Title: Garden of Love
Penname:
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Fandom: Twilight
Rating: T
Picture: 58
Summary: A story about life, love and memories, and that special place that is the center of all those memories.
Submitted for the 100 Pictures—An Anon Fanfic Competition
Please check out the other entries here: http:/www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net/community/100_Pictures_An_Anon_Fanfic_Competition_Entries/83603/
Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own these characters. I just borrowed them to enter this contest!
XoXoX
My vault of memories.
That's where I was headed-to the place that held the memories I cherish the most.
Today's date is June twenty-eighth, a very important date in my life for so many reasons.
To start, it was the day that I met the love of my life.
I was walking down the hall at the school; it was June twenty-eighth. I had just finished writing the last final of my junior year of high school, so I was in a bit of a rush to get out of there. I was in a great mood, because I just knew that I aced the final, along with all my others. I had always been the an over achiever, because I wanted to go into medicine. Medical schools don't accept just anyone. I had to have the grades if I wanted to get into medical school..
I wasn't paying attention to where I was going until I bumped right into her. I almost knocked her over, but luckily my reflexes kicked in, and I was able to reach out and grab her before she had a chance to go down.
When I looked into her eyes, I couldn't find the words to say anything right away. I just stared. She had the most mesmerizing, green eyes that I had ever seen. When I was finally able to snap out of my trance, I got a good look at the rest of her. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes on.
I apologized to her and struck up a conversation. I found out that her family had just moved here, and she was at the school to register for her senior year in the fall. I offered to walk her home, but she politely declined, stating that there was somewhere else she was headed. I knew there was no way I could have hidden my disappointment, no matter how hard I tried. So when she asked if I would like to accompany her to where she was going, I was thrilled.
Along the way, she allowed me to hold her hand as we walked. It sent tingles all the way up my arm. She told me all about this place of hers we were headed to see. She told me how she had come across it a couple of days prior while she was exploring the grounds of the house she had just moved into. We made it to the house, but instead of going inside, we walked around the side of the house to the backyard. At the very end of the yard, there was a trail leading into the forest.
We walked the trail for no longer than 10 minutes before we reached a gate. It was a metal, arched gate, surrounded by bricks and greenery. Once she pushed the gate open, we walked through the small, enclosed walkway that matched the outside before it opened into the most amazing garden.
I had never seen anything more beautiful in my entire life, aside from her. Wild flowers were growing all around. It was not an overly large area, but from what it lacked in size, it made up for in beauty. There was a wrought iron gazebo to the left with beautiful, matching wrought iron benches inside.
Once I got over being speechless, she led me to the gazebo benches, where we sat, talking about anything and everything that came to mind. She told me how she was an only child and how her family had moved here from a small town in North Carolina.
When the sun began to set, we knew it was time to step out of our bubble to head back.
The gazebo, where I sat now, waiting. This is the place that started it all.
We dated all through our senior year of high school, and it was the best year of my life. I got was accepted as a pre-med student, and she was planning to follow me to Harvard in the fall. There was just one thing I had to take care of first.
It was June twenty-eighth, our one year anniversary, and we had just graduated from high school. We were walking hand-in-hand towards the garden hidden in the forest behind her house.
This last year was spent in pure bliss, and hopefully it was about to get even better.
We had come out here to the garden every day after school, unless it was raining. This had become our spot. We shared our first date, a picnic on her birthday, and our first kiss, both of us so timid, in this place. This is was also the spot where we first made love, on a blanket underneath the stars.
This is where we sat here, on a blanket within the flowers when we planned out our future together and also where we learnt learned that future was really going to happen when we opened our college acceptance letters here. We were both so nervous when it was time to open the letters from Harvard, but we ripped them open at the same time, together, and were overjoyed, excited when we were both accepted.
Today, I was going to hopefully add another memory to this garden. Today, I was going to propose to her. I wanted nothing more than for her to be my fiancé as we headed to Harvard at the end of the summer. It was going to be hard to leave this place when we move to Boston, but we would always be able to spend time here when we came home for holidays and breaks.
I had been planning this day for the last couple months. I had even spoken to her father about it. I, of course, needed his blessing. He told me that once we graduated from Harvard, if we wanted to move back home, this house would be ours. I was going to wait until our wedding night to tell her that part if she did, in fact, say yes.
She did say yes to my proposal that day in this very spot. We went off to Harvard, engaged and in love. Life really was great.
Four years later, after graduating from Harvard, before I was to start med school, we were wed in a small, intimate ceremony on June twenty-eighth, in the garden, of course!
It was the greatest day of my life. I was a nervous wreck, but as soon as I saw her at other end of the garden, all my nerves were put to rest. She was exquisite. The ceremony was short and simple, only our family and closest friends were in attendance. It was all we wanted.
It was another memory to add to the book.
While in med school, we decided to move home to Forks after I graduated, and I would do my residency there. We eventually wanted to have kids and wanted to raise them in Forks, where I grew up and where we met and started out our life together.
One of my greatest memories was coming to mind.
We were lying in the middle of the garden on a blanket. It was our fifth wedding anniversary, and we now officially owned the garden. Her parents had kept their word and had sold us the house the year before since the house was much too large for just the two of them.
Our anniversaries were always spent in the garden, but this one was more special, because it was the first anniversary we were spending here as owners of the garden. Of course, she had to go and make it even more memorable than ever.
Finding out I was going to become a father was the most amazing feeling I had ever felt. Our love had created a child, and I couldn't have been anymore happy that we were going to be a family.
That might was, perhaps, my favorite memory of all. Eight months later, she gave birth to our son. Two years after that, she gave me a daughter.
We were blessed with such a perfect family, and I didn't think life could have gotten any better. I realized I was wrong as I looked over to my left and saw my grandson staring back at me.
Life got even better when we were also blessed with grandkids.
"Well, Grandpa Carlisle, are you ready to do this?" he asked me.
"Yes, Edward, I think I am ready. I was just thinking about all the memories this place holds," I replied in a solemn tone.
"I know, Grandpa, and I don't think there is anywhere else Grandma Esme would rather be," he responded as he gripped the urn holding my wife's ashes in one arm and helped me off the bench with the other.
My grandson, Edward, he was definitely my pride and joy. He reminded me so much of myself when I was his age. Smart, motivated, determined, compassionate, talented, the list just went on. He planned on following in my footsteps and going into medicine. I couldn't have been more proud; he was going to make an excellent doctor.
Edward led us out to the center of the garden before he looked over at me with questioning eyes.
"Ready?" he asked.
All I could manage was a nod of the head before he lifted the lid off the urn and started to spread the ashes around the garden. This was Esme's request; she wanted to be cremated and her ashes spread in the garden. I could never deny the love of my life anything.
As Edward finished spreading the ashes around within the wild flowers, I heard him faintly mumbling.
"Goodbye, Grandma, I love you. You will always be in my heart."
I choked back my tears. She was such a loving mother and grandmother and was going to be greatly missed.
My wife passed away of old age about five months ago, and I had never felt so lost in my entire life. I told Edward I wanted to wait until June twenty-eighth to spread the ashes, and of course, he understood. Edward spent so much time with Esme while growing up that he knew all the stories of our past and knew the significance of the day.
Edward gave me a few minutes of privacy to say goodbye while he went to go sit in the gazebo and wait. He hads always been a loving, patient and compassionate young man.
I said my final goodbyes to the love of my life, wiped my tears and signaled to Edward that I was ready to go. He came over and helped me as we headed out of the garden, out of one of the most important places of my life.
Unfortunately, I am was too old to keep the house, and all my children have had their own homes and lives. The grandkids had all moved on as well, except for Edward, who still had to complete his senior year of high school. The house was up for sale, as I was moving into a retirement home. It was breaking my heart to have to sell our home, but it was time for new people to start their own lives and create their own memories here.
I was about to walk through that gate for the very last time, that may have been the hardest thing I'd ever had to do, next to saying goodbye to my wife.
As we got through the gate I almost fell over when Edward tugged on my arm. I looked over and noticed that Edward had bumped into something, a young girl to be exact. She was a pretty little thing with long, brown hair and brown eyes. Edward definitely noticed her beauty.
"Oh, my god, I am so sorry," the girl said to him, sounding very nervous.
"It's okay, really," Edward responded. He was taken with her, I could tell, the same way I was taken with Esme the day we met.
"My name is Bella. I was just wandering around while my parents are talking with the real estate agent about the house. My mother loves the house, and she really wants to buy it."
I looked over at my grandson, and after the emotional day we just had, he suddenly had a sparkle in his eye as he outstretched his arm to shake hands with the young lady.
""Hello, Bella. My name is Edward."
XoXoX
Okay, so there it was. My first fic! I am still buzzing that it was an Honourable Mention for both Judge's Choice and Public Choice.
So here comes the acceptance speech.
Thank you to my mom, and the academy…..just kidding!
Thank you to everyone who voted, judged, read and reviewed! You guys are all awesome!
Also, a REALLY special Thanks to clarabella75 and CullenLovingMom, because without them this would probably just still be a mess of words on my computer screen!
Last but not least, all my friends from FanFicAholics Anon. You guys are so awesome and supportive and I love you all!