Chapter 13.

"Countless times I have wondered what might have happened if I had stayed with Peter," Wendy rested against a tree, her hair blowing in the spring wind, as thin as a piece of thread. "Might he have grown to love me? Would he eventually have loved me and left Neverland? Even now such thoughts haunt me, and I know I shall die with such ideas still churning in my head like butter, fattening me up with a secret hope that perhaps Peter Pan is yet capable of loving."

"Everyone is capable of loving someone," I smiled slightly, looking at the woods in a way that must not be that much different than how Wendy had looked at it the previous year. "I am sure of it now."

"But that doesn't mean they will," Wendy let out a deep breath. "I want Peter to love someone. It matters not if it is me. I suppose at one moment in time I would have liked it to be me, but I know not how anyone could love a dying lady. I cannot promise him forever now, when my end is rapping upon the door, just waiting for me to answer."

"You must fight it, Wendy. Your time is not yet."

"But it draws nearer," Wendy rested a hand on her chest, as she often does nowadays. "I feel it, and everyday the feeling goes stronger. It does not hurt so much anymore either. I would think that I might be getting well, if it were not for the fact that I still am suffering from this chronic cough, throwing up blood every night."

"I wish I could take it away from you…" I hugged her now, and could feel her bones through her thick dress designed to keep her warm.

"It is not your burden to bear, nor is it one that I would want you to."

"But why do you need to die? You have not even grown-up quite yet, Wendy! It is simply not fair. There is so much of life you are to miss, if you die."

"I have had enough adventures to last me an eternity," Wendy grinned. "Peter has made sure of that."

"Don't leave me," I said. "I cannot bear having another person out of my life. I'll never see you again…"

"Of course you shall," Wendy laughed. "Annie, everyone must die. Time soon claims everyone. I am merely getting a head start in an adventure that you will join me on someday."

"What if I can't find you?"

"Come now, you are the wild one of us," in that instance, I saw the old Wendy full of stories and laughter come back. "It is only fair that I get a head start. You are bound to catch up to me in due time, for you take everything head on and unflinching."

"I wish I could take this thought on like that."

"You know, when I had decided to grow up, I had forgotten how Peter looked." Wendy informed me. "It was horrid enough not being able to fly and forgetting Neverland, but to forget the martyr of my fantasy… I had truly wanted to die."

"Don't say such things… it is so morbid."

"But that thought was soon diminished when I met you," Wendy went on. "In you, I saw the same fire that glowed in Peter's eyes. Iremember Peter's laugh and smile whenever you giggle and stare at me with as much enchantment when I told you stories. Slowly I began remembering… seeing the same audacity present in your being whenever you defied Jeanette or declared you would never grow up. It was as if I had met Peter Pan all over again."

"I am nothing like Peter Pan…"

"You might be surprised how similar you both are," Wendy nodded in agreement with herself. "I look at you and remember the boy who promised me forever. An eternity of joy and laughter and enough adventures to overflow your memory until it spills out before you in a pool of glee and hilarity."

"But forever is a dreadfully long time, even if it is spent with such glorious things." I replied to her somber eyes and suddenly understood.

"Indeed, it is." Wendy agreed.

Jeanette welcomed my disheveled appearance in a rag of a nightgown and wilderness plastered about my body with horror. Clucking like a chicken about the dangers I had put myself into by wandering off into the woods as I had carelessly done, I only turned back at Peter and smiled. Completely lost in her worry over my well-being and the actions I had undergone in the night, Jeanette had forgotten of the boy who stood in the doorway, looking at her sister with as much love as a man.

"Peter," I called, stopping in my tracks and holding out a muddy hand, which he took gratefully. "Jeanette, this is Peter. He is…"

"You went off in the night with a boy!" Jeanette exclaimed. "If mother finds out… if the town finds out… why… I…you… what were you thinking!"

"Peter and I did not do anything disgraceful and uncalled for," I promised her. "In fact, I did not meet him until I was leaving the woods, and we had just happened to run into one another."

"Is that true?" Jeanette turned her attention to Peter, scrutinizing him with her eyes as her mouth formed a firm line. "Come now, surely you can talk."

"Annie wouldn't lie to you."

"Peter and I would like to get engaged," I told Jeanette. "We were both fools awhile back when we met, but now we realize that spending the rest of our lives together might not be such a dreadfully atrocious thing."

"Do you… realize the commitment? The responsibility?"

"I wouldn't be informing you that we intend to get married if I didn't."

"And what do you have to say about this?"

"I want to spend forever with her." Peter answered simply.

"Margaret has much yet to learn," Jeanette stated. "She is not quite ready for marriage. There is much she does not know."

"I am willing to learn right along with her."

"She's never cooked a meal before."

"Nothing I like to eat needs to be cooked."

"You shall survive off of raw meat and uncooked eggs for the rest of your life?"

"How about candy, fruit, and nuts?" Peter suggested. "What use do we have of cooking?"

"I can see why Margaret would want to marry you," Jeanette remarked, laughing. "I know not how hard your marriage shall be with the two of you together, but at least I know you both will get along just fine."

"I am going to get married!" I squealed at such a notion. "I must tell mother. And Nicholas. And everyone. Just wait until Wendy…"

"Margaret… about Wendy…" Jeanette looked towards Peter, and saw that he stared at her with complete interest as to what she could possibly have to say about his Wendy Moira Angela Darling. "Last night, while you were gone… the doctor… he did all he could. But, there wasn't anything that he could do. She was bleeding to death… beyond anyone's help."

I did not allow her to finish. You did not have to be an adult to understand when someone was trying to evade the truth of the situation, trying to soften their words so as not to hurt or offend. But there was no way to lighten Jeanette's news…

Wendy had died.