Author's Note: For the Caesar's Palace Rainbow History Month Challenge.
Sky Slyvestry got married on a Sunday to a Summer. It sounded like a child's rhyme, something perfect and everlasting. But it wasn't, and they weren't. The woman was nothing like the season that shared her name, not full of warmth, nor longevity, nor promises of light.
She had been, once, Sky was sure. She couldn't have pledged herself to something impermanent. It still seemed inconceivable that anyone could say 'love without end until death' and not mean a word.
Sky was old-fashioned, suited for a life so long out of date that it was ancient history. All she'd wanted was the domestics, to meet a good woman, be a good wife and mother.
They never did have children.
On that Sunday their families gathered at a sun-dappled beach. It was a lifetime of childhood wishes made manifest, from the butter-yellow bridesmaid dresses with matching hair ribbons to the tea sandwiches and sangria. The aisle edged with sea glass had been a true labour of love; they'd laid it together by torchlight in the early hours of the morning. (It wasn't the only thing getting laid).
Perhaps it was punishment for ignoring superstition.
They'd been to school together, and met at the five year party. Summer had spotted Sky in a corner over by the punch, and complimented the novel Sky had brought in fear of boredom. What started as a simple discussion of authors bloomed into two hours discourse on the pleasures of non-digital pastimes and the perils that came with having a name that was also a common noun.
On that Sunday, over sandwiches and sangria, the toasts commented on their commonalities. They saw two blondes, two bookworms, two businesswoman. They did not see the difference that was pulling them from each other, pressing on them like magnets.
Summer the season faded away and took the woman with it. While the Sky, ever faithful, ever constant, stayed the same.
On the day her Summer left her-put a galaxy between them-Sky booked a trip. A search for vacations for the lonely returned a perfect suggestion. A trip to the planet Midnight. It is dark and devoid of life. Nothing to remind her there.