Love From Afar
"Hold onto me, Jo. Let me comfort you as I once did and always will."
"Oh, Teddy. My dearest brother," Jo said, leaning into Laurie's chest to sob tears of misery. "Why are you so good to me? Even now? After I broke your heart, after we both found love in others?" Jo's tears stained Laurie's coat.
"Jo March. When I said I'd stand by you for all my days, I meant to keep my word. Break my heart you did," Laurie gently kissed the crown of Jo's head, "but find love in another, I have not."
Jo gasped and immediately distanced herself. "Teddy… What do you ever mean?" Her tearful eyes glistened as she stared at her boy.
"I can't go on. I thought I could. I thought I could be happy, but I can't, not without…" Laurie stared deeply into Jo's eyes.
"Teddy, please…" Jo turned away.
"Jo, I know you're having a desperately hard time being newly widowed, but that's why I have to tell you that I will take care of you."
"Teddy, please don't. Not because I don't want to. Believe me—I have learned my mistakes as cruel as it may have been. But because it's better this way," she spoke softly.
Laurie stifled a painful laugh. "If you learned from your mistakes, tell me, how is this better?"
"The first time, I let you go and made a mistake that has haunted me every day since."
"Then why would you make the same mistake again, Jo March? I know you are silly in your ways, but not that silly, I hope."
"Because Teddy…" Jo sighed. "I feel like the devil for saying this, especially since Fritz just…" Jo began to cry, but quickly regained composure. "Oh Teddy, I'm afraid I am no longer the strong little girl you once knew. The years have turned your dear friend into a fragile old lady."
"Rubbish," Laurie immediately countered. "You are not old. And there is nothing wrong with being a little more delicate than you once were. Jo, no matter how you and I grow, the soul that shines is still you."
Jo smiled weakly through her tears.
"But now, you must answer me." Laurie leaned intimately towards Jo. "Why do you want to make the same mistake twice? Because God knows I cannot bear it a second time."
"First and foremost, because you are my sister's one and only. To hurt her, I would never forgive myself, or you."
Laurie threw his hands up in frustration. "As much as you complain how horrible you are, Jo, I would thank the heavens if some days you would just be selfish!"
"Theodore Laurence! Why would you say something so horrid?" The brows on Jo's face furrowed angrily.
"Because Jo! You don't think I've known all these years?"
A confused look flashed upon Jo's face. "Known what?"
"Beth told me, bless her soul. She wrote me a letter a little before she passed. I didn't find it until after I married Amy and we came back here. I found it in our old post office the next day. I guess nobody checks that rugged thing anymore."
"What did she tell you?" Jo said, slowly.
"That you were mistaken. That you thought she was in love with me, which was why you held back. And she told me not to fret as we were still young, and soon you would come to realize that there is not another soul in this world that could make you happier than I. And you would realize that like any other woman, you need to love and be loved back."
Jo's heart pounded in her chest. Un-lady like as it was, she slowly crept down, ruffling her skirt as she sat on the hardwood floor. "As true as that may be, I won't bait."
"Jo!" Laurie shouted angrily. "I've waited years to tell you this. I couldn't bear to while you were happily with Fritz. Now we can finally be together, don't you see?" Laurie begged in a hopeful manner.
She stared at the floor as she spoke from her heart. She couldn't bear to look at her love's face, seeing him this way. Each and every part of her wanted to be with him, but she knew what would be best. "Marriage is not easy, as I'm sure we've both grown to know. Of course, in its bliss, marriage is a castle in the air, but there are hardships and sacrifices to be made. For no two people are perfect, and together, even less so."
Jo finally gathered the courage to look into her precious Laurie's eyes. "And that is why, my dear Teddy. I love you so and I love us possibly even more. I would never want to ruin the perfect love that we have now. It will never go sour, never go astray, if we only love from afar."
Laurie's dark eyes met Jo's. And as much as his heart told him another answer, he understood. He understood the beauty of their relationship and knew that nobody could ever take that away. For their lives, their feelings, their secrets were lived through them and them alone. Even Amy could never replace the connection that Laurie had with Jo.
And with that, Laurie gave a gentle nod. And as they so often did, Jo knew without words exactly what he meant.
The next morning, Laurie checked the old post office for remembrance. To his surprise, he found an extremely large hat lying inside. He knew immediately that it was from his love, Jo. He smiled greatly as he tried it on for he knew that in her own way, she was saying that she loved him too.
"I will love you from afar, Jo March. I will be your brother, your best friend, your everything for all my days," he said as he quietly marched home to his wife.