Joe
Joe felt Virginia’s loss as acutely as she’d felt her own. She would remember the day she received word of Tim’s death as long as she lived. It was a day that was etched into her soul. A day she’d feared since the first moment she knew she loved him.
A fresh snow had fallen overnight, blanketing the earth like a fluffy down comforter. It was a perfect snow, the kind you could easily scrunch into snowballs or roll into snowmen. The sight of the two men in Navy blue dress uniforms as they shuffled up the walk was like a streak of fresh blood splattered across a freshly starched white shirt. Joe knew the moment she saw them that her life was about to change forever.
What happened after that, she could not remember. She could not remember opening the door to them and inviting them in. She could not remember their words. But she did remember the look of sorrow in their eyes as they delivered the news. Just before she fell to her knees and every last scrap of air left her lungs. Just before she herself died. At least the part of her that belonged to Tim.
She switched off the television and tucked herself tightly into a fetal position. Joe clung to Virginia’s journal and wept. Hot, angry tears swept down her cheek and landed with a thump onto the Egyptian cotton bedsheets. Tears for herself, tears for Virginia, tears for everyone who had experienced the kind of loss that made you question everything you’d ever believed in. Left you lost and alone and unable to imagine a time when you could ever possibly open your heart to love again.
She and Virginia were kindred souls, and in the stillness of the night, Joe understood with perfect clarity why Virginia had chosen her. Now she just needed to figure out what she was supposed to do with the information contained in the journals. Once she’d finished reading them, that is.
As she lay under the covers in the dark, Joe cradled her belly and felt her son move, as if in response to his mother’s touch. “It won’t be long now, little one,” she whispered before she drifted into a peaceful slumber.