Thayde’s adopted family, the Dartmoth’s, have disappeared. No one knows what Troen did with them. I think about them a lot and wonder what happened. Maybe he banished them, or turned them into slugs. He could have killed them for all I know, but there’s this nagging feeling that they’re not finished with me and it’s turning me into a nervous wreck.
After Thayde proposed, my world changed. I graduated high school and was accepted to Columbia University - the same university Thayde attended. We moved to Manhattan three months ago.
New York’s been a huge eye opener. Though the university offers traditional student housing, we’ve been living in Thayde’s apartment. That’s been interesting and could be a story unto itself. For one, Mom and Tammer insisted on visiting right away and made us swear to stay ‘pure’ until we were officially married. So we sleep in separate bedrooms and not very well. Can you imagine how hard it is not to run into his bedroom in the middle of the night and rip the clothes off his beautiful body? There have been a few times that we’ve fallen asleep in each other’s arms and we figure as long as we don’t do anything too bad, we’re okay.
Thayde was quick to show me around his neighborhood and it didn’t take me long to realize this city is definitely one for the wealthy. I didn’t even want to ask how much his apartment cost to buy. There are cafés and bookstores everywhere and we’ve visited many of them. Of course, we’ve seen all the places that tourists go when visiting New York - the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and the American Museum of Natural History. All in all, New York is a vast city you either love or hate. Downtown Manhattan is not my favorite place. For one, forget the fact that it’s dirty and crowded – the buildings are so tall they block the sun! However, the restaurants are amazing and diverse. You can get a good Indian curry and a meaty pierogi on the same street corner.
As far as being able to buy anything; New York is fabulous, but it’s also extremely expensive. I’m still not used to the fact that Tammer is so rich. Anything I need, I have and it’s all thanks to him. People don’t exactly live this way in Stanley, Idaho. Sometimes New York makes me want to run back to my roots – to go home to Idaho and be surrounded by the quiet of the mountains. I think I’ll need a vacation soon.
I paused, distracted by the sun’s rays as they warmed the side of my face. They formed a golden column through my window onto my queen sized bed. The giant windows in Thayde’s penthouse apartment had an impressive view of the skyline. Many nights already, we’d stood arm in arm, mesmerized by the lights of the massive city. Thayde was completely comfortable here and he should be. This would be his fourth year attending Columbia. I, on the other hand, was just beginning.
Sighing, I ran my hand through my hair, getting it caught in the tangled mess. I’d been up for twenty minutes and though I’d pulled on some clothes and brushed my teeth, the urge to write had hit me and that was the furthest I’d got.
I looked about the contemporary styled room and shook my head. It was a far cry from my parents, one-of-a-kind luxury mansion in Vero Beach, Florida. This place was in some serious need of decorating. Thayde was not known for his decorating sense and neither was I. I had a feeling I was going to have to relent and call my talented interior decorator Mom.
“Babe?” Thayde’s voice called from the hallway.
“I’m in here,” I answered, closing my diary and leaning over the pillows to plop it on the nightstand. When I looked up, he was standing in the doorway, balancing a glass of orange juice and a flower on a tray on one hand.
“Thayde!” I patted the bed beside me. “You didn’t have to do that!”
“I know.” He eased the tray onto the nightstand and picked up the flower. “I wanted too.” Half dressed, he wore a blue buttoned dress shirt and pajama bottoms. When he bent forward to give me a hug, I could feel the muscles in his warm back tighten as he embraced me.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
“Sure!” It wasn’t a lie. I was okay, but I wasn’t great. I wanted to know why our kind referred to becoming The Link as The Blessing. There wasn’t anything blessed about it. So far it had been a huge burden but I didn’t share it with Thayde and I certainly didn’t tell him anything about the nightmares.
He pulled away from me, holding the flower to my nose. I’d always loved Oriental Lilies. The smell was intoxicating and I closed my eyes. If I could just focus on the exquisite smell of the flower, I knew I’d be able to rid my mind of seeing Thayde dead.