Yellow Roses on Valentine's Day

Then, as if she was there in the room with me, just as my friend Walter felt his wife blow on his neck, I heard her voice. Helen was there in the room with me. I couldn't believe it. I was so happy. Just as it took me to buy yellow roses to get lucky with her, it took me to buy yellow roses to bring her back from the dead.

"Thank you for the flowers, Edward," she said. "I just love yellow roses. I never tire of looking at them. They are so beautiful and you are so thoughtful to remember me on Valentine's Day, our forty-fourth wedding anniversary. Yellow roses always remind me of our wedding day. I remember it, as if it was yesterday. Do you remember our wedding, Edward?"

With her whispering in my ear like that, in the way she always used to do, suddenly, I remembered. So happy and so in love, I could see us walking down the aisle. We had a best man and four ushers and a maid of honor with four bridesmaids. I don't know if I was remembering all of this or if she was telling me this, but I could see the church and the rows of friends and relatives all so happy for us that day. As if it was warm sunshine with us basking in the glow of all the well wishers, it was electric and I could feel the love.

The roses stopped moving and I saw an indentation in the bed, the side she always slept on and that I've been sleeping on now to sense her, as if she's still here with me.

"Make love to me, Edward," she said.

"Oh, my God. Absolutely, Helen."

It's been so long since we made love, too long. Quickly I undressed and careful of her bad hip and my bad back, I mounted her. I felt her hand guide me inside of her and slowly I humped her. With each hump, I could feel myself going deeper. Already ready for me, she was so warm and so wet.

"Kiss me, Edward."

I kissed and kissed her. I couldn't stop kissing her. The feel of her tongue in my mouth blanked my mind and in the way she hugged me, she put me in a safe place. Her lips were so soft and her body so warm, it's amazing after all these years, how much I still love her. I was so happy that she wasn't completely gone and that she was still here with me again.

"I love you, Helen," and as soon as I said that, unable to hold back, I exploded all the passion that I still had for her.

Suddenly, the bedroom door burst open and a young woman with blonde hair and fair skin, who looked how I remembered Helen used to look, so many years ago, rushed in our bedroom at the most inopportune of times.

"Get out," I said. "Your mother and I are having a private moment. Knock the next time, number two child."

Still in the afterglow of sexual ecstasy, for the life of me, I couldn't even remember her name.

"Eww! Mom! Dad's having sex with the bed again."

A young man, so tall and so strong, who looked how I used to look, so many years ago, entered the bedroom behind the young woman, who looked how Helen used to look. It was comforting to know that I was again surrounded by family, instead of strangers, only I couldn't remember their names, just their numbers. He was my number one son.

With Helen still here with me, the only way I could make any sense of any of this is that I must be dead, too. Finally together again, if there is a Heaven, then I must be there with her. This is just how I remembered my life before I died, having sex with Helen on Valentine's Day, after giving her a bouquet of yellow roses.

"Mom, you're going to have to put Dad somewhere he can be helped," said my number one child.

"This is insane," said my number two child. "You can't live like this."

"I will never abandon your father," said a woman walking in the room behind them and who looked exactly how I remembered Helen looking the last time I saw her, so long ago that I don't even remember when. Appreciative for what I still remember, I'm just glad that I still remember her. "I'm all that he has. You both go downstairs and give us some privacy."

I heard the door close and I was finally alone again with Helen, my wife, the love of my life.

"Edward, you had sex with the mattress, again," she said. I moved off the sticky, wet spot and watched her clean up the mess I made on the bedspread with tissue. "Was it good for you? It's as if I wasn't even there," she said with a laugh.

"Sorry," I said sitting up and getting dressed and feeling my senses slowly returning. I was too much in love with her to be embarrassed. It felt so real. "It seemed so real to me, Helen," I said glad that I remembered her name. "You were here but, obviously, you weren't here. I thought you were dead and returned as a ghost. Then, I saw the flowers move. To be honest, I'm still not sure if you're dead or alive and if I'm dead or alive."

"I know," she said hugging me. "Trust me. We're both very much alive," she said giving me a kiss. "Happy anniversary, Edward."

"Happy Valentine's Day, Helen," I said.

"You remembered," she said with a smile, a kiss, and a hug. "Thank you for the yellow roses."

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