My heart thumped fast and hard in my chest, and I rubbed my hands carefully against the sides of my pants, hoping they were not as clammy as they were shaky. I got out of the car and walked slowly across the grassy hill of the park. It was a perfect day, weather wise. The sun was shining, with puffy white clouds that dotted the bright blue. I would have been happy even if it was cold and raining buckets. I hadn't seen my fantasy lady, Rachael Duncan, in ten years. Per our agreement, we had kept in touch over the years as pen pals, and today was the day we had set to see each other again. I had flown five hours to see her.
She was sitting under our favorite old maple tree in the park we played in as children. She hadn't seen me yet, and I was glad for the few extra seconds just to watch her. She was just as beautiful as I remembered her. Soft flowing blond hair, bright green eyes, cute button nose. She was taller than I thought she would be, but I'm a pretty tall guy. She was sitting under the tree, leaning against it, reading a book, with her long legs stretched out in front of her.
Rachael stole my heart when she was eleven and I was thirteen. To this day, I have no clue how she did it. Before that, we had been neighbors, and friends, but one day, she smiled at me, and called me a brat for tugging her hair, and everything just changed. Call it hormones if you want, but I call it love. She consumed my every waking moment, and invaded my dreams every night. About a week later I asked her to be my girlfriend. We weren't together long before we were torn apart by the demands of Uncle Sam. I was furious when my dad was stationed on the other side of the country the same week I had gotten up the nerve to kiss her for the first time.
That last day, I held her in my arms and fought back my own tears as she sobbed on my shoulder. I had just told her I had to move, and that we would not get to see each other again. "Shh...Rachael...please don't cry."
"I don't want you to go!" She sniffed, her voice cracking. "I love you Jesse Thatcher."
"I don't have a choice. We knew one of us would have to move someday. We are both military brats." Because of her dad's rank, it was unlikely she would have ever been the one to move.
"It sucks." She said, wiping her eyes.
"I know." I tucked a stray strand of honey blond hair behind her ear. "We will stay in touch, though. I will write you every week." I said. I had been true to my word. I wrote her a letter every Sunday night, for the last ten years, and she had always written me back, except for this one time I didn't hear from her for two years. It was hell. She recently started writing me again, a few months ago.
"Promise?" She asked. I nodded.
"Let's make a pact." She said suddenly, smiling.
"A pact?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Yes...a pact. We will meet here, under this maple, at noon, in exactly ten years from today. Then, if we aren't married, we will be together. Forever."
"Why ten years?" I asked.
"Because, I will be twenty one, and you will be twenty three. We will be old enough to do what we want. Our parents can't stop us from being together. No one can."
"Ok, Rachael, in ten years I will meet you here, under this tree. I promise." As soon as I said the words, she threw her arms around me, kissed me hard, and turned and ran away, her long hair streaming behind her. She never looked back as I watched her go. I walked home in tears and finished packing my stuff. We left the next day.
Today, she didn't look up as I walked slowly past the playground full of children and stood near her.
"Rachael Duncan...put that book down and come give me a hug." I said smiling.
"Jesse!" She squealed and jumped to her feet. She flew into my arms before the book even hit the ground.
I wrapped her in a big bear hug and lifted her off her feet and spun her around, laughing. "Hey squirt. Nice to finally see you again." She hated me calling her that as a little kid, but I knew she didn't mind today.
"I've missed you so much!" She said, crying into my shoulder.
"I missed you too, baby." I whispered. "I can't believe this day is finally here." I put her back on her feet again, and just stared at her, running my fingers over her cheeks, her lip, her chin. "Don't you cry again." I said, whipping her eyes gently.
"I'm just so happy." She said, "I wasn't sure if you'd really come." She admitted. She stepped closer and hugged me again. "It's so good to see you."
"I made a promise, Rachael. I told you I would be here just last week when I wrote you."
"I know...I just...I thought maybe you would change your mind." She said, looking away for a moment.
"Rachael...did you not want me to come?" I asked, I turned her chin so she was looking directly at me again.
"No, of course not..." She trailed off, but she wasn't convincing about it. Something was obviously bothering her.
"Well, ok then, I'm here, you're here. What's with the hesitation, princess?"
"Do you remember the other part of our pact?" She asked, stepping away from me.
"Yes...of course. We'd be together." I nodded. I had tried to date other girls...but most of them didn't understand why I was still writing to a Rachael. They would get pissy and jealous and always break up with me. I'd never been able to love anyone the way I loved Rachael, so I never minded much.
"Well...I'm not sure that's going to happen." She said sadly.
"Why not?" I asked quietly, holding my breath as I felt my heart sink. In truth, I could feel it breaking. "Are you in love with someone else?" I asked.
"No, no...there is no one else." She insisted, shaking her head.
"Ok...so what is it?" I asked, barely breathing again.
