Dances with Monsters(191)

"Heath," she said in a strangled voice. "This—these fuckers—it's a studio!"

Heath stepped up next to her and his eyes scanned what she was seeing. The window peeked into a large room. One wall was floor-to-ceiling mirrors. A parallel double barre ran the length of two of the other walls. The floor was wooden, shiny and new. Drew was utterly flabbergasted.

Heath let out a low whistle. "Wow. I—I didn't see this coming. I thought this would be like a spa or like you said, a bakery or something like that. This—wow."

Drew backed up until her back hit the wall behind her, and then she noticed another room further down the hall. She glared and stormed toward it.

"Oh, they have two studios," she said mockingly. The back studio was dark, but through the window she could see herself and Heath reflected dimly in it. It had a push-door that was currently shut. She glanced to her left, seeing a little sitting area in front of the studio room, and beyond that was another little room, probably an office. She could make out the vague shape of a desk and what might have been a bookshelf in the little room, but it was dark. She growled as she turned to face the studio again, and stepped toward the door. "I have to see this."

"Drew, hang on," he said. "I think you need to calm down.

"I am –" A sudden creaking noise from somewhere in the building met their ears, and she froze. Shit. She'd gotten so overwhelmed and carried away with her hurt and irritation that she'd forgotten—someone actually owned this place, and even though the door was unlocked, they might not appreciate her poking around.

"Someone's here," she whispered to Heath. "Okay, if anyone asks, we're here because—because we have a kid and—and we want her to start taking lessons –"

"Or," Heath whispered back dramatically, mocking her stage whisper. "We're here because you own this place and you have every right to be here."

"Right," Drew said absently, barely hearing him as her mind whirled. It was a likely story, one that could be believed; they were old enough to believably have a child of dancing age, and besides that, why would the owner leave the door unlocked if they didn't –

"Wait," she said suddenly, looking up into his face as she realized what he'd said. "Say what, now?"

In response, Heath took her by the hand and pushed the door open. Her heart began to thud in her chest and it all came together in the instant before he turned on the lights. Fragments of conversations about her dream studio that they'd had suddenly came back to her, the questions he asked echoing through her mind, and the understanding that this was her place hit her as the studio was suddenly bathed in bright light and she found herself looking into the faces of both their families. Happy faces, excited faces, loving faces.

"Surprise!"

Drew didn't even register that she was crying until her vision became so blurry she had to stop and rub her eyes. Then, she was being rushed by all of the people in the room. Her parents, her sisters. Bunz. Her nieces and nephews. Her brothers-in-law. Her dear Uncle Gino. John. Connor and Lana. Lucy and Maggie. They swarmed around her and hugged her, squeezed her, kissed her. Congratulated her, told her they loved her. She was overcome by the force of their love, and it was all directed at her. She felt light-headed; feeling the true power of love in its purest form was transcendental.

This is mine, she thought, and cried harder. This is my dream and it's real.

She hoped that she was being responsive to her loved ones—making the proper answers, hugging people back, but she could not seem to connect her mind and body. She was just too stunned.

Heath elbowed his way through the small crowd to her side, and she saw he held a large manila envelope in his hand as well as a set of keys. With her favorite half-smile, he handed them to her.

"Your ownership paperwork, and the keys," he said simply. "Congratulations, babe."

Drew took them from him weakly. He did all of this, she realized. He did this for me. She felt an overwhelming surge of love for him as she looked into his eyes. She wanted to thank him a million times, tell him how lucky she was to have someone like him in her life, tell him that she couldn't believe he had done something so amazingly thoughtful and kind for her, tell him that he had just made her life's dream come true.

"You are in so much trouble," was all she could manage.

His half-smile spread fully across his face into the grin she loved. "I'll take it," he said simply, using his thumb to brush tears off her face.

Elements was forgotten as the two families celebrated this new milestone achievement. Her mother had brought aluminum pans of spaghetti and lasagna. Bunz had baked and decorated a glorious cake, white almond sponge cake with raspberry preserves and cream cheese filling, topped with mounds of extra-light, fluffy whipped frosting, Drew's absolute favorite. Bunz had decorated it with a pair of pink pointe shoes, tied together with their ribbons. Connor popped the top on a couple bottles of sparkling juice, and everyone sat together on the floor of the backroom studio and just—celebrated.