Once and Forever

by Constance O'Day-Flannery

  When Maggie finished eating, she stood up and wiped her hands on the cloth that had held her meat pie. “I’m going to explore,” she proclaimed. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m not going to miss it.”

  Nick grinned up to her. “My beautiful adventurer…” He pulled her closer and held the backs of her thighs through the heavy velvet skirt. “How have I been so blessed that you should wander into my life and create such magic in my heart and mind?”

  She grinned down to him. “Hmm…just in your mind and heart?” she teased as his hands started caressing. “The way I remember last night, my love, the physical became more than magical.” Stroking back his silky blond hair, she whispered, “I will never, ever forget it.”

  “We shall make more memories,” he promised, obviously pleased by her words. “We have forever.”

  She bent down and kissed him, tasting the wine upon his lips. When she raised her head and looked into his eyes, she again felt him go within her and connect to her soul. “Forever,” she committed in a serious voice.

  He held her gaze for a few precious moments, and then patted the backs of her legs. “Now, go… explore, for I do not know if we shall return to this place again.”

  Smiling, Maggie caressed his face once and walked away. She sighed with a deep contentment, knowing she had been blessed. No matter what anyone else thought, she knew that what was happening to her was extraordinary. Somehow, from a very ordinary life, she had been given this opportunity to find the most awesome, magnificent love.

  This was the stuff of legends, what poets would write about, she thought as her palm brushed across the surface of a huge gray stone. She wasn’t anyone extraordinary. She wasn’t wise or very knowledgeable in the unexplainable. She wasn’t even religious, so piety was out the door, too. There wasn’t one single reason why this exquisite gift had been presented to her.

  It had just happened, and she accepted it into her heart without question now.

  As her hand continued to touch the stone, Maggie was filled with gratitude. How she had fought this adventure, even thinking she was crazy, but now she knew without a shadow of a-doubt that Nicholas Layton was the other half of her soul, that she had traveled back four hundred years to find him and know that kind of love was real.

  A smile came to her face as she walked farther amid the stones. She sure had been bitter when she arrived here. Even her aunt Edithe sensed it and had tried to make her see that the only safety is in love. Nothing else was lasting. The love she had shared once with her ex-husband was real, though it was nothing like this. The love lasts, she thought with conviction, knowing that her memories of her ex would no longer be tainted ones. Thank Heavens she was not married now! In her mind she pictured her first husband and actually smiled. Once they had shared something real and memorable, and she found that, if possible, her heart was lighter as forgiveness entered and transmuted the bitterness into a mere memory. She felt free, more free than she could remember being since she was young and believed the world was a wondrous place.

  “Thou art so beautiful in this moment,” Nick whispered.

  She heard his voice coming from her right and turned to see him on the other side of the stone, peeking at her. Grinning, she began to raise her hand, as though to sprinkle faerie dust again to keep him thinking that, when he quickly reached out to capture her wrist.

  Pulling her to him, he met her, and continued, “You fail to recognize your own beauty, m’lady.” He enclosed her in his arms and leaned back against the tall stone. Sighing deeply, he looked out to the surrounding plain, and said, “Some may say that is a virtue, to be so humble. I think humility is seeing the truth and not denying it, with the gracious ability to thank the observer. Perhaps that is what I might teach you… not to give your power away so easily.”

  “You may teach me anything,” she answered, hugging him tightly and kissing his chest as she snuggled into him. “I trust you with every cell of my body.”

  “Cell?”

  She listened to the way his voice resounded within his chest and smiled. “It’s a term used in… in my time. It’s what our bodies are composed of, tiny cells you cannot see without great magnification. The blood, the bones, the muscles… are just cells arranged in organs and… bones and everything, I guess. But beyond that our bodies are magnificent machines that science is finding out is mostly space and in that space is atomic energy… light. And in those cells of light, I feel I can trust you, Nicholas Layton.”

  He didn’t say anything, and she raised her head. He seemed lost in thought, and she didn’t disturb him. Finally he said, “You blow my mind, Maggie Whitaker.”

  Laughing, she hugged him again, and answered, “Touché!”

  He grinned as they mentally connected and within moments their expressions became serious. Maggie read the passion in his eyes as she lifted her chin and offered her lips to him. He gladly accepted the invitation and lowered his head.

  “Forever,” he breathed into her mouth before capturing it in an intense kiss. He pulled her even closer and wound his fingers into her hair.

  Maggie felt herself surrendering again to a force much stronger than her, one that was leading her in this adventure. The muscles in her body relaxed with the capitulation, and she clung to Nick’s body as the kiss deepened and she melted into him.

  “Ah, Maggie, my precious one…” He kissed her cheeks, her eyes, her nose, and grazed over her lips. “If I be dreaming such a woman, do not ever let me wake. Come, there is something I want you to see.”

  He took her hand and led her back to their neolithic table. “Sit, love,” he directed, then walked to his horse. He pulled something from his saddle and came back to her. Opening it up, he flipped a few pages and then handed it to her.

  She saw it was a leather-bound journal of some sort. Looking up, she said, “You sure you want me to read this?”

  He nodded. And waited…

  Maggie looked down at the script and within moments found her eyes filling with tears.

  Journal Entry

  15 May 1598

  Long have my inner notes been lulled to whisper… until now, as I have been aroused by the reverberation that you, my ancient love, are approaching.

  I have always loved you, I love you still, I always will.

  And I know you are more than a dream, for I remember your tones, even in my waking, and your exquisite vibrations the very corners of my being.

  We have orchestrated this, our music, for a thousand years or more. Our harmonizing chords striking deep within this One Soul shall serenade all things into infinity—a heavenly resonation—leaving such an impression upon the universe that the stars call out a billion ovations.

  Listen now, My Beloved, our symphony seduces and implores, we return to us.

  We are One Mind, One Heart, One Soul.

  I reach to embrace you gently, but the sun’s rise chases another dark velvet thief who has stolen my sleep, our song, and you from me, as I am left in these, my long waking hours, with only haunting echos of our refrain.

  Yet I know I will find you, and our music will rise again, through eternity…

  Once and Forever.

  Speechless, she looked up to him, and he smiled as he slowly sat back on his heels before her.

  “Thank you for waiting, my love. Together we shall serenade our love into eternity.”

  Maggie stared at his face, his full lips that just spoke those words, his high cheekbones, his perfectly aristocratic nose, his deep soulful eyes, and felt honored, privileged, to experience the moment, for it was one that was sacred. She had never felt such union with another human being. “Thank you, Nicholas,” she whispered, and wiped away a tear that was running down her cheek. “Those are the most beautiful words I have ever read.”

  “It was written for you, Maggie, though I knew not who you were then.”

  She couldn’t help it. The tears increased and flowed without stopping.

  “Now that is not the respon
se I was anticipating,” Nick stated as he rose and sat next to her. Gathering her into his arms, he kissed the top of her head. “Hush now, my love… ’Twas only meant to show you my conviction that you are my beloved.”

  Maggie nodded and wiped at her face. “I know,” she murmured. “It’s just that no one has ever honored me like that. These… these are tears of joy.”

  “Ahh…” He stroked her hair. “Then we shall allow them, but only briefly, for I wish you to tell me of your time, of these new thoughts, like body cells being of light. What else does the future hold? With all the room to roam, how could I not dream a greater future, such as you have described?”

  Sniffling, she raised her head and smiled. “Oh, Nick, you should just see it. I drive a car, a machine that has the horsepower of a hundred horses, then there’s television, and—”

  “It cannot be so!” he interrupted. “A hundred horses? No one can ride a hundred horses.”

  Wiping her face, she laughed. “Well, I can! It’s the power of the horses, Nick, not the actual horses. Don’t ask me to explain how it works, but it does. It was called a horseless carriage when first invented. Think of it that way. I control a horseless carriage that, to you, would seem faster than anything you have ever seen or imagined. In fact,” she said, sitting up and pushing her hair back off her face, “we have sent men to the moon.”

  He merely blinked at her in disbelief.

  She giggled. “It’s true. At least I saw it on television, but I really believe that men have walked on the moon and safely returned to earth.”

  Nick looked to the sky. “I don’t understand how such a thing could be possible. How did they get there? Like you, traveling in light?”

  “No, by machine. They flew an aircraft.” She lifted her arms to make wings. “It’s how I got to England. I flew in an airplane across the Atlantic. It took seven hours.”

  “Surely you cannot be correct. You traveled across the Atlantic Ocean in less time than it shall take us to get to London now.”

  Nodding, she smiled. “I’m telling you the truth, Nick. I would never lie to you.”

  “But…”

  She patted his hand. “I know. Time. It’s only a present illusion. I’m sure in 2050, someone will hear about it taking seven hours to cross the Atlantic and laugh at such slow travel. Everything is speeding up, Nick. At least that’s the way it felt to me when I was living four hundred years from now. There was so much… to take in, to understand, to accomplish in what was feeling like a short time. We call that stress.” She again giggled. “I had to travel four hundred years back in time to learn to slow down, to smell the roses.” She stopped laughing and looked deeply into his eyes. “And when I did, I discovered love!”

  It hit her like a thunderbolt from the sky.

  What a great reason to drop out of the rat race!

  She had been miserable trying to keep it all going… the house, the job, the marriage. She had driven herself almost crazy attempting to be Superwoman, and she couldn’t do it alone. The only way it could have ever worked was if she was with an equal partner, someone who shared her dreams and balanced out the load. But she had thought she needed the smart town house, the clothes carrying a prestigious label, the cars, TVs, VCRs, the designer furniture, the pedigreed dog, the prestigious job, the money to buy it all! She wanted the good life.

  Didn’t everyone? Wasn’t that what life was about? Struggling against time to make it all happen? Damn, talk about stress! Time, a merchant’s invention, had been killing her!

  “What is it, love? What startles thee so?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing. I mean, I just didn’t see how foolish I had been, buying into someone else’s story again. Giving away my power. I guess I had to be startled, shocked into seeing what I was doing, and that’s part of the reason I’m back here. Not just to find you, Nick, but also to stop worrying and fighting time and just surrender to it and allow it to bring me the good life.” Touching his cheek, she smiled. “For there is no life better for me than right here with you, right now. It doesn’t matter what tomorrow brings, where I am, or how I live. No possession, no job, nothing is more important than what I am feeling with you now.”

  He cupped her face between his hands and returned her smile with one of deep affection and love. “The universe is a wondrous place to have an adventure, is it not, Maggie Whitaker?”

  “Who are you, Nicholas Layton?” she breathed in awe, not knowing if it was the energy of the stones or her own mind, expanding into something she wasn’t sure was possible. “This is magic.”

  “This is life,” Nicholas answered with an even deeper grin. “This is a return to the garden, where everything seems like a miracle. Have thee not heard magic is natural in Heaven?”

  “I’m in Heaven?” Even though he was smiling, Maggie was shocked by his words. “Have I died?” It was a possibility she hadn’t wanted to consider, one that terrified her.

  He laughed, throwing his head back, and Maggie relaxed again.

  “Ahh, my precious time traveler!” he said between remaining chuckles as he looked into her eyes. “Did you not hear me? I said this is life! This is the way life is supposed to be… joyous. Francis has been saying much die same to me for years, and it was not until I found thee that I began to understand that precious truth. What an angel you are!”

  “Angel?” Now Maggie’s voice was filled with disbelief.

  “Angels are messengers. I think we both have assisted each other with some remarkable messages since we have met.”

  “We have, haven’t we?” She pondered it for a few moments. “Who would have thought? I’m in love with an angel.”

  “As am I, my beloved. You expected wings?”

  They both laughed until Maggie tapped his chest. “Elthea’s an angel, and Evan and my aunt Edithe and Malcolm and… and—”

  “And everyone who has ever given us a message that we are more than what we’ve been told,” he finished her sentence. “Anyone who assisted us in remembering our angelic nature. How else would we know we could have Heaven on earth? Remember, we each were taught a different belief.”

  What a miracle Aunt Edithe’s letter had been. That remarkable angel had saved her life. So she had to travel into the past to discover she needed to heal the present, just to stay alive? All she needed was a little faith and courage to live the adventure?

  She burst into laughter.

  And laughter… oh yes! All she had needed was faith there was land beyond the sea, courage to keep going forward and laugh at her fears. Aunt Edithe had been right. Everything is evolving at exactly the right time.

  She was with the love of her life, having a private lunch at Stonehenge, waking up from a nightmare of stress and learning to trust herself now. Not a bad gig!

  She burst into chuckles, and said, “Give me a piece of paper.”

  Nick had been watching her, seeing the many different expressions cross her face, and his heart expanded with love. He would know her in any time, any place, as his beloved. He felt blessed that she was so lovely, intelligent, courageous with the most capacity for love that he had ever imagined. He wished in his heart that he had the means to treat her as a queen, as was her right. This was a woman of incredible faith in love and deserved the best life could offer. An angel who had come back into his life to remind him that joy was also his birthright.

  He reached for his journal. Withdrawing a blank page, he handed it to her. “Shall I get the quill?”

  She shook her head and smiled as she held the paper in her hand. “I don’t need this written, you already know it.”

  He watched as she placed the paper on her lap and, using her finger, pretended to be writing…

  “I love you now,” she whispered as her nail traced the letters. “I love you forever.”

  He smiled, seeing her pleasure and she began folding the paper. “Infinity,” he whispered.

  “Now, watch,” she said, as she continued to fold the paper into more angles.
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  “What are you making?” he asked, fighting the desire to pull her back into his arms. He had never wanted to touch a woman more, to feel the texture of her skin, the scent of her hair, the warmth of her body. But it was more, he knew… It was the connection they had made beyond the physical senses. It was the reconnection with eternal love.

  “You’ll see,” she stated, and giggled as she concentrated on her folds.

  When she finished, Nick saw that she was holding something that looked like a bird, something with wings. “What is it?”

  She turned to look at him and his heart expanded with awe. What he saw reflected back to him took his breath.

  “It’s an airplane,” she said, looking very pleased with herself. “A paper airplane.”

  “An air plane?” he asked, confused, yet chuckling at her excitement.

  “Yes, this is just a model, a poor model, of the one I flew in for seven hours to reach England. Now, watch this.” She tugged on his sleeve and spoke to his heart.

  “We are bound together now…” And she pulled back her arm and flung the paper model out into the air.

  He watched in fascination, as she whispered, “And wherever we land.”

  He sat in awe as the wind caught the paper and took it higher, only to dip and glide above the tall grass. It was magnificent! “How is that done?”

  “I didn’t really do it, Nick,” she said, giggling at his pleasure and hugging his arm between her breasts. “The material was already here. I just applied a bit of ingenuity and energy to it to allow it to soar. That’s us,” she proclaimed with a nod. “Out there… soaring.”

  “We’ve just landed,” he said with jolt of disappointment as he watched the model crash into the earth.

  “Well that does happen, love.” Maggie put her head on his shoulder.

  He felt something stab his chest, as though when he saw the paper crash it had stabbed him in the heart. It was foolish, he reminded himself, lowering his head and inhaling the scent of the wondrous woman who clung to him. He was experiencing Heaven on earth right then and refused to allow an invasion of worry.