Healing the Heart: An Ichabbie Story from Sleepy Hollow Chapter 2
Abbie woke the following morning to a tear stained pillow. Last night was terrible and Abbie figured she must have cried herself to sleep. Hoping it was all a bad dream Abbie did find herself thoroughly disappointed to find that was not the case. Instead it being her waking up in Luke's bed this morning it was that Kendra woman. It made her feel like shit. Abbie knew that she wasn't exactly the most beautiful woman in the world but at the same time she didn't think that Luke would actually cheat on her. Luke was right. Abbie had never really been the most feminine woman she had always been a bit of a tomboy however since she had been Luke for so long she figured that didn't mattered to him but apparently she was wrong. Abbie loved Luke that what hurt most about his betrayal and to think she was actually going to loose her virginity to him; now she didn't even want to stomach the thought.
Abbie glanced over at the clock beside her bed it wasn't even morning anymore it damn near three in the afternoon. She definitely had it bad. Abbie forced herself to get out of bed and slowly make her way over to the bathroom to shower. Ichabod would be expecting her in a couple of hours and she didn't want to disappoint him because she happened to be in a bad mood.
Abbie couldn't look away from the mirror as she got dressed she couldn't help but think was she really all that bad looking compared to the woman in Luke's bed. For one thing Kendra was taller and looked to be only a head shorter than Luke while Abbie barely hit his shoulder. Kendra had flowing red hair and bright green eyes. Abbie's hair wasn't flowing unless she put the comb through it every morning and it was a dark sandy brown and her brown eyes were dull. Kendra had an hourglass figure Luke probably loved that; it was a slap in the face because even though Kendra had that desired figure most women did not. All of those just so happened to be physical attributes. It was like the woman inside didn't matter just woman on the outside. Her phone started ringing and pulled her attention away from the mirror.
"Hello?"
"Good evening Miss Mills should I expect your arrival soon?"
Abbie glanced at her clock once more it was five now and dark outside no wonder Ichabod was looking for her.
"Yes I'll be right over"
"Are you not feeling well Miss Mills?"
"I'm fine Crane" Abbie insisted lying "I'm just a little tired that's all I'll be there in a half hour okay?"
"Take your time then" Ichabod said "the metal box man says there's a snowstorm tonight"
Abbie couldn't help but giggle a little "You mean the weatherman Crane?"
"Yes the 'weatherman'" Ichabod replied a little embarrassed but Abbie thought it was cute. Maybe an evening with Crane is what she needs to get her mind off Luke.
"I hope you're hungry," Abbie said coming through the door of the cabin with some grocery bags
"I'm making spaghetti"
"Never heard of it," Ichabod said taking two loaves of garlic bread out of the bag inspecting them "is
it good?"
"I'm sure you'll like it seeing that you have a thing for other Italian foods" Abbie said watching Ichabod's face light up as he found the cans of Chef Boyardee he requested "plus this is from scratch"
"Do you need some help Miss Mills?"
Abbie was a little surprised at that. Whenever Abbie made dinner for both her and Luke he never helped; he either waited for her to cook it by herself or he would just expect her to be done when he came over. However Abbie knew that Ichabod was nothing like Luke and it didn't seem fair to Ichabod to be compared to Luke.
"If you want to you could roll the meatballs up while I slice the ingredients for my homemade sauce"
Abbie said "that's what usually takes the longest the pasta should be ready in ten mintues"
After Abbie showed Ichabod how to roll up a couple of meatballs from the chunks of ground beef the two of the them sat down at the table to prep the rest of the meal.
"I find this rather amusing actually," Ichabod said
"Why is that?"
"Well from what I can see so far this seems to be a fast everything instant age" Ichabod said "yet you seem to like to prepare your meals the old fashioned way"
"It depends on what it is" Abbie replied, "most days I can't and when I can find time I do prefer this way"
"In my era it's the only way" Ichabod said, "I hope you don't take offense to this Miss Mills but a lot of people from this era have poor work ethic and I'm not speaking you of course"
"No you're right I know most people today wouldn't even last five minutes in your era" Abbie replied "speaking of I'm sorry I ditched you yesterday when you're so lonely here in this era"
"Miss Mills I am a grown man you know" Ichabod said, "I'm fine but I do appreciate the thought"
"I have something for you"
"Do you?"
Abbie pulled out the box of Hershey kisses that she promised him "Happy belated Valentine's Day Crane"
"Thank you Miss Mills" Ichabod said trying to open the plastic box but Abbie stopped him
"Hey dinner comes first Mister" she scolded him playfully
"So how was your outing with Morales you haven't mentioned it at all this evening" Ichabod said placing the chocolates down and getting back to the meatballs.
Abbie chewed her lower lip as her feelings about the discovery of Luke cheating on her than dumping her began to resurface.
"It was…it was alright"
"Just alright?" Ichabod asked raising his eyebrows "I find that hard to believe"
"Well you been one date you've been on them all" Abbie said scrapping the ingredients and meatball into the sauce pot "this should be ready in an hour you want to do some research until then?"
"That would be good" Ichabod replied sensing that Abbie wanted to drop the subject and he was concerned about that. It wasn't like Abbie. Every time she talked about Luke she glowed but Ichabod couldn't help but notice that glow was gone. Abbie settled down with her laptop on the armchair closet to the fire while Ichabod chose to pick out some books from Corbin's collection. However Ichabod did not like the uneasy silence between them when he mentioned Morales it gave him a bad feeling that things didn't turn out the way Abbie wanted them to.
"Dinner's ready" Abbie said after about n hour later
Ichabod looked up from his book he hadn't even noticed Abbie move from the armchair and saw that she had made her way to the kitchen. Abbie handed him a plate with ample amount of spaghetti with a slice of garlic bread.
"Miss Mills this is delicious!" Ichabod said twirling more of the pasta on to his fork
"I had a feeling you'd like it" Abbie said fixing her own plate to join him at the table "and I made plenty so don't choke okay"
"Did you and Morales have this for supper last night?" Ichabod asked, "if so I must say he is a lucky man"
Silence fell between them once more and Abbie got up to put her food back suddenly not hungry anymore.
"Miss Mills?" Ichabod asked frowning a bit "I do apologize if I happened to upset you-"
"I'm fine I just don't want to talk about Luke" Abbie said firmly and then gently said "like I said there's lots more spaghetti I'm going back to my research"
When Ichabod was finished his dinner he noticed that it had already begun to snow; and it looked rather blinding outside.
"Miss Mills I'm afraid you'll have to stay the night-"
Ichabod found Abbie fast asleep in the armchair and her laptop threatened to fall. Taking the laptop from her lap he placed it on the table and draped one of his blankets around her. Knowing she'd probably have a pain in her neck in the morning Ichabod gathered Abbie in his arms and carried her into his bedroom. Taking her boots off Ichabod laid Abbie down on the bed and made sure she was wrapped securely in the blanket.
"Sleep well Abbie" he whispered.
Ichabod's wish for a peaceful sleep for Abbie did not last. Throughout the night as Ichabod slept on the couch he could hear Abbie crying. Ichabod's heart sank for her obvious pain. No matter how strong Abbie was or how hard she tried to be Ichabod could see right through her and he would find out what was hurting her whether she wanted him to or not.