After Forever Ends - Ramone Melodie (бесплатные книги полный формат TXT) 📗

“I don’t know. Six minutes?”

She laughed again, “Bennington was a lonely place for me until you came. No one noticed me. You took the time to see me. You were my first best friend, Sil. I lived for those late nights when we would sit up and talk way past lights out. They meant the whole world to me. I was so sad when you got to move into the game keeper’s quarters. I was happy for you, but I missed having my best friend all to myself. I wanted to throttle Oliver for stealing you away like that!”

“I’ve always missed you since. Isn’t it odd, though? All these years and it’s like we’ve only been apart for five minutes, really.”

“That’s how you know a soul mate. Time and distance make no difference. You just pick up where you left off.”

We sat for a long time. Finally, I asked what I was thinking, “We missed so much of each other’s lives. We talk on the phone often, but now that I’m here, look at me and tell me true, Sandra. Was yours a happy life?”

She looked up into the sky, “I think so. My marriage was a train wreck. My husband drank and philandered. My children were spoiled rotten. They had no respect for me. There were times I was unhappy. It got better once they all left. I got on with my life then, I had discreet affairs. I travelled. I have some regrets, but all in all, I’d say yes. How about you?”

“I could die right now and know I had a wonderful life. I had wonderful friends, a wonderful marriage and wonderful children. I did all I wanted to do and saw what I wanted to see. Yes, I’ve have had a great life.”

“Regrets?”

“None.”

“I didn’t think you would.” We were quiet for what seemed an age. Sandy finally spoke. “You lied to me once.”

“I did?”

“Yes. The night you came back to Bennington after you married Oliver. You told me a huge lie.”

“What was that?”

“That sex was like magic,” She said and we both laughed until it hurt, “It was never like magic for me!”

“I’m sorry!” I said sincerely.

“Ah, it’s all the same, isn’t it?” Sandra still looked like herself when she smiled. I could see that little girl from Bennington peeking through the folds in her skin, still see that little spark of wonder in her blue green eyes, “I got over the disappointment.”

“I was never disappointed. Sex was always magic for me.”

“Well, why wouldn’t it be for you? You and Ollie are the stuff young girls dream of. You don’t hear of a story like yours too often.”

People were always telling us that. “We are very lucky.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t even have to work at it. Your marriage, I mean. Don’t tell me it was always wonderful. I couldn’t bear to hear it!” She pressed her hands to her ears. “I know he’s not perfect!”

“No,” I answered slowly, “He’s not perfect. Sometimes we did have to work at it. Sometimes we still do. We don’t always agree. Sometimes we even fight, but we make each other laugh, too. That’s our secret. We just laugh at each other. And at ourselves. Well, we really just laugh at everything and everyone.”

“You always did.”

“Yes, because the world’s as bloody funny as it is serious!” I explained, “And we’ve always chosen to laugh instead of cry. It’s always been wonderful, though, being with him, even during the hard times. Even when I want to club him in the head with something, I love him just the same as I always have. More, really, if you want the truth.”

“How can you?”

“Because he’s Oliver. Silvia loves Oliver and Oliver loves Silvia. It’s just the way it’s supposed to be. It’s been the only thing constant in my life. I don’t complicate what’s simple.”

“You never wanted another man?”

“It never crossed my mind that I needed one.”

We sat in silence again for a long while. Finally, Sandra spoke, “Fifty years, Sil! Look at us! We’re a couple of old ladies!”

“Speak for yourself!” I laughed, glancing at my plait. The vibrant red of my hair had been washed away with different shades of silver. It didn’t bother me. I always thought those stripes were pretty. “I don’t feel old. I just try not to look in the mirror. It says too much.”

“That it does.”

“When will we see each other again, Sandy?”

She looked thoughtful, “I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter, really.”

“No, no matter. You’re in my heart.”

“And you’re in mine, Sil.”

I hugged my best girlfriend. “We’re going to have to go today. Oliver has to go into the office tomorrow. He said he’d help the new doctor with some of the charts. The poor lad seems overwhelmed.”

“Well, we both knew you wouldn’t stay forever, although I wish you would. Both of you,” She sounded almost hopeful, “I have plenty of room.”

“Oliver would never leave Alexander.”

“And you’d never leave Oliver.”

“Not ever.”

Sandy took my hand and squeezed it, “Then I’ll miss you both.”

“Did I ever tell you that I love you?”

“You never needed to.”

“Well, I do.”

“I love you, too, Silvia.” She stood up and smoothed her slacks, “Come on now. It’s been a lovely visit and I don’t want to let you go, but let’s get you home anyway, before I have you locked in my tower.”

We walked arm and arm back to the manor.

Later, on the way home, Oliver said, “I’m glad you had a nice visit.”

“It was the very best,” I answered honestly.

I knew I probably wouldn’t see Sandra again in this lifetime, but that was all right with both of us. Some people you meet and they’re your friend for a day. Some you meet and you never really know at all. And then there are those who get caught inside your soul and stay there forever. That was Sandra. We’d shared secrets, smiles and tears over a period of fifty two years. Sandra would always be a part of me and I would always be a part of her.

I could not have asked for a better friends or a better life, but there’s a nasty trick about living. It happens at its own pace and in its own way and you never, never know what’s coming next. So you keep running and running to keep up with it and most people get tired. Others don’t get tired. They just get overtaken by the road.

And that is what happened to us, I am afraid. It seemed like it wasn’t long after we arrived back at the wood that the aches and pains started in and Oliver and I began to dawdle. We ignored it for as long as we could. We did some travelling around Europe and did our best to keep throwing dirt at each other, but the truth was that sitting in bed together with a good book became more appealing than dashing about.

“Silvia,” He called to me the morning he turned eighty, “Come sit in the grass with me.”

“We might never be able to get up.”

He laughed over his shoulder. His hair was all salt and pepper, his face was aged, but his dark eyes were the same as ever, always smiling. “Please, Love? Take the chance? Alexander can help us up when he gets here if we get stuck.”

“He’ll throw out his back and be on the ground with us!”

Oliver grinned and held out his hand, “Come on, it’s my birthday! Give me my wish! Sit down with me and let’s watch the wind blow!”

I took his hand and sat beside him, under his arm, like we’d been doing for sixty-five years.

“I love you, Just Silvia,” He told me.

“I love you, too, Oliver,” I answered, “Happy birthday, Sweetheart.”

“It is happy. I still have you.”

So we sat. Alex and Lucy arrived shortly after and we celebrated the twin’s birthday quietly in the wood.

And before I knew it, all of us were old.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Five years later I was making pies. They were strawberry pies. I had an over eager strawberry patch that summer and only so many things I could do with them, so I had decided to make pies and was going to take them into town and give them to the Madison’s, who were a nice family that had too many children and not enough money for pies. There I was making the pies when I realised I was being watched. I looked over and saw Oliver grinning at me from the doorway.