Had it really been so long ago.... that they danced merrily by the sea?   Her heart told her it was only yesterday.... because the joyful memory beat so strongly still.

 

Angelina stood quietly by the shore... the girlish voices in her mind mingling with the waves.    Sophia was getting married she had said... and merrily they had danced for her future happiness... caught up in the song of the wind and the sea.

 

They had each had a special beau that summer.   Georgianna had been betrothed the longest and the wedding day fast approaching.   Sensing that all their lives were about to change forever they had snuck off from the engagement tea that was being given for her by her parents.   Girlhood was panting quickly at their heels, to be gone forevermore.  One last excursion before it left them completely drove their feet merrily across the dunes and sand almost as if they had no control of their footsteps.

 

What would happen to them in their future lives... would they be able to remain close friends during their marriages?  Or would life's paths separate them forever, making this their last joyful time together?    Constance... ever the more mature of the four,  spoke vehemently that it would never be that way for them.   They were sisters in spirit if not in flesh... and life could never truly separate them completely.

 

Now.... so many years later, the memory of that afternoon wrapped it's soul around Angelina as she stood alone,  knowing it would never be that way for them again.  Sophia, Georgianna, and Constance had all left her.   Turning back to return to her family waiting for her up the hill,  tears glistened on her cheeks.  Georgianna had been buried today.  And soon it would be her turn.   Her years were many now, and her steps much slower these days.   Constance words came back to her now... "life can never truly separate us.." and she smiled again.   When one is young... one forgets the separation death brings... if only for a time. 

 

Startled for a moment,  Angeline quickly turned her head back to the sea at the sound of floating laughter and for a fleeting moment she saw them... Constance,  Sophia, and Georgianna holding hands, gleefully twirling together in a circle... and she knew she too would indeed be with them once again... forever.

 

Till then... her life awaited her... and she smiled up into her husband's face as he reached out his hand to help her up the last few steps of the walkway.  

 

Parted, but not separated.  Angelina's tears were swept away by the winds from the sea and her spirit smiled within her.  In life, nor in death....our loved ones are never truly separated from us.  Constance was right after all.