The Winter Companion

It was a terrible thing to be alone in the world. To be dismissed and discarded. To never belong anywhere. What was a dog to do in his old age if no one wanted him?

My dearest Clara, I have thought and thought of what I might say on the day of your departure, but as with most unpleasant things, that day has come far too soon. I find myself wholly unprepared to bid goodbye to you, and as lacking in eloquence with a pen and ink as I am when I speak. I’m constrained by the limits of language. No words are adequate to express the light you have brought into my life. I can only say this: The past weeks with you have been the brightest period of my memory. I shall treasure them always. If you remember me down the years, I hope it will be as a man who was honored to know you, and to be in your company. And who might have loved you all of your days if things had been different. Yours faithfully, Neville Cross

My dearest Clara, I have thought and thought of what I might say on the day of your departure, but as with most unpleasant things, that day has come far too soon. I find myself wholly unprepared to bid goodbye to you, and as lacking in eloquence with a pen and ink as I am when I speak. I'm constrained by the limits of language. No words are adequate to express the light you have brought into my life. I can only say this: The past weeks with you have been the brightest period of my memory. I shall treasure them always. If you remember me down the years, I hope it will be as a man who was honored to know you, and to be in your company. And who might have loved you all of your days if things had been different. Yours faithfully, Neville Cross

He had the queerest feeling that he was the only one who was privileged to see just how beautiful she was. As if it were a secret, locked up tight, to which only he held the key.

That was all there was to it. Kindness. A possibility of friendship. Not attraction. Certainly not romance. She must take care not to make more of it than it was. If she did…well. The consequences of such foolishness wouldn’t be to her liking.

Language went to the heart of a person’s humanity. It was the dividing line between men and beasts. And for a man of his size to stammer, and stutter. To forget his words entirely, or to blurt them out like a disordered child… It was worse than embarrassing. It was shameful.

All she'd known was that she wanted nothing more than the formidable safety of his arms.