Beloved

Soaking in his new fond loneliness Garrett urged himself to his feet. She wouldn’t want me sulking about, so we must...I mean, I must keep going. The use of the word “I” was a stab in the heart because “we” was all he knew for 20 years. But now “we” was no longer here and the loneliness of “I” stood in its place. With his first step, Garrett started his morning routine. Shower, brush teeth, shave, cut on morning news, start the coffee pot, get dressed, check th- DING DONG ! The sound of the doorbell interrupted the routine that he ritually developed for nearly 5 years since the passing. As Garrett hesitated to open the door, he made up in his mind to wait and allow the disturbance to go away on its own. Through the silence he could hear the usual noises of the coffee pot dripping its last drop, his phone buzzing as new emails awaited to be read, and the news anchor going on about stock prices. But wait, the news of stocks doesn’t come on till later. “-the wild ride on wall street that seems to have just come out of the blue-“ DING DONG! The second bell startled Garrett as the news anchor went on. He quickly muted the tv and called out, “Who is it?”

“I have a package for a Mr. Garrett Sumter. It needs to be signed off for.”

This unwelcome request made Garrett sigh a breath of annoyance as he reluctantly opened the door for the delivery man. The man held out a manila envelope and a pad for him to sign. Garrett signed the pad and examined the envelope.

“Sir, this has no return address. Who is it from?”

“Sorry , I don’t know. I just deliver.” The delivery man walked off as Garrett stood curious to know what was this interruption that broke his mundane routine.

“What do you think? Do you think this is going to crash the market?” Garrett quickly ran inside to halt the chatter that blasted from the once muted television. It never crossed his mind why it was unmuted but what did cross his mind was the constant dinging of his phone. He dropped the anonymous envelope on the counter and ran to retrieve his cellphone from its charging dock. One hundred and thirty-one unread emails and urgent news about the stock market. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as he considered throwing his phone away.

Work is work if you let it be that. But in everything in life there is work to be done. Remembering these words were a comforting hug, although pretentious, but he had learned to welcome it. Garrett decided he needed to complete his day like any other. But his eyes met the mysterious envelope once more. As he approached the manila pouch the familiarity of the letters made his heart race. But it couldn’t be, it shouldn’t be. He felt every curve, every cross, and every dot, he knew these letters intimately. He grabbed the envelope and inhaled its aroma. As he held the package a moment longer, a tear formed and fell from his eye. Garrett knew that this package contained something from his beloved. But what? It had been 5 years and his final memory was by her bedside. How could years have passed and the loving letters of family and friends come and go? But now a letter that seems to have made the dead come alive be in his possession now?

This can’t be real. But I’m holding it in my hand. NO! It’s a joke, I must be hallucinating. Did I cut off the gas last night? No. I would have died if I didn’t. This, this, thi- The realization of this tangible surprise in his hands made Garrett drop to his knees. The tears could no longer stand back as the flood was released and the emotions of past, present and future unraveled the last string of sanity. Garrett cried and forget all that was around him. His beloved had returned and he didn’t know why. He tried to find composure as he allowed the envelope to weigh heavily in his hands. He began to rip the seal and inside revealed a little black notebook wrapped in a purple bow. He untied the bow, captivated by its color and its meticulous knot. He allowed the bow to linger in his hand as he opened the soft ebony cover. There, as his heart began to fill again with emotions, the words of his Beloved.

March 25, 1995

Garrett, My Love, My friend, My Now Husband

I am starting this as a new beginning for US. On this day we say “I Do.” What a way to start life! To say “I Do” to becoming one, to say “I Do” to leaving our past selves behind, to say “I Do” to leaving that ugly yellow couch behind. But seriously, to say “I Do” to you. You have been a rock when I needed strength and been a tissue when I needed a shoulder to cry on. You have been all I ever needed and I’m glad we came to find each other. On this day I want to vow to you my all. I want to give you my all and remember all that we have endured together. You know I’m a little superstitious and so you will not see this till we are old and grey, or to death do us part. But I promise to take this out every year and jot down our amazing life together. I want this to be a book of memories, good and bad, so we can treasure our time together.

I love you Garrett Sumpter and cannot wait to spend the rest of my life with you because

I Do!

Love your soon to be wife, Beloved

Stuck in awe Garrett was just that, stuck. Garrett began to flip through the pages and read more from his beloved. Filled with laughter, tears and memories of what once was, Garrett stopped at a picture of them and a page dated March 19, 2015, 3 days before his Beloved took her last breath.

March 19, 2015

Garrett, My Love, My friend, My Husband

Stay Strong! I need you to stay strong for me. I know this would be the last thing you would want to hear. But I need you to stay strong for everyone but especially for yourself. I know seeing me like this is not what any of us expected but we are here now. I bet your wondering why I’m sending this 5 years later. Well, I am still superstitious and I have always talked about our 25th anniversary being something big. Well, SURPRISE!!! Not funny I know, but I wanted to make it to 25 years with you, and being that I physically can’t I wanted our memories to still last and give you closure to know I truly want you to go on. I know it has been sometime and you still are probably till holding on. I have always loved your stubbornness and hoarding ways. I knew when I told you to live you would. But if you are living a mundane life I want you to be free. It is truly time to let me go. You have mourned enough and I I have accepted where I am. I have accepted this sickness and the time we shared together. I want our memories to last but end here so you can make new ones. Please start a new life and find someone to share your love with again. As a great start and 25th anniversary gift, I had met with a lawyer a while back when you were at work and invested my rainy day fund into some of your favorite stocks. You should be able to use them now that 5 years has passed. Fingers crossed I invested in the right ones. (Note- March 2010)

I love you Garrett Sumpter and I always will. Thank you for giving me the best 20 years of memories I could ever have.

Love your, Beloved

Garrett stared off in peace as he knew this was truly her final words. Like rain had dropped so heavily his spirit began to lift lovingly. Garrett could feel his beloved’s words removing years of penned in anger, remorse and pain. Garrett silently turned to March 2010 to receive the last gift his beloved left. The page read:

March 21, 2010

Garrett, My Love, My friend, My Husband

It has been 15 years of love and friendship and I cannot wait to share more. So I know that this may come as a surprise to you but I have did my first ever investments. WOOHOO!!! Cheer for me because I did it all by myself (except with a lawyers help) but I think you will be proud of me. So I based my stocks on things you like. I know you’re laughing at how I choose them but hey I’m trying. Even if they don’t make a dime, well at least I hope they make something I want you to know that I did it because you encouraged me to try new things. So here they are and try not to laugh at my choices:

-SimCorp (an AI tech company that you seem so fascinated with)

-GameBlasters (I know you love your video games so why not)

-AirXCS (We love to travel and so I figure why not an airplane line)

- BSCCC(I just remember our conversation about it LOL)

I’m cheering for these to rise in stock so we can go on our dream vacation. Well, you can’t sell them for another 5 years so we would have to plan our trip ahead because I don’t want to wait that long. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

P.S.

I’m not telling you about these until 2015. We’ll laugh about this later I promise.

Love your, Beloved

“She was right” Garrett told himself. “We are laughing about this now.” Garrett let out a hardy laugh that brought more tears to his eyes. Garrett’s smile spread to his eyes as his phone alarm rang. He knew it was time for him to leave for work. As Garrett stood up and grabbed his phone from the counter he silenced the alarm and his phone notifications alerted once more. Garrett stopped and paid attention as the headline read, GameBlaster and BSCCC stock TRIPLED. Garrett rubbed his eyes to see if he truly read what he just saw and proceeded to open the news notification. Garrett’s tears formed with every sentence read. The gift that his beloved had given him years ago was truly a gift indeed. Garrett turned the envelope upside down to find a paper with the stock information and the initial investment of $20,000 split amongst the four stocks. Garrett cried as he looked at the numbers. All that he held inside rushed into a feeling of overwhelming love. His beloved would finally get her dream vacation and a promise to cherish every moment from then on.