An old man who now lived at The Willows, insists Rebecca and Daniel inhabit the forest for he swears he has seen them many times. And to anyone who would listen, the old man would gladly tell their story. In a way, it was his story, for he’d watched it all unfold. And yes, he too, had loved the beautiful girl whose life had been so tragic.
Rebecca and Daniel’s story was a sad one, he’d tell his listeners with a shake of his balding, gray-fringed head.
His piercing blue eyes would flicker across those who had inquired about the legend and he would begin, once again, the telling of a beautiful little girl sent to The Willows from the orphanage and a boy whose ill mother brought him to live with the monks at the monastery.
Theirs was a love that grew slowly––a love so pure and sweet that few people could ever imagine the depth and magic of it. It was––he’d tell them––a story of destinies that were entwined like the gnarled vines interwoven among the forest trees. The forest––the place where Rebecca had spent the happiest hours of her life––would forevermore be the home of the two lost souls whose love was so profound, that one could not exist without the other.
But do not be sad for them, he’d say, for they were together now––in the forest––for all eternity.