In October, Alice was informed by her father that she would be attending the event of the year with them.  He had gotten her a ticket and it had been very expensive, so she could not let them down.  The fundraiser was to restore an old New York theater.

What was it they said about karma? She must have done something really bad in her former life.

"You'll enjoy it. The entertainment for the evening will be Cassandra Stevens.  You remember her don't you? We attended one of her concerts last fall," her father reminded her.

Alice did her best to get out of it, even going as far as to say she had nothing to wear to such an event. She was desperate not to attend. Her father would have none of it, and he insisted that her sister and mother would pick her up the next afternoon so that they could all go shopping together.   

When her mother and Madeline showed up at her door they were shocked by her appearance.

"Aren't you eating dear?" her well turned out mother asked.  She could never remember her mother ever having a hair out of place.  Even when they were growing up, she wouldn't come out of her room until she had dressed for the day. Her blond hair was pulled back into a chignon and she was wearing a burgundy Chanel suit. "You have always had a healthy appetite."

"That's putting it mildly mother," Madeline said, looking at her phone.  She was wearing a black knit dress with matching knee high boots, and her blond hair was loose and curling around her shoulders.

In comparison to the well turned out ladies, Alice was wearing an old sweater and a well-worn pair of jeans.

"I've been busy," was all Alice said.

"Have you been ill dear, you look extremely pale?"

"No, mother, I'm fine. I've just been living in the library. There's not much sun there."

"Well, your new slimmed down size is in vogue, but your color will be hard to match, maybe a pink?"

In the end they did decide on a light pink formal gown.  The bodice was tight fitting and shaped like a heart, making her narrow waist look even smaller. The dress was backless and strapless so her shoulders and back were shown to their full advantage, and the full organza skirt fell away from the small waist and to the floor in a dramatic fashion.

The sales lady had insisted that she looked like a delicate china doll, and it was agreed that she would wear her hair piled high on her head.

Alice was sure that her sister and mother were enjoying dressing her as they would a doll.

The next week passed much too quickly for Alice, she kept hoping she would come down with some violent illness or that the event would be cancelled. When none of these seemed likely she started to think that maybe she would go unrecognized, or even better, they would all just give her a polite nod and leave it at that.

She knew most of the Stevens family would be there to support Cassie and Grace.

This time, her family, as if sensing she didn't want to go, were in the car when it arrived. Her father actually came to the door to make sure she was ready.

It was the first time that she had seen Frank since Rainer had forced him out of her apartment, and he glared at her across the backseat of the limo as it made its way to their destination.

"You look lovely dear." Her mother approved.

"Thank you mother." Alice looked at Frank. "How are you enjoying holding city office Frank."

"I'm enjoying it," he said, in no mood to elaborate.

The conversation for the rest of the car ride was stilted.

When they arrived and entered the hotel's ballroom it was like walking into another world. The theme of the party was Broadway, so the décor was over the top. There were stage backdrops, red carpets, and spotlights everywhere.

They found there table and Alice listened as her family noted all of the famous faces in the crowd.

"Come on Alice, aren't you even a little impressed?" Madeline said with a tone that implied that she was pretending not to care.

"It takes more than a few famous faces to impress our Alice," Davis said snapping her picture. He frowned when he looked at the picture on his screen as he walked away. There went the hope that she would be able to blend in and go unnoticed.

"Who was that?" her father asked, watching Davis as he continued to snap more pictures.

"That was Davis," Alice said turning her back to the crowd.

"Oh my goodness, don't look now, but here comes Mason Stevens," Madeline whispered to the table.

Alice followed her sister's advice and didn't look.

"How are you all this evening?" he said to the table in general.

Alice watched as her sister and mother, who were obviously flustered that such a handsome and famous man was talking to them, just smiled and said fine at a loss for words.

"Alice, why don't you introduce me?" Mason said, placing a kiss on Alice's cheek.

"Mason, this is my mother and father, Audrey and Nelson Grant, and my sister and her husband, Madeline and Frank Johnson."

"It is a pleasure to meet you all, and I have been sent over here by the family to invite you to join our table this evening." Mason gave Alice a wink at her look of complete distress.

"I don't think-,"

"We would be happy to join your table my boy," Alice's father said, standing.

Mason shook his outstretched hand. "Glad to hear it, right this way."

Alice felt as if she was walking towards a firing squad as Mason held tightly to her arm.  She had been so good about fighting her urges to pick up the phone and call her friends because she had convinced herself that it was better to have no contact, and here she was being thrown back to the lions.

She scanned the table as they approached, and she thanked God for small mercies when Rainer was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh Alice!" Grace started crying. "You're so skinny." She pulled her close in a tight hug. "I've missed you so much, we all have," she whispered.

Alice started to tear up herself. "I've missed you too, but it was easier this way."

"I know. I'm married to a Stevens man remember." Grace laughed wiping her eyes.

They all passed her around the table giving her kisses and hugs.  They all expressed concern at her thin appearance, and said that she was never far from their thoughts. They only family not there were Rainer, Brian, and Lizzy.

Cassie must have been back stage getting ready for her performance because Alice was no sooner settled into her seat when Cassie came rushing from the back and threw her arms around Alice. She then grabbed Alice and Grace, and pulled them back stage for a private talk.

"Alice you look...."

"Too skinny, I know."

"No, beautiful," Cassie said. "We were unforgivable, the way we treated you when Rainer was taken, and the whole family has wanted to apologize, but Grace said you didn't want to see us."

"How were you unforgivable? Your family took me in and made me a part of them."

"We totally forgot about how you would be coping with your worry about Rainer, but in our defense you kept insisting that you were just friends."

Alice shook her head and looked at Grace. "Is that why you think I've been avoiding you?"

Grace and Cassie nodded.

"No, with all of you comes Rainer. That is why I have been avoiding you." Alice pulled both ladies into a hug and they cried and laughed a little until Grace pulled away.

"Rainer is on his way here now," she warned.

Alice took a shaky breath, quickly loosing what color she had.   

"How is he?" she asked.   

"Always grumpy, he used to be such and even tempered person, but now he is like a lion with a thorn in his paw." Cassie started to fix her makeup.

"He doesn't know you'll be here this evening," Grace said, meeting Cassie's eyes.

Alice shrugged.  "I doubt it will matter. If it did, he would have contacted me long ago."

"We'll see, but I've picked out a song just in case," Cassie said, motioning for them to return to the table.

"A song?" Alice looked back at her over her shoulder.

"Yes, Cassie has picked out a song for all of us," Grace said, propelling Alice forward when she would have stopped.

Grace got Alice back to her seat just as the lights dimmed and Cassie took the stage to thunderous applause.

"Good evening to all of you.  I want to thank you for being here this evening to support our efforts to restore one of New York's true treasures. One of my first jobs was working as a stage hand for a show that was starring the incomparable Mason Stevens." Cassie stopped for the applause that followed. "When we met, we fell right into hate and then quickly into love.  That show was full of wonderful memories and this is one of my favorite songs. We preformed this tune, together night after night and it eventually became our story."

Mason picked up the other microphone, shooting Cassie and adoring look just as the Big Band behind them launched into the song, 'Save the Last Dance', and for the next few minutes the crowd was enchanted as they did their routine to the song.

Alice was one of them. Their chemistry was electric, and all eyes were glued to them. They didn't attempt to hide their love for one another, and Alice didn't even realize that she had a huge grin on her face.

*******

When Rainer walked into the ballroom he could hear Cassie and Mason singing and it brought a smile to his lips.  Their energy was infectious. Lizzy and Brian were with him, and they all stopped at the bar to watch the performance.

Rainer's gaze wandered over to their table, and his eyes immediately landed on Alice, and he stopped breathing. She was smiling at Cassie and Mason, and she looked so beautiful. He watched her as she watched the performance, noting how thin she had gotten. All of her lovely curves were gone.

Grace leaned over to her and said something that made her laugh. Then Grace looked over and saw him watching them, and she mouthed the words "fix it" to him before turning her attention back to the performance.

*******

Alice's heart melted as they ended the song with a steamy kiss that had the crowd hooting and hollering for more. She turned to tell Grace how much she had enjoyed the performance, but Lizzy saw her before she could comment and had swept her up in a tight hug, Brian followed her lead telling her how lovely she looked.

She looked all over for Rainer, her heart about to beat out of her chest, but he was nowhere to be seen.

Mason returned to the table and collapsed into his chair. "That woman wears me out," he said, taking a drink of water.

The next half hour flew by as Cassie sang all of her favorites and encouraged people to dance. Alice enjoyed watching all of the couples, and eventually Cassie took a break and joined their table again.

Alice was just admiring how handsome all of the Stevens men and women looked, telling herself that she looked strangely out of place, when Rainer appeared. He greeted the table at large then he turned to Alice.

"Hi Al," he said softly. Her heart fell down to her feet then quickly surged back into her throat, she was sure that she was going to be sick.

"Hello Rainer," she said, rising to give him a kiss on the cheek because it would seem odd not to. He pulled her close for a hug that lasted a moment longer than it should have, making Alice's whole body quiver as his arms enveloped her bare shoulders.

His red hair was trimmed short, but there was that stray lock that always managed to fall over his forehead, and she noted that he looked strained and his sky blue eyes looked tired. Rainer set Alice away from him and looked her over "Well is it official, are you Dr. Alice Grant?"

Alice smiled and nodded, he was the first one to ask her if she had finished.

"Oh Alice that's wonderful," Grace said, pulling her into a hug.

"Another Doctor in the family," Mrs. Stevens exclaimed.

Her comment seemed to go unnoticed my most, but it made Alice uncomfortable. She was enjoying seeing the Stevens family again, but she was not about to start making it a regular thing.

Her family, who had been watching Alice all evening with looks of surprise, confusion, and even jealously, had been suspiciously quiet.

"Congratulations my dear," her father said, lifting his glass to her.

"That's it! I recognize you now," Frank said loudly enough that the whole table stopped and looked at him. He had been drinking nonstop from the open bar since they had arrived, and it had finally caught up to him.

He stood up and moved towards Rainer. "You're the one who was in Alice's apartment at eight o'clock on a Saturday morning half dressed in you evening clothes."

Alice's hands flew to her cheeks.

"I knew it. Ha!" Mason said punching the air. "Caleb, Davis, Laura, you all owe me fifty bucks."

Cassie hushed him quickly.

Rainer looked at the finger that Frank had stuck in his chest.

"Do you really want to have this discussion here and now?" he asked in that low menacing voice that Alice had only heard one other time.

Alice heard a few gasps from the ladies at the table.  They had obviously never heard it before and were stunned.

Bryce and Quinn rose and flanked Rainer, and all three of them stared down Frank. Alice couldn't help but think of how handsome they all looked, even in their defensive state.

"That's enough Frank. Alice's personal life is her own. You gave up all rights to it when you chose Madeline instead of her." Her father pushed Frank back into his chair.

There were a few more gasps at the table at her father's thoughtless comment.

Alice couldn't take it anymore, and she grabbed her purse trying to make a quick escape, but Rainer wouldn't let her go as he grabbed her arm and moved her out onto the dance floor to dance with the other couples.

"If you run now you'll never win," Rainer said as his warm arms encircled her.

"What does is matter? I've never won in the past, why should that change now?"

"You've won me," he said, standing still among all of the other dancers.

"How have I won you? You haven't spoken to me in months, not since..." Her voice trailed off as she recalled the last thing she had said to him.

She had said she had hated him.

"I love you Alice. It scares me to death, but I do.  I have thought of nothing but you. When I was in the Middle East, stuck in the hell hole of a hotel, getting the story of my career, I was thinking of you and how I couldn't wait to tell you all about it. Then I got back and Grace told me about how you had cut us out of your life. I thought you truly did hate me, and that there was no way to make you forgive me."

"All you ever had to do was knock on my door," Alice said softly. "I have loved you from the moment I opened my eyes and saw your blue ones staring into mine. I felt safe and peaceful, like I could go back to sleep and you would watch over me."

"You did go back to sleep, if I recall, " he said huskily.

"You see, its true then."

He pulled her close. "I felt protective of you until you wore that red dress that night we worked in my room."

"My red dress?" she asked, confused.

"It kept riding up when you moved, and it was all I could do to look at you and not your legs. I knew then I was a gonner."

Alice gave him a smile of wonderment. "Really, you were attracted to me then?"

"Oh yes, and I still am." He leaned down and gave her a heart stopping kiss.

"Did you read the book?"

"Yes, I cried at the dedication. I knew as soon as I read it that all of it meant something to you."

Rainer nodded, laying his forehead against hers. "I heard you. I took it seriously when you said that I needed to figure out what I wanted. As soon as you left I knew it was you, but I also knew I had some issues to resolve."

"And did you?" she asked in a whisper.

"Yes, I did, and now I say to my very best friend, I want to be more than friends."

"Yes, please. I am tired of fighting my battles alone."

Rainer swung her around to look at their family. "You will never be alone again."

Cassie clapped her hands then took the stage, leaning back to say something to the band before turning back towards the audience.

"Now everyone, this is a special song that promises that no matter where or how far we may travel, that if we are lucky enough, we all belong to someone."

Cassie had chosen their song, 'You Belong to Me'.

Alice laughed with joy, it was the same song that she and Rainer had danced to in the dance hall in Texas. Rainer pulled Alice close, lifting her off the ground as the song said all that was in their hearts.

Caleb and Norah's story coming soon!