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“Mama?”
Glinda looked down at her daughter who was sitting in her lap as they watched a movie.
“Yes, sweetie?”
“What happened to Mom? She just disappeared.”
Glinda’s heart fell. Elphaba had been gone for two months and she still couldn’t bring herself to tell their daughter the truth. But right now, she felt ready.
She took a deep breath and forced a smile.
“I’m going to tell you a story, okay?”
Elena smiled and nodded eagerly. Glinda stroked her dark hair before she began. It reminded her so much of Elphaba’s...
“When I was your age I thought about falling in love all the time. To fall in love with someone who felt the same.”
“With mom you mean?”
Glinda smiled. “Yeah.”
“But when I was your age I was in no position to be dating,” she gave Elena a look. “You really shouldn’t fall in love...” she said quietly.
“Why?”
Glinda pondered the question and wiped a single tear from the side of her face. “There’s just too much to lose. I don’t want to see the same thing happen to you.”
“What happened? I thought you were telling me a story,” Elena pouted.
Glinda laughed. “Okay, okay. The first time I saw your mom she came into our dorm room in a rage. Rambling on about someone tearing her shirt...”
“Fucking assholes,” Elphaba muttered as she shut the door behind her. She examined her surroundings before her gaze locked onto Glinda’s.
“Uh hello? Are you Elphaba?”
Elphaba shrugged and dropped her duffel bag onto the floor before going outside and dragging in a small suitcase.
Glinda watched as she scrimmaged through her bag and fished out a new shirt.
She couldn’t deny that the girl was beautiful. The way the sun lit her skin and highlighted her strong jawline...
Glinda smiled at the memory. “She didn’t even say a word to me and I was already admiring her hardened exterior.”
“So you just thought she was pretty?”
“You can say that again...”
“But who tore her shirt up?” Elena asked with a frown. “Why would someone do that?”
“Some people are mean. I hope you never have to experience that.”
Elena grinned. “Me? I’m well liked at school.”
Glinda thought about her own popularity and how it skimmed her high school years.
She smiled. “I was the same way.”
“Good. So, you saw mom and then what happened?”
“We didn’t get along all that well. I did think she was beautiful, but we clashed all the time.”
Elena raised a brow. “Really? That sounds impossible...you two were always being so gross and kissing all the time!”
Glinda laughed. “Yeah, a turn of events. You see, I was a bit full of myself and I was friends with the wrong people. But she helped me grow and made me realize who I was. Then we just fell in love.”
She didn’t realize she was crying until Elena pointed it out.
“Mama why are you crying?” Elena said with a frown.
Glinda sniffed and rubbed at her eyes recalling a memory of their youthful days.
“Elphie why are we drinking this? It’s awful.”
Elphaba laughed and wrapped an arm around her.
They were sitting on an open field where the stars shone brightly. On a thin blanket they huddled close together.
“It’s not that bad. Boq gave it to me.”
Glinda leaned her head on her shoulder. “Well he needs to never recommend drinks to you ever again. This tastes like acid.”
“Oh don’t be dramatic.”
“Me? Dramatic? Never,” she remarked.
Elphaba turned her head and smirked. “Yeah, never,” she mumbled against Glinda’s lips before closing the gap.
The kiss was sweet and short but held all the love encased in their chests. There was nothing to separate them. No God, no living thing, nothing. As they breathed in each other’s air Glinda could only think of how in love with Elphaba she was.
“I love you,” she whispered against her lips. Elphaba didn’t reply. She stared in Glinda’s eyes for a while before leaning in again and kissing her fiercely.
Glinda wrapped her arms around her waist and pushed her down gently so she was laying on her. When they pulled back, their foreheads stayed pressed against one another.
“I love you, Glinda,” Elphaba murmured. “So fucking much.”
Glinda smiled and kissed her again. They spent the night wrapped up in one another beneath the moonlight glow that held nothing compared to the brightness of their love.
“It’s nothing sweetie,” she replied when she came back to reality. Her memory seemed to be tearing her apart, but their daughter deserved the truth. And she didn’t want Elena to ever experience what she had.
“When did she ask you to marry her?” Elena asked suddenly.
Glinda laughed. “Oh, she didn’t ask me.”
“Oh?”
“I asked her.”
“Oh my God. How did you do it?!” Elena asked, her face bright and curious.
“I had planned it for a while with my friends. They all planned it with me for weeks...I took your mom to a Munchkin restaurant she adored. We had dinner…”
Glinda was suddenly inside a dimly lit restaurant with Elphaba smiling across from her.
“So, are you going to tell me what this is all about?” Elphaba asked, waving a glass of champagne.
“What? I can’t do something nice for my girlfriend who I love so dearly?” She said with a sweetness in her voice.
Elphaba laughed and took a sip from her glass. “I guess so. What are you ordering?”
“You know exactly what I’m ordering,” Glinda said playfully.
“I do. But maybe one day you’ll get the pasta I always order.”
Glinda wrinkled her nose. “Too spicy. Don’t you remember the last time I ate it?”
Elphaba laughed as she retold the story to a flustered looking Glinda.
The night went by smoothly, and Glinda could still feel Elphaba pressed against her after she popped the question.
“Mama?”
Glinda shook her head. “Hm?”
“You didn’t finish your story. How did you propose?”
“Oh right. I asked her favourite professor to help me as well…”
Glinda was walking hand in hand with Elphaba towards the pier beside the restaurant. The docks branched out in a maze like structure. The moon created a spot light for their never ending love, and the stars reached out with their glow, as if casting a spell for their safety.
“Glinda...is that? No, it can’t be…”
“Miss Elphaba,” Dr. Dillamond smiled.
Elphaba ran to hug him. “Dr. Dillamond what are you doing here?!”
“It’s good to see you too,” he laughed.
“Oh you know I’m always happy to see you. Well?”
He glanced at Glinda briefly and she felt her nerves begin settling in. She swallowed hard.
“What is it?” Elphaba asked.
“Miss Elphaba, do you remember what happened on this dock preciscely 5 years ago?”
Elphaba’s brows knitted together as she glanced at Glinda. “Glinda asked me to be her girlfriend...but how do you know that?”
“I am an Animal of many talents,” he teased. He laughed at the expression on her face and continued explaining how Glinda expressed her excitement to him.
As they talked Glinda watched Crope, Tibbett, Fiyero and Boq sneak up behind her holding signs reading ‘Will you Marry Me?”
She smiled and took a shaky breath as Crope handed her the small box with the ring. He winked and moved into his position.
“...miss Glinda loves you a lot Elphaba. And I think she wants to spend the rest of her life making you believe it.”
Glinda fell to one knee, making sure to raise her dress so it didn’t rub against the ground. She noticed the hesitation in Elphaba before she followed Dr. Dillamond’s gaze behind her.
Her jaw dropped and her words caught in her throat.
“Elphie…” Glinda started. “I love you so much. You’re everything I could have wished for and more. Dr. Dillamond is right, I want to spend the rest of my life showering you with love. Will you marry me, Elphie?”
Glinda noted the blush on Elphaba’s face as she nodded. “Yes,” she managed. It was quiet, but it was there.
“Oh Elphie!” Glinda sprung up and wrapped herself around her. She held her face in her hands and leaned up to kiss her. The boys erupted in cheers behind them.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you, my sweet.”
Glinda pulled away long enough to put the ring on Elphaba’s finger and kissed her again and again and again.
Glinda was smiling as she finished the story, along with Elena.
“That’s so romantic! I hope someone does that for me one day,” she mused.
There was a pause. Glinda felt a part of her heart shatter. She wanted nothing but happiness for her daughter, but the thought of her experiencing the heartache she did made her scowl.
“I hope you find happiness,” she said finally. “I just hope you’re shown love differently.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s just...life can do terrible things, sweetie. And I hope you’re given a love that won’t be taken from you.”
Her tears pooled in her eyes and she sniffed. Elena wiped at her eyes with a frown. “Please don’t cry mama. Mom still loves you no matter where she is.”
Glinda laughed gently and hugged Elena closely to her chest. “I know. And I still love her.”
“Then why are you sad?”
Glinda took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure Elena would understand, or if she was ready to hear it. But she deserved to know.
“You see, sweetheart,we spent years together. I loved your mom with my entire heart, and still do. But she was taken from us too soon.”
“Taken from us?”
Glinda swallowed and took a deep breath. She could do this. She hadn’t talked about it to anyone, and she supposed now was the chance.
“She came to me one September afternoon, her eyes heavy…”
Elphaba walked into the room, placed her keys on the countertop and trudged to sit down next to her on the couch.
Glinda frowned. Elphaba usually kissed her as soon as she got home.
She noticed the out of focus look in her eyes and grew concerned.
“Elphie?”
Elphaba swallowed and Glinda noticed tears in her eyes. She moved and wrapped an arm around her.
“Elphie, sweetie. What is it?”
She sniffed and turned to kiss Glinda gently. “My sweet,” she mumbled.
She stared down at her feet and shifted.
“I lied to you.”
Glinda frowned and dropped her arm from her shoulders.
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t go to work today.”
“Then where did you go?”
Elphaba rubbed at her eyes and took deep, shaky breaths.
“The doctor…” she said slowly.
Glinda didn’t reply. She was terrified of what Elphaba was about to say. The dreadful aura surrounding them was enough to pry at her anxiety.
“I went to the doctor. I had gone a couple days ago because I felt this ache in my side. And you pointed out how I had been losing weight, along with the nausea I’ve been feeling.” She was crying now and Glinda moved to take her face in her hands to wipe the tears away.
“What did they find, Elphie?” She asked. She didn’t want to know. She felt sick.
“I have stage four pancreatic cancer, Glinda. There’s nothing they can do. It’s incurable. And it’s spread to my lungs and bones. They did a scan, and it…”
Glinda was crying now. Her whole body was trembling trying to compute the words Elphaba was saying. This had to be a lie.
“Elphaba you’re lying,” she sobbed.
Elphaba gave her an apologetic look. Her tears wouldn’t stop now.
“You’re lying to me!” She cried again. Her breaths became short and shallow.
“Shh, my sweet. It’s okay, I promise.” Elphaba wrapped her in her arms but Glinda couldn’t stop shaking. She hit her fist uselessly against Elphaba’s thigh.
“You’re lying.” It was all she could say in hopes it would become reality. This had to be a joke.
“I’m so sorry, my sweet. I love you so much. I’m sorry,” she whispered into Glinda’s hair, her own tears falling against blonde curls.
“...and that’s why I’m telling you to be careful. To not fall in love. There’s just too much to lose,” she finished.
Elena looked close to tears. “So she’s really never coming back?”
Glinda nodded slowly and hugged Elena close as the younger girl cried against her. “It’s okay, my love. Like you said, her love is still here.”
And it was. It was there when she woke up, it was there when she went to sleep,and during the days she wanted to melt away into nothing. There was only so much she could do with half of her heart missing, lost to the malicious nature of malignancy.
There’s not a day that goes by where she doesn’t miss Elphaba’s smile. Or her wild laughter, and her sarcastic but good hearted nature. She loves Elphaba with all she has, and there’s nothing to stop Elphaba’s love from reaching her.
She felt her love in the warmth of the sun, in the love of their daughter, in the moonlight glow promising new tomorrow’s, in the starry nights reflecting the days spent wrapped in one another.
Even on the terrible night her heart stopped working, it’s beat remained encased in Glinda’s chest. And there was nothing anyone or anything could do to take it away from her.