The attendees burbled with muffled confusion. Hero stood and went to stand beside Zach, who continued his speech.
“So it is, that even in his death my son and the woman he loved give us reason to celebrate life. It is my honor to announce to the world for the first time that in spite of his passing, my son was considerate enough to leave behind a legacy.” He gestured at Hero’s flat stomach. Anna’s hands gripped her chair tightly. If she hadn’t been wearing gloves, her knuckles would have been white.
“You can’t tell yet, but Hero was nice enough to let me be the one to tell you. I’m going to be a grandfather,” Zach said, beaming with pride.
“HERO!” Anna screamed.
Epilogue
Approximately nine months later, Hero lay in the maternity ward of the Vista Bay General Hospital. Her parents, Jaimie, and Zach McConnell stood around her as the doctor lay a tiny little being into her waiting arms.
“Congratulations, Hero,” the doctor said. “You have a healthy baby girl.”
She smiled and looked at her baby for the first time. The child looked back at her with Xander’s deep blue eyes and Hero’s heart ached just a little.
“She has her father’s eyes,” Hero told her audience. Zach smiled at everyone, almost as proud as if he’d been the father himself. The baby was, after all, the only family he had left.
“What are you going to name her?” Anna DiBenedetto demanded from her daughter. Hero had refused to tell anyone what, if anything, her intentions were.
Hero waited a moment as if thinking it over. “Shelley,” she finally answered.
“Why Shelley?” asked Anna, Jared, and Jaimie in a surprised chorus. Zach grinned.
Hero nodded and smiled down at the little girl in her arms.
“Because,” she said. “It means that spring has finally come.”
~Fin~
A Note from the Author
Dear Reader,
I am endlessly flattered that you made it this far. Thank you for reading my debut novel, as short as it was. Whether you liked the ending or not, I hope it moved you. (My friend Jen from the dedication probably still wants me to rewrite it.)
Writing The West Wind began as an intention simply to practice writing that took off with a life of its own. The first draft was written in less than a month, though it only contained 40,000 words. Editing it to a place where I was satisfied, or just had enough, took nearly four years.
Now that you have read through the story once, I wanted to point out a couple of themes I thought might interest you. The story is very loosely based in Christopher Marlowe’s poem, “Hero and Leander,” which Xander and Zach refer to on occasion. Unfortunately, while Leander was returned to the surface by Neptune, our story ended much more tragically.
One of Marlowe’s more interesting devices in “Hero and Leander” is related to his descriptions of his characters. Marlowe wrote of Hero without really describing much of her physical form, choosing to detail her with clothing, accoutrements, and vague beauty terms. We don’t know what she looks like at all. He wrote Leander physically, sensually, and in detail. I endeavored to do the same here with my characters, in honor of what fascinated me about the poem when I studied it in college.
Beyond the subtle literary reference, it was also my hope that female readers might be able to connect with Hero more, imagining themselves in her role, rather than picturing someone else. If it worked for you, wonderful! If not, wonderful! It was fun to play with.
The use of Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” as a theme is rather apparent, so I won’t blather about it. However, a final theme operating throughout is in the chapter titles. Many, though not all, are lines from various poems by the Romantic poets. Samuel Taylor Coleridge got a mention; of course, Shelley had several; and William Blake was in there too, to name a few.
I won’t bore you with any more details. If you really enjoyed The West Wind and would like to read more of my writing, I post poetry on Instagram daily. You can find me there by searching @m0rg4nd_poet
Thank you so much for spending a portion of your life with my words. I am forever grateful.
Sincerely Yours,
Morgan Douglas
P.S. By the way, Hero’s clothes are all real descriptions of pieces that could be shopped on Google at the time I wrote The West Wind. In case you were particularly interested in anything she wore. Additionally, while Vista Bay and everything in the town is fictional, The Century Ballroom is a real place in Seattle, and it is on my bucket list to go dance there.
Also, if you think the West Wind would make a good movie, please feel free to petition movie companies. ;)
Morgan Douglas is a Pacific Northwest poet, dancer, dance instructor, and writer at heart. At present he holds a Clark Kent job as an advertising/marketing coordinator for a university bookstore. He is currently in love with West Coast Swing, though his roots will always be in Lindy Hop and other vintage swing dances. His bucket list includes balboa, Argentine tango, bachata, and kizomba. His goal in life is to be a Renaissance Man, and has done so much you would simply have to have coffee with him several times to breach the surface. Or wine. He likes wine. If you have any questions about learning to dance, he’s always happy to do his best to answer. He has not met his Hero(ine) yet.
The West Wind Page 17