Sorcery (Louis Tomlinson)

xlviii. Chains

I saw a woman in a small but cozy home still covered with Christmas ornaments and decorations, the look on her face glum despite the happy holidays she was in. I stepped closer to where she was on the couch of her living room, just staring at her Christmas tree.

She was quite pretty, her brunette hair cut short into a pixie cut, dark eyes looking sadly at the world. She was dressed in a warm sweater and jeans, green and red Christmas socks on her feet. The woman turned to look at something on the kitchen counter, and I walked over to see what it was. I spotted a name on it, Edith Jameson, but the title made my heart hurt. I now knew why she looked so sad.

Edith Jameson couldn't bear to look at the small packet of information that was on the kitchen counter. She had already read the title too many times, but never once had she opened the actual packet. Instead, she had made herself a cup of coffee and curled up on the couch, folding her legs under her and sitting there in silence.

She was done crying, Edith had gotten that all out of her system after she came home from her OB/GYN's office with the awful packet in the front passenger seat of her car next to her. Her husband had already been at work, he didn't know. What was she going to tell him?

Tears were prickling at the back of her eyes at the thought. They had been trying for so long, so so long, and now there was a final answer for the struggle that seemed hopeless. Edith was so sure it would happen the last time, but just like the other two before it, it all ended with a pool of blood and tears that flowed down her cheeks like a waterfall.

She wasn't meant to be a mother. Edith was meant to just be like this: a stay at home woman who cleaned and cooked and waited for her husband to come home all alone. She would always be alone while she waited for her love, the packet on the kitchen counter just confirmed that.

Just then, the turning of a lock echoed through the room, Edith looking to the door to find her husband hurrying inside and shutting the door. The chill from the outdoors made Edith shiver a bit, but something confused her. Her husband looked bigger around his midsection, his arm wrapped around the base of his stomach as if to hold something.

"Why does your stomach look bigger?" She inquired, the now off-duty volunteer firefighter smiling at his wife. He unbuttoned his coat a bit, the sight inside the jacket nearly making Edith drop her coffee mug.

"Oh my God..." She mumbled before setting her mug on the little table in front of the couch, hurrying to get up and towards the little surprise her husband had brought home. Her hands shakily reached inside her husband's coat, pulling out the little baby boy wrapped in blue blankets. Edith's mouth was parted in awe at the tiny infant she held, tears of joy beginning to form now.

"Thomas, why do you have a baby?" She laughed a bit as she stared at the beautiful baby in her arms.

"Someone left him at the fire station. I couldn't just leave him in the snow." Thomas replied as he took off his heavy boots and set them by the door. Edith was smitten by the little baby, smiling as her fingertips traced over his chubby cheeks.

"His name is Louis. There was a note with him." Thomas told her, Edith nodding as she stared in awe at the child.

"Louis." She tried the name out on her tongue, smiling as she decided it fit. Her attention was caught when she felt the baby's onesie was wet all on his back, figuring the snow must have soaked through his blanket and clothes.

As she turned to her husband to tell him something, she found him in the kitchen with the packet she hated. He read the title carefully before looking at his wife. She waited for his reaction, but was surprised when he shrugged and threw the packet on infertility in the trash.