Love is Blindness

Chapter 20; Swing

On the bottom of this update are the Swedish translations of the Swedish conversations in the chapter. Enjoy!

"Psst! Hannah, look out your window," Jon whispered, shaking me gently to wake me.

At first I blew him off but then I remembered where I was. My eyes flew open. I lifted the shade a little more to reveal the rich green of the trees and grass, crystal lakes, large farmlands, snow- covered mountain tops, beautiful pastures, magnificent, Victorian buildings, and much more. It was absolutely marvelous. Possibly even better than the pictures I had seen.

Whenever I spotted something that looked the least bit interesting, I would ask Jon if we were going to see it. Sometimes he said yes, other times it was no.

As we got off the plane, I studied, with intense fascination, the signs with those alien letters and words. I had the Lidstroms to thank, for had I not spent so much time at their house, where Swedish was spoken more often than English, I would be completely lost in the magnificent European world.

Our baggage was, thankfully, one of the first few to come at the baggage claim. We rolled our suitcases out of the airport and Jon led me right to a jet black Jaguar. My jaw dropped at the incredible luxury of the car.

"A. . . A Jaguar? Oh- Jonathan this must have cost a fortune!" I exclaimed.

"Ha ha, don't worry. This is my own car. I had a friend drop it here for me," he told me while taking my bags and placing them in the trunk, then slamming it shut.

He walked around me to open my door. I got in, tracing my fingertips along the hem of the leather seats. As soon as he got into the drivers' seat, he revved the engine and sped off for the hotel.

We pulled into a parking lot of a hotel with what looked like 30 stories high. I was still in awe when Jon pulled up and valet began unloading our bags from the trunk. I snapped out of it while the two of us walked inside a grand lobby.

The floor was of a sand colored marble. It looked like it had recently been waxed for it glistened in the light. The sound of women's heels clicked perfectly on it.

The walls were painted with a metallic gold. There were large paintings hung on the walls around us. Even the floor molding was a spectacular design.

Hanging high up above was a large, beautiful crystal chandelier. There were so many crystals that from this far away it looked like a huge, floating cluster of crystals. The lights illuminating from the bulbs caused the crystals to reflect little, rainbow- colored squares in every lit corner of the lobby.

We approached the front desk. The counter top was made from white limestone. I was sure we had come to the wrong place. This looked like a palace made for queen. But I was proven wrong when Jon took the key to our suite and led me to the steps that were, of course, made of marble. The steps went up to each level, turning to the left at each landing. We were on the 26th floor- or the top floor. Quite a bit of hauling. But it was a fun experience walking up those stairs. It was a incredible view, looking all the way down to the lobby 26 floors below us.

"Alright. There's two beds in here but there is also one bed behind that door. Where do you want to sleep?" Jon asked me after we set out bags down on one bed.

"We can both use this room. We can use the other room for storage so we don't make a huge mess in here."

"Alrighty. Okay now go get changed in the other room. Our reservations are in an hour and it can take us quite a bit of time to get to the restaurant from here. I'll knock when I'm ready," he informed me as I grasped the handle of the suitcase and rolled it into the extra bedroom, closing the door behind me.