Dreams... Or More.

She sat kneeling in the grass, her eyes slightly blurred and focused on dreams only she could see. Her hands tended to the blooming flowers she'd planted herself, which she held closer to her heart than most or maybe even all, else. The grass in her little garden sparkled and shimmered with tiny, crystal drops of morning dew. Turning her face up to the sun, she let its warmth cascade over her and fill the tiny, cold corners in her heart; feeling the light breeze, soft as a wish, gentle as a kiss. Closing her eyes, she hummed along to music that played for her ears alone.

Sighing poignantly, as if still caught in her own little dream-world, she slowly opened her eyes - and saw two curious little brown ones peeking at her, from among her rosebushes. The woman's face and eyes smiled a welcome and a pixie-ish little face emerged, attached to the brown eyes. The owner of the face and eyes smiled shyly and back and wandered over hesitantly. 

Soundlessly, she sat beside the ethereally beautiful and strangely serene woman, watching her with wide, fascinated eyes. The woman lifted up a cupped hand and a vibrantly colored butterfly landed on it. She stroked the delicate blue of the wings, the child looking on with an enraptured expression. 

"They never come this close to me". Somehow, in this magical place, it seemed right that the child speak in a whisper.

The woman looked at the child, tenderness in her expression, and moved the hand cupping the butterfly towards her. The child's smile shone out like a startling beam of sunlight. 

"Is this Heaven?"

The woman only smiled in response.

The butterfly flew away to dance to the unearthly, whispery music of the wind. 

"Please, can I stay here forever?"

The woman cupped the tiny face in her hands and kissed the tip of the nose gently. 

"This is wherever you want it to be, little faerie. Stay, for as long as your heart desires. This place and all in it belongs to you".

Somehow, the softly musical voice seemed to echo around the angelic little garden. 

The child climbed into the woman's lap, trusting with her whole body.

Her little voice quavered as she spoke, 

"Are you my mother? My daddy told me she died and became an angel and that she can see me from the sky and I can dream about her whenever I want. Are you?"

The woman pressed her lips to the child's soft, soft hair, her heart breaking a little as she sensed the sadness emanating from the little girl's little body, and her brave, so brave little voice.

In answer she only whispered,

"Believe what your heart wants you to. Dream a little. Live in the dream."