All the World (22 page)

              Pierre tapped his fingers excitedly on the table. “All the paperwork was completed yesterday!”

              “Hallelujah!” shouted Bryony, earning her stares from other café patrons. “I bet Guillaume Garland’s guilty conscience is why everything was agreed upon so quickly.”

              “You think he has a conscience?” Nickolas muttered. Flora gave him a smile and kissed his cheek.

              “Well, aren’t you two lovey-dovey,” teased Bryony.

              Flora tilted her head toward Ben. “Your husband is sitting right there.”

              Lexie laughed. “Yeah, feel free to make out.”

              “I have a surprise for all of you!” Pierre announced before Bryony could voice her retort. 

              “What is it?”

              “Tell us, Pierre!”

              “It must be exciting!”

              Pierre was bursting with delight. “The theatre is being rebuilt on the original property! And Mr. Garland is paying for
all
the construction!”

              Shrieks and cheers filled the café, and Lexie suddenly found herself pulled into a tight hug by her best friend. Flora had been giving Lexie unexpected hugs since the curse ended. She returned it the best she could with a broken wrist. Lexie hoped Flora could feel how much she meant to her in the embrace.

              “Thanks for saving us! Thank you for saving
me
!” Flora whispered the same words she had said many times over the last weeks in a trembling voice.

              Lexie tightened her arms. “I’m glad you’re back! I missed you
so
much! Everything is going to be alright.”

              “What about the lab Cesare Garland planned to build here?” asked Ben as Lexie and Flora reentered the group conversation.

              “Someone sold Garland Corporation some land about ten miles out of town,” answered Pierre. “I don’t think it’s very much land, but I get the feeling that the lab is going to be much smaller than before since Cesare is out of the picture.”

              Lexie huffed and glared at the table. Cesare had been arrested for assaulting Lexie and his father. After a series of intense interrogations, James MacDougal gave details regarding Cesare that added weight to Lexie’s accusations. The police found Cesare’s fingerprints and blood on the tape dispenser in town hall, and Officer Reading managed to trick Cesare into confessing to the murder of Bella Leer. He and James MacDougal had then been promptly moved out of Vernon Hills to a more secure jail.

              Unfortunately, Cesare had not been charged with killing Emily, and Lexie had a sinking feeling that he never would.

              “Hey,” Flora gently pushed Lexie’s shoulder, “what’s with the angry face?”

              Lexie shook her head. “Nothing. I just wish some things had turned out differently. I’m mostly happy, so you don’t—”

              Flora sighed. “You’re mad that Cesare might get away with murdering his secretary and that the car wreck won’t be pinned on Dr. Lindegaard. We can’t have everything, you know.”

              “You know me too well.”

              “That’s why you love me!” she smiled. “Well, he didn’t get away with his other sins. Let’s be grateful for that. Anyway, he won’t be in Vernon Hills anymore!”

              “I’m sorry about what happen with Nickolas’s family too,” Lexie murmured as she watched Braedon and Nickolas carry on their own private conversation.

              “All we can do is show him that we love and care about him,” Flora replied with a distant look in her brown eyes.

              “You really do love him, don’t you?” Lexie nodded at Nickolas.

              “Of course! I always will,” she answered.

              If Flora had made such a claim before the curse, Lexie would have had her doubts. Their relationship hadn’t been the healthiest one in the world, but everything was different now. Nickolas’s egotism had noticeably diminished and had been replaced by his desire to love and care for Flora. He’d practically lived at the hospital until she was released, and he still went everywhere with her when she left the apartment.

              Flora laughed. “I’m glad you and Braedon worked things out.”

              Lexie blushed. “You said we hit it off when I met him. Did you enjoy playing matchmaker?”

              “I think you fell for each other on your own,” Flora smiled. “I was cursed while your love story played out.”

              “I don’t think people believe all the crazy things happened for the same reason,” Ben said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to his conversation with Bryony and Pierre. “Any average person would just think a ton of shit happened at once.”

              “All the focus is on the murders,” added Bryony, “and not many people are going to believe the town was cursed.”

              “It’s too extreme and fanciful,” Nickolas agreed.

              Pierre rubbed his hands together thoughtfully. “But it’d make excellent material for a play.”

              “You should write one!”

              “That’s what I’ve been considering,” the man answered. “I have a good plot and a vast array of interesting characters.”

              Braedon twisted his mouth into something between a smile and grimace. “Are you going to base your characters on us?”

              Pierre nodded. “I won’t treat any of you too harshly.”

              “Well, that’s comforting,” Bryony snickered. “Tell me when you start writing. I’d love to help somehow.”

              “Will you have time while going to marriage counseling?” simpered Pierre playfully. Bryony gave him a good-humored smack on the shoulder.

              Lexie leaned back in her chair and looked around. The people she cared about the most in Vernon Hills were still alive and recovering. Things could have gone very differently, and she could have been spending the afternoon alone downing tequila shots at the Windsor Bar in an attempt to forget her misery. Fortunately, her circle of friends were closer than ever. The bickering that did occur was mild and usually alleviated by a joke or quick apology. Shakespeare’s curse had torn so many relationships apart, but people had quickly come together after it was over.

              There was a lesson to be learned from the curse. Humans had the ability to destroy themselves and those around them with anything from greed and jealous to love and obsession. Emotions were the most powerful weapons people possessed. Feelings and desires were what drove individuals to pick up a gun or sacrifice everything for someone they love. Shakespeare had merely proven that humans would always be steered by their emotions.

             
Dr. Lindegaard was right. I do let my heart interfere with my head.
Lexie contemplated, but she was not disheartened by the thought.

              “A person can’t function without a heart, and I have a good one,” mused Lexie to nobody in particular.

              “You certainly do,” Braedon murmured into her hair.

              Flora, eyes bright, offered Lexie the last bite of her coffee cake. “And I love you so much for your big heart and beautiful soul! I’m sorry you couldn’t save everyone, but you tried. That’s more than most people would have done if they’d been in your position.” 

              Lexie ducked her head so she could get her emotions under control. She hadn’t meant to voice her thoughts aloud. Once she was certain she wasn’t going to burst into tears, she straightened up and smiled warmly at her friends.

              Nickolas slipped into the conversation smoothly. “Thanks for treating us like people when we were messed up.”

              Lexie looked up and met Pierre’s eyes before speaking, “You were
always
people. The curse—”

              “It turned us—or me at least—into animals. I can’t believe I was actually going to kill Uncle Phillip!”

              “You also did your best to treat us like we were the same people instead of fictional characters,” added Braedon.

              “The curse just played on the pieces of your lives and personalities that resembled Shakespeare’s characters,” Pierre explained with a distant look on his face.

              Nickolas rocked back in his chair. “In any case, thank you for stopping the curse. I really think I’d have snuck into the jail and killed my uncle if I had been under the curse any longer. I was out of control!”

              Flora nodded. “Your nightmare about me probably would have come true. Did I really try to strangle myself with IVs at the hospital?”

              Lexie’s throat was so tight that her voice was pinched. “Yeah, but I didn’t see you do it. I only saw the bruises on your neck.”

              “You’re lucky to be alive yourself, Lexie,” Braedon said. “You could’ve been killed so many times.”

              “Well, I’m very, very, very happy that all of us are alive!” Bryony exclaimed, attempting to defuse the solemn atmosphere.

              Ben smacked the table. “I second that!”

              Lexie laughed as Flora held up her cup of coffee. “Here’s to coming back to reality. And to Lexie and Pierre who saved us all!”

              The group of friends, cheering and smiling, toasted with mugs and soda bottles. Lexie didn’t flinch when a splash of Darjeeling tea scalded her thumb because it was nothing compared to what she had gone through. Each glass she clicked made Lexie remember all the lives saved in the tiny town.

              “So,” Pierre chuckled, “have you officially moved your residency to Vernon Hills yet?”

              Lexie smiled, threw an arm around Flora’s shoulders, and tugged Braedon close with her good hand. “As of yesterday, I am a resident of Vernon Hills, so this town better not get cursed again!”

              Happy endings were possible after an angry storm. The good did eclipse the bad, and that was the most anyone could ask for at the end of a contemporary Shakespearian drama.

Author’s Note

              One day I was driving through downtown Clifton Forge, Virginia when an empty building caught my attention. It looked like the perfect set for the famous balcony scene in
Romeo and Juliet
with its cream-colored bricks, red roof, and rounded windows. It was that empty building that gave me the idea for
All the World
.

              I have always been an avid fan of William Shakespeare’s works. I enjoyed studying them at Hollins University and the University of London. One day, I was brainstorming ideas for a novel. I wanted somehow incorporate Shakespeare into my writing. As I stared at my notebook, I remembered the epitaph on Shakespeare’s grave in Holy Trinity Church. It forbade anyone to move his body from that church. The idea of him creating a curse to keep theatre and art alive popped into my head. What if the curse turned people into characters from his plays?

              Shakespearian characters in the modern world sounded like it could be a mixture of comedy and drama. So, I made a list of the characters I thought would be interesting to bring into the modern world. 

              Throughout
All the World
I borrowed quotes from multiple plays written by William Shakespeare. Most of the quotes are well-known and will be recognizable to those who enjoy his works. The plays I use quotes from are
Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Timon of Athens, Macbeth,
and
Much Ado About Nothing
.

              I would like to thank my good friend and fellow writer Suzanne Halka for editing and reading through many drafts of
All the World.
Thank you so much for your invaluable help.