With This Heart

Chapter Five

It was difficult for Anne to go about her daily routine. She couldn't help but think of Erik. Had she made the right decision letting him go? She was so disappointed in herself. She was always so confident. Thomas had been asking where Erik was, and it was always in moments when Anne had not been thinking about him. She decided to give Charles a call.
"Hey!"
"Hey Anne, how are you?"
"I'm great. How about you?"
"I'm well." he said.
There was a moment of silence and Charles picked up on it.
"What is it you're calling about, love?"
"I was just wondering how things were since Erik's return? Has everything cooled down?"
"Do you mean with Poland or with you?"
Anne blushed. "I don't know what you mean Charles."
"Anne, I can read minds."
"And?"
"And You're on Erik's ALOT. What happened with you two? WAIT, I don't want to know."
"Nothing happened Charles, really. We just..kissed."
"I knew something was going on. Now what happens?"
"Nothing Charles. Nothing happens."
"You can't just kiss a man. You'll get under their skin and they'll go crazy."
"Not true. We both agreed to forget it ever happened."
"Was that mutual?"
Anne didn't know what to say.
"Your hesitation is all I needed Anne."
"Stop it, you didn't let me answer."
"Would you like to talk to him?"
"NO, PLEASE!" she cried.
Charles yelled to someone from the other room.
"Listen, we can talk about this later love. Call me."
"I will ring you tomorrow, it's the middle of the night here. I'm off to bed."
Charles laughed, "Okay, love you."
"Love you too."

Anne felt very stupid for calling, but she had to. That night was the first time since Erik left that she felt very alone. She felt, empty. She reached over to her side table and grabbed the half of heart Erik gave her. She held it to her heart and sighed. She was starting to feel very foolish for letting him leave the way she did. "UHHH!" she said aloud.

A few days passed and she still was feeling very foolish. She tried to keep herself busy, that wasn't difficult. Spring would be here soon and she and the children started to prepare the garden soil. It was still pretty frozen so they just spent time in the greenhouse planting some seed in pots to later transfer into the outside garden.
"Mama, will Erik be here to help with the garden in Spring?"
"No honey, I'm sorry."
Gwen was very upset, but Anne tried to make her feel better by offering a walk into town.

They went almost every day for the next few weeks. Then Anne went into the garage and dusted off her old car so then they could make the trip daily. All of the snow was gone and the garden was ready for planting. They spent some time transferring plants and then headed off to town. The two employees that Anne hired moved to part-time while she tried to get her feet wet at the shop. Before long she was back to work full-time. She kept one employee and the other put in a leave of absence so she could finish up school. Anne told her she'd have a place to work when she was done if she wanted.
Anne sent the kids to a school near the shop.

That night Anne called Charles again, but he never picked up. She left several messages before getting worried that something was wrong.
Suddenly the phone rang.
"Anne?" a voice said.
"Charles?"
"I need you here."
Anne hung the phone up, rushed to the children and got them ready to go.
She left them with her friend down the road and said she'd be back as soon as she could. Her friend assured her they would be fine and to take her time.
Anne stopped home, gathered her things, hopped in the car and headed for the airport.