Dear Readers: Let's catch up with Lacey in modern-day Athens...
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Scene 7: Power
A.D. 2015
“Isn’t it all just so lovely?” Lacey sighed, clutching her husband’s arm more closely as they ambled down the streets, the same touristy neighborhood through which she’d walked alone this morning.
“Mm-hmm,” Ryder hummed in monotone assent.
“The people are so friendly,” she remarked, her face a constant mirror of the midday sunshine and the happiness of passersby. “I feel like all their smiles could warm the coldest heart.”
He somehow doubted it. Did not say so aloud, of course.
They passed by a shop that appeared to sell locally made lotions and ointments. “Oh—” she gestured toward the storefront, “—are you still sure we shouldn’t get something for your hand, honey?”
He nodded, continuing at a steady pace right past the shop, Lacey trailing along with both hands around his bicep as always. “Yeah, it’s really all better.”
Indeed it was; he’d woken up without the faintest trace of irritation on his finger. As if the ring had never even been there.
When he’d awoken this morning—Lacey sitting upright in the bed, pillow propped against the headboard, flipping through a European magazine—Ryder had stared at the ring on his nightstand awhile. Lain still, his back toward her as it had been while he had slept, so that she couldn’t see his open eyes. Stared at the wedding band until the sight of it, and what it signified, was seared into his mind. Long enough to leave a mark as severe as the metal had left on his skin.
Not long enough to blot out the brown eyes from his dreams, though he had tried. Ten minutes staring at the ring seemed far too long—ten centuries might not even have sufficed, besides.
So with the memory of other eyes still heavy on his mind, he’d shifted in the bed, to meet the sky-blues of his bride. And she had smiled, and he had mirrored it. Upon his face, at least. Warm though her smile was, it couldn’t breach the cage of ice around his heart.
They had begun the day together, going through the motions of a honeymoon. Neither was sure what it was supposed to feel like, being married. They imagined what it should be, to the best of their ability, and carried on throughout the day in imitation of that faraway ideal.
Then they had sat down to a bounteous buffet brunch at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant. As per usual, Lacey had piled leafy salad and fresh fruit onto her plate, and a bran muffin just for decoration, proceeding to barely touch any of it. But Ryder had known better than to question that. It never went well when he tried to talk about her eating habits.
She had briefly considered telling him about her earlier bite of baklava, to reassure him that she was consuming calories today. Far too many already, in fact. But she herself had been actively trying to forget about having eaten that, so she’d figured it would be silly to share the fact with someone else and thereby make it harder to deny.
Anyhow, here they were now strolling through the neighborhoods of Athens. Lacey realized that the bakery was close by on this block on which they presently walked. She recalled the baker girl, wondering how her ‘breaky heart’ was doing. Hoped that her pretty, customer-friendly smile was becoming less strained and painful as the day wore on.
“Has she been bothering you yet today?” Ryder asked, breaking through his wife’s thoughts, in a gentle voice with genuine concern.
Lacey blinked. “Hm?” she realized soon enough whom he had meant. “Oh, my mother? Not yet. I guess it’s still quite early back in the States.”
“Never too early for Mrs. Weaver to check up on her daughter…”
It was true. No matter the time of day, or wherever in the world she might be, rarely did more than a few hours go by without Lacey’s phone suffering from a seizure of incoming texts from her mother, frequently including delights such as:
“fwd me weekly calorie count summary”
“don’t forget to wish [insert name of some socially advantageous family acquaintance] happy bday”
And Lacey’s very favorite daily inquiry over these past few months: “Sterling?”
Just the one word. The question mark a vertical version of the expectant curve of Katherine’s eyebrow every time she asked. Until recently, the text had been: “Sterling? Veriton?”—but, of course, that second question had been silenced not so long ago by a resounding rejection from Veriton Law.
Katherine held out hope for the top school, still. Veriton was more famous worldwide, but Sterling was far more elite and selective and also the “actual best” according to the annual rankings, which carried the kind of prestige that Katherine valued most.
For law school, at least. For undergrad, Veriton claimed the top spot nearly every year and was globally hailed as the holy grail of colleges. Lacey thought of this as she remembered the brown-eyed girl from the lobby last night. Ryder’s introduction. They had met at Veriton. The girl looked rather young, Lacey mused. She had probably gone to Veriton for college, rather than grad school like Noelle.
What was her name again? Claire? Zoe?… Ugh. Something cutesy like that…
This train of thought suddenly stopped as a little boy ran out into the streets in front of her, waving his arms in an enthusiastic greeting. She recognized him instantly, waving hello back at him. Then glanced up to see that they were currently right outside the familiar bakery.
And that this boy’s big brother and the baker girl were seated at a table together, sharing baklava and burbling on in their charming Greek accents, getting utterly lost in each other’s bright, googly eyes.
The sight warmed Lacey’s heart, of course. She wasn’t sure how exactly the two had crossed paths in the few hours since she’d seen each of them. But whatever had happened, it was exactly what she would have wished for them both.
And she couldn’t help but feel as if she’d had something to do with their now entwined lives. Having ordered a pastry from one, and shared it with the other… having picked up on a possible pairing between them, a union of perfectly well-suited souls…
She waved goodbye to the young boy, as she and Ryder continued on their way. Definitely not about to stop to say hello to the enamored pair of locals. Not about to interrupt the little love match taking shape.
The Campions proceeded to go through the honeymoon motions all afternoon. And although Lacey’s heart was full of Ryder, as ever, her mind couldn’t help but stray toward other thoughts. Among them Dan—the match she’d imagined for him on her wedding day, when Tess had poked her pretty blonde head into the bridal suite and Lacey had realized just how perfect her two best friends might be together. How Dan could maybe find, in the Barbie-doll lookalike bridesmaid, whatever he liked about Lacey and more.
Sometime later that day, her phone buzzed with a new text. Lacey sighed, expecting “Sterling?” from her mother.
But no. The name on the screen was Tess Fagan. And the text was about a certain guy with whom Tess had gotten to talking at a soirée last night, on whom she’d developed a bit of a crush. Asking Lacey’s permission to start dating him, since Dan had been her childhood best friend and almost-sweetheart, after all. Lacey stared at the message for what may have been an hour.
And for the first time in her life, she felt a foreign feeling.
Power.
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So, any thoughts on this power? ;) We'll learn a little more about it before the end of Episode 5...
Any reactions from #Dacey fans? o_o
Next scene, we'll stick around in modern-day Athens to check in with Atria... and if you liked this one, please don't forget to vote! :)
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