Youve quit university for that romance of yours! We sent you here to study, not to get married! We were hoping to bring a proper country lad into the family, my father would bellow, his voice echoing through the kitchen. Hed tried to halt my feverish infatuation by sending me off to the army, as any sensible father would.
Emily kept the house tidy. She plastered new wallpaper, swapped the drapes for fresh curtains, and set about straightening the upstairs loft. Emily loved order; when everything was in its place, her mind was at ease.
In the farright corner of the pantry she stumbled upon a battered tin box filled with Victors letters. She hadnt opened one in years, and the dust of neglect settled over her. She read the first, then the second, then the third
Victor and Emily had first met at Manchester Polytechnic. Victor was a city boy; Emily had come from a farm in Yorkshire.
She caught his eye with her striking looks: long dark hair, vivid green eyes, a lithe figure.
They began to see each other. For shy, placid Emily, Victor was a whirlwind. Every day he thought up a new stunt to win the pretty girls favour. He left bouquets on the door of her dorm room, slipped a note under her window at night to wish her good dreams. Her room was on the ground floor.
Rowdy student parties, latenight walks and stolen kisses made the first year fly by. They were inseparable.
Then Victor let his studies slide. Hed never been keen on grinding through textbooks, but love had taken hold. He was expelled. He didnt seem to mind.
Ill get a job, then finish my degree parttime. And Ill be able to marry you, my joy, he told Emily.
He found work at a steel plant and told his parents he intended to wed. Emilys parents knew little of the affair; shed visited them a handful of times.
Victor expected his family to receive the news with a smile. His father and mother had been hoping to link their son with the daughter of an old friend, Zina. Neither Victor nor Zina cared for that arrangement.
Victor believed he could persuade his parents, that they would see his love for Emily and understand he could not live without her.
But his hopes were dashed. They didnt understand. His father roared, Youve thrown away your education for this love! We sent you to learn, not to marry! We were hoping for a respectable country girl in our household!
To curb his reckless passion, his father demanded he enlist. So Victor left for his service.
Emily mourned the absence of her beloved. The only thing that kept her spirits up were Victors letterstender, passionate missives hed penned for her.
Then, without warning, the correspondence stopped. A month, two, half a year passed with not a line. Emily felt adrift.
It happens. Feelings cool in separation. It must have been a crush, not love, her fellow student Sam soothed her.
Sam, a mutual friend of Victors, had his own designs. Hed written to Victor, confessing his love for Emily and saying they were planning to marry. He asked Victor to quit his letters, lest they interfere.
Emily surrendered to her studies, threw herself into friendships. Sam was always nearby; hed long loved her, and Victors departure gave him the opening hed been waiting for.
Sams care and affection seemed genuine.
Let Sam have his happiness, Emily thought, accepting his proposal.
She tried to toss Victors letters away, but her hand wouldnt move. She tucked them back into the box and stored it out of sight.
Emily began a new life.
Victors parents soon announced that Emily had married Sam.
Time flew.
A decade later, Emily and Victor lived in the same town, but as strangers on parallel tracks.
Rumours reached Emily that Victor had marriedno, not Zina, but another woman entirely. Theyd had a son.
Emilys own life was steady but colourless. She and Sam raised two daughters, their children and work becoming her whole world. There was little room left for personal longing.
Both dragged their own burdens without joy, forgetting that life could still be bright.
Thirtyfive years slipped by.
Emilys marriage crumbled. No amount of trying could stitch together a love that never truly existed. Sam admitted to having an affair; the daughters grew up, married, and moved on. The ties that bound them frayed.
After the divorce, Sam confessed to Emily how hed engineered her separation from Victor.
Victors own family had fallen apart, leaving him alone.
Emily opened the last of Victors letters. Tears and a smile rose together. She suddenly felt an unbearable urge to know where Victor was now, how his life had turned out, to simply see him and speak a word.
She penned a note to his old address, hoping some relative might forward it. Emily was never one to hesitate. She dropped the envelope into the nearest post box without a second thought.
The next morning she scolded herself, Why am I so foolish?
That afternoon Victor, returning home from work, checked his mailbox. An envelope? Such a thing was rare these days. The name on the front made his heart skip. He tore it open, and time seemed to fold back on itself.
At the appointed hour he walked into the little café opposite his flat. His nerves fluttered. The room was empty except for a single table where a woman waited.
Emily, he whispered, almost ashamed.
Yes, she turned, eyes locking onto his.
He recognised that gaze after all these years. It was the same Emily, his Emily. They talked, wept, laughed, and let the years melt away.
When they left the café, they walked side by side, hands clasped, vowing never to part again.
P.S. Its been almost five years since that reunion. Victor and Emily live handinhand, counting each day as a blessing. True love never vanishes without a trace, and now they are certain of that beyond any doubt.