Close to Destiny (A Magical Love Story)

Chapter 77

June 17

I wandered around Central Park for an hour to kill time. In a daze, I walked around the back of the Met, down the sloping valleys, past the sunbathers spread across the grass, around my favorite pond and then slowly made my way to Jean's bench. My heart should have been pounding a mile a minute, but it wasn't. Strangely enough, a sense of calm had overcome me.

I glanced at my watch. 4:55 p.m. The designated meeting spot was empty. I walked steadily toward this now-familiar bench, whose only occupants were a few leaves brought there by a gust of wind. A thin film of dust covered the name plate again. I kneeled on the seat, and with the edge of my skirt, polished Jean's name until it shined.

"Housekeeping, are we?"

Will. My heart skipped a beat. I took a deep breath and turned around.

He was smiling and took me by the hands. In a second, I collapsed into his arms, and both of us sank onto the bench that cradled us in the late-afternoon sun. His lips on mine were vaguely familiar, but to my surprise, all thoughts and images of Jonathan and Victoria had drifted away. Will was like a new discovery.

Jonathan and Victoria had served their purpose as the vehicle necessary to bring the two of us together. The idea that this old, tragic story was beginning to detach itself from us filled me with a sense of relief.

"They're gone," I whispered into Will's ear.

"What do you mean?" he asked, smiling coyly.

"You know... Jonathan and Victoria. The whole story. I can't feel it any more. Those images that haunted me. Is it the same for you?"

Will nodded. "Ever since I started looking toward the future rather than the past."

So that's my story, our story. I probably would never understand everything that had happened over these past six months or be able to explain to anyone how my years of suffering had disappeared almost effortlessly. It was much too vague and illogical. The cast of characters was all too incredible.

But as long as Will and I believed in destiny, what else mattered?

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