John and Marlena (Finally) Get a Q!

Chapter 34 - A Lesson On How To Charm

Marlena closed the bedroom door and dropped the boxes on the bed with a shaking hand. She refused to break down in front of her children again. They deserved better than that from her and they were her priority. She rubbed her eyes, attempting to vanquish the tiredness that endlessly threatened to envelop her these days. Not that it was particularly surprising. She didn't think she'd slept more than two straight hours since this whole sorry mess had begun.

The nights were the worst. When she had nobody to turn to, nobody to hold her and tell her they loved her. Just this numbing, wrenching loneliness that she thought would kill her. If the tears were bad during the day, they were ten times worse at night. She would wake up, almost unable to breath the terror was so paralyzing. She couldn't remember there being a reason that she felt so afraid but the intense, disabling fear pervaded the room until she almost choked with the tears. And yet, it wasn't something that she was prepared to admit to anyone.

She arranged the pillows and then climbed back into the bed and pulled the covers up to her waist. The gift boxes sat next to her, and she contemplated them for a moment. Part of her wanted to send them back to John unopened. The other part of her wanted to see what he could come up with. To see where he would hit her next. That part of her could wait. She picked up her glasses and slipped them on before opening the paper. It wasn't long before she gave in and folded the paper up again.

She picked up the first box and opened it, realizing in the process that it was the one she had received yesterday. The heart still nestled among the silk but there was a second piece of paper in the lid of the box. Marlena pulled it out and unfolded it.

                A heart of gold so pure and true
                A symbol of my love for you
                Now and always my love will burn
                Like the brightest diamond
               Waiting for you to return
               To my arms
                And my heart

                My darling Marlena,
                Yours always,
                John

She looked quickly towards the ceiling, trying to still the ache that had invaded her heart. The John she knew rarely ever resorted to poetry. For him to use it now was a signal that he was deadly serious in his intentions.

Pressing her lips together she slowly opened the second box with some anticipation. She wasn't disappointed as she saw the second charm that lay among the blue silk. It was a tiny golden bell. She shook her head slowly as she brushed the tears from her cheeks. He certainly knew how to get to her.

There was a poem included in this box also, and despite the tears, she couldn't help the smile that crept onto her lips as she read it.

A tiny bell(e) to show my dear
That whether we are far or near
She is a symbol of our love
An angel sent from God above.
If only I could make you see
You both were never far from me
Perhaps then we could reunite
then try and try with all our might
for another angel on our wedding night
This charm is to remind you that our love created a miracle. If only
*I'd* remembered that I wouldn't be separated from the Belle that rings
my heart and the woman who anchors my soul.

Forgive me,
John

As badly as he had hurt her, her heart still loved him more than anything and if he carried on like this, she wasn't quite sure how she would resist him.

Still, determined to resist him she was and when Sami surfaced later in the morning, she asked her to send the neatly repackaged boxes back to John. Sami acquiesced seeing the pain etched in her mother's eyes and sent the charms back with a message asking John to stop.