The dreams came to an end soon after that night.
Mistress Katherine, her heart torn into shards of glass—hard, unfeeling—ran her mother's household with an iron hand. Her beauty fading as her anger deepened, Katherine's soul struggled to find release from its prison. Her soul, the one thing that still carried love, had so long been stamped down by the heartache that plagued her heart.
But when he came back, that soul flew to the surface and wrapped itself around him. Together, he and the soul of his long-lost love reunited that young servant boy with Katherine. He wormed his way into the castle, and finally, into her heart.
His face was unveiled as he lifted her own veil on their wedding day.
Katie didn't wake before her mind launched her into her next dream.
This man, her husband, had returned from the War a broken man. His body was whole, unwounded, untainted. But his spirit seemed irreversibly shattered. He didn't smile, and rarely looked at the woman he'd once loved. When he did lift his eyes to meet hers, it chilled her heart to see the deadness in them.
But one night, desperate to bring back the passion that had once emulated from him, Katherine sat down on his lap as he sat, after dinner, staring off into nothing.
He jumped, startled. She'd been so afraid to touch him since he came home; he wasn't sure he still knew what to do.
"I love you," she said, softly, not wanting to frighten him.
He turned to her, his usually dark, unfeeling eyes full of the pain that had so covered his heart. "What's the point of loving someone if they can be taken away?"
She sighed softly, feeling as if her own agony at his pain was about to suffocate her. She felt for him, her heart went out to him…but she couldn't possibly even begin to fathom the depths of his words. She'd never, would never, see the things he'd seen.
She merely wrapped her arms around him. "I'm not going anywhere."
As she leaned in to kiss him, she glanced at him. He was smiling; just barely a whisper of the grin that used to highlight his face, but smiling nonetheless.
She saw his face.
Katie woke with a start. Cole. Her breaths were short and abated. It was him.
Timeless, don't let it end.
Now that you're right here in my arms
Where you should stay,
Hold tight baby.
Timeless, don't let it fade out of sight.
Just let the moment sweep us both away,
Lifting us to where we both agree,
This is timeless love.
He was her servant boy, her soldier…her Spot Conlon. Always unreachable, always unattainable, always somehow taken away.
But Cole Conlon would forever be, whether he was a servant, a soldier, or a leader of Brooklyn, he would always be her all.
'Cause I want it all,
Or nothing at all.
'Cause I want it all.
El fin.
{EndNotes}
O my GOD! Almost a year after starting this huge, huge project, I am done! –dances!- No, it was fun. But O my gosh, am I proud of myself! What did you guys think? Review me with feedback, and go read my newest, "This is the Story you Wanted to Write."
Hopefully, sometimes BEFORE next year, I'll be celebrating the completion of that one!