The Beginning of the End

The sun is hot on my face, there is a light breeze blowing my blue dress back as I run through the field. The silk fabrics on my legs feels as though they are just barley lying in a cool stream letting the cool water run over them. The grass under my bare feet is soft like the fur of a chinchilla. You can smell the flowers of every sort. You can see all the different colors in patches all around.
The sound of the birds singing in a nearby forest is like a song of their own. I look back over my shoulder and see him. He is running after me trying to catch me for I had been naughty. Kissing him ever so softly on the lips and then running. I am not running to get away for I am running because i know when he catches me he will not let go.
I giggle at him as I run and he trips as he has fallen over something. “Oh I will get you my love” he sings as he gets up. I know he is not hurt for there is a smile upon his lips. I turn and run away giggling as I hear him get closer.
Just as I am to jump over a log I am pulled out of the air into a pair of strong arms. There is a soft laugh as I squeak from the surprise. My legs pull up to my chest as my arms grab onto the arms that have surrounded me. I am spinning in a circle which makes me laugh more.
His lips tickle my ear as he put me down on my feet. “I told you I would catch you,” he whispers. I can feel his hot breath on my neck. I turn in his arms and look up into his dark eyes. There is a small curve to his full pink lips.
I giggle as he runs his hands slowly up my arms making me jump back. His hands do not leave my sides as i jump back and we fell back. In midair, he flips us so that he is on bottom with me on top. He takes all the impact onto himself.
I grab his face in my hands holding him tight "Are you ok? Are you hurt?" I ramble on and on. His hands come up and grab mine. The feel of his hands on mine stops my talking. I lean down and kiss his check.
I rest my head on his chest and pull his hands down to my sides with mine. I intertwine our fingers and hum little tunes I remember my Momma singing to when I was little. Some time has passed in silence before he says anything. “Lavender, I love you” he says kissing the top of my head. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you” he says sitting up a little.
I sit all the way up, pulling him with me, and wrap my legs around his waist. The look in his eyes tells me he is not lying. “I love you too” I say kissing him again on the lips this time.
“Marry me!” he says looking me in the eyes. I guess the shock shows on my face because he grabs my face in his hands and kisses me. “Marry me! We can run away and elope and start a family” he says. The passion in his eyes is over whelming.
“We cannot” I say leaning back a little. “What about your mother and father?” I asked. He is an only child and his mother and father are very old. They were young when my grandparents were young.
“What about them?” he says looking me in the eyes. “They have everyone in town helps us. If I leave, if we leave, then it would only be that much less that everyone in town would need to give them.”
“Oh Emmett, I cannot leave Sammy and Ben.” I say getting up. Sammy and Ben are my mother’s youngest children. There are fifteen of us children and Sammy and Ben are the babies. They are only 3 years old as they are twins.
There are five children between Sammy, Ben and I. All of my older sisters are married and I am the next in line to get married in the family. Mother and father do not think it right for me to want to marry a man of my age, so I am not to marry Emmett.
“We can take them with us!” he says
I think about it, I am the one who takes care of them. “Ok” I say and kiss him with as much passion I can manage.
We set the plans to leave tomorrow night after we have both written letters to our families telling them what we have done. Emmett tells me to make sure I have my clothes packed and the babies clothes packed tonight. I tell him that I will get some money from my father’s savings in the barn.
We part with a promise to meet back here tonight after everyone is asleep. After one final kiss I run home. When I get back to the house Tom is sitting on the porch with Ron. They are my brothers. They laugh when I got up on the porch.
“And where have you been?” Tom laughs
“None of your business” I say as I push his head into Ron’s and storm into the house.
Mother is in the process of finishing dinner when I walk in. Ben and Sammy are playing on the floor next to the kitchen table. I pick Ben up and hand him to mom. “You play with the kids and I will finish dinner” I say.
I want mother to have some time with the kids before we leave. The thought of leaving home was a scary thought I mean I have never been away from home over night.
That night mother and father played with Sammy and Ben until it was time for everyone to go to bed. I curled up on my straw bed next to the twins crib. I am the only one in the same room with the twins for I am the only girl left in the house besides mother and she slept in the same bed as father.
After the twins are asleep I get up and pull the bags out from under the bed. I place my Sunday dress, slip stockings, a day dress and undergarments into the bag. I then pack the twins clothes and some of their toys into the bag.
I take a blanket from the foot of the bed and stuffed it into the bag as I run from the house. When I get to the field Emmett is waiting. I run to him, dropping my bag as I go, and jump into his arms.
Emmett has one small bag. “Did you grab the money?” he asked pulling my three bags from my hands and placing them with his in the base of a hollowed out tree.
“Not yet I will grab it tomorrow night” I say. After all of our bags are hidden I run back to the house and go to bed.
In the morning mother was making breakfast and father was out in the field with the boys. After breakfast I went into town to take the younger kids to the school.
I noticed Emmett in the general store with his mother; he was carrying big crates filled with food. When he got to the house and buggy he pushed the crate in and they were off back to their house.
A thought runs through my head, what are they going to do without him? He’s the one that works the fields, takes care of the house and animals. If I agree to take him away from them I am putting their lives on the line. They would not last long without him.
For the rest of the day I think about the things that I am taking away from Emmett and the kids. Emmett is losing his family, and the kids are losing their mother and father,nothing can replace all of this, and I'm the reason for it.
After everyone is asleep I write my family a letter telling them what has happened.
Dear mother and father,
I have run away with Emmett; we are to marry when we reach New York. I love him and he loves me. I know you are disappointed but I could not marry anyone other than Emmett. I cannot stress how much I love him to you.
We have taken Ban and Sammy with us. We have taken ben and Sammy for I know it would be hard for mother to raise them at her age. Emmett and I will take good care of them. I love them and would never let anything happen to them. I love you.
Love,
Lavender
After I placed the letter on my bed I put the babies in their clothes and I take them out to the barn with me to get the money. I hesitantly go into the chickens pin and find the metal container that my father has hidden there. I don’t bother to take just a little money; I take all of the money. Father has money all over the barn.
I grab the kids and we run to the field. The kids are still sleepy so I put the money in my pocket and I pick them up. I run with them in my arms but it is hard. They are a little heavy but I manage. When we get to the field Emmett is waiting with a horse and buggy. I stop and look at him.
“You know they will not last without you.” I say as I hand Sammy up to him.
“I have talked to Tomas” he says taking Ben from me. “He will help them” he says taking my hand and pulling me up into the buggy.
I sit and pull ben and Sammy into my lap. Emmett kisses my forehead and whispers “it will be all right.”
Ben and Sammy fall back to sleep before we even take off, for we are set for California.