The Lady of Waterleaf and Wire

Forever

"Miss?"

"Yes, James?"

"When Rose died," he asked, "did she see John in Heaven?"

"No."

"Why not?" His eyes were big and sad like a kitten's.

"She didn't die. The Lady said these woods would be her home forever, and they are."

The boy smiled. "I hope John sees her from up in Heaven."

"I hope so too." She looked up at the clouds for a moment, then back at James.

"Have you ever met Mrs. Rose, miss? If she lives out here, I mean?"
The woman smiled. "I have."

A full moon shone above them, casting light on the early spring forest. "Do you talk to her, miss? You live out here all alone and it must be lonely."

"I'm not alone. I have a son, older than yourself. He prefers to hunt at night, my little owl." As if on cue, a young man meandered his way into the clearing, a bow slung over his shoulder.

"Mother! I got a buck!" He called, the excitement apparent in his voice.

"Perhaps better than an owl," she told James.
"And look! Waterleaf season has returned to us." He plucked the white blossoms from his hair and handed them to his mother. "I see we have guests!" He dipped his head to James. "We ought to cook up some venison, seeing as we have plenty!"

The woman nodded. "I'd like that."

They feasted on the meat and they slept well, sheltered beneath a simple wooden roof of a lean to hut. In the morning, James woke, full and ready to see his own mother and tell her the story of Johnathan Cooper. The woman took his hand and, her son at her side, led him up the path homeward. As they walked, the path seemed to bloom with flowers and James felt just a little like Johnathan did, returning home on The Lady's floral highway.

The woman left James to finish the walk home and that he did. She too, returned home, to her clearing in the woods, letting her fingertips brush the buds of a willow sapling in the morning light. A single flower of waterleaf bloomed in her hair as she touched the tree's young bows. She smiled. Maybe somewhere, as James had said, the love of her life smiled back.