Mary and Bert walked along a narrow pathway, along a line of trees. Everything had been so green, Mary noticed. It must have rained last night, she thought. The tips of her shoes were slightly wet, covered with morning dew.
They walked side by side in silence for a while, just reveling in the feeling of being in each other's presences, but after a while, they started chatting about various things that had happened to each other while they had been apart.
They stumbled on an old, meandering river that moved very slowly. Mary spotted a rock and walked over to perch herself upon it. Bert walked over to the riverbank and picked up a handful of rocks. He tossed them in one by one.
Silence had fallen back over the two, Mary not knowing if she should bring up what she wanted to ask him. She decided that it was best not to say anything. She was sure that Bert had no idea how the children felt, and she sure didn't know what was going on with them.
She wondered if Bert had told the children what was going on, but quickly decided against asking. She knew he would tell her in his on time.
Mary looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful day; blue skies with humungous cumulus clouds lingering above them. It was just-well, it was just perfect. Mary never used the word perfect (except how she used to describe herself) because perfection was very hard to find. Nothing was perfect. Now she realized, even she wasn't perfect. She would have to get used to that notion.
Bert had finished throwing the last pebble in and walked over to Mary, sitting besides her on another rock. He took her hand and placed a pebble in it. She looked down at her hand and saw the rock in it and looked up at Bert curiously.
"Throw 'er in." He said. Mary gave him a sidelong glance, not too sure what he was up to.
"It's not lady-like to be tossing pebbles about like a schoolboy." She said and tried to put the pebble back into his hand.
"Oh, come on Mary! It's fun!" He said. "Just try it."
She looked down at her hand once more.
Bert continued persuading her.
"Mary, you don't always have to be so lady-like. It's me. We used to do stuff like this all the time when we were growing up. You need to let loose once in a while; everybody does."
Mary acquiescently stood up, taking the pebble and lightly tossing it into the river. She watched the pebble enter the water, making ripples that expanded from a small circle to a bigger one, finally coming in contact with the side of the riverbank. She looked back at Bert to see his reaction. He just smiled.
She walked back over to him and sat on the rock. He took her hand in his and brought it up to his mouth. He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand. Her eyes fluttered, unbeknownst to him. He looked up at her, both smiling like fools. Throwing her inhibitions to the wind, Mary bent over and picked up another rock. This time, she dared to throw it from the rock she was sitting on. Being with Bert always brought out the kid in her.
The rock made it in the water, causing another ripple to hit the side of the river. He just laughed and slung his arm around her shoulder. She turned her head to the right to see his face. He was leaning back, looking out over the beautiful scenery in front of him, his eyes mere slits because of the sun streaming down from the trees. The trees had been so high and full of foliage surrounding the river, that they barely let any sunlight in. What did come down, were beams of light. It was fascinating; it looked as if they were in heaven.
"Isn't this just the most beauty-full day you've e'er saw, Mary?" Bert said, turning his head to the left, noticing that she was looking at him.
"Why, yes Bert. It truly is." She said smiling, turning to look back out at the river. She saw a fish jump up and out of the water and chuckled.
"Did you just chuckle?" Bert asked, smiling.
"No." Mary said. She was surprised that she laughed at this, but mostly surprised that Bert had questioned her about it.
"You did. You just chuckled." He said, chuckling himself.
"Fine. What if I said I did just, in fact, chuckle?" Mary said, turning back towards him, waiting for his reply with a smirk on her face.
"I'd say you should do it more often." He said.
Smiles covered both faces. Mary's face, in turn, blushed a deep crimson color. They were still staring at each other after a moment of silence. They started to move closer. Mary's lips gently touched Bert's, moving slowly. She pulled back, staring into his eyes. There was something in his eyes that she had never seen before. Just as she was starting to wonder what exactly it was, his lips crashed against hers again. Mary could feel their teeth clink and smiled into the kiss. She felt a burst of energy from her head to her toes. She could really get used to this!
