~ chapter 4 ~

"Max..." Liz unconsciously, reverently whispered his name.

It was as if a magic spell floated through the open door and settled on the four occupants in the room evidenced by an electrically charged silence that suddenly filled the air.

Maria's thoughts tumbled through her head as quickly as the words would have fallen from her mouth had she found the ability to speak. She couldn't believe their luck. The very day Michael and she plan for Max and Liz to meet, Ben shows up. And why was he here anyway? Men don't really get into making wedding plans. Especially when it comes to picking the wedding dress. Do they? Michael certainly hadn’t.

Oh, God. Michael. He needed to get up here…and quick. With Liz's reaction to Maria just *saying* Max's name, Maria had no idea how her best friend would handle actually *seeing* Max now. Liz by herself would have been one thing, but with Ben by her side who knew what her reaction would be. Especially since she didn't know the truth yet. She might actually try to deny what her heart felt when she faced the only real love of her life.

Maria's gaze moved from the two men in Liz Parker's life to Liz herself. An involuntary smile curved Maria's lips when she saw the besotted look on her friend's face as Liz gazed past her intended to the one who she had always been intended for.

Maria felt her heart jumping up and down inside with silent victory. She knew it! She knew her best friend was still head over heels in love with Max Evans. All she needed was a chance to face him to realize it. Too bad for Ben. Maria really did like the guy...

Ben didn't even know anyone else was in the room except the woman in front of him. Even if he had known, he couldn't have cared less. In his year and a half of knowing Liz Parker, he'd never seen her more stunning than she was right this moment. He'd always heard that every bride was beautiful, but Liz went beyond that. She was...radiant, shimmering, luminous.

Maybe it was the flush of her cheeks or the light in her eyes. A light Ben could swear was the result of every star in the sky taking up residence in her eyes. Or maybe it was the smile on her lips. That slight, dazed, out-of-this-world smile he'd never had the privilege to see till now. The smile he promised himself he'd spend the rest of his life trying to recreate.

When he finally found the breath to speak, his voice was soft with emotion. "God, Liz. You look..."

Liz barely heard him speak. She felt like she was in a time warp and Max had captured her once again with those deep soulful eyes of his. The eyes that made her feel as if no one and nothing else existed in the world but the two of them. She could feel the gentle, warm caress his eyes made as they roamed every inch of her face even from half a room away.

It was as if nothing had changed. Time stood still and all those years faded away to nothing. All that stood between them was that intensely energetic feeling of once again being alive.

And he felt it too. She could see that as plainly as the adoration she saw dancing in his eyes. The only words that made it through her consciousness were his when he spoke and the softness of his voice reminded her of so many whispered promises shared between the two of them another lifetime ago.

"...words fail." Max breathed in whispered awe finishing Ben's thought when Ben's words wouldn't come.

And it was true. Nothing Max was feeling at seeing Liz again, dressed as she was, smiling at him as if she'd been waiting that way for him all of her life, could be described in tangible words from Webster's dictionary. There was wonder and awe in his velvet brown eyes. Overflowing love in his heart. And breathless anticipation swelling in his chest.

She was his dream come true. If, in fact, this was real. He'd dreamed of this scenerio so many times in the past seven years that he didn't know for sure if this moment *was* reality or a dream. Please, God. If it's a dream, don't ever wake me up.

The thing about spells, though...they usually get broken. And dreams? Somehow there always comes a time to wake up.

That time came for all of them when loud voices were heard from the hallway. "No! You can't! I mean it...this is no place for you right now!"

"Oh, please, Michael. Stop being so dramatic. If I remember, that's usually your little wife's department isn't it?" Her bored voice floated from the hall into the room and Max looked away from Liz uncomfortably when he saw the flicker of pain in her eyes and the smile fade from her lips.

In the next moment, the room was crowded with two extra people and what seemed like a suffocating lack of air. She stopped short and took in the scene before her with an upraised eyebrow before turning her attention back to Michael, who had practically slammed into the back of her in his haste to stop her from entering the room. "Well, well, well. I see the urgency now."

Turning back to the room, a smug grin spread over her face as she sashayed her way to Max and wrapped her arm through his. "There you are, darling." She leaned up and pecked him on the cheek then swept her gaze to the onlookers of the little scene she'd begun to play out. "Well, what do you know? Here I was all set to congratulate my new sister-in-law and find my Max conducting a high school reunion instead."

"Tess..." The warning in Max's voice caused Liz's eyes to flicker back to his reddening face. For the life of her she couldn't be sure if the faint blush creeping up his cheeks was from embarrassment...or anger. Maybe both.

Max's warning look seemed to only fuel Tess. Locking eyes with Liz, her eyes twinkled with arrogance and her voice resonated with long-held triumph. "Oh, hello, Liz. I didn't see you there. What a sweet little dress. I wonder if it comes in my size..."