Aveline’s POV

I wake up early in the morning, get dressed, and go downstairs to find Lorand.  He’s in the kitchen, struggling to read an old recipe in the dim light.

“Good morning.  What are you doing?”

He turns around and hugs me.  “Good morning. I was just trying to make breakfast.”

“But you don’t know how to cook.”  I recall him nearly burning down my house when we were ten because he insisted on making pastries.

“I want to learn.”

“I’ll help you.”  I take the recipe and read it.  It’s a bread recipe. “‘Three eggs’.  Do we have three eggs?”

“Not yet.  I’ll go get some.”  He goes outside with a basket and comes back a few minutes later with ten eggs.

“Thank you.  Now watch me.”  I crack two of the eggs in a bowl.  “Your turn.”

Lorand cracks the egg perfectly.

“Good job!”

Soon we’re putting the bread in the oven.  I’m so proud of him!

Martha comes downstairs and rushes over to us.  “Oh dear! You might burn something!”

I smile.  “It’s all right.  We were just making bread.”

“I’ll take it from here.  You two can go play outside or something.”

Lorand takes my hand, and we go to the fort in the forest.  It feels empty here without Dane and Harriet, but also peaceful and relaxing.  I lay my head on Lorand’s shoulder and sigh.

“I haven’t felt so happy in a long time,” I tell him.

“Me neither.”

“I feel safe with you.”

Lorand kisses my hand.  “And I promise I’ll keep you safe forever.”

His words bring tears to my eyes.  “Oh Lorand…”

“You were my childhood best friend,” he says.  “Do you remember what happened when we were six years old?”

“I remember one time we climbed a tree in the garden.  My dress ripped a little at the hem. It was my favorite dress, and I was really upset about it, but you held me there in that tree and calmed me down.  You said you loved me. I said I loved you too and that I wanted to marry you.” It has always been one of my favorite memories. It used to be funny, then melancholy, and now it's romantic.

Lorand smiles.  “Have I ever told you what I did after you left?”

I shake my head.

“I went to my closet and found a suit to wear to our wedding.”

I tear up at this.  I picture little Lorand searching for the perfect outfit, wanting to look just right, and I melt.

“Lorand!  Aveline!”

We get out of the fort and stand up.  I hold my breath as Lorand gives me a kiss on the cheek, then let it go.  He laughs softly.

“Breakfast!”

“We'd better hurry and get there before there's not enough,” Lorand says.

But before I can run, he scoops me up and dashes toward the cottage.

“Lorand!” I cry, laughing.

He smiles.

He carries me through the door and sets me in a chair, then sits next to me.  I'm still giggling, my heart beating out of control from the thrill. Lorand, please carry me again someday!

“Bread,” Martha says, putting a piece on each of our plates.  “Thanks to Aveline and Lorand for making the dough.”

“Thanks to Martha for cooking it,” Lorand replies.

She smiles and gives us the rest of our food.  Lorand and I hold hands. I guess it’s obvious, since everyone around the table is looking at us and smiling, but we don’t mind.  We’re free now.

Charlotte whispers something to Nellie about a wedding.  Lorand’s blush lets me know that he heard it too. He squeezes my hand.

“What are you going to do on your first day?” Millie asks.

“I’m not sure yet,” Lorand says.  “What do you want to do, Aveline?”

“I’m not sure either.  But we’ll find something.”

That afternoon, Lorand and I go out to the woods with a book Charlotte let us borrow.  We sit side by side in the fort to read.

“‘Chapter 1,’” says Lorand.  “Better listen.”

“I am listening, otherwise the pages I’m reading won’t make any sense.”

He laughs.  “You sound like Ruth.”

I smile at him, and he shakes his head and looks back down at the book.  “‘Chapter 1. It was only a few days before the coronation of Princess Magnolia Tulip when…’”

I wake up with my head on Lorand’s shoulder.  The book is lying next to him in a heap, probably dropped when we got too tired and bored to keep reading it.  Of course, we won’t tell Charlotte. She told me it’s one of her favorites.

Lorand is still sleeping peacefully.  Should I wake him? No, I don’t want to be rude.  I’ll just wait.

Soon he opens his eyes.  “Hello.”

“We fell asleep,” I tell him, laughing a bit.

“Yeah.”  He yawns, and we grab the book and stand up.  “I’ll bring this back to the cottage.”

He runs to the cottage and back, breathing heavily when he returns.  I hug him. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice some nice wildflowers - blue and pink and gold and purple and white, so I point them out to him.

“We should pick bouquets for the grandmothers,” I suggest.

He beams.  “Yes! But what would we tie them with?”

I rip a bit off the hem of my dress.  His eyes widen.

“No no, your dress is far too fancy… we can use my shirt instead.”

“It’s all right, this is my plainest dress, and the green will look pretty.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.”  I smile at him and tear six more ribbons from my dress.  It’s not too bad, and Lorand seems relieved that my dress isn’t completely in shreds.  I hold the ribbons in one hand as we pick the flowers, laying each bouquet on the ground so we can tie them.

“Perfect,” we whisper as we finish.

We kiss before gathering them up and returning to the cottage to give them out.

“You sweethearts!” Millie says, wrapping both of us in a tight hug.

“Thank you,” says Ruth, hugging us too.  “The gold ones are my favorite!”

“You’re so kind!” says Lilac.  “Thank you!”

“Thank you dearly,” Nellie says, smiling.

“I’m going to put these right by the window,” Martha says.  “So beautiful! Thank you!”

“You both are so thoughtful!” says Charlotte.  “I think I might press these so I can keep them forever!”

Gladys looks at her bouquet.  “Appreciate the gesture, hate the flowers.”  But she hugs us anyway.

I don’t think we could ever be sad here.