Chapter 24

"I'll get the groceries from the store and we can leave in about 15 minutes, how's that?" asked Matthew as he and Atlantis stepped outside on the clinic porch, his arm comfortably settled around her waist.

"Okay," she nodded, "I'll just go to Grace's and get some lunch. I know that this little one here will be hungry the minute we get on the wagon." She motioned with her eyes toward little Matthew who was playing hide and seek with Katie and Samantha and added, "I tried to talk to him to go get something to eat, but he said that he was too busy." At those words, both Atlantis and Matthew chuckled.

"All right, let's get the groceries and lunch and we will meet here, okay?" Matthew asked, looking at the young woman beside him.

"Sure," she softly smiled, looking up at him and he felt his heart warming at the sparkle in her beautiful brown eyes.

As his lips gently kissed her hair, she relaxed against his chest, and closing her eyes for a minute she inhaled deeply, wishing that this moment last forever. Eventually, she opened her eyes and her smile mirrored his. She felt his hand gently caressing her waist before they pulled apart. When she headed toward Grace's Café, a smile was lighting up her face.

As she greeted Grace, the café owner promised to get everything ready and packed in about ten minutes. Atlantis nodded and looked around. It was about lunch time and people were slowly arriving at the café. She smiled watching the children running around and parents trying to calm them down. Many families were getting toward the meadow for a picnic, and she decided to take a stroll until Grace would be done.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and Atlantis felt each sunbeam warming up her heart. For years she yearned to be happy, to get out from the horror her life had become. Now that it was finally happening, she couldn't believe how lucky she was. Not even in her dreams she'd expected that Matthew would be beside her! She had been certain that he was married long time ago and that he didn't even remember her.

As that thought crossed her mind, Atlantis' eyes looked toward the graveyard. Swallowing hard, she looked around. Nobody paid attention to her, and so she slowly walked toward the graveyard.

The silence that embraced her sent sadness into her heart. It was as if she'd stepped aside from the world, and the only sound that she could hear was the wind in the tree that put a shadow on the graves. She let her gaze wander until her eyes stopped on a particular cross… Ingrid's.

Atlantis felt tears rising. It was as if only now she really realized that Ingrid was gone, and the tears rolled down her cheeks like a river. She'd never met a girl like her before; Ingrid was so good and innocent. Atlantis remembered how awkward and uncomfortable she felt after the surgery when she stepped outside with Colleen to go to see the show. When she got instructions that she had to tell somebody if she felt dizzy, she couldn't imagine that Ingrid would say that she will look after her.

"Just hold onto me if you feel dizzy," Colleen said to her friend, watching each step that Atlantis made. As she felt Atlantis' hold getting tighter on her hand, Colleen shook her head. "Atlantis, I don't think that this is such a good idea. Perhaps you should have stayed in bed."

"Colleen," Atlantis tried to smile to ease her friend's concern, "I'm fine. And there's no way I'm going back to bed. I wanna see the show."

"But you already saw it so many times", protested Colleen.

"Not with you in it," explained Atlantis, and for a brief moment Colleen was speechless. Could she really overcome her fear and try to walk on that wire?

Letting out a defeated breath, Colleen mumbled, "Just promise me that you'll take it easy and…" Before Colleen could even finish the sentence, a gentle female's voice was heard.

"I'll look after her, Colleen."

Startled, both girls looked up. Atlantis felt the breath caught in her throat as she recognized the girl Matthew was engaged to. She felt shivers going through her. Why would she want to take care of her? Perhaps she wanted to tell her to stay away from Matthew. Atlantis looked at Colleen, begging her with her eyes not to go, not to leave her alone with Matthew's fiancée, but Colleen didn't realize what's going on.

"Are you sure, Ingrid?"

"Yeah, you go; put your costume on. I wanna see you performing, too," smiled Ingrid.

Atlantis was torn – she didn't want to stay alone with Matthew's fiancée, but if she said that, Colleen wouldn't even try to perform. So, Atlantis swallowed hard and faked a smile to her friend before Colleen went away.

She didn't know where to look or whether she should say anything, so she just looked down at her bandages, as if she was checking if they were still at the right place.

"You're Atlantis, yeah?"

Atlantis looked up and what she saw surprised her; there wasn't even the slightest accusation on the face of the girl in front of her, nor a warning. She was smiling friendly at her and Atlantis managed to nod.

"I'm Ingrid. Matthew told me all about you. I'm so happy to meet you."

Atlantis felt her throat going dry, „You… you are?"

Ingrid nodded.

"I can't wait to see Matthew performing. I wish I was here so I could have taken part. My sisters would love to join in too."

Atlantis felt her lip curling up in a gentle smile, but she was still terrified. With Matthew's name coming up, she was sure that Ingrid would have a go on her the next minute.

Standing beside Ingrid's grave, Atlantis wiped her tears with her shivering fingers. "How wrong I was," she whispered.

"We should get you away from the sun, you could get dizzy." With the warmth she cared for her little sisters every day, Ingrid allowed Atlantis to lean on her, and they walked toward the wagon that was settled near the stage.

Guided by Ingrid, Atlantis felt tears rising. As Matthew's fiancée helped her to sit on the wagon and then sat down next to her, Atlantis finally found the courage to look up at Ingrid.

"I don't know what to say." Seeing Ingrid's confused facial expression, Atlantis hesitated before she confessed, "I… I mean… I am surprised that you even wanna talk to me."

"Why not?" Ingrid asked. "You didn't do anything wrong. And Matthew and Colleen told me such nice things about you, I wanted to meet you."

"They…they did?"Atlantis quietly mumbled. As Ingrid nodded, Atlantis looked away. "I'm sorry, Ingrid."

Atlantis gently caressed the cross that had Ingrid's name on it as she remembered the words that the gentle young woman told her such a long time ago…

"Don't be. It's all right."

As she felt Ingrid's palm gently caressing her hair, Atlantis managed a weak smile.

"You are very lucky, Ingrid," whispered Atlantis. Over the years, she travelled a lot with the circus and met lots of people… but, the good people like Matthew Cooper were very rare.

Ingrid smiled back at her. "I'm sure that you will find somebody nice too because you sure deserve it," she said.

Before the girls could exchange more words, Jake's voice was heard as the show began.

'How unpredictable life is! 'That thought flew across Atlantis' mind as she took in a deep breath, glancing one last time at Ingrid's grave. She would never forget that darling young woman, and she surely won't mind if Matthew mentions her. It was such a tragedy what happened, and Atlantis couldn't find peace with life being so unfair to Ingrid and Matthew. She couldn't even imagine how he felt back than when Ingrid died… Just the mere thought of that sent new tears into her eyes, and Atlantis covered her lips with her palm, quickly walking away a few steps. She placed her palms on a fence that surrounded one of the graves to compose herself. Her eyes were closed and she tried to concentrate on the song of the wind playing its soft tune in the tree. When the tears started to subside, Atlantis opened her eyes…

…And it was then when she saw beside whose grave she was standing: Charlotte Cooper's.

Blinking fast, Atlantis stared at the cross that carried the name of Matthew's ma as the words he told her flashed back in her mind…

"One day, I woke up before dawn to find my ma just standing outside the tent, her palm on her mouth as she tried hard not to sob and wake us up. I went toward her, asking what's wrong. The mine exploded, all the possible gold was lost and Ethan just took all the money and disappeared."

'How awful it must have been for him to face the cruel reality so young', thought Atlantis as she absent-mindedly squeezed the fence that surrounded Charlotte's grave. She must have felt so lost and betrayed and scared when she woke up in the middle of nowhere with three little children and absolutely nothing to live from!

"For a few days, we managed to survive in the wilderness. I learned how to hunt and got us some food sometimes, but it wasn't enough. We tried to find some place to stay, our ma tried to get a job somewhere for some shelter and food, but nobody wanted to take in a single mother with three kids. It was a burden to everyone. That was when I remembered mom's old friend, Miss Olive, and suggested that we go to ask her for help. So, that's how we came to Colorado Springs. With Miss Olive's help, mom started a boarding house, renting out the rooms and cooking for the guests."

Atlantis glanced at the cross once again, trying to imagine what Matthew's Ma had looked like. Was she tall or not, what kind of hair did she have? Physically, she would never have a chance to see that, and Atlantis felt a huge sadness filling her heart at that realization. However, she was sure about what kind of a person Charlotte Cooper had been: a fighter, a strong woman and a caring mother; there was no doubt about that. The path that her husband had set for her couldn't have been easy, but Charlotte never gave up. She always tried to do the best for her kids.

Atlantis swallowed hard, knowing that Matthew was like a gift from God to Charlotte as she remembered his words.

"I did some jobs for Miss Olive too while I was finishing school. Chopped some wood, fed animals at her place, and helped her out in the store. It wasn't much, but it helped. I couldn't allow mom to take care of everything, she also needed to rest and I didn't want that Brian and Colleen miss anything."

Such a young boy and yet he was already grown up, trying to provide for his siblings and help his Mother. Atlantis still remembered how nice he was to her when she came to Colorado Springs years ago with the circus, and not to mention what he did for her now. He actually gave her hope for a better tomorrow and brought a light back into her heart. Matthew was a person that everybody could count on, and Atlantis was sure that he inherited that from his ma.

"I wish I could have met you, Charlotte," whispered Atlantis. "You must have been a very special lady as your children are like three angels."

Looking at Ingrid's grave, Atlantis took a shivering breath in and silently said, "I would walk away from here and from Matthew's life if that would bring you back, Ingrid. It is so unfair what happened to you. I wish that you were both here, that I could bring you back to Matthew."

Wiping the tears that once again started to roll down her cheeks, Atlantis took in a deep breath before she looked up. "But, I can't… I can't do that. Yet there's one thing I can do – I can take care of him for you, love him for you, and I will, I promise you that. I will love Matthew till my last breath and I will try my best to make him happy. And I'll never let him forget you. I promise you that."

Two butterflies flew out of nowhere and settled down beside Atlantis' left hand. She was startled by the gentle touch of their beautiful wings, but as she looked down at them, she felt warmth surrounding her heart. Glancing one last time at the two graves, she repeated the silent promise to Charlotte and Ingrid and turned around – only to face Matthew standing few steps in front of her.

She didn't hear him coming, wasn't even aware of his presence, and now she felt like an intruder. She stepped into the part of his life that was too painful and didn't know now what to say, nor what to expect from him.

Matthew was standing there for almost ten minutes. He'd looked for Atlantis back at Grace's, but the café owner informed him that the young woman decided to take a walk while waiting for their meal. However, the meal was done long time ago, but Atlantis hadn't come back.

It was then when Matthew noticed a lonely figure standing at the graveyard.

He slowly approached her, wondering what Atlantis was doing there… and that was when he saw that she was standing beside his ma's grave but looked at Ingrid's.

The pain mixed with love as he watched Atlantis standing at the place where his happiness was buried… And that was when he heard her talk and felt the tears coming up in his eyes: She loved him beyond words. There was no doubt about that.

And now she was standing in front of him, not saying a single word. Matthew slowly closed the distance between them, and the minute he stopped in front of her Atlantis looked up.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Seeing the relief in her gorgeous brown eyes, Matthew realized that she had been worried about his reaction at seeing her here.

"I wish I could meet your Ma," whispered Atlantis.

"Me too," replied Matthew as he buried his palm in Atlantis long brown hair. "I have a picture of her at the homestead. I'll show you if you wanna see it."

That sentence brought Atlantis' smile back to her lips. Now she knew that Matthew wasn't angry because of her coming here and visiting his mother's and Ingrid's graves. He wanted to share everything with her – and that was what true love was all about.

"I'd like that very much," she gently said, her palm softly caressing the nape of his neck.

His hand travelled from her hair down her back and his lips gently touched hers, his kisses sending a feeling of belonging right into Atlantis' heart. She closed her eyes, savoring that feeling.

And as they slowly parted, Matthew embraced her around her waist with one hand and whispered, "Let's go home."

As she nodded, they started to walk. But at the exit of the graveyard, Atlantis stopped and looked up at the man she loved with every single part of her heart and soul. "Matthew?"

As he looked down at her, she slowly continued, carefully choosing her words, "I just want you to know… If you ever feel the need to talk about Ingrid, or to cry because of her, you can share it with me. Honestly. I wouldn't mind."

As those words left her mouth, Atlantis felt Matthew's hug tightening.

He leaned down and kissed her soft hair.

"You're an angel, Atlantis. And I love you so much," he whispered right next to her ear, making her blood running faster through her veins.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, and as they slowly continued their way back to town, Atlantis softly replied, "I love you too, Matthew."