Anchor ⚓︎ Jake 'Hangman' Seresin

⚓︎ chapter thirteen ⚓︎

*TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of miscarriage and death*

One Month Later

Eleanor sat at her computer, working on editing an engagement session she had photographed just a few days prior.  She wanted to get the photos back to the couple and it was a good way of distracting her mind from thinking about the events of the prior month.

While the wound was still fresh, Jake and Eleanor were slowly learning to talk about what they were feeling instead of bottling it up inside, only to have it explode. It was a trial and error type situation as they learned what they could talk about without either of them breaking down.

Jake had gone back to work regularly at Eleanor's insistence that they needed to start trying to go back to as normal as they could. The loss was still fresh but she had a few people who reached out to her regularly to make sure she was okay.

Torie and Natasha made it their goal that whenever they knew Jake was busy, they would be there to keep Eleanor company if they could, or least check up on her. Jake's mom was calling every other day to talk to Eleanor for at least an hour to make sure she knew that the family was thinking about her.

Her favorite time of the day though was when she would hop on a Skype call with Nana Elsie on days that she could. After finding out that she and Jake had lost the baby, Nana Elsie made sure to be in constant contact with at least Eleanor. She would share any and all stories of Jake she could remember and Eleanor loved every second. It was one of the the best parts of her day.

After finishing up the session did she check the time to see that she should be hopping on the Skype call in about an hour, just enough time to prepare something to eat. Jake was due to be coming home in the next half hour or so, she decided to have dinner ready when he got there.

She sent a quick text to Nana Elsie, just letting her know that she was making dinner and she was looking forward to their call but she would be on soon. She then turned her attention to their fridge, which was beginning to get scarce, meaning they would have to go grocery shopping soon.

They still had some chicken from a few nights before and decided to just cook some pasta with it, as well as some salad. She could hear Jake's truck pulling up outside and walked to the window to see him answering his phone as he made his out of the truck and up the sidewalk.

Eleanor began to put the food on the table when she heard a sudden gasp from the hallway and jumped. Quickly, she made her way over to the door, opening it to find Jake against the wall, crying as the discarded phone was in front of him.

Worry filled Eleanor as she knelt right in front of him, trying to pull his hands so she could look at him. "Jake, what's wrong?" She asked, but he could only shake his head, tears spilling from his eyes.

Knowing she wouldn't be getting any answers from him, she grabbed the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?" She asked.

Sniffles were heard from the other side of the phone as a meek voice squeaked out. "Eleanor?" It was Brenda.

"Yeah, it's me," she told her, "what's going on?"

A strangled sob left Jake as Eleanor listened to Brenda. "Nana Elsie passed away this morning, a heart attack," she told her.

Eleanor couldn't even hear the rest of what Brenda was saying because the phone had slipped from her hands.  Her hands began to shake as she tried to grab Jake's hands.  He looked up and just by the look on her face, he knew that she knew as well now.

They wrapped their arms around each other as they both sobbed. Eleanor sat in Jake's lap, not believing that she was gone. She was supposed to be on a Skype call with her in an hour and now she wouldn't.