Four

Laura stood and stretched her legs, setting the silver comb down on the chest of drawers in the twins’ room.

They whispered to each other that it didn’t seem like a ghost story at all, it seemed like a love story. Neither of them liked love stories.

And yet the full hunter’s moon shone in through the window, and there was something about Laura, in her black dress with its purple hem, that made the telling scary. And there was something about the words she used to tell the story that made them realize something bad was going to happen.

Laura sat down again, pulling aside the skirts of the black dress, and continued.

*   *   *

The love that Merle and Erik had for each other grew, and grew, until it consumed them both.

It was hard for them.

Erik was always busy, either fishing or spending hours mending his nets. It was not an easy way to make a living, and left little time for pleasure.

And Merle’s father watched her like a hawk watches a mouse in the meadow. He had sensed a change in her, and had sensed that something was going on. He was suspicious, and it became harder and harder for her to escape for even five minutes.

But they say that love will find a way, and they are right.

Love always finds a way.

And so they continued to meet, in secret, mostly late at night, when Merle’s father believed she was safely shut away in bed, and when Erik should have been sleeping so he had the strength to sail his boat the following day.

Very often they would meet at the top of the meadow, and, so as to avoid meeting anyone in the lanes, they would walk through the grass in the darkness, feeling their feet and the hems of their clothes getting soaked through.

When their feet were numb, they knew it was time to go home again, and they would part for another night.

One night, as they parted, Erik whispered something precious to Merle.

“Say that you will never leave me,” he said, holding her hands.

“I shall never leave you,” said Merle.

“Is it so easy to say?” Erik asked, surprised.

“It is, since it is you I speak of,” Merle answered. “I will never leave you. No matter what happens, or where you go, or what you do. I will never leave you.”

“But it might not be so easy,” Erik said. “Our love is forbidden. It might become impossible for us to be together.”

Merle shook her head.

“I will find a way,” she said. “I will always find a way.”

*   *   *

That night, Merle slept deeply, but her dreams were strange and troubled.

She slept late into the morning, and her father, growing worried about her, came into her room. She did not wake.

He stood, looking down at his only child, and then his eyes fell upon her clothes, hanging over the back of a chair. He saw something and raised an eyebrow.

The hems of her skirts were soaking wet, which was odd, because when she had said good night to him the night before, they had been dry.