“I'm coming!” I called to the impatient knocker, knowing whoever it was probably couldn't hear me anyway.
When I reached the door, I peered through the peephole, only seeing the distorted back of someone as he began heading down the stairs. My first thought was to turn away and go back to bed, but I changed my mind. I opened the door, sure that the person leaving was undoubtedly another one of my mother's attempts at finding me a date. Despite having told her an emphatic 'no, not interested', she was still trying to set me up. I'd already turned down two of her previous attempts, and I believed if I didn't do it again, he'd be back. I couldn't help but smile at my mother's latest matchmaking as I pulled open the door.
“Can I help you?”
The man stopped and stood with his back toward me, turning slowly, until finally his eyes stared into mine, familiar eyes – eyes that burrowed into my soul and melted my heart.
“Hi.” A slow smile spread across his face.
Paralyzed, I stood in the doorway, staring at him.
“Why… What?” My mind was swirling with so many questions that I didn't know where to start.
“Can I come in; it's a wee bit cold out here.”
For the first time, I realized the temperature as a cool breeze fluttered my robe. I stepped back and let him in, folding my arms across my chest both for warmth and for protection.
“You have a lovely home,” he said closing the door behind him.
I stared at him, unable to speak – catatonic.
“I'm sorry. I should have called, but I couldn't wait to…” His voice trailed.
I wanted to throw myself at him and would have, if I didn't think I was somehow still dreaming. It wouldn't be the first time I'd made a fool of myself by thinking I was awake when I wasn't. I remembered my flight home.
“What's that?” I asked, for the first time I noticed a large envelope in his hand.
“Can we sit down?”
I silently waved my hand toward the living room. He took a spot in the corner of the couch. I stood, my arms still crossed, still unsure.
“Would you sit, too… please?” He patted the spot beside him. I sat down, keeping a safe distance between us, my heart pounded. “It's for you. Here.”
It seemed a long time before my hand moved to take the envelope and even longer for me to open it. Finally, I slowly opened the yellow envelope and pulled out a picture of the two of us taken in Bude. We'd asked a stranger to take the picture – the result was stunning.
“I thought maybe…. you could put it in that frame.”
I knew exactly what frame he meant. It wasn't long ago that I'd had the same idea – the same hope. When I returned home, I considered throwing it out, but couldn't bear to part with the gift my friend had given me.
“This is real?” I asked, finally allowing myself to trust my eyes. “You're really here! Oh Aaron, you're really here.” Happy tears spilled from my eyes.
Aaron took the picture from my shaking hands and placed it on his lap. He reached over and took my hands in his; little jolts of electricity flowed back and forth between them. “Krista.” He looked into my soul. “I want to be your future.”
I closed my eyes tightly to shut out the tears. I was done with crying. “But what about –”
Aaron finished my sentence for me. “Peter almost insisted I leave the tour guide business. He knew I'd never planned on staying as long as I did. Aunt Jane, she's met someone and never been happier. There is nothing for me over there. Everything I need is here. Everything I want to have is with you.”
“But they'll miss you.” My voice was shaking. My hands were shaking too, but he held them still in his own.
Aaron reached up, brushing the hair from my forehead and kissed the mark in my hairline above my right eye. “They'll be fine. We'll visit. They'll visit. We'll all be fine.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn't believe what was happening, he was really with me, in my home. I reached up and grabbed my pendant. “Eternity.” I whispered searching his eyes.
“I promised I would find you.” Aaron reached up and gently stroked my cheek.
“I'll find you, Mary; I promise I will find you!” Thomas's voice echoed through the fog in my mind.
“I remember Krista – all of it, every kiss, every laugh, when I chased you through the meadow – my promise to find you,” he whispered as he leaned over to kiss me.
The moment our lips touched our memories combined as that familiar electricity ran through us. Our souls joined as one. I had found my soulmate – my one true love – my promised soul.
Epilogue
“Tell me again!” she whispered. It was obvious now that speaking was becoming more of an effort. Her small, thin, frail body was practically swallowed up by the bed they'd shared for so many years. Painstakingly, he had pulled the blanket up and tucked it under her chin, and if anyone were to look at her from above she'd resemble a disembodied head resting on a pillow.
He lay on his side watching as her chest rose and sank, and it reminded him of when he used to wake almost every night and lie just as he was now watching her sleep and breathe. It still amazed him now, even to this very day, that they had finally lived out their lives together, as it was meant to be.
It turned out Mary and Thomas weren't the first bodies they'd inhabited, in fact there were others before that – centuries before. Their lives were forever connected, but something always seemed to separate them. Finally, this last time around, they'd made it. No – Mary and Thomas weren't the first, but they felt certain that Krista and Aaron would be the last. They'd loved each other deeply, raised a family, and grew old together. Now, they were heading into the final phase of their lives; they had completed their journey.
Slowly he stretched his thin skinned, sun-spotted hand out to hers, the stiffness and pain evident to anyone watching. Gently, he held her thin, frail hand and slowly caressed the back of it with his thumb, the only digit that didn't hurt so much when he moved it. Behind him, their family stood in silence watching, waiting. Krista was too weak to notice, and Aaron had blocked them out.
“This time,” he began, “we'll stay. We'll be together for eternity, young and beautiful.” He looked at Krista's aged and frail face, she was still beautiful in his eyes, even more so now. He gently moved his finger toward the pendant and touched it. She'd never taken it off in all those years. “You'll go their first, but I promise I will be joining you very soon,” he said, a single tear falling from his tired eyes.
Krista sighed, and with some more effort, she spoke, so quietly that only Aaron heard. “How do you know,” she breathed, “that you'll be there soon?” Her eyes remained closed.
“I know,” he said, “because I can't live without you.” Krista opened her eyes. It took all her energy to turn her head to face him. She smiled and Aaron smiled back. “I love you,” Aaron whispered; more tears escaped.
Krista smiled again watching her husband's face. He'll be there soon, she told herself. How happy she'd been over the years. How many now? She thought. Memories of their sixtieth anniversary and the party their family had given them slowly came to her mind. It seemed like it was only yesterday. Of course, she thought, as the images became clearer. It was just last summer, and then I got sick.
She wanted so badly to reach up to Aaron's face and touch it one last time, to wipe away his tears. Instead, with all the energy that she had left, she gently squeezed his hand; she only hoped it was strong enough for him to feel – it had been; he gently squeezed back. She kept her eyes focused on his face not wanting to see anything but him, but of course she did. She could just barely make out forms standing behind him, watching, and she knew it was their loving family. She was sad for them, losing both parents and grandparents wasn't going to be easy. They'll be fine, she told herself. She wanted to say 'I love you' one last time, but she couldn't, instead she stared at Aaron hoping he'd see it on her face and in her eyes.
“I know,” he choked.
Krista watched her husband's face, not wanting to close her eyes for a second. She felt her heart begin to slow, and it seemed to take a long time before she felt the need to fill her lungs with air, each time taking longer and longer between breaths. She grew wearier as time went on, and she noticed her vision began to blur. Slowly her eyelids became unbearably heavy and with reluctance, she allowed them to close. She no longer felt the desire to inhale and finally sensed her heart no longer beating. In the distant fog, she heard the cries of her family and Aaron's final words.
“I'll be there soon, Krista, I swear I will.”
Two weeks later, Aaron joined her, keeping his promise.
About the Author
A graduate of a 3-year Graphic Design program, Sandra J. Jackson has always been creative, from drawing and painting to telling stories to her children when they were young. Her wild imagination lends itself to new and exciting ideas.
Sandra's debut novel, Promised Soul, was originally released in 2015 by her former publisher. A short story, Not Worth Saving, was published in New Zenith Magazine's 2016 fall issue. She also has had several sports articles published in a local newspaper. She holds a professional membership with the Canadian Author Association and is a member of Writers' Ink.
Sandra's second novel, Playing in the Rain - Book 1 of the Escape Series, released in September 2017 also by the same former publisher.
Sandra lives with her family in a rural setting in Eastern, Ontario. She is currently working on Book 3 of the Escape Series, her first trilogy.
Website: www.sandrajjackson.com
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