Two Roads Diverged

A/n: Hey, everyone! So, this new continuing fic of mine is based on the movie. I've been wanting to write another fic of some sort for Tuck Everlasting for a while now, so I'm excited to see what you think of this. Let me know!

Disclaimer: I own nothing Tuck Everlasting. That would be Natalie Babbitt and Disney. And the quote I got the title from is by Robert Frost.

Prologue: July 17, 1924

Dearest Jesse,

I just became a mother today. The pains began at around four in the morning, and nearly twenty-four hours later -- hours in which I admit I begged for death -- Eve Foster Jackson was born. She is six pounds, seven ounces, with ten perfectly pink fingers and toes, and a full cap of ginger-colored hair. Holding her in my arms, I hope you can forgive me, but I don't regret any longer that I never drank from the spring. Seeing her, I finally truly understand what your father said to me ten years ago during our conversation on the lake.

Oh, Jesse, I pray you don't believe that just because I'm glad with my choice, that I've stopped loving you. Do you know what the name 'Eve' means, Jesse Tuck? Besides the obvious biblical origin, the name means 'Life'. I named her for you, and for Mae and Tuck and Miles. Your family and the gift you gave me is never far from my mind. It is in all that I do; all that I've ever done.

I've begun this letter at least a thousand times, but I could never find the words to explain my decision to live a life without you in it. That night when I kissed you by the fire, I knew I would be with you forever. So, where do I begin? This is so hard. I can still so vividly see your face when we said good-bye, as you rode away from me and disappeared into the dust and lightening of the storm. I stood there for so long after you left, praying you would get away and praying to see you just one more time. It was unbearable to grasp that you were really gone. I don't want to be the reason for tears in your eyes again, Jesse.

I did go back to the spring, you know. It was shortly after my grandmother's funeral. She'd been ill for some time, but her death was still quite a blow. I watched her die, Jesse. I watched her take her last breaths lying in a bed she'd slept in for years. Throughout the entire ordeal, all I could think about was the wheel of life. How I was seeing it in motion. Of endings and beginnings, and the natural order of things. There's a bittersweet beauty to it, Jesse. My grandmother had her time here on earth, and because of her my mother and I and Eve are here. That knowledge was comforting while I was grieving and missing her. And she's never really been gone. I can feel her all around me, as I hope those I love will me one day when my time has come.

One day when the house was quiet, I crept back out into the woods. I know when we first met I was hopelessly turned around (Alright, lost.), but I don't believe I could ever lose my way in those woods again if ever I tried. I knew exactly where to find the tree with the 'T' carved into it, and a burbling spring at it's feet. I felt you everywhere.

I'm sure it was hours I sat there, cupping that cool water into my palm and letting it slip back through my fingers. I heard your voice just as clearly as if you'd been standing next to me, telling me to drink from the spring and when it was safe that you'd come back for me. I remember I smiled when I heard your voice, like I always did when we were together. The idea of seeing you again one day filled me with potent anticipation, and I brought the water close to my lips. But, I couldn't do it, Jesse. And I think a part of you would have been disappointed in me if I had.

You believe so strongly in living life to the fullest, and to drink that water for me would have been a little like death. I knew to really and truly live, I would have to die someday. A part of me will always live on in future generations, and to make way for those future generations that will keep the wheel spinning, every human being must move on eventually. I fully grasp the meaning of that now, just watching my new daughter sleep. I understand the reason for all of it, Jesse.

Please, please don't be sad for me. Miss me if you must, but don't mourn me if we never meet again. There's nothing to mourn. I'm so happy, Jesse. So fulfilled already, and I have many more years to live. I'm excited and privileged that I will get to watch my daughter grow. She's only an infant, and already there's light radiating from her beautiful blue eyes. I cannot wait to see who Eve becomes. This is where I'm meant to be.

Do you remember when I told you that my parents wanted to send me away to be educated? Well, they did. But, they came with me. That autumn after you left, my parents and I left Treegap ourselves to see the world, Jesse. We were gone for over a year. You were right. The world is huge! And so miraculously beautiful. In every country we visited -- amidst discovering different cultures and attempting to speak several new languages -- I would wonder if you'd once stood where I was standing, and if you'd seen what I was seeing. I felt so connected to you in those moments. It was like you were right there with me. I absorbed even the smallest details of our journey, because that's the way you taught me to look at things.

This may sound silly, but in Rome I had a vision of you and I playing and splashing about in the Trevi Fountain. And in Paris, while my parents took the elevator and I climbed the 1,652 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower, I heard you encouraging me to keep going when I began to get tired. You were everywhere, Jesse.

Now that I've seen the world, I can unquestionably say that no body of water will ever compare to that lake we jumped into that summer, and no view will ever beat that of the one from your Eiffel Tower in the woods of Treegap. I plan to take Eve to see the world for herself one day. I can't wait to hear what she thinks.

I fell in love with Paris, you know. The city is so magical; unlike anywhere else on Earth. I know why you love it so. I've been back there more times that I can count on two hands, in the past ten years. It's also the city where I fell in love again. I met my husband while climbing those 1,652 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower, for what must have been the hundredth time. You need to know that he's a good man, Jesse. His name is William Jackson.

It's a funny story, actually, how we came to meet. We met halfway up the stairs, and walked the rest of the way to the top together. While talking, we discovered that we were both from Treegap. He literally ceased walking when I told him my name, and when he told me just who he was, I nearly died from laughing. You see, he was a boy I had met a long time ago, on a day when my mother and I went into town to visit the bakery. I had been waiting in the car for mother, when this boy with an absolute sneer on his face approached me. After proceeding to make fun of my financial status and myself, he goaded me into playing a game of baseball. I believe I shut him up quite nicely when I struck a home run, even wearing what the other children called a ridiculous hat. Will tells me all the time that's when he fell in love with me.

In the five years since I'd seen him, he'd made quite a successful business man of himself, so of course my parents approved when we became engaged two years later. We've been married for three years now, and I smile whenever I see him. I'm not telling you this to hurt you, Jesse. I'm not. I feel so blessed to have been able to love so strongly twice in my lifetime, and I wish the same for you. I wish the same for you, as much as it pains me to think of you with anyone else. As much as I still sometimes long to be with you myself. The person you are is a blessing, and whoever meets you is lucky.

There have been so many times when I've wondered if not drinking from the spring was the right decision. In that moment, there was no other choice for me. I knew it was right. But, sometimes at night when all was still and I could hear the nightingale's calls outside my window, I would close my eyes and see us dancing. Me in my shift, and you with your arms around me as we spun. I'd never felt so much at once. Free, accepted, loved, and in love. And remembering all that, I would think, "Are you crazy? How could you give up something so wonderful?"

Nothing was ever the same again after loving you, Jesse, and I'm so grateful for that. And just because we've headed down two different paths, it doesn't mean what we had wasn't real. It was the purest thing I've ever felt. You're the reason I am where I am now; the reason Eve is here in my arms. If I hadn't met you, if that summer had never happened, my life would be so different. I would be so different. The gift you and your family gave me was you, Jesse. It was you. And all I learned by knowing each of you Tucks, I will pass down to my daughter and granddaughter, and so on. You taught me the true meaning of life. You taught me what it is to live.

So, you can see why I no longer regret my choice. I know it was the right one, for sure, now. I hope that you are proud of me, and happy for the woman I've become. I know we won't ever rollick in the Trevi Fountain, or climb the stairs to the top of the Eiffel Tower hand in hand, or have a wedding. But, I had more with you than I will ever have with any other human being. In such a short time, Jesse, we got so much. I want to share some of my own words of wisdom with your family, but for all the growing up I've done, all I can ask you to tell them for me is...thank-you.

I hope you can meet Eve one day, Jesse Tuck. She's so extraordinary. Mae once told me that she wished I was part of your family, and I just want to you to know that you are family. Each one of you are a part of Eve, as responsible for her birth as anyone. And a part of me, as well.

I don't want to say good-bye, Jesse. Why can't I just feel you once more?

Know that I'm always somewhere thinking of you. I selfishly like to think you are out there somewhere thinking of me, too, every now and again. You once told me that you would die for me, if you could. So, I will live for you. I won't waste my life, Jesse. It will not go unlived.

You'll always have a piece of my heart. And not simply because they say first loves never really die. It's so much more profound than that. I promise you I will always wake up with the dawn. And if I wasn't before, I'm sure Eve will now be sure that I do.

Jesse Tuck, I will love you beyond the day I die.

Winnie