Watching Her Sleep
I lay here, in our warm bed, my wife asleep beside me. Our little house is quiet at this late hour; the only sounds that can be heard are her even breaths and the wind outside. My wife is snuggled up against me and I am the happiest I've been in ten long years. I wonder why I haven't joined her in the land of dreams. Maybe it's because in some small way, I am afraid that if I sleep, I will awake on the Dutchman, alone, without her, and this all would have been a dream. Or maybe because I have nothing to dream about now I am home. For ten years all I dreamt of was her.
If it's possible, she is more beautiful now than she was a decade ago. I know she was worried of how she would look to me. After all, I was ageless, immortal for ten years; I looked exactly as I did when Davy Jones pierced my heart with the sword I made, and she aged as she should have. She needent have worried, she will always be beautiful in my eyes.
She has new lines around her eyes, but good ones, like she laughed a lot. That made me immensely happy. I had worried that she wouldn't laugh while I was gone, that the burden would be too much to bear. I should have known better. My wife is the strongest person I know. She has grown into herself, not the girl I first fell in love with, but a woman now. A stunning, courageous woman. A woman who bore my child while I was gone.
That is something that I deeply regret. That I missed so much. I missed my son being born, growing up. That she had to do it alone. Another thing that I am in awe over. One of many. My wife will never stop surprising me, and every day, I fall a little more in love with her. Her hair is darker, the way it was when we were first betrothed, her hips wider and body softer, from having our son. She looks better to me now than she ever has.
She stirs in her sleep a little, and snuggles closer into me. That is the one vulnerability that she has shown me since I returned. She always has to have me in sight, be touching me in some way, even in sleep. It is as if she is afraid that if she loses sight of me, I will disappear. I have reassured her time and time again that that will never happen. I am never leaving her or our son again. Ten years was quite enough. Until the day comes that she feels secure in the knowledge that I am home for good, I will stay where she can see me. It is no hardship; I never want to stray far from her side again.
Getting to know my son has been a great joy. He is an amazing boy, the spitting image of me as a child, but his personality, his spirit, is all her. I feel privileged to be his father, to have him accept me as such, without hesitation, just pure love, was incredible. To be able to watch him grow, become a man, is something I never imagined could be possible, something I am immensely grateful for.
As I lay here, my wife in my arms, our hearts beating in unison once again, I feel at peace. I will overcome this fear of waking without her, and sleep will surely claim me, but for now I am content. My entire world is right here in this little house, Elizabeth and Liam. So I lay here, a smile on my face, watching her sleep.