The Older

As He Waits

It was on a cold winter night in 2015, Christmas was only four days away. Stephen was reaching the older age of 57 years. He sat quietly in his wife's bedroom at the edge of her bed. He was reading her old diary and was coming to the end of it's contents. As he was reading it he was thinking of the all the memories him and his wife, Fate, had made over the last 35 years of being together. So many memories yet not enough he thought as she lay ill in bed.

He had come in every day over the last nine years, for an hour at least, always being quiet, to see sit next to his wife as he read her long past journals. One page a day, he would read, then he would leave her be as she sleep in her coma like trance.

He believed if he read her journals, a page a day, he would be as close to her as possible, for he knew she herself was in a totally different time and year and place than he was. It made him smile though, knowing where she was in her mind, and he thought to himself, Time can't handle our love for another, for if it could it wouldn't have snatched away his Fate from him, as much as it had.

Yet a smile came to his face every day when he realized though their love story was such a love story, and meant so much to both of them, that even though time tried to shorten it, it really couldn't in the end, since it just replayed over and over again in both of their minds.

Although he knew Fate couldn't hear him, he felt in his heart, he should talk with her tonight, for it had been ten years already that she had been in this state and for some reason it was lasting longer than it had the last time she had fallen ill like this.

He thought to himself, maybe she might be able to hear him now, in this moment. And he longed to tell her things, for he was getting older, and he wanted her to know, since he didn't know what the future would hold for them this time around, how much he truly did miss and love her.

"Fate..." he began to say as he sat upright in his chair his hand held in her hand, " I thought you would have come back to me by now...I love you so much and am eager for you to awake to me again. Like you had last time. I hope you can hear me this time because I have so much I need to say." His eyes slowly filled with tears, but he tried to hold him back, " I told you years ago, how much you mean to me, and you told me time is a thief, and it really has been for us, huh? But I just want you to know that no matters what happens, as long as the stars are above you, I will wait for you. I believe even death won't be able to separate us from our love, and I know, if you reach Heaven before I do, that you will be there waiting for me, like you had once told me. And once we get there time will be everlasting, and nothing will be ever able to separate us from each other again." He paused for a moment then continued... " I wish I knew what our future holds, but I know for a fact I wouldn't change a moment of our lives together. For every moment we have shared, every kiss, and even every heartbreak has only made me love you more and more... I never thought I could love anyone so much until I found you. And every time you are away from me, I find hope in the hurt of it all, that we will be able to at least make one more moment together, and be us again even if it is only for a short time."

He then felt overwhelmingly tired and thought he would go ahead and leave her in peace as he left her bedroom and went outside to sit on the patio of their big country home. As he watched the sunset that night. He couldn't help but think of their first date.

His daughter and her small growing family was visiting that night, and they also came outside to watch the sunset with him. He felt so many different ways that night, as he missed his Fate and missed his son who had died young, but felt happy too as he held his grandchild in his hand.

His daughter now 30 years old, came over and hugged her daddy, she could see on his face he needed some love. "Daddy." she said as if she could read his mind, " I miss them too."

They all sat together until the sun set and the sky turned deep black and the stars came out. Before they went to bed, he looked up at the sky, and he -asked God with a thankful heart, " Thank you for all my blessings in life, I have one last request from you, please let Fate know how much I love her tonight. If anyone can do that, it is you."

As he waited for Fate to awake, the past was replaying through Fate's mind of the last 35 years together. But for a moment God paused time and told Fate how much her husband Stephen loved her.

As Fate slept in her coma like trance for the next ten years, she remembered everything, every little detail of their last ten years together...