Danielle Steel: The Promise

“Just zip up your fly and we're all set. You might want to find the other shoe, too.” Ben looked down to see only one loafer, and then he started to laugh.

“Okay, so I'm gassed. But did I know you'd need me tonight? You could've at least told me this morning.”

“I didn't know this morning.”

That brought a look of sudden seriousness to Ben's eyes. “You didn't?”

“Nope.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Very much so. And look, don't make me speeches. I've had enough of those tonight. Just get yourself decent so we can pick up Nancy.” He handed his friend a mug of steaming coffee, and Ben took a long hard swallow, then grimaced.

“What a waste of good gin.”

“We'll buy you another round after the wedding.”

“Where are you doing this, by the way?”

“You'll see. It's a beautiful little town I've been in love with for years. I spent a summer there once as a kid. It's only about an hour from here. It's the perfect place.”

“You've got a license?”

“Don't need one. It's one of those crazy towns where you do it all in one shot. You ready?”

Ben downed the last of the coffee and nodded. “I think so. Jesus, I'm getting nervous. Aren't you scared?” He looked at Mike more soberly now, but Mike looked strangely calm.

“Not a bit.”

“Maybe you know what you're doing. I don't know … it's just that … marriage … ” He shook his head again and stared at his feet. It reminded him that he had another loafer to find. “Nancy's a hell of a nice girl though.”

“Better than that.” Mike spotted the other loafer under the couch and handed it to him. “She's everything I've always wanted.”

“Then I hope the marriage brings you both everything you want, Mike. Always.” There was a bright glaze of tenderness in his eyes, and for a moment Mike held him by both arms.

“Thanks.” And then they both looked away, anxious to get going, to laugh again, to taste the moment with glee instead of solemnity.

“Do I look all right?” Ben checked his pants for his wallet, then searched for his keys.

“You look gorgeous.”

“Oh shove it … damn … where're my keys?” He looked around helplessly as Mike laughed at him. The keys were attached to one of the belt loops on his trousers.

“Come on, Avery. Let's get you out of here.” The two left, arm in arm and singing the beer hall songs of summers before. The entire building could hear them but no one really cared; the whole place was populated by students living off campus, and two weeks before the end of school everyone was raising hell.

They pulled up outside Nancy's place on Spark Street ten minutes later, and she waved nervously from the window as Mike honked. She felt as though she'd been ready for hours. A moment later she was standing beside the car, and for a few seconds both young men fell silent. It was Mike who spoke first.

“My God, Nance … you look beautiful. Where did you get that?”

“I had it” They exchanged a long smile, and none of them moved. She suddenly felt every bit a bride, despite the late hour and the unorthodox circumstances. She was wearing a long white eyelet dress and there was a little blue satin cap on her shiny black hair. She had worn the dress as a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding three years before, but Mike had never seen it. She was wearing white sandals and carrying a very old, very beautiful lace handkerchief. “See, something old, something new … the handkerchief was my grandmothers.” And the cap was blue. She looked so beautiful that for a moment Mike didn't know what to say. Even Ben seemed totally sobered as he looked at her.

“You look like a princess, Nancy.”

“Thanks, Ben.”

“Hey, listen, you got something borrowed?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know … something old, something new … something borrowed …” She laughed and shook her head. “Okay, here.” He bent his head forward and began to fumble with something at his neck. A moment later he held out a narrow, handsome gold chain. “Now, this is just a loan. My sister gave it to me for graduation, but I opened it early. You can borrow it for the wedding.” He leaned out of the car to fasten it around her throat and it fell just above the delicate neckline of the dress.

“It's perfect.”

“So are you.” Mike said it as he got out of the car and held the door for her. He had been so stunned by the way she looked that he hadn't been able to move. “Get in the back, Avery. Darling, you sit in front.”

“Can't she sit on my lap?” Ben made a feeble protest as he scrambled toward the back, and Mike gave him the finger. “Okay, man, okay, don't get excited. I just thought maybe since I was the best man, and—”

“You'll be the dead man if you don't watch it.” But the mood was strictly a teasing one as Nancy settled herself on the front seat and beamed at the man she was about to marry. She felt a moment's queasiness about Marion, but she pushed it from her mind. This was the time to think only of herself, and Michael.

“What a crazy night … but I love it.”

They alternately joked and fell silent on the road to the tiny town Mike had in mind, and at last none of them spoke. They had a lot on their minds. Michael was thinking back to his interview with his mother, and Nancy was thinking of all that this day meant to her.

“Is it much farther, love?” Nancy was getting fidgety and her grandmother's handkerchief was beginning to look crumpled as it passed through her hands.

“Only about five more miles, guys. We're almost there.” Michael reached briefly for Nancy's hand. “Just a few more minutes, babe, and we'll be married.”

“Then speed it up, mister, before I get cold feet,” Ben sang out from the back, and all three of them laughed. Mike put his foot on the gas and swerved around the next curve, but the laughter rapidly shrank to a gasp as Michael veered helplessly to avoid a diesel truck occupying both lanes as it plowed mercilessly toward them, going too fast, and almost out of control. The driver must have been half-asleep, and the only sounds Nancy remembered hearing were Ben's anguished “Oh no!” and her own voice screaming in her ears. Then there was endless shattering of glass … shattering … breaking … metal grinding, crunching, roaring, engines meeting and locking and arms flying and leather tearing and plastic cracking as everything was covered with a blanket of glass. And then at last everything stopped, and the world was black.

It seemed years later when Ben woke up, lying with his head jammed into the dashboard and a horrible pounding in his ears. Everything was dark around him and there seemed to be a handful of sand in his mouth. It felt like hours before he could open his eyes, and the effort it took made him feel sick. At first he couldn't understand what he saw. Nothing seemed to make sense, and then he realized that he was looking into Michael's right eye. He was in the front seat with him, but all he could see was Michael, and there was a thin river of blood trickling slowly down the side of Mike's face, onto his neck. It was strange to watch it, but for a while that was all Ben did … watch … Mike … bleeding … Jesus. It dawned on him what was happening. Accident … there had been an accident … he and Mike had been driving and … he lifted his head from where it had lain and tried to look up but a blow as if from iron forced him back down. It was minutes before he caught his breath and could open his eyes again. Mike was still lying there, bleeding, but now Ben could see that he was breathing, and this time when he stirred nothing happened. He could lift his head, and what he saw just beyond Mike was the truck that had hit them, lying flipped over the side of the road. What he did not see was the driver, lying dead beneath the cab of the truck. It would be a long time before anyone saw that. And then Ben realized something more, that he was seeing it all through open windows. There was no more glass left anywhere in the car, they were wearing it all, crushed into tiny particles all around them. And on Mike's side there was also no door. And then he remembered something more. Somebody else had been in the car … Nancy was … and where were they going? It was all so hard to hold onto, and his head hurt so badly, and as he moved a horrible pain shot though his leg, into his side. He moved to get away from the pain, and then he saw her. Nancy … Jesus it was Nancy in some kind of red and white dress, lying face down on the hood … Nancy … she had to be dead … he didn't even care about the pain in his leg now, he dragged himself over the dashboard and to her side. He had to turn her over … get to her … help her … Nancy … And then he saw the fine powder that dusted Nancy's hair. She was wearing the windshield all over her dress, all over the back of her head, all over … My God. With the last of his strength he rolled her slowly to her side and then pitifully, like a terrified little boy, he began to whimper.