Mike & Karen Ch. 09

"I admit, I've only taken lessons back home a few times, but I promise to not step on your feet," Mike said, beginning to lead as the strains of two harps led them into the main theme of the music. "I've no doubt you're very accomplished."

Karen blushed again: "I'll try to keep up."

The music lilted out of its introduction and they began twirling around the dance floor together, dominating the space, even though others had joined them. Karen's free hand took the hem of her skirt and she moved in graceful circles with him, trying to hide her wonder at how light on his feet he was. She glided about the floor effortlessly in his hands, looking up into his eyes, as was proper. The gesture between them terrified her more than she thought possible. But in a waltz, you held your partner's gaze.

And just this afternoon, I was treating him like a dress-up doll, she thought to herself, trying not to think about how he managed to not look ridiculous moving about since he was so much larger than her. His foot movements should seem absurd trying to accommodate her small gait, but he did it smoothly and naturally. Is this some warped revenge for earlier?

Shut and enjoy the dance, Karen. Isn't this what you love more than almost anything?

This was so dangerous. And yet she waltzed, losing herself in the moment. Her silken bronze hair swayed back and forth as it framed her lovely, patrician face in time with the music. She ignored all the eyes on them and thought only about the bliss of dancing.

He couldn't have been the most graceful waltzing partner she'd ever had. He didn't have nearly the training necessary. So why did it feel like he was?

The tempo picked up a step, and they made the transition into the new gait easily, still twirling about together. A consummate artist, Karen turned her steps into skips to keep up, but she concealed this with unreal elegance, as she'd been taught. No one would notice.

Before she was ready, the dance had ended, and applause all around them indicated that people had been watching with rapt enthusiasm. Even the other couples dancing had stopped to look at them and applaud. Her dance partner, towering over everyone, smiled genially and bowed slightly, while Karen looked around, blushing as she smiled and curtsied. Then she allowed him to lead her back to their table while the sextet began playing again.

"That was unexpected," she said as she sat while he held out her seat for her. "Those were obviously very good lessons you took, sir."

He shrugged as he sat, his stately demeanour on the dancing floor replied by his normal, down-home cheerfulness. "Probably not, but once I had been taught, I practiced and practiced relentlessly. My mother and younger sister Ronny must have hated me, since I made them practice with me."

"It paid off, you were an exemplary partner," Karen said, the simple statement carrying the weight of undeniable truth.

"Thanks, I was worried about not being able to keep up and embarrassing you," Mike admitted. "I couldn't imagine you being anything less than perfect at it."

"A bold move, then, asking me to dance if you were so worried," she pointed out, smirking. "I half-thought maybe you were trying to avenge yourself upon for me this afternoon."

He shook his head: "No, princess, it'll never be anything like that."

She raised an eyebrow. "So you will be avenging yourself, but I don't need to worry about you embarrassing me in this vein?"

Mike didn't answer but merely sipped from his drink. Before she could press him, a maître d' came over, expressing his appreciation.

"You and your husband are welcome back here any time!" he said, nodding to them. "Our private events will be open to you."

"Oh," Karen said, blushing for what felt like the fortieth time this evening. "We're not ... he's not -"

"A very kind offer, sir," Mike interjected, gaining the man's attention. "We happily accept."

The man seemed pleased and left them to their evening. Karen sighed and looked around.

"Splendid," she sighed quietly. "Now whenever I come here, I'll have to lie and call myself Karen DeBourne."

"I suppose you could always hyphenate ..." Mike teased, making her give him a wry smirk.

He was certainly a charmer.

***

The present ...

They spun around the room as everyone watching had come to expect of them, the joyous strains of Weber's 'Invitation To The Dance' filling the ballroom. Karen's eyes were fixed on her husband's, and there was no place else she ever wanted to look. Her full and elegant ballgown, midnight blue with subtle silver and diamond accents, flowed about her gracefully. His simple but exquisitely fitted black tuxedo complemented her perfectly.

"A long way from our first dance, wouldn't you say?" she said to him quietly as other, lesser couples twirled about them like bees on the dance floor. The center belonged to them.

He nodded: "I'll never be able to tell you how terrified I was that night of embarrassing you and making a fool of myself. But I simply had to ask you to dance."

She smiled: "Not just a compulsion to dance with me, no ... you needed to show me you weren't a rube, didn't you?"

Mike nodded again. "I wasn't being competitive, I just needed you to understand that I could do these things, the things we do now that I love."

Karen smiled serenely. "I am so glad you did. I am so glad that you took me to that club on your own dime, and forcefully proved to me that you could dance, and mix with my peers, because it meant I was obligated to prove that I wasn't stuck up there in that stifling stratosphere, at least not alone."

He shook his head: "Never alone, princess."

Karen's eyes shone. "I'll miss you so much this week. I'm glad I'll have Alli, but ... without my tower of strength, my mighty lord of war ... I'm terrified, Michael."

He nodded to her, smiling. "Karen Gordon, you are the strongest person I know. Your depths of character are what's terrifying. You may want me, and you may love me, but you don't need me. That's the beauty of us. We are completely in love and enslaved to one another; you are my everything. But because we don't need one another, we are free to love each other more deeply than anyone else will ever be blessed enough to know."

Their feet twirled through and around like it was second nature. Their dances, like their love, were innate and instinctual. There was no error to be had; it was not possible. They were too in love for anything less than perfection to be their norm.

"Maybe you're right," she sighed. "But I'll miss you all the same. Even if I don't need you, that doesn't mean I'm not happiest when I'm with you."

"It'll be a tough week for me, too," Mike replied. "But I just remind myself that you're not far away, ever."

It may not have been proper, but Karen rested her cheek on his chest, closing her eyes and smiling as they continued to dance, not missing a beat. The music flowed through her, and she lost herself in her feelings, knowing that he was right, she was not alone.

Never alone.

***

Author's Notes: For the next three issues, Mike & Karen will be a split-arc story. Mike & Karen chapters 10-12 will continue on here as normal, playing out during the week that Mike, Alex, Freja and Jeanie have while the Gordon-Blackwell sisters are gone. It will feature their week, but also continue to show us through flashbacks how Mike and Karen became the couple they are today.

Next to it, a three-chapter arc entitled Karen & Alexa will be running, dealing exclusively with the sisters and how they handle their family in Quebec. It's going to be an interesting war, for certain.

I enjoyed the 'Uptown Girl' arc, because it was just fun to write. Young Karen not knowing her way around town except by chauffeur is adorable, as Mike pointed out. And Mike proving capable of moving in her circles was important, since she has previously resigned herself to the idea that they lived worlds apart. Mike may not think he belongs there, but she is now conflicted by the fact that he can. That's her quandary. And neither one is very good at explaining themselves, are they?

As for the music, if you're the type who likes to hear the music I reference to help set a scene, here they are- the Rheinmaiden's song greeting the Rheingold from Act 1, Scene 1 of Wagner's 'Das Rheingold'. In 1986, Mike and Karen danced to the elegant and thrilling 'The Ball' sequence from Hecotr Berlioz' wonderful 'Symphonie Fantastique'. It's very easy to picture them dancing to this. Lastly, Mike and Karen in the present day, waltzing to von Weber's 'Invitation To The Dance'. It's less aethereal than the Symphonie Fantastique, but also more robust and joyous. I hope you listen to and enjoy visualizing these sequences with their music, because I certainly do.

The confessions scene with Jeanie and Freja will be opening doors for me about them. They've become a surprisingly popular couple, and I guess I'll just announce here that they will, in the near future, be having their own series, once I've wrapped up a few other stories that are nearing completion. I know you'll enjoy it.

The Karen & Alexa stories will be telling us a lot more about what kind of family and background the girls come from. It'll be quite an eye-opener about how Karen has adapted over the years and who she might have been if she were not possessed of such a strong character. A lot of readers tell me how in awe they are of Mike, because he is such a moral force, but keep in mind that he lives in awe of Karen's depth of will and fortitude.

This'll do for now, I'd better move on with other stories. I'm catching lots of grief for not being so prolific with them. Onwards and upwards.

Keep your stick on the ice!

Management