A Midsummer Night's Fling

Six

"Wow," she said, trying to catch her breath. She reached her hand up to caress my face and I leaned into it, still wanting her touch.

"Why did you stop me?" I had her sandwiched between myself and the wall, and was tempted to start kissing her again.

She smiled softly as she answered. "We were starting to lose ourselves to something I'm not ready to fall into yet," she explained. "I didn't want to stop, trust me!" She looked somewhat frazzled, and the blush returned to her face as she continued. "I want to . . . not stop. You know what I mean? I just want it . . . I want it to be real. That's not something I want to happen here. I want it to be real."

"I understand," I replied, as she looked away embarrassed and dropped her hand from my face. "This is real though," I pressed. "I'm really here."

"I know that," she countered. "I meant real as in . . . not in a dream."

"Oh."

She stared at me hopefully, waiting for me to continue. "Is that a possibility?" She looked worried at my lack of response, her eyes starting to show signs of sadness. I smiled warmly at her to try and calm her fears. I honestly didn't know if we would ever have the chance to be together like that.

"Maybe," I answered. "We'll talk about it later, okay? I'm trying to come up with something." She smiled at that and wrapped her arms around my waist, making our embrace more casual. I breathed a small sigh of relief. I hadn't wanted to get into things that might make her sad.

"Emilee . . . you would tell me if you were ever going to go away, right? I mean, if you moved or something, you'd let me know so we could still be together?" I didn't look at her, waiting for her answer. I was sure that if I'd been mortal, I'd have knocked years off my life with all the extra pounding my heart was doing.

"As long as you want to be with me, you'll always know where I am," she answered. My heart calmed a little.

"Forever?" I turned to look at her, grasping her hand tightly in mine.

"Forever."

I took Emilee to see the world in her dreams, just like I'd wanted. By sharing my memories with her I realized what I had been missing in my own life; I didn't want to be without her ever again. Each night brought more happiness to me, but the knowledge that I was immortal and she would someday die, ate away at me more and more every passing day.

I was looking for a way to remedy our situation, but the answers were not being found easily. Frustration was setting in.

The next night, with Emilee's permission, I took her to visit one of my memories in England—to an old country dance. I remembered with perfect clarity all the people that had been in attendance as well—delighting her with the surprise of fellow dancers to sweep across the floor with. Of course she could only dance with me, since everyone else already had a partner, but she didn't mind. We only wanted to dance with each other anyway.

Once we were done with our dancing for the evening, I took Emilee outside to see the moon—it had been the reason I remembered the event so clearly. I also loved to show her the world she'd always wanted to see. It was something I could do for her that she hadn't been able to do herself.

There had been a beautiful Rose Moon that night, causing the tiny village to throw a dance celebrating the bountiful strawberry season they were experiencing. As we walked under the full orb, I took the opportunity to teach Emilee more about the Fae and their enjoyment of dances—how it was unlikely for the more rebellious of us to miss one being held in an area close by.

"And the people never knew? You were all there dancing with them and they didn't even know it?" She looked at me with a surprised expression on her face.