Enduring Love, fiction short story

Writing contest- Enduring Love

This is my endeavor to the challenge of writng a fiction short story. Suggested by Billybuc. I hope you enjoy my story.

Mary was a little eight year old girl who lived on an old run-down farm in Southern Indiana. She lost her mother two years earlier and spent most of her day's working side-by-side with her father growing and tending watermelons.She only attended school in the wintertime.

She left home just before her eighteenth birthday, to a large city where she hoped to have a better life, have some much needed fun and see the city sites. She was not skilled in any kind of work except farming and cooking for her father. She noticed a sign on a small diner window that read, " Help needed, apply inside. " She was hired immediately. The proprietor noticed she was carrying a suitcase and asked if she needed a place to stay. She told him " yes " and was offered a one room above the diner. She was to open up at five o'clock each morning and close at two P.M.

Mary was a tiny girl with long silky black hair that cascaded down to her waist. She was shy which radiated a gentle kindness. She enjoyed her newly found freedom away from the farm. She went to the movies whenever she could afford it and she loved window shopping. One night she was sitting alone in a theater watching, ' Doctor Zhivago ' when a young man approached, asking, " Do you mind if i sit beside you? " She quickly nodded " Yes " He offered her some of his popcorn from his large container and scurried to buy her a coke. He introduced himself telling her his name was " Charles. " He was handsome with blond curly hair. He was thin but muscular. After the movie he asked if she would go have a coke with him at a little cafe down the street named ' Emerald Wells ' he said that it was his favorite hang-out, everyone was so friendly and the food was great, plus the juke box had the best music in town. They ordered a coke and and was just sitting enjoying the great atomosphere while listening to the juke box playing an Elvis song, ' Kentucky Rain ' He asked her to dance and she happily accepted. She felt warm and secure in his arms, he must have felt the same holding her close with closed eye's. Afterward he walked her back to the diner and lightly kissed her goodnight.

Each day after that night, he came to the diner to see her beautiful smile again.

One afternoon he asked if she would take a ride out in the country with him. He wanted to show her a house he inherited from his grandmother who had passed away a few months ago. Mary was excited to see it. When they drove up to the three story house, she gasped. It was so lovely with blue paint and a beautiful walk-in porch. The sidewalk was lined with striking green shrubbery and a pink flowering tree at the side porch entrance. When he unlocked the door and she stepped inside she was amazed at the uniqueness of the old beautiful furnishings which were vividly colorful and charming, perfect for this type of house. She ran through the house like a child on Christmas morning. Charles smiled at her childlike happiness.

They ventured outside and saw a white shed with double doors and criss cross windows, growing up on the side was a lovely blue climbing, flowering plant on a white trellis. Charles unlocked the door and watched mary's face when she saw the silver Mercedes-Benz for the first time, her eyes shining brightly. He explained the car was part of his inheritance from his grandmother.

They walked around to the back yard and saw a narrow, winding, snake-like river lined with tall graceful trees. He asked her if she liked the house she answered, " Oh yes, I love it. " He smiled, feeling for the first time that he would live here with her and have the family he always dreamed of if she would say, " Yes " to his marriage proposal.

On their way back to town they passed a craft market with people milling around under a white tent. They stopped to look around. Mary soon found a hand painted picture that she adored. Charles bought it for her, it was a picture of a little girl running through a field of clover, he told her that it reminded him of her back on her farm.

It was not long before he proposed and she whispered, " Oh yes, i will. "

They had a beautiful wedding in a lush grassy lot in the back yard near the wonderful winding river. Mary's father attended, plus many of the town neighbors who had known his grandmother well.

They had a happy and productive marriage with two sweet children, a boy Dennis and a girl Kathleen.

They found an old one room church to worship at and as the years passed, their greatest joy was watching the children thrive and grow up happy and contented. They loved to sit by the river in the evening and look at their beloved house, knowing they had made it their home-sweet-home.