Follow Your Heart

Follow Your Heart

The handsome blond man stared out the window of the plane bound for New York City, lost in troubled thought.

A myriad of problems swirled through Sean Carruthers' mind during that three hour flight. Traveling to see his fiancee, Victoria Edwards, was a regular part of his life, but this was a special occasion, since she was to be honored at a State Bar Association Banquet for her original treatise on Diminished Capacity Defenses.

The problem was that Victoria was not the author of the treatise she was being honored for writing.

It was written by her secretary, Maggie O'Brien, and what's more, Sean knew it.

Associates in the same law firm, Victoria and Sean had lived in two separate cities for almost three years, seeing each other as their schedules allowed. As they were both initially focused on their careers, the long-distance relationship seemed to fit well with their lifestyles. Over the past year, however, Sean had grown increasingly disenchanted both with his profession and his overly ambitious fiance.

In fact, Sean had all but decided that being a lawyer wasn't for him. He attended law school to please Victoria and his father, but in his heart he always envisioned himself as a teacher and a writer, rather than a criminal defense attorney.

When he broached the matter of switching careers, invariably Victoria flew into a rage, questioning his judgment and sanity. To keep the peace and placate her, Sean put the subject on the back burner, hoping she'd eventually come around and see things his way, but she hadn't and it didn't seem as if she ever would.

Then there was the ordeal of planning the wedding.

Victoria was determined to make their ceremony a major Hollywood typoe production, insisting that her adoring parents practically bankrupt themselves to cater to her extravagant demands. Yes, the wedding planning continued to be a real eye-opener for Sean, when it came to Victoria's character and values.

Still, the fact that Victoria insisted on taking credit for Maggie's writing went beyond anything Sean could have imagined. It was a question of right and wrong and Sean knew it.

As time went on, Sean came to the conclusion that he and Vicky would never see eye to eye on much of anything. The tension between them escalated to the point where Sean realized he was happier when they were apart.

Knowing he needed to end the relationship, he dreaded the inevitable confrontation.

And, there was another woman to add to the mix, although Sean had no idea who she was.

Just about a month before this trip, Sean was standing at the Receptionist's desk in the front office, when the elevator doors opened. As some passengers exited, he saw her in the back of the elevator.

The beautiful, blue-eyed brunette, with just a hint of auburn in her lustrous long hair smiled warmly at him as if she knew him. Sean couldn't help but smile back after he closed his gaping mouth. Her smile more than warmed his heart, making him feel unbelievably and overwhelmingly happy - a feeling he rarely experienced looking at Victoria, especially lately. If just seeing woman caused such a reaction, he could only imagine what holding her in his arms might do.

Sean could see enough of the woman to know he was attracted - lovely peaches and cream skin and curves in all the right places. The contrast to his rail-thin blonde fiance was stark, to say the least.

So overwhelmed was he by that enchanting smile, Sean dribbled hot coffee down the front of his shirt.

When he looked up again, the elevator doors were closed and she was gone. For the next week Sean looked for her and discreetly questioned everyone he knew in the building, but no one remembered the petite brunette wearing the navy blue dress with the white collar. It was almost as if she vanished into thin air.

Sean almost convinced himself that he imagined her.

Then the dreams started.

Exquisite fantasies wrapped around the raven-haired goddess filled his nights. Enveloped in her voluptuous, yet slender body, Sean hated to awaken from those dreams to the reality of his life as Victoria's long distance fiance.

The Goddess of the Elevator, as he came to think of her, made love to him in a way no other woman could.

Night after night of endless rapture and happiness filled his waking and sleeping imagination.

So bewitched was he by that incredible heart-stopping smile, try as he might, he couldn't stop thinking about her and what it would be like to actually be with such a divine creature.

Thoughts of her filled his mind as he stared out the window of the airplane, wondering if he'd ever see her again and what seeing her in the first place meant for his life.

It had been a month after all, and there didn't seem to be much hope of seeing the Goddess of the Elevator again.

And then there was the issue of Maggie, Victoria's secretary.

Sean never met Maggie in person, but she was already someone he considered to be a dear friend after many long telephone conversations over the past few months.

Unlike Victoria, Maggie understood his dreams of teaching and writing. She'd even confided her own dream of being a successful songwriter one day. Sean loved talking to Maggie, with her soft Irish lilt and optimistic way of looking at the world. Just hearing her voice was enough to raise his spirits.

"Follow your heart, Sean," she'd said so many times.

"If only it were that easy, Maggie," Sean sighed to himself, as he continued to stare at the clouds, wincing at the memory of his last conversation with his dear friend.

Knowing full well that Maggie was the author of the paper in question, in a moment of weakness, Sean gave in to Victoria's bullying and silently acquiesced to the deception. He regretted that decision almost immediately, realizing he'd hurt Maggie deeply.

When confronted, he sheepishly apologized.

"I'm so sorry, Maggie," he'd said, sincerely.

As usual, Maggie was stoic, but he could hear the hurt in her voice.

"Does this mean you're going along with this, Sean?" she asked directly, as was her way.

Sean sighed dejectedly.

"She's my fiance. What choice do I have?" He replied miserably.

There was a pregnant pause.

"Oh, you have a choice. I guess we both have to follow our hearts, Sean." Maggie said quietly, then added: "Goodbye my friend."

Unable to stand the guilt, Sean tried later that day to reason with Victoria, to no avail.

"Victoria, this isn't right!" Sean insisted.

"Sean, please! Grow up! This happens all the time. No one credits their paralegal much less their secretary. Don't be absurd!" She huffed dismissively.

"This isn't right, Vicky. She didn't just research it. She wrote the whole thing. It's wonderful work and you know it," he said quietly, trying to reason with her.

"I know it's good, Sean. That's why I'm winning an award for putting it together. So what if I delegated? I can't change it now. It would embarrass the whole firm!" She snapped, then in an attempt to smooth things over added:

"I'll give her a bonus and some time off. It'll be fine. She was a waitress at the NYU Deli before I hired her, Sean. She won't know the difference."

Sighing in defeat, he'd ended the conversation quietly. Sean was tired of hearing her disparage Maggie's working class Irish background yet again. More times than he could count, she'd referred to Maggie as her frumpy little nothing secretary, implying that she should be thrilled beyond words to be working for the great Victoria Edwards.

The truth was Sean had feelings for Maggie, that he didn't quite understand and the thought of anyone hurting her was extremely upsetting to him. The fact that he was hurting her by going along with his fiance's despicable ruse was almost unbearable.

After that conversation, the next thing he heard, to his dismay, was that Maggie had turned in her two week's notice to Victoria.

As he sat on the plane, Sean could not stop thinking about Maggie, remembering all their wonderful conversations. Hearing her voice in his head, he finally reached a decision.

Confused as he was, he knew Maggie was his friend and he couldn't live with himself if he went along with Victoria's cruel deception.

Although that most certainly meant ending his relationship with his fiance and quite possibly losing his job, Sean knew he needed to follow Maggie's advice.

"Follow your heart, Sean." He repeated as the plane landed and he unbuckled his seatbelt, bracing himself for the difficult evening ahead.

-------------------------

Later that evening, Victoria Edwards breezed in to the Executive Banquet Room at The Plaza Hotel and gave her fiance a light peck on the cheek so as not to ruin her lipstick. Sean recognized that was her priority even though they hadn't seen each other in a little over three months and that knowledge gave him strength.

"Don't do this, Victoria," he implored one last time, putting his hand firmly on her arm.

"Don't be silly!" She hissed. "This is my evening. Don't you dare ruin it or we're through!"

"We're through anyway," Sean said matter-of-factly.

He was surprised at how easy it was to say what he'd been thinking for so long out loud. "You tell them Maggie wrote it or I will. It's that simple."

Victoria glared at her fiance, but didn't attempt to argue the matter further, since they were at a table with other associates and the senior partners of their firm.

When her award was announced she walked resolutely up to the podium. Then she announced brightly that all the credit and the award really belonged to her assistant, Maggie O'Brien.

"And I accept this gratefully on her behalf," Victoria finished in her most charming, affected voice.

Upon her triumphant return to the table, everyone congratulated Victoria for being so gracious and humble.

Everyone, that is, except Sean, who politely excused himself and walked to the exit, feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

So relieved was he that he didn't notice anyone, including the beautiful dark haired woman, watching from the back of the room as he made his exit.

Heading for his room, Sean decided to call it a night, feeling more light-hearted than he had in a good long while. He quickly yanked off his tie, then changed from a suit into his big T-shirt and boxers, ready at last to relax.

Taking a beer out of the mini-bar, he popped it open, then turned on the television, propping his pillows to get comfortable.

He was so happy and preoccupied that he almost didn't hear the gentle knock on his door.

When he finally heard it, Sean cursed under his breath, wondering if it was Victoria back for another round of arguing. His good mood temporarily forgotten, he padded to the door.

"Who is it?" He asked, a bit tensely.

There was a pause and then she answered:

"It's Maggie."

Breaking into a huge smile and forgetting he was clad only in his boxers and T-shirt, Sean opened the door to meet his friend.

There, in front of him was the beautiful brunette Goddess of the Elevator, wearing a gorgeous black dress that seemed to caress every magnificent curve of her body.

"Maggie?" He asked hoarsely as she nodded, then melted in to his arms.

"You were the woman on the elevator?"

"Yes," she whispered. "I wasn't sure you'd remember me. I was there for training when I saw you. I recognized you from the picture on Victoria's desk." Then she hesitated, looking up into his deep green eyes.

"Thank you, Sean, for what you did tonight," she said, with tears starting to form.

Sean swallowed, as the tears welled up in his own eyes.

"I've thought about you ever since that day, Maggie. You mean so much to me. I guess I just followed my heart and it led me to you."

And with that, Sean Carruthers finally kissed the woman of his dreams.

The End

This story was written for and won first place in La Belle Rouge 's Red Hot Romance Contest -
August 2002