Eternity of Love

Chapter 2

Silvia stood at the bottom of the massive staircase leading to the church. As the people scurried past her to get inside the warm prayer hall, she felt lost. Last year, Greg had been so happy, lost in the spirit of festivity. He had cracked jokes all day as he had helped Silvia decorate the Christmas tree and take out the silver.

They had completed the decoration by 8:00 in the evening and Greg had taken her out to dinner before the mass. Both Silvia and Greg loved Christmas and always attended the mass. Greg always said, “it sets the mood right for Christmas day! I can’t imagine any Christmas without the mass….” And now Silvia found it difficult to believe it would be Christmas without Greg.

As she stood immersed in Greg’s thoughts, indifferent to the cold around her, Jennifer sneaked from behind her and whispered in her ear, “you looking for me miss?” and startled Silvia who jumped at the sudden intervention in her thoughts.

With wide eyes and a thumping heart, she turned around to greet her friend.

“You scared the hell out of me!”

“I knew I could count on you” Jennifer smirked as she handed her friend a cup of latte and took a sip from her own. Silvia was grateful for the warmth that the hot drink provided to her body. She realized she was nearly numb with cold.

They both quickly drained the cups and headed inside the church as the mass was about to begin and Jennifer didn’t feel like being crammed at the back. They quickly found two unoccupied spots in one of the pews in the middle and sat down.

Soon they were both lost in the mesmerizing glory of the church thinking about the festival. Soon they were singing softly side by side. Tears rolled down Silvia’s face as she silently remembered her husband and said a prayer for him.

Trying to come out of the sadness, she looked around her and noticed quite a few sad faces, who had probably also lost loved ones, maybe in the same tragedy that stole her life away. Realizing there were others like her, she said a prayer for all the lost souls and their families.

After the mass was over and everybody was busy greeting each other, she turned to face Jennifer with a big smile on her face in days and hugged her.

“Thank you for coming with me to the mass this year Jen, if it had not been for you, I am not sure if I could have managed it on my own.”

“don’t be silly love” Jennifer gently held her hand briefly.

They both said good night as Jennifer headed towards the parking lot to get her car while Silvia called out to a cab. After giving her address to the driver, she settled back into the seat and stared out into the streets as they blurred by. She was lost in thoughts of Greg as the car screeched to a sudden stop. She looked up to see that a man was standing in front of the cab merely a millimeter away from the car.

The driver got out to see if the man was alright while she stayed inside the warmth of the cab, unsure if she should too get out. When the driver got inside once again, he seemed shaken by the experience.

“ummm miss, this man outside…he seems to be a good man and is waiting to find a cab which I doubt he will find here. Do you mind if he hops in too?” the driver hesitantly asked.

“well okay, he can come with us” she surprised herself by agreeing to let a stranger share the cab with her.

The driver rolled down the glass and called out to the man to hop in who immediately hurried inside with a thankful smile on his face.

“Thank you so much for letting me share the cab with you, I was freezing outside in the cold. I guess I was crazy to think I could get a cab at this hour from this deserted lane. I am Christopher Green, by the way.” He spoke politely to her as she stared at him with a blank expression on her face and acknowledged him with a mere nod of the head.

He continued to look at her but turned away at the lack of response and told the driver to drop her off first as he was in no hurry and with that the cab settled into silence once again which was broken when her house came into view.

The driver told her the fare which she paid quietly, telling him to keep the change and slowly walked up to her door, opened it and got inside.

Meanwhile, Christopher followed her movement as she got into her home with a thoughtful expression on his face. He told his address to the driver and turned to the window. He was still thinking about the mysteriously silent woman in the cab as he entered his own apartment, half an hour later.