Part 15 (2/2)
I looked at her then, no longer disturbed by the mythological transformation she'd undergone during my nightmare.
”I talked?”
”Very eloquently, I might add.” She laughed. ”Come on, it might help to talk it out.”
”Now, you sound like Julia.”
”I do, huh?”
”Yes. She's a clinical psychologist. I've known her for about five years.”
”Are you in love with her?”
I shot her an incredulous look.
”Don't look so shocked. It's a legitimate question.”
”I'm in love with you.”
Maddy smiled and kissed me. ”And I you. But you haven't answered my question.”
”Come on, Maddy, how can you even ask me that? After what we've just done.”
She laughed again.
”You really are a stick-in-the-mud, aren't you?”
”A what?”
”Oh, you really should see the look on your face, Trevor, it's priceless.” She giggled and I became annoyed.
”You mind if I ask you a question? Are you out of your mind?”
”Trevor, I'm as sane as you are, just not as hung up. I happen to believe you can love more than one person at a time. You love your parents, don't you?”
”Yes, but that's different-”
”Not the essential emotion. Tell me more about Julia.”
I shook my head, suddenly uncomfortable. ”I don't think that's such a great idea.”
”For you, or me.”
”Both.”
She held up her hand, putting a solemn look on her face, though I could see a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt around the corners of her eyes. ”I promise I will not throw a jealous scene over Julia, now or ever. How about that? Does that ease your mind?”
I shrugged. ”Well, I-maybe a little.”
”Good, now tell me about her.”
”Yes, Ms. Freud. That's what I called her whenever she became too a.n.a.lytical about our lives....”
I spent the next ten minutes filling Maddy in about her rival, and I found it became easier and easier to reveal things I would never have thought possible about my relations.h.i.+p with Julia. I wound it up by telling her about our last fight over Harlan's t.i.tanic, my intention to sail on her, and Julia's fear.
”...So, I guess she had every right to be afraid,” I said. ”I met you.”
”And you're still in love with her.”
”How can you say that, Maddy? I don't even know if I was ever in love with her to begin with. And with you there is no doubt.”
”I say it because I hear it in the way you speak about her, the words you use...and the feelings behind them.”
”That's because I'm a writer.”
”No. It's because you're a lover.”
”All right, all right, I give up, I concede. You're right. I do care for her. But not in the same way I care for you. You're not like anyone I've ever known, Maddy.”
She smiled, remaining silent.
”What about you?” I said, turning the tables. ”Is there someone else?”
”Yes.”
Her simple answer held complex repercussions for me, and I was quite unprepared to hear her say that. I was about to respond when a knock sounded on the door.
”Yes, who is it?”
The answer came, slightly m.u.f.fled by the thick, solid door. ”It's Henry, sir. May I come in?”
”Uhh, I don't think it's such a great idea, Henry.”
Maddy giggled, burying her face in the pillow.
”I think, sir, that you might change your mind when you see what I've brought.”
I threw the covers over us.
”All right, come in.”
The door swung open and Henry wheeled in a linen-draped cart, pus.h.i.+ng it into the middle of the room. He immediately set about transforming it into a beautifully set table for two, replete with china, silverware, and two burning candles. The food consisted of two covered plates, which he removed from a warming box under the table.
Both Maddy and I watched him work with admiration and a growing appet.i.te. My stomach growled when the tempting odors escaping from under the covers reached my nostrils.
”Henry, you're a real piece of work,” I said, smiling.
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