And She Said 'No'.

And she said 'No'.

The ring fell of my hand, silence fell, more profound than the absence of sound made by the diamond shattering on the tiles.

"We cannot... I cannot be with you, Jose", Marianne spoke, her voice freighted with gravity.

"Tell me why, my love?" I pleaded with all sincerity.

"Laws, fate, the universe... Ours stars do not align, there is no shared path to walk. You paint a future so vivid I can almost touch its curtains and taste its tea".

She turned her gaze to me, full of starry sorrowful knowing, "But you only see the path. You do not feel the tide".

"What tide?" I breathed, confusion battling with despair. "I love you, Marianne, and I know you feel the same about me, and what possibly matters pushing us against how we feel?"

"Everything! I am with a child" Marianne cried.

Cold vapour rose from the ground leeching the warmth in my marrow. I felt my heart lose it's measured beat and began to gallop, causing me to clutch my br£ast fearing my flesh would burst. I gasped, but my lungs failed to draw in air.

"Jose, Jose", she called my name, her voice leagues away was laced with alarm.

I was having a panic attack, my mind shattered, my teeth were chattering, my heart dropped, my eyes shut, this was not my supposedly end.

"She is to be your wife", I heard a voice say. "I am with you, and you will be with her". It sounded so calm, reassuring and of peace. And then I knew, the future, the breaking world would bend to our current. And my eyes fell awake.

Counting my breaths, the roars in my ears began to subside, the crumbling universe settling back to its proper place, the trembling now a mere quiver, as I finally lift my head to view the new world.

"The prophecy, it is to be fulfilled by this child I am to bear, and I wish to be alone to carry this weight" Marianne whispered, tears in her own eyes.

She got up the park bench, and headed to board a bus. I laid shock and bewildered, limbs paralyzed. A bus halted, she got on and I watched until she was no longer in view.

It hit me, the realization to be forever with her, spending every waking moments together.

My muscles contracted, my brain charged into action, words danced in my head, instructing me to get on the bus and declare it all.

Irrational thoughts in mind, I perched on the saddle of a rattling Raleigh borrowed from a twelve year old.

Cold seeped through my tweed jacket, however, my eyes were fixed on the bus twenty yards ahead.

Clunk, I pushed down on the pedals as the bike chain protested. The bus, with its groaning diesel engine slowed. My lungs burned.

"My apologies", I weaved around a startled pedestrian with grocery bags shouting breathlessly.

The bus indicators did not flash, it was stopping for traffic not the stop. Now! I pulled every ounce of football athlete stamina into a desperate surge.

I drew level with the rear platform, then the middle doors. An elderly woman in a huge cap on the platform gave me a bemused look. With a gasp, I flung himself from the bike, letting it clatter against a bollard, and leaped onto the platform, grabbing the pole for dear life.

Passengers glanced up, and there she was. Marianne starring through the window, her crystal blue eyes taking the world in a different perspective. I walked the unsteady aisle as the bus lurched forward. I stopped by her seat, got on my knees and poured my heart out.

"You have me. I wish to be the arms that soothe you to sleep, the melody that wakes you up in the morning, the eyes you stare into for hope. I seek to be your everything, and we would make the most beautiful family on Earth".

I spoke from my heart, my hands found hers, raised it to my face and planted a kiss on it.

"Jose, Jose, Jose", a faint, spectral smile touched her lips. She shed a tear, stood me up, hugged me.

And then she said, 'Yes'.