Loving Eleanor(BWWM)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Location: Beverly Hills, California
Date: December 24th, 1953
Name: Eleanor Hazel Curtis
Age: twenty-seven

Eleanor's eyes scanned the aisle. She was looking for cranberry sauce, it was a staple for Christmas breakfast. And it was delicious.

"Eleanor?" She heard a familiar voice call.

She looked away from the shelf and saw Gary. "Oh, hi. What are you doing in California?" She asked nonchalantly. She was trying to be nice, but she really wanted to get her cranberry sauce and go home.

Gary smiled and eyed her body. "I live here now. I moved after the war ended," He explained, his eyes still stuck on her body.

Eleanor tried not to gag or tell him off. He was still a little boy. She had no time for him. Dale owned her heart. "That's nice. I have to go," She flashed a fake smile and grabbed two cans of cranberry sauce.

Gary hummed and followed her. "Wait, how's Professor Curtis doing?" He asked and bit his bottom lip.

Eleanor still couldn't handle that question. She hadn't accepted his death. "M-my Dale, um, he passed away three years ago in the war." It hurt her soul to say that. Dale was alive in her heart. And she needed him.

Gary's face fell and he sighed. "Eleanor, I'm so sorry."

Eleanor wanted to kick him for asking.

"Are you fairing fine? Do you have family here?" Gary asked.

"I am. I have Dale's brother and his family. Stop asking me questions, please." She said firmly and walked to the register. Gary was a pain in the neck.

She finished getting checked out and left the store.

Christmas was painful for her. Every year since Dale passed, all she could do was remember their first and only Christmas together. The excitement that was in her heart that day always came back, as if she was expecting Dale to come home and love her. The pain she experienced was always excruciating.

She couldn't even decorate the house. She had a Christmas tree, only because Fox and Elm offered to put it up and decorate it. They did it every year for her, it was sweet of them.

When she made it home, Clark was asleep by the Christmas tree. She smiled at the sweet dog and walked into the kitchen.

She placed the cranberry sauce onto the counter and opened it. Every Christmas Eve she would put the cranberry sauce in Tupperware and enjoy it cold on Christmas morning.

"This is gonna be delicious," She murmured while pouring the sauce into the bowl.

She put the top onto the bowl and placed it in the fridge. "Alright, Clark. Time for bed!" She called her sleeping dog, who shot up and ran out of the living room and up the stairs.

She saw Clark as the child she would never have with Dale. They adopted him together and Dale loved him.

"I miss you, Dale." She said sadly and walked up the stairs. Their home was a sad and empty place.

However, she couldn't bring herself to bring life to it. It hurt too much.

-

The next morning Eleanor woke up with joy in her heart. She could never convince her heart that Dale wasn't ever coming home, her expectations were high.

"Merry Christmas, Clark!" She said to her dog, but as she looked around the room, she found that he was gone.

Clark never left the room without her in the morning. He was her very own bodyguard.