The First Valentine: Historical

Valentine felt suddenly dizzy, but smiled and touched his chest with his hand. "This is my last letter. And I hope that you will forgive the sentimentality of a wretched man, but I had to say these things somehow to you."

With that, Valentine's head swam back and forth and he fought to keep his eyes open. Blurred visions of Lucia closing the cell door behind her came over him as he finally lost consciousness.

* * * * *

Outside the prison, Lucia stopped beside a lit window. Sobbing, she sat down and searched for the courage to go through with her plan. Leaving Valentine so abruptly had nearly ripped her apart and she feared that the potion was too much for his weakened body.

As she battled herself in the alley, she became aware that she clutched the sealed letter tightly to her breast. With trembling fingers, she traced the seal with a finger before opening it. Adjusting herself against the window facing, she read Valentine's note, mouthing each word to herself as tears began to flow:

"Dearest Love,

I rewrite this small offering to you so many times that I am down to a lone scrap of paper. The words to describe my feelings flow like music on the wind in my mind, yet are inadequate to speak to you. I have championed love in all its forms. I have prayed and hoped for tenderness among people. And I have grown to love each one. All the while I denied the need for a companion, a partner, a caring mate. You, my sweetest child, have delivered this divine love to me in my darkest hour, and I am grateful and blessed. To you I pray all the love and joy for all the days of your life.

Love,

Your Valentine"

* * * * *

Valentine fell into a peaceful slumber, head spinning in a dance of vertigo. He blinked in wonder at the images cascading about him. He saw his family smiling upon him as he ran outside to join his playmates in the summer sun. He watched himself joining a young couple as man and wife for the first time as a young priest. And finally he saw his beloved Julia as she walked with him in the gardens outside her family estate.

As he lay enraptured by the spectacle surrounding him, he saw her face turn and come toward him. His true love spoke as if to calm him as she neared, though he could not hear her words. Her hair fell about her fair face as she stood over him. Her eyes then raised to the ceiling as if in prayer as she spread her hands out towards him.

Colors bled into pulsing shadows as he watched her. Slowly she looked down at herself and pulled her small shoulders in tight as if protecting herself. Then he saw her porcelain hand slip her robe over one shoulder and it fell to her feet. Stepping towards him, she now looked up at him in a sultry gaze. Her fingers nimbly untied her belt as her tunic finally fell open.

He fought to reach for her but could not, his limbs pulled by some monstrous gravity. He saw glimpses of her bare skin in the dim light as she gathered the front of her tunic together. In a moment, her hands lifted her tunic up and over her head, and he caught her eye coming to rest on his as she stood naked before him.

Her body swayed in his eyes as beautifully as the colors. She stood before him boldly moving one hand over her chest and opposite shoulder in a move that was more erotic than timid. His eyes followed her arm as it slid across her breasts and squeezed them together before pulling its trailing fingers across her pink nipples.

She stood before him and allowed him to feast upon the sight of her, his eyes darting over her bare breasts contoured in darkness. Down her abdomen and across the bright glow of her full hip his eyes trailed. The muscles of her long legs seemed to ripple like lakewater, and in the darkness he could only imagine the secrets hidden between, until she finally took another step to meet him.

Only three steps and she was upon him, but he devoured each movement that she made. Her legs parted as she began to move, a faint glimpse of her forbidden petals backlit from beneath her thighs as she moved. Now he could smell her, sex and all, as she knelt close to him and his spinning intensified.

She bent over his face blocking out all light. She whispered into his ear and the music of her voice soothed him. Her nose trailed over his cheek and her lips met his in a long soft kiss. As she moved up to kiss him, her hands ran over his hair and down his neck as if exploring him by touch.

She turned her face to match his, continuing their deepening kiss, and slid her hand down and loosened his tunic. He felt the soft pressure of her hand on the cloth give way to the heat from her palm sliding his clothes up his stomach. Exposed now, he felt a numbness throughout his body in the cold air. Unable to move, he longed to wrap his arms around her and pull her body closer to him. Only those places where she touched him tingled alive.

As she broke off her kisses, he saw the dancing images of her face turn and look down his body as he felt her hand leave the tunic now pushed up over his abdomen and glide down toward his exposed loins. He could not feel himself enlarging but could feel her deft fingertips trailing the belly of his penis lying across him. With a dexterity that surprised him, she took up his flesh and circled it with her thumb and forefinger, then slowly pushed downward to its base. He felt it lift off his quivering abdomen as she reached her goal and tightened her grip.

The first stroke caused the inrush of rich blood and the swell of nerves as he rose to meet her touch. Between her fingers she felt the sudden tautness of him and held him throbbing in her hand. As she looked back into his eyes, she saw them glazed with passion at her touch. Watching his quick breaths, she began to slowly climb the length of him again.

He could not fix on her face but instead closed his eyes to strain against his immobility. She eased her hand back and forth across his tightening organ and felt the swelling continue. Drops of milky liquid appeared under her fingers as she varied her masturbation of him with gliding strokes. She kissed his lips again and his body jolted electric from the sensations of her lips and fingers together.

As she felt his quivering muscles beneath her, her hand quickened its rhythm and she broke off her kiss. Suddenly he felt her lips trailing down his trunk as she stroked him. Blind to his struggle to free his immobile body, she bent over him, hair cascading down, her mouth near her hand as it continually caressed him, and at the same time taking the tip of him into her mouth each time it passed within reach of her tongue.

Before long she tasted a steady stream flowing from him like the salty foam waves of the sea in her hands. Sensing that he was nearing climax, she lifted her head, grasped him at the base, and licked the entire length of him making sure to encircle the crown. Then she threw herself across him as if on horseback and guided him into her. When she sat down upon him, he felt her hand release and suddenly he was squeezed tightly from all around, a constant massage of fluid and motion. She leaned over him and he could feel her hands push against his chest as she rubbed herself against him, pushing him back and forth inside her. Her buttocks tensed as she sat upright and pressed him against her front walls, then rocking back she pounced on him again, grinding herself against his flesh.

As she pumped, he felt her breasts swing against the tingling skin of his chest. He felt the pressure build within him and as her motions quickened in earnest he felt her tense and milk him deeper inside. As each mingled breath came in short quiet blasts, their muscles tensed and he exploded within her. Suddenly, softness and release filled them and she sank against him, whispering some unheard poetry over and over.

For hours they lay connected while she showered him with kisses. He fought back the daze which left him paralyzed to answer her touch. Every so often her attention would fall back to his recovering member and she would raise it again to once more summon his seed inside of her. As daybreak neared, she lay over him and sang softly, his vertigo slowing as he reached exhaustion. And just as suddenly as she appeared, the vision of her was gone, wisked away by the light of dawn.

* * * * *

Thousands of people mingled along the streets on top of the Capitoline, awaiting the body of Father Valentine. It was the 16th of February, two days after the beloved priest was beheaded, before his body was turned over to his friends. Slowly, a murmur came over the crowd as Father Marius led a host of young priests through the crowd, bearing aloft a shrouded body. At his side was an unknown beautiful young woman, marching near the head of the procession.

The throng carried the priest down to his burial rest on the Flaminian Way. Thousands heard again the deeds of the martyred priest: his care of the poor and the disenfranchised, his scholarly stature, his quiet defiance against Imperial arrogance. But most of all, there were speeches proclaiming him the champion of young lovers and a vanguard for romantic loyalty. Marius retold the story of his lost love, Julia, killed by Emperor Claudius for political gain, and the crowd wept. Young priests who had answered the call to spread Valentine's message of love performed several wedding ceremonies, and lovers threw pedals to cover the grave. It was days before all the well-wishers left the resting place, where a memorial would later be constructed by future Roman kings.

And the young jailor's daughter who confessed her faith that day turned back toward the city as the last of the people withdrew, filled with a new life and a new purpose.

* * * * *

Epilogue:

The Emperor, Claudius Gothicus, died of the plague weeks later while defeating the armies of the Goths. Lucia, the daughter of a Palace Prison guard, bore a son nine months later named Marcus Valentinius. His education became her greatest priority, and as a young man he became a respected philosopher, teacher, and healer. Few believed the rumors that his remarkable good looks and calming spirit were sired by his namesake.

Several years later, when Constantius was chosen caesar under Maximinian, he called for Marcus Valentinius to educate his son. An apt pupil, young Constantine soon spent every possible minute with his patient teacher, discussing history, theology, and ethics. Some years later, when Constantine arose to the throne, he authored the Edict of Milan, allowing religions, including Christianity, to be accepted throughout the Roman Empire. Father Valentine was later elevated to sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church, and millions now know him as the father of the romantic love letter.