The man sitting across the table lifted his eyes to hers, his own glittering tears barely held in check as he remembered the eager young love they had shared. He reached to take her hand in his, his gaze on the face of this woman who meant everything to him. "Maggie, please don't do this to me, to us." Maggie pulled her hand back as if his touch burned her skin; hot tears dropped from her lashes onto the untouched plate in front of her. "John, it's too late; I'm going with Phillip, we're in love, and I want to be with him." "But Maggie, precious, I love you; we've raised two children together. You promised to be with me forever, remember? Try, Maggie, please try to remember the love we shared. I' d be lost without you; I need you." Tears flowed over John's wrinkled cheeks, unchecked and unashamed. Maggie buried her head in her hands, running gnarled fingers through the coarse gray curls. "Settle down now, dear, take your medicine before you have a stroke; they will take care of you at the rest home. You don't really need me. Can't you understand that you are just too old? I can't waste my youth taking care of an old man; I need to live. I want to have fun again." The old man twisted the worn golden band on his wrinkled, trembling hand. He had fought so hard and long for Maggie's love. John wiped a tear from the end of his long, elegant nose; his chest tightened with pain and he struggled to regain his breath and composure despite his broken heart. He picked up his cane, set his hat atop his bald head and shambled to the bus that would take them home to Shady Oaks.
Maggie looked around the crowded restaurant at the patrons who had witnessed the heartrending scene between Maggie and John. Her gnarled, spotted hand began again to trace the heart carved with her and Phil's initials. "Mrs. Carlisle," the young blonde nurse said. "It's time to go home now." The nurse unlocked the wheels of Maggie's chair. "Oh, please, not yet! Have you seen my Phillip anywhere?" Maggie looked around frantically. "I was supposed to meet him here this afternoon." "You mean your husband, John, don't you, Mrs. Carlisle?" "No, what would I want with that old man? Phillip asked me to the prom next week. He gave me his letter sweater to wear." Maggie looked down at her sweater, fingering it lovingly. "Oh my, this is the wrong sweater!" Maggie began to sob uncontrollably. "Phillip will be so angry with me if he knows I lost his football sweater. I'll be the laughing stock of the whole school." The young nurse patted the old woman's hair and gave her a reassuring hug. "Don't worry, Maggie., everything will be okay." Maggie looked around at the panelled walls and high-backed booths, suddenly looking lost and frightened.
As quickly as the the panicked look had come, it faded from Maggie's wrinkled face. Maggie looked at the young nurse and smiled almost girlishly. "John is taking me to the movies tomorrow." She held a shaking, gnarled finger in front of her pursed lips, making a shushing sound. "Don't tell anybody, but I think he's going to propose to me. He is so handsome, and I think he really loves me. He even told me I was beautiful" "That is really wonderful, Maggie. I know John loves you very much." The old woman smiled a toothless smile before she faded back into her dream world. John watched as the nurse wheeled his wife up the ramp to the bus and strapped her wheelchair into place. John choked back tears while he watched. Maggie was still beautiful to him; he loved her more now than he had all those years ago when love was fresh and new. But he had lost her to a suitor with whom he could not compete; he had lost her to time itself.
