip up the floor boards. It would be a long seven days of work, since
everything needed repainting and better decoration. But no time for that now.
It was seven thirty and all needed to be dressed and on their way to the place
that was holding the dance.

Aiden's jaw dropped when Molly emerged from
her room and walked down the stairs in a powder blue sleeveless dress that
flowed to her ankles. Her wavy hair tumbled down her shoulders and her back,
looking magnificent. Her silver high heeled shoes made her as tall as he was
and matched her silver necklace with the heart shaped diamond at the end.

Harrison's necklace.

"You still have Harrison's heart, I
see." Aiden stated with a wicked grin.

Molly rolled her eyes and kissed his cheek.
"Do I really look as terrible as I think I do? I really don't want to go
through with this. Maybe if I said something was happening to Marty or
something..."

"Nonsense you look terrific and
you're staying. What would Harrison say if you left?"

"I'd take him with me."

"But he spent the last hour getting
ready for this. He never spent an hour getting himself dressed for anything.
This must be special for him, or he's trying to make it special for you."

Molly smiled at the thought. "Then I
guess I'm really going through with it, huh?"

Her mother came walking in, looking at her
up and down to see if she was dressed properly, then handed her a cream colored
silk shawl. "We must get going. Aiden, is Harrison and your mother
ready?" She asked, fixing his tie and straightening his black jacket. She
also looked distainfully at the distressed jeans he wore with holes at the
knees and the worn out concert shirt under his jacket. Molly thought it looked
quite handsome on him, especially with his gold blond hair done up in short
little spikes, but her mother had a very different opinion. "Hopefully
they're dressed a little nicer?"

Before he could reply, the door swung open,
revealing a sight that Molly never saw. Harrison was dressed in a complete
dress suit, his hair smoothed down and combed carefully, his shoes buffed and
polished. He was even wearing silver cufflinks and a silver ring on his middle
finger. Molly may not have recognized the handsome man before her, but she did
know the ring. It was his part of a friendship ring that she used to make him
wear back in high school. Sterling silver with the word forever engraved on the
inside.

She laughed as she entwined her fingers in
his, studying the ring. "I can't believe you still have this, let alone
are wearing it." She whispered, spinning it around his finger.

"Why? Don't you still have
yours?" He asked, surveying her with intense eyes.

"Of course I do!" She replied
with a kiss to his jaw. Even in heels she was no match for his height.

His mother was in a burgundy three piece
that looked quite classy on her, though was in quite a contrast with her own
mother that was in a gold colored dress. Beautiful, but definitely not for her.

Ushered out the door, they were all hurried
in to the awaiting cars that took them in a hurry to the dance.

_______________________________________________________________________

The ballroom was huge. Huge. And it was packed
with hundreds of people. Molly immediately slipped her hand in to Harrison's.

"Protect me." She whispered,
clinging fast.

He broke them away from the rest of the
family and made towards the food tables. "Just stay with me and far away
from your mother. Maybe stick towards the bathrooms and the dark corners. Don't
worry, this party shall only go on for a good five hours or so." He
smirked.

"Five hours in hell."

"No, don't worry. It's Christmas. At
some point you'll warm up and have fun. Hopefully."

Harrison sure was in the teasing mood and
Molly found herself wondering what it would be like if Marty was here. She sure
did miss her friend dearly, but as long as Harrison was by her side, she'd
survive.

After they had downed a few finger
sandwiches and three cups of soda, they moved away from the tables. Harrison
drew Molly on to the dance floor. "Will you dance with me,

Radcliffe?" He asked with a charming
smile.

"I suppose there are worse things than
dancing with my handsome boss."

He shook his head. "We're on vacation.
This week I'm not your boss."

"So it's okay to hit and slap
you?" She asked with a hopeful grin.

"Not here. I spent way too much time
getting ready for this to have it messed up from one of your temper
tantrums."

"So I've heard." She said,
putting her hand on his shoulder as he placed one on her hip.

She looked away as heat flowed to the place
where his hand was. It felt strange, dancing with Harrison so closely. Thoughts
of what Marty had told her came rushing back, making her almost dizzy at their
speed.

"What are you thinking about?"
His mouth was right next to her ear from the loudness of where they danced.

Her cheeks grew red. "Nothing. Nothing
at all."

Apparently something was happening on
Harrison's side too, for when the dance was over, he seemed to disappear in the
crowd, forgetting all about his promise to stay with her.

Her mother was soon by her side. "Come
darling, I have a few people who want to meet you." By people, she meant
men.

_______________________________________________________________________

Hour two in to the dance and Harrison was
growing more miserable by the minute. Second, really. He already felt guilty
enough for leaving Molly. After all, he had promised to stay with her. But on
his defense, he really couldn't help it. Was it his fault that his heart
started to race at an inhuman rate when he held her in his arms? That his blood
started to heat to a boil when he stared in her eyes? Certainly it wasn't his
fault that he was more than just attracted to this woman. That he still felt
the same way he did that night he dreamed of kissing her instead of any silly
cheerleader captain model woman. He wanted Molly. He's always wanted only
Molly. And now he was being forced to come to terms with that again. And he
couldn't deal with it. Not now, not here. Not when it was clear her mother
wasn't going to approve of him. Why else was she trying to get Molly with all
these other men? And there was loads of men. He might not be with Molly, but
that didn't mean he wasn't watching her. Stalking her. And checking out
everyone she danced with to make sure they weren't her type. Why, he wasn't
sure. After all, if she was with someone, maybe his insane feelings with calm
down and stop trying to ruin his life. Although, he knew somewhere deep down
that he was deeply in love with her while she dated Ephram, and her dating was
the sole misery of his life for months. No, her dating wouldn't solve
anything. And him dating another distraction wasn't going to do it either. The
only cure to make him stop going mental whenever he was around her was to deal
with it. Own up.

Shame he knew he couldn't do that. Not with
Molly. Not the woman who knew his track record. He really screwed this one up.

On top of that, he had met up with a bunch
of his old friends. The thrillseekers. None of these guys had a sick brother to
keep them back from doing what they were destined to do. His once best friend
James had done his lifelong dream to go to Queenstown, New Zealand and go
bungee jumping off of one of the tallest cliffs possible. He hiked throughout
the South Island's mountains that took him months to get through.

Jerry Longbred had moved to Colorado and
became one of the chiefs for Search and Rescue. Ben Lawrence had gone with him
and became his partner.

Four others did things just as magnificent.
They set out to fulfill their wildest dreams and made it happen. Harrison was
the only one who never made it. He went in to the military, then settled in to
the role of a principal.

To sum it up, his romance life was zero, he
was deeply in love with his best friend who despised him for his track record
with other women, and his life was going nowhere and all his dreams were dead.
Wonderful thoughts for a cheery Christmas, for sure.

His very soul was starting to tear apart
just when a gathered gasp rippled through the crowds. A scream. A few people
rushing. Fear instantly gripped him as he stood on a chair to see what was the
matter. That was how he saw his mother with her eyes wide in fright. Aiden?

Harrison jumped off the chair and pushed
through the crowds until he found a few men picking up his little brother from
the floor, his eyes fluttering open and closed. His mother was frantic on the
cell phone.

Molly broke through the crowd and ran to
Aiden, running her hand through his hair and a few men worked on moving him.
She mumbled soft, comforting words that he couldn't hear but knew the protocol
with her.

It was there, watching his brother have
another attack, a relapse, that his heart was stabbed with fierce guilt. Only
moments ago he was secretly regretting giving up his adventurous life for
taking care of a brother who would eventually recover anyway. Now he stood and
watched his brother grow pale. Sure, he'd be fine this time too, these things
just seemed to happen with Aiden from time to time. But that was besides the
point. Harrison felt like he had almost wished this to happen while regretting
his past decisions.

And that added to the list of why his life
really sucked.

Making his way through the crowds again, he
headed towards a set of stairs. After about half way up, he sat down, leaning
his face in to his raised knees. At that moment, nothing seemed right in
Harrison's world.

_______________________________________________________________________

Molly finally found her friend a half hour
later. He was still sitting upon the steps in a similar position that he'd been
in from the start.

"Hey Harry." She said softly,
sitting beside him and putting her hand on his back. "I just got a phone
call from Mom. She said Aiden's going to be just fine. It was just a little too
much excitement for his heart."

He nodded, still not showing his face.
"That's good."

"Yeah...but how are you?"

He let out a low groan in reply, but
nothing else.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders
and pulled him away from his position so that his head laid on his shoulder.
His eyes were red and watery. "Oh geez, Harry, what's wrong? Come on, tell
me."

He let out another groan, wiping at his
eyes with the edges of his sleeve. "Nothing, I'm just being a baby. No,
I'm just being selfish."

"Selfish? How?"

He told her what he was thinking of,
leaving out the part about her. "My life is meaningless. I became nothing
that I actually started out to be. And then Aiden..."

She laid her head against his. "I know
how you feel." She whispered. And she did, he knew. She had given up
everything to care for her father. She lost her place in one of the top Ivy
League schools. Never got her dream career. And she got stuck working for him.

"I think I might pity you more than
me." He said with a waning smile.

She laughed, pressing a kiss against the
top of his head. "These are things you and I have to figure out. But not
this day. Today, we dance! Come, I've seen that you still haven't danced with
anyone since I left you. You've just surrounded yourself with all men. Men who
got you in a depressing mood. So what do you say? Wanna dance with a girl
now?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, do
you?"

She laughed, taking a clean tissue from her
little purse and wiping it against his cheeks. "Yes, yes I do. Come on.
Let's have fun for the rest of Christmas. After we're done here we'll check out
Aiden, then head back to work on the barn. I won't be sleeping tonight anyway
and either will you."

He nodded, standing up with her.
"Sounds like a good plan." He said, looking at her warmly and knowing
that this was just one of the reasons why he so loved her.

_______________________________________________________________________

When Molly checked her cell phone that
night, she saw that she had missed three calls from Marty. Quickly getting out
of her dress, she jumped in to her pajamas and sprawled out on her bed,
flipping her phone open and dialing Marty's number. As it rang, she quickly
calculated what time it was for her. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was two
in the morning here.

"Molls? That really you?"

Molly smiled. No, eleven o'clock was never
too late for Marty to pick up her phone. "I haven't been gone
forever!"

"No, but it does seem like it. So tell
me, how is everything going?"

"Pretty good. I mean...well, they've
been okay. I just returned from a dance my mother threw in my honor to get me a
catch. Aiden was overly excited and had to be run to the hospital. Harrison was
upset over his life. My dad don't look so good. But...well, I'm having some
fun. Harry and I and redoing that old barn room I told you about before."

"The one the two of you played in when
you were little?"

"That's the one. We're planning on
getting it all finished by the time we return."

"It sounds like you left here angry at
Harrison and will be coming home in good spirits with him. What happened?"

"We called a truce in the name of
holiday spirit. It's been going real well."

"You sound happy, despite all the bad stuff
you listed."

"You know what? I am pretty
happy."

"And the reason for that? Come on,
admit it."

Molly smiled. "Harrison."

Harrison was walking up the stairs and
towards Molly's room. She was supposed to come right back down so they could sit
by the fire together and talk. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard
her talking and stopped.

"No, Marty, no. You're taking it out
of proportion."

"Well why? You know you're in love
with him. He must be in love with you. Why don't you try it out?"

"Because...because it wouldn't work.
It's obvious we weren't meant to be. I mean, sure...at one point, I did think
that we had a chance together. I did think we could live happily ever after.
But we can't. Not with the way he is. Not with the way I am. Our chance passed.
It's simply too late for us."

"You're so sure?"

Molly nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty
sure."

Harrison's hand dropped silently from the
doorknob and walked back down the stairs, grabbing his coat and heading home.

_______________________________________________________________________

The next three days were spent waking
before dawn and going to sleep after midnight. Harrison and Molly worked all
day to repair their memory filled childhood play place.

They had managed to replace the floorboards
and get a few things to decorate the room by the time the snow storm hit.

They had been forced to head in by five
that night, for the storm clouds looked so terribly frightening that they were
sure they'd be stuck, without food or warmth, in the barn if they didn't run
back.

"Well, this sure is nice." Molly
said, clutching her mug of hot chocolate while sitting next to Harrison, the
same old comforter around both of them as they sat in front of the fireplace.

"It is." Harrison agreed,
wrapping his arm around her to keep her close. "It's still a little chilly
though."

"Remember when we used to spend most
of our winters this way? Spent our night time prayers on begging for snow
storms so we could camp out right here, just like this."

"Well, not just like this."
Harrison said, his eyes starting to glow. "Remember when we used to tie
comforters from the stairs to the back of the couch and make a giant tent to
lay under?"

She laughed. "I do! Sleeping inside a
blanket tent in the middle of the living room with a fire going and it being
freezing outside was even better than camping outside in the summertime."

"No, not when I turned sixteen and got
my first truck. Then we could go anywhere and sleep in the truck bed under the
stars."