Chapter 13 (The Chocolate Wrapper)

Mary and Colin chased each other around the garden playing tag. It wasn’t as fun as hide and seek, but Dickon was off somewhere doing who knows what, so it was just the two of them. Colin slipped on a patch of ice and fell flat on his rump, laughing his head off. Mary sat down beside him and tried to catch her breath.

Then there was Soot swooping down in front of them to chastise their clumsiness.

“Soot! Soot!” Colin said in between his laughter “Is Dickon here?”

“Aye! Dickon’s here!” called a voice right before Colin got whacked in the jaw by a snow ball. It took a second for Colin to recover before jumping up to throw some snow back at Dickon, who had already hurled one at Mary as well.

There they were. The three immortal friends in the Secret Garden. Granted the winter snow colored the Garden grey and white. It was still beautiful though. After a few minutes the three of them were too tired to continue running, so they just flopped down on the snow trying to catch their breath.

“How was your day?” Mary asked turning to Dickon.

“Alright…Oh…I got a Valentine’s card.” He said shrugging like it didn’t really matter.

“Let me read it…” Colin said. Dickon made no protest handing it to Colin saying

“It doesn’t say much”

“‘Roses are red, Violets are blue, sugar is sweet and I love you. You’re secret J.’” Colin read aloud handing it back to Dickon.

“Martha thinks its Jennifer Rose…the daughter of Mr. Wrightworth…at the forge.” Dickon said putting it in his pocket.

“Are you going to write her back?” Colin asked.

“Dunno…not really interested…”

“Yes you are…” Mary said poking his ribs “Dickon and Jennifer sitting on a tree…” she said in her sing song voice, Colin immediately joined in.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G…first comes love…then comes marriage…there goes Jenny with a baby carriage!” the cousins yelled, with Colin making kissing noises.

“Oh…put a lid on it…”Dickon said shoving Colin playfully.

“The two of you would make a lovely couple. Imagine the two of you by the fire place. You’re petting the dogs and she’s making the horse shoes!” Colin said laughing even harder. Dickon picked up a hand full of snow and splatted it on Colin’s face. Mary burst out laughing, and Colin threw some snow back at Dickon. Just as Dickon was about to chuck another snow ball at Colin, Martha entered the garden.

“Miss Mary…Master Colin…Lord Craven’s calling for tha” Mary and Colin waved good-bye to Dickon as they began to leave the Garden. Colin walked ahead of Mary, so she saw the snow ball whiz past her and hit the back of his head. Mary laughed, and Colin spun around to make an attempt of pelting one right back at Dickon.

But Dickon stood there…pretending to be shocked…he turned to Soot and said “Soot! How dare tha?! Throwing the snow ball at Master Colin like that!”

Needless to say Martha couldn’t stop the three of them from running around, in another snow ball fight. It took a few minutes, to get them to stop. She had Colin walk in front of her to avoid another attack. She stood as sort of a shield.

“Mary…wait…” Dickon said touching her elbow.

She turned around and smiled at him.

“I have something for thee…” He pulled out a small ball of chocolate wrapped in gold foil “Happy Valentine’s Day.” He said placing it in her hand.

Her first Valentine’s Day gift. She hugged him and whispered “Happy Valentine’s Day, Dickon”

“Do you remember the chocolate, Dickon? When I was twelve…?” Mary asked sliding her fingers through his.

“The Valentine’s Day Chocolate….Aye” he said smiling at her. They were sitting under the rock awning, where Colin had taken his first steps. They had spent the morning there, finding the swing too uncomfortable and fearing it would break. The two of them had been sitting in silence for sometime after the kiss. After they said they loved each other.

Dickon took Mary’s hand and led her to the awning. And they sat, with Mary in Dickon’s arms.

“How did you buy that, Dickon?” she asked pulling away from him to look into his eyes.

“Worked for it…naturally” he said shrugging.

“That was the first gift I got…for Valentine’s Day…”

“That was the first gift I gave…for Valentine’s Day. The last one as well.”

“Really?”

“Aye…I didn’t really take an interest in the other girls…”

“You were interested in me?”

“Obviously” Dickon said chuckling.

“I thought…you gave that as a friend”

“I always thought that I’d only be tha’s friend” he whispered. Mary smiled and kissed him. It felt so right. Everything about this felt right.

“Even if this didn’t happen…you’d always be so much more than my friend” she whispered, when she pulled away from him. Dickon smiled and brushed Mary’s hair from her face, kissing her.

The robins watched them from their nest. Singing in jubilation as the two of them finally kissed and shared their love. The squirrels were excited as well. Perhaps their wedding would be in the garden, they gossiped to each other. Everything in the garden seemed happy, basking in Mary and Dickon’s love. Why, even the roses seemed to be in a good mood.

“We’ll get into so much trouble for this….tha will get in so much trouble.” Dickon said suddenly pulling away.

“It will all be worth it.” Mary said wrapping her arms around him, burying her face in his neck. Dickon kissed her cheek lightly and whispered “I need to go…work…”

“Alright…” Mary said and was kissed by him once more “I should go to…Martha may have discovered I’m no longer in my room.”

Dickon helped her up. And hand in hand they walked to the Garden door. There was hesitation. They knew that once they left the garden, they couldn’t hold one another’s hand. They couldn’t hug each other…kiss each other. The Secret Garden was their sanctuary. They didn’t want to leave it just yet.

But they had too. And Dickon shoved his hand in his pockets and walked Mary back to the manor. They bade each other farewell. But before Mary went snuck inside she whispered to Dickon “I still have the chocolate wrapper.”

And his eyes sparkled.