The Dangerous Doors of Shannon Anderson

Chapter Twenty Eight

Dad - my wonderful, brilliant dad - had already been making phone calls. Unfortunately, summer school was off the table since it was July and those sessions had already started. I don't know what Dad had said to Mr. Hamilton, but apparently I was allowed to go back to St. Rita's to repeat my senior year. The public school that I would have gone to if I hadn't gone to St. Rita's was also willing to let me enroll. (Actually, they probably had to let me enroll, what with us being tax-paying citizens and all.)

"Then there's always a GED," Dad said, taking a drink of coffee.

I nodded. "So I've got options."

"You've got options," Dad agreed.

"My life is not ruined."

"Your life is not ruined. You're just taking a small detour."

"Excellent." I swallowed another spoonful of milkshake.

***

It was three weeks before I set foot in New Switzerland for the last time. Three weeks before the door finally reappeared to let me in, even though I spent inordinate amounts of time on my bedroom floor each day with the book open in my lap, willing it to appear. It was with a heavy heart that I crawled through that bamboo gate onto the island and blew the whistle for Fritz, and my heart only felt heavier the longer it took for him to show up. An hour passed, then two. I sat in the shade of a palm tree, fiddling with the lovely old ring on my finger that always reappeared when I was in New Switzerland. I blew the whistle again. Then, feeling drowsy and comfortable in the warm island breeze, I laid down in my shady spot in the sand and closed my eyes just for a minute, pretending that Fritz was there beside me.

I was jolted awake by something shaking my shoulder. I blinked a few times and squinted up at the figure standing over me.

"Fritz?" He was older. Five years older, at least, and the time had only served to make him tanner, more muscular, his cheekbones more defined. Jesus, and I had thought he couldn't get any better looking, but now he had a beard. He offered me his hand and pulled me up.

"It has been a long time, Shannon." He almost sounded sad. "You have not changed."

Yes, well, "a long time" for him had only been three weeks for me, so I did not expect that I looked too different, no.

"I have something to tell you," he said. "Come."

He led me down to the beach where the turquoise waves lapped gently against the soft white sand of the shoreline. We sat just on the edge of the water and I buried my feet in the cool wet sand.

"My brother Franz and I, we are returning to Europe."

"Um, what?" I said. "How?"

"It is the most capital thing," Fritz said. "By grace of your presence, I have long held hope that some ship other than the vessel belonging to your band of pirates might anchor here in New Switzerland. My prayer was answered some weeks past when I shot down an albatross and found a note tied to his leg that read, in English, 'Save an unfortunate Englishwoman from the smoking rock!'"

I did not like where this was going. Not one bit.

Fritz kept going. "I hastily replied, 'Do not despair! Help is near!', though it was some time before I found her. When I did, I learned that her name was Miss Jenny Montrose. She was born in India and raised by her father. They set course to return to England from India on separate ships, for he is a British officer, but her ship was blown off course and wrecked here, just as ours was. She has been here for three years, and only now did we find her. Capital, isn't it?"

I didn't say anything.

"But that is not even the best of it. Some days on from rescuing Jenny, a European ship moored in Pug-Nosed Cape, and lo! It was Jenny's father and his crew come to rescue her, and return her and my family to our motherland, if we so desired. Well, dear Shannon, I have asked for Jenny's hand in marriage, and we will be returning to Europe in a fortnight."

How many crushing blows could one girl stand in a summer? I was upset enough that I had come to say good-bye to Fritz because I didn't know how much longer I would have access to New Switzerland, and that was one thing. But for him to lay on me that not only was he leaving for Europe, but he was also engaged to some random chick he just found washed up on shore was something else altogether. And now even if my doors stayed open forever, Fritz wouldn't be here when I came through. This is what I got for running around book lands of stories I had never read.

I couldn't stop myself from crying a little, even though I felt more angry than sad.

"Shannon?" Fritz said, cocking his head to the side like a confused puppy. When I made no answer, he fixed his gaze on our feet, which the aquamarine sea foam lapped gently with every wave. He was so clueless. Jenny Montrose could have him.

Still, there was something I'd been wanting to do for a long time, and I didn't really care that he was engaged or whatever. I was never going to see him again, he was purportedly fictional, and he was so damn good-looking it hurt.

I put my hand under his now scruffily bearded chin and turned his head back to face me. Then I leaned in - just one kiss - and this time, he didn't tense up or turn away.

"I'm sure your future wife will appreciate this more than I can," I said, sliding the gold and ruby ring off the finger where my high school class ring would have been if I'd earned one. I dropped it in his hand, stood up, and took one last good look at him before turning for my door. "Bye, Fritz."

He didn't even chase after me.

A/N: Feels? Thoughts? Let me know with a comment! Thank you for reading. Just two chapters to go!