AWAIT, SIT TIGHT, HOLD ON
Await.
Cora was sitting on the most uncomfortable chair ever, but she didn't mind. She couldn't care less for her own body.
Her hands pressed on her face, her elbows resting painfully on her knees by hours. She was in the same position since she first arrived, since the doctor had confined her there, to wait.
Her back screamed but she didn't care. She didn't care if she was still in that unladylike position in the middle of the hall, among the few village's people there in her expensive gown, with the tiara in her hair, blood spilled all over her.
Blood.
She stared for a moment at her hands, poorly washed from the blood of her husband.
Her dear husband.
She instinctively raised her head, looking into the dark corridor before her. He was there, somewhere, closed into one of those rooms, alone, on a small bed, with a lamp to lighten up his stomach. He was fighting for his life.
Was he winning? Was he losing?
Cora let warm, new tears rolled down her cheeks. She was tired, so tired and so scared by the future. She entered that hospital as a wife, could she possibly exit as a widow? No, she couldn't think about that now.
She swallowed hard, trying to stop herself from crying loud, too loud among other people suffering. She wasn't the only one there, waiting for better news.
How much she would have loved to be strong. Yet she felt like torn apart, without a limb, without her heart. She couldn't simply stay calm, she couldn't stop cry and worry and beg the Lord to spare her dear husband's life.
Cora felt powerless. Like she had been her entire life. Without her husband she was nothing. She was a person sewed in half, crying and bleeding, like him.
How cruel was the fate. God knew how many times he was in her position, waiting for their daughters to be born, waiting for her to recover from the flu, waiting, waiting. She hated that word. She felt on the edge of a cliff, and sometimes the fear clenched her heart, her stomach, and with her mind she fell down, down, into the abyss. A deep ocean of desolation and misery and sorrow, a lonely place she was not yet to visit.
Sit tight.
She just had to sit tight. Grasping the wood under her legs as she heard the soft heels hitting the floor with rhythmical steps, when she heard the doctor's voice, telling about the deadly operation he had to performed.
Her nails dug into her palm, but she didn't care. Pain, pain, what was pain? Her husband was in pain, her agony was in her heart. It was not fair.
Robert had done nothing bad in all his life. He was a loving husband, a caring father and an affectionate grandfather, his heart was for everyone who showed even a little kindness to him. He was loyal and strong. He was the best man, the only man she'd ever loved and the only one she'll always love.
Safe. She mouthed the word. Hundreds, thousand times. Now deaf to all the doctor's speeches. Her heart ran wild, flipping in her chest.
And when her hand touched his, cold and still, it skipped a beat. He looked so small in that bed, pale and worn out, his lips thin and blue. Her strong giant weak and defenceless.
Cora let her tears rolled down once again, while a shy smile appeared on her lips. Her Robert was not still out of danger, but he was safe. Safe, for now.
So many other nights together, so many dances in their room when no music was playing, stolen kisses when no one was watching, playing the newly-wed lovebirds whenever possible. So many other day of them, it was still not over. She'd promised and she'd kept her word.
The last thing they needed to do was hold on. Because there was no life without the other. Because there was no Cora without Robert. Because they were one. Because they shared the same heart.
They had to wait for their eyes to meet once again, the blue diamonds to finally meet one more time with their pearl soulmates.
They had to sit tight, to wait for his fingers to crawl with hers.
They had to hold on, like they'd always done during blue times, sitting tight next to each other to wait for the storm to be over.
And it would have been over, soon. She knew, deep in her heart, she knew everything was going to be fine. She'd just had to be there, for him, forever, just like he'd done so many times before for her.