Last Wishes

The warm wind was soft and caressing as Sharon followed the trail leading to the edge of the cliff. How in the world had Hank found this place? This small spit of island in the Pacific. Beautiful, though, this place. Perfect for the retreat he took every year for the past 10 years. This year on his return trip home the plane had gone down, mechanical trouble, Hank, the pilot, and 20 other passengers had died. And now Sharon was a widow at the age of 35. It had just been the two of them.

Sharon stopped a moment and gently touched one of the many tropical flowers growing along the path, so soft. The colors were so rich, they made her smile. This seemed to be a healing place, she hadn't smiled in a long time. It had been a year since Hank had died. The horror of the crash, the funeral, all the paperwork, the Will, and finding out Hank's last wish had been to have his ashes brought here on this day to this place.

Walking through a narrowing of the trail, Sharon realized that she was quite suddenly at her destination, and there on the edge of the cliff was the large copper bowl described in Hank's Will. Tarnished over time it was actually quite beautiful. As she started to open the urn she had been carrying with her, Sharon looked into the bowl, and there, at the bottom of the bowl was a bright shiny new plaque with these words engraved on them, "For Kelly & Hank, two souls, one love." Sharon froze. Kelly? Who was Kelly she thought? Then out loud, she said, "Who the hell is Kelly?"

From behind her, a male voice said, "Kelly? That was my wife."

Startled, Sharon turned around quickly. A man, holding a similar urn, had just stepped through the opening to the point. Tall, about 40, dark eyes, athletic looking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, I'm David, Kelly is my late wife." And in explanation, he held out the urn and said, "In her Will, Kelly had asked for her ashes to be brought to this point today and placed in the bowl, apparently the evening wind blows them back over the island. She loved this place, and came here on her retreat every year."

Everything came together in Sharon's mind quickly, anger, grief, confusion, and sadness overwhelmed her. Tears rolled down her face and looking at David, she said, "You need to come read this," she said softly.

Confused by her tears, and her words, David walked slowly toward the bowl, as he stepped up to the bowl, he asked,

"Read what?"

Sharon simply pointed at the plaque. She watched as the same emotions that she had just experienced played across David's face.

"Hank is my late husband, he came here every year for 10 years on a retreat, and he also asked for his ashes to be brought here on this date and placed in this bowl. I would assume that Kelly also came here for the last 10 years. And she was also on the plane when it went down?" Sharon asked.

Nodding, David replied, "Yes."

As David looked at Sharon, he noticed that she had the most beautiful eyes, even with the tears. The most unique color of lavender blue he had ever seen and with her auburn hair, she was quite a striking woman.

As they stood there quietly absorbing everything they had just learned about their late spouses, Sharon noticed that David wasn't just athletic, but quite muscular, his dark eyes drew her in, and she suddenly felt a deep connection with him.

Wearily, Sharon asked, "Well, do we put them in the bowl, or toss them over the cliff?" She always used humor to deal with grief or even anger.

Surprised, David looked at her, then grinned and burst out laughing. Sharon began laughing. Tears rolled down their faces as they both laughed, and suddenly David was holding her hand, and it felt so right for her hand to be in his.

As they stopped laughing, they looked at each other, and smiling as if agreeing telepathically, they both opened their urns, and at the same time, poured the ashes into the bowl. The ashes intertwined as they fell from the urns to the bowl. And then the urns were empty. Capping the urns, they placed them on a shelf beneath the bowl as written in the separate Wills.

Just as they stepped back, the evening wind began to stir the ashes and as the ashes were blown back across the island that Hank and Kelly had loved, David again took Sharon's hand and said, "Sharon, would you like to have dinner with me?"

Sharon's heart began to beat a little faster as she looked up and said, "I would love to, David."

They began walking back down the trail holding hands, the sun began to set, the wind blew, and they both knew that they would be back again and again, together.