‘In a magical city.’ Conrad gave them a firm head nod.
‘Do you want to do it?’ Quaddra asked, as he and Mary stepped out onto the streets. It was just past 7:00 p.m. on a beautiful, perfect night, where a full moon shared the sky with a thousand stars.
Mary bit down on a smile. ‘Do you?’
‘Why not?’ He looked down at the padlock and pen. ‘We’re here, anyway. We’ve got a padlock. We might as well.’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t think that you would be into something superstitious like that.’
‘I’m not,’ Quaddra agreed. ‘Superstitious, I mean, but I do love what it’s supposed to mean… the everlasting love part.’ His head angled to one side. ‘I really want that to be true for us.’
Mary gave Quaddra another dose of her puppy eyes. ‘Me too, honey.’
‘So, let’s do it,’ Quaddra said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. ‘Maybe itisa magical bridge.’
‘In a magical city,’ Mary said back, with a smile.
Quaddra turned to face south. ‘According to the concierge, thebridge is just over there.’ He pointed straight ahead. ‘How about we do it now, before we go for dinner?’
‘Sure.’ Mary held on to Quaddra’s arm.
It really did take them just two minutes to get to the bridge, and the bridge really was just as beautiful as Conrad had described it. Padlocks of all different sizes and all different colors covered one hundred and twenty yards of railings… on both sides. And Conrad wasn’t lying when he told them that they would feel something in the air when they crossed the bridge.
‘This is amazing,’ Quaddra said, reaching for his phone to snap a couple of pictures.
Mary nodded and did the same. ‘There must be tens of thousands of padlocks here.’
‘At least,’ Quaddra agreed. ‘And like the concierge said, they’re all here for one reason – hope of everlasting love.’
Mary hugged herself and rubbed her arms. ‘And yeah, the hairs on my arms have gone “puff”.’ She mimicked the concierge’s hand gesture from earlier.
They walked past two other couples locking their padlocks onto the railings and found a spot towards the center of the bridge.
‘How about right here?’ Quaddra suggested, indicating a large enough gap at the bottom of the railing.
‘Looks good.’ Mary nodded.
Quaddra unwrapped the padlock and handed it to Mary, together with the marker pen. ‘How about we do it like this – you write my name and I’ll write yours, like we’re wishing for each other.’
Mary laughed. ‘For someone who isn’t superstitious, you sure caught on quick.’ She took the pen and the padlock. ‘Do I write it anywhere?’
‘I guess,’ Quaddra replied, with a single shoulder shrug.
‘OK,’ Mary said before narrowing her eyes at Quaddra and pointing at him. ‘It’s Quaddra, right?’
Quaddra dipped his chin to look back at her. ‘Oh, you’ve got jokes tonight, have you?’
Mary blew him a kiss, as she wrote Quaddra’s name onto the padlock, just above the keyhole. ‘Here you go.’ She handed the padlock and the pen to him.
Quaddra took it and wrote Mary’s name directly under his. ‘OK, here it goes.’ He unlocked the padlock and handed one of the keys to Mary, keeping the second one for himself. He then got down on his knees to lock the padlock to the bottom of the railing.
‘You know, Mary?’ he said, his gaze still on her. ‘Every time I look at you – when I’m waking up in the morning, when you’re stepping out of a shower, when I’m coming home from work or a trip… it doesn’t matter when… it doesn’t matter where… you always take my breath away… every time. And tonight, when I saw you walking into the living room back at our hotel, my heart almost stopped.’
‘Aww, baby!’ Mary reached down and placed her right hand on his left cheek.
Quaddra kissed her palm before locking the padlock onto the bridge, but he didn’t stand up… he stayed down on his knees. ‘I know that in modern society, everlasting love is becoming something of a unicorn. Couples don’t really stay together like they did in the old days. But just look at this bridge and all these padlocks – every single one of them wishing for that everlasting love… hoping that this bridge really is magical, but if you allow me, Mary Smith, I’ll show you that the magic of my love for you comes from here.’ Quaddra brought his right hand to his chest and tapped it twice. ‘From deep inside my heart.’ He threw his key into the river. ‘Not from a magic bridge.’
‘What…?’ Mary shook her head ever so slightly. ‘What are you saying, honey?’
