away it all seemed -- the beginning of their story. Just a handful of memories over such a long time, eons it seemed. She dropped her eyes to the flowers swirling about on the inside of her tea cup. It was always just before spring that G had come to her. It began when she was sixteen, budding into life. He stepped onto the garden path several paces from her as she walked about noting signs of life's resurrection power. She felt the awakening of the plants and the life juices sluggishly stirring after winter's cold sleep. Her feet tingled as seeds and bulbs sprouted below the ground struggling toward the weak warmth of the sun. She looked up and there he was, magnificently male, tall and well made, dark of hair with emerald eyes set in sooty lashes. His name had popped into her mind from some previous country dances and she greeted him by name, inviting him to sit in her garden.
He looked on the maid Gwynn had become and his heart pounded strangely in his chest. He was surprised that anything or anyone could so stir him. He had been told by so many that he was heartless. Yet here was Gwynn, short, plump, pleasing and brown -- not a beauty, not sophisticated, not even elegantly dressed. She was just Gwynn, but such a Gwynn -- at the height of her youthful powers, spring in her fingertips, summer blooming in her face, life-force seeping from her breath making him breathless. He sat carefully next to her and looked at a strange sight in a such a well-cared-for garden. A dandelion had dared to invade her space and had already shed many of its milky pods across the garden. Only a few remained. He picked it carefully from the roots, first removing the remaining seed pods and wrapping them in a handkerchief.
Gwynn realized they both were in this remembrance because she had not thought upon his action of plucking the weed from her garden in a long time. That was the first time he had asked anything of her. He had fixed an intense green stare on her -- and she had noticed that emerald of his eyes shifted like the colors as clouds rolled in shadows across the hill and dale. He took her hands in his own large, well-formed ones and placed one of the seed pods in the palm of her left hand, closing her fingers on it and lifting her hand to his lips to kiss each of the small closed fingers, moving up to her wrist to inhale as though she were a fragrant blossom and place his moist open mouth on her pulsepoint. He raised heavily lidded eyes to her and asked in a voice of her hidden dreams, "Wilt thou grant the wish I now make to have thee as my bride, to love and cherish throughout all time?"
He looked on the maid Gwynn had become and his heart pounded strangely in his chest. He was surprised that anything or anyone could so stir him. He had been told by so many that he was heartless. Yet here was Gwynn, short, plump, pleasing and brown -- not a beauty, not sophisticated, not even elegantly dressed. She was just Gwynn, but such a Gwynn -- at the height of her youthful powers, spring in her fingertips, summer blooming in her face, life-force seeping from her breath making him breathless. He sat carefully next to her and looked at a strange sight in a such a well-cared-for garden. A dandelion had dared to invade her space and had already shed many of its milky pods across the garden. Only a few remained. He picked it carefully from the roots, first removing the remaining seed pods and wrapping them in a handkerchief.
Gwynn realized they both were in this remembrance because she had not thought upon his action of plucking the weed from her garden in a long time. That was the first time he had asked anything of her. He had fixed an intense green stare on her -- and she had noticed that emerald of his eyes shifted like the colors as clouds rolled in shadows across the hill and dale. He took her hands in his own large, well-formed ones and placed one of the seed pods in the palm of her left hand, closing her fingers on it and lifting her hand to his lips to kiss each of the small closed fingers, moving up to her wrist to inhale as though she were a fragrant blossom and place his moist open mouth on her pulsepoint. He raised heavily lidded eyes to her and asked in a voice of her hidden dreams, "Wilt thou grant the wish I now make to have thee as my bride, to love and cherish throughout all time?"
