“Christine,” James started after her, “Christine wait!”
She opened the door to the garden and stood in the doorway, facing him.
“Why should I wait, James?!”
He was silent.
“Tell me,” Christine repeated and looked into James’ eyes, daring him to say what she already knew, “Why should I wait?”
He looked at her but could not meet her eyes, “because I….I….”
“You cannot even say it!” she whispered harshly, “How can you expect me to listen”
Christine slammed the door and walked through the garden. James took hold of the door handle but didn’t open it. He just stood there, not knowing what to do. He sighed and turning back to the house, saw Adeline walking over to the back door. She stood there shaking her head with a slight smile on her face.
“Don’t be stupid,” she said “Go get her”
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Christine didn’t know where she was going, she just wanted to wallow in her disappointment and process what had just happened . She suddenly heard James’ footsteps behind her and turned around.
“You know I am trying to make this work,” she blurted, “I’m trying to make us work….oh it’s no use, every time we get anywhere together we take another step and it goes nowhere! We have nothing in common, your strengths are just my weaknesses and-”
“Exactly Christine!” he replied, “you are exactly correct and you just don’t realize how good that is! We fight because we care, not because we hate each other. We don’t hate each other….we can’t. My weaknesses are too helped by your strengths for me to keep silent any longer. You’ve made me happy again….I can only hope I have made as great of an impact on you. We keep trying because we value our people and ourselves and each other. We keep trying because we feel whole when we are together, working towards a common goal of unity and happiness to forget the misfortunes of the past. Seeing how we can make each other stronger. We are both stubborn and hot headed in our own ways, but you are also so creative and you have such a beautiful mind. You carry yourself with a level of grace and dignity that so many will never reach, balancing that with a sense of self worth and independence that few try to have. That is why we work. We work, Christine. And that’s why I love you”
Christine took a deep breath, and only then did she realize that she hadn’t breathed that deeply in a long time. She wasn’t sure why….maybe it was because of her relief, maybe it was because she’d been holding her breath in her mind ever since James held her hand. She stared at him after he spoke, neither of them moving. Christine, always full of sonnets and poems, could think of nothing to say. She only walked over to James and wrapped her arms around him. All she could muster was, “Thank you”