The Lavender Butterfly

Chapter 8

“Wow, how old is this place?” Meredith said as we pulled into the parking lot. We observed an old ornate building decorated with large archways. The hotel wasn’t very big, but it looked very well maintained. As we walked inside and looked around, it appeared that it was just as well maintained inside as it was outside. I saw some hints that the building was older, such as the floor and the light fixtures, but the interior was very well decorated. It looked a little artificial, like they tried to make it look more historic than it actually was. Needless to say, it looked beautiful. I had a hard time believing that this building was haunted. I guess I was expecting the building to be old, drafty, and with cobwebs. I was expecting the clerk at the front desk to be pale and pasty, with a gravelly, foreboding voice. Instead, we were greeted by a young Latino man with a smile and a friendly demeanor. He was wearing what looked like an old turn-of-the-century suit, as one would expect at a hotel that was over one hundred years old. “Welcome to Hotel Cassadaga,” he said warmly. “Do you have a reservation with us tonight?” he continued. “Yes, I called earlier today, last name Parker,” Meredith replied. “Ah, you must be Meredith. And this is your husband, Chris, yes?” he said. “Yep, that’s us,” I replied. As he intensely typed our information into the computer, Meredith asked him “Just curious, is this building as haunted as we’ve heard?” The man looked up, smiled and chuckled. “No, you don’t need to worry, we’re aware that our hotel has built a reputation of being haunted with ghosts, and such. I can assure you that you won’t see or hear any specters, spirits, or apparitions of any kind.” Meredith looked somewhat disappointed. The clerk handed us our room keys. “You are in room 204. Enjoy your stay. If there’s anything you need, feel free to call or stop by.” We brought our things up to our room and unpacked. The two of us fell backward on the bed in unison. We both looked at each other and laughed. “Chris, I know you’re tired, but the night is still young, let go downstairs and have a drink or two!” She grabbed me by the hand and playfully tugged me to get off the bed. “We’d better get out downstairs fast, or the ghosts will get us!” she said jokingly. “Right, they definitely won’t get us down there!” I replied playfully. We went downstairs to the bar and we both got margaritas and sat down at the table. Meredith looked at me and smiled. “You know, I’m glad we decided to come here, this has been pretty fun,” Meredith said, before she took another sip from her margarita glass. “…and the price was right, too!” I gave a small grin, but our session with the fortune tellers kept repeating in my head. “What’s wrong baby? You are……you’re like a million miles away,” she said. I replied, “Nothing, I’m just a little tired. Hey, about what we discussed back at the fortune tellers, about adoption? If you want to go through with it, I think we should discuss it when we get back home. If we can’t have children, I’d like to do what we can to make a happy family by any means possible.” Meredith started to tear up as she embraced me. “We’re actually going to do this, I……I don’t even know what to say…” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “We don’t have to say anything about it until we get back, but I just want you to know, that I’m ready to start a family with you.” Meredith sniffled and gazed deeply into my eyes. “I love you,” she said. “I love you too, babe,” I said back to her. I felt warm, every time she told me she loves me, I feel it in my heart. I loved her so much that words can’t even describe her.  At that moment I became lost in thought. My mind wandered back to the fortune teller from earlier that day. Could this be the big life change she was talking about? It didn’t seem to make sense then, but the pieces seemed to be coming together. Maybe she was foreseeing our future. Or maybe she was just very skilled at cold reading. Either way, I was feeling a great sense of joy about the prospects of soon becoming a father. “Honey, are you okay?” Meredith said to me. “You’ve been silent for about a minute now.” I realized that I had been staring into space, deep in thought. I snapped back to reality and smiled. “I’m…….I’m going to be a father. We’re……going to be parents!” Meredith started to jump from the table, all smiles with her face aglow, then quickly dialed back her excitement, realizing she was starting to make a scene in the middle of the bar. She leaned to my ear and whispered, “Let’s go back upstairs,” then turned at me and winked. We quickly went upstairs to the room. No sooner than the closing of the door, we embraced, kissing each other with a fiery passion. We swiftly walked backwards in tandem to the bed, our lips and tongues not breaking contact between the threshold and the bed. The mutual passion overtook us, as the two of us became one. The next twenty minutes seemed like an eternity of pure bliss. We soon were both gasping for air, as she laid her head on my chest, still locked in embrace with me. I stroked my hand through her hair and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. She smiled, eyes closed, as we both drifted off to sleep.