The Veil by Donna Page © 18/06/2022

Sitting on the ground in the hidden garden her back against his chest, his arms holding tight around her waist. she rested her head back upon his shoulder, enveloped in love. The sun was starting to peek over the horizon, and she knew it was time.

They sat in this garden together every night. Always in the same spot. He would be waiting with that smile, those sparkling eyes. He had so much news to tell her, as she did him.   But that first embrace was the most important. To be held tightly and to feel the love they had always had. The love that the years had given them since he was a teenager. Even at 56 Giselle still felt the very same shiver through her body from the first time he wrapped his arms around her to today, and probably for every more

The garden was a recent edition, she had built it to feel safe from the outside world. She had always meant to build it before, but as a garden artist, she was very busy doing these safe and special places for other people.   Like a painter never paints his own house, a gardener never finishes her own garden. She had the final push to do so a few months ago when she needed to find her safe place again.

As they sat and discussed their moments, she lay against him, feeling his warmth against her body, knowing that warmth for so long. It always brought her comfort. She could tell him anything. He would listen to her vent, complain about the silly customer at work, about the big bosses asking for the impossible. He didn't offer her advice, not unless she asked. He would always just listen.   Let her get what she needed to get out of her system, he knew it would make her tomorrow a bit better. 

Then he would talk, telling her about the wonderful things in his world, that he had seen. About things that she could only imagine.   She didn't understand all the stuff about nebula and twin planets, but she loved listening.   Pluto, his favourite subject often came up.   He needed to know the latest information on what the scientist was deciding.   What was the pulsing about? He had been so upset when they said it wasn't a planet anymore.   He would argue black and blue that it did not matter that it was smaller than our moon, it rotated around our sun, so it was a planet. No argument could be entered into. 

She would read all the latest news articles on the subject, so she could share them with him.   Anything about Astronomy, he loved. All the new discoveries.   He wished that he could be here when his great, great, great-grandchildren would know all that was needed about space travel, and it was going to be just a regular thing. But in 2022 he simply had to know what was written.   Dirk had always wanted to be an astronomer but there was too much math in the subject apparently, and he hated math.

Then they would just stop and be.   Nothing could come between them. Not the hustle and bustle of the outside world, not the reality of tomorrow, just nothing. The moments, they had had for more than 30 years.

As she lay her head back against his shoulder, loving the warmth of him, she knew. The sky had fewer stars now. She closed her eyes and lay back devouring the moment in her heart. She had built this garden for them. The momentary haven from reality. As the sun started to rise above the horizon, she could feel her back getting cooler, it was time. As the sun began to raise higher in the sky, she embraced his hands against her stomach, in hers. Their warmth was gone, and suddenly so were they.