A story for all those who, at some time in their lives, have experienced unrequited love. In other words, all of us...
It twinkled like a bright star in the north sky;
sunshine bouncing off metal as if calling to her from the deep spring
grass. Charlene knew this object, knew
the one who wore it, knew the sadness she would feel at its disappearance, but
as her hand closed around the locket’s warm, smooth surface, she also knew she
would never give it back.
Charlene Woods had loved Richard Daniels since childhood. They had climbed trees together and raced
each other across this same field. In fifth grade, when a virus nearly took him
from her then, she had brought his school work and sat with him every day until
he was well. He had taken her to their
eighth grade graduation dance where they shared their first real kiss and his
hand had lightly (accidentally?) brushed against the bodice of her dress. But high school had changed everything and
now it was Lauren who was on his arm and in his heart.
Charlene’s fingertip lightly traced the delicate
etching: “Richard and Lauren
forever.” She could see that the clasp on
the locket was broken and imagined it slipping from Lauren’s neck as the two of
them embraced under the cool moon in just that place the night before. Tucking
it into her pocket now, she felt no remorse.
Once home, Charlene gently opened the locket and
gazed at the two tiny pictures inside.
She slipped a fingernail under Lauren’s photo, which popped out easily; so much for “forever,” she thought. Then she opened the high school year book to
her own photo, carefully cutting around the edges until it was of the same oval
shape and size, and placed it inside the locket next to Richard where she
knew she was meant to be, and believed with all her heart that one day he would
know that, too.
And so she waited, spurning the attentions of
others until they ceased altogether and she was alone, while Richard and Lauren
only seemed to grow closer. It was no
surprise to any of their friends when the couple announced their engagement
after college. Charlene was invited to
the wedding by Richard who told her that, as his oldest and dearest friend, he
could not imagine the day without her. “Of
course, I’ll be there,” she had replied, smiling while the locket under her
blouse burned a hole in her heart.
The years passed quickly. Richard and Lauren had children and then
grandchildren, and Charlene, who had never married, was always included in
their family festivities. Lauren often
told her that she was the sister she had always wanted and, despite her best
attempts to resist, Charlene developed a growing fondness for Lauren, as well.
Richard’s death came after a long and debilitating
illness that had required the total devotion of both women to meet his
needs. Charlene watched as Lauren held
Richard’s hand and he looked into his wife’s eyes one last time. “Forever…” he whispered. As if of its own accord, Charlene’s hand moved
to touch the finely-linked chain around her neck…
“… And that’s where the locket was found upon her
death the very next morning,” Lauren told her eldest granddaughter, as she opened
it up and showed her the photos inside.
“I don’t understand. Why do you still keep her picture there next
to Grandpa’s?” the girl asked.
Lauren’s hand closed around the locket and she
held it to her heart, “Because I knew that I had taken from her much more than
she had ever taken from me.”
