Flowers

 

"Maire!”

    She turned around and he stood there on the tracks, his hands behind his back. His dark hair blew in the breeze as he looked at her, his blue eyes all sparkles. He was smiling, quite proud of himself, he was.

    “I’ve a surprise for you!”

    From behind his back, he produced a lovely bouquet of wildflowers. She was delighted that he had thought of her and had taken time along their walk to pick them for her, but she also wanted to tease him a bit.

    “Why would you give me flowers? They just die.”

    “I am giving you flowers because they are wild and beautiful, just as you are.”

    She laughed “but, they are still going to die.”

    “No, no the flowers are like love, as they fade you keep the supply fresh and blooming.”

    “Oh? New flowers each time, is it?”

    “Agh, woman, you drive me mad, c’ mere.”

    He grabbed her close to him. She always smelled sweet like the flowers he had brought. He looked into her eyes, the color of a summer sky, as he had done so many times before. She had a sprinkle of freckles across her nose and hair like sunlight. Sure, she was beautiful, but she was a lively girl and that’s what he loved most about her. They closed their eyes and his lips brushed hers as softly as mist falling on the grass.

    It was his good fortune that she walked into his jewelry shop a few years ago. He had tried dating apps, but he never found a girl he could consider a match. When Maire walked in, he knew the moment that he met her that she was the one he wanted. It seemed silly, so stereotypical to find love at first sight, yet it was indeed.

    He wasn’t sure at first that she shared his opinion of their match. He had asked her out for a pint that first day, she said no. He did get her number and he called her a week later to ask again, but again she said no. He assumed that she wasn’t interested, but a month later she came back in to pick out some earrings and she asked him out for dinner. He broke it off with a girl he had met online because all he could think about was Maire. They had dated for two years.     

    Last year he had almost lost her. She had been hit by a lorry crossing the street on her way to work. She had been in a coma for three months. Each week he would bring her fresh flowers, hoping that she, like the flowers, would continue to brighten his life. The day she came out of the coma was the best day of his life. It wasn’t the day he graduated from college. It wasn’t his 21st birthday. It couldn’t be any other day than the day he had Maire back.   

    She had been hurt so many times. She had started slowly with Ryan. The day she had gone shopping to get her mom a bracelet, she had no idea that she would find so much more. Ask any woman what they want in a man and they might give a lot of different answers, but she thought that all women would want what Ryan offered, he cherished her. What woman didn’t want to feel treasured? She never had to doubt his feelings or his loyalty towards her. He made her feel special. He made her feel like no other woman on earth could bring him the happiness that she brought him.

      As they continued to walk towards town, she sniffed the flowers. They smelled green and sweet, like the fields outside their town. Ryan did things like this all of the time. He was the most romantic man she had ever met. He wrote poetry and sang her songs. He kissed and held her all the time. He was transparent about how he felt for her. She did not need to play mystery detective to discover his feelings.

    After the accident, she knew that he had been to the hospital every day while she was in a coma. She wouldn’t have known he was there, but he came anyway. The nurses told her how he held her hand night after night, singing her lullabies. He worked two jobs, but never missed a day. She didn’t know if that’s what brought her out of her coma, but surely it had helped. If nothing else, it helped her love him more deeply now than she ever had loved before.        

    He watched her, still smiling, as she seemed deep in thought. She was picking through the bouquet and it would only be a few moments now before she saw his offering.

    Maire shifted the flowers in her hand when she noticed the tiny envelope tucked in the bouquet. She looked at Ryan and he nodded. She carefully opened the tiny envelope, revealing a lovely ring. Before she knew it, Ryan knelt before her.

    “You may as well be my wife because I will never stop asking.”

    Tears welled in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine not being Mrs. Ryan Kelly. She pulled him from the ground and held him so tightly that he gasped. She wasn’t a weak girl, no, she was strong and certain.

    “I would be honored to be yours for all eternity, yes.”

    He kissed her deeply as they stood on the outskirts of town. The green hills filled with flowers surrounded them as they had surrounded so many lovers before. There had been wars and famines in this place. No matter what tragedy occurred, there had always been love that could be renewed, fresh and blooming, like the flowers in the fields.