After Forever Ends by Melodie Ramone
I look down at the locket.
“Well, they weren’t so angry with great, great something Grandpaddy once they understood that he was building a home for his family. Elves understand family, so they didn’t put any curse on him, though they thought of it. Instead they decided to protect him and the cabin. They gave him the shard and they told him to keep it safe. As long as he or someone in his family protected the cabin that was made of their home and protected the wood where they still lived in, they’d look after him and all of his kin until the cabin was returned to the earth and the family left the wood.”
“Wow.”
Alexander nods, “Wow, I agree. Oliver told me that the Lord and the Lady pick a new someone every generation to take care of their wood. Oliver believed the next person in line is Gryffin, but he’s in Scotland and so Nigel takes it upon himself to look after things. He and Warren go round and round about this place, it’s fucking aggravating,” He rolls his eyes and shakes his head, “It’s why I take out the hearing aids when they’re around. Nigel means well. He’ll never hurt the wood, he loves it too much, but he’s right whether Warren wants to admit it or not. I’ve spent enough time building structures to know that the original house is on its way out. It must come down, but I’ve told them and Gryffin both not to do it until you and I and Lucy are dead and gone. I’ve made them promise that they’ll use the stones to build again and turn all the wood to mulch and return it to the earth and then plant a new tree on the spot here so it can grow into something that the Lord and Lady can live in once again. Gryffin says he’ll see it’s done if Nigel does not, but Nigel will do it. He’s a good boy.”
My heart feels light. I want to point out that he is calling Nigel, who is sixty now, a good boy, but I know Alexander has his hearing aids off and the joke would be lost on him. I have a pang of missing Oliver, who would have seen the humour in the irony. “That’s a wonderful idea.” I finally say, thinking of how much it sounded like something that Oliver would have thought of, but I know it is all Alexander’s design.
“Now,” He continues, “They told Oliver he’d be the last to live in the cabin before the wood it was made of began to completely die. But Lucy and I’ve moved in now to look after you. And so, if you don’t disagree, I think it’s time for us to keep the promise Oliver made to them and give them back the last piece of their tree. You know, in case we don’t get around to it before we kick the bucket.”
I take the locket and kiss it and I lay it lovingly down in the circle.
Alex reaches into his coat pockets and begins to draw out handfuls of sweets. He looks at me, “I haven’t done it in a while,” He explains. “They still have a lot of my stuff…”
I reach into my own pocket and pull out a bag of miniature Snickers bars. I tear open the bag and pour the candy into the circle, “These are from Oliver,” I tell the Lord and the Lady and I place a paper bag beside it, “Kitty and I made scones. We brought some for you.”
Alexander and I sit for a long time waiting for the sweets to somehow disappear before our eyes. When they do not, we help each other to rise. We walk side by side to the bottom of the hill when he suddenly stops and turns to face me. He opens his mouth to say something, but clamps it shut before he does. He gives me an odd look.
“What is it, Xander?”
Quickly, before I realise what he is doing, he takes me into his arms and he kisses me hard on the mouth, like a young man kisses a young woman when he really means it. It’s a long, passionate kiss that makes me weak in the knees and need to lean against him for support. I cling to his shoulders, lost for an instant. He has me close now, he holds me tight against him and gently sucks on my bottom lip. Then he takes a half step back and looks deep into my eyes.
I am shocked for a second, completely unable to move. The only person who has ever kissed me like that was Oliver. But he’s not Oliver. He’s Alexander. The wonderful and terrible Alexander.
“What are you playing at?” I demand. I step back and slap his old, weathered face.
He covers the sting with his hand, “Oh, damn! I’m sorry!” He swears, but he is laughing so hard he’s bent over. Finally, he straightens up and looks at me with a grin, “I always wondered what it would be like to plant one on Silvia Cotton! What would she do?” Alexander does a sort of dance and looks at the sky. He’s laughing like I have not heard him laugh in ages, he’s laughing like he did when he was a boy taking the piss out of his brother. He spreads his arms out wide and throws his head back, “Ha ha, Oliver! I kissed your Silvia and she liked it! Twincest at last!”
I shake my head and, laughing, take the hand of my oldest and best friend. “That was quite a kiss, Alexander! It’s not a wonder no woman alive has ever been able to tell you no! Holy shite! Honestly! I’m sweating! My legs are trembling!”
“You just told me no!” He rubs his cheek. “You slapped half my face off, Silvia!”
“Well, I know who you are and I know you’re a beast!” I joke, putting my hand over my heart, “Your own twin brother and my own little sister warned me about you and your wicked ways! Besides, I’m not young anymore! Twincest, indeed! Are you trying to kill me, Xander?”
He laughs harder, “I won’t do it again, I promise!”
“You better not!” I give him a playful shove, “Or next time I’ll tell your wife!”
“She won’t care!” He chuckles.
“Oh, shut up, Old Man!”
“Ah, Sil, I’ve missed you!” He draws me under his arm and squeezes me to his side. “I love you so much! I always have!”
“I’ve missed you, too.” I squeeze him back, “And I love you as well, Alexander. I always have, even against my better judgment!”
Together, still hand in hand, Alex and I walk back to the cabin. Lucy and Warren have a hot supper on the table. I watch Alexander pull his wife into a deep embrace. He whispers how much he loves her into her ear and she smiles the same smile she did the day they were married.
“Ah, Alex,” She puts her head against his chest. “I know you do and I love you, too.”
“I know, but it always nice to hear,” He smiles down at her. I watch him take her hand in his and leave his arm around her waist. He dances with her slowly around the kitchen. “Your sister just slapped me in my face.”
“I’m sure you asked for it,” Lucy replies as she holds him close. Both of them laugh.
I thank God that they’ve been able to spend all these years together. I thank God that I was a part of their lives and that I still have them both. My heart throbs and I thank God that I still have Oliver as well. Some things are simply meant to be. Some souls are simply destined for each other. I think that it’s the winds that decide what those things are and who those souls will be. The winds are always blowing here in the wood.
When supper is through Nigel, Kitty with him, and Warren with Gwenllian, leave us for their homes. Alex, Lucy and I settle into the front room on soft chairs where we can rest our old bones and spend however long we have left in our magical wood with the people we love most. Each other. Together we’ll laugh and cry and spend our time listening to the winds and the whispers and doing what people who have lived a long time and have had happy lives enjoy doing the most.
Remembering.
Melodie Ramone, After Forever Ends