Ever After

Chapter 13 - Soulmate

Chapter 13 - Soulmate

Marco remembered getting into bed late, well after his wife was already asleep. Entering their dream he found that he was standing at the edge of a dark forest. The night sky was cool and damp, much like their bedroom when a window was left open during a rainstorm. In the distance he saw a simple yurt and his mid-50ish wife sitting on the ground in front of a roaring outdoor fire. With just a few dream steps he was next to her.

"Hey hun. Sorry those calls went long but I think everybody now knows. Everyone I spoke to wanted to talk about how much they are going to miss him and wanted to send you their love." Marco sat down next to Star and put an arm around her.

Her eyes were focused on the fire and listening to the occasional pop and crack of the heated wood. Eventually she acknowledged him. "Did you see this?" Star was suddenly holding a handwritten letter tightly in her fist. She raised it slightly but did not hand it over.

Marco shook his head. "No, is that a memory or..."

"No, it is a real letter. I was reading it before going to sleep. I thought you might have seen it next to me on the bed. It is from dad. He wrote it the day I traveled to Earth that first time but never gave it to me. *sniff* It was at the bottom of a box. I found it while going through his things tonight." Star said this with a blank expression as if she had been crying to the point where she had become numb to it.

Marco leaned into Star so they could be closer.

She took a deep breath. "You were right about my dad Marco. Mom was all set to send me to St. Olga's Reform School. All the plans were made. Mom was going to send me there for a full year. After St. O's I would have a year to practice magic at the castle. Then...then if I had no suitors by 16 she was going to set up an arranged marriage for me. Evidently she was already getting that process started before I left. Dad didn't say too whom but I assume they would have tried to set it up with Tom's parents. Evidently she had my life all planned out. All of it. Totally all of it. And I had no idea. None."

Marco had tried to give a supportive smile as she talked but his mouth dropped once he heard 'arranged marriage'. "Whhaa?"

She sniffled. "Yup. His letter talks about how much he loved me. He loved my energy. The crazy, hyper, no fear child that I was...*sniff*...he loved who I was." The tears started back up. "...he loved me...he didn't want to see who I was killed."

Leaning into her husband she completely let go. He tried to just support her but soon they both had tears that were mixing together on their faces and clothing.

It was a long time before the husband and wife regained their composure. When they did she was holding his hand tight. "So...yeah, he ended up turning to Glossaryk of all creatures for help. He says that he offered him anything and everything with the hope that the little blue guy would help me find my soulmate and that I would live happily ever after. And they made a deal, somehow they both agreed that I needed to grow up...unbroken. He talks about how he begged and begged that I end up happy. He doesn't say in the letter any details of the deal other than he had sworn not to tell anyone about it until I was married. *sniff* Glossaryk told him that it would not be a straight path. He told dad that I needed to go to Earth...*sniff*...he showed the path, the path that would lead me to you. *sniff*."

Her head was now on her husband's shoulder. "He couldn't tell mom why he wanted me to go to Earth because of his promise so he spent hours and hours and hours arguing with mom that going to Earth would be best for me. She was dead set against it but...but he convinced her. I was to be banished to Earth instead. He said it was the first time he ever completely changed her mind on anything, the first time he fully stood up to her and would not back down. Anyways, I don't think he ever told mom...even after we were married. Never told anyone, he just wrote it in this letter that he never gave me. And now he is gone so I can't even talk to him about it. I can't thank him."