Chapter 1
They had gotten married at the tender and impressionable age of 18. They had been madly in love, or what they thought was love anyways, and eloped the night she turned 18. To say their parents were shocked would be an understatement. Her parents tried to force an annulment, his parents disowned him. They didn't care what their parents thought though, they were in love with each other and they had a secret. A secret that miscarried a month into to their marriage. The loss of their baby, almost killed her emotionally.
They had moved from their hometown of Marietta, Georgia to Atlanta the day after they got married. They had been planning this and saving up for months. All they had to do was wait until she was of age. The day of her 18th birthday, they found the justice of the peace, said "I do", and spent their wedding night in a cheap motel. The couple made urgently whispered promises while they made love to each other that they would be together forever and raise their baby in a house filled with love.
The day after they were married, he drove her home to get her suitcase and told her parents what they did. They were livid. The screaming and yelling that ensued was too much for them to handle. She left her childhood home with her new husband and never looked back. The second their daughter walked out of the house and climbed into the waiting pickup, her mother called his parents. His father had no idea that his son had gotten married the day before. He vowed that he would disown his son for acting so reckless with a girl he hardly knew. Little did his father know, however, that the two had been in love and seeing each other for two years now. Maybe his dad should have paid more attention to the comings and goings of his son instead of being on the road ¾ of the year.
As they got settled into their crappy two bedroom apartment, she tried to make it feel like a home instead of what it really was—a shithole until they could afford something better. A few weeks went by when the unthinkable had happened, She had been having pains in her stomach all morning but didn't think anything of it; just brushed it off as pregnancy pains even though she was only eight weeks along. She started complaining to him late in the afternoon and he suggested that they go see the doctor just to make sure nothing was wrong with the baby; she didn't tell him that she was spotting. She didn't want to worry him if it turned out that nothing was wrong.
He held her hand and tried to make her smile as she lay on the examining table. He stopped smiling when the doctor had to tell them that she lost the baby. She didn't hear the words the doctor was saying to them about why the baby was gone; all she could think about was that their lovechild was gone.
The drive back to the apartment was silent. Neither of them had much to say to each other; both lost in their own thoughts about the child that they weren't having anymore. He helped her up the stairs and unlocked the apartment door. He followed her to the bedroom that was going to be their baby's. As she sat down in the rocking chair that he had bought at a yard sale earlier that week, she broke down. He knelt in front of her, wrapping his strong arms around her sobbing body. "Shh, honey, it's ok, it's ok. We still have each other," he whispered in her ear. He let her cry in his arms for a while before he suggested that she go lay down in the bed with him.
She fell asleep in his arms, drifting off to dreams filled with the baby that would have had. Would the baby have been a boy with dark hair and blue eyes like his father? Or would it have been a girl with light brown hair and dark brown eyes like her mother? She would never know. Sure, they could try for another baby, but it wouldn't have been the same. Sadly, this would be the beginning of the end for this newlywed couple.
As the days and weeks dragged on, she enrolled in classes at a local community college and worked part time as a bartender. He was working in a warehouse, dreaming of quitting his job and heading up to Ohio for wrestling school. She knew about his dream, but dismissed as just that, a dream. Three months into their marriage, things slowly started falling apart for the couple. They fought more and more over petty little things, she accused him of not caring that they had lost their baby, he accused her of sleeping around with the customers she served at work. The only time they made love was out of pure need for sexual release. Her mom was right, they were too young to be married and they weren't going to make it to their first wedding anniversary.
Eight months into their marriage, she made a rash decision and decided to leave him. She couldn't take the constant bickering the loss of emotion she felt for him. She could hardly bring herself to sleep next to him at night anymore. With the help of her best friend, she moved all of her stuff out one day while was at work. She was moving to Minnesota to attend a university there and to live with an aunt. He had no idea that she was so unhappy until he came home from work that night and read her note to him:
Cody,
I'm leaving you. This isn't working anymore. My parents were right—we were too young to get married, I guess I didn't realize it until we lost our baby. We're like strangers now. We fight all the time and I can't take it anymore with you reminding me every damn day that I'm the one thing standing in the way of living your dream. You can go live it now, I won't be standing in your way anymore. I left the money in the checkbook, here's your wedding ring, I don't want it anymore. Sorry this couldn't work out. I guess I just don't love you anymore.
Jenna
He reread the 'Dear John' note at least ten times before it finally sank in that she had left him. Maybe he should have been more sensitive to her after she miscarried, maybe he shouldn't have accused her of cheating on him. Maybe he shouldn't have told her that she was standing in the way of his dream of becoming a wrestler like his dad. Maybe if would have said 'I love you' more often rather than 'You're ruining my life' she would still be here. His mind was full of 'maybes'. He had no idea where to find her, where she went, or why she didn't love him anymore.
He went to sleep that night thinking that maybe she would come back, that she had only left temporarily and that she would come back to him soon. She never did come back. The days turned into weeks before he finally realized that when he reached out to pull her closer in the middle of the night, that she meant it, she wasn't coming back. He had lost her forever. His sweet, sweet, Jenna was gone forever. He had messed up real bad this time.
The day after his late night realization, he did the one thing that he didn't think he would ever do. He called his father and asked for help getting into wrestling school in Ohio. He didn't tell him that she had left him, but his father assumed that's what had happened since his son made no mention of his young wife.
As he moved the remaining stuff out of their once shared apartment, he found her wedding band that she had left. He put it in his pocket, wondering if he would ever see her again. She had made no mention of filing for divorce, she just said that she was leaving and that she didn't love him anymore. Sad thing was, though, he still loved her.
