Chapter 12: Laura

I’d cried myself to sleep every night since I got to Aunt Molly’s place. She is my mother’s sister. Mom and Aunt Molly couldn’t be more different. Molly was a very affectionate, nurturing, and supportive person. She made me feel welcomed from the moment I got to Middletown. She hugged me really, really tight. At that moment, I knew I had made the right choice coming here. This was the kind of nurturing affection that my heart needed and deserved.

A few days after my arrival, the loss of my baby finally started to feel concrete, like it did happen. Time slowed down. In fact, I think it ceased to exist for me. I sat alone, waiting for something to wake me up, to change this hollow feeling. It was all too heavy, too much to handle.

I asked my aunt not to tell anyone, especially my mother and father that I was staying with her.

“Don’t worry. I get a card from her on my birthday and at Christmas and that’s it.”

I just shook my head.

Of course, my parents could hire a P.I. if they wanted to find me. However, I suspected they were relieved not having me around.

Some weeks later, I started helping my aunt with the inn work. I did small chores like cleaning and placing clean sheets on the bed in a vacated room. I went to bed exhausted each evening. I closed my eyes tight and forced myself to think of anything but what had happened. The mornings usually came much too soon.

Finally, I asked Aunt Molly to work as a receptionist. I was responsible for greeting guests as they arrived at the inn and checking them in and out. It was better than lying in bed all day feeling miserable and crying every night wondering if I would ever feel normal again. The pills the psychiatrist gave me helped me to cope with my situation. Even so, I was still feeling down and cried a lot, usually at night.

The inn was decorated with lots of lovely objects. Aunt Molly had traveled all around the world collecting things, and most of the objects she had collected were exposed. There were jade statues and ebony cabinets from Japan, sculptures of gods from Ancient Peru, and brightly colored vases and plates from Turkey. I loved them all.

One night, I told Aunt Molly the whole story from the beginning. We both cried a lot. Being able to get what happened off my chest and cry my heart out helped me to cope with my depression. I felt less alone.

I looked out the window and sighed. It had been raining for three days straight and it had finally stopped. I was depressed. Not in the ‘I’m going to go do something drastic to myself’ sense, but more in the ‘I still have no idea what I’m going to do with my empty life’.

As long as I didn’t think about the past, it didn’t hurt. But, some days I couldn’t help it.

I was already in bed, when Aunt Molly knocked on my door, taking my mind out of my thoughts

“Come on in,” I invited.

She entered my room. “Laura! You’ll never guess who’s here.” She was so excited that she was bouncing on her feet.

I didn’t need to guess. Percy was standing behind her.

He appeared in the door frame and looked at me as if he had seen me for the first time. He didn’t have it in him to look sheepish. But his face was doing its best. “Hello, Laura. Surprise?”

I wanted to say a lot but I didn’t. When I regained my power of speech, there was only one word available in my brain, “Percy.”