With sadness on her face, Vee floats through the house to the kitchen. “You doin’ okay?” her husband asks her. She nods yes and walks by. He knows she’s lying, and she knows she didn’t put forth any effort into the charade. Vee searches the cupboards for something to eat, then changes her mind and silently returns to the dent she had previously made on the couch.
Vee’s husband sits next to her. He puts her arm around her and holds her hand. “It’ll be okay,” he says. She appreciates the kind words, but isn’t sure if she agrees with him. A tear comes to her left eye when she thinks about her empty womb and fallen expectations. She tried to wipe it away before he sees it there, but it was too late, and he sqeezes her closer to him.
In the coming days she will come to realize that everything that lives also dies. And sometimes when you lose something you never had, you are really only are losing an idea. Vee tells herself that it’s like not getting the job you really wanted. It’s like the pie that burned in the oven. It’s like expecting your friends to come to your party, but nobody comes. She tells herself this so that she won’t feel so slighted, but it doesn’t really help. The only thing that really helps is when her husband sits next to her, puts his arm around her, holds her hand and squeezes her close.
A few more doses of that remedy and Vee knows she’ll be okay.
