Page 77 of With Love

Adrienne

Something has been bugging me ever since we left the clearing in the woods. As much as I don’t want to talk about it, I’ve always wanted to know the answer, so I gather up my courage and decide to see if Marshall can enlighten me.

“Marshall?” I start. “Do you know why-- um. There is a designer named Carolina Herrera. Every time we had a formal event that I needed to be at, Lock would buy me one of her dresses. I asked him about it once, but he never told me the reason. Do you have any idea if that designer means something to him? Has he ever mentioned anything?”

He is silent for a moment. I can tell he is thinking about what he is going to say.

“If I had to guess, it’s because of her name.”

“Carolina?”

“Yeah,” Marshall takes a big, deep breath and I wonder if I shouldn’t have brought it up at all.

“When Lock was in high school, he fell in love with a girl from his town. He was a sophomore, she was a freshman. They were inseparable. His parents were shit people and were rarely ever around. When they were around, well, let’s just say that Lock learned a lot from them and he puts those teachings to use in the present.

“So this girl, her parents kind of took him in. She ended up getting pregnant. One night, she went out with a girlfriend and was supposed to get a ride home with her. Well, she ended up wanting to surprise Lock at the restaurant where he worked, so she started walking over there instead. But she never made it. She was hit by a drunk driver. Both she and the baby died and, with them, took the only bit of good that Lochlan had in him.

“Her name was Carolina.”

I’m stunned into silence. I really don’t know what to say. I am never going to understand why Lock is the way that he is. There is nothing that anyone could do or say that will make me feel any differently about him. He is a monster. Irredeemable. Plain and simple. I try to picture a younger version of himself. One that isn’t cruel. One that doesn’t need to hurt or kill. One that doesn’t need to feed on the fears of others. But I can’t. I believe that he still would have ended up this way. There is too much evil running through his veins for him not to. I feel terrible for what happened to his girlfriend and their baby. I feel bad for the girl’s parents. But I am also glad that they were able to escape a lifetime at the hands of such a vicious and callous man.

“It won’t be too much longer,” Marshall says, breaking my attention.

“Huh?”

“Until we get to our next destination.”

“Oh! Okay,” I look at the clock. 4:00

“Technically, this is dinner, even though it’s a little early. The kitchen is working on our time today.”

“I’m excited to see where we’re going,” I reach my hand over the center console and link my fingers with his.

About 15 minutes later Marshall pulls off of the main road and onto a long winding driveway. It curves in and out of the trees as it goes. There are some wooden posts with lights on the top to lead the way when it’s dark out. A little further up the winding path, a large gate comes into view with a huge fancy letter “E” down the middle. I release Marshall’s hand and I scoot forward on my seat, my back straight as an arrow as I begin to recognize where we are.

The gate begins to open as Marshall winds his window down and speaks with the man in the guard shack.

“I know this gate! But, when I’ve seen it before, it was a big, wooden door.” I start. “I’ve had the same dream over and over again for years. I am in a large room and it’s dark. I feel like I’m floating and there are candles all around me. Then, all of a sudden the room bursts into flames. I begin to run away and I hear a voice telling me that I will never escape. Then, I see a door with the letter “E” on it. I think it’s an exit so I go toward it. The fire disappears and I run into something solid, like a wall. But when I look up I see…”

“What do you see?” Marshall asks. He’s stopped the car in the middle of the driveway.

I look over at Marshall. At his beautiful face. His gorgeous green eyes.

“I see you. I see the face of a man with stunning green eyes.”

My hands go up to my surprised face, covering my mouth.

“You’ve been the one in my dreams all this time. I know your eyes, I don’t know how I didn’t see this until now,” I think about this for a minute. “But, I don’t remember having had this dream since running away from Lock.”

“Because you don’t need to run anymore. You’re right where you belong now,” Marshall takes my hand in his and kisses the back of it before driving once again.

I look forward just as the trees begin to clear out and I see a tall white building in the distance. As we get closer to it, I can make out some more of the detail. It’s one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen in my entire life. The building is U-shaped with tall, white stone walls, dormers, and turrets.

“Welcome to Ermenonville,” Marshall says as we drive over the concrete bridge into the courtyard.

“Marshall, this is gorgeous! This is a restaurant?” I ask, feeling like an idiot.

“It’s a chateau. A slightly smaller version of the actual chateau in France.”

Pulling up to the front door, Marshall stops the car and a gentleman moves forward to open my door.

“Thank you,” I say to him just before Marshall takes his place and hold his hand out for me to take.

“I’ll escort you inside,” the man says to us as we follow him through the large wooden front doors.

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