AN: I don't think any of you will ever understand how your compliments and support make me feel. I could honestly cry happy tears at all the love. Thank you for reading!
I would like to introduce you to a chapter I have nicknamed 'Rock Bottom'
Once we hit rock bottom the only way is up... right?
Chapter Sixty Six - A Book In The Wind
He grabbed an envelope and began to tear the seal open, his brow furrowed at the weight of the document, his interest piqued as he pulled the contents out, turning It over to read them. And there it was, his mouth ran dry and the moment he had been waiting for all day had finally hit him. The kind of moment where you're fooled into thinking things are ok, and then all of a sudden, whilst in a private moment you're knocked off your perch.
He loosened his grip and ran his hand over his mouth, his eyes closing as they read his fate. His bottom lip quivered against the palm of his hand as he forced himself to swallow his sobs, aware that his children were just in the next room.
Elizabeth continued to open her other letter Blake had dropped off, she turned it over to reveal the seal at the back and noted the return address stamped in the corner, her heart sinking, the lump of excitement in her throat evaporating as she squeezed her eyes closed tightly.
Her trembling hands began to peel back the seal, allowing her eyes to cast over the crisp white paper within as she tipped the envelope, allowing them to fall into her hand. She pressed her lips together hard and held her breath, her stomach flinching as it desperately grasped onto air, a complete refusal from her to breathe out, for she knew her cries would be endless if she let them spill now.
Henry moved his fingers tentatively across the paper, delicately brushing his fingers across the corners, flicking through and looking for the all important part, which of course would be located at the end, after all this was the end. He flipped all the pages over and laid the final page before him. His heart almost stopping as he silently dipped his head, it was over.
Elizabeth knew she was on borrowed time, and that within any minute Blake would be back in reminding her that she is needed in the situation room, so with that haunting thought etched in her mind she slipped her hand between the pages and located the one piece of paper she needed to see. She allowed herself no more than a few seconds to scan the paper before slamming her eyes shut, but it was no use, somehow she had developed photographic memory and the image was already burned behind her eyes. Her lips trembled and her breath shook with sadness as she slowly exhaled. It was over.
Both of them were taunted by the words on the paper.
Certificate of Divorce
This is to certify that
Dr Henry Patrick McCord and Dr Elizabeth Grace Adams
Have ended their marriage in divorce
At District of Columbia Courts
On the 20th day of July in the year 2016
Elizabeth's sorrow lodged in her throat as her eyes threatened to weep the instance she opened them again. Her mind came to a stand still, complete and utter silence bestowed upon her as she sat alone in her office, a divorced woman. She slipped her trembling hand up to her chest, her fingers tenderly playing with her necklace as her watering eyes fixed upon her future. Her index finger began to fiddle with the circular pendant, slipping through the middle of it as she used her thumb and middle finger to caress the surface. Finally realizing how deeply intertwined with Henry she is, was.
Henry sat biting at his tongue, his eyes watering as they continued to read over the letters written before him, hoping somewhere he would note a mistake, that this wasn't the end, but nothing came. He let out a whimper as he realized the only mistakes made were that of his very own. He drove the knife into them and ran away, he'd been foolish and now there was nothing keeping him intertwined with Elizabeth.
He ran his thumb slowly up the inside of his hand and towards his ring finger. Cautiously rubbing the smooth metal band, twisting it around as he contemplated the importance his ring held only minutes ago, and now nothing. Every vow shared was broken, laid to rest and of value no more. He leant back in his chair and began to use his other hand to twist his wedding band around his finger, his mind empty as droplets fell from his eyes to his cheeks.
He gripped the band firmly, pulling it from his finger, tugging slightly as it had become a little tighter over the years until the metal surpassed his knuckle and came off effortlessly. He glanced down at his hand, his heart ached at the empty space. A simple band occupied that gap on his finger for more than twenty years, and now there was nothing but a pale band of skin.
Henry inhaled deeply as he held his ring tight within the palm of his hand. He tilted his head back and tightly squeezed his eyes shut, the pain, sorrow and regret drowning him from within. He regretted the way this had come to an end, the way they couldn't leave one another without wounds. The way they made it seem as if all the love shared had become a waste of time.
As he sat alone in his office, numb and withdrawn from his present he couldn't help but glance back at Stevie's wedding invitation, the realization now that all they had in common was the children and that he loved her and she once loved him.
Haunted by the possibility that their love could still be within the present tense, but these papers secure it in the past.
Elizabeth was still sitting in the same position when Blake had walked in and informed her it was time to go to the white house, she vaguely remembered mumbling an 'ok' to him but that was it, quite how she was in the back of her motorcade driving over there she wasn't sure. She could feel the eyes of her staff on her but her mind couldn't occupy that right now, Henry was at the center of her focus, a place he should have been a long time ago.
She slipped her hand up to her necklace once again, repeating the action of slipping her finger into the pendant and feeling it within her others, aimlessly wondering if this is how she would spend the rest of her life, fiddling with her wedding band around her neck, unable to remove It from her body as she had not been without it for more than twenty years, it was her comfort, as once, was Henry.
Her mind twisted over and over and she caved in to her truth. That loving Henry felt like leaving a book out in the wind, the pages turned too fast for her to read, she didn't get enough time to adore him, to explore him, to trace his jawline once again with her fingertips. She had no warning of the strong winds so she didn't get to reread her favorite parts, to live the story she knew they were meant to be, before she knew it, the book was closed, and the story was over, they were left unfinished.
The worst of it all is that she understood exactly why he had to go and that she could never feel her own hurt without feeling his first, or that she couldn't even hate him because she knew every reason why he did what he did. The worst of it all is that she couldn't be angry anymore, because her anger was always accompanied with her own guilt.