Addy slept soundly through Zeke’s conversation with Tim. She continued to sleep when Zeke slipped back under the covers with her. He wrapped his arms gently around her and drifted off again.
He dreamed.
Adelaide, standing on the rock in the wedding dress that she would never wear for Jean, stared sadly down at the water of the spring pond. A figure crept up from behind. She heard a sound from below. It was Jean, back from the fighting!
She took three steps toward him as the figure suddenly started running at her, hands outstretched. Jean yelled a word of warning to her and she threw herself back, out of the way of the oncoming danger.
It was Philippe. He couldn’t stop himself in time and his momentum carried him over the edge. He cursed the lovers with a hateful word as he fell. His head hit the submerged rocks when he landed and he was dead.
Jean climbed the rock and held the trembling Adelaide close to his heart.
“My love, when you didn’t write, I had to take leave to find out why.”
“I wrote to you every day Jean. When your letters stopped coming, I never gave up on you. I knew you were alive, I just knew it.”
“I wrote to you each day as well Adelaide. I knew you could never love another man. I never gave up on you either.”
Jean helped her down from the rock and examined Philippe’s body. He was carrying letters in one pocket. One packet was tied up in a green ribbon, the other in blue.
She dreamed.
Adelaide, standing on the rock in the wedding dress that she would never wear for Jean, stared sadly down at the water of the spring pond. A figure crept up from behind. She heard a sound from below. It was Jean, back from the fighting!
She took three steps toward him as the figure suddenly started running at her, hands outstretched. Jean yelled a word of warning to her and she threw herself back, out of the way of the oncoming danger.
It was Philippe. He couldn’t stop himself in time and his momentum carried him over the edge. He cursed the lovers with a hateful word as he fell. His head hit the submerged rocks when he landed and he was dead.
Jean climbed the rock and held the trembling Adelaide close to his heart.
“My love, when you didn’t write, I had to take leave to find out why.”
“I wrote to you every day Jean. When your letters stopped coming, I never gave up on you. I knew you were alive, I just knew it.”
“I wrote to you each day as well Adelaide. I knew you could never love another man. I never gave up on you either.”
Jean helped her down from the rock and examined Philippe’s body. He was carrying letters in one pocket. One packet was tied up in a green ribbon, the other in blue.
Philippe would no longer be able to bully the postmistress into keeping Jean and Adelaide’s letters from each other. He was now dead, as surely dead as the rock his head laid upon.
Zeke woke first. He gazed at Addy.
So much had happened in the last few days. Even with her miserably bruised face, he adored her. She was everything to him that Laura had never been. Strong. Self assured. Loving. Giving. She was also soft. Needy. Taking.
Over the last few years online, he’d come to depend on her opinion about almost everything. The events of the last day alone could unravel a less strong person.
He was sure of her strength, she had given until he could see that even she might not have any more to give. Yet she kept on giving.
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