The Meaning of Love

I thought I knew the woman I married. We had been friends first, since childhood even, and one night after a few too many shots, she finally confessed her feelings. I was too much of a coward to do it myself, so we spent years unhappy, each too afraid to tell the truth. Did that make me a liar? Was every word I said to her before that night untrue? I think the answer might be yes, but I hate to think of myself that way.

Which brings me back to the present. We had gotten married two years ago, in the forest. Alone. We signed the paperwork and gathered the necessary witnesses in the courthouse. It is a lovely building, but Jennifer's heart belongs to the woods by her old house almost as much as it belongs to me. I hold the beating thing in my hand, still surprised that she had so eagerly given it to me. If that isn't trust, I don't know what is.

And yet, some things still surprise me. In the dim candlelight, I catch glimpses of her ice-blue eyes turning red. She sunburns easily, and almost never goes out except at night. I put it down to the lighting, to her fair skin and Scandinavian heritage. I don't know what she is, but I know I love her. Every odd thing about her. And if someday it comes to pass that she loses control of herself, I will love her from beyond the grave. I will love her pearly white ghost and she will love mine somehow, some way. I truly believe that. She will come back to her senses, of that I am sure. And in her embrace I know I will find something to give my heart to. And if she doesn't love me anymore, I will still have her translucent heart to hold.

So if that day comes to pass, and she sucks the blood from me, at least it will be for her that I bleed. What better way to end my life, then sacrificing it all for my beautiful wife. I can't imagine a better fate, then being the thing she needs for her life to be sustained. Isn't that what it is? Isn't that trust, devotion, love. If that isn't what it means to hold someone's heart and let them hold yours, I don't quite know the meaning of that perfect word, except that people use it to describe this feeling. I would do anything and everything to hold on to her, even when we both have forsaken this flawed earth, lovely as it may be. That is the meaning, as far as I'm concerned. And I hope she loves me like she loves the forest and the sea.