Epilogue
By Sarah Leeves
Catharine never threw out the bridal magazine. It lay in her bottom drawer, under old knitted sweaters and winter coats. To her it represented choices, choices lost, choices taken, and choices she somehow never got to decide.
It had never occurred to her that Henry would be killed in a car crash, just moments before she opened the door to Newt, or that today Henry's child would be responsible for driving her husband home from physiotherapy.
Henry had never even known about Annabelle, but Catharine had made sure that Annabelle knew about him – and the twins Newt and her had had just six years ago.
Below, loud roars interrupted the stillness of their tiny house. Nike and Jake were home from grade one now, and therefore Annabelle would be back with Newt soon. Heading down the stairs, Nike and Jake were already outside playing an imaginary game they'd created in the muddy backyard. The tiny kitchen was the hallway to the stairs and outdoors, and their backpacks were already on the dining room table.
It had taken a lot of work over the past few years to make ends meet. After Newt's accident with the army, their entire life needed to be changed for his new, handicapped state. It had taken years to save up for the house there were in now, most of Annabelle's childhood in a small apartments with neighbours who talked to loud and police sirens every hour of the night. The wheelchair-accessible car, which Annabelle pulled into the driveway with now, had been the difference from a grassy, landscaped backyard to the dirt, weedy one they had now.
It's been worth it, Catharine thought to herself, it all has. Crossing into their bedroom, she took one last look at the bridal magazine – her wedding had obviously not been that fancy – and carried it over to the garbage. She brought the bag out through their garage, watching as Newt lowered himself out of the car.
“Thank-you Annabelle,” Catharine said as her daughter brushed by, heading to the safety of her room before the boys made her join their games.
“No problem Mom.” Annabelle called out. Catharine smiled, and dumped the garbage on the side of the road, ready for pickup. Newt came up behind her; metal wheels crunching the fresh gravel.
“I'm back,” he said, giving her the smile that had made all these hard years so bearable. “That was my last session. I'm all yours now.”
Catharine smiled back. The bridal magazine would be gone by tomorrow morning; no longer would she rethink those vital choices, the events that shaped her life now. She was done with wondering about the other side, and the other ways the last 16 years could have played out. With just one look from her doting husband or happy children, she knew once and for all that her life could not have played out any better way.
Catharine was finally truly happy.
My friend loved the first paragraph. How about you?
S a r a h
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