Page 38 of Once Upon a Beast

“What did you do?” I asked but I couldn’t keep the smile off my face.

“You’ll have to go inside to find out.” He walked towards me and then held out his hand for me to take. I did and we walked towards the library.

I hadn’t been nervous about the date. It had been so easy and fun to talk to Nic that I was sure the date would be along the same vein. I had expected us to have a simple meal. But going to the Morgan Library was not something that you just did. It took planning and money. By going there, he was making the date as special as he could. I was impressed that he had gone to all the trouble, but it also made me see just how much he cared about me. The thought both scared and excited me.

“Good evening Mr. Murphy,” a man said as we walked up to him.

“Hello, Henry. Thank you for having us.” Nic shook Henry’s hand and he smiled at me.

“It’s a pleasure to have you here this evening,” Henry said.

“I’ve never been here when it was closed.” I looked around in awe.

“It’s kind of cool,” Henry admitted and I laughed. “The library is yours for the evening. Dinner will be served shortly in the east room.”

“Dinner?” I asked and looked over at Nic.

“This is a date. I assumed I would need to feed you. Are you not hungry?”

“I have never eaten here. I didn’t think you could.”

“There is a cafe,” Nic countered.

“Not the same thing and you know it.”

Henry let out a soft chuckle. “I will leave you two to enjoy your evening. If you need anything I will be around.”

When Henry was gone, I then turned to look at Nic. “That was a little cryptic, don’t you think?”

“A little. Though it does fit the motif of this place,” Nic said as he looked around us.

We stood in the main entryway of the museum. The windows in the front and the ceiling allowed a lot of natural light in during the day. With it being dark outside there was a slight eerie feeling, especially as we were the only ones in the building. It made it seem a bit magical and romantic. I had wandered around the halls when I was child and had been sad when it had closed for years, but the renovation had been worth it. I had never thought I would get a chance to explore the library without anyone around and a shiver of excitement went down my spine at the thought.

“Shall we wander around?” I smiled at Nic.

“Isn’t that what we are here to do?” He replied.

“I’m not totally sure but I’ll never pass up a chance to spend time in the library.”

I walked the rest of the way through the hallway and toward the Rotunda. It had a pair of bronze doors that lead into the curved walls with painted ceilings and marble. With the soft lights on in the room, it looked less scary than the hallway and more inviting. I walked over to see the latest manuscript they had on display. It rotated and had held works from Henry David Thoreau, Edgar Allen Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. I felt Nic standing behind me, looking at what I was. He didn’t say anything and I wondered if he was as impressed by the works as I was.

We spent a few minutes looking around before heading to the west room which had red silk walls and soft couches and an expansive fireplace. It was an intimate room and I had heard stories of Mr. Morgan having gatherings here when it was his private residence before it was made into a public museum and library.

I wandered around the room, taking in the manuscripts that were locked behind the cabinets. I longed to touch them but knew I couldn’t. I ran my hand lovingly along the couch and thought about what it would have been like to sit and enjoy the area back in the day.

“It’s crazy to think that this was someone’s residence for a while,” Nic said.

“I don’t think Mr. Morgan ever lived here, he just had the library and used it as a get away from Wall Street,” I said.

“Must be nice,” Nic said and shook his head.

“Yes. I would love to have a place like this. A huge library that has an impressive collection that I can look at and read whenever I want.”

“I’m not surprised, but good to know.”

His comment was a bit odd. I looked over at him and he only smiled and walked around the room. We moved over to the North room. It had been an office for Mr. Morgan’s curator and it still held a lot of those collections. The room was split into two halves. The bottom held ancient seals and tablets from Egypt, Roman and Greece as well as some medieval objects. The upper part contained more books and ceiling paintings. It was probably my least favorite room but I was always impressed by the collections it displayed.

Nic spent more time wandering around the room and I let him. It was nice to sit back and watch him without him knowing I was. He had indulged me when we were younger and had visited the library often with me, though usually I had to bribe him with an ice cream or something else. It meant the world to me that he would find a way for us to spend time there without anyone else around. It was a secret wish of mine, but I hadn’t told anyone, certainly not Nic.