Page 72 of Butterflies and Hazel Eyes
He lowered his head to mine, and I stared into the oceans of golden hazel in his eyes. “Baby, I’d love nothing more. That’s not even a hard promise to make.”
His lips feathered across mine, and then I rested against his chest, wrapped in a cocoon of forever love.
Epilogue
Two Months Later
“Where are we going anyway?” I asked Gulliver after several hours in the car. We’d left Mojo with Honey and headed south, but he refused to tell me where we were going other than to hunt butterflies. He was keeping the promise he made to me that once we were safe, he’d take me butterfly hunting.
“I told you, a friend of mine turned me on to a new garden that I haven’t even seen yet. We’re not too far away,” he promised.
Gulliver and I had spent the last two months working nonstop preparing the educational material, giving speeches to local farmers, and planning for lectures over the winter in faraway places. I was looking forward to concentrating on him and only him for the next four days.
Mathias and Honey were knee-deep in getting the patent for the pesticide approved now that the formula was complete. Honey came back to work two weeks after the night of my accident. Mathias made sure she got plenty of help from a counselor, and when she returned, she was better, but she was nowhere near fine. She was broken inside, and every single one of us could see it. Honey’s load to carry was heavy. She was still rehabbing her arm and she had to deal with her mother’s heart attack and subsequent recovery. Piled on top of that was the stress of knowing people got hurt because she couldn’t speak the truth.
The heaviest load, though, was her love for Mathias. It was out in the open now, and there was no pretending she didn’t profess her undying love to him for everyone to read. It was for that reason I suspected she wouldn’t stay much longer at Butterfly Junction. Unrequited love takes a toll on your heart and your soul, and there would come a time in her life when she would have to give both a break from the constant torture of working with Mathias every day.
As for the three guys who tried to steal the formula, they were going to prison. They were each charged with multiple counts of aggravated assault and attempted murder. After realizing there was no way out of the situation, they all took plea deals rather than go through a trial. The evidence was overwhelming, and they knew it. They’d all be old men when they got out of prison. If they got out of prison.
There were times when I didn’t understand humans at all. At least not humans that I didn’t know well. The humans I’d found in Plentiful were a different caliber, though. They were kind, generous, loving, and always there to help. Once word got around about my accident, we had more food and offers of help than we could ever accept. Laverne insisted on having a celebration dinner at the Apple Orchard once I was feeling better and invited the entire town. She even insisted I park Myrtle next to the front door with a “for sale” sign on it.
As luck would have it, a single guy happened by the party and was interested in her. He was young and reminded me a lot of myself when I bought Myrtle all those years ago. After an extremely short tour, he was smitten with her and asked me to hold her for him until the next day when he could get money from a bank. I refused, which made him sad until I handed him the keys and told him to take good care of her. Sure, I could have gotten a thousand bucks for her, but witnessing his shock, happiness, and joy when taking the keys was worth twice the thrill of having a little bit of money in my pocket. With Myrtle gone, a new place to live, a new job, and a new man, I was never happier. Even Mojo was happy to stay behind with Honey at Butterfly Junction and live the good life.
“What are we going to do when we get there?”
“We’re going to take pictures of the butterflies. We’ll see monarchs, queens, pipevine swallowtails, and hopefully, the question mark.”
“Uh, the question mark?”
“Some people call them angel wings because of the way their wings are irregular on the edges. Their nickname comes from a tattoo-type question mark on the lower part of the wing. The butterfly is bright orange and brown.”
“Bright orange and brown with a question mark on the bottom,” I repeated. “I got it. Are they rare?”
He did the so-so hand. “Not necessarily if there’s a food supply nearby. They aren’t big fans of flowers. They love mud, rotten fruit, and animal droppings.”
I grimaced at the thought. “Ew, maybe I’ll pass.”
He turned into a parking lot and pulled the truck up next to a berm. I glanced around. “This is it? There’s nothing and no one here.”
He motioned in front of the windshield. “Patience, my dear Charity,” he scolded, climbing out and grabbing his crutches from the back, along with the high-end digital camera he used for photographing butterflies and bugs. He opened my door and helped me out, watching as I adjusted my legs after riding for so long. “Are you going to be okay on your feet in the field?”
“Asks the man using crutches,” I joked. “I’ll be okay. It doesn’t hurt.” I had to wear a brace on the ankle still, but it was improving every day and I didn’t have pain anymore. The biggest problem was it would give out if I didn’t wear the brace. Since I was dying to see where we were going, I’d made sure to wear it today. “Lead the way.”
He struck off with his camera around his neck and his crutches crunching against the crushed pea rock. We stepped foot onto a worn dirt path, and in a few minutes, we broke over a small hill. What spread out before us took my breath away.
“This is incredible,” I sighed, the field of pink and green flowers swaying in the breeze. “I’ve never seen so many butterflies,” I gushed.
He strolled back to me, and the emotion swirling in his eyes was pure bliss. He loved me, and he loved introducing me to the only other thing he loved in this world. “This is a human-planted and -cultivated butterfly field. The master gardeners from this area run it. We’re alone and can take as much time as we want.”
I spun around in a half-circle, watching the flowers undulating under the butterflies’ wings. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Gulliver’s kiss was tender when he took ownership of my lips, and I leaned into him, my body resting on his in the warm afternoon sunshine. “I’ve seen a thousand fields of butterflies, but none of them were as beautiful as you standing here witnessing this for the first time.”
My heart melted in my chest to hear how much he loved me. “I love you, Gulliver Winsome.”
“I love you, too, Miss Puck. Are you ready to start this grand adventure?”
I jumped up and down once. “Lead on. I don’t know where to start!”
