The Long Way Around a Love Story

The sky was dark, as it always was in Washington this time of year. The state was altogether dreary and unassuming, but hidden within pockets of rolling green hills and sprawling forests, magic older than time danced in the air. Far away from civilization, a cabin rested on the crest of a hill, overlooking a small lake where the water was now frozen over. Inside the cabin, the fire roared, and three children sat cross-legged on the floor. They watched their parents and grandparents, uncles and aunts, and the occasional older cousin hurry around the kitchen, busy with the task of cleaning up dinner.

An old woman, crowned with age, watched the children with a smile. She remembered a time when every single person in the crowded kitchen had watched adults hurry with the same confusion. The children whispered among themselves, trying to decide the reason for the bustle and why there was no smile on the grown-ups’ faces. They decided they’d understand when they were older and wiser, just like their parents were now. The woman doubted that; she herself had never understood why everyone rushed around as if the world would end that very moment. One of the children crawled over and put a hand on her knee.

“Grandma?” Her little voice sounded unsure. “Would you tell us a story? Mommy’s busy, and I don’t want to play.”

The woman set down her knitting needles and gave the girl her crinkled smile. Abby was the youngest, but she saw more than the other two children combined. She never complained and had big brown eyes that stared straight into your soul.

“Of course, little one.” She turned to the other two. “What about you? Do you want to hear a story?”

Gracie and Mack’s heads perked up at the mention of a story. They crawled over to the rocking chair and sat with rapt attention at their grandmother’s feet. She thought for a moment about which story she ought to tell; finally, the perfect one came to mind.

“Alright,” she began. “Once upon a time, long ago, there was a woman named Grace. Now, she worked in the huge factories that helped supply the country during World War II, when all the men were away fighting in Europe. Grace was in love—”

“Ewww!” Mack exclaimed. “That’s gross, Grandma.”

Abby glared at him for interrupting the story.

“I’m trying to tell a story, Mack. This is just how it goes, now hush.” She laughed. “Now, where was I? Oh, yes. He was tall and handsome and chivalrous, and he was fighting very bravely in the war. She feared for him every day and prayed that he would come home alive. At long last, the war was won, and day after day, the surviving soldiers arrived back in the country. And day after day, Grace waited.”

Abby’s little face was scrunched with concern, already scared for Grace and her love.

“One day in early spring, a man showed up at her door. He looked older, more tired, but it was him. It was Grace’s sweetheart. ‘Michael!’ Grace exclaimed, relief flooding every bit of her soul. It seemed like a dream, being there in his arms again.”

Mack’s nose wrinkled.

“Grace and Michael had three children and lived in a beautiful cottage in the woods, not too far from the factory where Grace used to work. Now, two of their children were angels. Perfect grades, quiet demeanors, serious faces, everything a parent could hope for. But the youngest—”

“Grandma, where is this story going?” Gracie asked, confusion and annoyance creeping into her voice. At ten years old, she was beginning to think she was too old for stories by the fireside.

“Grandma only just started!” Abby exclaimed. “I want to hear the whole story!”

She clutched her teddy bear to her chest and gave her sister a sad little look. Gracie, who had begun to walk away, sat back down with a defeated expression.

“Oh, please continue for her majesty,” Gracie droned.

“Of course,” said Grandma. “Now, um, where was I?”

“The youngest child,” Mack piped up, racing to be the first to answer.

“Right,” Grandma backtracked. “Grace and Michael had two perfect children, but the youngest, well, she was a different story altogether.” Grandma chuckled. “Elanor was a dreamer. Her head was always in the clouds, and that got her into loads of trouble. She would disappear into the woods for hours and come back babbling about fairies or bears or dancing river spirits. Grace was in over her head trying to figure out what to do with little Elanor. Her mother told her that the overactive imagination would fade with time, and in the meantime, to make sure she didn’t hurt herself. Grace did what her mother told her, and for a little while, Elanor’s imagination seemed less of a problem.”

“Grandma?” Abby interrupted. Her big brown eyes were wide with fear and hurt.

“Yes, dear?” she replied.

“Is it bad to have an o-o-over-overactive i-imag-imagination?” Abby stumbled over the question. Her grandmother’s face softened.

“Of course not,” she promised. “Keep listening, you’ll see. Now, over time, Elanor’s imagination only grew. She never stopped dreaming of far-off lands, but her favorite of all of these was space. The thought of it excited her. Millions of miles of unexplored galaxies, thousands of possibilities. It was all so fascinating. But it was the year she turned eighteen that our story really began. So please, you three, no more interruptions.”

The rain pattered steadily outside as Elanor blew out her candles. Her mother smiled happily, the corners of her eyes crinkling in the way they always did when she had something on her mind. Elanor tilted her head.

“What’s wrong, Mom?” she asked. Her mother gave a small shake of her head.

“I’m just worried about you leaving for college,” Grace answered. “You know you could stay here, right? Marry a nice young man? Oswald’s kind and successful enough.”

Elanor rolled her eyes.

“Oswald’s a friend, Mom. He’s in love with someone else anyway.”

Elanor wished her mom would stop pressuring her about marriage. She was only eighteen, and she didn’t have to get married right away. Then there was the whole college debate. Her mother insisted that getting a degree was a man’s job, while her father was just glad she wasn’t signing up for the military. No matter how many times Elanor argued that her mom had worked at a factory back in the day and that plenty of women were going to college, her mother still loathed the idea.

Abigail, her sister, stabbed a piece of cake with her fork.

“Father, Ellie can do whatever she wants, right? Just as long as she doesn’t do anything stupid?”

Abigail’s dark eyes fixed on her father, who was reading his newspaper and trying to blend in with the wall. He always hid when Elanor and Grace were arguing. He looked up like he’d just been caught.

“I think I’ve said that,” he responded, looking at his wife with a slightly nervous expression.

Abigail waved her hands as if her father had just settled everything.

“There. See? Your husband has no problem with Ellie going to college,” she concluded.

Elanor smiled. Abigail had been the peacekeeper of the family since they were children. Five years older and ten times wiser than both her siblings.

Josh, Elanor’s brother, peeked in from the kitchen.

“Are they having the college argument again?”

“Shouldn’t you be worrying about getting home to your wife?” Elanor snapped. It annoyed her how clueless Josh could be sometimes, and how this conversation had a designated name.

Josh grabbed a plate and plopped down at the table.

“I will, after I finish this cake.”

Elanor laughed at the comment. Josh was always hungry.

Two weeks later, Elanor stood at the steps of the most daunting place she had ever seen. Harvard Yard was huge, not to mention the fact that Elanor would be studying under Harvard professors, some of the most renowned men in the country. She felt she might explode with excitement.

Josh and Abigail stood behind her, the former with his hands shoved in his pockets and the latter with an awed expression written across her usually somber face. Grace held her husband’s hand like a lifeline, on the verge of tears.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” she asked. “It’s still not too late to back out.”

Elanor hugged her mother reassuringly.

“I’ll be fine, Mom. This is what I want. Remember?”

She sighed when her mother shook her head. She whispered a quick “I love you” in her mother’s ear and said goodbye to the rest of her family. After they had driven away, she stood at the entrance of the campus. Her mind imagined a thousand possibilities, fantasies just waiting to come true. She gripped her suitcase tighter and exhaled slowly. With her life ahead of her and her determination alongside, she walked onto the campus with her head held high.

Grandma paused, her throat sore from all that talking. The children looked confused and a little upset.

“That’s it?” Gracie asked.

“Mom, you can’t be serious,” Adam added.

The rest of the family was starting to gather in the living room. Grandma laughed softly.

“Patience, all of you,” she scolded. “I was just resting my throat. A love story isn’t told in two minutes. And this is much more than that.”

“Wait? This is a love story? You didn’t tell us that!” Mack whined.

Abby just stared at her grandmother, waiting for her to continue. Grandma could see the cogs in her little brain working, trying to piece together the clues in the story she was telling. She treated everything like a puzzle, but this one appeared to have stumped her.

Grandma decided it was high time she continued. She waved a hand in the air, and the entire room fell silent.

“Right. So Elanor started life at Harvard, and she loved it. Though the rules were strict and the boys were as stupid as rocks when it came to socializing, her professors taught well, and she managed to excel in her classes. Every night after she had finished her studies, she’d write for hours about a space traveler, a robot sidekick, and adventures that were both laughable and action-filled. The longer Elanor stayed at Radcliffe, the better it became. She began to make friends not only with her roommate, Ella, but also with the other women and men in her building. Life began to fall into a slow and easy rhythm. It was during the late fall of her second year that something truly interesting happened.

Elanor was walking home from a study session at the library, book bag slung over her shoulder, hair falling wildly around her face, and humming a soft tune. Her head was in the clouds, the world around her a figment of her imagination. Suddenly, someone bumped into her and sent her sprawling to the ground. Her book bag was rid of its contents and flung into the road.

“Hey!” she exclaimed angrily.

A hand reached down to help her.

“Sorry about that. I guess I wasn’t focusing. Here, let me help you pick your stuff up.”

Elanor looked up into the biggest, sweetest pair of brown eyes she had ever seen. The rude retort she had planned died in her throat.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, hurrying to pick up all her books.

The boy handed her the rest with a kind smile.

“No problem. It’s my fault, really, for running into you.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “I’m David, by the way.”

“Elanor,” she answered. She stood up and brushed off her skirt, slightly embarrassed.

“Are you a Radcliffe student by any chance?” David asked, also looking slightly nervous.

“Yes, actually,” she answered, surprised. “I’m a physics major.”

He nodded.

“I’m in a few classes with you.” His face was definitely a little red now, but that was probably from the cold. “I was wondering if you would want to join a study group I’m putting together. I promise it’s not all guys or anything weird,” he chuckled nervously.

Elanor took a moment to process what he had just said. She felt a little bad that she had never noticed him before.

“That would be wonderful,” she told him. After all, what could be the harm?

When she got back to her dorm, she had to listen to Ella scream for an hour because she just had to tell her flirty best friend about an interaction with some random boy on the street.

Over the next few months, David and Elanor became good friends. Sometimes they’d study together by themselves; sometimes the study sessions turned into game nights. And every time, it wasn’t some crazy, creepy thing. It was just wholesome fun. Elanor became more devoted to her studies than ever because now she had David to support her. She found that the more time she spent with him, the more she thought about him, and of course, Ella took advantage of this fact.

“Just imagine,” she said one afternoon. “A true college romance. A revolutionary girl who defied her parents’ wishes—”

“But I didn’t.”

“—and a smart, kind boy who thinks the world of her! It’s so adorable!”

Elanor rolled her eyes. Ella was a hopeless romantic and had been since the moment Elanor met her.

“That’s not even what’s happening, Elle. We’ve known each other for years, and never once has he expressed that sort of interest in me.”

“Yes, he has. You’re just too oblivious to see it!”

“No, you’re just delusional,” Elanor argued.

They had just turned the corner of the cobblestone path when none other than David appeared next to them.

“Hello, ladies,” he grinned. “What did you think of yesterday’s science lecture?”

“It was torture,” Ella groaned.

Elanor had actually enjoyed it, even if it wasn’t her major. She loved learning.

“Oh well,” David sighed. “Why don’t I give you a break from Elanor here tonight, and you can rest or party or something?”

The biggest grin spread over Ella’s face.

“That sounds amazing, doesn’t it, Elanor? You’ll go with David tonight to give your best friend a nice rest?”

She batted her eyelashes sweetly.

Elanor rolled her eyes and turned to David.

“That sounds great.”

David grinned and then realized he had to do something, and ran off. Ella watched him go and gave Elanor a sly look.

“See?” she asked smugly.

“Grandma, stop. This is getting weird,” Mack said, his nose wrinkled with disgust.

Gracie shoved a hand over his mouth.

“No, no, no,” she scolded. “She’s just getting to the good part.”

Grandma smiled. Yes, I am, she thought.

“That night, when Elanor appeared at the library, David wasn’t there. At first, she was confused, and then she was worried. What if something had happened to him? She sat on the library steps and fidgeted with the cuffs of her jacket anxiously. The slightest tap on her shoulder sent her whirling. Behind her, David stood with a bouquet of poppies, her favorite, which she had only mentioned to him once, offhandedly.

‘Want to go for a walk with me?’ He smiled his dumb, goofy smile.

Little did she realize that moment defined the rest of her life. And while she worked at NASA after graduation, she was happy because she had David to come home to. When things got hard, Elanor remembered that autumn evening when her life changed forever, all because of David and those flowers.”

“That was it?” Gracie complained. “So we know about a cool woman who got married. That’s not very interesting.”

She went to get up, but little Abby pulled her back down.

“It wasn’t,” she murmured. “It wasn’t just some big person’s story. It was Grandma’s.”

“Sure,” Mack droned. “Whatever you say, sis.”

He and Gracie left the room, but Abby just sat there, clutching her teddy bear and smiling. Elanor chuckled. David had always figured things out before she did. Abby was the same way.

“You’re going to do big things someday, sweetheart,” she whispered.

Abby’s mother dragged her off to bed, and the rest of the family slowly emptied the cozy living room. But Elanor stayed, remembering. When the snow started to fall, she was the only one there to see it.

David had always loved snow.