The Promise
“I didn’t think you’d be here.” Leilah hugged her knees to her chest and kept her face averted. She heard his approach and recognised the soft footfall.
“I got worried about you.” His deep inhale sounded loud in the silence of the riverbank and Leilah squeezed her eyes closed. She sensed their covert meetings coming to an end and steeled herself for the slice of pain to run rampant through her chest. She didn’t want it to stop, her addiction to him both sweet and painful. He knelt next to her and stretched out a tentative arm, resting it across her shoulders. “I know it’s daylight, but it’s our special place. I knew you’d come.”
“Someone might see.” She wiped her face on her knee and heard his tee shirt rustle as he spun around to look.
“Na. I made sure.” He pulled her in close and she let him, relaxing into his armpit despite sensing the finality of their relationship. She loved his masculine scent, but today it pained her.
“Just say it,” she sniffed. “Say it and go.”
“Did Malcolm know about us?” he asked, kissing the side of her head.
Leilah swallowed. “Yes. That’s not what I meant. You want to stop seeing me, don’t you?”
His brows furrowed and confusion crossed his face. “No! Do you?”
Relief coursed through her veins and she crumpled like an empty sack. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she burrowed into his hair. “No.”
“Idiot.” His kisses felt tender and healing, brushed across her skin like a thousand gentle, ticklish feathers. He hauled her into his lap. “I just knew. When you said about the binoculars and the underwear, I knew he’d found us out.”
“Would you have killed him?” Leilah pushed herself upright and stared into eyes she adored. His brow furrowed and he answered without pausing.
“Hell yeah!”
Leilah sighed. “Then I’m glad you didn’t know.”
He nuzzled her neck and breathed sunshine into her bones. “I’ve applied to Auckland. The others did too. We’ll get away from this stupid hick town and start afresh. Get good careers and never come back.” Leilah smiled into his kisses and breathed relief. His voice sounded muffled beneath her lips. “Will you marry me?” Birds hopped in the grass nearby and a kingfisher plunged into the stream with a splash as he spoke. She nodded without spoiling the moment with words. “I made you this.” He reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out an intricate daisy chain formed into a tiny ring. He looked almost embarrassed as he balanced it in his palm.
“I love it.” Leilah slipped it over her ring finger and admired the bobbing white flower heads, their tiny leaves interspersed with veins of pink.
He tickled her waist and she giggled, rolling over in the long grass with him, her problems forgotten in the throes of an innocent teenage love which would surely last forever. They couldn’t know the temerity of their actions or the bitter consequences which would one day come knocking. They’d made it this far on luck alone. Great sadness hung overhead, staying its hand for a while longer for when it descended, it promised to ruin both their lives.
A few kilometres away in the bush, curious fingers poked around in the leaves at the back of the cave. They caressed the hidden object and knew it had moved.