Chapter 19

April 30, 2039


Jaime and Helene were taken aback by all the friends and relatives that were in the room. Rina only smiled.

"So THIS is what you've had going on in your head all this time!" Helene said, still a little surprised; "You sure had me fooled!"

"Me, too!" Jaime added; "I had no idea about this. Not one clue!"

Without saying another word, both girls hugged Rina. "Thank you," Jaime said; "I'll never forget this, ever!"

Helene looked at the guys, saying, "You all knew about this, of course."

"Guilty," said Alexei; "But when Rina called me to help out, I couldn't say no. It was for you."

Helene kissed him on the cheek. "You're so sweet and I love you."

Alexei just had a silly look on his face. His Helene was happy. That's all he wanted. And he would spend the rest of his life trying to do just that. Make Helene happy.

"Jared, you must have had a hand in this, too," Jaime said.

"Jeremy and I both did," Jared said; "My best girl deserves all this and more."


The guests of honor thanked everyone for coming, then dinner was served. They mingled among the guests after dinner and before the cake was served.

The cake itself was a huge creation. It appeared to have been two large sheet cakes frosted on atop the other. The top of the cake had pictures of Helene and Jaime as babies, with their dates of birth written in blue gel.

"I almost hate to cut this cake," Jaime said; "It's so clever. Sandy, was this your doing?"

Sandy Springer looked at her cousin and said, "I just suggested ideas, James. Looks like Rina ran away with ideas of her own."

"Everything's edible," Rina said, "even the pictures."

"It's very nice," Kathryn DeWitt said; "I know I wouldn't have thought of that!"

"I'm absolutely floored," Helene told her mother; "I never in a million years expected this!"

"You're blessed to have friends who care about you, Leenie," Kathryn said. "I hope you and Jaime will do something similar for Rina on her birthday. By the way, when IS Rina's birthday?"

"End of June," Helene said; "June 30th."


"This is so cool, Jaime!" Rachel exclaimed; "I've never had a surprise party. You're so lucky!"

"This is just the warm up to my birthday, you know," Zach said. He would be 15 the next day, May first.

Jaime laughed, "Think what you want, brother mine, but it's actually Helene's birthday. We're four days apart in age."

"I think I knew that," Zach said, laughing.



Julia was talking to Helene's parents about the big surprise that Rina pulled off for her friends.

"I had a surprise party  when I turned 30," she told Kathryn DeWitt; "I kind of knew what was going on because Ryan couldn't keep a secret to save his soul! I was suprised, though, by the amount of people who showed up. All for little ole me. Ryan died the following February, so it was the last time he did something of that scale for me."


Soon the party was winding down and the guests were either going home or staying over in the hotel. That's when Jeremy got Rina alone and said, "I have a surprise for you, Rina."

Her brows went up as if to say, yeah? Instead, she said, "And what might that be?"

"I got a room here in the hotel," he said; "And I would be honored if you'd spend the night with me."

For the first time that evening, Rina was surprised. "Jeremy..." she began, "I don't know what to say... except yes."

"I promise, sweet Audrina, to be gentle, loving, and considerate," Jeremy said; "I'll let you decide how far you want to go."

"Jeremy," Rina said, knowing that she would allow him to take her all the way, "Please? Please love me. I'm ready to take that next step with you."

Without another word, he led her to the elevator and kissed her while they waited for one to arrive. Jaime and Helene saw this, looked at each other, and said at almost the same time, "Go on, Rina. You deserve this."


===

Jaime and Helene were headed back to their suite at the dorm, still flabbergasted that Rina had put this entire party on for them and they had no idea she was doing it.

"I can't believe all the people who showed up!" Helene said; "We have to do something for her when her birthday comes around in June."

"Definitely," Jaime agreed as Jared drove the girls home. "Something she will always remember about going to college here in  the States."

"Do you think she'll go back to Italy after she gets her degree, Jaime?" asked Helene.

"I really don't know Leen," she said; "Her brother is here now, and she really has nothing to go back to except that stupid title she'll get when she's 21."

"But it's just a title, James," Helene said. "It doesn't really mean anything to hear Rina talk about it. Just something to be handed down from one generation to the next."

Jared interrupted their discussion by announcing that they had arrived back at Mathison Hall.

"I don't know about you ladies," he said as they got out of the car, "but I'm beat. If I hadn't been driving, I'd be sacked out in the back seat like Alexei."

"You're staying the weekend, right?" asked Jaime.

"I'd planned on it," Jared said; "I don't know Alexei's plans."

"He'll probably head back to Chicago in the morning," Helene said. "I'd like him to stay, but he has a job to do."

Jared nodded and woke Alexei up and told him that they were at the girls' dorm and to say his goodbyes to Helene.

"Wh-when did I fall asleep?" he asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.

"About ten seconds after we left the parking lot, dude," Jared said. "You were out like a light."

Alexei smiled sheepishly at Helene. "I guess this is goodbye for now, sweet Helene," he said as he took Helene into his arms; "I'll try to come back for part of the weekend. It was a lovely party that Rina put on for you and Jaime. It was good seeing your family again. I even got to chat up Rina's brother Vito. He's a nice guy, and Carrie is a lucky girl."

"I agree," Helene said, trying to stifle a yawn; "I guess I better get to bed. If you can come back later in the weekend, that would be wonderful."

"I'll see what I can do, Leenie."

Helene smiled. She loved it when Alexei called her by her childhood nickname.

Soon, she and Jaime slipped inside and went up to their suite. They sat on the sofa and talked about the party. Within a few minutes, they had both fallen asleep where they sat. 


===

"My God, Rina!" Jeremy gasped as he loved on Rina; "You're incredible!

She had climaxed several times before Jeremy let go, and each time, he was amazed that Rina was so loving, so passionate, so into her lover that he felt that he didn't deserve the beauty that was Audrina d'Alessandro.

"Ah Jeremy, my love my heart," Rina said, breathlessly, "you are perfect for me!"

Later, as they lay together in each others arms, Rina had no words for what she felt. She knew she was happy. This is how she always wanted to feel when she met her soulmate.

"Rina..." she heard Jeremy sigh as he traced the curve of her hips with his hands. "I've dreamed of finding someone like you, and here you are. You know I love you with all my heart, don't you?"

"Yes, Jeremy, I know," Rina said against his neck; "I feel the same way about you..."

They just lay together without a care in the world. In a months time, though neither of them knew it just then, he would be there for her in the worst crisis in their young lives.

The idea that he could lose her never crossed his mind.

===

June, 2039

Once again, Jaime was being watched, and she didn't like it. She decided that she wouldn't go after the person who was tasked with watching her every move.

She was a little busy moving into her Aunt Kimber's rental house with Helene and Rina.

They were almost done getting things into place, hooking up the six computers (four of which belonged to Rina), and planning an informal housewarming get together.

Or at least that's what Rina thought.

Just like she had done for Helene and Jaime for their birthdays in April, her housemates were planning a party for her under the guise of a housewarming party. The guests were asked to bring a gift for the house, and another for Rina, who would be 17 at the end of the month.

On this day, Jaime was putting the internet network together so that the girls could use it for their various pursuits. Once the network was secure, and all the computers named on the network (Rina's, for example, were named Rina1, Rina2, etc.), Jaime installed Summers Tech Systems protection software on the "home" computer to cover all six units on the network. It would take an expert hacker to crack the network, and two such experts lived in that house: Rina and Jaime. Jaime also added her father's trademark layers of passwords and security questions. Short of someone having her father's talent and skill as a reformed hacker, no one would be able to crack the security of Jaime's network.

And that's how she wanted it.

Helene was working at the florist and Rina was becoming reacquainted with riding a scooter she had recently purchased ("We had several Vespas at home, and was thrilled that I could find one here!" Rina had said the day she brought the Italian Vespa scooter home from the local motorcycle dealership), so Jaime had the house to herself. The trio had recently acquired a cat, a black and white American shorthair that Rina named "Pazzo" after the comment made by Helene that the cat was as "crazy as a bedbug".

"Why call him Pazzo?" asked Helene at the time.

"Because 'Pazzo' is the Italian word for crazy, and you said you thought he was crazy," Rina replied.

So that what the 8 month old kitten was named.

The cat sat on the desk as Jaime went about configuring the network, seemingly interested in what she doing.

The others were due home any time, so Jaime got up and went into the kitchen to get things ready to prepare dinner.

Dinner wouldn't get prepared that night because something else would take presidence.

===

Rina was stopped at the stop sign, waiting for traffic to clear so she could ride across.

Rina was really enjoying her Vespa and the ease of getting where she needed to be without asking Jaime for a ride everywhere. Helene was looking into buying a car later in the summer, when her father would come out and help her pick one out. Rina was looking forward to seeing Christian DeWitt again. Perhaps, Rina thought, while he was in town, they'd try to explain to Helene that they were related.

Traffic cleared and Rina started across the intersection. She saw a car coming up the street she was crossing and knew that he had to stop at the sign to allow her to complete her crossing of the intersection.

The driver of the car, however, never saw the dark haired girl on the bright blue scooter cross his path. He ran the stop sign and hit the girl on the scooter at 35 miles an hour.

Rina felt the impact of the car on the rear wheel of the scooter and knew she was in trouble. Time moved in slow motion as she felt herself flying in one direction, and the scooter she'd owned for less than a month fly off in another direction.

She then landed hard on the grassy side of the road, and realized that she was hurt. How badly, she had no idea. All she knew was that it was suddenly very difficult to breathe. At almost the same time, she saw her scooter fly over her head and land about one thousand feet away in the street.

Almost before she knew it, she was surrounded by people. She knew they were paramedics, and they would take her to the hospital. She then lost consciousness.

Helene was driving Jaime's car and came upon the accident. As police waved traffic past the wrecked scooter, Helene realized with a shock that the scooter is one she saw everyday for nearly a month.

She pulled her car off to the side of the road. A police officer approached her and asked,

"Miss? You'll have to move your car. There's been an accident."

"I know," Helene said. "That scooter belongs to my roommate. I have to find out if she's okay!"

"She's about to be taken to the hospital," the officer said; "She's in bad shape. We don't even know her name."

"Her name is Audrina Alexander," Helene said.

"I think you need to speak with the EMTs, Miss..."

"DeWitt," Helene said; "Helene DeWitt."

Helene went over to the ambulance just as Rina was being placed inside. The officer explained to the EMTs that Helene knew the girl they were about to transport to the hospital.

"Rina!" Helene said when she saw Rina; "Rina, it's Helene! What happened?"

"Leenie..." Rina said weakly; "I have something I have to tell you..."

"They're going to take you to the hospital and take care of you," Helene said; "You want me to call Vito?"

"Helene...we're..."

"You can tell me later, Rina," Helene said, shaken up by how Rina looked. "I'll call Jaime and we'll get in touch with Vito, okay?"

"Okay, Helene..."

===

Jaime looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. Helene got off work  about an hour ago, and I know it doesn't take that long to get home from the flower shop, she thought.

And, where was Rina?

The phone ringing startled Jaime. She went into the living room and answered the phone.

On the other end was a freaked out Helene.

"Jaime, Rina's been in an accident and she's being taken to University Hospital," she said as Jaime listened, trying to process the information. "I'm coming home to get you and we'll go see Rina. We have to call her brother!"

"I'll be waiting, Leenie," Jaime said in a voice that almost didn't sound like hers. "Please hurry!"

As she hung up, Jaime realized that Rina's birthday was only two days away. God, Jaime prayed, don't take Rina from us!

Jaime then called her mom.

===