Hidden - Chapter 7

Hidden - Chapter 7

There was no going back, at least not now. Getting this couple together had taken too much work. Not to mention shopping for a wardrobe that wasn’t bland. But it really was the time spent that was so interesting. After Charlotta and Pearl had eaten their High Tea, they did in fact go shopping. But while they were deep in conversation about their shopping trip, ‘Melody in Blue’ interrupted them. Charlotta raised her head, maybe just a little too quickly.

‘Oh, we are going to be serenaded after all. He really is quite handsome don’t you think?’

‘He is not as handsome as that young man over at the bar. At least that’s my opinion. But he is alright to look at - except for that mop of hair.’

‘Why, Pearl! What do you see in someone sitting at bar?’

‘Well, he is better looking. Yes, he is at the bar, but he is dressed so smartly and sitting up straight. I find him much more appealing.”

*********

“Do you remember that, Pearl?”

Pearl blushed, because she had never told Ethan about that afternoon. 

“Of course I remember? But how did you ever get us all together?”

“I came back to the dining room after we left to go shopping. I told you I’d left my new gloves on the table. But I really wanted to talk to this now not so young man you were interested in. It did rather disappoint me, but I already had to revise my plans once. What was another little blip? Ethan and I exchanged phone numbers and met the next day to plan our Valentine’s Day ambush of you too. I had no idea that he was making plans for Evan as I was planning for you!”

“Well, I’m glad you both did.” Evan chimed in. “I was really so shy and my only friend, besides you, Ethan, was the piano.”

“Our plans didn’t really go the way Charlotta and I wanted them to go. We did get to the Valentine’s Day dance but that’s about where it ended. I actually didn’t like you very much, Charlotta, but after meeting Pearl, I was willing to put up with you wanting to run the show.”

“I didn’t much like you either, Ethan, but we did kind of make a good team. As long as you let me run the show.’

**********

Their double weddings had been beautiful. Evan played 'Melody in Blue' before the ceremony. Ethan was dressed smartly in a gray tuxedo. Pearl and Charlotta wore wedding dresses were beautiful. Pearl's with classic lines, Charlotta's almost as vibrant as her personality. Just toned down a bit. Pearl and Ethan were, surprisingly, a match made in heaven. Evan and Charlotta had already fallen in love, but neither of them knew it. It was all those return trips to hear Evan’s piano playing that started their bond in those early years. So here they were, 50 years later sitting in the same dining room for High Tea, talking about their children and grandchildren and making plans for Valentines Day. They did have one more trip down memory lane. On Valentines Day, in the evening they would return here for dinner and dancing, like they had done every year.

“True love stories never have endings,”

~ Richard Bach