Orchard of Beauty

They lay side by side, holding hands, gazing up into the fresh spring dusting of lime-coloured shoots and fragrant blossom.

“Where are we?” whispered Izzy.

“We’re in heaven, my love,” murmured Trent.

They both smiled. Content.

Trent sat up, surprised at his agility. He was young again! No aches and pains, no doubt or fears…. only love.

He leapt up, stretching up his arms with wild abandon, bellowing with joy - his silhouette golden, fluid, limitless.

He extended is hand to Izzy, and she took it and joined him…. They sat on the bench in the orchard and surveyed their domain.

An old barn stood, weather worn and proud, far over to their left. Ahead they saw the plateau of their farm, but the sweeping valley and lake that they knew lay beyond was out of sight from here. All they could see was endless sky from the edge of infinity.

To their right, nestled into the tree line, stood their cabin that had grown over the years into a sprawling established farmhouse, a vibrant hub and community landmark. And behind them, cut back into the hills hemming the orchard and the farm, was the lodge.

People were everywhere. On this early spring morning, tasks were carried out - little ones carried buckets of grain, brooms and egg-collecting baskets to the barn. Older children carried hay bales, adults checking the tractor, fences, animal health and inventories. Guests from the lodge mounted their saddled horses, relishing the beauty of a fresh morning to do a bit of exploring before their hearty farm breakfast.

Izzy and Trent watched. Hands clasped. Hearts full.

“We made this.” thought Trent. He thought back to when the barn was new - and all of the possibility that life offered him then. Back when he and his love were young. The trials and heartbreak were simply beads on the necklace of a short timeline now…. and the substance of their dreams remained, strong and vibrant, alive and well.

10 o’clock. Their children and grandchildren gathered under the pear tree and spilled out through the orchard. The girls brought flowers, the boys their hats in hand. They stood together in silence for a moment….

“How I miss you,” said Grace. Anne-Marie and Ashton put their arms around her. They wept together.

Toby spoke. “Mama, I still feel your dancing steps - always lightly dancing. Always prodding us on to be our best selves. I don’t miss that prodding stick of yours,” - They all laughed, each knew the end of Izzy’s motivation tactics - “but I miss your faith in me.”

Tracy took over. “Pops, wherever you are right now, I know that everyone around you will be safe, and joyful. That brimming, happy, protective heart of yours - I hope that you get to pour out all the love that it holds to everything around you now too. Your huge, brave, strong heart...”

Tears spilled.

“I’m kind of glad they are together. Sucks for us, but I don’t know how they would have coped one without the other.” Jethro spoke softly - Trent almost did not catch his words, but he felt Jethro’s heart.

“Thank you, Son,” he answered. The ultimate unselfishness. Releasing them to be together…

“You know that Mama was 16 when she knew that she was going to marry Dad,” said Ashton. “He was ‘her heart outside her body’!”

They giggled - they remembered. “I have never seen a bond like theirs. I used to think that’s how it was, but theirs was…. divine, somehow.” Grace observed.

“I think they completely surrendered to each other. Mama was planning to take her life after her Mama died. Pops was living on the streets fresh out of prison. They met, and found hope I guess." Grace paused. "In each other, they found exactly what they needed. Pops saw his own greatness through her, and she found safety in him.”

“What a recipe! They saved each other,” murmured Ashton.

“And then they saved us,” whispered Ann-Marie through her tears: one of 4 children's lives changed by Isabel and Trent Miller's decision to adopt so many years ago, now all grown with children of their own. All 6 siblings linked arms around the mound of Trent and Izzy’s feet, where they rested.

The family wept together. For the beauty, the love, the security, the life that this pair had created from nothing.

“One year today, and we are going strong, Papa. Mama, your children, animals and home miss you, but we will never forget the greatness that you saw in all of it - all of us. We will keep making you both proud. Rest in joy...” Jethro faltered.

The depth of loss - of missing - engulfed them all like a tide of pain. The pain of love to give, unrequited.

And so they hugged and wept.

Trent and Izzy sat on the bench, and watched.

Then he took her hand, and they danced - around the orchard, twirling into the open pasture and over the field, and together they danced over the edge of the plateau - and into limitless infinity...