As Long As I Have You

~ Chapter Thirty Seven ~

Kirsten watched Evan leave to join John near the multiple food stations positioned at the other end of the bustling room, and couldn't help but notice how people made space for him and how heads turned and followed him along the way. It seemed as though men deferred out of respect and admiration while women stared out of personal interest and physical appreciation. She smiled coyly, knowing full well she had viewed him with the same eye on more than one occasion.

Unlike the other women in the room though, she still carried the heat of Evan's touch against her skin, and she held onto that warmth as she enjoyed her first real moment of solace that evening.

It was surprisingly easy to be alone in a room full of people, and as long as she tuned out an occasional stare or two she was able to find the reprieve she was in need of. Hiding in plain sight also allowed her to really take in her surroundings, and for the first time she openly admired the décor of the event and the museum itself.

The Royal Museum stood as one of the city's cultural hubs and housed natural exhibits that appeared to be plucked right from the arms of Mother Nature herself. The atrium housed several elaborate scenes meant to lure attendees in, and included a small herd of life-sized bison roaming prairie plains, loons diving beneath a calm waterline, and even the striking figures of two sabre tooth tigers suspended in mid-leap towards one another. Each exhibit stood as an unrivalled work of art, and while the medium was nowhere near her own, she bathed in the beauty of it all, suddenly sixteen years old and once again standing at the foot of Michelangelo's David.

Turning her eye from the atrium's showpieces, she looked around the room and smiled, thinking how bizarre it was to see taxidermy and glamour crammed together for an evening. And although it was strange, it was still lovely to see the sparkling dresses, formal tuxedoes, and glittering jewels set against nature's backdrop, even if it wasn't completely real. Twirling skirts and spinning waiters added to the mix, and as she let her eyes stray back and forth she caught herself moving to the rhythm of the crowd, swaying to and fro like the wheat sheaves bending on the bison's plain and the reeds bowing near the loon's graceful dive.

With more peace than she felt in hours, she closed her eyes and let the feel of the room flood the rest of her senses; she could smell fresh roses and peonies and how they fought for dominance over the smell of food in the distance and competing wafts of women's perfumes and the slightly stale museum air. She heard the shuffling of feet and the clip of heels on the marble floor, the rustle of extravagant dresses alongside clinking champagne flutes, and hundreds of voices speaking over one another with laughter peppered over it all.

She opened her eyes again, content to let each sensation collide together, both in front of her eyes and in the part of her mind where visions for her artwork took shape. She would have given anything for a brush and canvas in that moment, but it wasn't exactly something she had made provisions for inside her cocktail purse. Thankfully, she knew the idea for her next painting would keep now that it had lodged itself inside her mind's eye, and she returned her thoughts back to the evening clamour around her.

Cynthia still wasn't back from the washroom just yet, and she looked over to find Evan and John, something that wasn't all that hard to do given their similar looks and identical stature. The two had apparently abandoned their quest for food and were instead speaking intently with one another — probably something work related if she knew Evan.

What an odd thought, she realized, and wandered over to one of the nearby silent auction tables where an array of goods was on display for bidding. How could she possibly know Evan when they barely knew each other?

Well, that's not exactly true, she argued with herself. Yes, they had only been married for two weeks, but in many ways it also felt as if there were already enough excitement between them to fill a lifetime; they had fought their way through anonymity, mistaken identity, the death of her father, corporate embezzlement, family feuding and familial ultimatums, and somehow they still remained unbruised by it all. In some ways she knew Evan Beaumont more intimately than most people ever would.