A Beautiful Mess (Beautiful Mess 1)

They walked for a while, Alexander pointing out the various estates. “This is the Breakers,” he said after a while. “Probably one of the most famous of the Newport Mansions.”

Olivia looked at the enormous estate. “It looks so familiar.”

Alexander’s heart stopped. He didn’t want her to remember. Why did he bring her there? Her mother was part of wealthy Newport society. “Well, probably because of how famous it is,” Alexander replied nervously.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” she responded, deep in thought. Everything seemed so familiar to her. As if she had been there before. It wasn’t just that mansion. It was all of it. The roads. The trees. The houses. The ocean. The cliffs. Everything. As they made their way down the walk, Olivia’s mind raced with various scenarios of how she could know that area of Newport so well when she never recalled ever visiting there. The voice was back and Olivia had a strange feeling that her entire world was about to come crumbling down on top of her.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hey, do me a favor. Take a right up here. Onto Webster,” Olivia ordered as Alexander drove on Bellevue, heading back to the marina half an hour later.

Alexander looked at her with a questioning look, his heart beginning to race. “Just humor me, please.”

He hesitated before sighing loudly. “Your wish is my command, princess.”

Olivia smiled weakly as Alexander put on his blinker and turned his car onto Webster.

“Here. Slow down a little, please,” Olivia said, gazing out the car at the large estates on her right. “Okay, stop. Pull over,” she ordered.

He obeyed, albeit reluctantly, and pulled the car to the side of the road before putting it in park. Olivia got out of the car and started walking up the street. “Where are you going, Olivia?” Alexander asked as he jumped out of the car, following her on foot. He cringed when he realized where they were.

“Alex. I know this house,” she replied quietly, looking at a large home behind a wrought iron fence. “Why do I know this house?”

Alexander stopped and stared at the large estate. The massive brick pillars held a nameplate. “Harrison House.” He knew the house well. Olivia had spent a great deal of time there her first few years of life. Her grandparents’ home.

“I don’t know, Love,” he lied. “Please, get back in the car before someone hits you.”

She continued to stare, pressing her hand against the brick of the pillars holding the entry gate and running her fingers against the nameplate bearing the name “Harrison House.” She stood there for several long minutes, trying to remember why she knew that house. Finally, she shook her head and turned to get back in the car.

The voice grew louder.

The car was eerily quiet on the way back to the marina, neither person wanting to initiate conversation. Alexander knew his time was running out. Olivia had started to remember certain things. It would probably only be a matter of time until she put two and two together and realized who he was. She had already had a dream where the younger Alexander morphed into the older one. He needed to read that letter, if he could only build up enough nerve to do so.

The remainder of the afternoon passed with a relative unease between the two, neither one really wanting to address the elephant in the room; Olivia not wanting to talk about why she knew that house, fearful it would bring up shadows of the past, and Alexander worried that Olivia was starting to remember.

Olivia decided to lay down and take a nap before dinner. Alexander said he had some work to do, so he left her to sleep while he attended to some business.

Olivia curled up in the comfortable king sized bed and pulled the covers tight around her. She dozed off within minutes, her brain exhausted from the afternoon.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Olivia, darling. Come get ready. Our guests will be here shortly,” her mother yelled across a massive lawn to a young Olivia.

Olivia looked to her right where the green-eyed boy stood, covered in dirt. “I’ll race you,” she giggled. “Loser has to worship the ground the winner walks on for all eternity!”

“That’s not fair!”

“Ready! Set!” Olivia ran through the large front yard of her family’s enormous estate as she shouted, “Go!”

“Olibia’s a cheater,” the little boy shouted, chasing the little girl.

Olivia reached the front steps first, jumping up and down, cheering for herself as she turned to watch her friend take the last few steps toward her.

“She cheated, Aunt Marilyn,” the boy complained.

“Olivia, darling, you need to play fair.”

“I’m sorry, mama.”

“You know better than that. That’s no way to play with your best friend, now is it?”

“He cheats sometimes, too,” Olivia said, winking at her friend.

“It still doesn’t make it right. Now upstairs with you. You’re both filthy. Everyone will be here soon.”

“Where’s Daddy?” Olivia asked.

“Oh, sweetheart. You know how it is. Your daddy has a very important job and he can’t just leave it to be with us whenever we want him to.”

“Okay. But when can we go to the beach, mama?”

“We’re going to the beach house next week for the entire summer, Love. Now I mean it. Go clean up. Your grandparents are expecting you both to look like civilized human beings for once.” She winked.

The two children stumbled up the stairs into the large playroom. Her mother entered the room a few minutes later to help them clean up and change. Soon, the two kids were dressed in their spring-time best. Olivia’s mother grabbed the two kids by the hand and walked them down the hall to the music room.

“One song before our guests arrive?”

“Yes! Mama! Play us a song,” Olivia squealed with delight.

Instead of sitting down at the grand piano, she picked up an acoustic guitar and checked its tuning.

“This one is for you, my two favorite babies…” She looked toward where the green-eyed boy and Olivia sat, both kids excited about her performance, as she began playing the opening measures of the Beatle’s ‘I Will.’

“Dance with me Olibia?” the green-eyed boy asked, holding his hand out to her.

“Okay,” Olivia replied, grabbing his hand.

They danced awkwardly across the room as the green-eyed boy sang along with Olivia’s mother, never taking his eyes off Olivia. When the song ended, the green-eyed boy got down on one knee, morphing into an older Alexander. He opened a small ring box.