{"id":2973,"date":"2013-02-09T17:39:19","date_gmt":"2013-02-09T22:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=2973"},"modified":"2026-07-29T11:58:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T15:58:31","slug":"what-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=2973","title":{"rendered":"What Matters (by faust)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: <\/span>Three times it didn’t matter that he loved her, and the one time it did. Revised version of a Pinecone entry (the first line was given to be expanded into a story.)<\/p>\n

630 words, rated K<\/p>\n

My Story Index and reading order for the Art-Universe<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What Matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0In the end, it didn’t matter that he loved her. She went away to help the tribe, fully aware that there wouldn\u2019t be a coming back. The lives of so many were more valuable than the happiness of one person, or even of two. Her commitment to duty, rightness, humanity was stronger than the butterflies in her stomach. No one could fault her for that. He<\/em><\/em> couldn\u2019t fault her for that, could he?<\/p>\n

You would have done the same.<\/em> <\/em>The voice whispering those words in his head wasn\u2019t as tiny and low as he would have wished it to be. It was loud and clear; and it was right: he wouldn\u2019t put his wishes above others\u2019 needs, either. He would have left, too.<\/p>\n

The actual low and tiny voice in his head said that he still rather had her stay with him regardless. When the low and tiny voice was angry with him, it spat that perhaps he hadn\u2019t been worth it\u2014or Ruth wouldn\u2019t have left despite everything.<\/p>\n

In the end, it didn’t matter that he loved her. She turned her back on him, and left with her people seeking a place where they could live their believes without being harassed. Too many people depended on her leadership, and she felt responsible for allowing violence feasting on her folk.<\/p>\n

She never even considered coming back once her people had reached their Promised Land, and he never asked her to do it. He understood why she couldn\u2019t imagine adjusting to his kind of life\u2014he wouldn\u2019t be able to adjust to her<\/em> kind of life, either.<\/p>\n

The low and tiny voice laughed at him. Oh, so you do understand<\/em><\/em>, it said, whom do you think you\u2019re kidding? <\/em><\/em>And that Regina would have tried to adjust, if she\u2019d really thought he was what she wanted.<\/p>\n

In the end, it didn’t matter that he loved her. She rode away with Cousin Will, taking the child he\u2019d almost considered his own with her. He said he loved her, but not in the same way she loved Will, and that it was all right, that it didn\u2019t hurt. But the rejection did<\/em> hurt, and he didn\u2019t need the tiny, low voice to tell him that he actually had loved her in more ways than he openly admitted.<\/p>\n

When annoyed with him, the voice did not hesitate to add to his misery by pointing out that Laura apparently hadn\u2019t thought him lovable enough to give him the family he so desperately wanted.<\/p>\n

In the end, it didn’t matter that he tried to ignore that he loved her. She bestowed him with more love than anyone before her, intrusted herself to him in a way that left her vulnerable. She was the strongest woman he\u2019d ever met, and yet for him she laid open her weaknesses.<\/p>\n

He tried to discount it, brush it aside. Brush her<\/em> aside. He nearly succeeded in hurting her enough to drive her away\u2014but then she offered him her dreams, her future; and the voice in his head whispered, kiss her and never let her go again<\/em>.<\/em> For the first time in his life, he acknowledged the wisdom of the voice, and did as told.<\/p>\n

In the end, all that mattered was feeling Juliet commit herself to his arms.<\/p>\n

__________<\/p>\n

You have witchcraft in your lips ~ William Shakespeare, Henry V<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

***fin***<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next Story in The Art-Universe Series:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Art of Bronco Busting<\/a><\/p>\n

My Story Index<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three times it didn’t matter that he loved her, and the one time it did.<\/p>\n

630 words, rated K<\/p>\n

The Art-Universe series, links to all the stories within the series are included.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":3018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1005,23,3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adam-cartwright","category-drama","category-romance","category-short-stories","wpcat-1005-id","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-3-id","wpcat-8-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Julietand-Adamkiss.jpg?fit=400%2C310&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}