Whispers of Lavender

al hugged under the arm. The dew still clung to the grass, and the lavender sparkled as though it had been powdered with st

ows just went on and on, a waterfall of pale purple swaying and glimmering with every wind. Even all these years since

tea, lettin

those lonely nights in her apartment, when the automobiles growled below her windows and the world would never seem to slow

cursive, each one dated season and year. All of it had been recorded by her grandmother, lavender combinations, fertile s

mming today. I think the flowers know w

sto

ruck her li

ia

gs had he walked these fields, as she did now? How many times had he cut sprigs to place in her

her, oblivious to her presence. She remembered planting this strip at age seventeen, arguing

er when he walked

rrupted by the soft cr

und, and there

forearms. He seemed completely at home here, like he'd grown up from the ground itself. Lavender

this early," he said, his voic

" she said. "The f

, stepping close

l. "You used to hum wh

an eyebrow

ok. "My grandmothe

"I didn't know sh

everything. You

me all of what I know about lavender. When she became ill, I carried it on.

I was coming back,

t she believed you

at tugged at her, hope, maybe. Regr

dirt from her knees. "I don't

ecide today," Elias

ated, the

he spot where he'd planted new last spring, where the earth had dr

e," he said. "It re

er the fights we've

the way we mad

flu

The village bell rang in the distance, the note ringing

ink of last sum

rded her.

ly. "Then why didn'

you told me not to. Because you had to go, and I hoped

gainst the pa

girl that walked a

ut maybe we're still meant to run into each other a

nder again, their fragrance inte

pped off a small sprig,

. "You alway

much it felt like bel

st stood there, patient and steady, like

ng any promis

or any," he repli

the rows of blooming lavender, L