A Graveside Promise

It was a nice day for an outing and, over Victor's mild (and her mother's much more strenuous) objections, Victoria decided to go for a walk.

"Are you sure you'll be fine, Darling?" Victor had fretted. "I can have Woodford bring the carriage around."

And Mother? ... oh, mother...

"What!? A grown woman ... in your condition? ... going out alone? How appalling, Victoria - do you not have any sense?"

"Apparently not," Victoria had muttered under her breath, and then she pushed by the two of them to get on with her excursion.

But once she was on her way, though, her mood improved, for it was a beautiful spring day and the sun was shining. How good it was to get away from that dungeon that her parents insisted on living in!

A house of her own; that was something that she would be talking to Victor about now that the baby was on the way. But that discussion would come later and for now, she just wanted to enjoy the beauty of the day, so she turned her thoughts to the pleasant scenery.

And, almost before she realized it, she had come to the turn-off. She wasn't quite sure if she could remember the way, or even recognize the place when she got there, but, to her mild surprise, she found the stump of what must have been that old tree on her very first try.

This was it…

This spot - this very place - was where, sixteen short months ago on that moonlit night, Victor had first met the Bride. For years, this lonely corner had been her final resting place: abandoned and forgotten. Then she had burst out of the ground and into their lives.

Ever since then, Victoria had often wondered if she would have made the same choice that Emily had - could she have willingly given up her last chance at happiness for Victor's sake?

She sighed. Of course she had been grateful for that sacrifice, but - oh! - how Victoria wished Emily had just stayed buried. For now she had to live with the certainty that there was a corner of her husband's heart that would never be hers - held forever by a girl who had died before Victor had even been born.

But - in spite of that - she also wished that she could have gotten to know Emily better. How strange it was to think that her dead rival, under different circumstances, probably would have been one of her best friends - maybe even her very best friend...

It was funny how life could be, sometimes.

They had wanted to get married right after that night, but Mother had spoiled that plan: she had gotten some retarded notion about having to wait a year to mourn for that so-called 'Lord' Barkis.

As if Victoria was going to waste even ten minutes more on that man's memory! But somehow … incredibly … her parents still believed that he had been a somebody, in spite of a churchful of witnesses telling them otherwise.

So the very day she turned twenty-one and could make such decisions for herself, they were finally married - four months later than they had wanted. (But Victor did get his vows right!)

The adjustment to married life had been much harder than she had expected: it had taken more than shared loneliness and romantic ideals to make it work, plus the age difference (Victor being younger by two years) had made things more of a challenge than she had thought it would be.

But, fortunately, his mother Nell had been a surprisingly effective teacher and ally, and so helpful in guiding her through the difficult transition to married life. In fact, both of Victor's parents had turned out to be happy surprises, but her own - on the other hand...

Victoria sighed again.

The day after the wedding, Victoria had asked a reluctant Victor to bring her out here and, after asking him to leave her alone at the grave, she had made the Bride a quiet promise:

"I will live the life you never had, and I will have the children you never will, and I will never forget you."

And now she was back, exactly one year later, renewing that promise.

Victoria then patted her own swelling mid-section, blushing as she 'told' Emily about her upcoming "blessed event". She was just two months along, but she knew already what it was ... and what the name of that little girl was going to be.

"I hope you don't mind," Victoria whispered.

A raven cried in the distance, and for some peculiar reason she shivered.

Then the young woman looked around - at the weeds and bushes that had overgrown the grave and she shook her head.

"You deserved so much better than this," she whispered sadly.

Victoria closed her eyes, imagining what this spot would look like with a bit of work ... with those nasty weeds cleared away, to be replaced with some of those bright blue wildflowers - the ones that reminded her of the butterflies she had seen that night.

The picture was a pleasant one, and she smiled.

And maybe a ring of clean white stones to mark it, and some of the surrounding brush cleared back to let the sun come in.

Victoria opened her eyes and she nodded. Maybe that would help put the Bride to rest, and it would certainly make her feel better.

Yes, she'd be back - as often as she could get away until the child was born, and then next year she'd bring baby Emily back with her to finish it, no matter what Mother said...