Marked with Silence

Bliss. There was no other way to describe it. I was feeling complete bliss. Even though I had only been there for three nights, it felt like Sapphira and I living together was just pure natural instinct. It felt so right.

I felt more in love with her as each day passed. As we had our hundredth make-out session and as we slept in the same bed for the second time.

And now, it was Christmas Eve. Sapphira was dragging me by the hand towards her aunt and uncle’s car. Her other hand clutched the car keys.

“What are you doing?”

“I told you I had a surprise for you.”

“I thought you didn’t want to do anything illegal.” I jutted my chin out towards the car. By now we had reached the curb and Sapphira was about to put the key into the door lock on the driver’s side.

“We’re not going to. Get in.”

I was still standing on the curb, staring at her after she was sitting in the driver seat. I sighed and jogged over to the front passenger side.

After I closed the door behind me, I faced her. “What are you up to?”

Her hands were on the steering wheel, at ten and two. She turned her head and said with a smile, “I can legally drive by myself, or with one passenger.”

My eyebrows rose.

“I told my aunt that I had already driven my fifty hours, so she called the DMV.”

“That’s all you have to do to drive solo in this state?”

She nodded.

I grinned, “So where are you taking me?”

“It’s a surprise,” she reminded. “But, I haven’t driven in almost a year. We should probably drive around the neighborhood before we go on to the high way.”

“Should I be scared?”

Sapphira put the key in the ignition and slowly started the engine; I put my seat belt on immediately after. She pressed her foot on the break and switched the car into reverse. She turned around to look out the back window and said “Probably” before setting the car into motion.

The drive around the neighborhood wasn’t terrible. But I could tell that driving made her nervous by the way she was sitting up very straight and her grip was tight on the wheel. She took all the corrections I gave her.

“You’re driving to close to the right side. Drive closer to the yellow line; you’re farther from it than you think.”

She nodded and immediately did as I suggested.

I could also tell that she was nervous by the way she drove. She was so safe. We were always going the speed limit, and she made a full stop and every stop sign, and looked in every direction before she made a turn, even if she had the right of way.

Sapphira became even tenser when I said she was ready to go on to the high way, she was afraid of the passing cars and the high speed limit.

“You’re driven on the highway before, right?”

She nodded again, not daring to take her eyes away from the road.

After fifteen minutes of driving, she seemed to relax. She rested her back against the seat and stopped gnawing at her lip. She no longer minded all the cars that were overtaking her.

“Could you at least tell me how long the drive is to this surprise location?”

“About an hour.”

I looked for road signs. We were going South. “Sussex?”

She nodded.

That’s when the curiosity really swept over me. I stole glances at her. Sapphira was taking me to a place of her past. I squinted my eyes, trying to assess if she was truly okay.

But she must have been stealing glances at me too, “Stop looking at me like that.”

“Shouldn’t you be keeping your eyes on the road,” I joked.

“I’m fine,” she said calmly.

“I believe you,” I assured her. But a few moments later I added, “But if you aren’t, I’d understand if you’d want to turn around.”

Sapphira sighed as she put on a smile. She was trying to prove herself. In a tone that left no room for disagreement she repeated, “I’m fine.”


“This…is my favorite place in the entire world.”

Over the tall black, metal fence I saw thousands of lights strung on the branches of all the trees. The twinkle of a small Ferris Wheel and the top of a carousel. Through the fence I saw the baby blue of the brick side walk, lined with lights on both sides, and hedges formed into the shapes of numerous animals.

Even though it was already dark I could tell that her eyes were bright with happiness.

“Happily Ever After,” I read the sign above the gated entrance. “So, is this like, a carnival?”

Sapphira shook her head, “It’s a fairy tale brought to life. You get to dress up and you go through this maze where there are actors acting scenes to the story at different turns. When you reach the very end the story has its happily ever after and it opens up to all the games and rides.

I turned around to lean my back against the fence. I took her hand that was hanging by her side. “Why did you bring me here?”

Some of the shine from her lip gloss disappeared as she scraped her teeth across her bottom lip. “I knew that you would like it if I shared something that was special to me in the past, with you. Consider it your Christmas gift.”

I smiled, tugged on her hand, and she leaned her body against mine. “I love it.”

All of the shine from her lip gloss disappeared as she sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. She cast her eyes downward before refocusing them on my eyes. “I love you,” she said quickly and quietly.

My breath caught, and I exhaled loudly. But even with the trouble of my breathing I couldn’t stop the words from coming out, “I know.”

Sapphira’s eyes fell again. I prayed that I didn’t hurt her feelings by ruining her declaration. ‘Why did I have to say that?’

She slowly nodded. She knew that I knew. “I haven’t said those words in almost a year.”

I leaned down and kissed the side of her mouth, she looked up at me. “Even though I knew, the feeling that I have right now, hearing you say it…it’s everything. Thank you.”

And then she reached up and kissed me, full on the mouth. She threaded both her hands through my hair as I wrapped my arms very low on her waist.

“Mommy, look!”

Sapphira broke the kiss and leaned her face against my cheek to see behind me. She whispered in my ear, “There a little girl pointing at us, her mom looks very displeased.”

I chuckled, and licked my lips. Some of her lip gloss still managed to find its way to my mouth.

I gently pushed her away from me, “Ready to have an adventure, princess?”

She grinned, “Only if my knight will be right there with me.”