The Elf Widow

Heather Honey Buns

"Hey! Honey buns!" Chloe exclaimed.

"With heather," Goz added and smiled.

David welcomed the excuse to cut Zain's complaints short with "Next time remember to never leave your desk without saving your work."

As he walked to the next desk to see what Zandy was scowling about, her brother said, "It wasn't that much work. And I have to say, this new equipment is top-of-the-line."

David folded his arms and waited for Zandy to notice him.

Darting him a glance, she said, "I'm happy, too. I'm just trying to remember my password. It was saved on the other computer." She shrugged and picked up her mobile. "Time for a new one anyway."

Chloe placed her half-eaten heather honey bun back down on the platter and snapped a picture of it. David wasn't sure how all the homey pictures of food filling up the Kate's Time account related to their business slash lifestyle app, but they were building a following.

"I've got to talk Aubrey into divulging her recipes," Chloe said.

"Too late for that. Aubrey quit her job here."

The hint of smug satisfaction in Jack's voice made David turn away.

"What?" Chloe's tone was anything but happy. "You're joking. Why so sudden? We didn't even give her a going away party."

Goz's chair squeaked as he swiveled around. "Aubrey's gone? Why didn't anyone tell me."

Zandy sighed. "I knew she was too good to be true."

When David turned back to the group, he found Zain's eyes trained on him. "What happened while we were at McCrea's?

"Nothing... bad." David knew his programmer and possibly everyone else in the room were imagining all sorts of untoward sexual harassment boss-vs.-janitor scenarios. How could he possibly explain the truth? "I told Aubrey we'd be moving soon, and I begged her to come with us. At first, she didn't believe she was the right fit for anything except caring for whoever was residing in this farmhouse. I told her she was meant for better things."

Jack had resumed picking at his keyboard and examining his spreadsheets, but the others were listening to David with occasional mm-hmm's and little nodes of agreement.

He cleared his throat. "Finally, I convinced her it was time to move on."

When he fell silent, Chloe gave him an impatient, "And?"

"It just didn't work out for her to move on with us."

***

David stayed in the office until he was certain everyone was happy and comfortable and absorbed in their tasks. Without their mother figure, his family of employees had to make do with him.

His eyes strayed to the middle of the room—to the exact spot where Aubrey had stood before she became unplaced. When he tore his gaze away, it fell instead on Einstein: The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.

Nobody had noticed the poster had lost its glass cover.

Abruptly, he stood up, cheerily announced he had matters to deal with, and walked out.

He hurried down the steps, past his car and down the drive. But his mind remained focused on the farmhouse... on Aubrey's deep blue eyes centered on him...

"But David, this is not my time," she said, stepping back from their embrace.

"But it could be. We clean with vacuums, and we write our ideas on computer keyboards, but we're still the same. Think how many eras you've managed to adapt to already."

"Like this, you mean?" Aubrey did a little twirl. In a shimmer, her hairstyle became short again, and her flowing fairy gown became slacks and a blouse.

The image—like a movie editing trick happening in real life—should have been startling. Instead, David accepted it with a smile.

"This is just appearances. What makes this moment in time what it is I can't begin to imagine."

David cocked his head. "What makes this moment is you and me. Everything else is just appearances, tools, helpful little life hacks. You have as much knowledge as I have—just about different things. Together, we'd be so much more than we are apart."

"Together..." Aubrey let the word trail off in a wistful sigh.

"I'm not asking you to forget Robbie. Never. Let me be someone you can talk to about him. Lord knows, I've talked enough about Kate to you. We'll share our happy memories, let them inspire us to make new ones."

"Oh, David..." Aubrey steepled her fingers in front of her lips. "I don't know, I don't know... I've lived... in between things... for so long that..."

"Whatever it is you do with the elves, you've always made you way back to our human world. I'm not asking you to do anything all that different from what you've done in the past. I'm just asking you to stay."

At those words, Aubrey scooped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him close. "Ach, David. I'm not sure that's how things work."

David felt an unbearable ache take hold of him. Only today had he acknowledged the existence of a fairy dimension. It held so many unexplained possibilities that he'd thought it capable of anything. What if it had its limits too? "You'll have cast off whatever tricks the elves have taught you. I'm sure that's the price that has to be paid. But isn't that what you want? To come home again? To once again be fully human?"

At first Aubrey said nothing, but David could feel her nodding against his chest. His tension eased. He felt certain she'd become fully human again already. Then she pulled her head back to gaze up at him.

"You're right, David. It's time I was done with regrets. I love Robbie and I love my children, but I love you too. I chose to follow the singing, and this happened." She gave him a squeeze that let him know exactly what this she meant. "Regretting that choice no longer makes sense."

The warmth in Aubrey's eyes buoyed David up until he felt like he was floating.

"And I hope, my bonnie, bonnie David, that you're done with regrets too. You told me I need to move on and because of you, I finally can. One more kiss and..." Her mouth closed on his.

One more precious, timeless moment and...

David found himself on top of the hill looking down into the little vale as he suspected he would be doing many more times before he could steel himself to come here no more.

"Oh, Aubrey," he whispered. She was as gone from his life as surely as Kate was, yet he couldn't cry. Below him the valley was a rainbow of wildflowers dancing in the breeze.