A Love Story

“Oh my,” I repeated as I lifted the items out of the box.

Josh lifted his chin off my shoulder, “You like it?”

Glancing at him, I nodded. “Oh Josh it’s so beautiful. Tell me about them?”

“Gladly,” Josh pulled me into his arms and kissed my cheek before he began. “They belonged to my grandmother Baker; my grandfather gave both of them to her. This,” he reached around me and pointed to the cross that I held in my hand. “My grandparents met one really cold winter over 60 years ago. My grandfather was traveling through town and stopped at the inn my great-grandparents owned to rest for the night. My grandmother says it was love at first sight, she thought my grandfather was handsome and went out of her way to introduce herself.”

I gasped, “A lady in those days did no such thing!”

He laughed, “Well she said she did.”

“So what did your grandfather say about it?”

“My grandfather said he tried all he could to get rid of her, she was spoken for and he didn’t want any trouble from her father.” As if he sensed my next question Josh said, “My grandmother’s family was very wealthy and my grandfather was dirt poor.”

“They didn’t like your grandfather?”

Josh shook his head, “It wasn’t a matter of liking him or not, my grandmother was promised to another man, so they couldn’t be together.”

I sighed, “That’s so sad. Arranged marriages must’ve sucked.”

“I guess but at least you didn’t have to worry about loving someone and getting hurt by them.”

I stared at him, “No you just had to worry about whether they were being faithful because you knew they didn’t love you!”

Josh looked at me and smiled, “I hate it when you make a valid point.”

“Well get used to it,” I kissed him. “So what happened with your grandparents? Obviously they did end up together.”

“Before I get to that.” He picked up the cross. “My grandfather didn’t have much money so he couldn’t prove he was worthy of my grandmother, so he decided to leave town.” Josh covered my mouth, “I know you didn’t want to hear that but wait. The night before he was going to leave, he snuck into my grandmother’s house, into her bedroom. While my grandmother slept my grandfather slipped a note and this cross onto her bedside table. Before he left he kissed her cheek and then slipped off into the night.”

“Ohhh,” I gazed up at him, smiling. He leaned down to kiss my lips as I asked, “What did the note say?”

He chuckled and kissed me. “It said, and I’m paraphrasing at best. ‘My darling Sophia by the time you read this I’ll be far, far away. It pains me to see your beautiful face every day and know that I will never be the man that you deserve, I will never be worthy of you. I will always cherish the memories and the brief happiness I felt when I held you in my arms these last two months. My only hope is that one day I can return and take my rightful place in your life, in your heart. I love you my darling, I will never forget you. Forever yours, Thomas.’”

Just hearing the words his grandfather wrote to his grandmother flow from Josh’s lips made me smile, but hearing those words and imaging how terrible it must have been for them, to know that they couldn’t be together. My eyes started to fill with tears, “Oh honey.” I threw my arms around Josh, pressing my face against his chest. He whispered words so soft and sweet in my ear as he stroked my hair.

It took a few minutes but I managed to pull myself together long enough to gaze up at him, “Your grandmother must have been crushed to wake up and read that.”

“She was. She told me that she didn’t leave her room for weeks; she didn’t see anyone, she cried for hours, she would get sick but she barely ate anything. It drove her parents crazy; they didn’t know what was wrong with her.” He took a deep breath, “From what my grandmother tells me her parents were so worried about her that they sent for the doctor to come to see her -”

“Was she pregnant?” I broke in.

He nodded, “Yes it seems my grandparents weren’t that willing to wait. My great grandparents were furious when they found out that the father wasn’t the man she was promised too. My grandmother’s fiancé found out and all hell broke loose. My great grandparent’s reputation was hauled through the mud along with my grandmother’s. They were so shamed by my grandmother’s behavior that they left town, packed up and moved in the dead of the night. They, of course, settled here and with my grandmother free and pregnant, she got them to start searching for my grandfather. About a month later they found him and brought him back to town, forcing the two of them get married.”

“So it turned out for your grandparents.” I grinned.

Josh frowned, “Well they did end up together but they had their share of hardships. My great-grandparents didn’t really help them out much, which they didn’t really expect. And they also lost the baby not long after they got married.”

I glanced at the cross, “I can’t imagine how much happiness they felt to finally be together, only to lose their baby right after.”

“I guess it was a horrible time period for them after they lost the baby. My grandmother wasn’t herself and my grandfather threw himself into his work. I was told by friends of theirs that they didn’t think their marriage would last, they were barely speaking to each other and hardly went anywhere together.”

“Is that where this comes into play?” I held up the ring that was also in the box.

Josh nodded, “It’s an eternity band.” He took the ring from me and looked at it. “When my grandparents’ marriage seemed to be at the breaking point, they were fighting all the time, there were rumors that my grandfather was after straying and that he got the other woman pregnant. He denies to this day even looking at another woman since he met my grandmother, he swears up and down that the rumors were started by someone who wanted to cause trouble between my grandparents just to push my grandmother over the edge.”

“What do you believe?”

“Anna, I don’t believe that he could’ve cheated. I’ve seen the way my grandfather acts towards my grandmother, he adores her. Every single story I ever heard about them blows the supposed cheating story out of the water; every single word spoken between the two of them, the looks and the touches when they think no one is looking reinforces my belief. And the woman that was supposedly pregnant by my grandfather? Never had a baby and doesn’t even know who my grandfather is!”

Josh held the ring up to me, “A year to the day that my grandfather walked into my grandmother’s life, he took her out for dinner. After dinner, he got down on one knee in front of the entire restaurant. Taking her hand he told her how much she meant to him, how much he loved her and how his life wouldn’t be empty without her in it. He pulled out this ring and held it up to her and said, ‘My darling Sophia, on our wedding day you promised to love, honor and obey me but today I need you to promise me something else.’ My grandmother says she thought he was losing his mind, ‘what else is there to promise?’ she asked him. My grandfather gazed up into her eyes, ‘I need you to promise me that you will forever be mine. That from this day on you will not only love and honor me but you will wear this ring and know that every moment you wear it, you carry my heart and soul with you.’”

“Oh good lord,” I couldn’t help but stare at Josh, “Your grandfather was something else.”

He grinned, “My grandfather wanted his wife to know how he felt, always.” I couldn’t say anything, it sounded almost too good to be true. Could a man in those days really be that much of a romantic, in public? “My grandmother told me that she told him she would wear the ring, his heart and soul and whatever else he wanted if he just got off his knees and stopped drawing attention to them.”

I laughed, “I like that! So how did you end up with these? Aren’t your grandparents still alive?”

Josh nodded, “Yes, they are both alive and well. And still very much in love. A few years ago it seemed like all of my grandparents friends were dying so they began to fear that they were going to die soon. They redid their wills and decided to give their grandchildren the stuff they wanted them to have then instead of waiting until they were gone. My grandmother gave me these and told me that when the right woman came along, I’d know what to do with them.”

“Oh,” I put the cross and the ring back in the box and closed it up again, handed it back to him.

“What’s wrong?” He took the box but his eyes were searching mine.

Pasting a fake smile on my face I shook my head, “Nothing’s wrong Josh.” How can I tell him that I wasn’t interested in anything that someone else wore?

“Anna don’t hand me that, I know there is something wrong.” He opened the box and unwrapped the cross and ring again. “Honey, I want you to have these. I want you to wear these until the moment that we decide to exchange vows in front of our family and friends.”

I shook my head, “Josh I can’t.”

All color seemed to drain from his face, “why not?”

“I won’t wear something that others have worn before me.”