Echoes of a Confident Heart

After a few requests for more on this couple, I decided I had to write a fitting end, for, as much as I liked the idea, the meeting had been the plan and the second part a blossoming. I needed a point from which I could write more if necessary, but which would allow me to leave the story as it was, an encapusulation…

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It had been a year, although at times it seems like just a moment, at times an eternity. I saw the anniversary as a celebration of happiness, and on an excuse, I am sad to say I cannot remember now, we drove out to the country on that early Sunday morning. I took a route that was quite a bit longer than necessary, and pretended to be quite lost in search of our announced destination (for which she teased me very lightly, but did not scold, did not lecture… and therein lay one of he many reasons I loved her).

I pulled up at a gas station which I knew would be closed, as it is where I had parked a year earlier, and having gotten out and looked around, came back quite forlorn with the news that there was no one here to help us find our way. I suggested that we take a break, just to avoid getting frustrated, and mentionned that I had see a nice path in back of the Garage.

She had always loved walking in nature, and as she had on casual clothing, she agreed readily. We started down the path, and rounding a turn I heard a very soft “oh my…” behind me as she recognised the river, and the bank and the raspberry bushes. She stopped…. and a very soft, beautiful look came over her face. I could have sworn there was a small tear in her eye (although she always denied it after that day).

“I thought you had forgotten.”

I told her that I remembered every time I saw her come around a corner. I remembered each time I looked up and saw her near me. I remembered in countless dreams, and unnumbered happy thoughts.

I reached down into the raspberries and pulled up a small cooler I had hidden the day before, unfolded the cloth to lay on the ground, and set two small flutes on the grass beside us. She sat down, silent and happy, and watched as I poured a little bit of champagne into the two glasses from a half bottle still cool from the ice that had surrounded it.

I reached down once again and came up with a small box which I presented to her as if they were the crown jewels. As she opened it up, a small delicate chain with three small rubies slithered from the box. I picked it up, presented it to her and said “I wish they were raspberries”.

This was not a very expensive gift, as I am not (yet.. she will always add) a rich man, but she looked at these three stones as if they were the world`s greatest treasure, and then looked at me as if I were. I have never had a better “Thank You”. I could never wish for one.

I don`t remember us saying much that afternoon, as we lay back on that riverbank and watched the river flow by, marking the minutes, hours, and the year that had passed. This time we walked back up the path together, her soft hand in mine, her head leaning lightly, softly, gently against my shoulder, and once on that path, she reached up and gave me a light, sweet kiss on the cheek.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 10:49 pm and is filed under Riverbank Flowers, Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.