DAWGNKITTEN

Weather enthusiast since the 1978 blizzard in Ohio. Changed to tracking and chasing hurricanes while living in Florida, then to chasing severe weather and snowstorms in extreme NE GA, then to Columbiaville, MI and now back to Tiger, GA. When I'm not watching the weather I am learning about my children and grandchildren...Autumn, Kloe, Symphony, Liam, and Nahla or I am writing another romance/mystery.  22 published so far and always looking for the next one....

From:  Love, Lies, and Murder on Mackinac

           Caleb watched as they lowered her casket into the ground, just a little away from the gazebo.  It was her favorite place and she deserved to rest there.  His tears fell.  He knew what was going on.  He knew he had a disease that made him forget, but he knew Sophie had left him.  She left him without anyone to hold him and tell him it was going to be okay.  She left him alone to cry.  He had no one to dry his eyes or hold him when he couldn’t cope anymore.  She let go.

            He walked into the house, all the while crying so hard he couldn’t see, but while he could still remember he had to write.  Her book of poetry sat propped on the counter.  She had had a wonderful and beautiful way with words.  He hoped he was as good as she had been.  Picking up the pen, he lay the notebook down and started writing.

I remember you

I remember you and me

I remember how we used to be

You had blond hair

Not gray or white

I had brown hair,

Kind of thick, right?

I have brown eyes

Your eyes are blue

But sometimes they are green, too

We used to walk throughout the yard

Sometimes talking,

Sometimes giggling hard.

I sometimes forget you

But your voice is sweet

Your touch is warm and soothing to me.

You don’t get mad

Even though I do

And I hear you cry

When you think you’re all alone

Please don’t leave me here

Take me along with you

I know you’re not going to stay

But I  know you don’t want me with you

Even though it’s not like that you say

Can you tell me why you’re throwing me and our love away?

Please don’t cry

Don’t look away

Look, I’m sitting down

I won’t beg for you to stay

Go ahead and walk out the door

Why are you coming back

Did you forget something?

I love you, too, and it’s okay

Does this mean you still love me and want me to stay?

You say it will be hard

But you can’t let me go

You looked at me and saw the man you loved so long ago

He remembered their talk that night

As they pledged their love again

He looked down and said softly

We’ll make it through to the very end

I told you we would and we did

            Caleb went out to where she was and knelt down, and started reading.  He took the long stemmed red roses and placed them on her grave.  He could barely make out the last words, but he did it, just for her. He stood up and wiped off his jeans, he turned the flowers he had placed on her grave just the way she would have and with tears in his eyes he walked away.  Sophie, his true love, stayed behind under the shade of the beautiful lilac tree.  He knew she was never again going to be in pain.

             As Caleb looked back where his love’s tombstone was, he had a moment of clarity in his clouded mind.  He remembered the words she said so long ago, a promise she had made to him.  He told her not to make it because she couldn’t keep it, but she made it anyhow.  “Soph, you lied to me, baby.  You said you’d always be here, that you’d  never leave, and you did.  You left me to suffer alone.  I love you so much, sweetie.  I wish you were still here.  I can’t remember your face sometimes, but I remember your voice.  Why did you have to go and leave me?  You remember how I said I would never be in love with you, well I lied.  I always have been and I still need you.  Damn it, Soph, I still need you.”

            “Grandpa, who are you talking to?”

            “Well, hello there my little Mackinac Island Girl.  He quickly blew his nose and wiped his eyes.  You want to hear a story?  I have a story for you.  How about I tell you the story of a man who didn’t believe in love and the woman who loved him for a lifetime?

From: Colter's Hell

“I wanted to keep thinking of you and me with this money and what we were doing with it, that I lost sight of what was really important.  Can you understand?  Now I can make a difference in someone else’s life and give them the love they need, and in return they can show me the love I’ve been desperately needing, too.  But, Karlie, I need your blessing, your okay to do this.  I need you to understand that I loved you and the children more than anything, but I’m so alone.  I’m just so very alone, Karlie.”

            He looked up as he heard a sweet trill coming from right near his head.  It was a cardinal.  The color of the bird was the same color as her little red car she was killed in.  The song it was singing was so sweet.  It sounded like it said, “I love you.”  A beautiful red cardinal and beside it two light colored blue jays, just trilling and watching.  Back and forth the birds walked, still singing the song, and he laughed and cried.

            “That’s your answer, isn’t it?  For me to go and love her?”

            He hadn’t felt such a peace in him, such a feeling of overwhelming love in a very long time.  “I love you, Karlie Colter.  I will always love you, but there’s room for me to love her, too, isn’t there?”

            The cardinal took off in flight and flew by his head, slowing down enough to touch his face with its beautiful red wings.  The baby blue jays on either side of him did the same.  “I will never forget you, Stacy, and Michael.  I love you and miss you three so much.”  He walked to his bike and on the seat sat the birds, trilling away.

            “Is that it?  You three want one final ride?”  He watched as they flitted around him as he started up the bike, flying beside him as he slowly rode through the cemetery.  As he passed under the wrought iron black arch, the three took off in flight.  He felt free.