TUCK EVERLASTING
Spring of Choice
*The same disclaimers apply- Thank you to everyone who reviewed my story! Here's the next two chapters. I hope you enjoy them!
Chapter 2- Uncertainty" I can't believe you'd risk your neck for that girl again." Miles Tuck muttered it under his breath for what seemed the millionth time.
"Her name's Winnie! Not just 'that girl' and you know it!" Jesse's voice was deep and persistent.
"You can't trust women Jesse… they'll break your heart! I don't want to see you go through the same trauma I did."
The two young men stopped at the edge of the forest, Winnie's whitewashed home could be seen just through the dense branches. The full moon illuminated the forest in a rich blue glow. Miles reined their horse, looking around suspiciously. Jesse jumped from it's back. He had a length of rope coiled around one shoulder.
" I understand your concern… but I have to know Miles!" Jesse was not going to be easily swayed. "I told her I would return for her. I have to know if she'll be with me forever."
Miles threw his hands into the air with exasperation and let out a half-hearted laugh. "There really is no changing your mind! I can't even believe I agreed to join you on this foolish expedition. Pa was right one year ago and he's still right. If you take Winnie Foster from her home, her family will never stop hunting us until they find her!"
"No they won't." Jesse grinned at him. "And it's been two years, not one!"
Miles shook his head " It could be ten for all we know! Who keeps track of time nowadays? Maybe she's married with children! Did you think of that?"
Jesse's face took on a sudden seriousness. " If she is… then I've gotten my answer."
"I…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it."
" You're right though, Miles. There is that possibility. I'll be okay. I just have to know. I can't go on day to day without knowing. I'll meet you tomorrow at the old cabin site, like we agreed."
Miles muttered something under his breath that sounded like "good luck," Then wheeled the horse around and took off in the opposite direction of the house. Leaving Jesse alone to face the uncertainties that awaited him.
***
As he approached the house, he could see the light on in Winnies bedroom.
"Hark, what light in yonder window breaks…" He whispered, ready to jump over the fence. "It is the east and Winifred is th---" He stopped dead at the sound of voices. There were people talking around the corner of the house. Quickly, Jesse dashed back into the cover of the forest, and watched from the shadow of a tree. A man stood in the doorway shaking hands with Winnie's father. He seemed to be leaving. He could hear Mrs. Foster's voice carry faintly on the breeze.
" Please excuse my daughter Mr. Jackson! It is most unusual for her to cause such a scene!"
" Think nothing of it Mrs. Foster. I apologize if I've upset Winifred in some way. She did not seem particularly amiable towards me."
" I'm sure it was only her illness you mistook for ill feelings." Mrs. Foster laughed nervously.
Mr. Jackson nodded with a murmur of sympathetic understanding. "I shall call again in the morning to see how Winifred is doing. Goodnight and thank you again for the marvelous dinner."
Jesse stayed hidden well after the stranger had left. "Winnie is sick?" He thought nervously. "Or is it just a false act?" Jesse hadn't gotten so much as a minor cold in 94 years. If she was sick, it meant she hadn't drunk the water yet. Maybe she was waiting for him to come and get her first? His determination wavered slightly. Maybe she'd forgotten about him, and decided to continue living her life like a normal person? The light in Winnie's room had extinguished. Jesse bit his lip, determined. He wouldn't give up. He had to know! Straight from Winnie's mouth whether she would go with him or not.
The parlor lights stayed on well into the night. It was probably Mr. Foster. Jesse shivered at the cold wind but did not make his move yet. He was determined to wait until the entire house was dark. He'd almost blown his cover already. He would not do the same again.
At last the entire house was dark. He watched the moon as it reached its peak in the sky. He guessed it was probably about midnight.
" Brace yourself, Winnie Foster. I'm coming for ya!"
***
Winnie tossed and turned in restless sleep. In her dream she was cold, and alone. Searching through the forest for the spring. Somehow, she knew that if she could find it, she would find Jesse again. Leafy branches clung to her hair and dress, holding her back. But she fought on and eventually found the spring, only to find it dried up.
Winnie opened her eyes with a gasp. And then relaxed, realizing it was only just a dream. She sat up in her bed. It was still the middle of the night. The entire house was silent.
"No… it was only a dream. I can't be true… it was still there 90 years after the Tuck family found it. I couldn't have dried in only three." She soothed herself with these thoughts. Then noticed a breeze floating through her room. Looking up, startled, she saw her window had flown open again.
She jumped out of bed and hastily ran to the window, closing it and bolting it in place. "There, you can't pop open again on me now!" she thought smugly. Just as she yawned and started to turn towards her bed, a pair of hands came around her, one clamped over her mouth, the other wrapped both her arms to her sides. Winnie screamed, but it came out muffled. She tried to squirm loose, but the voice that whispered urgently in her ear made her freeze stalk still.
" It's me Winnie! It's Jesse. Shh- don't be scared!" He loosened his grip on her and she spun around alarmed.
"Jesse!" She said it in a rasping whisper. " What the hell are you trying to do? How dare you grab me like that! I thought you were a murderer!"
Jesse looked abashed and whispered back, "I'm sorry Winnie. I sorta panicked. I thought that if you turned around and found me just in your room like this, you'd start hollering without realizing who I was."
Winnie could see the concern on his face. And her anger melted away. She put out her hand and drew him into the light of her window. Jesse looked down at her, his pale eyes seemed to glow and the soft blue light of the moon reflected off his skin. He was even more beautiful than she remembered. He hadn't changed a bit.
"You…are the same." She said, disbelieving. "Exactly how I remembered you. Down to the last hair on your head."
"Well… what did you expect? That I'd look my age?" Jesse grinned at her, but then his face dropped. He could see her eyes glistening with tears. "Why are you crying?"
" Because you're here." She rested her hand on his cheek. " You're here… and on the day I decided…the day I needed you to come the most!"
He took her hand from his cheek, and clasping both her hands in his, he kissed her palms. " I told you I'd come for you. I still love you as much as I always did, Winnie."
Winnie collapsed into his arms. He held her shaking frame tightly. She had aged a few more years since he'd seen her last, but she looked only more beautiful to him. His young Winnie was a woman now.
" I was scared that you wouldn't come." She said softly.
" I was scared you'd forgotten all about me." He tightened his grip on her waist.
"Never." She smiled, her hands resting at the nape of his neck in a loose embrace" Why did you take so long?"
"So long?" Jesse looked at her confused. "You just turned seventeen, didn't you?"
"Last year. I'll be eighteen in May."
Jesse looked flabbergasted. " I thought it had only been two years."
Winnie giggled at his look of shock. " Three… I guess you counted wrong."
Jesse chuckled. " Well, you know me… time doesn't really exist."
"Yes… I know."
"Jesse… I must tell you something." Her voice shook, and her hands slid down to fist the fabric on the back of his cloak.
Jesse tensed, "Yes?"
"I… haven't drunk the water yet." She gave him an uneasy smile.
He looked down at her with concern, and smiled faintly. " Somehow, I knew you hadn't…" He brought his hands up to cup her cheeks, wiping the tears from her eyes with his thumbs. "You haven't decided yet?"
She shook her head. "No! It's not that… I just—"
But he cut her off with a finger to her lips. " You don't have to say anything right now. We'll talk about the important stuff later."
She gave him an inquisitive look, but didn't try to further her explanation.
"For right now, let's have some fun!" With a grin, he stepped back from her, held out his hand and bowed in a gentlemanly manner, "Would my lady do me the honor of going on a midnight stroll?"
She glanced at his hand, and then snapped her eyes back up to his. "A stroll? Now?!"
Jesse laughed and jumped to crouch on the edge of the windowsill, he unlatched it and it swung open, the cold air enveloped her instantly. He seemed completely unaffected by it, but he was wearing his deep blue woolen cloak. "Of course! The night is still young! We can be out and back before your parents even know you were gone!"
"But…" Winnie hugged herself tightly. "It's freezing outside!"
"Then you'd better bring a coat now, shouldn't you?"
She arched an eyebrow at him, and then a mischievous smile spread across her face. "Just like old times?"
"Better!"
Winnie went to put on her winter coat over her nightdress and slip on her most comfortable pair of boots. When she turned around again, she noticed him testing out the strength of the rope he'd tied to a peg at the base of her windowsill. Her heart skipped a beat. "I can't climb down that!"
"Why not?" Jesse held onto the rope and walked himself down the side of the house with ease. "Just do what I do."
Winnie cautiously moved towards the windowsill and watched him until he touched the ground, about twenty feet below. Then muttering to herself, she swung one leg over the side, and then the other. "Winnie Foster" she told herself, "You have gone crazy!"
The rope was terrifying. She clutched it tightly with both hands and made it as far as getting her legs to dangle over the side of the windowsill. The top half of her body was still inside the window.
" Use your legs as leverage against the side of the house and walk yourself down!" Jesse's voice was a loud whisper.
"I'm going to fall!" Winnie whimpered. "I'm going to die!"
" No you won't! I'll catch you if you fall."
Those words were a little encouragement. "Okay…I can do this! I can!"
"On three!" Jesse hovered directly underneath her with arms outstretched. "One, Two, Three!"
With a deep breath, Winnie swung the rest of her body out of the windowsill, planted her legs firmly perpendicular to the wall, and clutched the rope for dear life. Her eyes were tightly shut. She took another gasping breath, and began slowly edging her way down.
She was about halfway to her goal when she realized Jesse was being really quiet. She stole a glance down at him. He stood directly underneath her looking up, with his eyes as wide as saucers and his mouth hanging open like a simpleton. Winnie realized at that moment that he was getting a direct and most advantageous view of her underwear.
"Don't!" Without thinking, she hastily brought one hand behind to cup her skirt to her bottom, but the sudden shift in weight sent her spinning off the side of the house. She bit her tongue to keep from screaming, her hand clutching the rope slipped and she fell ten feet into his outstretched arms.
"Winnie! Are you okay?"
Winnie opened one eye, and then the other, and shakily nodded her head. "Yesh…But I bit ma tongue…"
Jesse's worried expression vanished and he chuckled at her funny speech. Winnie stifled a giggle herself.
"You're in big twouble bushter…" She poked him with one finger. " Don't shink you can act all innoshent either!"
Jesse shrugged apologetically. " Hey… you can't really blame me can you?"
He set her on her feet, and hand in hand they ran past the yard, through the gate and into the forest.