"And the Oscar for best supporting actor goes to.... Amy Burke from The Reunion!"
The audience roared, applause reverberating through the grand hall as Sir Garret Harrison stood to make his way down the carpeted aisle to the stage. Ms Vanessa Heron, Mr. Mark Frasier, and Mr. Max Shepherd watched from their seats, somber and silent. Vanessa hid her face in a kerchief, and Mark wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Max looked down at his clenched hands.
Garret accepted the shining trophy from the presenting host and then moved to the clear crystal podium as he stared down at it. After another moment of applause, Garret lifted his gaze, and the audience quieted. "As many of you know," he began in a rough voice, "Amy Burke is unable to be here tonight due to a tragic accident during filming of her final scene."
Garret's throat tightened on the words. Words disappeared, lost again to the wave of grief he felt at her loss. Garret lowered his gaze to the Oscar, adjusting his hold on it as the memories of that day gripped his soul. Remembering the doctor's soft words "She may never walk again…"
Garret cleared his throat. "Amy is an actor such as I have never seen. She continues to strive for that utter and complete understanding of her role, thereby doing her utmost in the performance of it. She continues to strive toward an understanding of those characters which interact with her own, thereby deepening her own understanding of what needs to be portrayed. Amy..." Garret swallowed hard. "Two years ago, Amy imbued a passion and intensity into The Reunion. Today, she continues to imbue passion and intensity into our lives as well. Accepting us at our word. Pushing us to strive harder to understand ourselves and those around us."
Garret raised his gaze again, not caring that tears had escaped his hold to rest on his cheeks. He slightly lifted the Oscar. "This is not only a testament to that ability, but a showing of your appreciation to her effort. Amy thanks you, as do I."
Garret turned to exit the stage, smiling when he heard the roar of the crowd as they stood to their feet.
The effect was perfect.
Garret took in a deep breath and released it slowly. Then he smiled and stepped forward. He passed through the gate of the white picket fence, accepted the greeting of the old German shepherd that licked his hand, and made his way along the walkway border of pansies and primroses to the covered verandah with the pine bench-swing and white screen door.
Garret's smile widened as he stared past the screen into the house full of memories and stories. The home was filled to the brim with adventures and anecdotes he would soon discover, Amy's smiling face and soft voice beckoning him into that special place of shared moments. The thought of being together with her within her home's walls of warmth and songs and love and happiness soothed his aching spirit at her loss, but it was enough that she lived. It would be enough that she could teach at the high school, such being her dream all these years.
Garret knocked. A petite woman appeared in the hall at the sound. She had white hair, slim glasses, and an eager smile. Mrs. Burke was a vision of aging loveliness such as what Garret envisioned Amy to be in the future. Now he would have the chance to witness it.
Mrs. Burke pushed opened the door and motioned into the house. "Mr. Harrison!" she greeted. "You're a day early!"
Garret chuckled as he stepped into the hall. Mrs. Burke took his wool coat and driving gloves. "Yes, Mrs. Burke, I am. I could not stand another day of letters, phone calls, and the sobs of those executives who simply cannot understand why I would leave the life of New York for Aspen Grove High School."
Mrs. Burke laughed, and it encompassed warmth, encouragement, and the song of happiness. She hung his coat on the rack fastened to the wall, set his gloves on the hall table, and then gestured toward the back patio. "She's out getting some sun and reading the latest book of sonnets you sent her. She'll be thrilled to see you."
Garret placed a kiss on his soon-to-be mother-in-law's cheek. "Thank you, Mrs. Burke." Then he made his way down the hall to the French doors leading onto the deck made by Amy's father.
Garret quietly closed the door behind him, leaning against it as he watched her profile and the loveliness and intensity of her face and eyes that would now forever be his. Amy turned the page and began to softly nibble her fingernail. Amy had been carefully placed within a specifically designed lounger to keep the pressure to her back and spine to a minimum. While the doctors did not want to hold to the hope that she would walk again, Amy was determined to do all she could. Garret loved her more because of her tenacity at not relinquishing her hope.
Garret smiled and stepped quietly forward, leaning down to place a kiss on her throat. "I have not tarried in the caverns of dragons nor listened to the murmurs of damsels. I have come to be with you, sweet sweet muse."
Amy looked up, her green eyes twinkling. "Then come and stay, poet mine, that we might rest in the warmth of the other."