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Health & Fitness

Sophie + Zac...

This is a romantic short story that might tug at your heartstrings...or give you a cavity with it sappiness! :-D

Zac + Sophie = True Love 4-EVER. I run my fingers gingerly over the scarred tree bark. God, I can’t believe that it’s still here after all these years…that it has weathered every single thing that Mother Nature and mankind have thrown at it. If only life were like that…maybe I wouldn’t be where I am today.

My heart tugs cruelly within for a moment before I rein my unruly emotions in again. I didn’t come here to hurt, only to remember for a moment. And, boy, are the memories flooding within. I finger the words once again and instantly I’m taken back to the day when Zac carved these words into this very tree…

“What are you doing? Where are we going,” I giggle as I try to keep up my pace with Zac’s. He’s almost running now as he drags me behind, looping in and out of the trees in the familiar forest. I can feel his excitement and it’s making me almost lightheaded with my own giddiness.

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“Come on, Soph, we’re almost there. Just a little further,” he says, and I can hear the anticipation pouring from him, laced within every word.

My mouth curves into a wider smile as I pick up my pace a bit, my jubilance adding the extra umph to my steps. I’m so beyond eager to see what it is that has Zac so wound up like a little boy in a toy store. I’m praying we are close even as I feel Zac start to lose speed. I’m more than breathless when we finally come to halt, but for so many more reasons than our run.

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I take a moment to try and catch my breath before I manage to puff out, “So, what are we doing here, Zac, what’s the big surprise?” I stare up at him adoringly, my eyes glazed with love and exhilaration. I love this guy more than life itself and I would follow him to the ends of the earth if he were to ask me to.

He’s panting too, and he has this gloriously boyish grin on his face with eyes lit up with the most amazing delight. I love seeing him this way and don’t even care what the surprise is anymore. All I care about is finding a way to keep this joy from ever leaving him. “Soph, you are so amazing and I just wanted to find the most romantic and perfect way to show you. And I have the picture perfect, Hollywood-love-story-worthy way to show you how committed I am to you and how much I love you.”

My heart swells as I stare up into the smiling, sincere face of the man whom I want to spend my eternity with. God, how did I get so lucky? He is so incredible; so smart and funny, warm and kind, and just so amazing. And he is all mine, I can’t believe it. I smile up at him and take his hands in mine. “Zac, you are the amazing one and I already know how much you love me. I don’t doubt for one second that you do. It’s me who should be thinking of a way to show you just how much you mean to me.”

“No, Sophie, trust me you go above and beyond all the time. It’s my turn and I thought about it long and hard and decided that this would be the perfect way to profess my undying love for you. So, just sit back and relax and let me do it.” For the first time I notice that there is a blanket laid out with a picnic basket planted on it. He gingerly places me down upon it and gets to work pouring me a glass of sparkling cider. I feel warm and tingly all over with joy and anticipation. This is so romantic, and so perfect with the clear sky and twinkling stars as our candlelight. I wait for Zac to pour his own glass and sit beside me, but instead he stands up and goes over to a nearby tree. I furrow my eyebrows in confusion, wondering just what exactly it was that he is up to. I don’t have long to wait for an answer. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pocket knife and opens the switchblade. And then with no hesitation he deftly begins to chip at the tree, scarring it with his deep etchings.

I can only look on with eyes that are beginning to pool up and a heart that is swelling with love. Zac had been so, so right. This was a Hollywood-love-story-worthy way to tell me he loves me. How much more romantic could you get than etching our names into a tree? Stuff like this just didn’t happen in real life…at least not anymore. I couldn’t believe that someone was actually doing it for me now…me, a whimsical, living-in-a-dreamland, reader of all that was romance fiction, was getting my own romance story played out for me right before my very eyes. It was surreal.

I am afraid to blink, afraid to breathe, afraid that if I make the slightest move I will wake up to find that this is all a dream. So I hold my breath and look on silently as this man that I will vow to love throughout eternity etches our love into permanence. My life I would give for him.

He worked feverishly for awhile, chipping away at the bark, just as he had chipped away at the ice that had once encased my fragile heart. I never would have imagined in a million years that someone would take the time to free my heart, to put in the work to unleash a love that I had trapped for so long. Sap ran from the tree, and it only mirrored the love that ran from my heart; the love is overflowing and it has nowhere to pour except to course through my every vein.

After some time he finally turns, exuberance written all over his face mingling with the glistening of his sweat from all the hard work he’s just done. He reaches his hand out to me and I grab it with no hesitation, so that soon I am standing before him, and before our tree. I gaze adoringly up into his gorgeous blue eyes wondering if my own eyes match the adoration I see in his. I hope so; I hope he can see just how much he means to me, just how much my world would cease to exist without him in it. I wait expectantly for him to utter the first words, not wanting to be the one to break this trance.

“Sophie, I know that there could never be a way to show you how much you have changed my life, or all the ways that my life is worth living now that you are in it. I know that and I have made peace with that. But that doesn’t mean that I will ever stop trying to find a way. You are worth a million love songs and poems, an endless sea of roses, an eternity of 'I love you’s' and so much more. I can’t believe that you are mine, and that I am blessed to have your love. You are the most amazing creature to have ever graced this earth and until my dying breath and beyond I will love you with everything inside.” I stare at him, unable to speak, unable to utter even a semblance of words. My dreams are coming true and they are standing before me. How often have I prayed to hear words like that? How many countless stars have I wished on, how many nights have I spent crying into my pillow praying that God would send me a love to call my own? How many times have I uttered the poem I’d written, uttered the words:

Somewhere out there

I know you are

Wishing on that same bright star

You wish to find your one true love

The one that you’ve been dreaming of

Two different lives a world apart

Guided together by yearning hearts

If only you could read my thoughts then maybe you would see

That everything you’re looking for you’ll find right here in me

I’m wishing deep inside in hopes that you will hear

The silent plea I’m sending you in hopes to bring you near

I could almost laugh at my foolishness, my naiveté, at uttering those words so many nights, on so many unsuspecting stars…but then again, I would never denounce the fact that something had led Zac to me. If not those stars, if not that silent wishing, then what?
I continue to gaze at him, hoping that despite my silence he can hear the whispers of my heart. I take his hand in mine and place it over my heart, holding it there with my own. I gaze intently up into his face and finally find the words. “Do you feel that, Zac, do you feel my heart beneath your hand? That’s the beat of a heart that beats only for you. For as long as I live, I promise that you will always hold the key to my heart, that there will only be a place inside for you. I love you more than life itself, and I know this so certainly because I know that I would surely cease to exist if you were to ever leave my side. No man has ever touched me so deeply, or has ever made me feel like I wanted to take my next breath only to have one more moment with him. You are perfect; so perfect. I don’t deserve you, I know I don’t, but I’m not stupid enough to ever give you back. I love you, for eternity if you’ll have me, and I promise that if you choose to accept that then you will never regret it for the rest of your life.”

…I will never know if it was a play of the moonlight or a shimmer of tears I saw reflected in his eyes that night, because he chose that moment to kiss me. And it was wonderful, the perfect response to an already perfect moment.

I touch my lips now, I can almost feel his lips pressing against my own. Their sweet fullness, the gentle way they caressed me… I move my hand to the scarred bark. I can’t see the words any longer, the tears get in the way, but I can feel it there just as sure as I can feel him here with me. He is always with me.

I stand back, attempting to gather my composure. This isn’t a place for sadness; only a place for love. And the love that he gave me could have filled a million lifetimes, even if it was too brief to fill this one. I bend down to place the flowers I brought with me at the base of the tree. Roses, of course. I stand up trying desperately not to let the sadness overwhelm me. I didn’t come here for that, only to remember for a moment. I take a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. I touch the tree a final time, not really needing to because the words are forever etched into my heart. I whisper a final goodbye, and then turn to start my journey to the rest of my life.

ZAC + SOPHIE= True Love 4-EVER…truer words would never be spoken.

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