Forever Chapter 17

"Val, do you have a few free hours of your precious time?" Justin said to Valerie.

"Why?"

"My friend Christian would like to meet you..."

"Justin, will you ever leave me alone?" Valerie said angrily, not letting him finish the sentence.

"Val, please let me finish what I have to say..."

"Grow up! Aren't you tired of trying to set me up with some of your friends? I don't know how to explain to you so that you will be able to understand that I don't want to meet any of your friends!"

"Val, please don't get angry at me. This time is not what you think. My friend Christian owns an art gallery, I showed him your work, and he was fascinated by your photographs."

"You showed him my photographs without my permission?"

"I'm sorry. Maybe I should have asked you first."

"Yes, you should."

"Listen, an artist canceled an exhibition, and in his gallery next month there will be a free space for two weeks. After Christian saw your photographs, he wanted to exhibit them. He was particularly interested in your London photographs. When you meet him, he'll explain to you everything better than me."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am! So, what should I tell him? When will you be able to meet him? And he said if you have more photographs of London; bring them with you because he would like to see them too."

"I can meet him anytime he wants, including today!"

"Splendid! I'll call him now!

"I hope this is not one of your sick jokes to set me up with some of your friends."

"No, no, don't worry! Becca and I have made a promise. How will you live your life is your right, and in the future, we will not interfere in your love life. If you're saying that you're happy to be alone, we'll respect that against our will, and I solemnly swear that I'll never try to fix you with some of my friends. But, if you change your mind, I have a friend..."

"Justin!"

"All right! I am just reminding you that London is full of wonderful, young, single men who would be so lucky to have a girlfriend like you."

The next day, before lunchtime, Justin took Valerie to meet Christian in his small art gallery in Central London. For the first time in a long time, Valerie felt excitement. All night she was trying to select her best photographs of London and the people in London she took in the past couple of years.

"These photographs are absolutely brilliant!" Christian said while he was watching Valerie's photographs.

"Thank you!" Valerie said.

"You are a rare talent," Christian said, and he looked at Valerie.

"What have I told you, mate?" Justin said, proud of his cousin.

"This is strange. I was sure that I knew all the best photographers in London, but I have never heard of you before. If Justin hadn't shown me your work last week, it would probably have stayed that way," Christian said, and he continued to watch Valerie's photographs.

"Thanks, Justin!" Valerie said.

"Val, I haven't done anything! If you were not talented, there is nothing I could do," Justin said, trying to be modest.

"Have you ever exhibited your work before?" Christian asked Valerie.

"No, never," Valerie answered.

"Every month, in my gallery, I organize photograph exhibitions and I give space to young artists. A lot of artists are interested in showing their art in my gallery. As I told Justin, a German artist, he cancelled his sculpture exhibition in my gallery, which we've been planning for the next month. He got a better offer from New York. However, your photographs mesmerized me, and if you agree, you can have your first exhibition next month here in my gallery. What do you say, Valerie? Can I call you Valerie?"

"Yes!"

"Yes, for what?"

"You can call me what you want, and yes, more than anything, I would like to have my first exhibition in your gallery."

"Excellent! We can name the exhibition simply, "My London." Do you like my idea, or do you have a better one?"

"Your idea is perfect!"

"Valerie, you haven't shown me your CV."

"Well, there is not much to say. I graduated from college in America, at the University of Santa Monica, where I had lived since I was eight. After my graduation, I started selling my photographs online. Then, a year later, I was diagnosed with cancer, and I returned to London, where I was born..."

"I am truly sorry to hear that."

"Two years ago, I started to take photographs again, and at the moment I'm working as a freelancer for various magazines. And that is all I have to say about my not-so-successful career."

"Very often, the exhibitions in my gallery are for a humanitarian cause. The visitors to your exhibition can make small donations for patients with cancer, or a humanitarian organization related to cancer, by your choice."

"That would be great!"

In the past five years, every morning after he would get up from his bed, Timothy would sit in front of his computer, to check what was new in London. He wanted to be informed about all cultural events, sports matches, the weather, the life of Londoners... In one word, he wanted to know about everything that was happening in the city of London. That was his everyday routine, he was repeating a few times a day, and he knew more about London then the Londoners. He was particularly interested in everything that had some connection with photography, and he was doing it with the hope that one day he will find something about Valerie. Since now, he didn't have much luck, and he found absolutely nothing about her.

One beautiful sunny morning, Timothy found something that caught his attention. It was a photography exhibition called "My London," and the author's name was Valerie Goldsmith. It was very unusual, but in the article, there were no pictures or biography of the author; only a few photographs from the exhibition. The photographs he saw reminded him of Valerie's photographs. In a room with a million photographs from different photographers, if there was only one photograph of Valerie, he would recognize it. That is how well he knew her work.

While he was watching the photographs, he began to wonder if Valerie Goldsmith could be Valerie Patterson. Has he finally found her? Goldsmith was her mother's maiden name. But why would she be using her mother's maiden name instead of Henry's name if she was married to him, as the people were talking?

Timothy spent the entire day searching for any information about Valerie Goldsmith, but all he found were a few photographs of this girl published in some London magazines. He still didn't know what Valerie Goldsmith looked like, and that was torturing him. He couldn't find her picture on the internet, and she didn't have a profile on social media.

Some inexplicable force was pushing him to go to London, to that exhibition. In all that fuss, Timothy forgot to eat all day. His cell phone was ringing without stopping, but he was so focused on his research that nothing from the real world existed for him. After calling him over twenty times, his agent, Mr. Archer, came personally to Timothy's apartment to check if anything happened to him.

"Tim! Are you all right?"

"Yes, why?"

"I'm calling you all day. Why are you not answering your phone?"

"I was out, and I forgot the phone at home."

Mr. Archer knew that Timothy was lying, not because Timothy was a horrible liar, but because he was still in his pajamas and his hair wasn't brushed. Mr. Archer didn't say anything. His client's personal life, wasn't his concern.

"You've got me scared!"

"I'm sorry, David. I promise it won't happen again. I was about to call you now.

A few days before the exhibition, Timothy arrived in London. It was his first visit to London since that horrible day when Valerie officially broke up with him, and she introduced him to Henry. He didn't want to waste his time unpacking his stuff. He just left his unpacked suitcase in the hotel room, took a taxi, and went to the gallery to buy a ticket for the exhibition. He was hoping that maybe in the gallery he'd get some information about the mysterious Valerie Goldsmith, and if he had luck, he might meet her.

"One ticket for the "My London" exhibition, please!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Excuse me, can you please tell me more about the author of the exhibition?"

"Well, this is her first exhibition..."

"Yeah, I know that. But do you know where she is from and where she has studied photography?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know. Miss Goldsmith will be present at the opening, and then you can ask her everything you want to know about her work."

"Thank you! You've been very useful!" Timothy said with irony.

"Sir, would you like to make a small donation? The money is for patients with cancer. Miss Goldsmith, the photographer of the exhibition, is also a cancer survivor."

Did the girl who is selling tickets just tell him that the author of the exhibition has cancer? If this Valerie Goldsmith is his beloved Valerie, then that would mean that his Valerie is ill, and she has cancer. Timothy's heart began to beat fast, and he had to get out into fresh air. Timothy's heart was made of gold, and he wished well for this unknown Valerie, but more than anything, he wished for this Valerie to be someone he didn't know, love, or care about.

He couldn't leave before he finds out who is Valerie Goldsmith. On the opposite side of the street was a restaurant, and he walked in. He sat down on a table by the window, from where he had a perfect view of the gallery, and he began to wait. The people were coming in and out of the gallery, and maybe one of the many women he saw that day was Valerie Goldsmith, but he couldn't know. He was expecting to see his Valerie.

On the first day, Timothy didn't have much luck, so he decided to return to the same place the next day. He wanted to come early before the gallery opens, but when he woke up in his hotel room, it was already noon. He was tired from the flight, and he hadn't yet adjusted to the London time zone. Quickly, he went to the restaurant, and he sat down at the same table by the window as the previous day.

After a few hours of waiting, a man in his middle thirties and a young woman with short hair come out of the gallery. He couldn't see her face because she was turned to him with her back, but he recognized her. That was his Valerie. Timothy got up from his chair, and with running, he went to the exit of the restaurant, but the waiter stopped him before he left.

"Sir, you didn't pay for your coffee!" the waiter said, angrily.

"I'll be back! I won't run away!"

"That is exactly what you are doing, sir!"

Timothy took his wallet from his pocket without looking at the amount of money, took two fifty-pound bills, and handed the money to the waiter.

"Keep the change!"

"Thank you, sir! Please, come to visit us again!"

The waiter looked at the money, confused, but he accepted it without hesitation. By the accent, he figured out that Timothy was an American, and he thought that was the most stupid American he had ever met in his entire life - he gave him a hundred pounds for only one coffee.

Timothy ran out on the street, but it was too late. While he was paying to the waiter, Valerie got in the car with the men she was with, and they left. He continued to run after the car with his entire strenght, but a few seconds later, Timothy lost the car out of his sight.

There, he found her. That was his Valerie, and she was sick. She had cancer. At that moment, everything became clear to Timothy. The day she left him, she had an appointment at her gynecologist, and most likely, the doctor told her that she has cancer, not that she was pregnant. She ran away to London because she didn't want him to find out about her disease, and her family was traveling all the time to London to be with her.

He found himself in a part of the city where he had never been before, and he didn't know how to find his way back to his hotel, but that was his smallest problem. Timothy was shaken by the fact that Valerie had cancer, and he couldn't think clearly. He didn't know what to do. Should he go to her relatives and beg them to tell him where he can find her, or wait until tomorrow evening? If he shows up unannounced at the exhibition, she'll have no chance to run away from him, but if she finds out that he is in London, maybe she won't show up at her own exhibition.

Then, Timothy sat down on a bench, and he began to cry. Five years ago, when he came to London for her, he shouldn't have run away home on the first flight, as he did. He should have stayed to fight for Valerie. If he stayed a little bit longer, a few weeks, or a few months longer, he would find out the truth. He will never forgive himself because he left her when she needed him most and left her to fight with the cancer alone. There was a part of him that always knew that she loved him and that she'd never leave him for another man, but he was a fool to believe in other people's stories. Timothy realized that he made a huge mistake when he gave up on her, and he gave up on their love, just like that. And for every mistake in life we make, sooner or later, we have to pay.