Forget Me Not

Morning sunlight bathed the wooded hillside in gold as a cool breeze from the ocean sent the patch of little blue flowers dancing merrily.  The two figures that stood among them, looking down on the town below and the waiting carriage, were not so happy.

"Dublin is so far.  Do ye have to go?"

Larna sighed and shook her head with a sad smile.  "Ye know dad.  Everything has to be perfect before he's happy with it.  That includes me, I suppose."  She took Clancy's big hands in her dainty ones.  "But don't ye be frettin' yer head over me, ye hear?  I'll be back.  Me aunt can't put up with me for long."  She gave him a wink and scrunched up her nose in a mischievous smile.  "I'll see to that."

He couldn't help but return her smile.  He squeezed her hands before bending down and plucking one of the flowers at their feet.  He held it out to her.  "Well, while ye're skippin' around that big bonny city with all it's lights and learnin', don't forget yer hometown country boy, eh?"

She took it and held it close for a moment, then tucked it behind one ear, letting it mingle with her long black hair.  She shook her head slowly.  "Oh, Clancy.  There are very few impossible things in this world.  But forgetting you..."  She leaned in and kissed his cheek.  "That's one of them."

His whole face turned almost as red as his hair.  

Her soft smile turned playful.  "Those ears of yours, they're the size of dinner plates.  They're burned eternally in my memory.  I could NEVER forget them!"

He laughed and opened his mouth to reply when a voice echoed up the hill.

"LARNA!"

Larna gave him one last glance, her green eyes full of regret.  "Goodbye."  She turned and ran down the hill, her black hair bouncing across her back, as if waving him one last farewell.

He stood there, frozen, watching her climb inside the coach and ride off, feeling with every clop of hooves, his heart being pulled further away.