After tonight, real life resumed. Decisions would have to be made. People would have to be informed. Thank God that Frankie atBritish Livinghad been nice about Saskia having to leave Cornwall early. The fact that six sparkling final drafts of six sparkling Cornwall articles had been delivered to her inbox just that morning probably helped. Yes, she’d finished them. Achieved what she’d set out for Cornwall to do.And fallen in love while she was at it.
Now it was Kivi who wiggled her fingers. Saskia had tightened her grip without any conscious input from her brain, almost as if her subconscious knew that Kivi would soon be ripped away from her. She sent her a sidelong look of apology, then a proper look when she registered the tears that were trickling down Kivi’s cheeks.
“Kivi…” she murmured, dropping her hand so that she could wrap Kivi up in an embrace. Kivi clung to her so hard, she was sure to leave bruises.
“Sorry,” Kivi muttered into Saskia’s neck. “I – I just…”
“I know,” Saskia said, not letting go.
Eventually, Saskia sank down onto the sandy shingle where they stood, tugging Kivi down with her. They’d brought a picnic blanket with them, but somehow the bumps and divots between the stones was grounding. They didn’t have long before the tide came in, but they had long enough. To say what they needed to, at least. There would never be long enough for them to be together. Not even forever would do.
But the words wouldn’t come. Not to Saskia, and clearly not to Kivi. They just stared at each other, then looked away, then returned their gazes to each other. Saskia raked her eyes over her girlfriend, over each individual strand of hair, each freckle, each eyelash. She only had tonight to commit her to memory, after all.
It seemed that such attention made Kivi self-conscious, for a blush rose in her cheeks and she cleared her throat. “I… uh, I told Cass and Felicia that you had to leave early,” she said. “I texted them. Assured them that the wedding plans were still under control, even if I’d be going it alone for a bit. Felicia was very concerned that we’d broken up, but I assured her that wasn’t the case. Because it isn’t. Isn’t it?”
Kivi had asked this about a dozen times over the course of the afternoon and evening, but Saskia was happy to reassure her again. “Our proximity may be taking a break, but our relationship is not,” she promised. “We’ll call as much as we can – voiceandvideo – and if I’m not back with you by the end of the guest house season, you can take a little break and come upto meet my family. And I’ll certainly be back down in September for Cass and Felicia’s wedding – whether that’s a short stay or part of my permanent one. So at the very least you’ll see me in September. That’s… what, two months away?”
“Months,” Kivi sighed. “Isn’t it strange? How we came to mean so much to one another so quickly? A couple of months ago, we had no idea each other existed. Now look at us. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so deeply for anyone before. And that’s the honest truth.”
“Neither have I,” Saskia confessed. “I mean, sure, I loved my boyfriends. I’m not downplaying my relationship with them as invalid, or not real. I just love you so much more. Already. And it’s going to be actual hell on Earth being parted from you, just when we were getting started.”
“But when you return, it’ll be for forever,” Kivi said, and picked up Saskia’s right hand with her left so that their fingers intertwined.
“I promise,” Saskia nodded.
“I promise too,” Kivi said. “And that’s why I wanted to give you this.”
She rifled in her shoulder bag, and produced a ring box. Saskia felt pure adrenaline surge through her veins. Was that a-? Was she going to-?
“It’s not an engagement ring!” She must have shown the panic in her face, for now Kivi was scrambling to clarify. “It’s a promise ring. It – I was going to give it to you when you left anyway. I saw it and thought of you. It’s – I’m not proposing.” Now she was gabbling. “Unless you wanted me to. And – bloody hell, should I? No. We’ve only been together a few weeks. Wait – why are you laughing?”
Saskia couldn’t help it. Kivi had gone bright pink, and her frantic blathering was too adorable – and too hilarious – to resist. She leaned forward, and their noses crashed together before their mouths met. They both giggled the whole way through the kiss,before Saskia broke it, too intrigued by what was in the box.
Kivi opened it, and showed her. Inside was a silver ring, set with a number of tiny green and white stones sitting diagonally across from one another. The green ones looked like leaves, putting Saskia in mind of a trail of ivy, or the bough of a particularly healthy branch. She took the ring box out of Kivi’s hand to have a closer look. Yes, sixteen stones – eight white, eight dark green – in a slender silver band. Exactly her style, and exactly the colour that matched her hair the best. Kivi could not have picked better.
“They’re not real diamonds and emeralds,” Kivi said, and now her flush suggested more embarrassment than pleasure. “I hope that’s okay. They’re moss… mossa…”
“Moissanite?” Saskia finished, and Kivi nodded. “That’s more than okay. It’s beautiful. It’s… exquisite. And it has a deeper meaning. Believed to bring connection to the universe, I believe. And… awakening. Miltree has brought me the former, and you’ve brought me the latter.”
“I chose well, then?” Kivi chuckled. “I can’t say I knew about the meanings – I saw it online, and thought of you, and that was about it. It’s a beautiful coincidence, though.”
“I knew that would appeal to your spiritual side,” Saskia smiled. Then she handed the box back, and motioned with her head expectantly. “Well? Are you going to put it on me or not?”
“Oh!” Kivi nearly dropped it. “Yes. I… um…” She fumbled with the ring, and Saskia elegantly placed her left hand in Kivi’sshaking right one. The ring fitted like a glove –I wonder if she took measurements of my other rings? –and it sparkled in the light of the setting sun when Saskia lowered her hand.
“With this ring, I thee… promise.” Kivi winced, and shook her head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. But I do promise. I promise that…”
She trailed away, and Saskia squeezed her hand. They were still so new, there was so much to say – but none of it needed words, somehow. “I know. I promise too.”
Kivi leaned forward, and pressed her lips to Saskia’s again. “You’ll come back?” she said, her cracking voice barely a whisper.
“I promise,” Saskia said again, and this time she pressed her cheek to Kivi’s.
Sitting side-by-side, squashed up so close together that it was difficult to believe they were two different people, they watched the rest of the sunset. The sun itself was just the tiniest orange sliver by this point, peeping over the horizon as if it observed them, but didn’t want to distract with its presence. Then, as they watched, it slipped away. They blinked and it was gone, leaving just a pink wisp behind, and in an instant it was like it had never been there to begin with.
Bathed in the residual light, Saskia looked around. The village was visible in the distance: a village of magic, as she’d written in one of her articles. The end of the rainbow – or the start of it, if you were looking at it in the context of Saskia’s life.
The start and the end. In a place that by all rights should bebeyondrainbow’s end.
