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The Opal and the Pearl
Very late August, 2005 , a Midwestern university town
Willow Rosenberg unlocked the door of her apartment, turned the knob and heard plangent notes. She opened the door fully and s,miled to hear the pleasant music her lover Tara Maclay was playing. It was the first time in the few days since Tara had been back that Willow had seen her playing her old Dobro.
The ash-blonde smiled back and moved from chord progressions to an actual melody. the redhead didn't recognize the tune but figured it was one of the classic country pieces her life partner had grown up hearing from her parents and brother.
Tara added her beautiful soprano to the haunting sound of the steel-bodied lap guitar:
"Come live with me, and be my love,
Share my bread and wine,
Be part of me, the heart of me,
Be mine."
Willow said, "Well, baby, I think I took you up on that offer long ago, but the song is pretty." Then she noticed something. On Tara's left wrist was an expensive-looking gold tennis bracelet, made up of small sapphires and emeralds alternating, and on top a good sized opal.
Tara continued singing: "Come live with me, and be my love,
Let our dreams combine.
Be mate to me, be fate to me,
Be mine."
Willow interrupted to ask, "What's with the new jewelry, honey?"
Tara slipped back into doing background music and said, "a generous gift from your Great-Aunt Ida in Boston. There's another one in the mailer," she said, nodding towards the table.
Looking, Willow saw a cardboard FedEx container and reached for it. She tilted it and out tumbled a white jewelry box with ehr name taped to it. Opening the box, she found another bracelet, identical to tara's except that the alrger stone was a pearl, and slipped it on.
The song continued, "With these hands, I'll build a roof, To shield your head,
"And with these hands, I'll carve the wood, For our baby bed.
"Come live with me, and be my love,
"Make our lives entwine.
"Be spouse to me, play house with me,
"Be mine."
"Okay, I don't know this song, but you've got to be making that last verse up."
"So I improvised a little. I wanted to ask you my question in music," Tara said, quite seirously in both tone and expression.
Willow's posture straightened and her expression grew somewhat blank as she digested this. Tara continued:
"I'll try to do, My best for you, I promise you.
"I'll laugh with you, I'll cry for you, My whole life through."
"Sweetie, if you're asking me to do a formal hand-fasting with you, I'd love to. Call our friends and we can do it in the bus station the second they arrive. But if you mean something legal, we can't do that in this state, and not back in California, either. things haven't changed that much while you were gone. Or are you asking me to go into a long, long engagement with you?" she concluded with a small chuckle.
"Stop trying to be funny and look at what else is in the mailer.
Willow picked it up again and slid out several paper items, among them a note from Ida. It read,
"Dearest niece Willow,
As the days draw shorter for me, I've decided to use some of your late great-uncle's fortune to spoil you and all the cousins on all the sides of the family. I would love to play hostess for you and Tara to come here and be married in one of the many special places in this city, perhaps in front of Faneuil Hall, but unfortunately we still have that stupid Jim crow law abpout otu-of-state couples.
But, while family-wise this is only second best, it costs more, and I can take some satisfaction in that.
Of course, if you two don't want to do this, just let me know and I'll come up with something else. Love, Aunt Ida."
As Tara repeated a verse: "Come live with me, and be my love,
Share my bread and wine,
Be part of me, the heart of me,
Be mine." Willow examined the other items; round-trip airlien tickets, confirmed reservations for a beach-front hotel, gift certificates for a jeweler in . . . .
"Valencia, Spain?"
"Yes, darling, where we can make it legal."
Willow walked over to the couch and sat down next to Tara, as the blonde sang her final verse:
"Come live with me, And be my love,
"Share my bread and wine.
"Be wife to me,Be life to me, Be mine." then stopped and silently looked at her lover.
Willow was too happy to smile; she just sat, returning the look for a moment, until she could speak.
Finally, she said, "Oh, Tara, a simple answer won't do it. Threefold I tell thee, yes, yes, yes!"
As these words left her lips, an energy, initially unseen appeared. It turned immediately into a mouse-sized quivering in the air, halfway between the witches. This turned into circular ripples, like those in a pond from the spot where a stone has fallen.
These ripples passed right through the startled Willow and Tara, with no actual accompanying sensation, then disappeared in a final circle about seven inches beyond them. This was accompanied by a shimmering, an ovule of faint light with tis center diameter matching the last ripple and extending down to the floor and up to about a foot above the women. It wasn't anything a person would notice unless looking right at it.
Tara spoke first, asking, "Willow, did you . . . ?"
"No, at least not consciously, and obviously you didn't since you're asking."
"Well, then we both know what that means. We felt our ordinary words so much they acted like a spell, and the whole world just made itself witness to our promise. We definitely have to go through with it now."
Willow shooK her head, "No, that doesn't matter," but back-pedaled a bit at Tara's raised eyebrows, "Sorry, yes, it does matter, it's an important thing to know and good thing to happen.
But if it hadn't happened, that's what wouldn't have mattered. We know this is right," she said, reaching out to take Tara's left hand in her right, "and we don't need signs to prove it. In fact, even if it had gone . . . ."
"No," Tara calmly interrupted, reaching out the same way, "sweetie, there's no reason to say what you were going to, because it wouldn't've happened. The world would never say we're wrong, because we are so obviously right together."
They leaned closer and closer, and, appropriately, the moment closed on a kiss.
END
_________________ Snapshots: http://thekittenboard.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10210 a Love Story ____________________________________________________________ Kim: (breaks off the kissing) I l... (Sue stops her with a hand) Sue: We don't talk about things like that right after, you know that, no saying those things in The Moment. Kim: (moves the hand aside) Screw The Moment. I *love* you.
Last edited by DaddyCatALSO on Thu Oct 01, 2009 2:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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