The melody in our hearts (31 page)

“All right, erase and rewind: We’ll start this day all over again!”

She giggled and ran back to their bedroom, slipping off her blood-stained pajamas and contemplating putting on a clean pair, but finally deciding against it: After all, the duvet would keep her warm enough, at least until Ryan showed up and turned into her own personal duvet. She shivered at the thought of what had happened the previous night, and as she lay down, she found herself thinking that she was actually looking forward to it happening all over again.

“Breakfast is served!” he said, walking in holding the tray in his hands, and she remained buried under the duvet, pretending to be asleep. He put the tray down on the bedside table and crawled onto the bed, pulling the duvet slightly back and kissing her lips softly. “Come on, sleeping beauty, you can wake up now!”

She chuckled and her eyes fluttered open, locking with his and causing something inside his chest to stir: He was so in love with her, he could barely believe it had taken them so long to realize it.

“Aww, my prince! I’ve slept for a hundred years, waiting for you to break the curse,” she said, brushing his cheek with her finger and feeling the stubble tickle it. “So now I’m really hungry: Where’s my breakfast?”

He laughed, shaking his head in disappointment, and kissed her one more time before moving away and taking the tray.

“Here it is, my princess. And without any injuries this time!”

“Well done, I’m really proud of you!” She winked at him and grabbed a chocolate doughnut, staring at it with guilty eyes before taking a bite. “I shouldn’t really be eating all these fatty foods….”

“Don’t worry,” he whispered in her ear, causing a chill to run down her spine. “I know a great way to burn calories….”

“Now do ya!”

He put on a crooked smile and winked, kissing her neck and causing her whole body to quiver.

“Let me have breakfast now, will ya?” she said seriously, pulling back and taking another bite of the doughnut. “It would be a pity to waste it and I’m really hungry....”

“Me, too,” he whispered naughtily, nuzzling her neck and moving up to her ear.

“Ryan, stop it!” she screamed, punching him and causing him to finally retreat. “But only temporarily, until I finish breakfast….” she added with a mischievous grin and he lay back on the bed, groaning and pulling the duvet on top of his head.

“Hey!” he exclaimed after a moment, emerging from underneath the duvet. “You’re not wearing your pajamas!”

She shrugged, stuffing her mouth with the last bit of doughnut.

“It was stained,” she said, with her mouth full. “Some clumsy eejit made me work on my day off, and it was splattered with blood.”

“Some eejit, you say,” he said, pouting and folding his arms across his chest. “Right, then this eejit is getting out of bed and leaving you alone right now.” He pushed the duvet back and pretended to stand up, but she grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back down again.

“Please, don’t go!” she begged, kissing his neck and hearing him giggle. “I need to burn those calories. I don’t want to put on weight!”

He turned back and glared at her, making her laugh. “I’m not sure you deserve it….”

“Please?” she said, with her best pleading expression and batting her eyelashes.

“I don’t know… I’m pretty weak. I’ve lost gallons of blood and my doctor said I should take it easy….”

She giggled, then she turned serious and looked him in the eye. “Don’t worry: I know CPR.”

“Well, in that case….” he said and pushed her back down, settling his body against hers and kissing her passionately, just like he had intended to do from the minute he had woken up that morning.

~
Epilogue
~

As Ryan walked out of the subway, holding a paper bag with muffins, he looked around at the crowd of people walking down the streets, passing him by. He thought how much his life had changed in the past six months, ever since he had had that car accident. He had been close to death, twice as far as they had told him, and he had put an end to his rising career as a jazz star and had started working as a teacher at Berklee, finding it was exactly what he was meant for. And he had started a new kind of relationship with Valerie, his best friend, the girl for whom he had always cared so much. He smiled at the memory of Kevin’s reaction when he had gone to the hospital to visit Ryan and had caught them kissing; Ryan and Valerie had laughed so much about it after he had left, and he still teased them both about it whenever they hung out together.

Things had gotten so much better after he stopped traveling around the world: When Valerie and Karen’s shifts allowed them to, they would always go out all together, the four of them, and they would spend hours laughing and having fun, just like they did before he became a celebrity. It felt good, it felt normal, it was exactly the life he had had in mind when he was a teenager and had started dreaming about his future.

And he obviously got to spend much more time with Valerie, without having to worry too much about who would see them together. The tabloids’ interest in his life had ended as suddenly as it had begun; when he officially told everyone that he was quitting to go back to a normal life as a music teacher, there had been various reactions (including Gordon’s, which had obviously been the worst), and he had had to cope with tabloids following him and wanting exclusive interviews for a few more weeks. The first couple of weeks after he had started working at Berklee, he would find a reporter or two waiting outside the school premises to question him in hopes they would find out something other tabloids hadn’t written about. But just like when they had tagged Valerie as his secret lover, after a while they got tired and, since he was no longer an interesting subject, they all decided he wasn’t worth wasting time on. They eventually left him alone, free to finally lead a normal life with the people he loved and cared for.

Every now and then, a fan of his would stop him in the street just to shake hands with him or take a picture, but it didn’t happen often anymore. He honestly didn’t mind, though.

Valerie had been so worried about ending up on the front cover of tabloids, but she too had soon understood that they would be okay after a while. She didn’t seem to mind now if he took her hand while they were walking down the road, or if he kissed her while they were strolling in Back Bay Fens Park; everything was back to normal, his life was back to normal, and he knew it was all thanks to Valerie, to what she had done for him, to how she had fought for him, bringing him back to life.

After they had moved in together, they both realized and agreed that they would never go back home to Ireland because this is where they belonged now, so he had put his apartment for sale. They had seriously started looking for something less expensive, but big enough for the two of them and for his grand piano. They had seen a place in Beacon Hill, a beautiful neighborhood, and they had fallen in love with it, also because they could afford it, and he had gone to the real estate agency soon after work that day to make an offer for it, hoping nobody would make a better one.

Although he still had quite large savings, and the job at Berklee paid well, he didn’t want to spend all of his money on some big, pretentious house, which would be so typical of a star. After all, he had never acted like a star, and he knew Valerie wouldn’t like that either. She had liked that apartment – her eyes had sparkled when she’d seen the big windows looking out onto the Boston Common Park, and she had loved everything about it. When they had gone home that night, they had talked about it and she had already started planning where they would put every piece of furniture and what room would be their bedroom.

Even after they had made love that night, she had went on talking about it, wondering what kind of bed they would buy and whether it would be better to have a four-poster or an upholstered bed. He had laughed and had kissed the tip of her nose, reassuring her they would go furniture shopping as soon as she had a day off.

Making love to Valerie – that was another thing he had never thought he’d end up doing. But, just like everything else about their relationship, he really loved it.

Now he was walking swiftly toward the hospital, smiling alone as he tried to imagine what her reaction would be, and he almost wanted to start running, telling anyone he came across how much he loved her.

When he finally stepped through the automatic doors and got into the elevator, he instinctively held the paper bag close to his chest and hoped she wouldn’t be busy, because he wasn’t sure he’d be able to wait any longer.

When the elevator doors opened and she saw Ryan walking out toward her holding a paper bag and with a beautiful smile on his face, Valerie couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by her love for him.

She couldn’t believe how things had changed and how natural this all was; she couldn’t help but wonder why they had never been able to see what everyone else had always seen before them, even their grandfathers, back when the two of them were still teenagers.

They were simply meant to be and, although it had taken them ages to understand it, they knew what they had now would never end: Their strong friendship had made everything even more special, and they knew the foundations of their relationship were strong and solid.

When he came closer and hugged her, kissing her lips tenderly, she felt her heart skip a beat, knowing she would never get enough of kissing him.

“I’ve brought you something to get you through the day,” he said, handing her the paper bag. “And I have news. You busy now?”

“I was just about to go on my coffee break; let’s go to the staff room.”

They walked down the corridors and bumped into Karen, who was coming out of a room, looking very professional in her white coat, and she greeted Ryan, thinking once again what a lovely pair those two made.

When they entered the staff room, Ryan was happy to notice that it was empty, and he closed the door behind him, while Valerie switched on the coffee maker and waited for the coffee to warm up.

“So what’s all this about? You made me curious with your comment out there: What kind of news do you have?”

She pulled up a chair and sat down, and he came close to the table and did the same, sitting right in front of her.

“I did something on a whim, and I hope you won’t be mad at me.” He bent his head and started fidgeting with his watch, something he always did when he was nervous and that she had always loved about him. “I wanted to call you, but I knew you’d be at work and...well...I sort of wanted to surprise you in a way, so....”

She giggled: He was so cute when he couldn’t find the words to say something to her, and she instinctively took his hand, hoping it would help him finish the sentence.

“So?”

“So...well...I made an offer for the house, you know, the one in Beacon Hill we saw the other day, and the real estate agent said it was quite likely they’ll accept it. There, I said it.”

Her face lit up and she squeezed his hand a bit tighter.

“Why should I be mad at you, Ryan? Of all the places we’ve seen, that was the one I liked best. I can’t deny I wouldn’t have minded if you’d asked me before doing it, but I think that’s wonderful!”

He smiled at her and she stood up, taking his face in her hands and kissing him.

“You silly; you should know by now I could never be mad at you, let alone for something like this!”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to look at some other apartments before making a decision, and I was afraid you’d feel left out because I had chosen for both of us.”

“But that’s what we wanted, wasn’t it? We both loved that apartment, and I’m glad you made an offer before someone else stole it from us.” She turned back and went to the counter, then she filled two cups with hot coffee. “I can’t wait to start going furniture shopping with you!” she said with a grin, handing him a cup and sitting back on her chair. “Muffins, I guess?” she asked then, taking the paper bag he had brought. He nodded and she opened the bag, taking one.

“That’s mine, actually,” he said, grabbing it from her, and she looked up at him quizzically. “Yours is the other one.”

“I don’t get it; since when is there ‘
my
muffin’ and ‘
your
muffin’?”

“Yours is a blueberry muffin, and mine is chocolate chip. End of mystery,” he said, shrugging and taking a bite nonchalantly.

She shook her head, wondering what was going through his mind today, but then she took the other muffin and, when she opened it in half, the way she had been doing ever since she could remember eating muffins, she gasped and let it drop on the table.

Inside the pastry was a simple white gold band, with what looked like small diamonds on half of it, and she looked up at Ryan to check if that meant what she thought it did.

“What...?” she whispered, unable to finish the sentence.

“I know we haven’t been dating long, but we’ve known each other for half of our lives, and there’s nothing more I need to find out about you that I don’t already know. I mean, I know you better than anyone else, and you know me more than I know myself. I love you, Val. I will always love you.” He stood up and took her hand, kneeling down in front of her. “I know this is a bit melodramatic, and I know that if Kevin were here he’d never stop teasing me, but this is how you’ve been dreaming it for all of your life. I wanted to do it right.”