Promise

           

It had been a while that Caroline sat under the old tree. Her memories went through her mind endlessly. It was impossible to tell Caroline to love another man. Love was the only thing she couldn't give in. She saw the beauty of a promise. She devoted her time, her youth, her heart to a man she had been waiting for 20 years. She finally decided to go home after some time.

She walked around the tree letting her memory flow to the surface of her mind. A shadow appeared next to her.

"Milady, you dropped your handkerchief" a man said.

"Thank you" she said without looking up. She caught a glimpse of the man's hand. It was the same bracelet she saw earlier. The Lady looked up immediately.

"Caroline" the man said with a wide smile.

"John!" There were already tears in Caroline's eyes. Caroline ran towards him and John picked her up and spun her. "I thought you forgot about me already. Yesterday I saw you at the fair..."

"I recognized you when I gave you back your handkerchief but you looked doubtful. You just froze as if I scared you. So I came here today. We had a promise if one day we saw each other again and we weren't sure, we would come back here." He kissed his love's forehead and wiped her tears.

"I didn't see any clue from you recognizing me yesterday but I did see the bracelet. And when I came here earlier, there was no one but me"

"I'm right here now. Come here!" John held Caroline's hand and led her to sit under the tree.

"You haven't changed at all" she slowly put her head on his shoulder.

"You either. I thought of you every day these 20 years even when I was in the battlefield. My letters couldn't reach you. I have a few friends looking for you. They all said you had moved. Where did you go?"

"I moved back and forth from here to London. There was a time that my father was afraid a war would break out. After living in London for five years, I insisted to come back in Yorkshire, in Scarborough. This is my home after all and I was worried you couldn't find me. So..." John pulled her up. "Wait! Where are we going?"

"I think it's polite to greet your parents after so many years."

"Is it necessary though? They always assume you're not here anymore. I mean they think you're dead."

"If that's the case, I really should greet them now. Caroline...will you marry me? We have lost each other for so long. We have faced temptations, many bad things in our lives and we still have each other in our hearts. I only have one love in my life and that's you. Let me take care of you for the rest of your life." She nodded and hugged him tightly as well as kissed him deeply. John picked up the ring and slid it in her middle finger. She took off the one she previously put on by herself and placed it on his middle finger as well.

"I can't believe it still fits you" she giggled and gave John the maltose Geraldine had got her.

"I missed this! Geraldine bought it for you!" He tasted. "I love it! Oh come with me!"

He led her to his horse. "It's lovely! I love this horse." Caroline moved closer to the horse.

"Hop on it" Literally John just picked Caroline up and assisted her. He hopped on the horse as well. "Let's go!"

John loved Caroline so much that he couldn't stop thinking of her any moment in the past 20 years. John saw a lot of unfaithful married men in his life. He couldn't believe in what he saw. Those men stepped in the grey area, that wasn't wrong to say they broke the rules but they were also not supposed to go to those places, went to brothels at night claiming they had the needs. Some of them even tried to persuade, even forced him to go. He usually replied in one sentence, "I won't break my promise which I made with my only love who's now waiting for me to go back."

Flashback

"Come with us, John!"

"I don't need to go to those places. You're not supposed to go." John replied without emotion.

"Stop being like a woman, John!"

"I have my duty, Terrance. We are serving this country. It doesn't pay you to go to brothels. I don't go to places that break the promise, which I made with my only love who has been waiting for me for 20 years"

After saying this, he took out paper and ink and started writing letters to Caroline to express his thoughts about her.

Present

"Milady! Sir is...." Geraldine froze when she saw John.

"What's going on with father?" Before she could finish her sentence, Caroline's father ran out.

"Who do you think you are, Caroline? You always go missing. I will just lock you in your room!" There was more her father wanted to say. Apparently, he was wrong with Caroline. He couldn't believe his eyes. In a way, Caroline's parents liked John as if he was their son. However, realistically, they had always wanted Caroline to face the fact that John could have been dead. What they saw could shut them up forever.