Under the Willow Tree

The pale moonlight painted mosaics on the ground and the soft, brittle crunch of decayed leaves echoed quietly through the trees. Arden walked slowly to the meeting place, letting the long feathered train of her green cloak trail gently in the dirt. She turned her face up towards the sky, feeling the soft cool breeze against her reddened cheeks and thought how beautiful the stars looked caught up in the forest canopy. Arden had been waiting all day with a growing anxiety in the pit of her stomach, for this moment with the quiet whisper of the woods, in the dead of night.

Arden had been sat at the thick oak table in the kitchen with sticky dough caught between her fingers. Her mother had been at the sink, arms covered in suds as she washed the dishes with her back to Arden. There was a silence between them, the kind that splits jaggedly in the middle and leaves no room for air on one side, but appears clean cut on the other. Arden rolled the dough gently on the floured table and began to knead softly, thinking of the night to come. Arden's mother stacked the last clean plate on the drier, pulled the stopper out of the sink, letting the water gurgle down the drain and turned around to face her.

'I invited Thomas to dinner tonight,' she said, drying her hands off on her apron. Arden felt the breath catch in her throat, like the spark of a match against a striking surface. She looked up at her mother and smiled, small dimples forming in the sides of her cheek.

'You did?' Arden asked.

'I did... I thought it would be good for you to spend some time together before the wedding,' Arden's mother replied. The wedding. Arden felt sick at the mention of it. It was still two weeks away but every time it came up in conversation she felt that icky feeling in the back of her stomach like a hollow space slowly filling with black sludge. Instead of screaming, like she wanted to, she politely bit her tongue and widened her smile.

'That's very thoughtful mother,' Arden said as she took the dough and pushed it into the loaf tin, moving it around with the tips of her fingers. Arden's mother approached the table and laid a gentle hand atop Arden's.

'Why don't you go and get cleaned up?' She said and gave a squeeze. 'I can take over from here.'

Arden pushed her chair back, wiped her flour dusted hands on her apron and then proceeded to take it off and hang it on the hook on the wall by the back door. She ran her hands under the warm water from the faucet to get rid of the remnants of dough and flour from underneath her nails. She dried her hands on a cloth and then turned, gave her mother a quick hug and left the room.

Arden was approaching the meeting place, she could see the soft glow of candles around the base of a large, sprawling willow tree, it's tendrils swaying softly in the golden light. She could feel him there before she saw him. It was like a tingling in her fingertips, as if they anticipated the feel of his skin underneath them. Arden pulled the hood down from her cloak as she entered the clearing around the willow tree, revealing long dark hair against pale skin. He emerged from behind the tree, tall and lean with a mess of light brown curly hair bouncing as he took each step forward. Arden's breath caught in her throat once more, but this time was different, she wanted it to.

'Isaac,' she called out as she leapt into his open arms. Arden buried her face in the soft linen of his shirt and he rested his chin atop her head. She could feel his heartbeat thumping as fast as her own and her whole body began to feel warm in his hold. She let out the tension that she had been holding inside ever since her mother had mentioned Thomas.

'You saw him today, didn't you?' Isaac asked, pulling back from their embrace. Arden nodded with a sad sigh. 'How was it?' he questioned, looking down at the ground. Isaac moved some leaves around with the tip of his shoe.

'Quiet,' Arden said looking towards Isaac. 'He was polite to my mother, he brought me flowers and talked about the farm with my father. He was quite the opposite of you, really,' Arden teased. Isaac looked up to see Arden grinning at him and the candlelight glistened in her eyes.

'Do you love him?' he asked, taking a step forward. He kept moving forward until his face was right before hers, their eyes locked on each other, their soft breath mingling in the autumn air.

'No,' Arden whispered. Isaac softly kissed Arden, his hand curled around hers, her hair tickling his cheek. Arden drew back and stepped away from Isaac, pulling her cloak tightly around herself. 'I can't want you like this,' she said, closing her eyes.

Isaac cast his eyes down once more, hardened his jaw and turned away. He didn't want her to feel the disappointment that was twitching at his eyes or see the fear that was causing every muscle in his body to go stiff.

'What do you mean, Arden?' he said, and twirled his finger around one of the willow tree tendrils, but his other fist was clenched tightly against his leg.

Arden thought for a moment, letting her breath form clouds in the cool air.

'I'm supposed to marry Thomas,' she said. Arden looked up towards the sky, which was mostly blocked out by the big green branches of the willow, denying her escape to the stars. 'It's my family Isaac, I don't think they'd ever forgive me if I left like that- if I left him.'

'But what about you?' Isaac replied, finally turning around to face her. He dropped his hand from the willow leaves and began to approach Arden.

'What about me?' she asked.

'What about your happiness, Arden?' Isaac said, approaching her slowly, like he would a startled horse. 'Listen, we may be poor for the rest of our lives, we may be alone or rejected, we may never speak to our families again, but you know what we will be?' Isaac said, lacing his fingers with hers.

'What?' she said, looking up into his bright, hazel eyes, tears forming in her own.

'Happy,' Isaac said with a wide grin.

Arden knew then, with the candlelight flickering on his face and his stupid, boyish smile, that she'd made her choice. She didn't know what their future held, but she knew that whatever it was, they would do it together.