The Last Gift

Cecilia woke with the morning sunlight that blazed through her bedroom window. She slowly opened her eyes and glanced at the clock on her night table and was amazed. It was ten thirty in the morning. She couldn't sleep well last night; tossing and turning almost all night. It had been so late when she dropped into a deep sleep.

Getting up quickly, Cecilia went into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth and have a hot shower. And then she got dressed and smelled the aroma of something delicious even before she came down the stairs.

When she walked into the dining room, she was surprised to see that James Terry was already seated at the dining table. He smiled the moment he saw her.

"Mr. Terry!" breathed Cecilia. "How long have you arrived here?" she asked, amazed.

"Since early in the morning."

"What's going on?" She came over to the table and sat down.

"Nothing important. But I have something to give you," he said, poking his hand into the inner pocket of his jacket and produced a beautiful box covered with scarlet velvet.

Cecilia looked at him in bewilderment.

"This is for you; you can call it a wedding present," he said.

She took the box from his hand and slowly opened it. Inside were some pieces of beautiful jewelry: a gold necklace inset with diamonds – the most beautiful one she had ever seen, and a pair of matching diamond earrings, a ring and a bracelet. They were all dazzling.

Cecilia was too astonished to form a word, gazing at James in disbelief, her eyes widening. "I can't…I can't accept it." She finally found her voice and shook her head.

"Yes, you can," he said, smiling.

"No."

"Wait! Listen, Cecilia, you have to accept the jewelry because it was not me who bought it, but it was him."

"Him?" said Cecilia, confused.

"Yes, it was him. Your lover, Ken."

"What!" she said breathlessly, feeling as if the room suddenly spinning. "What did you say?" she asked after a

few moment silence.

"Kenneth bought the jewelry… for you."

Cecilia's mouth dropped open. "You said that Ken'd bought it for me?" she repeated, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"Yes. It is true. If you don't believe me, there's his letter inside the box," said James calmly.

"Inside the box?" she said, looking inside the box again and saw a letter laid under the jewelry. She hadn't noticed it before. She took it out and read it.

My dearest Cecil,

This jewelry set I gave you is actually my mom's property and it's her wish to pass it on to you and I did so. I gave it to you with all my devoted love. Keep it and my love with your soul forever.

With lots of love

Ken.

"Actually, he'd intended to give it to you on the very wedding day - the wedding day of you and him if he didn't die."

Cecilia suddenly felt her throat ache and couldn't swallow.

"And before he died he asked me to give you this wedding

gift on your wedding day– the gift he wanted to give you on his own. So I now give it to you instead of my best friend."

Tears began to sting under her eyelids. Cecilia bit down her lower lip and sucked back the tears. James Terry's words made her ache in the heart and feel guilty. James' eyes fixed on hers as if studying how much she still felt about Ken.

"Well, I have something left to give you," he finally said, poking his hand into the inner pocket again and extracted something.

Something… something that could make her heart give a jerk. It was a gold chain with a two photo locket. That was something she'd wanted to get back desperately. Inside the locket put the pictures of Ken and her in on each side.

"Where…where did you find that?" she asked excitedly.

"I've found this in his drawer."

"In his drawer?" she asked, confused. "But I didn't find this when I went to his and searched for it."

James let out a deep breath. "Well, it's because I fetched this before you."

"When?" she demanded.

"Why is this so important to you when you got the thing you wanted to?"

"But I want to know when you got it and why didn't you give it back to me once you found it even when you know I wanted to have it so much," she said, unable to hide her dissatisfaction. "You cannot know how important and valuable this thing to me?"

"Really? Even when you are about to marry another man?" he asked.

His words made Cecilia flush. Why did he always have a way to disturb her, she thought, fumed.

"Yes. It would always be important to me," she said indignantly.

"Well," he said, nodding his head. "It's good to hear that my friend is still in your head."

"Not in my head, he's always in my heart, he'll always be."

"Good…. Good. By the way, why aren't you getting married here?" asked James. Apparently he seemed to intend to change the subject.

"Because we don't want to be disturbed," answered Cecilia before she gripped the coffee cup on the table and kept her gaze on it.

The truth was that she wanted the wedding ceremony to get accomplished beautifully and peacefully without any disturbance. But was it possible, she thought, a panic in her chest.

"Have you planned where to stay after the wedding?" he asked.

"No, not yet. We haven't our room decorated."

"Why not?" asked James, puzzled.

"Because we're living in a hotel for a week or so," she explained. "So we think we will be able to buy the things we need only when we get back here. And as you know, we don't have much time to do those things. He'll soon be there to set out the trip," she added, glancing up at the clock on the wall and finishing her breakfast.

James was gazing at her with his eyes, full of forgiveness, understanding and compassion. He understood her feeling well, and that she loved and trusted in Oliver Phoenix.

"Cecilia," he said. She glanced at him. "Could I…come along with you?" he asked suddenly, a strange expression on his face.

"What!" she frowned, a look of disapproval on her face. "What do you want, Mr. Terry? To mess things up…between us?"

"No". He shook his head. "Just asking. And anyway, I'll have to attend to your wedding as well. So I'm just asking you that I could come along with you," he said teasingly.

"No, you can't. If you want to attend the wedding, you can go there by the limo," she said. She couldn't help noticing herself sounding a bit angry though she knew he just teased her.

"No. I have my own car. I'll come to your wedding on my own," said James with a soft smile.

"It's up to you," she said, rising.

James knew that Cecilia wasn't apparently interested in him or what he was saying in the least now, because she just expected Oliver to arrive.

"By the way," he began before Cecilia took a step away

from him. "Why do you still call me Mr. Terry?" he asked. He saw her turn to look at him with puzzled eyes.

After a few seconds, she said, "Because your name is Mr. Terry, isn't it?"

He nodded. "But I'd prefer you to call me James," he said with a strange smile.

Cecilia frowned. "Mr. Terry, you should know yourself that you're saying the wrong thing at the wrong time," she said, turning on her heel and charging out.

James forced to smile, but he knew it was a painful smile. He also got to his feet and followed Cecilia, who was now standing in the front doorway and looking forward to Oliver's arrival.

She didn't even notice that James came near her.

"Well, I'm leaving." She thought she heard him saying, but hardly sensed it and did not turn to look at him.

James cleared his throat. This time Cecilia turned to him.

"Oh, Mr. Terry!" she murmured.

"Well, don't worry, Cecilia," he said with a false smile. "Your Mr. Phoenix will surely be here soon," he added with an I-know-everything-look on his face.

Cecilia was a bit embarrassed by his words but said nothing.

"Well, I'm leaving, Cecilia."

"Okay, Mr. Terry. Oh, by the way, we're going to live in that town for a month or several months as long as we're

happy," she said boastfully.

"In the hotel?" A surprise look was on his face.

"Maybe or maybe not," she replied thoughtfully. "We may rent a house there."

"Fine. Call me if you want help. Bye."

When James was gone, Cecilia was left alone, feeling free. She hated being watched like a child. He always watched her every movement, she thought, and worse than that, sometimes, she had the feeling James could read her mind. And the look on his face and the sardonic smile he often wore almost always made her annoyed or perplexed.

Shortly afterwards, Cecilia saw Oliver come walking up the driveway. The sight of him put James out of her mind instantly. Oliver smiled up at her as he reached near the front steps. He had a smile that could drive her sadness away from her.

He paused and held out his arms to her, waiting. She came running down the steps to him and threw her arms about him. They embraced tightly each other and kissed. His kisses were demanding, yet tender, overwhelming her so fast she could not draw away from him.

Several minutes later, Cecilia found herself sitting in her car next to him, ready to set out. They had finished carrying their bags to the car and stacking them in the trunk. And now they started their journey.

"I feel like this is our honeymoon," said Oliver as they started to turn away from her house.

"So do I," she said.

"Sometimes I wish I could take you away from here, forever," he said while driving, not turning to look at her, "where the jealous ones who want to make you and me break up," he said dreamily.

"You don't have to, Oliver. Because you'll own me soon, won't you?"

"Yes, you're right."

"So why so pensive?" she said, taking Oliver's hand in hers.

"No, I'm not. I'm…so happy now. Don't I look so?" He tried to laugh.

Cecilia turned to look at his face.

"Our wedding will be as wonderful as we're expecting. No one will destroy it," said Oliver. It was as if he encouraged himself.

Cecilia couldn't shift her gaze away from his for a moment and then nodded at his words. "Yeah, you're right, Oliver. No one will. We might never be apart," she said. It sounded like she were in a trance.

Oliver turned to look at her and said, "Not as long as we trust each other."

His words made her swallow hard. She was uncertain how long she would be able to trust him.

There was a short pause until Cecilia let her breath out and told Oliver that they would have to pick up Alice and Flora. He looked surprised and a bit embarrassed.

"Why?"

"Because they want to come along with us."

"But they can go themselves by the limo we arranged for the guests," he demanded.

"Oh, Oliver, I told you. They want to come along with me to the town," said Cecilia. "Don't you see? They're my best friends."

Oliver did not look pleased but said nothing.

After picking up Alice and Flora, they didn't have much time privately, and as always Alice and Flora were talkative. The three of them were all talking about the wedding, the dresses they were wearing to it, and the guests who would be attending. It was as if Oliver were completely forgotten and simply out of the conversation.

It was getting dark when they reached the town. They wandered nowhere but heading toward a fine hotel. Checking in the hotel, they took a rest for a while and went down to the dining room to have dinner and came across some of her business partners, who came to the town to attend her wedding and now were also in the hotel.

Cecilia greeted them and introduced Oliver to them. After that they had a chance to have dinner together, this time Alice and Flora didn't disturb them. Oliver chose to sit at the corner table where they would have a degree of privacy.

"Tomorrow we will be husband and wife, won't we?" he began with a smile, but not a wide smile.

"Of course, we will be," she agreed.

Oliver did not appear to be very happy. He looked worried as if something terrible were happening to him or to them. Actually, Cecilia herself was not too happy to be his bride. Invisible tremor in her mind made her look a little distraught.

They'd hoped they have a heavy conversation at the dinner but now both of them were almost silent.

After dinner, even though Cecilia knew that Oliver was eager to walk with her out on the hotel front lawn, she told him she wanted to go to bed early tonight. He looked disappointed. She was sure that Oliver wanted to spend the night with her though he hadn't asked her to. But she wanted to save themselves for their wedding night and she told him that. Finally, he reluctantly agreed with her, he didn't like the idea, though.

"I want the wedding to get finished as soon as possible," he said, his voice quiet and weak. Cecilia was amazed and looked up at him.

They were now on the way back to their rooms. She wanted him to meet her eyes and speak honestly. Yet he was evasive.

'Why?" she asked.

He didn't answer. She had no idea why he didn't, maybe he was much too distracted by his own thoughts.

"Oliver!" she called. This time he looked down at her and smiled. "I'm asking you why?" she repeated.

"Why? Oh," he smiled his wide smile. "Because I want

you to be my wife, of course."

But his answer didn't satisfy her. And that was not the answer what she wanted. But she didn't want to make any complaints anymore.

"Good night," he said, leaning down and kissing her on the cheek as they got to the front of the hotel suite, in which, Cecilia, Flora and Alice would sleep.

"Sweet dreams!" she told him.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite," he said.

She smiled and he left. She watched him walk down the corridor and go inside his room. She entered her room too.

Anticipating the excitement of tomorrow, worrying about what would happen, kept her awake. Surely Cecilia knew that she wouldn't sleep much tonight.