Crossed Collective Hearts

Katherine sighed in relief as she sank down in the chair outside. Her breathing was labored but she was relieved she was able to be in this spot again. The doctors didn’t want her to leave the hospital but she refused to spend the rest of her life there. If she was going to die anytime soon she was going to do it at home, not in some foreign place.

“Grandma, it’s a little chilly out here. Do you need a jacket or anything?”

Katherine opened her eyes to see her oldest granddaughter looking down at her. Katherine smiled and said, “I’m fine, Hannah, but thank you for asking, dear. Why don’t you sit down and join me?”
Hannah smiled back and sat down in the cushioned chair next to her grandmother. “I’m glad you’re back home grandma. You had all of us worried there for a little bit.”

“It’s not my time, dear. Your grandfather and I promised each other we wouldn’t die until we were ready.”

“You and grandpa have made a lot of promises to each other throughout the years. Have you kept them all?”

“Yes, every single one of them. They never felt like promises though because of how much I love your grandfather.”

The pair was quiet for a few seconds until the younger girl spoke up. “Grandma? How did you and grandpa meet? You guys love each other so much but I’ve never heard your story.”
Katherine looked at her granddaughter thought about how Hannah, at 18, was nearly the same age Katherine had been when she had married her husband and began her sixty-five year love affair with him.

“I loved your grandfather from the very beginning, even if I was too stubborn to admit it,” Katherine chuckled and then paused before beginning the rest of her story.

“It was the end of the Second World War and the whole country was rejoicing. My hometown of Battle Creek, Michigan was having a huge celebration to welcome the troops back home. There was a dance that evening and I was in attendance but I was sitting in the corner instead of dancing.

“What are you doing sitting here by yourself? The Katherine White I know isn’t a wallflower.”

“I have no one to dance with,” I answered looking up at the familiar boy.

“Well I can take care of that. Miss White may I have this dance?” he smirked as he grabbed my hand.

“Matthew! This isn’t proper. I’m engaged.”

“Kat, I’m not trying to kiss you. I just want to dance with my best friend’s little sister. There can’t be anything improper about that.”

I rolled my eyes but followed Matthew out to the dance floor. He had been right, I was bored just sitting by the while and was dying to dance.

“So where is the fiancé at?” Matthew asked as he looked at the ring on my finger.

“He has a name, Matthew,” I huffed.

“Fine,” Matthew rolled his eyes. “Where is William at?”

“He’s in New York. His dad opened a new store there and put William in charge. As soon as he gets the store on its feet we’ll get married and I’ll move out there with him.”

“You’re fine with that?”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You love Battle Creek. I just figured you’d want to stay here, especially for your parents after your brother died.”

“Can we please not talk about Harry?” I begged as my eyes began to water.

“I’m sorry, Kat,” Matthew apologized. “I miss him like hell though. Everything I saw while I was in England will never compare to the pain of losing my best friend to war.”

“I miss him like hell too,” I whispered.

Matthew and I continued dancing up until the very last song. I will never forget the words he said before leaving. He kissed my hand, winked at me and said, “If I was your fiancé I would never leave you by yourself. I’d be too worried about someone else coming and sweeping you off your feet.”

“Don’t be absurd, Matthew,” I glared. “I love William.”

“He’s a lucky man then.”

I stood in the middle of the dance floor watching Matthew walk away and trying to figure out what his words meant. I had grown up around him because he and my brother, your great uncle, were the best of friends. Nothing could separate those two. Nothing except for the war. Growing up Matthew’s greatest pleasure was teasing me and it was obvious that nothing had changed. I tried not to dwell on it though and instead thought of how I’d soon be in New York married to William.

The rest of that winter was much different than I expected. William and I had been planning to wed in early summer but he phoned and said that things with the store were taking longer than expected so we had to push our wedding back to the end of summer. I was terribly disappointed but knew he was doing what he had to do.

William may not have been around me but Matthew sure was. He was at our house for dinner at least once a week and always coming by unexpectedly. It annoyed me to no end but I knew my parents welcomed his visits because they helped them deal with the loss of Harry. I decided that my best bet was to avoid Matthew but for as hard as I tried to avoid him he tried to be around me twice as hard.

“You must be glad spring is here again. I know how much you love working in your garden.”

I looked up from where I was sitting on the ground to see Matthew standing above me. “I am glad. I don’t know what I’m going to do though when I move to New York with William. There’s no place to have a garden in the city.”

“What do you plan on doing once you move to New York?” Matthew asked as he sat down beside me.

“William wants to start a family soon so I’m going to be a stay at home mom and wife.”

“You’re going to stay at home?”

“Yes. William’s very big on women staying home. He hated how women began to join the workforce during the war.”

“Kat White, a stay at home mom. Hmmm.”

“What in the world is that supposed to mean, Matthew?” I huffed.

“It’s just surprising, that’s all. You’ve always been so independent. I can’t imagine you being happy staying at home.” Matthew said and then continued when I didn’t say anything. “If you could do anything what would you do?”

I thought for a few minutes before answering, “I’d love to own a flower shop.”

“Do it, then.”

“William would never go for it.”

“If William really loved you he wouldn’t stop you from doing what you loved,” Matthew said and then left before I could yell at him for his words.

I glared at him as he walked away but his words were stuck in my head and I couldn’t help but feel sad that I’d never get to own a flower shop.

Spring turned into summer and I began to not hate Matthew coming around. Truth be told I even began to look forward to his visits. He helped me through my brother’s death and made me happy. I felt as if I was living two separate lives though, my life with Matthew where I could be myself and my life where I pretended to be the perfect future housewife with William. My two lives suddenly collided one day and I had a huge decision to make.

The doorbell rang and I ran towards the door. Matthew was coming over to help me in the garden and then staying for dinner. I threw open the door but the man standing on the other side wasn’t who I was expecting.

“William? What are you doing here?” I exclaimed.

“Katherine! I’ve missed you so much. Things are finally settled in New York so I came back so we can get married,” William said as he hugged me.

“Wow, that’s great.”

“You don’t seem very excited to see me, dear.”

“Oh I am. I’m…you just surprised me is all.”

“Well I need to go home and talk about the store with my dad but I’ll be back over tomorrow so we can start making plans. We need to get married soon because I need to be back to New York by the end of this month.”

“Ok, see you tomorrow.” I said in a bit of a daze.

Everything was so unexpected and happening so fast that I didn’t know what to do. I made my way to the garden to clear my head and that’s where Matthew found me.

“Your mom told me that William is back. Where is he?” Matthew asked as he approached me.

“He’s at home. He had to talk to his dad about some things dealing with the store.”

“Did you tell him he should have just stayed in New York?”

“Matthew! He’s my fiancé.” I exclaimed.

“What? You can’t seriously tell me that you’re still going to marry him!”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Why wouldn’t you? Oh maybe because he won’t let you do what you want. Maybe because he hasn’t seen you for months but instead of spending time with you he’s worried about the store still. If I hadn’t seen you in months I would be spending every waking second with you. I can’t even go a day without seeing you.”

“Whhh…what?”

“Damn it Kat. I’m in love with you. Stay here and marry me,” Matthew pleaded.”

“You married him, right?” Hannah broke into her grandmother’s story.

“No. I went to New York,” Katherine answered.

“What?! But grandpa’s name is Matthew.”

“Your grandmother is a very stubborn woman, Hannah.” Matthew said as he joined his wife and granddaughter in the garden. “Instead of picking between William and me she moved to New York to attend college.”

“Once college was over I moved back to Michigan, opened up my flower shop and then finally married your grandfather,” Katherine smiled. “I made him wait a while but I’m sure it was worth it.”

“Of course it was, my dear.” Matthew smiled back.

“So how did you guys end up here in New Mexico?” Hannah asked.

“When your father and aunt were little there was a terrible winter in Michigan. Your father had been having health problems and the doctors said we needed to take him somewhere warm. We decided to move here, open up a new flower shop, and never look back,” Matthew answered.

“Thanks for telling me your story. I’ve always thought I wanted a love story like one from a movie but now I want one like yours. It’s real,” Hannah said as she stood up. “I’m going to go inside and start getting dinner ready because everyone will be over for Sunday dinner soon.”

Matthew gave his granddaughter a kiss on the head before sitting down in the seat she had previously been in beside his wife.

He grabbed Katherine’s hand and said, “I thought I was going to lose you, Kat.”

Katherine squeezed his hand and said, “I promised you I wouldn’t go until we’re ready and I intend to keep that promise. Both of us have some life left to live. I better go help Hannah with dinner.”

Matthew stopped his wife before she could stand up. “Let’s stay in the garden for a little while longer. Hannah can handle dinner by herself and we have a little time to be lazy.”