Young Love

Young Love

The evening breeze stirred the kitchen curtains. Ominous silence hinted that the storm clouds were real. A single rain bird called. Standing on the porch of our old farm house, I took a deep breath of the moist, still air.

I could hear John’s old pickup coming down the drive. The old green Ford raised hesitant clouds of dust in the sunset. He was coming in from taking our twins to the bus leaving us alone for a whole week while the twins visited their grandparents in the city. We hadn’t been alone together since their birth in 2006. I felt like a school girl waiting for her date. While John had been away, really only a couple of hours, I had raced upstairs, showered, styled my hair and spent at least a half hour trying on my few clothes. Should I dress up? Should I wear my fancy lounge clothes I saved for special holiday days? When I looked at the pile of clothes on the bed and then at the clock, I quickly pulled on my new jeans and new shirt. I left the neck of the shirt open just a bit more than usual. After all the kids wouldn’t be here and I was tired of being buttoned up to the neck. With a final fluff of my clean hair and just a tiny whiff of John’s favourite perfume, I glanced out the bedroom window. I could see headlights in the dusk, backed by the billowing clouds off to the east. I hung up as many clothes as possible and threw the rest in the laundry hamper.

Before John reached the house, I stepped inside, letting the screen door close quietly. The table was set. just wine glasses and wine chilling in the silver ice bucket, a wedding present that had only been used once. The knock on the door made my heart skip a beat. Taking a deep breath, I turned our old stereo on. Our wedding song softly filled the silence.

“Karen? Are you there?” I still loved the rumble of his voice, but tonight it was as though I heard it for the first time.

“Hello John. Yes I’m here. Please come in. Everything is ready for you….for both of us. Did the girls get off ok?” 

“They were so excited to go on the bus by themselves. Almost as excited as I am right now. To see you looking so soft and beautiful. Here..I’ve brought you some flowers.”

“Oh John. How kind and really sweet. You got my favourite - beautiful white daisies. Thank you.”

***

We woke in the morning in a jumble of sheets and still in each others arms. Only a rooster welcomed the brilliant peach and golden dawn. The morning silence was as golden as the dawn. The thunderstorm in the night filled our bedroom with flashing lightening and booming thunder. Moist cool breezes stirred the white muslin curtains. 

“Among my stillness was a pounding heart.”

~ Shannon A. Thompson, Seconds Before Sunrise