Red Love Era
It was her lover, the soldier, who planted the apple tree. He carved their initials into the bark in his elegant hand. The fruit was glossy red like her lips, the blossom shared her curious scent. When he died in war-soured lands, she nailed his photograph under their initials. The blossom grew stronger and the apples sustained her. When the knotted tree uprooted in a winter storm, it was she that perished.
First published by Paragraph Planet
Flash Fiction on-line Magazine.