Loving With A Heavy Heart 47 A Beautiful Nigh

An a.s.sistant lead Elle backstage back towards the dressing room where she had gotten ready. On the way there she b.u.mped into Adam. They were walking in opposite directions; the a.s.sistant leading her to her room and Adam leading his parents out.

Perhaps it was just a trick of the light, but Elle could have sworn Adam's eyes seemed to light up when he saw her walking towards them. He stopped to speak to her.

"Good work today." He complimented.

"Thank you, sir." Elle replied graciously. She was on her best behaviour in front of his parents. It seemed inappropriate to act too familiar with their son while she was working for them.

"Let me introduce you." Adam said suddenly remembering his parents.

"Chairman, madam." Elle greeted respectfully.

The chairman didn't seem to care much for the interaction, but Adam's mother smiled warmly.

"You did well tonight." She praised. "You look so beautiful too, like a princess."

"Thank you, madam." Elle said, bowing her head gracefully.

"I can see why Adam selected you. You sure have an eye for them son. If only you could pick a girlfriend for yourself too." Mrs. Hayes said with a sigh.

Elle tried to suppress her laugh and looked away awkwardly. Adam cleared his throat, a clear warning for his mother not to say anymore.

"We better be off. Mother you seem tired." Adam said strictly.

His mother laughed and continued walking with Adam's father in tow. Adam stayed back for a brief moment.

"I'm just walking my parents out. Wait for me in your room." He whispered to her. His parents, who were a few steps ahead didn't notice anything.

"Okay." Elle breathed. She turned to watch Adam catch up to his family, then she turned around and continued down the hallway to her dressing room.

Adam saw his parents into a car and then watched as a driver took off to take them home. Once the car was out of sight he returned indoors, and made his way to Elle's dressing room. He was about to knock at the door when he realized it was open a crack. He slowly opened the door. As he looked inside he felt a smile creep onto his face. What he saw in that moment tugged at his heart.

Elle stood in front of the large floor-to-ceiling mirror and admired herself. Spinning this way and that to get a better look. She would occasionally do a twirl and watch the way the skirt billow and flare around her. Elle's eyes shone brightly, and there was a smile on her lips. She looked radiating.

Adam chuckled to himself as he watched her. "Enjoying yourself?" He teased.

Elle jumped at the sound of his voice. She turned around and found him leaning against the doorway. She was thoroughly embarra.s.sed.

"I was just admiring the dress, that's all." She insisted.

"Oh really? It looked like you were having a great deal of fun."

"Who said you could come in anyway?" Elle shot back. "Shouldn't you knock before you enter a ladies dressing room?"

"The door way open." Adam said in his defence. "It's getting late; you should quickly change. I'll drive you back."

"Okay." Elle replied.

It took a long time to change back. She carefully took the dress off, it was collected by Will, and then she changed back into her normal clothes. Then someone came by with a security guard to collect the necklace. One of the hair and makeup ladies returned to help her take all her make up off. They also collected the mask and crystal pins from her hair.

All the while Adam sat in the back of the room watching as Elle slowly transformed back into herself. By the end of it Elle felt twice as tired as when she started, and about twenty pounds lighter. It felt odd to look at herself in the mirror again. With the heavy weight of the dress and necklace gone she felt something was missing.

"Is something wrong?" Adam asked as he watched Elle stare at her reflection pensively.

"Nothing's wrong. It just feels weird for everything to be back to normal. I feel like I've woken up from a dream."

"If you miss the dream I can always arrange for you to do it again."

Elle turned around and gave Adam a smile. "It's fine. One perfect dream is more then enough."

"Well Cinderella, it's almost midnight. You really should be getting back." Adam teased as he extended his arm to her.

Elle hesitated for a second before gently placing her hand in his arm. Adam helped her into his car and then set off. As always the car ride back was quite. At one point Adam glanced over at her to realize Elle had fallen asleep. Her head was resting against the window and her chest rose and fell with her long even breaths.

Adam felt that in that moment she looked every bit as radiating as she had in the dressing room when she had been wearing thousands of dollars' worth of jewels and gowns.

Eventually he reached her house. He parked the car outside for a minute, hesitant to wake her up, but after a moment he gentle roused her from her sleep. They bid goodbye and both returned to their respective homes. That night they both had incredibly peaceful dreams.