My Dear, Abagail

𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓣𝔀𝓸

There are two more days until the wedding, and everyone is running around the house, trying to get everything prepared so there isn't a load of work the day before. "Willow, be a dear and tell your father that the dining set for the wedding has been prepared." Mother wipes her hands on her cream-colored apron that was neatly tied to the back of her purple striped dress. I walk into the house from our huge garden and make my way to Father's office. I gently knock on the oak wood doors. "Come on in," Father calls, "Ahh, Willow, what brings you here?" He sits up from his chair and walks to the front of his large desk that was filled with important papers.  

"Mother just wanted me to tell you that the dining set for the wedding is ready." I straightened my posture. "Already? My god, isn't it a bit early to do that?" He wrinkles his eyebrows. "Never too early for Mother," I say with a smile. Father chuckles, "Indeed, your mother loves to have everything ready and prepared. She wastes no time to get things finished." He walks towards the window and looks outside into the garden where the wedding is being set up. "That's one of the reasons why I married your mother." He sighs before continuing, "Someday it will be your wedding that we will be setting up." He walks towards me slowly and rests his hand on my shoulder. "You will find yourself a great man who will work hard to support you and his children." I smile lightly, though my eyes may hold some sorrow. I try to cover it up by smiling even more.

"Father," someone enters the door frame. I looked towards the door to see James standing in the office. "I hate to intrude, but can we talk?" I walk towards the door, leaving James and Father to talk among themselves. Before I leave, James flashes me a quick smile. I quickly smiled back at him before leaving the room. I walk back outside, making my way towards Mother when someone grabs my wrist. "Willow," Abagail whispers lightly for only me to hear. "Can we go to the tree?" I look back at Mother. She looks like she's doing fine; she loves to do this stuff anyway.

We sat under the cherry tree, side by side and our fingers intertwined. "Willow, I must ask, were you serious when you said you wanted to run away?"

We looked at each other as I slowly nodded and asked, "Were you serious that you wanted to?" Abagail hesitantly nodded, "I want to be with you no matter where we are." I smile at her comment. "If we were to run away," she adds, "When would we go?"

I thought for a second until the perfect idea came to mind. "After the wedding. At midnight we will run away. No one will notice us missing until after the party since they will be focused on my brother and your sister." She smiles brightly at the idea, but it quickly fades away.

"Where would we go?"

"I don't know," I responded, "but we'll find a place far from here." She rests her head on my shoulder as I kiss the top of her head. We look off to the distance of the meadow. Birds sang, butterflies danced, and the grass waved through the breeze.

"Wherever you go, I will go," She whispers. Her eyes shutter close as I stare off into the distance. I whisper, even though she can't hear me, "You are mine and I will always be yours."

Abagail and I went back home when the sun was setting to have supper. We were served some lamb chops and potatoes. "Isn't this exciting, Henry?" Mrs. Davis smiles. "Yes, it is, Minnie. Enjoy your last few days being fiancés!" Mr. Davis lets out a raspy laugh and everyone around the table joins in. "Aren't you two excited?" Mother asks James and Mary.

"I'm very excited," Mary smiles at my mother and then looks at James with loving eyes. When parents arrange a marriage, you expect the children to be upset and not love each other for the rest of their lives. However, it was different for James and Mary. They're not just pretending to love each other. If they are putting out a whole act, then they are good at it. I've never seen my brother look at a girl with so much love in his eyes. I'm incredibly happy for him. He deserves the most loving person in the world. I look at Thomas who is sitting in front of James. He smiles at both of them. It's a real smile too, not those envious smiles. The smile that says, "I'm proud that my brother found the one." Thomas and James are twins and have been close since they were brought into the world. They're both great brothers, probably the rarest ones out there. We would only have each other left once our parents pass away. I can't imagine leaving them alone, but James has Mary, and Mary will have his children. Thomas will find the person made for him. I can't forget that they have each other. So, in a way, I'm not leaving them alone. They have each other and I have Abagail.

"I'm restless. I just can't wait to make this amazing woman be my wife." James takes Mary's hand in his and kisses it gently. The women around the table stared at them in awe.

"I, for one, am excited to see my nieces and nephews! Perhaps one of them will be called after an amazing uncle. Perhaps, Thomas? That's a nice name." Thomas blows a low chuckle. I giggle, "I think Willow is a better name for your niece. There's more...pizzazz to it, no?" When the laughing dies down, Mr. Davis slams the table a bit roughly.

"Talking about marriage, have you heard? Remember Arthur Williams from college? Well, he was found kissing a man. A man!" Mr. Davis slams the table in disgust.

"What has this world come to?" Father rubs his eyebrows, "What was the other one's name?"

"His name is Gregory Brown. What a disgrace his parents have made." Father nodded in agreement, along with everyone else around the table. I just kept my head down, pretending like I didn't hear a word. "It's just not natural. God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. It's supposed to be men and women. Not man and man, and not woman and woman. They're better off dead, honestly. That way they can rot in hell! Where they belong!"

"Cheers to that, brother!" Mr. Davis laughed. I feel my stomach swirl, and not in a good way like when you get the greatest news of all time. It was like I was told someone I loved died. Like when you get that heart-aching news that you never wanted to hear before. I feel like I'm going to throw up.

"Willow, honey," Mother looks at me with furrowed brows, "Are you okay?"

"I'm not feeling too well." I get up from my seat, "Please excuse me." I quickly glanced at Abagail. Her eyes were filled with worry, but some tears made their way to her eyes. She quickly blinks them away before I walk out of the dining room. When I reached the first step, I heard Mr. Davis speak, "Look at her, the story disgusted her so much, she can't even keep her food down." Laughter echoed through the whole house. Everyone's but Abagail's.