Special Holiday Romance (Part IX)

She rushes through traffic to get to his condo. She pulls up and runs to the door. She had a key to the door in her purse. She was in a hurry and nervous. She ran her hand all over the bottom of her purse trying to find it. She finally gets frustrated and turns her purse upside down and pours the contents out onto the porch.
She pushes everything around trying to sift through all the stuff that she had accumulated since buying it. She finally finds it and jumps up to open the door. She puts her hand next to all the loose articles and rakes them into his condo. She didn't want to take time to pick it all up.
When she enters, she yells," Lucas! Are you here? Lucas!"
She runs up the stairs hoping that he had been in the bathroom. "Lucas! Where are you?" She reaches the top to find no one there. Her excitement turned to sadness. He had already left. She walks around with her head down. She was trying to figure out what to do next. She notices the paper on the pillow and picks it up. Her name was written on the front. She plops down on the bed and opens the note. She wipes tears from her eyes so she can read the note that he had written to her. She had to stop between sentences to continue to wipe her tears.
" Noel, I hope you find this letter. I am on my way back home. I promised my dad that I would be home by Christmas Eve to help him. I just wanted you to know that I never lied to you. Everything I told you was the truth especially the part when I told you that I love you with all my heart.
I still haven't given up on you. If you love me, please be standing on your porch at midnight on Christmas Eve night. I will prove to you that I am not lying to you. If you are not there, I will understand and I want to wish you a wonderful life.
I love you!
Lucas
She continued to cry as she finished his letter. How could she be so stupid? She should have known that he wouldn't lie to her. It was all her fault that he was gone and she didn't know what to do.
As she stood up, her foot stepped on something. She looked down to see the special phone that Lucas had kept next to his bed. She bends over and picks it up.
She studied it. It was an unusual phone with only one button on it. She had never seen anything like it.
She sits back down and pushes the lone button and puts the phone to her ear. She gets excited when she hears a voice at the other end.
" Hello, Lucas. Is that you, dear?"
At first, she didn't know what to say. She hesitated and finally spoke,
" No ma'am, Lucas is on his way home."
" It's nice to speak to you, Noel. Lucas has told me so much about you!"
" How did you know it was me?"
" You should know that by now, dear. Didn't Lucas explain everything to you?"
Noel starts crying and was unable to speak.
" By what I am hearing, you didn't believe him; did you dear?"
She talked through her tears,
" No ma'am, I didn't but I do now and it is too late!"
" There's no need for tears, dear! It is never too late. Where are you now?"
" I'm sitting in his condo. I came over here to tell him that I believe him but he was already gone!"
" How did you get his phone?"
" He must have dropped it. I found it underneath his bed."
" Fate has a way of doing things. You were meant to find it."
" I love him, ma'am! I really do!"
" I know you do, dear. Don't worry, we'll figure this out. Where did you say you were?"
" At his condo, ma'am."
" When did my son leave, dear?"
" At ten o'clock. I guess about two hours ago."
" We have plenty of time, dear. He's flying commercial. Is there anyway that you can get to Ship Island, dear?"
" Yes ma'am. Why do you ask?"
" You've got to trust me, dear. Could you be at the west end of Ship Island right after nightfall?"
" I don't understand but I do trust you. I will get my brother to take me. I'll be there, ma'am."
" Just look at the Southern sky, dear. I'll see you in a little while. Make sure you dress warmly."
" I will ma'am."
" Good-bye."
" Bye ma'am."
She hangs the phone up and rushes down stairs. She looks down on the carpet and sees all the contents of her purse scattered around. She didn't care about it. She jumped over everything and ran out the door.
She rushes home and calls her brother.
He was as confused as she was but agreed to take her to Ship Island.
It was a cold night but they stayed warm inside the cabin as they made their way to the island. Jason was curious.
" Could you tell me what all of this is about, sis?"
" It would be too hard to explain everything to you, Jason. You wouldn't believe me anyways. You'd probably turn the boat around and bring me back to be committed.
I'm hoping that when we get there, you will see with your own eyes and I won't have to explain anything. Please just trust me and get me there on time!"
" You know I trust you, sis. You've got to admit, this is a little crazy!"
" I know it is, Jason. That why I ask for your faith in me."
" You've got it sis! Don't worry, we'll get there in plenty of time."
As promised, he pulls up to the island as the sun was setting