1 month later
"Toby." Ravinia snaps me out of another flashback. They hadn't been that dominant of me around the time of our wedding, but since Todd… "You left me again. I was right in the middle of talking to you!" She rolls her eyes. She's not back to normal. But she's getting there I suppose. She cries every day over the loss of her brother, and we've moved back to the main part of London, still near to where I grew up with her. She didn't want to stay in our beautiful new home because of the memory of that horrid letter.
"Sorry, love." I shrug, slumping back in my seat as I throw back my head and take a swig of the gin in the glass between my fingers and my thumb. I've been drinking every few days, something to ease the pain I guess.
"I've been thinking… We're not going to cruise along on my father's money forever. Soon it will run out- and then what will happen? I think… I think we should do it." Ravinia's eyes fleet from me, to the table, and back to me nervously.
"Do what?" I lean my elbows against our warm kitchen table. I hate how it creaks.
"Reopen Mr Todd's barber shop. How we said we would, about a year ago."
The thought sickens me, but I realize she would never ask this if she didn't really think it was necessary.
"I will." I give her a small smile though I am not happy with the idea and she leans across the table and kisses me. I hold her hand over the table and an exciting feeling builds within me. I stand and she holds me close as I take her hand and lead her into our bedroom. It's a dark room with very little natural or artificial light, but it's home. Ravinia continues to kiss me, but I pull away for a moment. "Are you sure?"
She looks over to the tiny dusty window. Then back at me. She nods. I take her in my arms and collapse on the creaky bed and kiss her, smelling her French perfume- a wedding gift from a friend. It smells like frosting. As my wife and I kiss that day, I recall the times in which we were sad, and know that to continue our happiness, we must move on.
It takes weeks to ready our small building, but I have a great barber shops set up, It's named after Ravinia.
A New Eve Barber Shop
It's called.
Ravinia loves it, she swears she'll find something to do with the downstairs soon, but for now, we'll focus on my shop. I have many customers, but one day as I am giving a haircut to a man with blonde curly hair, Ravinia comes bursting through the door, clutching her stomach.
"Toby we're having a child!"