Untitled

Untitled Part 1

The coffee cups clinked and the dishes clattered as they sat in silence. She couldn't look at his face without breaking into tears.

"Elle, are you okay? I'm worried about you."

"I'm fine, Charles. I just – " she stared at the salad in front of her that she couldn't bring herself to eat – "I need some time to think." A tear betrayed her.

He reached for her hand. "I –" he squeezed her hand. "okay," he managed to squeak out. "Did I do something?"

She looked up at him, "no – gosh, no. It isn't you." He wiped the tear from her eye as one trickled down his cheek. "I love you, Charles, more than anyone I've ever loved before."

He cringed, waiting for the 'but'.

"There's been a lot going on, and something huge has come up and I need to figure out what I should do."

He felt his world crumbling around him, like he was dead but somehow still moving. He couldn't eat anymore, either. 

////////////////////////////////////////////

Elle and Charles had fallen madly in love a year before, and had both been accused of being homewreckers. Elle had filed for divorce a few months before their relationship had begun, and Charles had left his drug addict of a wife shortly after he and Elle started seeing each other. It wasn't that he hadn't tried to leave her before, but she threatened to never let him see his kids again and then she'd go get drunk and high.

Elle had tried to leave her husband for the better part of five years, but he always found a way to make her believe his promises to be better. It wasn't until he'd hit her twice in a week and didn't care that the kids were around to see that she decided she had to leave no matter what.

Shortly after she left, he'd taken the kids from school and tormented her. Eight months later, after he'd lost in court, he drove to the house in an enraged fury and tried to kill her. Luckily, Charles had been there and was able to fight him off.

A month after nearly being killed, Charles' kids had come to live with them due to his ex nearly overdosing on drugs. The state placed the children in protective care and suddenly, they had five children full time.

Even though it was difficult, neither one of them even considered giving up on the other. But then Elle started getting sick. She'd lost her job since she hadn't been able to focus at work and that meant no insurance.

After finding out she was pregnant (which was a miracle in itself because she'd had two operations that had rendered her unable to carry a fetus), she became concerned that their wonderful life would be shot to hell.