"What's this?"a young girl, about ten years old with bright blue eyes and black hair picked up an old book, and wiped the dust off the cover. A single 'G' was engraved upon the front.
"Hey Charlie, look at this." she called along to her brother, a boy about thirteen, with the same blue eyes and black hair.
They were sat in their grandmothers attic, going through old boxes of knick knacks and other things, marveling in it's 'oldness' as they so innocently put it.
"Jess, how am I meant to know?... let's go ask grandma."
As the children descend the ladder to the main house, let me explain something. These were the children of Taylor and Robert. Taylor being the daughter of Angela and Gill, and Robert being the son of Jin and Annissa.
"Grandma, what's this book?" asked the young girl, clambering onto her mothers lap and quite obviously disturbing the conversation their parent, uncles and aunties were having moments before.
She held out the green leather bound book to her grandmother, who took it and examined it closely. She gave a small gasp, then smiled that same age old smile.
"Jess, it's your grandfathers diary." she said to the child, before wiping away a bit more dust and holding it up to see it better.
"God, I forgot that dad kept a diary... said Taylor, looking closely at the book in her mothers hands. The elderly woman chuckled softly, then opened the book to a random page in the middle. A slip of paper fell out, and she stopped browsing through her husbands diary to pick it up and unfold it.
After a moment of scanning through it, she smiled.
"Oh Gill."
* * *
Ever met that one person that knows how to push all of your buttons and really piss you off, but you love them anyway? I have. Her name is Angela, but she prefers Angi for some absurd reason. I think Angela is much nicer.
Yes, anyway, sometimes she completely annoyed me. Like the time when we first met, and she knocked into me and all the papers in my arms fell to the floor. She didn't even stop to help pick them up, all she did was blush and stammer an apology, then she ran away. She kept shooting glances over her shoulder at me, and ended up barreling right into a fence and flipping over to the other side.
And naturally being the well brought up man I am, I forgot about the papers (reluctantly) and went over to help her(...reluctantly). She'd scraped her knee, and somehow knocked herself out, so I had to take her to the clinic then.
How infuriating would that be for anyone. Having to go out of my way just for one clutz of a girl.
Angela was the new farmer then. She'd come all the way to Waffle Island in search of the new life of prosperity my father had lied about in a brochure she had apparently picked up. I didn't think anyone would have fallen for it, but considering all factors, it's quite apparent Angela would be the type to fall for something so stupid.
Well, after that incident, she'd come to see me a lot more often, firstly to thank me for taking care of her (though Jin did most of the work) and secondly to try and make up for the neglected, and eventually rained upon papers she'd knocked out of my hands.
After months of stopping around at my house to say hello, or leave tomatoes on the front step, or working part-time at the town hall, we got to know a bit about each other, and eventually became good friends.
Of course we would fall out, and over such trivial things as our opinions on the way people reacted to the changing weather. She would storm off upset, and I would feel very much obliged to chase her down to the beach where she normally sulked, catching her wrists as she went to push me away and I'd refuse to let go until we resolved the matter. After a long talk, she'd insist on giving me a 'make-up hug' and she insisted I hug her back or she'll never talk to me again.
Though that would have had it's benefits, I always liked being on good terms with her. So I'd learned to hug back without complaint.
Our friendship progressed, and we talked about a lot. I eventually stopped wearing plaid shorts, because Angela tended to tease (bully) me for wearing the. Despite that, I found that over time, I was developing a crush on her. I'm not afraid to admit it, and it wasn't like I kept it secret, I just didn't mention it to anyone or make a move on it. So no-one knew about my schoolboy crush, and all was well with the world.
That was, until I went to her farm one day to get her to sign for the deeds to another plot of land in the Caramel District, when I found her lying unconscious out in one of the fields. I didn't hesitate when I dropped the papers I was holding, and then whisked her away to the clinic once again. I didn't think when she woke and I scolded her for being so reckless. I didn't stop when I took hold of her hand and told her that I was worried about her, that I cared about her.
I didn't pause for just a moment before I pulled her into a hug, and I smiled right away as she hugged back and I buried my face into her sweet smelling hair.
It wasn't long after that that we became an official couple. She often tried to sneak away from work to come and see me at the town hall, but I made her go right back (after an hour or so) to take care of her animals.
I was constantly telling her that she ought to go and take care of everything like she should so the cows wouldn't die of neglect. That was my favorite saying. Your cows will die from neglect. She'd only ever laugh and assure me that she knew how to do her job; to which I would normally remind her of the time she lost four sheep and an ostrich around the island in various places, most of them commonly being found in trees.
She would just laugh again, and look at me with those large brown eyes and smile, telling me that everything was going to be okay, and that things would just work.
I always believed her, and kept saying that with my brains, and Daisy (her cow) the island could possibly be restored to it's former beauty and everything would go back to being as pleasant as it used to be. She laughed at me, saying Daisy and I would be a great team.
We were together (as a couple) for a total of seven months before I showed her the blue feather and asked her to marry me, to make me the happiest, most blessed man on the planet and for her to be my wife. She threw her arms around me shouting 'yes' about a hundred times down my ear. I didn't mind in the slightest, I just held her tight and grinned like a complete buffoon.
We wedded three months after that, on new years eve. We said 'I do' to one another and promised to always stick by the others side, through thick and thin, etcetera, etcetera. After that was done, I turned, took her face between my hands and stooped down to kiss her.
That night we (of course) made love, as is tradition on your wedding night. She fell asleep in my arms and for the first time I felt complete. A strange feeling when you never knew you were incomplete to begin with. We got along brilliantly, and adjusting to married life was a lot simpler than other people let on. We took turns cooking, cleaning and washing up. I tended to iron after Angela burnt a triangular hole in my shirt.
We spent the first spring messing around. I helped her a lot around the farm on my days off, and after work if I got the chance. However, it normally ended up where we were both covered in dirt and throwing clumps of mud at each other, then trying to hide behind the live stock.
Summer was extremely hot in our first married year. I only worked half days those few months as the heat was unbearable. I'd help Angela with the farm work as much as possible, though after a month of having to water plants several times a day, I vowed to have a sprinkler system installed. We spent a lot of time at the beach too that season, having water fights with friends and sunbathing.
Autumn was a lot less hectic and humid, though there was still a lot of work to do so that everything was ready for the winter. That meant of course, I was at work more, and I saw my wife less. Of course we argued over the amount of time we were working, but I refused to go to sleep on a fight, so when she fled to the beach, I packed a small basket with some food and wet to for the traditional make-up hug and some dinner. She fell asleep on the beach on a few of these occasions, and had Jin and Chase smiling knowingly at me as I carried Angela bridal style through the town back home. They were both married too now; Jin to Annissa, and Chase to Maya.
Winter was the lazy season as Angela put it. She didn't have to water crops, or let animals out to pasture as much, because the weather simply did not permit it. Instead we nipped out in the mornings and few, milked, brushed and sheared various animals, then collected the eggs from the chickens. Many days we curled up on the sofa together, or she curled up in my lap and we draped blankets around us and just kept warm.
I think it was about a year after we were married that we found out Angela was pregnant. It was then mid August that she gave birth to two very healthy little girls, we named them Taylor and Mai. They had large blue eyes, like myself, but their mothers hair colour, facial features and smile.
Naturally, I doted on my girls, Taylor turned out to be a daddies girl, where as Mai wanted to grow up to be just like her mother. When the twins were three, we were blessed with a boy, and Angela named him Jaden. He had bright blond hair and green eyes, but when he grew he looked and acted a lot like me. Angela was persistent that she would change that, or god help the little boy.
We were all happy and content. Me and Angela still had the odd fallout, but (as terrible as it sounds) I had gotten used to tailing her to the beach, a hug and a kiss later and we were likely to be making a forth child (though that never did happen, thankfully).
We watched the farm, the island, and our children progress through the years, growing and changing, all the time for the better. We loved them all and nurtured them in every way. Even when Taylor and Mai were PMSing, we still got along well with few temper tantrums or paddies.
As we grew older, we saw our family grow, our children bearing children, and I was very much content with tiny hand grabbing hold of my pants leg tripping me up and then looking to see the bright face of one of my grandchildren, as they thrust a book into my hands that I read to them, again and again until they fell asleep.
Eventually, I got too old to work (so Angela and my children said) and the arthritis in my knees stopped me from walking as far as I used to. Angela also had to give up the farm, and Mai took over it for her. Most days we'd spend sat on the beach, given that the weather was warm enough, and remember the good old days when we could walk properly. We'd laugh and mess about like we used to, though maybe not as actively as we used to.
All I could ever tell Angela was that I loved her, though I never did thank her properly for bumping into me that very first day all those years ago. If she hadn't gotten so flustered and knocked herself out, I don't think my life would have been half as pleasurable as it has been.