You left university over that romance! We sent you to get an education, not to settle down! We were hoping for a decent country lass to join the family, my father roared.We thought a brief separation would cool my youthful passion, so at his request I enlisted.
Emma kept the house in order. She stripped old wallpapers, replaced the curtains, and even organised the loft shelves. Emma loved a tidy home; when everything was in its place she felt at peace.
In the farright corner of the pantry she discovered a tin box full of Victors letters. She hadnt opened one in years, and the cleaning slipped her mind. She read the first note, then the second, the third
Victor and Blythe had met at the Manchester Institute of Technology. Victor was a city boy; Blythe had come up from a farm in Lancashire.
She caught his eye with striking looks: long dark hair, brilliant green eyes, a slender frame.
They soon started seeing each other. For shy, quiet Blythe, Victor was a whirlwind. Every day he thought up new ways to win her favour. Hed leave a bunch of daisies on the dormitory door, appear at her window at night to wish her sweet dreams. Her room was on the ground floor.
Rowdy student parties, latenight walks and stolen kisses made the first year fly by. The pair were inseparable.
Then Victors studies fell into neglect. Hed never been keen on the grind of academia, and love had taken over. The college expelled him. He didnt mind.
Ill find a job, then finish my degree parttime. At least then I can marry you, love, he told Emma.
He took a job at a steelworks and told his parents he wanted to wed. Blythes folks knew little of the plan; she visited them a few times.
Victor expected his family to accept the news without protest. In fact, his parents had hoped hed marry the daughter of an old friend, a girl called Zoe. Neither Victor nor Zoe cared for the arrangement.
Victor believed he could persuade his parents, that they would see his love for Blythe and understand he couldnt live without her. But his hopes were shattered. The familys reaction was harsh.
You left university because of that love! We sent you to learn, not to marry! We were counting on a proper country girl for the family, his father repeated.
They decided to curb his hotheaded romance with separation. At his fathers urging Victor went off to serve in the army.
Blythe mourned her lost love. The only thing that steadied her were Victors letters tender, passionate missives he penned for her.
Then, without warning, their correspondence stopped. A month, two, half a year passed with not a line. Blythe felt adrift.
It happens. Feelings cool when youre apart. It must have been a crush, not true love, soothed a fellow student, Sam.
Sam was a mutual friend of Victors. Blythe didnt know that Sam had confessed to a friend that he loved her, and that he was now seeing her. He asked Victor to stop writing to Blythe, saying they were planning to marry.
Blythe accepted, threw herself into her studies, and began socialising with friends. Sam stayed close; hed been in love with her for ages, and Victors forced goodbye gave him a chance to step forward.
Sams care and devotion were genuine.
Let Sam be happy, at least, Blythe thought, and she agreed to his proposal.
She wanted to toss Victors letters away, but her hand would not move. She slipped them back into the tin and hid it out of sight.
Blythe started a new life.
Victors parents were quick to announce that Blythe had married Sam.
Time flew.
A decade later, Victor and Blythe lived in the same town, yet led parallel lives that never intersected.
Rumours reached Blythe that Victor had married not Zoe, but another woman and they had a son.
Blythes quiet, orderly life still lacked joy. She and Sam had two daughters; motherhood and work became her world, leaving little room for personal yearning. They each trudged through their days without enthusiasm, forgetting that life could be bright and fulfilling.
Thirtyfive years passed.
Blythes family fell apart. No matter how hard she tried, a marriage without love could not hold. Her husband felt she never truly loved him; he took a lover. Their daughters grew up, married, and led separate lives. Nothing tied them together any longer.
After the divorce, her exhusband confessed to Victor that he had orchestrated the separation between Blythe and Victor.
Victors own marriage had dissolved, leaving him alone.
Blythe opened the last of Victors letters. Tears and a faint smile came at once. Then a sudden urge seized her: she needed to know where Victor was now, how his life had turned out. She just wanted to see him, to speak.
She wrote to his old address, hoping a relative might forward it. Emma had always been decisive. She penned the note and invited him to meet at the café opposite her flat. Without overthinking, Blythe dropped the envelope into the nearest postbox.
The next morning she chastised herself: Why am I so foolish?
Victor, returning home, checked his mailbox. A letter? Such a thing was rare these days. He saw her name on the envelope and could hardly believe his eyes. He read it, and time seemed to rewind.
At the appointed hour he entered the café, heart fluttering. The room was empty save for a single table where a woman sat.
Blythe, Victor whispered, almost to himself.
Yes? she turned, eyes meeting his.
He recognised that gaze from all those years. It was her, the same Blythe hed loved. They talked, wept, and laughed together.
They left the café handinhand, promising never to part again.
P.S.Its been almost five years since that reunion. Victor and Blythe live as one, counting every day as a blessing.
True love never vanishes unnoticed. Now they are certain of it.