“I suppose I should make this count then.”
“Your deepest wish, my love,” he uttered softly, not looking away.
Mary bit her lower lip and moved away from him, using the glass on one of the windows of the plane for a flat surface to write down something. She handed him the pencil and nodded, folding up her piece of paper carefully, and he held out the bottle towards her – before pulling it back.
“If it’s from the heart, you should seal it with a kiss before putting it inside,” he prompted, teasing her, before handing her the bottle again. Mary bestowed a small kiss to the paper, before tucking it inside.
Jax turned away to write down his deepest wish – and hesitated.
There was so much he wanted to say, to ask for, and while he knew this was silly, childish nonsense… a part of him hoped and prayed that someone above was paying attention.
I want Mary to love me – and be at my side forever. I want to see her smile, hear her laughter, share her dreams, and make beautiful babies someday with the woman of my dreams.
“You wrote down quite a bit,” Mary said softly, watching him – and he hesitated, feeling slightly alarmed and embarrassed that she might have seen what he scribbled down.
Instead, he bravely kissed his wish, folded it, and pushed it into the bottle she held out to him, before twisting the cap.
“It was a detailed wish,” he said evasively.
“I didn’t know they could be detailed wishes.”
“It’s whatever your heart desires, remember? Do you need another sheet of paper?” he offered, smiling, realizing she was warming up to this idea, and thought it was sweet she wanted to elaborate now.
“No,” she smiled shyly. “It doesn’t change my wish.”
“Alright,” he replied, screwing on the metal cap tightly. “Shall we go launch our dreams and fondest wishes?”
“You mean ‘litter’…” she retorted flatly.
“I’m telling you – you have to believe, Mary,” he chastised playfully. “If you don’t believe, then it won’t work.”
“How many times have you done this?”
“Never.”
“Then how do you know it will work?”
“Faith,” he said simply, walking toward the water and holding her hand. As they got closer, he felt a stirring in his heart as she looked at him, smiling wondrously and looking so happy in that moment that he nearly stumbled on a small piece of driftwood that had washed ashore.
“Okay, let’s do this right,” he instructed easily, “Put your hands here on the bottle.”
He saw her tender smile and the playful gaze in her eyes as she looked up at him. Her hands were on the bottle where he’d instructed, and he covered her hands with his.
“Now repeat after me…” he breathed. “I want this more than anything else in the world and will never make Jax wax his nose…”
“Jax!” she exclaimed, laughing.
“Oh sorry!” he replied contritely, grinning. “Let’s try it again – together.”
“I want this more than anything else in the world,” she whispered softly, staring at him, and he uttered the words straight from his heart, knowing what he put on his own sheet of paper would mean everything to him.
A life with her, being able to see her smile, feel her love, touch her, and someday have children together, seemed like a miracle… so how could he not wish for something so beautiful?
“What now?” she breathed, not looking away from him.
“All magic gets sealed with a kiss,” he said softly, leaning towards her, brushing his lips against hers tenderly. “I love you and hope this works.”
“I hope so too,” she whispered.