It was September 12, 2001. The day after the terrible tragedy at the World Trade Center. It was also Nora's 26th birthday and the first birthday without the love of her life, her husband Jeff.
Yesterday was like any other day. Jeff went to work at the WTC as an up and coming accountant for one of the cities top accounting firms. She remembered hearing the explosion and looking out the window of their apartment. She immediately saw the smoke bellowing from the tower. She tried calling Jeff's cell phone, but kept getting a busy signal or that annoying message that her call could not be completed at this time. She turned on the news only to find that a jet had crashed into the one of the towers and that a second jet had also made a target out of the second one as well. The reports on the news kept saying it was a terrorist attack on America. All Nora felt was her helplessness and her longing to hold Jeff at the moment.
Nora just felt that she should have been celebrating today, not mourning the lose of her young husband. She looked around the apartment, seeing Jeff's face in every nook and cranny.
She remembered when they first became engaged. He told her he would love her forever. On the day they were married, he told her in the vows he wrote himself, that he would love her forever. Every morning before he left for work and every night before they went to bed, he told her he would love her forever. And yesterday before he left and never came back, he told her he would love her forever. Nora broke down in tears.
Later that afternoon, she went to check the mail. There were the usual bills and advertisements, but there was a small package. Nora opened the box, only to find a heart shape necklace with a delicate gold chain. The note inside said "You will always have my heart. I will love you forever, Love Jeff". She tucked the gift inside her pocket. That was just like Jeff to be right on time with everything, Nora thought to herself. She fell asleep, crying.
Nora awoke to the sound of the phone ringing. By the time, she got her bearings, the phone had stopped ringing, but then she realized that Jeff had never left her. He was still with her. In her memories of him and his love for her. As she touched her stomach, she realized that she had a life that she was bringing into this world. A life that she and Jeff created together out of their love. She would tell their child what a wonderful and loving man its father was.
She touched the little box in her pocket and smiled to herself.
Written by Katherine M. Parisse
Copyrighted � 2004 Katherine M. Parisse
Please note: The following story is NOT a true story. It is fiction that was created in my own mind. It was for a fiction competition given in the webgroup WOMEN OF STRENGTH & INNER BEAUTY, where we were to create a piece of fiction, using the statement
"She touched the little box in her pocket and smiled to herself" as the last line. |
