Now or Then

Yawning, Season-Marie sleepily lay her book aside and reached for her glass of wine. Sipping the last of her Moet’, she glanced at the clock on the wall. Sitting there, she realized another dateless Saturday night has passed by, and looking at the now empty wine glass, a lonely feeling crept into her soul.

Season-Marie sat there wishing for someone with whom to share the wine, but hadn’t had someone in a long time. That’s why she enjoyed reading romance novels when there was nothing better to do. Reading the love stories had Season-Marie wondering what it would be like to be the belle of the ball and to live happily ever after.

Looking around at her spacious loft, Season-Marie smiled. Seeing all the beautiful things she had acquired helped to take some of the loneliness away. Since becoming fashion editor of “Elite” magazine, Season-Marie had improved her life style. All she needed now was someone to share her life.

With that unhappy thought on her mind, Season-Marie rose from the couch to get a glass of water. Wishing with all her heart that she wasn’t going to bed alone, again. When Season-Marie stood up, a wave of dizziness hit her. It had her thinking four glasses of wine may have been too many. Standing still, Season-Marie took deep breaths until the feeling subsided.

Sighing then, Season-Marie slowly walked over to stand in front of the full-length living room mirror to peer at her reflection. Reflecting back at her was a pixie face, cat-like green eyes and a heart shaped mouth. As her eyes traveled down the length of her slim body, Season-Marie was pleased with her appearance; now all she had to do was find a man who was pleased as well.

Not any man would do though, it had to be the man of her dreams. Season-Marie stood there for a moment, and thought about what kind of man he would be. Besides being tall, blonde and blue-eyed; he’d also be someone who would be her best friend. Also in her heart, she hoped that he would love her deeply and be there for her no matter what happened. Season-Marie wondered if this man even existed, but doubted it.

Thinking to herself, that it would probably be too good to be true. Turning now to go for that glass of water, Season-Marie had only taken a few steps when the dizziness hit again.

Season-Marie could feel her heart racing and her thoughts becoming jumbled as she slowly fell to the floor, and wondered what was happening to her as she did. It felt as if she were floating out of her body, but stranger still, just before losing consciousness; Season-Marie’s last thought was of her blonde, blue-eyed man.

Lord Jonathan Drake was whistling as his carriage carried him down the deserted road to his estate. Tonight, he and his good friend, Lord Trent, had met at the mens club, Rosie’s, for a few drinks, with those drinks turning into a few more and a game of cards. Now all Lord Jonathan was looking forward to, was going home and getting some much needed sleep. Th e night had now become the wee hours of the morning. Lying back, Lord Jonathan’s blood-shot eyes had just started to close when he suddenly heard a shout from his driver. He could feel the coach start to sway as the horses were brought to an abrupt halt. Quickly jumping out of the carriage he yelled, “What the devil, George. Are you trying to kill us both?”

Looking down at Lord Jonathan with a sick look on his face, George just pointed. Since he couldn’t see what George was pointing at, Lord Jonathan walked a few steps closer to the front of the horses. Looking down, he sucked in his breath. His heart started beating erratically and he began to tremble as shock set in when he saw that it was a woman lying in the horse’s path. Lord Jonathan realized that if George wasn’t always a careful driver, this could have become one major tragedy. His heartbeat slowly returning to normal, Lord Jonathan walked over to the woman and still could not believe his eyes. Whereas he had been weary a few minutes earlier, adrenaline was now pumping throughout his body…