Chapter Twenty-Seven: Surrender
By Jason Goldtrap
As the men disappeared from their sight, Sarah and Emily flopped down in their chairs. They looked to each other with big smiles and said, in unison, “You first.”
“Oh no,” said Sarah. “E comes before S. So, are you hoping for a church wedding or will you slip a couple of bucks to the Justice of the Peace?”
“Sarah!”
They laughed.
Emily looked up for a moment and then back to Sarah;
“I am sooooo madly, passionately, in love with him.”
“He makes your heart skip a beat?”
“Uh huh.”
“The birds hush their singing?”
Emily cupped her ear.
“Oh yes.”
“The ground rumbles beneath your feet?”
“Absolutely."
Emily put her hands over her face and made jungle noises.
“Yeah, I kind of thought so, you had that look.”
“What look?”
“This look.”
Sarah rolled her eyes to the ceiling and stuck out her tongue. She bobbed her head in a figure eight motion.
Emily replied,
“Oh, that look.”
“You kissed him?”
“Guilty. With much forethought, I might add. Jeff and I danced and danced. I could see Jan and Robert dancing, too. Wouldn’t it be great if all three of us ended up with boyfriends?”
Sarah dropped her head. Emily was looking out the window, lost in her romantic memories.
Sarah replied,
“Yes. That would be great.”
Emily did not catch on to what she really meant.
“We danced and twirled and spun around the garden of delights. At some point we lost Karen and Benjamin. I was succumbing to his pleasantness as we pirouetted along the promenade. It was so enchanting.
We sat down for a moment and talked more. He was so funny and smart. I kissed him on the cheek to say ‘Thank you for the dance.’ He kissed me on the cheek and whispered.…”
“Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton?”
Emily yelled,
“Sarah? Don’t break the mood.”
Emily straightened her dress.
“He kissed me on the cheek ‘You are most welcomed… and most stunning.’ We danced a couple of more times and then he held out his hand and said, 'Come with me.’ I replied, ‘Ok.’”
“Emily Jean Clementine I am… envious.”
They laughed.
“Jeff and I walked in the moonlight, hand in hand. We went around by a park on the other side of the campus with a small brick wall about knee high. I sat on the wall. He stepped up to me and traced my jaw with his fingers. He then slowly brought me in for a kiss. He paused to check my reaction, we kissed some more. Oh, Sarah, oh, it was amazing. Words have not been invented to describe how I felt.
The wall was getting, fairly crowded with other young lovers. I whispered in his ear, ‘Where can we go?’ and then I kissed his ear lobe and his cheek. He kissed me back. ‘I know a spot.’ He took my hand and we left.
As we walked away an older gentleman came down the street with a flash light. He’d point at couples and cleared his throat.”
Sarah laughed.
“Needless to say, the park was soon clear. Jeff and I walked over to his car. Just then Jan and Robert came up, they were holding hands. Jeff asked, ‘Do you want to go somewhere with us?’ I got in the front seat.
Robert suggested, ‘Fire tower hill?’
Jan nodded.
Jeff said, ‘Hop in.’
We drove through the downtown area, the long way. He gave us quite a tour. We saw the bank that Jan’s father owns.”
“Owns? Oh, you mean, the bank he manages, right?”
Emily shook her head. “Nope, the bank he owns.”
Sarah’s jaw dropped.
“We sputtered to Last Chance Gulch, parked and walked up a hill.”
Sarah smiled.
“Emily, this sounds like it’s going somewhere.”
“Oh Sarah, the view was amazing. We could see every twinkling light in the city. Jan pointed out all the sights: the Capitol Building, the Grandon, the Hotel Broadwater, millionaires’ row, Jennings University and First Lutheran Church. Then we split up and found places to sit and, you know, enjoy the view of a night sky.”
Sarah smiled.
“Jeff was a wonderful kisser. He had a soft touch. Brimming biceps, a tasty neck, it was sheer heaven.”
“What about Jan?”
“She and Robert sat to the left of us. I could barely make out their heads coming together.”
Sarah smiled.
“Do you think she liked him then?”
Emily imitated Jan,
“Oh, Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, Robert.”
They laughed.
“Jan seemed startled for a moment. She got up and pointed. ‘M, m, m, m, my, my, my, my house.’ We heard her say it so we turned around. ‘Oh,’ said ‘Robert. Which one is your house?’ She moved him over and got behind him and picked up his arm. ‘Is it the big one with the emerald green front porch? One, two, three: three stories.’ She shook her head and held up four fingers. He whistled.
I tried to find it.
Jeff said, ‘There.’ He moved my right arm. ‘I see it.’
I turned and said, ‘Jan, your house is gorgeous.’
She smiled and waved.
Next she said, ‘M, m, m, m, Emily?’
I walked over.
She put her hands together and rested them on her head, her way of asking, ‘Do you want to spend the night?’
Jeff replied, ‘Ok, but I snore.’
Robert laughed. We both hit them. ‘
Um, fellas, I think she was asking if I, Emily, wanted to spend the night.’
Jeff replied, ‘That isn’t going to be as much fun.’
We all laughed. I asked Jan, ‘What are we going to do with these two?’
Robert replied, ‘I read a book once so.…’”
Sarah was laughing hysterically.
“So we got in Jeff’s car and headed back to the Grandon.”
“Oh, la-la.”
“To get my clothes.”
Sarah was laughing so hard.
“You know what I mean, Sarah Conrad.”
They were both laughing uncontrollably and gasping for breaths. They sighed. in unison.
“Jan and Robert stood on one side of the porch of the massive Johnson estate, Jeff and I on the other. We kissed for; I don’t know, hours, or maybe ten minutes, either way. We said our ‘goodnights’ and headed upstairs. Jan has a bedroom the size of our bakery. It has a huge bed with a sheer white canopy.
When we woke up in the morning, Jan stretched and walked over to a small table near the door to her bedroom. She grabbed a small bell, opened the door and rang it. Daniel, her butler, brought in a tray of food.
I ate warm croissants and dipped them in a small bowl of chocolate.”
“For breakfast?”
“For breakfast. I was drinking a glass of milk when Jan came out looking most fetching in a bathing suit.”
“A bathing suit?”
“Yes. She then went to one of her clothes drawers and picked out one for me. She sat down and ate a croissant dipped in chocolate. She drank a half glass of orange juice. She got up and pulled on one of the straps of her bathing suit. She wanted me to change. I did. She wrapped herself in a towel and walked out the door.
I wrapped up in a towel and as I walked downstairs I could hear Jan splashing about.”
“But, this morning was cold.”
Emily flailed her arms. “Not in Jan’s indoor pool!”
Sarah gasped.
“It’s the only one in Montana! It had huge windows, five on the north, east and south side. The west side was attached to the mansion. The walls were blue tiled and had Italian frescos. There were eight Greek statues watching over us. They were, shall we say, chiseled to perfection.”
“I am so jealous.”
“You should be. The skylight was a stain glass representation of the state surrounded by buffalo, Indians, cowboys and a lone angel with green eyes and dark, wavy hair, which Jan later wrote represented her mother. We floated in the warm water just staring at the map. I pointed out Sheridan County, home of Crummy Creek. Oh Sarah, how can I ever go back to the muddy old swimming hole back home?”
Sarah was shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“We must have spent an hour in that pool. We talked about Robert and Jeff. She said she wanted to go to Jennings. I told her I wanted to go to Rocky Mountain College in Billings.”
Sarah sat up. “What? You told her what?”
“I want to go to Rocky Mountain. Lynn's going there, we could be roommates.”
Sarah was disappointed. “You don’t want to go to Jennings?”
Emily shook her head. “No.”
“But, what about Jeff?”
“What about Jeff?”
“Don’t you care for him?”
“I do, Sarah, I do, but, well, I want to explore my options in life. Do you really think he’s going to wait for a girl, four hundred miles away, to grow up and come be with him?”
Sarah reflected on the question. She squeaked, “Maybe?”
Emily shook her head. “It’s not realistic.”
Sarah meant more than Emily and Jeff. Emily sensed her double meaning.
Sarah closed her eyes. “It wouldn’t be realistic, but, it would be wonderful.”
Tears were in her eyes as she looked out the window of the other side. She had no intention of spoiling Emily’s fun.
Sensing that she’d misspoke, Emily hardly said two words the remainder of the trip.
