Page 81 of Echoes

She’d nearly told her a hundred times. For two weeks now, it had been on the tip of Violet’s tongue, but she still hadn’t told the woman she was going to marry that she’d had a sneak peek into their future and known that they were meant to be all along. Not knowing how Rachel would take that news had gutted her every time she’d chickened out and hadn’t done it, but it had been five years now, or, really, six, that she’d been holding on to this secret and keeping it from the only other person who should have known it this whole time, and Rachel deserved to know about it at least before they got married. Violet just hadn’t expected Rachel to want to get married in Greece right after the proposal.

Part of the problem was that while they’d spent their nights alone in their room, most of their days had been spent out and about in public, at museums, restaurants, or just walking around. While Violet didn’t think any stranger would believe her, necessarily – in fact, they might think she was pitching a movie to Rachel more than telling her something incredibly important and real about their relationship – she preferred not to bring up this kind of thing with other people in the vicinity.

And they’d actually gone to get their marriage license, too, but they’d stood outside the building and hadn’t gone in. Rachel had been the one to suggest that they wait, after all. She wanted her family to be there, and Violet had agreed. Instead of getting married, they’d returned to their room and made love. They’d ordered in food that night, ate it under the stars, overlooking the water, and made love again, acting as if theyhadgotten married and this was their honeymoon.

On the last night of their trip, Rachel lay in her arms as she talked about their day and how much fun she’d had on the trip overall. Long gone was her awkwardness that used to permeate her being whenever she wasn’t directly focused on trying to stop it in front of certain people. Violet loved that awkwardness. She loved everything about this woman.

Rachel was down to earth and liked to plan, just like her, but where Violet had a plan A and a plan B for the next ten years locked in her head, Rachel reminded her that sometimes, plan C was thebetter option when A and B needed to change. She was also smart with money and had been long before it had beentheirmoney. Violet couldn’t help but get turned on whenever she watched Rachel sitting in front of her laptop, staring at a spreadsheet as she talked to Violet about their finances and what they could afford or not afford to do. Just watching Rachel squint at the screen did things to her, but when the woman used some complex equation to demonstrate her point to Violet about not doing one thing in order to do two bigger things later, or she talked about current and possible future interest rates and how that would impact the sale value of the house, Violet would go weak in the knees.

Rachel was terrible at cooking. Every meal she’d ever attempted to cook for them had been bad. Violet had given her recipes with explicit instructions and had even given her lessons a few times, but no matter what Rachel tried, she could not cook a meal that tasted how it should have. Violet loved that about her, but she loved Rachel even more because she still tried. Five years into this thing, Rachel was still trying to teach herself how to cook. She’d even gotten herself actual cooking lessons for beginners and would start those a week after they returned. Violet didn’t mind cooking for them, but sometimes, she’d get home from work, and she would be too tired. If Rachel had had a better day, she’d be able to make them something for dinner. If not, they could always order food in, but Violet handled cooking at least six of the seven nights a week, and Rachel wanted to help carry the load.

She loved Rachel’s kindness, too; how she was with their dogs, how Violet knew she’d be the best mom in the world, and how Rachel always made sure that Violet ate lunch even when she was busy at work. Sometimes, it was a text or email reminder. Other times, it was Rachel actually bringing her food. Violet tried to do the same for her, but admittedly, she often forgot that people were supposed to eat something midday. She loved their nights together when they shared a blanket on the sofa and slowly sipped the same merlot that they’d ordered at the bar that first time, the only wine Rachel actually liked. She loved everything about Rachel, even when they were fighting about something big or small. She couldn’t wait to marry her.

All of that contributed to Violet not being sure if telling Rachel about the device and her vision was the right thing to do where their future was concerned. It was possible that Rachel would be upset. It could ruin the whole thing, and those daughters they’d had in that vision wouldn’t end up existing at all. Rachel could leave her if shewas really angry about Violet not sharing this very important detail. She might not believe her at all. She could tell Violet that she’d imagined the whole thing, and that would be the end of it. She could just brush it off as some fever dream and ask Violet to check her own temperature while she laughed at her. But Violet also knew the woman she loved, and that wasn’t Rachel.

“Babe?”

“Yeah?” Violet asked, returning her attention to the woman who was sitting between her legs, drawing shapes with her fingertips on the arm Violet had wrapped around her middle.

“Are you tired? Want to go to bed? We have an early flight tomorrow.”

“I’m okay. Sorry, just… trying to think about how the airport will be tomorrow to map everything out. You know how I am.”

“We’ll be fine. We’ll get there three hours early.”

“I know,” she replied.

Rachel turned in her arms then and stated, “Something’s bothering you.”

“Just the normal travel anxiety.”

“No, that’s not it,” Rachel argued.

She knew Violet so well after only five years together; Violet wondered how much more she’d know her after the next fifty or so together.

Violet shifted on the bed and crossed her legs, which meant that Rachel had to shift back to do the same.

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked. “Are you regretting not getting married here? I know we said we’d start planning when we get back, and that probably sounds overwhelming, but–”

“It’s not that,” Violet interjected. “Love, if you want a big wedding, we’ll have a huge one. If you want a tiny, intimate thing in our backyard where Apollo is the ringbearer, and Janus is… running around, chasing his tail, we’ll do that.”

Rachel laughed a little and said, “It’s not his fault. He’s still just a puppy.”

“Sure. Let’s go with that,” Violet teased, knowing how much Rachel adored the dog they usually called Janny. “And I want to marry you more than anything. I would love our friends and family to be there as well, though, so as beautiful as Greece was, it wouldn’t have had those important people around us there for the event.”

“Oh, you just gave me an idea,” Rachel said as her eyes grewthree sizes.

“I can tell. You have your idea face on.”

“What if we had an intimate ceremony with friends and family in Greece?”

“We just left Greece. We’re in Italy now and about to go home.”

“I mean, we go back.” She took Violet’s hand. “I can move some money around, and we can fly people here. The family, at least, and maybe a few friends. We can probably find a house to rent for a week, too. That would be cheaper than a hotel. And we can get married by the water in a simple ceremony.”

“You want to get married in Greece?”

“We loved it there, and it’ll make our parents happy.”