The Gravity of Love (26 page)

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The information was heavy. Scary. She knew
exactly what he was trying to say. Molly couldn't face him. She searched for
somewhere else to put her gaze. She looked out of a large window and saw a
fountain. Which reminded her of gushing water. Which reminded her...

"Oh my God!" She exclaimed.
"I left the water on at home. I got to go!"

But when she went to run, Harrison caught
her arm.

"Come on, Molls. You didn't like it
when I pulled that on you. And I just made up for it. You're going to avoid it,
just like that? Walk away and ignore me?" He looked deeply hurt.

"No, Harry, I'm serious. I really did
leave the water on at home. In the bathtub. Right before we left. I'm so
sorry!" She said, running to the exit.

The only thing that stopped her again was
seeing Ephram standing in her path. And he had just spotted her.

"Oh damn." She whispered.

"Molly, I just heard it was storming
hard outside. The streets are starting to flood." Harrison informed her.
"You can't go."

"I have to or my apartment is going to
match those streets! Just help me dodge Ephram."

He shrugged. "Um...'kay." And
with that, he swept her right off her feet and in to his arms, then running
right by Ephram, who yelled out a questioning call, and put her down at the
door. "If you insist on going, I'm going with you." He grabbed her
cloak and his coat, then led the way to the car.

The rain was coming down hard and fast. It
felt painful against the exposed areas of her skin. She jumped in to the car
and Harrison took off, zooming down the street as high sprays of water
surrounded the sides of the car.

Harrison's eyes were hard and in slits. He
was upset. And he was grumbling to himself.

But he was being generous and caring and
frankly, she was quite scared of a storm of this size and was grateful for
someone else to be driving. She didn't want to make matters worse by opening
her mouth and saying something stupid.

So she sat, staring out at the waves of
water that were being caused by their wheels.

The rain grew worse and the roads grew
slicker. The waves disappeared as the car came to a grueling crawl. It would
have been quicker to walk if you could walk in such a storm.

"I'm not so sure about this..."
Harrison finally mumbled. The muscles in his arms grew tense and his fingers
gripped the steering wheel. This wasn't anger anymore, this was

caution. Wariness.

The road dipped. At the bottom was a few feet
of water. There were no turn offs to avoid this.

He stopped the car, but the brakes were no
match for the slickness of the hilly road. They were sliding down anyway.

And then suddenly there were lights behind
them. A hard bang that rippled from the back of the car to the front,
propelling them in to the body of water. The car behind them went in to the
water as well. And suddenly the water started to leak inside through the cracks
of the doors.

The water was freezing cold to the touch
and Molly whimpered when some gushed on to her legs and feet, wetting her dress
and shoes.

"Huddle your legs on the seat."
Harrison said calmly. His mind was thinking fast, which is why he appeared so
silent and unconcerned.

She gathered her legs in her arms after
taking off her heels and putting them on the dash. "So...we're
stuck?"

He snorted. "That's pretty much the
reason why we're no longer moving. And either are those people who hit
us." His tone was cold and harsh. No more mister nice guy, she supposed.

"So...we're probably going to be here
for a while?" She squeaked.

"Sure damn looks like it."

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It had to be about an hour later. Molly
could see her breath each time she exhaled. She clutched her velvet cloak tight
against her but it wasn't enough. It didn't help that there was small pools of
water on the floor.

Harrison had kicked his feet up on to the
dash and started staring straight ahead of them when they first got stuck. He
hadn't moved a muscle since.

She wanted so badly to confront him about
what he had said. Her heart did a funny little dance that made her want to
wiggle in her seat from the odd sensation. He had all but said he was in love
with her. Or had he said that? Certainly it was at least implied. So that kiss
wasn't from not having a girlfriend for a few days. It was an impulsion upon
reacting on his feelings. What he really felt. What he had felt for a long
time.

Just like her.

Harrison looked over at her to see her
bluish lips in front of her chattering teeth.

"That's it." He growled, taking
his coat off and thrusting it at her. "I'm going to see if I can find
somewhere for us to go. You stay here."

She gasped. "You can't go out there!
It's like a river. You could be swept away! Don't you ever watch the
news?"

"Yes. And the news always says not to
come out here in the first place when they severely warn against floods! So now
it's either I find some kind of shelter or I watch you slowly freeze to death,
thanks to you being so damn skinny." He griped.

He opened his door, a blast of bitter cold
wind greeting them both. "Stay here. Keep as warm as you can. I'll be
back."

She held back the impulsive whimper. She
was scared for the both of them, but mainly him.

He had just gone in the freezing flood at
sub temperatures in the middle of winter, late in the night, without so much as
a coat to aide him. Because he had given it to her. And now he was working on
saving her. Because he loved her.

A tear slipped down her cheek as she settled
in to her seat in anxious await.

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Molly was vaguely aware of the feeling of
strong arms wrapping around her and lifting her from her seat.

"Mmm...hmm...mmm..." She meant to
speak words, but nothing came out.

"Shh, it's okay." More words
followed this but she didn't hear them. She curled in to the warmth of the body
carrying her as her own was wracked in chills.

So cold. So very cold.

Molly wasn't sure if it was still raining.
That's how she got here, wasn't it? From it raining hard? But she had been
covered from head to foot so that not a single inch of her body was exposed to
wind or cold.

And then it was warm. It started in her
toes and chest and slowly crept in to the rest of her body. It tingled and felt
wonderful.

"Where? Where am I?" She asked,
her eyelids heavy and closed.

"We're in Andrew Mandus's house."
It was Harrison who answered her. Of course, he was the one who got her out.

"Do...do I know that person?"

"Nope. He's just a nice guy that
offered his home to us until we're able to get home."

He sat down on a sofa, allowing her to
cuddle closer to him. She heard somewhere close by the crackling of a healthy
fire.

"Can you sit up a bit? I have some hot
chocolate for you to drink."

She raised her head and took the large
sized mug in her hands and tried her best not to chug the warmness in to her
blood flow.

"How is she doing?" A strange
voice asked. He sounded like a kind man.

"She'll be just fine now. Thank you so
much for your generosity. It means a lot to us."

"Of course. It's horrid weather out
there. I do hope it passes shortly."

"So do I." He said gruffly.

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Molly was fully recovered within a half
hour, but she didn't tell Harrison that. In truth, it was quite nice to be
curled up in Harrison's arms. It felt...so normal.

"I'm so sorry I got us in to this,
Harry. I didn't mean too."

"Then you shouldn't have dragged us
out!" He exclaimed.

"But I was telling the truth! I never
shut off the water I put on to take a bath. I really did leave the water on at
home. But I'm really, really sorry that I interrupted you. I know you're still
sore about that. But I promise I didn't mean to. I really wanted to hear what
you had to say. How about you continue now?" She said, changing her
position a bit so she could look up in to his eyes.

He sighed. "You want me to do that
again?"

"No. Just to finish it."

He nodded. "Okay. Well Molly, what I
was trying to say before I was so rudely interrupted and dragged out to the
car, got caught in an accident, ended up in a river in the middle of Main
Street, nearly drowned in pursuit of trying to find you shelter"

"Harrison." She reminded with a
grin.

"But...I digress. I was saying that I
love you, Molly. It's hard for me to admit, but I'm doing it now. And I'm sorry
I never told you sooner. And if you'd allow me to, I'd love for you to love me
back. To date a while until we get comfortable with being romantic towards each
other. And then go on to furthering the relationship. Molly, I really want you
in my life.

Forever. And not just as best friends.
Friends could never be enough when it comes to you and I."

She kissed a spot on his neck and cuddled
in to him. "I'd really, really like that, Harry."

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The rain finally did pass. It took hours until
the city made its way around to making it's streets able to be driven on, but
around three in the morning, Harrison and Molly were getting a lift to their
apartment building.

Relief filled them at the sight. Seeing
there was no welcome committee, they guess that Joe and Marty had been smarter
than them and stayed at the dance.

And then Molly remembered why they had left
themselves.

"Oh damn." she whispered, running
in to the apartments.

There was water running down the stairs.
They ran through it until they reached her door. When it opened, more water
flowed out. Harrison barged in before her and ran to the bathroom to shut it
off. When he came back, soaked once again up to his thighs from splashing, his
face showing signs of his hot temper rising.

She shrugged at his silent accusing.
"It sure is good you love me." She whispered, doing her best to look
adorable while she walked towards him. "But to be fair, I told you I left
the water on."

Harrison just shook his head as a slow
smile appeared on his face. Taking her in his arms, he forgot all about the
water as he melted in to her kiss.

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"It's a real fancy place. Harrison
really pulled through after all that talk of being broke."

"It's the most important day of their
lives he was bound to find it somewhere."

"Where's the champagne? We need more
champagne."

"I always knew they'd end up together.
It was certain Destiny. And my, aren't they beautiful?"

Molly sat in the middle of all the
attention, dressed in a flowing white gown and listening to everyone's input.
It was the last that made her ears perk the most. Both of the mothers were very
pleased to hear the engagement announcement, some six months after the couple
had visiting Vermont together. The parents were even happier to hear that the
wedding would be in Vermont.

As she wrapped her arms around one of
Harrison's, she thought about what her mother just said. Destiny. Yes, she
supposed it was. Once she and Harrison started serious dating, they became more
of a team than ever. He had helped her with all her goals she had been trying
to complete. He helped get her in to a college, a far cry from Harvard but good
enough for the deed, which started her down the path of becoming that lawyer
she always had a goal to be. No, she wouldn't be the country's finest. Now, she
just liked the idea of being a good, top notch lawyer in the small Nevada city.

Harrison had brought her to the most
beautiful house she ever saw one day. It was only a twenty minute drive from
their apartments, but she had never seen it through the years of living so
close. After she had said yes to Harrison's proposal, made in the living room
that was decorated with beautiful flowers everywhere, he told her that it was
theirs. That once they were married, she'd no longer be living in that little
place she had wanted to get out of.

And just being with him had made her
flourish and grow. She started to understand her own self more as she learned
more about Harrison. Who knew two close friends who'd been together near their
whole lives could have missed so much about each other before?

Molly snuck a peek at Marty and Joe. Marty
always blushed a deep crimson whenever she caught Molly looking at them. But
right now Marty wasn't paying any attention to who stared at her. She was quite
occupied locking gazes with Joe. They had come far from the mere acquaintances
they once were. They had been dating for about a year now and were still quite
crazy about each other. Molly smirked. Who knew?

"Are brides always this quiet on their
wedding day?" A soft, husky whisper blew against her ear.

She looked up at her husband of an hour and
a half and smiled brightly. "I suppose not. I was just...reflecting."

"Reflecting, huh? On what?"

She kissed him, a round of applause and
cheering around them as she did so, then laid her head against his shoulder.
"On how perfection can come out of places you least expect it to."

He wracked his mind a moment, then gave up.
"Is that a compliment or an insult, Molls?"

She giggled. "A compliment. I
think." She added with a wink.

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