Chapter Fifteen
Thalia
One minute I was sitting by the Nile, then I blinked and was surrounded by over a hundred people. What in the world? I looked around and noticed we were by a very large castle, and there seemed to be a ball happening in the courtyard.
“Welcome to Ashford Castle in Ireland, love.” Tristan’s voice from behind me gave me shivers down my spine. He was up to something. I turned to look at him, and felt the weight of material around my feet. Looking down, I saw I wasn’t wearing what I went to bed in, but rather I was wearing an ornate, floor-length green dress, with long sleeves. I looked like something out of an old Robin Hood movie. The only thing missing was my large belly, but I knew it was only a dream.
“What are we doing here?” I asked, finally looking back up to see him dressed in an outfit fitting that time era. All black, his favorite color to wear. He was very handsome in it, too.
“My lady, we are here to dance.” He held out his hand, gesturing that I should take it, and accept his request to dance. I curtsied like I had seen women do in the movies, and placed my hand in his, all while holding back from giggling. He led us out to where the people were dancing in sync on the stone floor.
“Tristan, I don’t know how to do this dance.” I didn’t want to make a fool of myself, or him. He smiled, and started to move us. I followed along and before I knew it we were dancing like everyone else.
“I want to take you through some of my favorite times in history, times that you missed. There were many moments I wished I could have shared with you. Would you live them with me in your dreams? Give me back those moments?” With those words, I swore my heart was going to burst.
“Of course.” I was totally about to cry. This was by far the most romantic proposal I had ever heard of. My answer made happiness and love bloom in his sou, l and I sent it right back to him. We were going to have the night of our lives, and take back some of the time that was stolen from us.
He told me that he used to watch the people dance and enjoy their celebrations, which was part of his domain, a form of ritual. Ireland was peaceful at this time. No war, everyone just enjoying their life. A simple life. We laughed and smiled while using the words of that time. He called me my lady, and I called him sir. We tried speaking with Irish accents, but I failed miserably; he, of course, was flawless at it. Tristan with an Irish accent was pretty hot. When the ball was starting to wind down, Tristan gripped my hand and asked if I was ready for the next adventure.
I closed my eyes so when we arrived at our next destination in time I would be surprised.
When I heard a different background noise than the ball we were both at, I opened my eyes to see a woman with a long cigarette hanging from her mouth. Jazz music was playing in the background. It looked like we were in the Twenties. I once dressed up as a flapper for Halloween when I was 10. Looking down, I saw I was wearing a gold flapper dress. Tristan was wearing a casual tan suit. He looked amazingly sexy.
His hair was slicked back and his eyes were looking over me with heat in them. I did a little shimmy to make my dress flap around, which made me giggle.
“This was a fun time. A little bit of rebellious fun never hurt anyone.” He winked at me and led us over to a table. A waitress took our order for drinks and together we just relaxed and watched the singer give it her best on the small stage with a little band.
“I always thought this time looked cool. What were you doing then?”
“I’ll show you.” He winked at me and then nodded towards the woman on the stage. I followed his gaze to see she winked at him with a smile. I vaguely heard his chair scrape across the floor, before I saw his figure moving towards the stage. What was he doing?
The singer ended her song, and the small band went quiet. Tristan switched positions with the pianist and then started to play a sweet melody.
The singer started to hum, and then sing softly.
Tristan was playing the piano. I never knew he could! There were still so many things I didn’t know about him. All these years, he probably had so many stories, and talents that I had yet to figure out. My mind was completely enraptured by watching his fingers glide over the keys, his eyes closed, getting lost in the song. He was so beautiful. There were so many sides of him I couldn’t wait to unlock and explore.
Right then I knew, we were going to win this fight. There wasn’t another option for us. Tristan and I were going to live forever, with our children, and do things like this. Play in the dream world. Live out the years exploring, learning new things. One day we will look back, recall these memories, and smile.
Hope, love, and determination filled my soul. I knew when Tristan felt it because his eyes opened and found mine. I could see in his gaze that he was with me. We were in it together. A promise to fight for a future. He finished the song out slowly, then thanked the singer and pianist for letting him take over.
His walk back to the table was full of swagger, much like the gangsters sitting around the speakeasy.
“You are amazing.” It was all I could say. He stunned me with his skills.
“I spent a lot of time playing the clubs during the Twenties. It soothed me.” He held out his hand for mine, and there was no hesitation in moving mine into his.
“We have to get a piano so you can play for us at home.” He chuckled.
“Whatever you want, love.”
We listened to another song, before he said we had one more place to go before it was time to wake up. I may have pouted a little that our fun would be over, but he promised that we would do this as much as we could. We had two thousand years to recover; I was looking forward to it very much.
Closing my eyes like I had before, I felt Tristan take us somewhere else. There was no sound, so I figured we weren’t at a party. I bit my lip before opening my eyes to see our last destination for the evening.
Tristan wasn’t holding my hand anymore, but was standing behind and old camera. Strange. I looked around, and we were just in a large studio apartment, with a cityscape outside the window. Hmm, I wonder what this moment was to him? Then I looked at myself.
“Tristan!” I was in heels, thigh-high stockings, high-waisted panties, and a vintage, full-coverage bra. I was a pin-up girl!
