AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And now she was being sweet.
“I’ll leave you with the letters, dear,” she bid.
And then she wafted out of the room.
I sat down and, nervous, folded open the first letter that had an elaborate “A” written on the outside.
My darling,
Right now, you lay above me, after slipping into eternal sleep.
What do I do, my dearest, without your warmth at my side? Without the promise of your laughter but a quip away?
The children are inconsolable, but I gave you my vow I’d see to their sorrow, even while hiding my own when this dreaded day arrived.
But what impossibility! What hopelessness!
Thus, I’ve secluded myself in Brandy, barred the door against their intrusion.
You must forgive me. I must have time.
Time to remember your gentle touch. The beauty of your eyes. The first time I saw you, your gown was blue, your eyes were bluer. The last time I saw you, that blue unfaded.
Just memory?
No.
You faded naught for me. Your hair may have grown silken with white. The creases may have formed on your hands. The lines may have burrowed around your eyes. But is this fading? It is not. You were a beauty to me from the moment my eyes lighted on you and your beauty isn’t extinguished even now, when your eyes are forever closed.
You will hate me, you will be most cross when we meet again, but oh, how I wish for that time to come quickly.
Yes, please know to your soul I will see to the children. To their children. Mama and Grandmama will live on for them through me.
But when the hour is upon me, know, my bride, my beauty, my beloved, I will not fear it.
For I know it will bring me back to you.
Forever, my Addie,
Your August
The force of the sob that tore up my throat after finishing that letter was painful.
He’d written it here, in this room, secluded myself in Brandy.
While she was upstairs, in Cherry.
Gone.
I felt her love on that moor in my dream-not-dream. I felt his love when he was watching her while reclining on the blanket.
At least I thought I did.
What I knew was what I felt, and for the first time understanding the purity of it, I wanted it for me.
After I pulled myself together, carefully, I folded a beautiful letter that tragically was never read by its intended recipient and reached for another one.
I was on my third when my phone rang.
