The Promise

The walk to the wooden bench at the end of the garden seemed to be getting a lot further for Megan these days. She sighed as she sat down in the welcoming shade of the gnarled old apple tree. She thought back to when Tom had proudly planted it, together they’d watched it grow from a seedling into a fine tree, always giving the sweetest fruit, but now, age and a little neglect had begun to take its toll.
She looked up the garden towards the house, and a smile played across her face, ‘Their Little Piece of Heaven’ Tom always called it. The day they’d first seen it, they immediately fell in love with it, even though it was in need of a lot of work, it just felt right. Mind you, at the time it had seemed such an impossible dream to ever live here, after all they were saving every penny they could to get married, and buying any house would be difficult. Tom, without saying anything to her, had taken on some extra work, sold his beloved motor bike, and borrowed from his parents, until he’d got enough for the deposit together. On the day they were married, instead of going to her parents house, where she thought they were going to live, he took her straight here after the reception, walked her up to the front door, and simply said, “Welcome home.”
Tom was her first and only love, they’d met at school, both full of dreams and expectations for the future, and even though their friends had made fun of them, they carried on spending every minute they could together. It didn’t take long before they both knew that no matter what, they were meant to be together, and together they’d now stayed for over forty years. Their love for each other was always unquestioning and obvious for all to see.
He’d always been good for her in so many ways, she was impulsive, whereas he’d be dependable and practical, she was a dreamer, but he could keep her feet on the ground, and yet still find the ways to make her dreams a reality.
Tom had a way of making everything seem so easy. If she felt sad, he would find a way to make her smile, or if she felt worried, he would ruffle her hair, and tell her it would be alright, and it usually was. He was always there for her no matter what, and she knew she could depend on him for anything.
Dependable was probably the best word to describe Tom, she always thought of him in that way, and he never once let her down. Even their friends relied on Tom’s advice or opinions, because he seemed to have a natural ability to always know the right thing to do.
In the background she could hear the sound of children playing in the local school, their shrieks of excitement carried on the breeze, reminding Megan of her own family.
Their four children had all been born in this house, they’d played their games here, and then left to make their own lives from here. Now it was the turn of the grandchildren to come and play the same games, in the same places, all adding to the memories.
She glanced up at the overhanging branches, remembering the time when the three boys had tried to make a tree house, and how it collapsed, managing to take one of the main branches with it. When Tom came home, he said nothing, he just calmly went out into the garden, cleared the mess and then built them a secret den in amongst the shrubs, which they played in for years. Then there was the time when Elaine, their youngest, took to horse riding, she borrowed a friends pony, and left it to graze in the garden, where it took most of the flowers with it. Tom worked all that weekend clearing up, and getting it back to some sort of order, then without saying a word, he went out and bought her a horse of her own. In those days the whole place seemed to be permanently full of love, life, laughter and chaos.
Recently, she seemed to be reliving the memories that surround this place more and more frequently, in fact Tom had often jokingly told her off for living in the past so much lately, which he put down to her age. The trouble was everything she looked at had some special moment or emotion attached to it, even things once forgotten, seemed to be fresh in her mind now.
The warmth of the sun was making her feel sleepy and she gave in to the feeling as she settled back on the bench and let her eyes close. Somewhere close by, she could hear a bee buzzing as it went about its work, and from high up in one of the nearby trees, a lone pigeon called its relentless song. The strong fragrance of the nearby roses mingled with all the other sweet smells in the garden, into a heady summer cocktail. Through closed eyes she visualised the neatly trimmed lawn, and the blur of colour in the flowerbeds. Tom would be there in the background somewhere, probably pulling weeds or deadheading something, making sure that the whole place looked just so, like he always had. She revelled in the comforting warmth and feeling of security of the scene for several minutes, until she felt something brush against her hand.
She opened her eyes with a start, and brushed away an annoyingly persistent fly, then glanced slowly around the garden, letting her eyes adjust to the brightness of the sun. It had all changed, the grass wasn’t neat and trimmed at all, it was getting too long and full of daisies, the flowerbeds had lost both their colour and their battle with the weeds, but the worst thing for Megan, was that Tom was nowhere to be seen.
She could feel her anger building up, all those promises he’d made about being there for her, so where was he now? He’d always promised that they would grow old together, and that he would look after her, but how could he if he wasn’t here? The garden blurred as a tear began to fall, and then almost as quickly dried in the warmth of the gentle breeze.
Why did he have to pick now to go? Surely he could see that she couldn’t cope on her own, why was he so unfair? She would have to change her whole life, the house was too big and empty without him, and the garden, his garden, was becoming too much to handle, she wasn’t ready for this, besides which, without Tom it was only a house and a garden, nothing special.
Another tear coursed its way down her cheek. All the kids had said they would help her, which was fine, but they had their own lives to lead now, she couldn’t rely on them all the time. Anyway perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad, a small flat nearer to town might be better, and after all she would be closer to the shops wouldn’t she. She’d rehearsed all these lines and tried to convince herself that she would be OK on her own, but why did she have to be?
She dried her eyes, and the anger subsided, the reality was she knew that Tom had to go, despite her pleading with him, he had no choice. Just before he went, she had held him close in her arms, he’d half smiled, reached up and gently ruffled her hair, and told her it would be alright, then he closed his eyes and he was gone.
The doctors said it was his heart, and nothing could have been done, it just gave up. Perhaps if she’d had some warning, she could have changed his diet, or he could have taken some medication, but there was no warning. His heart, that was always so full of love for her, just gave up.
That was just over a month ago, and now, left to face life on her own, she was worried and a little scared, she knew that he couldn’t be there to make it alright anymore, despite his promise. Life would have to move on without him.
A gentle breeze stirred through the leaves above her head, she watched as it moved lazily on through the garden, pushing the grass as it went, disturbing a few insects and a butterfly. The breeze picked up again, only this time a little stronger, and she felt a shiver run through her. Perhaps it was time to go back indoors and leave the garden to its memories once again. This was always Tom’s place, and without him here, memories were all she had, and what use are they on your own?
She walked slowly back along the path, stopping at one of her favourite roses, and yet another moment from the past played through her mind. She bent to take in the perfume of the perfectly formed pink bloom, as she quietly said, “Tom, I really miss you.”
The breeze rustled through the leaves again, but this time it didn’t feel the same, it was warm and somehow comforting, and although it wasn’t strong, it ruffled through her hair in a familiar sort of way. Although she couldn’t explain it, in that instant, she felt his presence, not just memories, but he was in some way really there, and she just knew everything would be fine.
She knew she couldn’t leave this place, it was their place, ‘Their Little Piece of Heaven’. There weren’t just memories, Tom hadn’t left at all, he was here in the garden, he was on the breeze, he was everywhere, she wasn’t alone, he had kept his promise, and he would make sure she was alright.