I Promised You - William and Ophelia (7 page)

William and Ophelia rested for two days,
eating fish they caught from a nearby stream and fruits off of
several trees they had passed along the way and gathered.

“It is nice here, Ophelia. What do you say we
settle down here? We have food and it is beautiful. We are far away
from our old lives. We will be left alone here as well.”

Ophelia looked at her well-meaning husband
and shook her head. “No William, we must travel to the other side
of the mountain. To a new country.”

“But why? What would we have there that we do
not have here?” Her husband asked her.

“We need to start over, but not in the middle
of nowhere. It seems like a long way to you, luv, but we are not
out of the monarch’s reach yet. Not as long as we are still
here.”

William looked up at the vast mountain rang
in front of them. “Do we grow wings, wife? For I do not think the
horses will be able to climb those mountains.”

“Let us rest for another day, then we start
our new lives, William.” She said, hugging him and smiling up at
the sun.

Ophelia awoke before William. She fed the
horses and then set them free. She gathered what she could and then
took out the red necklace that Julia had pressed into her palm the
evening they were to leave, a bottle, and the sack of beans.

William awoke to a great noise and it
frightened him. “Ophelia, what is going on?” He looked at the base
of the mountain and saw a cave that had not been there before. “How
did that appear? Is this you’re doing, Ophelia?”

“Come, William, join me in our new
beginning.” Ophelia said, holding her hand out to her husband.

William stood up and took her hand and
together they walked into the cave. It was dark and there seemed to
be no ending to the mountain path. After several minutes William
asked if they could rest for a while, or at least slow down.

“No, William, we must keep moving.”

“But why must we hurry so?”

They both found out why when they came out of
the other side of the mountain. They had barely cleared the opening
when there was a great gust of wind and dirt and small stones that
blew from the opening of the cave. Then the mountain was sealed
again, as if there had never been a passageway.

“Did you do that?” William asked.

“I helped” Ophelia smiled. “Come, we have a
long way to travel before we will be home.” Ophelia said.

William and Ophelia walked for four days
before finally Ophelia announced that they had arrived. Before them
was a Village of medium size, but one that seemed to be very
active. They walked into a boarding house and asked if they had a
room available.

When asked their names, Ophelia said “We are
Philip and Anna.” The man at the front desk smacked his gums and
said “Yer husband deft?”

“Could you show us to a room, sir?” William
said by way of answering him. They were showed to a tiny room that
held a bed and a dresser. “If you folks are hungry you can get a
meal downstairs. Planning to stay long?”

Ophelia smiled and said that she was very
tired and glad that the bed looked to be of good quality. The man
who had showed them the room gave up and left them alone.

“Philip and Anna?” William asked after making
sure the man was no longer near their room door.

“For now.”

“I am so tired, but my weariness is only
matched by the pains of lack of food. A meal sounds in order.”
William said.

Ophelia motioned to the bowl on the dresser
and asked William if he could find some clean water so that they
might wash themselves before going back downstairs to eat.

While he was gone, Ophelia looked out of
their window and as she had been doing all along, she studied the
way the people outside dressed. When William returned with the
water, he was shocked to find his wife cleaned and dressed in what
was for the time period, very fashionable garments. His surprise
grew when she motioned to the set of apparel on their bed, boots
included, apparently for him.

“Ophelia!”

“Anna.”

“We have not spoken between us what it means
for you to have powers, but I feel a talk is in order right now. It
cannot wait. Not even for my empty belly!”

“What do you wish to know?”

“To start, how did you get the mountains to
part?”

“The red stones from the necklace, William,
the one Julia gave me.”

“How could it part mountains?”

“To be fair, twas but a cave which cut
through the bottom of one mountain that allowed us to pass safely
to the other side. There is also a lot of limestone located in the
Pennines which makes it soft in spots. Although it was most
definitely the stones from the necklace.”

“What is limestone?” William asked,
bewildered.

“It is a mineral. I know this is all unheard
of to you, William. Trust me when I say that we would be sitting on
this bed for days were you to ask me about all the ways and names
and events you puzzled over. You need to trust me.”

“So, this power that you possess, it is
endless? You can create anything out of the air, or soil?”

“I do not know the full extent of my powers,
never having been able to practice them. Mother always insisted
that Gertrude and I tend to the gardens and sew our own clothing. I
never saw the reasons behind her words as I do now. Can you imagine
Gertrude dressed in clothing grander than a queen in our
forest?”

“Tis a big difference from sewing your own
clothing and making an entire trunk of clothing appear in this
room, wife.”

“Oh, you noticed.”

“I noticed.”

“Put on what is laying on the bed for now and
we can go have our meal.”

“Is this place to be our home now?”

“Only for a couple of weeks. I am afraid they
are about to become embroiled in another civil war here and I do
not wish us to be around for that.” Ophelia said.

“Certainly not!”

“Foolish war, over Christmas.”

“Ophelia, when Gertrude first told us about
leaving our Village, she did not seem to be including me in the
plans to leave. Did she not want me to go?”

“William, we as a people have traveled much.
In distance and in time. When Julia and Gertrude left, they not
only left the land we lived on, but they left the time period and
country.”

“What? Where did you send our daughters to,
Ophelia? What will become of them? How could you do that?” William
spoke angrily now.

“They are in the power, they will be fine.
Even those of one mortal parent survive, William, there was no
danger. They are living in a different century than we are tis
all.”

“Oh, well then...” William said
sarcastically.

It took a moment or two before William
understood. “And, what about me? Would I have survived the
adventure?”

Ophelia looked into Williams eyes. “No,
William, you would not have.”

“You chose to stay with me.” William said.
“Even though it meant losing your daughters, you chose me.”

“I could not leave you, my love. Nor could I
have left not knowing what had happened to my mother.”

“But Gertrude and Julia left. They had no
such qualms about leaving.”

“I did not tell them what had happened. I
told them that mother was not at home when it was time to leave and
that you had went out in search of her. I know that Luna and Thelma
will survive and that they will be safe and happy with Gertrude and
Julia. I also know that I will see them again someday.” Ophelia
said, picking up Williams’s hands and holding them close to her
cheek.

“By some day you mean after I am dead, do you
not?” William demanded.

“I am hungry, shall we go downstairs now for
a bit to eat?”

“Answer me, Ophelia, you cannot see your
sister or the girls again until after I am dead, for I would never
live through the travel transfer, right?”

Ophelia nodded her head.

“Go now, Ophelia, do not waste time with me.
Ye mother is lost to us and there is no reason for you to be left
behind with me. I beg you’re prithee, do not be betwixt worlds on
my account. Go to our children and have a happy life with them,
wife.”

“Time is different with us, William. A time
will come when I will join my sister, Julia and the girls, but my
life, my world, is with you now. I love you and I will not be
leaving you for any reason. Now, come, I am hungry.” Ophelia said,
standing up indicating that the conversation had reached its
conclusion.

Many years had gone by and William and
Ophelia had traveled many miles and although they had spent time in
several places, when they left an area, they left no trace that
they had been there.

They found a quiet little Village near the
seaside and for the past thirty years had been living as Izabela
and Anthony. They had made friends and although they were not
blessed with additional children, they had each other and the love
they would share eternally.

Over the years they were there, the area had
involved into quite a busy vacation spot. Many of the smaller homes
that were there when they had first arrived had been torn down to
make way for the newer structures. Ophelia and William kept up with
the times and had purchased two newer homes over the years, modest,
cozy and most of all, private.

When the people they had first met upon their
arrival left the area, due to either death or not being able to
keep up the payments on the ever rising rents, it helped them in a
strange way. Over time they were known as Izabela and Anthony,
husband and wife, and then Izabela and Anthony, father and
daughter. For Ophelia’s beauty was never changing.

They were sitting in their garden on a swing
which overlooked the sea. William was deep in thought and Ophelia
was reading.

“Ophelia,” William said to her, using the
name she had not heard in these past thirty years. “Yes,
William?”

“Have you been happy with me?”

“Of course, why would you ask such a foolish
question?”

“You have given up much to be with me.”
William sadly answered.

“Nonsense, we have a beautiful home and have
built a happy and quite life here by the sea. What more could I
wish for?”

“Children.” William said.

“It was not meant to be that we raise
children, William. Luna and Thelma will remain our daughters
forever. We were very blessed to have them.”

“You know, I envy you, wife.” William said
quietly.

“Because you need spectacles and I do not?”
Ophelia teased.

“Because it will be soon when you will be
with our girls again.”

“Hush, William, I will hear none of that kind
of talk.”

“But we both know it is true. My body is worn
down and worn out, my love. Twas a pity that you fell in love with
a mere mortal.”

“Twas my privilege to love you, husband, and
I always will.”

“There is one thing I do not understand.”
William said.

“Just one thing?” Ophelia laughed.

“When I went to your mother’s house, after
the fire. You, Luna and Thelma were all crying. I remember it well,
you three were sitting there in a dark blue fog mist thing and all
of you were crying.”

“I remember, what is it you do not
understand?”

“I didn’t ever know that you could cry,
people like you, I mean, and yet there you were. I remember having
a half second’s thought that perhaps our daughters were mortal like
me after all.”

“Your trouble is like many others. You
believe whatever you are told. We cry and laugh and worry. Have you
found me all that different throughout all of these years, my
love?”

“Not since that time you knocked down a
mountain!” William laughed.

“Your stories grow tall like the
mountains.”

“The bag of coffee beans, you only drink
tea.”

“The coffee beans are magical. Gertie and
Julia took some with them when they left. Not only do they produce
wonderful tasting coffee, but they have another property to them.
They muddle the memories of mortals. If they see or hear something
that would harm us, they would be offered a cup of coffee and they
would then not remember it was what they saw or heard.”

“The bottle of water?” William asked.

“Is from the waterfall in the village. It
allows me to see where my sister is and the pearls help show me the
way back to them.” Ophelia told him.

“I don’t ever think I thanked you,
Ophelia.”

“Thanked me for what?”

“For sticking with me, staying here to be my
wife and my life and taking care of me. I will never forget the
first time I saw you, standing there with your sister outside of
the Palace. You were so beautiful.”

“If I recall correctly, my husband, it was
Gertrude’s beauty that you first commented on.” Ophelia said.

“That is not how I remember it.” William
said, looking sideways at his wife.

Ophelia and William sat in the swing looking
out over the sea until Ophelia grew sleepy. “I think I will go to
bed, William, are you coming?”

“I will shortly, Ophelia, it is so nice here
with the breeze from the sea and the flowers in the garden in full
bloom. I am a very happy man. Go in now, Ophelia.”

Ophelia smiled at her husband and tucked his
blanket into his small frame. “Don’t be long now, I have no mind to
be yelling for you to come in when it gets dark.”

“I will be fine.”

Ophelia walked into their little house and
made herself some tea. She sat for a while before getting up and
locating the red necklace. She took out the small bottle that she
had been carrying with her for all of these years. She poured the
water into a bowl and looked deeply into it. It was only the second
time she had ever performed this feat.

Satisfied, she started putting her home in
order.

Ophelia waited until midnight and then she
walked outside with the red necklace and the pearl hair ornament
that Julia had given her on her wedding day and the bag of coffee
beans. She went into their garden and stood several feet behind the
swing. Ophelia looked up into the sky and held the necklace high.
The wind picked up quickly and soon there was a whirlwind of
activity around her.