Something Sweet

It is hot, scorching actually. I can feel each grain of sand burning the thick soles of my feet, but I dig them into the ground, where the cooler ones soothe it. My toes wiggle, shifting some of the sand and peeking through the little hill that had formed a top them. I could see the blue polish on them, still fresh like the summer sky. My shoulders begin to relax under the thin cotton blouse as I lean back into the wooden chair, face protected from the hot sun with a grand straw hat. The smell of the ocean breeze I inhale - salty, warm, and surprisingly refreshing.


The shifting of melting ice cubes resonate from my right as Maddie grabs a bottle of cold beer.
"Hey Ladies, anyone want a bottle too?" she asks to the three of us.
"Yeah girl! Toss one over here!" Daisy demands as Maddie grabs one by the neck and tosses it to her.
"Water please!" Piper sings from my left side. Maddie hands her a cold bottle and I am glad when I feel the cool drops of condensation on my belly as the bottle hovers over me briefly.
"What about you, Jenna?"


I look over at the light skinned beauty before me. She had gorgeous long hair that shined golden in the sun. Her yellow summer dress hung loosely on her tiny figure and her large sunglasses covered a majority of her face. She was a summer babe. A gorgeous, silver ring with diamond studs embedded within it had made its home on her left hand and I knew she was happy. She was complete.


Behind her I could see Daisy, her black hair kissed by the sun and skin beginning to tan a slight bit after being out here for the past hour. For a mother of 3, she still looked wonderous and youthful. I could hear her spouting comments of honest and genuine disapproval at the teenagers walking by and I suppress a laugh. This was a vacation she needed.


I hear a soft giggle to my right and I smile as I turn my head to her. Her hair is chestnut brown and she has slimmed down since the last time I saw her. Piper smiles. She always smiles. Even through all the pain and suffering, she smiles. She excretes emotion and care. Ambition and dreams exists for her. Even her love life was blossoming. Sometimes I envy her. But I know that this is the reason she is in my life.


These are the reason they are all in my life: the ears and advice of a great listener, the honesty of blunt mouth, and the addictive laughter of a beautiful heart. The bitterness towards life growing in my heart and the tangy sensation of fear from failures pull on my thoughts. I need them. I need this. I needed something sweet.


"Hellllooo?"
My attention is returned to Maddie, who is still waiting for my answer, her eyebrows raised. I give her a small smile.


"Beer, please." I say.
Returning my gaze to the view of glistening ocean in front of me.
"Oh, and something sweet."

For Giggles (again)

Since she was upset by the lack of romance in "Snow White and the Huntsman." Not gonna lie, I was hoping for another kiss or a hug or a public wedding. Nothing epic.

Anyway, here's an Epilogue for you, Miss Giggles. Enjoy!

* * * * *

“Your Majesty.” She was sitting on the grass under the apple tree, her hands in her lap, watching the pup he’d brought her play with an old slipper. He was happy that she was peaceful, and felt blessed when she looked up and smiled at him.

“Huntsman.” There it was – the little light in her face he’d first noticed on her coronation day. He shuffled and bowed as she rose and came to greet him. She was barefoot, and her feet, like the rest of her, were small, delicate, and white. Snow White. She was Queen now. Never his…

“Huntsman, where have you been hiding yourself? I haven’t seen you for a fortnight.”

“I’m sorry, my lady. There was something I needed…needed to see to.”

Her smile became quizzical, but it never lost its brilliance. “Of course. You’re free to come and go as you choose. You aren’t my servant, but my friend.” She was always making little gestures like that these days; he wrote it off as her happiness, and tried not to read more into her hand on his arm or her smile during dinner. This time however, when he tried to step away, she tightened her grip and stepped with him. “Huntsman…why do you never call me by name?”

“You’re Queen now, my lady.”

She waved her hand dismissively, less a monarch than the stubborn girl who’d threatened him with his own dagger in the Dark Forest. “But before that even, you never called me by name…”

He had, though only in his mind. A pale face, a limp body in the snow, a dark shadow bent over her… It gave him nightmares, to match those of his wife’s death. He forced the memories aside and focused on her sharp face. Her eyes were very clear in the spring light. The puppy roamed at their feet, tugging on the hem of her skirt and sniffing his boots. “You were a Princess. I am a huntsman.” And a drunkard. A wastrel. He thought it every time he saw her walking with William, or dancing with another man at a festival. He kept hoping it would keep the jealousy down; he must have succeeded, for no one had come to warn him that a Queen didn’t marry whom she chose, but whom her advisors and her subjects chose.

She stepped into him and he stiffened, automatically moving to grasp her shoulders and push her back. Proximity was dangerous. And lead me not into temptation… She was temptation, same as the ripe apples she gathered herself and shared with all the castle and village people.

“Will you not say my name, dear friend? Please?”

His hands closed around her shoulders, delicate wings of bone under his rough and dirty fingers. Though childlike she had an uncommon strand of strength in her, like tempered steel. Those were the images he had in his heart: the white gown she’d worn on her deathbed, and the steel armor she’d won her kingdom in. The woman and the warrior.

“My lady, this isn’t a good idea…”

“I think it is.” Her hand was cool, her fingers light as wind against his mouth. She looked at him, not quite smiling, not quite frowning, and he wasn’t aware of shifting his stance from combative to protective. “Please, sometimes with all the ceremony, I just want to be who I was with you, before.”  

“Snow White.”

The country lauded her for saving them from Ravenna, but he lauded her for moments like this, when her eyes were clear and she was able to smile like she’d never known sorrow. He didn’t think; he didn’t make a conscious choice. As much as their other kiss had been love and farewell, so was this one love and welcoming.

She kept her eyes open, one hand curling in his dirty shirt. Over his heart. She looked for his soul, as he’d taught her, and he felt slain and reborn when she relaxed and dropped her head to his chest.

“I never thanked you, for saving me.”

The ends of her hair tickled his fingers and he played with it, just a little. Just to please himself. “I don’t need thanks.”

“Why do you say things like that? Aren’t you as deserving of appreciation and affection as anyone? You have done more noble things than I, yet I’m revered and you are forgotten.”

“I wouldn’t want your status,” he said without thinking. “I’m a simple man at heart, my lady. Nobility is for the rich and powerful.”

“You are noble, Huntsman. You refused Ravenna –”

“Out of stupidity.”

“– and you rescued me. Repeatedly.”

“Taught you to rescue yourself, which you did in the end,” he corrected her. Her laughter was unexpected, and for a moment he basked in the pleasure it brought him as another might bask in a sunbeam.

“Yes, I suppose so. But not without you.” Her laughter turned into a charming little grin. “Will you tell me your name, Huntsman? I should like to use it.”

He hadn’t used his name for years; first out of grief and then out of habit. She was waiting, so patient, so gentle, and he couldn’t think of a reason why he shouldn’t tell her. He didn’t have far to bend to speak in her ear; she shivered at his warm breath on her neck. 

She listened, lashes lowered to hide her expression, then tipped her head towards him and smiled. “Thank you.” And this time when she kissed him, neither of them stepped away even when apple blossoms fell on their heads and her pup tore the hem of her gown.