She walked along the wooded path a different person than as she had been when she left so abruptly. Memories of those last days before she left flooded her eyes with tears. Things that she had managed not to think of, too much, preoccupied her now with feverish ferocity. She wished that it hadn't had to happen, but it did and for all it was now worth, she surmised it was for the better. It had to be. She couldn't have gone and been his wife. It wouldn't have been right. Yet, the memories persisted.
It had been a lovely June evening much like the present one. Pools of yellow sunlight illuminated a small nook of Rainbow Valley, and she had a tryst to keep just as she was now doing. Only, in that instance something spoiled it.
"And so--goodnight. We go over the top at dawn." She had lost herself in reading the worn letter yet again, keeping faith in her own way and had not heard the footsteps coming toward her. She wiped a tear from her eye, put the letter in her apron pocket, and looked up to see of all people, Shirley smiling down at her.
"I was hoping to find you here in "the Valley. This is more appropriate than at the Manse where anyone could come along." He told her as he sat down beside her in her sacred spot.
She didn't understand what it was that he meant. He had been acting rather odd lately, especially since they had been paired together at Diana's wedding. She just smiled an unassuming smile when he actually took her hand in a clasp that she neither wanted nor from which she could free herself.
"Shirley, what are you doing?" she questioned.
"Una, not a lot has made sense to me since I came home from Europe. I find myself uncomfortable almost in every situation, unless you are there. I believe that I am in love with you. Would you please do me the honor of someday becoming my wife?" He continues to hold on to her hand in a gentle yet strong manner.
"Shirley, how can you ask me this?" she asked disbelieving.
"Don't you see how we fit together? We are so alike. I cannot think that we were not made for each other. Please tell me that you'll be my wife. I know that with you by my side, I can find a purpose for my life."
She shook her head, "Shirley, I can't be your wife. I care for you ever so much. You are the dearest friend I have, but I can never love you that way. I don't think that I can ever love anyone here on Earth that way."
He refused to listen to her. "You may change your mind. My mother refused Dad the first time that he proposed. She just didn't know what it was that she wanted. She didn't understand what it was to be in love. I'm willing to wait until you see how we were made for each other too."
His eyes, his big, brown, hopeful eyes just wouldn't be denied. Her own eyes flooded with tears. With trembling lips, Una repeated her answer, "Shirley, do not ask this of me again. I cannot and will not love you. I am not in love with you, and there is no way that I possibly ever could be. I care ever so much for you, but do not ask me to be your wife. I cannot be."
She finally managed to take her hand from his. His face, suddenly pale and stricken, turned away. "I'll take that as your answer tonight, but someday you'll see that I am right, and I will be waiting." He walked toward Ingleside, with considerable less bounce in his step than before.
She had been thinking about it for some time, and then her decision was made. She would leave this painful memory behind. She would leave all the painful memories, and in turn give Shirley the space he obviously needed to recover from her refusal. She would leave Glen St. Mary; leave Prince Edward Island; leave Canada. She was going to join missions and give purpose to her life.
She had wanted to leave with a better goodbye than just a note, but she had never really been the courageous member of her family. So that is how she left. She did occasionally send a note to her father or Faith. She had needed to break the bond with the Glen and two Blythe boys: the one who had taken her heart with him to his grave and the one who believed he wanted it for always.
Four years later, she was home again, hoping to be able to repair most of the bridges that she had burned. It was time. She had been gone long enough, and she thought that since she was going to be living in Canada once again, that she needed to repair things at home before she made her home there... with him. She also desperately wanted her father's blessing, though given the circumstances, she was afraid that he might refuse.
Despite what was coming, despite other promises made, she still had her tryst to keep: the tryst that she would always keep in her heart. That love would never die or even fade.
She stopped in her little spot. It hadn't changed over time. The sweet aroma of honeysuckle danced around her as she pulled out the old letter. She read the memorized passage over and over, touching her fingertips to the slanted handwriting. When she was finished, she gazed up and for a moment, thought that she saw Walter, as he had been as a child, running up to Ingleside. She wondered what other apparitions she would have. It seemed as if all the ghosts of yesterday were coming to visit her in one way or another as she journeyed home again.
After pressing the letter to her lips and putting it away, she started to the manse again when she thought that she heard someone crying. She looked about, and there at the foot of the little stream, sat a little red-headed girl, her head in her arms, crying. Her heart ached for the little girl and she soon found herself sitting next to the girl, comforting her.
"There, there now. Why are you crying? Can I do anything to help you?"
The little girl sniffled and looked up. She didn't recognize this lady with the coal black hair, but something in her eyes made her want to talk to her. "I miss my mama."
Una somewhat understood the girl's distress. "Have you lost her? Can I take you to her?"
Again, the girl sniffled, "I wish you could, but you can't because she went away to Heaven a year ago. My Daddy and Grandmother say that a part of her is always with me, but I just feel so alone right now. Nobody else's mother is in Heaven. They all have them here, and it seems so nice. I remember how nice it was. I know I shouldn't, but I sometimes don't like it that everyone else has a mama, and mine had to go away."
Una took the girl's hand. "My mother is in Heaven too. I understand how it hurts to see everyone else with a mother, and for you not to have one. Daddies are nice to have too, but there is something special about a mother."
The girl nodded. This lady understood what she was feeling. She made her feel better. She smiled up at the lady with her remarkable gray eyes and said, "My name is Hope. My Grandfather tells me not to talk to strangers, but you don't seem like a stranger. Are you from here?"
Una extended her hand. "My name is Una. I used to be from here, but I moved away a while ago. I've missed it here though and needed to come back. Have you always lived here?" she asked, somewhat knowing the answer by the girls accent.
"No. We just came here in the fall. My Daddy brought us here to live with our Grandparents. They're awfully nice. I didn't know I had grandparents until I met them, and they're what I've always wanted. Do you have Grandparents?"
"No," Una replied. "We just had Aunt Martha, and she wasn't quite as nice as your grandparents seem to be. Where do you live, Hope? It's getting late, and I bet your family's getting worried. I'll walk home with you if you don't want to be alone."
Hope smiled. "That would be nice." She stood up and took Una's hand. They started walking in the direction of Ingleside, which worried Una over which member of the family had died. When they got to the garden, Una hesitated, not sure what to do. This wasn't where she wanted to end up, but there she was. Hope gave her a puzzled look. Una backed away slowly behind the wall. Then the door opened.
"Hope, it's about time you've come home. Why didn't you come when Grandmother called like Tenny and Walt did? You've had us worried," her father scolded.
Una heard his voice; his unmistakable velvety soft voice, but would not believe it. Hope was trying to explain to her father where she had been and with whom she had been. "Daddy, I met this nice lady. She walked with me here."
Hope pulled Una around to where they could all see each other. Both adults were amazed to see each other. There he stood, the man to whom she had lost her heart forever. There she stood; the owner of the eyes that persisted in haunting him.
Her legs failing beneath her, and her voice giving way, she murmured, "Walter?" Then everything faded to black.