Repairing the Broken Molds
Christopher
Six weeks later
I placed a hand on Lorelai’s thigh as she read through a magazine in the waiting room at the psychologist’s office. After Santino’s disappearing act, it didn’t take Lorelai long to agree to inquire on going to couples’ counseling. Going into our first session, we started out with why we wanted to seek couples’ counseling; and, at the end of the first session, our counselor could see we had valid reasons to be there. Together, we decided that therapy once a week to start out would be sufficient while we worked through the healing process of the tragic events we went through.
The door opened and Marlee, our counselor stuck her head out and smiled. “Lorelai? Chris, come on back.”
Lorelai closed the magazine and looked at me. “Ready?” She offered her hand and I stood up taking her hand before walking in the back to Marlee’s office.
Once sitting on the comfortable couch, I wrapped an arm around the back of Lorelai’s shoulders.
“So? What’s going on in Lorelai and Chris’s universe?” Marlee asked as she sat down with a notepad.
Lorelai looked at me, then Marlee. “Well, we have some good news to start off with.”
“Starting with good news is always a positive way to start. Let’s hear it.”
“After everything, we’re both in line to graduate high school. In fact, commencement is this weekend.”
A smile widened on her face. “That is a huge mile marker! Are you excited?”
“Absolutely. We’re so over the study sessions and homework. I mean, senior year wasn’t what I expected, but it was better than I ever imagined in some ways.”
“How so?”
She placed a hand on my leg and looked back at me. I smiled as she began to speak after a short pause. “Well, I wasn’t around to make memories with my friends or take in all the perks of being a senior, but I met Christopher and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to my life.”
“And why is that, Lorelai?”
“He brought a promise to my future. A love that I wasn’t sure existed. He supports me in everyday life goals, and not just my dreams but our dreams. We have plans for after graduation too, but I can’t say anything yet because we’re waiting on the official word.”
Marlee smiled. “Okay, well I’m sure you’ll keep me informed then?”
I smiled. “Of course we will.”
“What about you, Chris? How have things been since our last visit?”
I brushed my thumb over the top of her hand and caressed it gently. Tough conversations often made Lorelai emotional. “We continue making growth and progress. We’re always open and honest with each other. We have our hard days and nights. Uninterrupted sleep hasn’t exactly been the easiest of tasks.”
“What do you mean?”
I looked to Lorelai making sure it was okay I continued, and gave me a nod to elaborate. “She has nightmares about the night Santino was trying to force her to leave for Vegas. I’ll wake up from her tossing and turning. She’s an emotional sleeper, she’ll wake up crying, having a hard time breathing, and realizing it was only a dream. I do my best to make sure she knows she’s safe and that Santino isn’t coming back.”
“What do you do to comfort her other than verbally tell her she’s safe?”
“I’ll get her a glass of water; and if staying in bed isn’t an option, we’ll leave the cabin and go lie out on the deck and watch the stars until she’s calm enough to sleep again.”
Lorelai smiled. “And that’s just one example. He’s made other approaches, too. He’ll hold me, and rub my back until I fall back to sleep. Or he’ll bring me a warm cup of milk and read gossip magazines out loud and make me laugh until I’m in tears. Sometimes, he’ll bring me to the kitchen, cook us a full breakfast, and we’ll sit on the kitchen floor and eat together. He’s very adamant about taking my mind off whatever it is that has me worked up.”
Marlee wrote some key notes down, and smiled up at us when she finished. “It sounds like you’re a strong support system. What about you, Chris? Have you hit any walls?”
I paused to think about it. “I think between the miscarriage and almost losing her, I’ve been trying hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We’re young, yes;, but Lorelai is my forever and I remind her of that a lot. Lorelai mentioned plans for the future, and I think that’s what I have been working on most. Making sure that we aren’t living on the cabin of her luxury yacht; which is great, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not a place we should live when we want to start a family sooner rather than later.”
“Ah! There it is. So future living plans. I think these are all excellent goals. Mental health and communication in your relationship is very important. What about plans for careers or college?”
There it was, the other million dollar question. “I’ll continue working with my father at the construction company. He’s still booked up a year in advance between working within San Francisco and the surrounding areas, and Lorelai…” I smiled at her. “Why don’t you tell her?”
Lorelai smiled. “I’m going to be going to work at the Montgomery Winery with his mother.”
Marlee smiled. “Wow! That’s very exciting. You’re both going to be jumping into careers, successful ones at that. I think as long as you keep your goals in sight, you two will be just fine.”
Lorelai smiled. “Me too. Christopher and his parents have been so good to me in the last month and a half.”
“So no more hostility there?” Marlee asked.
I laughed. “I think my parents have grown to love Lorelai more than they do me on some days.”
Lorelai laughed. “That’s because I don’t walk away grumbling when they want to banter.”
I nudged her playfully with my elbow and chuckled. “I don’t see the point in useless arguments.”
Lorelai leaned forward, placing a hand at the side of her mouth. “He’s just grumpy.” She whispered loudly.
Marlee laughed, “Well that’s wonderful, it’s so great to see you two improving. Have you two considered taking a night to focus on romance? I know we talked about it a few times. I think you guys are in a good place. Maybe we can push our next session out by a few weeks and before you come back. I want you to plan at least two nights, whether it’s going out or staying in, and then we’ll talk about it next time.”
Lorelai looked at me with gentle facial features. I knew that making love had become a hard act for her to embrace after the miscarriage. She feared that if or when she fell pregnant that we would have to embrace that pain over and over again. This had been talked about over the weeks of coming to therapy.
She smiled at me and took my hand in hers before looking at Marlee. “I did go talk to a doctor at Planned Parenthood a couple of weeks ago, and they did an exam and they couldn’t find any reason for us not to try again.” She paused and looked back to me. “I think I’m ready to take that step now.”
I squeezed her hand and brought it up planting a gentle kiss against the back of it.
Marlee smiled, admiring our progress. “I’m not an expert in that area, but isn’t it around seven weeks that you have to wait before you try again?”
Lorelai nodded and looked down.
“Lorelai,” Marlee began. “You were under a lot of stress back then. You’re lives are looking up in a whole different light. Stay positive.”
She looked up with tears in her eyes and nodded. “I know. I’m ready to try again.”
I smiled, squeezing her hand and leaned in to kiss her cheek. “It’s okay to be scared, baby; but I know that we’ll have the child we’ve been dreaming of.”
She looked at me and smiled. “I certainly hope so.”
The session continued, and Marlee dug a little deeper on educating Lorelai when to take tests, keeping her diet healthy and to start taking prenatal vitamins before we started trying again. I was pleased with how Marlee took an emotional situation and turned it into a positive hopeful mindset for my beautiful Lorelai. Me? I sat and envisioned that pregnancy glow she would gain, talking about plans for us and our future tot to be, and watching our child grow inside of her. Needless to say, I was the number one support system to making Lorelai a mother to my children. I knew her fears and anxieties, but I refused to give up on making her dreams come true.
***
When the session ended, we made an appointment for three weeks out and walked out to the car hand in hand. I opened the passenger door for her and saw that she was in safely before I leaned in and pulled the seatbelt out, pulling it around her thin figure and snapping it into place.
“What do you say we stop at the drugstore and I’ll buy those prenatals Marlee was talking about?” I asked, stepping back but stayed close.
She smiled, placing a hand on my cheek. “That sounds wonderful, Mr. Montgomery.”
I leaned in, planting a gentle kiss against her lips. “I love you,” I whispered against her lips.
She inhaled a deep sharp breath. “Mmm… I love you, baby. So much.”
I smiled against her lips leaning in for another kiss. She held onto the kiss for another moment before I broke it and stepped out. We left as the sun began to set, made a short pit stop before heading back to the yacht club where I would make dinner for us, and we would continue prepping for the big celebration weekend ahead of us.