Another trumpet blared, and the show began. It was amazing. Dray blew fire from his mouth, then the fire turned to ice, and when it crashed down onto the stage doves burst out, flapping away to the ceiling. Then he turned a hat he got from the audience into an accordion, playing a song and doing a little dance. He did a couple of cheap tricks, but then astounded everyone when he did something impossible and amazing. ‘Oohs’ and ‘aahs’ came from the crowd every time he did a trick.

For the finale, all the flowers in the arrangements shaped like flames that were lining the stage burst into actual flames, then each individual flower turned to glass with a snap of Dray’s fingers.

“That is all, ladies and gentlemen,” Dray shouted amidst uproarious applause. “One glass flower shall go to every lady in attendance. Thank you, and good night!” Dray came up to Iliana after descending the steps of the stage and gave her one of the glass flowers himself.

“That was amazing! Is this real?” Iliana eyed the glass flower. It was a Blue Jewel, which couldn’t have been a coincidence.

“I assure you, it is real.” The orchestra started up again and Dray pulled her onto the dance floor. But Iliana was still feeling quite full from the meal.

“Don’t spin me around too much,” Iliana warned Dray as they began swaying back and forth.

“I won’t,” he assured her. Dray held her close and she rested her head on his shoulder. Iliana felt silly for worrying about something so trivial before. All of her worries melted away, and she relaxed so much that she was getting tired and she let out a big yawn. “We can leave if you want,” Dray whispered in her ear.

“No, I’m fine,” she whispered back, enjoying being so close to him.

After the third song Iliana had to admit that she was getting too tired, and Dray agreed that it was about time to take her home. Dray had to hunt down the young man that had taken her shawl and his hat, but he did finally get them back. Iliana fell asleep in the cab on the way to her house, and Dray gently shook her awake when they got there.

“We’re here,” he said. He helped her out of the cab and walked her to the front door.

“I had fun,” Iliana said. “Thanks for taking me.”

“Thank you for going with me.” Dray was smiling at her. She noticed that he was standing very close to her on the top step, and she wondered why.

“Well…I’ll see you Monday,” she said, feeling a little awkward and not knowing what else to say.

“Yes, Monday…” Dray agreed.

Suddenly he leaned forward and kissed her, his mouth covering her own and his hands going around her waist, pushing her up against the door. That got her wide awake. She started to panic, then thought, Why? She closed her eyes and sank into him, into the kiss.

After what seemed like an eternity he broke away, breathing hard. Dray looked at her for a while, then kissed her again, softly this time. His arms fell down to his sides, but he didn’t yet make a move to leave. “See you Monday,” he said, then he turned around and got back into the cab and was gone. Iliana didn’t want him to go. She felt so alone after being so close to him for most of the night.

A cold gust of cool wind brought her to her senses, and she opened the front door and slipped inside, hoping that her mother would have gone to bed already. To Iliana’s relief she had.

Up in her room, Iliana sat in front of the mirror and took the flowers and pins out of her hair. She left the blue flowers and the glass one on the vanity, then she kicked off the white shoes and carefully took off the dress and put it and the shawl in the package that she put on the floor. Lastly she changed into her nightgown. Then she sat in front of the mirror again and brushed her hair for a long time, thinking.

Dray kissed me. She just couldn’t believe it. Did he mean it? Did he love her? Did she love him? She thought about that. Yes. She did love him. She couldn’t imagine a day without him.

Except Sundays. Sunday was tomorrow. Maybe he had planned it that way, to give her a little time to think about it.

Then she had a thought.

Now that the ball is over… will he leave? He might have to in order to find more work. Will I really see him on Monday? Or will he be gone already? Iliana stopped brushing her hair. I have to stop thinking about this. She put down the brush and crawled into bed, blowing out the lamp. She fell asleep staring at the pile of dried flowers on the nightstand.

When Iliana woke up Sunday morning she knew she had dreamed, but she couldn’t remember what she had dreamed about. All she could remember was an image of the meadow, but it was somehow different.

“Iliana! Breakfast!” her mother called. Iliana dreaded going down there. She knew that Rose would ask all kinds of questions, and some Iliana wouldn’t answer or would get embarrassed about, and then her mother would know that something had happened, and Iliana wasn’t sure if she wanted her mother to know that Dray had kissed her…Dray had kissed her. She smiled at the memory. “Iliana!”

“Coming!” She got dressed and went downstairs.

“So, how’d it go last night?” Rose asked her.

Wonderful, she thought. “It was okay,” she said.

“Did you have fun?”

Plenty. “Yeah. Although, I had to sit next to this rude lady, and she was trying to get me to drink wine. But I didn’t have any,” she said quickly. Her mother didn’t approve of drinking.

“Well, I’m glad to hear of it.” Rose didn’t say anything else, which Iliana was surprised by. The rest of the day passed as normal. Iliana had a lot of time to think about what had happened the night before while she knitted.

Mostly Iliana thought about what she should do tomorrow. Celsey would ask a lot more questions than her mother did, and she just might find out about them kissing. Then there was Dray. What do you say to someone that you know you love, but you’re not exactly sure if they love you back? And what if the worst should happen? What if he’s not there to pick me up on Monday? What if he left? Stop it! she scolded herself. Everything will be fine.

That night she had the same old nightmare. At the end the twisted, evil face was more focused, and it stayed in her head even longer when she woke up with her heart beating faster than a galloping horse. What is it with these nightmares? she thought indignantly. First, the face at the end changes every other night, then it turns into a dream, then I don’t have a nightmare at all, then it’s worse than ever! Iliana punched her pillow, then laid back down to try to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep again.

In the morning she didn’t want to get out of bed at all, but she did anyway and made breakfast. Iliana and her mother sat and ate in silence for a while. Iliana was contemplating telling her mother everything, and decided that it wouldn’t be the end of the world if people knew what had happened.

“Mother, I kissed Dray Saturday night,” she announced, catching her mother with a fork full of eggs halfway to her mouth. “I kissed him, and I love him, but I’m not sure if he loves me. I just thought you should know.”

“You… you kissed him?”

“Yes… well, actually he kissed me, but that’s not the point.”

“You love him?” Iliana nodded. “I didn’t think you two were that serious…”

“Neither did I…”

“You don’t think he loves you, too?” Rose said, looking a little confused.

“I’m just not sure. He could be gone for all I know.”

“Why would he leave?”

“Well, he came for the ball, and now it’s over.”

“Oh, I don’t think he’d leave you,” Rose said reassuringly.

“You really think so?”

“Of course. Who could leave such a pretty face?” Her mother laughed. “You are all grown up now,” she said with a sigh. “Well, I couldn’t hold onto you forever. I have to say, I like Dray. I’m glad you chose him.”

“It feels more like he chose me, to be honest. Oh, I gotta go.” Iliana gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and went to go meet Celsey. “Bye, I love you!”

“I love you too, dear.”

“So, how’d it go?” Celsey asked anxiously as soon as they were seated on the trolley.

“Fine.”

“Was it fun? I wish I could’ve gone. Were there lots of people there?”

“Hundreds.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.” Celsey looked at her.

“You seem kind of distracted.”

“Hmm?”

“Did something happen? Tell me everything!”

“Nothing happened, really. Except…”

“Except what?”

“Well… Dray kind of… kissed me.” Celsey's mouth couldn't have hung open any further at that revelation.

“What!!! He kissed you?”

“Yes! Not so loud,” Iliana said as a few people looked their way.

“Oh, sorry," Celsey said, leaning in close to whisper in Iliana's ear. "Well, tell me!”

“Tell you what?”

“How was it?”

“I’m not going to tell you that!”

“Oh, come on.”

“You’ll have to find out for yourself.”

“You’re no fun,” Celsey pouted, and Iliana laughed. Celsey got off at her stop. Iliana thought over and over about what she was going to say to Dray. She had already ruled out just going up to him and saying ‘I love you’. What if he didn’t say anything back? Then there would be an awkward silence, and she hated those.

Soon Iliana had no more time to think about any of that. The trolley stopped and she craned to try and see Dray and the carriage over the crowd of people, but those behind her pushed up against her, so she was forced into the crowd. She took a deep breath and went her way.

“Iliana!” came a shout. Iliana looked around and saw Dray standing beside Kestral. The sight had become a familiar one over that last few weeks. She smiled, relief flowing into her.

He’s here! Iliana walked over to him, and he helped her up onto the seat wordlessly and they road in silence. When they came to the meadow Iliana got off by herself while Dray found a patch of grass for Kestral. She began picking flowers, still thinking about what to say. Dray came up behind her, and she felt her nerves were going to fry.

“Iliana?” She turned and looked up at him. His eyes were having a hard time meeting her own. “Um…look, about Saturday night, I…I was just…” he sighed and scratched his head. “How do I put this…?”

“Put what?” He hesitated, biting his lip. Then he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close.

“This,” he said, and he kissed her, right then and there. Iliana held still.

He’s kissing me again! This was unreal, and she was beginning to feel lightheaded. Dray stopped kissing her, just long enough to whisper:

“I love you.” Iliana sucked in her breath and he was kissing her again. Had he really just said that? His arms went around her like last time, holding her close, his lips almost never leaving her own. Now Iliana was kissing him back, her arms around his neck and her fingers in his black hair. They just stood there for a long time, kissing each other, the flower basket lying forgotten on the ground.

Finally Iliana pulled away. She stood looking at him, breathing hard, his arms still around her. She gulped and, in a shaky voice, said: “I love you, too.” Dary’s face split into a huge grin. He picked her up and spun her around, then set her down and kissed her again. Happiness filled Iliana, and she lost herself in him. She prayed this wasn’t a dream, and if it was, she never wanted it to end.

Now the fun begins…