Ian

I watched her as she stared out the window. She just received a gift from Eden and Isaac. They arrested the Crosses two months ago for bank fraud in Florida.

“Sweetheart, don’t you want to open the box?”

“I do, but I don’t,” she answered, spinning around to look at me, tears falling from her eyes. She focused her attention on the offending box that sat on our coffee table. It had been found during a search of the Crosses’ many properties. Inside were some of her birth parents’ belongings. Many of which should have been given to Charlotte from the start.

“Why?”

“Because. My heart will break even more. They’ve missed out on so much of my life and they will never see their grandbabies. I know I should, but I just can’t right now.” I pulled her into my arms, holding her tight. She pressed her head to my chest, quietly sobbing.

“Okay. I understand. I’ll put it away.” I kissed her forehead, then her lips. “I love you, Charlotte. I’ll always be here for you.” I stepped back and grabbed the box. The damn thing weighed a ton. Slipping it into the closet of our spare bedroom, I set it on the floor. Hopefully, she’ll want to see inside it one day.

~~~~

A week later, Charlotte woke up from a dream, panting and smiling. “What’s going on? Are you okay?” I asked, reaching to my side to hit the light switch for the lamp.

“I had the strangest and sweetest dream. I had to be about three in this dream. I’m on a sandy beach playing with my buckets. I go to lift it up and there’s a crab inside. I howl and a large man with kind eyes scoops me up from the ground and says, ‘It’s okay, sweetheart. Daddy will always protect you.”

I rubbed her back, trying to soothe her. I didn’t know if it was her imagination going wild or if this was a real memory.

“I want the box,” she said, scrambling to get off the bed. I stopped her.

“It’s two in the morning, Charlotte.”

“I know. You can go back to sleep. I’ll get it and look at it. I have to see what’s inside.” She was frantic about it, so I relented.

“Don’t get up. I’ll bring it in here,” I grumbled, running hands through my hair, trying to shake the sleep off of me. I got the box and brought it back to the room. With only the side lamp we wouldn’t be able to see a thing. Hitting the light switch on the wall with my elbow, the whole room illuminated. She scrunched her eyes, adjusting them to the brightness. I stood there with the box in hand, staring at my wife and thinking she had to be the most beautiful woman in the world. Her belly grew enormously, and it rested between her slender bent legs.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“Nothing, you’re just perfect. So radiantly perfect.” She tilted her bashfully before turning on that mega-watt smile for me.

“Thank you, Ian.”

I set the box on the bed in front of her, then sat on the bed beside her. Stealing a kiss and another, I asked, “Well sweetheart, are you going to open it?”

She opened the flaps and inside were all her childhood things. Several stuffed animals, clothes, toys. Lastly, she pulled out a photo album. “First Five Years,” the cover read. It was pink with bows, ribbons, and dolls on the cover.

We opened it to the first page which listed everything about the birth along with her baby picture. In exquisite, feminine handwriting, it described the joy of her parents, Eric and Gloria.

Each page had been filled to the brim with notes, photos capturing Charlotte’s life with the two people who loved her most. Now she had me to fill that spot along with our son.

We were at the photos after her third birthday and that’s when I caught a glimpse of something amazing. In the corner of a bunch of pictures was one with her in her dad’s arms. The caption reading: Daddy is my superhero. On the ground sat her turned-over bucket and a little crab. Our eyes met in fascinating surprise. She closed the book, tossing it to the side. Wiping the tears away, I asked, “It’s too much to look at?”

“No, it’s the end. That’s the last written page. After this, they unwillingly left me.”

“We’ll make those memories with our little one. Then we’ll be able to share this with them. Letting them meet their grandparents through their love for you.”

“Thank you, Ian. What would I do without you?” she asked, pulling the album to her chest. I kissed her head softly. Holding her until she fell asleep on me. I set the box on the floor and the album on the nightstand before turning the lights off and cradling my family in my arms. I couldn’t imagine my life without her.