As Long As We Have Each Other

How could such a gift be taken away so soon, so unexpectedly? Never will you hear a cry like that; each moan pulling you under, each whimper longing with remorse. And yet he could feel the warmth radiating from the hospital room as her family surrounded her. There they were, speechless, overwrought with grief, silent. But there they were because the very least, and most one could do in that situation is simply be there. He didn't know them personally but knew this was the closest they'd been in some time. Despite the tragedy he knew the love filling that room would slowly mend the pain like sunlight blossoming a flower.

And with that he took out a little black book and began scribbling in it. When he finished he rose from his chair and checked the file sitting in a slot on the door. There he found a last name and went back to the little black book. He closed the book and took another moment to observe the family surrounding the grieving mother, the hope in his eyes overcoming the sorrow. Then the old man in the long wool coat slipped the little black book under the door into the room and wandered down the corridor, no one ever knowing he was there.

Waking up day after day without his wife had been hard on him but today was the day Ben would be reunited with his wife, Jane. He creeped into his daughter's room to wake her but there he found little Rose in her crib on her belly with her head arched back into the air.

"Good morning, gorgeous." Ben whispers.

Rose reciprocates a smile.

Ben embraces her and flips her onto her back to get changed. Her buttons are popped open revealing a scar running down the length of her chest. Ben delicately runs his finger along the skin and speaks softly.

"Oh, my little one, you've been through so much. You're strong like your mother." He leans in and kisses her belly and takes a moment resting on her chest while she lays there content.

Meanwhile, Jane lies in a hospital bed listening to her heart monitor beeping while she stares out of the window. Suddenly a nurse enters the room.

"Good morning, Jane. How are we feeling today? Are we excited to get home?"

Jane becomes emotional.

"Oh, dear, I didn't mean to get you worked up." the nurse pleads.

Jane wipes a tear as she explains. "It's fine, I'm just so happy."

"Good. You've been through a lot."

"No. Not as much as her..." Jane goes on and tells her story.

Jane had been diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalized for some time, leaving her husband and daughter while she recovered. Though her own health and livelihood was at risk she could only think of her daughter, Rose.

Rose was a special girl. She was conceived after years of failed pregnancies and her parents were running out of time because they were getting older. Then she planted herself in Jane's belly and her parents were elated, but it would not be an easy road forward.

Rose had made it further than any of her mother's other pregnancies but then, halfway through, doctors would find something out of the ordinary inside her chest, a tumor between her heart and her lungs. Her parents then had to drive hours to a special hospital every week to keep an eye on her condition, never knowing what news they would hear from each check-up.

The world was filled with uncertainty in the middle of a pandemic and Jane was living each day not knowing if her baby would survive the mass growing inside of her. So each day Jane would soak in every moment, every movement, and sing to Rose in her belly. Ben did his best to always be strong for Jane but hearing her voice softly sing to their unborn child from the other room broke his heart and lifted it at the same time because he knew there was a looming chance Rose would not make it but he had to remain hopeful. He couldn't imagine the weight on his wife's shoulders as she sang beautifully.

So before each appointment they would pray the tumor dissolved as Rose grew but it continued to grow with her. The reality of the helplessness of the circumstance was overwhelming so in preparing for the worst Ben would tell Jane "we'll be alright as long as we have each other".

Then they finally made it far enough along and the doctors decided to operate. Ben held Jane's hand as she lied there, afraid for her child's life. A commotion stirred on the other side of the curtain as the doctors brought baby Rose into the world. Ben stood to take pictures but the doctors whisked her away. You see when babies are birthed they come out crying. Rose was not crying because she couldn't breathe.

Jane could not be with her baby she waited so long for, she didn't even get to see her. A breathing tube was placed in the newborns throat and she was taken away for surgery. Her parents sat in the hospital room holding each other and listening to the songs Jane would sing to Rose during the pregnancy. They decided to write letters to her that she could read one day in the future to keep their minds hopeful. He wasn't religious but the thought of his child not making it and seeing her helpless little body being taken away at birth brought Ben to his knees and he prayed.

Finally the surgeon came to their room and announced Rose made it through the operation and the tumor was removed from her chest. Jane and Ben would spend the next two months at her bedside as Rose learned how to breathe and eat before she came home.

Jane concludes, "They say 2020 was the worst year ever but even though it was grim, uncertain, and the hardest time of my life, it was also the most beautiful because we got our little angel amidst it all."

Unbeknownst to Jane the old man in the long wool coat is sitting outside of her room listening to her story. He takes out a little black book and begins writing.

Jane continues, "When I got diagnosed, I was so afraid I'd ruin it all for my baby. She's made it so far. Now we all have each other."

"Well I'm so happy everything worked out for you, really." the nurse says as she finishes detaching Jane from the medical equipment.

"Thank you."

Just then Ben walks by the old man in the long wool coat and enters Janes hospital room.

"Knock, knock!" Ben announces.

"My baby!" Jane exclaims.

Ben and Rose reunite with Jane and embrace each other on the bed.

The nurse leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

The old man in the long wool coat observes the reunited family from the window of the hospital room door. With a smirk he crouches down and slips the little black book through the crack under the door and walks away.

Jane takes her baby in her arms. Ben gathers her belongings and follows her out of the room but not before noticing the little black book on the floor.

"Hmm." he ponders and leans over to get it and put it in one of Janes bags.

Later, Ben is playing with Rose on the bed while Jane unpacks her things.

"How does it feel to be home?" Ben asks.

"Words can't describe. We have each other again." Jane replies.

She continues to go through her things when she comes across the little black book.

"What's this?"

"I found it on the floor in your room at the hospital. I figured it fell out of one of your bags."

She opens it and after a moment tears come to her eyes.

"What is it?" Ben asks.

Jane reads it aloud.

"There's a note. It says, 'Hello. You don't know me but I've seen you and you're family at the hospital. What a beautiful family you have. You know, it never ceases to amaze me how we have hundreds of fleeting interactions with people all around us everyday and could never begin to realize the burdens we all carry, the troubles we've overcome, and the stories we have to tell. At my old age, I've become more and more interested in the stories of the people I pass by day to day. My wife recently passed away at the very hospital you were staying at and with no family or children of my own I've been spending a lot of time there, wandering the corridors, longing to sympathize with others pain. Well, I'm not much of a people person so I sit and I listen. I hear the stories, I feel their pain, and I feel that I am not alone because we're all hoping to overcome our pain. I heard your story and I want to tell you how happy I am for you and your baby. She truly is a miracle. You all will indeed get through anything as long as you have each other and I was so impressed on your outlook on these terrible times. Through uncertainty we have to remain hopeful, truly inspiring. I want to thank you by sharing a bit of my fortune with you. Enclosed is a check for twenty thousand dollars. I hope it does you and your family well. Again, I don't have anyone left, and I don't know how much time I have left but your story gave me hope and made me feel that I was not alone. I hope this note and offering does the same for you. Best wishes, Leonard Thompson.'"

She turns the page and sees the check for twenty thousand dollars.

Tears of joy run from her eyes as she joins her family on the bed, together again.