Olive Branch - Conclusion

A vibrant yellow bird flew to their tree, perched on a branch not far from them, and proceeded to launch into an aria.  Roma and her guide watched and listened and ate the large green and sweet fruit, until he finally introduced himself.  Lost in all the beauty around them and reveling in each other’s company, they had forgotten the obligatory introductions.

As they exchanged names, a scene from their past flashed in front of their eyes and they lit up with delight simultaneously.  Roma rushed to tell him of the last time she climbed up a tree was with him 10 long years ago, his disappearance having left a void in her adventure seeking years.  She gushed to update him on the developments at the orchard and the people he knew there.  Most of all she told him about her lonely childhood, how there was never anyone like him she enjoyed climbing or discovering new paths with.

Gino listened with admiration, his gleaming eyes freshly observing her beauty.  He looked at her soft dark hair pulled back into a tight knot, the familiar big brown eyes with curving lashes, and her pointy chin that formed the tip of her heart-shaped face.  Her lips kept moving without a chance for him to cut in, but he didn’t mind.  The sound of her voice was as musical to him as the chirping of the yellow bird on the nearby branch.

Her moving lips finally asked the dreaded question and he looked away.  The yellow bird flew away to branches afar, disappearing from their view.  She gave him a gentle nudge and they felt the branch beneath them shake as their upper arms touched.    He looked back into her eyes and told them what his father had shared.  There had been a feud, generations ago which their own fathers had forgiven and forgotten, until that eventful day.  Nobody in his family would tell him the details, something involving his mother and Roma’s father and their long-term friendship and jealousy and rage.
Roma’s eyes widened with each word having been completely oblivious to this version of the story.  She had overheard the grandmothers and aunts drop in words like “loose woman”, “distrustful family”, and other such slander.  She never understood what they meant or to whom they referred, but only knew that these words were connected to her friend’s disappearance. 

Her hand reached out at the same time as his, and they met mid-way.  They squeezed and smiled swimming into each other’s eyes until he sighed deeply and withdrew to his side.  She discreetly reached to one end of her branch and broke off a leafy twig branching out.  She offered it to Gino and said, “It’s the wrong tree, but represents a branch from my father’s orchard and I offer this to you on behalf of my family.”

The end