The Fates (Book I) - 2014 Watty Award Winner!

1.11 - The Fiancée

Dear Readers: So the nerdy-cute professor has got something for Cloe - just a little something she might need to graduate :)

And also someone else in store... a character you've met briefly before, who may turn out to be a little bit important...

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Scene 11: The Fiancée

A.D. 2015

Cloe and her professor had made plans to meet at a street corner by Veriton Yard, as soon as the morning procession was over. The ceremony turned out to be running only slightly behind schedule—a miracle, on Veriton time—so Cloe and her mother were kept waiting for just a few minutes, before Professor Mason jogged across the lawn to meet them. A good thing, as the sun by this hour had begun to bake Cambridge in sweltering heat.

“Cloe!” he called out. “Congratulations! To my favorite hatless graduate.”

She grinned and greeted him the way she always did—they had agreed long ago that ‘Professor Mason’ or even ‘Professor’ was just too stuffy. “Thanks, Prof.”

He encircled her in a warm hug, and then reached to shake Silvia’s hand. “Trevor Mason. And you must be the luckiest mother on earth.”

Cloe didn’t object out loud, but she shot him her usual you think too highly of me look.

“That would be me,” her mother answered proudly. “Silvia.”

“Such a pleasure. Cloe tells me that she owes everything she is to you, and then some.”

“Well, I’m the only mom she’s got,” Silvia responded, “but you’re one of her many professors, and the only one she raves about to me.”

Trevor beamed at Cloe and pushed his glasses a bit up the bridge of his nose, his hazel eyes alight with true humility and gratitude. “I’m beyond flattered and honored.”

“It’s beyond deserved,” Cloe claimed.

“Ah, and of course—” he uttered as he reached inside his academic gown, “—so is this.”

He pulled out a large red envelope and handed it to her ceremoniously.

Cloe thanked him, especially grateful and glad in this moment that she hadn’t attended commencement. It meant much more to accept her diploma from Prof than from anyone else on the faculty here. He was the one person at Veriton from whom she’d learned the most these past four years—about philosophy, the classics, life, and everything worth learning.

“Thank you for doing this,” Silvia expressed. “I know it’s not the usual practice, for professors to give students their diplomas on the street. We’re so glad that you agreed to do it.”

“Agreed? I offered!” Trevor clarified. “As soon as she told me she wasn’t coming to the ceremony. I had to make sure that it got into her hands today, not tossed around in the mail.”

Cloe smiled. “And thank you for…understanding. My not attending. Without asking for an… actual… explanation.”

She swallowed. That was one of the first sentences that she had ever uttered uncomfortably in Prof’s presence—it had felt very strange. They were always so at ease, with everything else.

But this subject, her reasons for missing commencement, didn’t call for discussion between them. She so deeply appreciated his absolute respect for those unstated reasons, with no questions asked.

“Don’t mention it for a second,” Trevor insisted, shaking his head. “One of my principles in life is to never probe. People have personal reasons, and they’re personal for a reason.”