116.

116 years she had waited.

And for him?

A dirty, cocky scoundrel named Jack Kelly.

The universe has got to be joking.

— —

When Katherine Elizabeth Pulitzer had turned eighteen in 1783, she stopped aging. Years continued to pass, and it was only when those around her wrinkled and slowed, Katherine finally realized that something had gone terribly wrong. She still looked and felt as young as she had the ten years previous. No wrinkles had framed her eyes, and no frailty had slowed her down. No pain or illness plagued her body, not even the smallest of headaches. She had mentally grown older, but her body remained as it had in her teenage years.

Katherine was frozen in time as the world continued to revolve around her. Aware of the unusual situation, the Pulitzer family moved to a secluded farm in upstate New York. It was there that Katherine watched her family age and die while not sprouting a single gray hair herself. History passed outside her door, but she rarely stepped beyond it to experience life. When her younger sister had died of fever in 1832, Katherine Pulitzer disappeared.

She began to travel the world under the name of Eliza Plumber, hoping to find anyone who was just like her. She wrote constantly about her findings, but also about the beauty she had discovered: the winding roads of London, the exquisite gardens of Versailles, and the worn stone pillars of ruins in Athens.

It was on a dusty sand road in Israel that Katherine finally found the answer she had been looking for. Rumors circulated about a nomad who lived high on Mount Hermon, who had seen the fall of the Roman Empire in person.

Knowing the mountain was where she must go, Katherine trekked through nature for almost a day before stumbling across a small camp. A man dressed as a simple Israeli commoner sat cross-legged beside a roaring fire, smiling as Katherine appeared through the foliage.

"Shalom, friend," he said in clear English, "Looking for answers, no?"

Constantin told Katherine all about his life, growing up in Rome during the height of the Roman Empire before he himself stopped aging at eighteen. He had turned to a seer, who had told him that he would only begin aging once he met his soulmate eye to eye. Until then, he would remain. He watched for hundreds of years, moving around but no one had caught his eye. In the past fifty years, he chose to hide away in the mountains, content to live alone and stoke the rumors left in his wake.

"I will be like this until I meet my soulmate?" Katherine asked, annoyed by the quiver in her voice and tears in her eyes.

Constantin nodded once, and the night grew darker.

As the stars blinked into view, the pair mourned the lives they had lost to this curse.

When the sun rose the following morning, Katherine stepped into its light, ready to face the world as she was.

— —

The years passed in earnest. Katherine, content to live as Eliza, continued to keep journals of her travels. She sent them back to her great-nephew, Joseph, who was growing up in New York. She met people who made her smile, cry, scream, but none of them sparked her heart into aging once more.

When her nephew grew to success in the publishing business in New York, he extended an offer for Katherine to return under the guise of his daughter, sure that her talent at writing could get her far in the publishing world. So 'Eliza' packed her small suitcase, and she returned to New York City as Katherine Pulitzer once more in 1898.

Working at The Sun as the adopted daughter of Joseph Pulitzer made many look at her with a glare. It also did not help that the male-dominant company was attempting to force her out in any way they could. Katherine took it all in stride, keeping her head down and pen flying as she had for the past sixty years.

Appearances became key in keeping the ruse of Katherine's 'normal' life. She often traveled to and from work with young suitors that barely turned her eye. Fitting in with the family had not been entirely difficult, but it was odd for Katherine to act in society that Joseph was her father. His wife knew some of Katherine's story, but spent most of her time in bed with headaches to pay her any attention.

One morning on her walk, Katherine was accosted by filthy newsboys, and Darcy (one of the many suitors) tried to save her from the rotten children. However, used to dealing with troubling and annoying men, Katherine had stepped forward and given the boy a piece of her mind, even though he was too busy laughing with his friends to look at her.

— —

Katherine should have known something was happening when she found herself accosted by the same boy later that evening.

The cabaret show was decent. Miss Medda Larkin put on a good show with beautiful backdrops and fun comedy. Katherine had to admit it was one of her more enjoyable work evenings, but then he showed up.

"Well, hello there," a voice called from behind her.

Katherine spun around and met the eyes of the insolent boy from earlier that day. "Excuse me, this is a private box," she told him sternly.

He grinned playfully and moved forward, "Would you like me to close the door? The name's Jack Kelly."

Katherine ignored his extended hand, "Is that what it says on your rap sheet?"

Jack laughed and snatched the notebook from Katherine's hands, and she stood abruptly, "Do you mind?"

Yells echoed at her box from around the theater, and Katherine sat back down flustered. Jack handed her notebook back with a wink. As the show continued, Jack remained sketching on a newspaper. Annoyed by the scratching on the pencil, Katherine leaned over, "What are you doing?"

"Quiet! There's a show going on!" Jack answered, shielding his paper from Katherine.

She rolled her eyes, "You are the most impossible boy ever."

Jack Kelly stayed for a moment longer before disappearing back out of the box, leaving his paper behind. Curious, Katherine picked it up to find a stunning sketch of her likeness. As she stared at the newspaper drawing, Katherine realized something quite important.

Her head hurt.

The curse was broken.

That Jack Kelly was her soul mate.

— —

The events of the next two weeks spun Katherine in a whirlwind. Jack Kelly had wound himself into her life, and she did not hate him for it.

In fact, she loved him.

Katherine was truly and completely in love with Jack Kelly, but she knew that her secret must be revealed. Already, he had picked up on traces of her past like her way of speaking and phrases that were rarely heard during this time.

Jack stared the whole time Katherine spoke to him. She told him everything: about her childhood, the discovery of her curse, her world travels, meeting with Constantin, her return to New York City, and the moment she found her soulmate.

Jack reached out and touched her cheek, wiping away the few tears that had fallen, "You look pretty good for 116, babe."

Katherine laughed and leaned forward to kiss him.

Her life had begun again.

— —

And what a wonderful life it was.

Katherine lived another eighty years, and Jack had been by her side for seventy-three of them. She watched her children grow, her grandchildren bloom, and her great grandchildren blossom. Her writings won her awards, and Jack joined her on her travels. She visited Constantin in her late fifties, finding him just as young as he had their first meeting. His joy was tangible in seeing Katherine had found her love.

Katherine Elizabeth Pulitzer Kelly died in April of 1979 at the age of 196. Love had shaped every aspect of her long existence, and her legacy of love would be an example for generations to come.