Forever Lovers (5 page)

Today, was the Fourth of July and a rodeo
celebration was in nearly every small town in the United States of
America. The streets were decorated in red, white, and blue banners
that wrapped around every lamp post while bunting was draped across
the top of every porch and business in the town, signifying
Independence Day. The American flag waved from the window of all
the store fronts seeming to salute to all the service men and women
they saw.

Everyone across each state was having parades
consisting of fire engines, local bands, politicians, Cub Scouts,
Girl Scouts, YMCA acrobats, and floats from DAR that symbolized its
American history. Colorful Shriner clowns in motorized mini cars
always entertained the crowd as they raced around pretending to
chase each other. They were always a big hit. The riding club in
their western gear with saddles of silver tooling decorated the
beautiful strutting horses were always highly admired and a
highlight of the parade as well.

This year, leading the parade was Lily, Queen
of the Kansas State Rodeo. She was dressed totally in white western
gear trimmed in gold and silver, riding Hot Pants. Hot Pants was
trimmed in silver as well, which turned out to be far more
expensive than if she had settled for a car in the first place.
Peeking out from under the white hat was her mahogany red hair that
curled half way down her back. She held the American flag in her
right hand and waved with the other as she guided Hot Pants with
her knees. She was an awesome sight. (Take that, Mr. Quinn!)

Bringing up the rear of the parade were two
police escorts dressed in black on mighty fine black Harley
motorcycles. With their sunglasses and helmets pulled low, they
looked like they meant business.

By evening, Lily was decked out more
practical as she got ready to compete in the barrel racing
competition in chaps, dusty brown boots, brown Stetson with a
turquoise silver band (Could have bought another small car with
that little item.) and a deep turquoise western shirt. Hot Pants
performed to perfection with the guidance of her mom, dad, and
brother, Jonathan who whistled and shouted words of encouragement
in the background along with her Uncle and his wife, Jen. She won
hands down with a trophy to prove it. She sent an email picture to
Quinn. It made him smile as did all the pictures she sent.
Unbeknown to her, he had thumb tacked each one to the wall in his
room as he waited for that eighteenth birthday when he would make
her his.

When Lily turned seventeen, Quinn began
emailing that summer. That was a glorious summer of blooming love –
one that she held near and dear to her heart. She, in her youthful
enthusiasm, mailed him on a regular basis. He on the other hand,
not so much. With half the United States between them, it was a lot
easier for Quinn to put on the brakes. Not only did he need to keep
some space between them while he waited for her to grow up, but she
needed the transition from childhood to womanhood with all the
memories that most everyone has – going to prom with a friend of
course, going to parties with chaperons of course, learning to
drive, going to slumber parties, going to movies without parents,
learning to drink beer just a little, swimming lazily in the pool,
going to graduation parties and all the fun memories that everyone
should get a chance to make and take with them from their high
school days. He had no intention of robbing Lily of that.

Lily did get to do all those high school
things. She even found another passion – singing. She was in
several musicals in high school. She was fortunate to sing the
National Anthem at the Royals. She won trophies for barrel racing.
She was crowned rodeo queen more than once. She partied with
friends, but never dated seriously, partly because she had known
all the boys since kindergarten and partly because none of them
measured up to Quinn. Besides, she was much too busy competing in
local, regional, and national rodeos making memories and enjoying
life as a teenager.

Lily graduated from high school in May. She
had just had her eighteenth birthday and was planning on going to
college in the fall. Her mom and dad were hoping that she would
choose to go back east to an Ivy League school, but were happy when
she chose to go to a school nearby in Manhattan, Kansas where she
was offered a scholarship. She had thought about it for two years
ever since she had gotten Hot Pants. She wanted to be a
veterinarian and K-State was a top choice with its new scientific
animal laboratory. Besides, she could bring Hot Pants with her to
college. He would be boarded nearby.

Lily pledged a sorority and lived at 1819
Todd Road with some of her best friends from high school. She
studied hard and made a life without Quinn as he had intended.
During that time the twins and Lily saw each other once or twice a
year. She visited the Stanford Campus and they the K-State campus.
Brother and friend both gathered information from the twins as they
inadvertently shared what they knew to each, unwittingly letting
each know that neither had found a significant other – a relief to
both of them.

CHAPTER 8

The twins had been in college for three years
and would soon be turning twenty-one. They were planning their own
coming out party as young adults. They had been thinking about an
extravaganza of a birthday party since they had turned eighteen. It
would be lavish and flowing with champagne in abundance. They
promised to have small weddings with only intimate friends and
family for their last hooray and send-off as brides if only Dad
would let them have
this
party for their twenty-first.
Besides, one birthday party was cheaper than two, they pleaded
their case, as they'd always had two birthday parties on the same
day with two separate cakes helping them preserve and separate
their own identities. Fortunately, their lovable Daddy had always
enjoyed indulging them and loved making his adored girls happy.
Fortunately, as well, they had a mom that kept them grounded.

The theme of the birthday extravaganza was
going to be
L.A.Confidential
taken from a Hollywood movie
made a few years ago and set in the forties. Since their birthdays
were after Christmas and before New Year's Eve, they decided that
it was going to be a celebration into the New Year as well.
Everyone was to come dressed as their favorite movie star of the
forties era. If they didn't, they didn't get into the party.

The birthday bash took place in a beach hotel
ballroom with elegant chandeliers and high ceilings. It looked out
over the Pacific. It had the perfect atmosphere for the party with
all the ambiance of a Hollywood set.

The twins decided to transform themselves
into Jean Harlow and Betty Gable complete with the sexy dresses,
glamorous hairdos, and silk stockings. Lily with her dark red hair
went as Rita Hayworth. They were all three perfect imitations of
the forties sex bombshells with their well-proportioned figures and
beautiful youthful faces. The girls changed their natural blond and
red hairdos into up sweeps and partially down fluffs. They painted
their nails and toes a bright red to match their red lipstick. All
three wore long slinky gowns called slip dresses – the rage of the
era and worn often in present day – sexy then and sexy now.

Confetti rained as the band blasted swing
music with the Hi De Ho man, Cab Calloway imitator, dressed in
white tux complete with white tails, vest, shirt, tie, and shoes
bringing down the house with
Hidy Hidy Ho
followed by
Minnie the Moocher.
Colored tinsel dripped from the
chandeliers. Everyone danced and jived as the champagne flowed. The
party continued way past midnight and well into the morning. Two
floors of hotel rooms were reserved – one for the guys and one for
the girls not that anyone could tell which was which, with the
purpose that those who imbibed excessively would not be driving
home and end up in the ocean.

Dad Troy dressed as a bouncer in a night
club, but he fooled no one as they all knew he was really the
Chaperon Dad who was there mainly to make sure they didn't destroy
the place. The twins were counting on Mom to make sure Dad didn't
do anything to embarrass them. He did pretty well considering. The
only comment he made drily and with no humor when everyone was gone
was, “I'm planning the next one.”

Quinn knew Lily was coming to the twin's
birthday bash as she was staying at their home and had been there
for a week helping plan the festivities as their other sister. He
had his own room with a balcony at the hotel away from the other
rowdy guests. He was in the process of putting on a white dashing
dinner jacket over his wide shoulders bulging with muscle and black
tuxedo silk pants over his well-defined thighs. He had just
finished slicking down his coal black hair with the look of the
forties, making him look a lot like Tyrone Powers, a movie star of
that era. His shirt was a pleated tux shirt with a wing tip collar
that he was threading with the last touches of a black silk bow
tie. It was complete with French cuffs and onyx cufflinks. When he
was finished, he looked like he could step onto a movie set as all
the females swooned the moment they saw him. He dressed early so
that he could help his dad chaperon if necessary.

All the twin's high school friends knew the
minute Quinn walked in the door, what his purpose was for the
evening. By this time, they also knew he was a Navy Seal. He might
only be popular among the girlfriends of the twins, but the men
certainly respected and admired him.

Quinn had gotten a short holiday furlough for
this special weekend only because he was going to be near San
Diego. He was on standby and knew that he could be called in for
action at any time, in which case, he was to report immediately to
the base on Coronado. However, tonight, he planned to celebrate not
just the twins twenty-first birthday, but it was finally his and
Lily's time to come full circle. The twins weren't the only ones
making a plan for the past three years.

It had been almost three years since Lily and
Quinn had seen each other. They seldom exchanged emails anymore as
Lily had gotten tired of not getting many responses back from
Quinn. He missed her correspondence, but he knew it was for the
best, which is why he tried not to encourage. Now, she was nineteen
and all grown-up in his opinion. He was twenty-five and more than
anxious to see her and claim what he had long ago denied himself
when he decided that she was to be his forever.

Quinn looked up at the ceiling in the
ballroom, balloons were in several nets and ready to rain on the
room below at midnight. Horns and confetti were on every table.
Movie stars of the forties era such as Clark Gable, Ester Williams,
Gary Cooper, Jean Harlow, Vivian Leigh, Susan Hayworth, Tyrone
Powers, Ingrid Bergman, and the list went on and on, had their
images flashing on large screens around the room.

Waiters were scurrying about putting out
silver platters of food from pate', jumbo shrimp, salmon, caviar,
sushi, variety of canapés, cocktail buns of prime rib, cashew
encrusted Tilapia, cream puffs, melon, fruit and berries in stemmed
glasses. Champagne glasses in abundance adorned every table. It was
the waiter’s job to make sure every item was replenished all night
long. It was a task that they completed with great flourish showing
that they were up to the task.

An ice sculpture of the Los Angeles skyline
with little lights that sparkled inside, was carved in one chunk of
ice, the numbers twenty-one with sparklers was carved on another,
and the rest of the sculptures were of the bust many movie stars on
an assortment of over fifty tables. Bubbling champagne fountains
were flowing like spring water all over the room. Someone said it
looked like they had more fountains than Rome. (
Indulgence
was the other theme of the birthday.)

A crowd of around four hundred was at the
birthday party extravaganza and having a good time. For the guys,
that meant getting laid, for the gals that meant having a good
time. Most came from the Los Angeles area and Stanford, but some
were acquaintances that the twins had picked up from all over the
world. Most were young adults of twenty-one. Those that were not
considered to be twenty-one, certainly did not stop them from
enjoying and imbibing the booze that was in abundance at the
lascivious and decadent party.

All guests that came were decked out in their
rented tuxes and party dresses of the era, not wanting to take the
chance of being turned away from the event of the year. It was a
beautiful crowd that could have been used on the movie set in
Hollywood –
L.A. Confidential.
The scene all around them
seemed to have moved backwards in time as it imitated the past to
perfection.

The gleeful and happy celebration had been
going full steam for almost three solid joyful hours before Quinn
finally spotted Lily in the middle of a mob. He probably hadn't
seen Lily when he was looking around previously, as he hadn't been
looking for her being constantly surrounded by a horde of panting
young men whenever she moved through the crowd. It was like they
all moved as one unit stuck together.

Lily wasn't terrible tall. Even in spiky high
heels, she wasn't much more than five foot seven, just fitting
under his armpit if memory served him correctly. Most of the men
towered over her. As Quinn observed, they continued their annoying
entourage – when she moved, they moved.

Quinn was really pissed as he watched from a
distance. Suddenly, she was swung up on the grand piano by some
macho college guy with a gleam in his eye as he span her waist with
ease and helped her carefully settle down on the piano top. But,
what irked him farther was that he had to stand there with steam
coming out of the top of his head while the jerk ran his hand up
Lily's silk clad leg. He narrowed his eyes with disgust as she
laughed. It only made him happy when she gave him a shove with her
dainty ankle strapped foot, square in the middle of his stomach.
The other swarm of guys were only too happy to take his place as
they maneuvered him three rows back with the momentum. Served him
right!