The sun is bright and shimmering through the trees, rays of sunbeams dance over me. The forest is vast, and the trees seem to go on forever, the darkness getting deeper and deeper.

I look around taking in the tall trees, the green undergrowth and the shadows deeper within.

Distracted, I wipe my hand over the fallen tree trunk I am sitting on. I feel faint indentations and looking down I see a heart carved there. I smile as I softly follow the outlines with my fingertips. Devlin and I carved it here, it seems a long time ago.

After the longest while, I take a deep breath and stand up, following the pathway out of the forest.

I am almost out of the forest, seeing the glimmer of green rolling hills through the many tree trunks, when I hear someone call my name and turn.

My heart jumps to my throat when I see him and I call to him joyously, “I thought you weren’t coming today. I have been waiting for ages.”

He laughs, surprise lighting up his face. “Would I miss spending a day with you-certainly not.”

“I was just going to go and look for you,” I say as I skip back to him. As he gets closer, I smile. I see his dark hair falling over his forehead and down so that the tips just brush his shoulders, his full lips match the colour of his rosy cheeks perfectly, he is sunburned, his jaw strong. He has the features of an angel. I look into his violet blue eyes and sigh softly.

He scoops me into his arms, laughing exuberantly and he swings me around, my long dark hair waving out into the wind.

I lean my head back, enjoying the wind on my face, my laughter weaving through the trees, bouncing back to my ears.

He puts me down, looking at me intently and I run my hands over his muscular arms.

“You are so silly.” I laugh.

“A silly little thing called love,” he agrees, his eyes laughing.

I smile. “So, what shall we do today, silly little thing?”

“Let’s go horse riding,” he suggests.

“That sounds like an excellent idea,” I agree.

He takes my hand and leading me along the narrow path, we walk into the sunshine.

Letting him go, standing on top of the hill, the whole valley stretched out before me, rolling hills disappearing over the horizon into the hazy distance, and while Devlin walks on, I open my arms wide and look up at the sky, letting the sun shine on my face.

“Hey sun-goddess,” he calls from where he stopped, waiting for me.

I laugh and run to him, into his arms.

He holds me tight and kisses me on the forehead. “Come.” He pulls me by the hand down the hill.

“You are always so impatient,” I reprimand him.

“And you always want to stop to smell the roses. The same sun as yesterday, the same grass, everything is the same.”

“No, it is not the same, every day is different and special, never to be taken for granted.”

He looks at me puzzled. “Where did that come from?”

I laugh. “I don’t know.”

We walk to his house, a wooden structure with a grass roof. Behind the house, there are two horses grazing. The horse, I usually ride when I sneak away from home, is chocolate brown, while Devlin likes to ride on the statuesque white stallion.

Devlin saddles the horses, while I lean against the shoddy fencing and I stare at him pensively. It feels as if I have not seen him in the longest time, yet I know I met him yesterday in our usual place by the fallen tree trunk where we have spent endless hours talking softly.

He turns back to me and raises his eyebrows questioningly. “Ready?”

Gracefully I mount my horse and then I lean forward to bury my face in her mane. I take a deep breath and pat her on her neck taking the reins into my hands.

As soon as Devlin is on his horse, he nudges him and lurches forward. Galloping away, he yells, “Come slow one, see if you can catch me today.”

I nudge my mare. She is obviously not as fast as the massive white stallion, but we manage to keep up. We ride far, never meeting another person and when Devlin stops, he slides off his horse and waits for me, while smiling and pretending to be impatient.

I reach him and dismount, jumping down onto my feet.

We leave the horses to graze and sit in the grass beside them, the daisy-scattered grass rippling in the gentle breeze.

Devlin puts out his arm and gently he pushes me backwards, until I am lying on my back. He lies down next to me and stares up at the blue sky for the longest time. Suddenly he asks seriously, “Have you ever tried to find the words to say something, but no matter what you think of saying, you know it might come out wrong?”

“No.” I laugh.

“I am trying to be serious here.” A quick frown flashes between his eyes.

I try to stop laughing, but I cannot get rid of the grin on my face.

He sighs. “Okay, fine. I am just going to say it.” He sighs deeply again, yet he says nothing and just continues staring up at the sky.

CONTINUE READING