FicWad

Only a Dream...

"Oh!" Emily jerked instantly awake, her heart pounding.

The book had been a dry dull thing, and she must have dozed off in the heat of a long late summer afternoon.

But what a horrible dream!

Emily shivered. Quickly, her left hand rose to her face, to touch her cheek and the tip of her nose, and then she held out and scrutinized the hand itself. Satisfied, she sighed with relief - it had been only a dream, after all...

...A light tapping noise came from the door, followed by a girlish voice.

"Emily ... hellooo, Emily ... is anybody home? Hello?"

Emily knew well the voice of her best friend, but she went to the window anyway.

A tall, thin, round-faced girl of her age (eighteen) stood on the doorstep knocking. She looked to her left, and to her right, and then she ran a hand along the front of her long flame-red hair and flicked it impatiently behind her.

Emily pulled up the sash of the window. "Hi, Sally - the door's open - come in!"

Sally returned the greeting, then burst through the doorway and into the cottage. When she got a good look at Emily, however, she stopped and stared at her friend.

"You look pale, Em," Sally said, a worried expression crossing her own face. "Have you been reading those horrid ghost stories again?"

"No, I've been taking a nap," Emily answered, and she reached up to wipe the last of the sleep from her eyes. "So ... what's new?"

"I've got something for you ... it's from my cousin, Victor - the one that I've been telling you about. He saw you when you sang at his church last month and wants to..."

Emily stifled a yawn. "The one you've been going on about? ... but Sally, I already have a beau."

Sally ignored her and held out one of the folded sheets of paper she was carrying.

"What's this?" Emily asked. Then she saw what was on the paper and her eyes widened.

"Ohhh! How lovely..."

The page was filled with full-color life-sized sketches of blue butterflies, a dozen or more, each with a different pattern and in a different pose.

She looked up at Sally. "These are my favorite kind. Did you tell him? You must have..."

Sally shook her head. "Just a coincidence - I didn't know that." She pointed at a small caricature tucked away between two large butterflies in the lower right-hand corner. "That's him - isn't he cute?"

Emily glanced at the miniature portrait and gasped, almost dropping the paper. It was the face of the young man from the dream; his name had been Victor, too.

"Are you alright?" Sally asked. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

"No, I'm fine," Emily lied. "It's just a little too much summer heat."

"Why don't you come over and meet him on his next visit?" Sally persisted.

"I'm sure that he's very nice, but I've already got somebody, Sally, remember?"

The red-haired girl wrinkled her nose. "I don't know what you see in that guy, anyway. Your father's right about him, you know..."

"Sally!" Emily snapped. "He's dead wrong, and you know it!"

Sally held up a placating hand. "If you insist - but do come out and meet Victor, he'll be visiting us after church tomorrow."

"Why the hurry?"

"He's not in a hurry, but his parents are. Do you know the Everglots?"

"The Lord and Lady Everglot?" Emily responded. "I know of them. So?"

"Victor's parents are trying to fix him up with their daughter." Sally paused. "She's nice enough, I hear, but I'd rather have you in the family."

"But, Sally..."

"I know, I know," said the other girl, "you've already got Barkis."

Emily sighed in response.

"But give Victor a look, anyway. He's nineteen - and he plays the piano, just like you. He's very good at it, too..."

The church bell tolled.

"Oh, my goodness!" Sally exclaimed. "I'm going to be late!"

She turned to go, but then remembered something. She held out the other piece of paper that she had been holding.

"...Oh, here, Em ... I found this stuck on your door. Bye!"

Sally surged forward for a quick hug, and then she hurried out, slamming the door behind her.

Emily looked down at the writing on the folded note and her heart leapt - it was from him!

Eagerly, she tore it open and devoured the words. But as she read it her heart sank, then her legs felt weak, and she had to sit down.

He wasn't coming ... not here, anyway ... and certainly not on time.

She re-read the note. He was 'detained on business' and he wanted her to meet him late that night under their tree ... to wear her wedding dress ... and to be sure to bring the satchel...

Her head spun and she felt sick. All day she had been readying herself to leave with him - in the early evening - to a waiting ship, a quick wedding by the captain, and then onward to a happy married life.

But this changed everything: two-thirty in the morning under the old oak tree ... and Barkis was never, ever, on time...

... next to the graveyard by the old oak tree ...
...on a dark foggy night at a quarter to three ...


Emily shuddered.

She looked at her mother's dress hanging in its bag ready to go and at the bulging leather case parked on the floor next to it.

Emily sighed and walked over to the kitchen table, to where her own note had been placed for her father's arrival in the morning. She picked it up:

"Dearest Daddy:

Please forgive me but by the time you read this letter..."


She took a deep breath, folded it together with the other note and tore them both across once, and then again. A few steps later, she dropped their remains into the crackling fireplace.

It wouldn't hurt to meet this cousin Victor of Sally's tomorrow, and Barkis could wait...