The Pianist and His Lover

And then I silently looked across the yard again and thought, "Well, as complete as I can be."

We must have a soul-to-soul connection, all I did was think of Jeremy, and he turned and waved across the lawn.

THE END

~~*~~

End Notes:

I'm posting this as a Romance, because that is how I see it. Two people fall in love, but find insurmountable obstacles in the way of their finding happiness. In a classic romance, of course, they overcome the obstacles and live happily ever after, which is not how this story ends. They both find happiness, but not with each other. It is a story of regret and star-crossed lovers.

Randi referenced the authors the book by Graham Green 'The End of the Affair.' I didn't like the book, to be quite honest.

If I can compare Green's book with a mystery where not all of the evidence is given to the reader and suddenly at the end, the detective reveals that he has known something all along that was not shared with the reader early on.

Green does the same sort of thing. The book finds the lover whining and moaning about how his affair with a woman ended and he doesn't understand why. He attributes all sorts of bad motives to the woman and spends the entire book speculating on what went wrong. Then, suddenly she dies, and the truth comes out, revealing that the spurned lover was wrong in almost all of the particulars!

So rather than start at the end and make the reader pick up information slowly throughout the story, in my story, I've tried to write about the beginning of the affair, how it progressed over time, how both of the protagonists knew that it was doomed from the beginning, and how it finally ended. At the end, Jeremy is happy with his new love; Ericka still regrets the lost relationship, but has determined to make her life as happy as she can. She doesn't have her secret lover anymore, but she may have a piece of him in the shape of her son.

Not totally happy in the romance novel paradigm, but at least not unhappy!