Piecing Our Puzzle Back Together - Another Short

Piecing Our Puzzle Back Together - Another Short Story

There was love. So much love. Enough love to bring the whole world together. Ever since that day when they first laid eyes on each other, they had known. They had known that this wouldn't be a silly young love that lasted for a few months. This would last forever; they would make sure of it.

No one ever questioned them, for they seemed so sure that everything still to come would work out. And for the most part? It did. They loved and they loved and they brought into their lives and hearts so many beautiful things. They were so grateful, but the world had other plans. The world granted them a perfect living situation, a perfect wedding, a perfect marriage, perfect careers, a perfect support system... But the one thing they'd been dreaming about forever, the one thing that had consumed their minds since they'd become a couple?

With this dream, the world wouldn't be so kind.

They'd asked so many times, why us? And over and over and over again, doctors picked through the same line, apologizing and apologizing.

"She just can't." they'd sigh. "I'm so sorry." All Adeline and Christopher had ever wanted was a family. A happy, thriving, loving family. But Adeline couldn't have kids.

Her worst fear had come true.

She didn't know what to think. Neither did he. They'd never thought that such a horrifying situation would happen to them. They'd been so excited to have a child. They'd bought all sorts of baby supplies, anticipating the birth of their first. Their first that wouldn't ever come.

They'd purchased diapers, baby wipes, bottles, blankets, pacifiers, stuffed animals, hats, onesies, and the tiniest leggings you've ever seen. But Adeline's favorite thing of all was a pair of baby shoes. A pair woven from yarn, designed like a boot, cream in color with the face of a bear covering the top of the foot. They were the most perfect baby shoes she'd ever seen. She'd been so excited to slip them onto her child, anticipating the photographs they'd take, the steps their baby would grow to make in these shoes.

But she'd never get the chance, for she'd never have a child to dress in these shoes. Christopher and Adeline were well aware of adoption, but they'd wanted to birth their own child so badly that they couldn't bring themselves to adopt a baby.

For months on end, the containers of baby supplies remained stacked in the otherwise empty closet of the couple's bedroom, no longer mentioned. In her darkest hours, Adeline tiptoed to the closet, not wanting Christopher to know how much she was hurting. Christopher had always worried to a unrealistic degree about Adeline, and she didn't want this to cloud his mind. She would reach out to the doorknob with her shaky, pale hands, turning it ever so softly. Slipping into the closet, she'd pull the door shut behind her, locking herself in complete darkness. Pulling on the chain that hung from the single light bulb on the ceiling, she'd open box after box, hugging shirts and stuffed animals to her chest. And there, in that closet full of grief and memories, she'd allow her heart to break, licking salt from her lips as silent tears traced lines down her face.

Christopher had his own way of coping: exercising. He hated exercising with a passion. In grade school, he'd been the slowest runner, the worst at sit ups, the one who couldn't do a pull up, the one with the lowest push up count... He'd been bullied to the brink of suicide, standing on the ledge until his sister pulled him down, wrapping him in a tight hug.

Well, he had a plan. He'd show them all. He'd push himself to the point of utter fatigue and muscle failure, and then he'd push himself a little farther. He'd run until the gaping whole in his chest closed up with adrenaline, and he'd allow himself to cry as he did so, for the only thought consuming his mind as he ran was his unborn child.

But Christopher and Adeline knew that they couldn't let this go on. They had to let go of their sadness before it consumed them. So they decided to have a yard sale. Lining foldable tables in rows across their driveway, they worked together, wiping away each other's tears. Then, one by one, they brought out the boxes of supplies, emptying them onto the tables. Christopher took on the task of setting up the cash register and creating price tags; Adeline arranged everything, allowing her inner organizer to flow from her fingertips. Hugging each item to her chest before laying it on the table, she allowed shaky breaths to escape her lips in sighs.

Reaching into a box, she pulled out a soft material. Laying eyes on it, a sob of surprise and heartache bubbled up from inside her.

"Adeline!" Christopher called, so much worry in his voice. "What's the matter?" He rushed towards his wife, wrapping his arms around her shoulders from behind. Peering over the top of her head, he frowned, choking back an equally horrible fit of tears. In her hands, she held the pair of baby shoes that she'd loved so much.

"Adeline, honey," Christopher whispered into her hair, "you know that we must get rid of these, don't you?" She nodded, placing them on the table, pulling her trembling hands to her chest. Any onlookers from the street would've cried at the sight of this couple, crying in each other's arms in their front yard.

It was a beautiful day out: the sun was shining, birds were chirping, and a soft breeze rustled the healthy, green grass. But for this couple, it was as if they were stuck on a merry-go-round of despair, dark grey clouds hovering over their home at all times.

Despite all of this remorse and sorrow, however, there was hidden hope. A candle flickering hesitantly in their very hearts and souls, ready for them when they overcame.

Turning Adeline around in his arms so that her face was buried in his chest, Christopher rested his chin on her head. "You know what, dear?"

"What?" she replied, her voice muffled by his body.

"Things will get better for us. We will survive this. We will get through all of this together, because that's what we do. That's what we've always done. I've always been here for you, and you've always been here for me. This heartbreak that you're feeling right now? I'm feeling it too. But I'm willing to coax both of us through this. I'm willing to try my hardest to fill the gaping hole in your chest if you'll let me. And I hope you'll return the favor. Just always remember this one fact: I. Love. You." With that, Adeline crumpled to the ground in his arms, overcome by joy, love, and painful sadness all at once.

She pulled herself together, allowing him to pull her to her feet. She breathed deeply, and whispered. "I love you too."