After Forever Ends (20 page)

Oliver’s breath was light and his voice drowsy when he spoke, “Hey, Sil, marry me?”

He said it just like that, just like it was the most natural thing in the world. I lifted my head and looked into his eyes, wondering for a split second if he was even awake. His brown eyes were open wide, staring into mine. There was a slight smile forming at the corners of his mouth. I grinned, “OK,” I answered. I kissed the smooth skin on his chest, “I’ll marry you.”

“Today,” He whispered, kissing the top of my head. “Promise me today after I show you the faerie circle. Let‘s get married…”

“OK,” I remember saying again as my eyes closed again.

Oliver woke me up only three hours later. I swear he had enough energy for ten people. “Silvia,” He whispered, tickling my nose, “Sil, wake up. We’ve got loads to do, Love.”

I opened one eye and groaned, “I need coffee.”

“That I can do for you,” He kissed me quick and bounced off the bed, “It’s not the greatest, mind. It’s instant stuff I nicked from the Professor’s lounge. We’ll get the kind you like in town.” He walked to the stove and poured steaming water from a metal teapot into a mug, “Come on now, Love, I’ve got to show you the circle before we head into town.”

I got dressed quickly and, shivering in the cold of an early spring morning, took my coffee and followed him out into the garden. “Careful, the grass is slick with dew,” He steadied me as we descended the hill past several ancient trees. We stopped before a large ring of mushrooms. At first I didn’t think there was anything odd about it other than its size, but after a moment I noticed the mushrooms were too hefty for the time of year, giant, in fact, while the trees were still budding. Set among the mushrooms were stones of various shapes and sizes.

“It’s a magic circle,” Oliver was excited to show me, “Try to pull up one of the stones.”

I leaned over and tugged what looked like a loose rock. It wouldn’t budge. “Odd,” I crouched and set down my mug, pulling again. Finally, I tried with both hands. I got on my knees in the wet grass to have a better look, “Goodness! They’re set in the earth!”

“Right they are!” Oliver crouched beside me. “When Alex and I were boys we decided to try to dig one out. We must’ve gone down about four feet before Grandpaddy came out and gave us a beating for it. I don’t reckon we were even near the bottom of it.”

“They’ve always been here?”

“Long as I’ve known and long as Grandpaddy knew, too.”

“And the mushrooms?”

“They’re there all year round. Get buried in snow, but you can dig them up if you like.”

“Ever pulled one up?”

“Are you joking?” He looked deadly serious. “Of course we did! They pop right back-like. Grow the size of this in a day or so! Go ahead and try it if you don’t believe me!”

I picked up my coffee cup and stood, “No, I believe you.”

“Well, let’s get into town now that I’ve shown you. We’ve got a lot to do,” He raised himself to his full height and stretched, “You’re still going to marry me, aren’t you?”

“I will.”

“Well then, in that case,” He held out his hand and cocked his head, “We really must move more quickly!”

Oliver had wanted to rush into town for two reasons. The first was that we needed to buy a new door and the second was that he wanted to ring Alexander and ask him to come to our wedding. He called him from a phone box inside a store.

“Do I sound like I’m bloody joking?” He looked at me and rolled his eyes, pointing at the phone. “Yeah, I’ve got the ring that belonged to Nana. I told you I was! Oh, stick a baguette in her mouth and shut her up, Alex! She’s annoying is what she is!” He rolled his eyes again and hung out his tongue. “Let me talk to her…hello, Meredith? Hey, I appreciate your concern, but mind it’s really none of your business. No, I’d like it very much if you came, but this is a happy occasion so keep the negativity to yourself, yeah? OK. Put Alex back on the phone, yeah?” Oliver shook his head at me, “Alexander? Yes. All right. We need the signatures. Can you do that? Yes. Right, I don’t think that Silvia’s dad will be any problem. Yes, but mum and dad know we’ll be eighteen in five days, don’t they? Silvia has a bit longer, but her dad won’t make a fuss. Why would mum and dad? So they could force an annulment and then have us just go do it again in three weeks when Sil's eighteen? Imagine that! OK, Alex. Thanks! See you then, Brawd!”

“It works out bloody perfect!” Oliver told me as he hung up the receiver, “They won’t be leaving for a bit, Alex is doing us a favour first. Then it’s a good three hours or so from where they’re at, so that gives us enough time for me to put up a new door and us to heat water for a bath. Blimey, I didn’t bring any shampoo, so we’ll have to buy that, too,” He was chattering a mile a minute, “I’m starving, aren’t you? Should we stop in at the pub? We need to buy coffee. That instant stuff I nicked could knock the hair off a wolf.”

“Yes, we need better coffee. You know I’m addicted to coffee with cream and sugar. I need to buy myself a face cloth and a pair of socks.’’

“You didn’t bring socks?” His eyebrows rose.

I looked away quickly, “I thought I did. But I can’t find them.”

He laughed and tossed his head back, then quickly looked straight into my eyes, “They got you already! I told you! Nicked them right out of your sack, did they? Ha!” He clapped his hands, “Fine then! Brilliant! But you don’t need to buy new ones, the old ones will show up!” Oliver whooped and lifted me off of my feet, “I told you! Didn’t I?” He noticed people staring at us and grinned at them all, “Don’t mind us! She doesn’t listen to a thing I tell her and I’ve just been proven right! It’s better than Christmas!”

An old lady smiled and a young man looked away.

“You haven’t proven a thing!” I giggled loudly as he tickled my neck with kisses, “I forgot to pack them is all!”

“Ah, no you didn’t!”

“Then you took them!”

He looked a little hurt, “Come on now, Love! You don’t think that, do you? Can’t you just give it a chance?”

“Faerie Folk and magic?”

“Yes, both of those! Yes! And me, too! Trust me that I’m not lying!”

“Oh, Oliver,” I suddenly felt ghastly, “I do trust you!”

“Good. We’ve got to trust each other. It’s the only way we can be a real team.”

We finished our shopping and went to the timber yard where Oliver had a door cut out to fit the one he had chopped down. “It’ll be a lot warmer tonight,” He told me as he strapped the door to the top of the car.

“I wasn’t cold.”

He grinned, “We can always leave it open if you like.”

“Oliver?”

“Yes, Love?” He wasn't looking at me.

“Have you noticed that people are watching us?”

“Of course they are,” He tugged a knot on the rope and gave the door a shake to make sure it was tight. “It’s you they’re looking at, Sweetheart,” Oliver said softly, rubbing my arm through my jumper, “Cause you’re beautiful,” Then he grinned, “And ‘cause you keep clamouring on and no one can understand a word with Scottish brogue of yours.”

“Really?”

“Really. Everyone thinks you’re mental. Can’t figure out a word you’re saying, can they? But they smile at you because you’re cute-like.”

“Oh, shut it,” I mumbled, feeling my face go red.

“I love you even if you can’t talk, Sil. Mind, I understand you by now. You say, ‘yugh’ instead of you and I know you’re talking to me. And you say, ‘Oooop’ when you need to get on a lift for the third floor and ‘Doon’ when you want to get back to the lobby. You call me ‘Ahlahvehr’, he imitated my accent precisely, “And you roll your R’s like a drunken German. The rest of it, I dunno. It’s all rubbish.”

It was funny, even if I was feeling a bit insulted. “And Welsh accents are so much better?” I asked. I mimicked him, “’I loves what I dos, Buttie!’ you say! Or it’s something that makes even less sense like, ‘Whose coat’s that jacket, Butt?’ or ‘Have a swill in the bosh, Biwt!’ What the bloody hell is a swill? Or a bosh? Or a biwt? Eh, Buttie?” I demanded and then started laughing when he burst out, “Heel-lo!” I continued, “I-yam from Wales-like and I likes tah play da roog-beh! Mind, I like-at keck da balls throo da bag ay-cha…“

“The big H?” Oliver giggled like a child, “Do you even know what it’s called?”

“Do I even care? No! Besides, I’ve heard all about you Welshmen!”

“From who?” He asked with great humour, “Englishmen? Let me tell you about Englishmen,” He leaned close to my face, “They say that same thing about everybody, especially the Scots.” He raised his eyebrows and then lowered them again, “Here’s the line: ‘You know about Scotland, don’t you?’ The other bloke says, ‘No, what about Scotland?’ And the first bloke says, ‘Scotland is the land where men are men and sheep are frightened.’”

“No! No! They say it about Wales!!” I giggled as he grabbed me around the waist and playfully wrestled me from stomping away. “When I said I was moving here, that’s what someone told me! Welshmen love their sheep like their wives!”

“Oh, aye, they say it about us, too! Sure they do! But, mind, tell me then why the English put lipstick and high heels on their sheep?” He caught me and spun me around. His face was very close to mine again. I think he would have kissed me if someone driving by hadn’t honked their horn and made us both jump. Oliver flushed, “Wanker!” He yelled at the driver and then turned back to me, “Let’s go to the pub and get breakfast, yes? Fat sausages and eggs? Bacon and toast?”

My stomach growled. Food and I have never been enemies.

By the time we got back to the cabin, heated the water for and taken a decent bath and Oliver hung the door, Alexander and Meredith came walking up the path.

Oliver ran out into the lawn and leaped at his brother. Alex caught him with little effort and pounded him on the back, “Thanks for coming all the way here, Alex,” Ollie released him. “It didn’t seem right without you.”

“Wouldn’t miss it, Ol,” He slapped Oliver on the back once again, “Hello, Lovely Silvia! How is the blushing bride?”

“Alexander!” He lifted me up and spun me around. I tried to kiss his cheek, but he turned his head and I got the corner of his mouth instead, “I’m so glad you’re here!”

“Me, too,” He looked around, his eyes catching the light and sparkling. “Don’t you love it here?”

I started to say that I did when Meredith replied, “This would be just like camping. I never want to go camping.”

“I will remember that,” Alex replied through clenched teeth, giving his brother a look that said he’d had it with his current mistress.

She turned to me, obviously concerned, “So you two actually want to get married? Today? No one gets married on a Sunday. It’s the Sabbath.”

“Historically,” I could not help myself, “Saturday is the Sabbath.”

She frowned, but said nothing.

“Let's go!” Oliver wrapped his arm around my shoulder and the four of us headed down the hill to the car. Meredith said nothing as we pressed through the brush, but as we backed down the path, she spoke again, “Don’t you have a dress, Silvia?”

“I am wearing a dress, Meredith.”

“Yes, but it’s a yellow spring dress, not a wedding dress.”

“We haven’t exactly booked an abbey,” Oliver told her shortly, pulling on to the road and putting the car in gear. “Oy, did you bring the papers, Alexander?”

“In my pocket.” He patted his jacket, “You're all set.”

“Excellent! Thank you, Brother!”

“Anything for you and your Silvia.”

It was about ten seconds before Meredith mentioned, “You’re wearing trainers, Sil.”

“So?” Oliver asked a bit hotly.

“You look like you’re headed to a picnic in the park, not to your wedding,” She leaned back, “I wouldn’t get married dressed like that.”

“Well, it’s not your wedding, is it?” Alexander snapped, turning on her in the backseat, “Silvia looks beautiful! Silvia always looks beautiful! You’re a guest and by proxy, a guest should shut her cake hole and be polite and helpful to her hosts!”

“How dare you talk to me like that!”

“Oliver!” He smacked the back of the seat with the flat of his hand, “Stop the car! Now! I want to throw her out on the road!”

“What? We’re in the middle of nowhere!” She shrieked.

“Perfect! Then no one will hear you scream!”

Meredith began to cry.

“Oh, stick a cork in it!” Alexander hit the back of the seat again, “I’ve been listening to you for days! I'd love nothing more than to reach in and yank out your vocals cords!”

“Alex!” I scolded him because it seemed like the proper thing to do.

Alex glanced at me and then leaned forward and slapped his brother on the shoulder, “Oliver, take me back to the cabin then! I’ll drown her in the lake!”

“Alex!” I admonished him again.

“Don't stop the car!” Meredith wept.

“I’m not stopping anything!” Oliver looked in the mirror at the two of them, “And there’ll be no one being drowned in the lake either! Meredith, please don’t cry! No one’s throwing you out!”

“Not until the car does stop and then you’ll be lucky if it’s not at a bloody red light!” Alex threatened.

“You wouldn’t!” Meredith screamed, huge tears pouring out of her pretty blue eyes.

Alexander gave her a blank stare and turned away.

She wailed again. Oliver shuddered, looking in the mirror to get his brother’s attention. When he caught Alex’s eye, he mouthed, “Stop!” and Alexander made the motion of grabbing someone by the collar, choking them, and tossing them out the window. Oliver shook his head. Alexander nodded with enthusiasm.

Meredith continued to cry, sniffing loudly.

“Aw, Mere,” I said gently, passing her a tissue from my purse, “Please don’t cry. It’s OK if you don’t like my dress or my shoes. I’m sure you’ve dreamed of your perfect wedding all your life, while I’ve never even given it a thought. I’ve only dreamed of Oliver. The clothes I’m wearing mean nothing to me.”

She wiped her eyes, “I’m sorry, Silvia. You look positively adorable, really. Not many people can wear yellow, but you look like Cinderella in it. It’s really beautiful with your hair.”

“Oh, my goodness! Thank you!”

“I’m sorry to you, too, O. You look quite handsome in your...” She leaned forward and peered over the seat, “Shirt and tie.”