The Widowing Fields
Myshuno Prompt: My founder/Spouse
Characters: Stuart and Evelyn Norrington
Notes: Inevitable Spoilers
Word Count: 575
Stuart breathed in the scent of fresh wheat and turned soil. The sun was warm on his shoulders and the breeze was both soothing and invigorating. It was a perfect day for working in the fields. Point of fact, his son Asher wasn't far off fussing with a broken till, his shirt off and slung over a well tanned shoulder. Back at the house Stuart could see the small form of his granddaughter Betta climbing the high branches of the bay tree. A hint of nutmeg in the wind let him know that his daughter in law Olivia was baking in the kitchen, his eldest grandchild, Moria, most likely by her side. And under the willow, behind the stable, he could just make out the form of his wife in the family plot.
Stuart sighed. This was his favorite place on earth but he could find no enjoyment because of his wife's sorrow. Evelyn wasn't doing so well these days. It was her silence that worried him most. The quiet sadness in her eyes that spoke to the well of misery inside. Stuart observed and lamented his helplessness. He missed her smile, her laugh... and the warmth of her embrace.
The only thing worse than the thought of his wife's death, was the equally excruciating thought of leaving this mortal plane without her. Stuart sighed again. He knew his time here was done but he simple couldn't bare to leave his family behind. Especially Evelyn. She was his other half, in this world and the next. He could never leave her alone. He would wait for her.
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Evelyn's fingers brushed the letters chiseled into the tombstone. The mound of earth beneath her feet was freshly stirred, the thought of which brought new tears to her already burning eyes. Why did she keep doing this to herself? There was nothing more to be gained by coming out here and staring at those cursed letters carved into that cursed slab of stone.
With renewed determination she brushed the wetness from her face and turned back toward the house. A child's laugh caught her attention. Betta was up in the bay tree waving to her father in the fields. Evelyn grimaced. Those fields. Stuart spent over thirty years working those fields in order to give his family everything he never had. And out of everything he gave, his laughter, love and enthusiasm for life were what she missed the most.
Asher was waving back and the tinkling of Betta laughing brought a bittersweet smile to Evelyn's face. All of this; the land, the house, the children, the laughter, the love and even the damn fields... all of it was Stuart's legacy. The one thing he'd wanted most in this life was to leave a piece of himself behind. Evelyn surveyed the house her husband had built for her and pressed a hand to her heart. He'd left more than a piece. He'd left behind a lifetime of memories, his presence lived on in everyone and everything he touched. Stuart Norrington would never be forgotten.
Evelyn smiled with watery eyes at the fields and inhaled the scents around her. When one thought about it that way, it all seemed less... sad somehow. Evelyn could only hope that she would leave the same legacy behind when her time came. She could only hope that it wouldn't be long.
Giving the fields one last look Evelyn whispered, “Wait for me beloved.”