Takes place shortly after Mark died.
A woman, pale, and with a mane of curly cinnamon red-brown hair, walked toward her house (it was her house now, not their home…), her arms loaded with groceries, when she noticed the mail had arrived. She managed, with great difficulty, to rearrange the bags to acquire two free fingers, she opened the mailbox. It was this kind of thing that made her remember him, that made her miss him, remembering how he'd always snatch the groceries, so quick to help, always by her side... One envelope. Probably a bill too, or better… junk mail for Mark. That was always a depressing one, some credit card company wondering if her dead husband wanted to utilize their service.
She paid the sitter, who informed her that Ella was still soundly asleep. She checked on the sleeping child. God how she reminded her of Mark…
She brushed a tear away from her eye.
She walked back to the kitchen and sorted the groceries, leaving a bottle of Kaluah on the counter. She walked to her room, holding the brown bottle in one hand, and a smallish glass in the other. Mark had won it for her, in a coin flipping game at a carnival… flip the coin into a glass and win it, trivial… it was painted with roses…
"For my English rose," he'd said. Just remembering that silly little phrase brought more tears to her eyes. Did everything in this God forsaken country have to remind her of the him…
Even at work… especially at work, where she worked so hard to hide her sadness. Some grief was to be expected, and that was what she showed, but if they knew how far her heart had fallen, how truly bleak everything seemed, they'd have all thought her to have gone mad.
Three Days Later
Doctor Elizabeth Corday (… Greene… Corday… which was it? Was she the wife of her dead husband, or was she simply her own now? She didn't even want to think of it anymore… ) strode into her home after a long day of surgery. A quadruple bypass… that one had been grueling, the rest were fairly mundane, but that one had been royally horrid. Assisting Romano hadn't made it any easier. He was a good man, somewhere under that exterior, but he could be… truly unbearable when he set his mind to it.
She put Ella to bed, tucking her in gently, then going to the kitchen, trying to decide between a late evening snack and a late evening drink when she spied a letter sitting on the counter, and vaguely recalled having set it there a few days prior. What the hell, she thought to herself, Worst case scenario, it's junk mail.
"Lighten up,
The skies are as blue as your eyes
So why are you crying?
Crying like the rain.
But remember my pretty,
There's always a rainbow after the rain.
You're alive,
That's more than some can say
It's time to find your way.
I'm here,
Watching over you from above,
And even in heaven, it's you I love.
Ella's there
God, I miss the kid,
As much as I miss you.
You have her,
She has you, and from my vantage point,
In a way I have you too.
I'm guarding you
And I'm guarding Ella and Rachel too.
I want you to be happy.
That's all I want for all of you.
If there's another who touches your heart,
Go to him, I won't be jealous.
I'll love you forever,
And I know you love me too,
We'll be together someday
But in the meantime,
Be happy and live again and love again.
That's my last request."