Across the night, and to the moon we went

Under the Moonlit Sky, The Stars Await

 Now, for those of you playing the home game, let me set the stage, as I will fast forward just a little bit, to get on with the damn thing. Luckily, I had a black suit with me at the time on my little journey for reason I won't go into.  What I didn't have, was a clue of what to wear....so I settled on the suit.

 Le Chalet du Lac, was the hunting lodge of Napoleon III, back in it's day. Today it's a great little event center, with a great view of the Lake of  Saint-Mandé. Well, "Papa" had a nice little shindig set up for this place, and I had to be there. So after all the phone calls back and forth, I had a car waiting to take me to the place, around seven of the clock.

 I arrived fashionably late, as I am wont to do. I never show up for the beginning, I like to enter a party already in full swing, and plus I can gauge who is already there. I like to note the exits, who to watch out for, all those lovely things that John Wick wishes he was capable of. Of course, I see many people, but Rachel is no where to be seen. I figure that I would find the bar, grab a drink, and walk into the night air, as it was a lovely evening.  In all fairness, I wanted to be nice and coated for what was to come.

 I was not let down on the selection of alcohol. Leave it to the french to make an irishman proud. I settled on a sturdy glass of Glenmorangie, and headed for the terrace.  I was commenting to myself off and on about he view, when all of a sudden I heard light foot falls behind me. Someone was attempting to sneak up on me, in heels no less. I smiled to myself and played along.

 All of a sudden I felt two hands come around my eyes. This is a dangerous thing to do to me folks, not many can get away with it, and not leave without some appendage smarting.  The scent of lavender enveloped me as I heard a whisper in my ear, "guess who?" I leaned back a little, to let this mystery woman know I was receptive and not about to tear any body parts off of her and replied in a mock tone whisper, "Salma Hayek, or is it Cindy Crawford perhaps?" 

 I closed my eyes and smiled, and immediately felt a light slap to the face. "You men and your supermodels, mon dieu, do we all have to be underfed?" Of course, it was Rachel, and I knew that and just turned around and smiled and opened my eyes.

 I was immediately breathless.

 Her long raven hair was down, in ringlets around her face, and curls going down to her shoulders. She wore a simple black velvet dress that went about five inches above her knee, and dagger black heels of the same color. She wore little makeup and some eyes shadow, but I was stunned. 

 "You look absolutely beautiful madam," I managed to say. "It would seem that I am rather pedestrian standing next to you. She walked up to me and laid her head on my chest and wrapped her arms around me. "You look very handsome, and in black as well. We match," she said as she smiled at me. 

 In more ways than one my dear, in more ways than one.

 "Shall I get you a drink, and we sit for a moment and talk?" I always like to get to the bottom of the point, so I made sure to ask that straight away. I didn't want to drag this out any longer than I had to. Besides, the night was still young, and if this went badly....well, I could find other means of entertainment...or so I told myself.

 "Oui, let's talk," she said, with a small shadow to her face. I could sense that she had a sense of foreboding but didn't want to let this on. To tell you the truth I was worried more than I had ever been in a battle. I didn't want to lose this girl, but at the same time I wanted to guard my heart.

And now, onto the next chapter.