Mariyah's Blog

Alexandra’s return to Aberdeen proved as dismal as she had anticipated. Ultimately, however, the decision had been hers and she knew in the long run that it was the wisest course of action. Her only regret was leaving Ghassan in a state of confusion. But she had also known that a showdown at Frau Hanauer’s house would have proved disastrous, particularly for Ghassan. She had purposefully left Ghassan in the dark and disconnected in hopes that he would not try to come to Aberdeen to confront her father. In order for her plan to work, she needed to be in full control of all of the variables. Of course, on that fateful day in December, she hadn’t fully planned everything out. The one thing she had known, however, was that once she was home it would be easier for her to get away from her father than it would would have been at Frau Hanauer’s.

Alexandra knew that her father thought he had won, thought that his ever obedient daughter had returned home because of his will. Once home, Alexandra never once defied him. She went to dinner parties at the MacEwan’s, she went to the cinema and some dances with David MacEwan, she attended church regularly, and she continued her studies by correspondence – arranged, of course, by her father. So long as she was willing to comply with her father’s demands, they had very little to discuss and for the most part, he left her alone. Life at the Cochrane home was smooth albeit chilly.

During all the time at home, however, Alexandra had plenty of opportunity to fully organize her plan. She was getting things in order for her eventual departure. She had a packed suitcase, made sure her documents were up to date, and took a job tutoring some students at the university and high-school to pad her bank account. She had spoken, secretly, with Frau Hanauer on several occasions. Any day now Alexandra would purchase a ticket back to Stuttgart to stay at the Frau’s comfortable home. The only important detail that she wasn’t sure about concerned the one person for whom she was doing all this planning.

Ghassan was the only man she ever wanted to be with, the only man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. She would walk the earth if it meant that she would eventually be with him. But what were his thoughts now? Surely from his perspective she had abandoned him. She knew that Frau Hanauer had spoken to him several times. The Frau had tried to soothe him without revealing Alexandra’s plan. But he was determined and so protective of Alexandra that it was difficult to find that fine line between dissuading him from going to Scotland and from not discouraging him altogether so that he would think he had lost Alexandra. But, Alexandra noted, Frau Hanauer seemed to be a genius when it came to human relations and, as far as Alexandra knew, the Frau had managed to keep him where he needed to be for Alexandra’s plan to work.

On a beautiful, May, Tuesday morning, Alexandra took a handful of money from her jewelery box – a place she had always stored extra cash. She donned her spring jacket and hat and stepped out onto the grey cobblestone street to walk to the local travel agency. She had enough to buy her ticket back to Stuttgart. With butterflies in her stomach and a lightness of excitement, she strolled carefree through her neighborhood. It wasn’t until she had almost reached the market that she realized that she was being followed. It wasn’t the sound of heavy footsteps, or a shadow that had given away her pursuer. It was a most familiar cologne that wafted toward her mixed in the sea air. At first, she thought her senses were misleading her, but as the scent grew stronger, she knew that she had not been mistaken. She suddenly stopped in her tracks and looked as casually as she could over her shoulder. There he was, her Ghassan, not more than a few feet away looking at her with those eyes, those boundless, dark eyes.