The Love That Passed

Jared’s POV

“Hi Colleen!!!” Ingrid greeted my wife happily and of course she greeted her back with the same enthusiasm.

“Ingrid,” she said, and accepted the kiss my sister was giving her. I invited Mom and Ingrid over. It was Saturday and I decided to make every Saturday of Colleen’s life filled with memories of the people she loved.

“Hi, son.” Mom greeted me. I don’t know, but every time we see each other, I always see sadness in her eyes. Maybe because of our situation, so I think I have to talk to her about that. I didn’t want her to worry about us, either.

“Hello, mom. Thank you for coming over.” I said as I gave her a sincere smile, then she went to sit with Colleen. I followed her after I finished setting up the grill.

“Wow, big brother Jared, this is so fun,” Marcus exclaimed as soon as he arrived, as he helped Diane push Uncle Rick’s wheelchair. Mommy Lucy was in the kitchen with Betty getting the other food.

“Did you like it?” Ingrid asked with a broad smile.

“Yes, big sister Ingrid. I wish that we could do this often. I like to see everyone and big sister Colleen looks happy as well,” he answered, and we all looked at my wife, who was indeed happy. Her eyes were sparkling and her smile reached her ear and eyes.

“I am always happy whenever I see you and everyone happy,” she replied. Just a little later, we are all at the poolside with the food and all of us. We were all happy, especially my wife. I never left her side and even if Ingrid was asking me to join them in the pool, I declined and she understood.

“My body is for my wife’s eyes only.” I told her and they all laughed. Even Colleen, even if her face was all red. We had been more than intimate twice and after the second time, I decided not to do it with her anymore. It’s not because I couldn’t take her anymore, it was because I knew to myself that day by day, her body was changing. Her pregnancy had taken a toll on her body and I didn’t want to add more stress to her.

The whole afternoon was full of fun and mom left with Ingrid after dinner. I had already told them about every Saturday activity and they agreed. So Colleen should look forward to more.

Just like on other nights, we were by our room door facing the pool and seeing the night sky. I asked someone to remove almost half of the cover so we would be able to do stargazing at night. Well, if you call it that way. Colleen’s upper body was leaning on my chest as I wrapped my left arm around her while my right hand was holding hers.

“Did you ask everyone to come here?”

“Yes, did you like it?”

“Yes, very much.”

“We will be doing that every Saturday, so you won’t say that you only see my handsome face all the time.” I told her, laughing, and she did too.

“I like looking at your handsome face.”

“I thought so. Every time we are together, you are always clinging to me. That’s why I thought that my decision was right. You wanted me to be with you and I wanted the same,” I said, looking down at her.

“So, what are you going to tell me today?” she asked,

“You’re excited to know how much I was smitten by you?” I asked as I pinched her nose while she nodded. “OK, this was when you met Stacey in the coffee shop,” I started,

“After I left your house, I went home. I was angry that I thought you hurt Stacey while I had already broken up with her. I felt guilty towards her because, as you already know, I married you so I’d stay the CEO of the company.”

“You must be feeling frustrated at that time,” she commented,

“I feel like I’m the worst person in the world. Imagine, I was telling you and mom and Ingrid that I love Stacey, but I cannot let go of the company for her sake.”

“It’s because you know that there were a lot of people who were relying on you and the company. You never know what others will do if you let them handle it.”

“The truth is, I was never thinking about the employees at that time. All that was in my mind was the fact that I am not going to be the CEO of the company that I work hard for and give my everything and exert my effort. I was thinking more of what people would say if that happened.” I told her and I felt her squeeze my hands. “I already got over it so you don’t have to worry.” I added, thinking she might think about that too.

“Back to Stacey and the coffee shop incident.” I told her, ” I started to feel guilty towards you two months later. I felt like I was the most stupid person in the world when I decided to investigate that. She had called me about you texting her, as I already told you, so I planned on giving you a lesson. I investigated the incident to find evidence against you, but the truth shocks me.” I added,

“You know what happened, so I don’t need to tell you what I found out, right?” I asked,

“Uhm,”

The funny thing is, you already looked really pale at that time, but I still choose to believe her. I don’t even give her the benefit of the doubt. I didn’t bother looking after your background because I knew that mom and Ingrid had already found out. That’s why I never tried to find out anything about you. I was confident that mom would never let me live with someone I cannot trust.”

“But you still didn’t want me,” she replied and said

“I’m sorry for that, my wife. I was too blind to see that time. So, after I found out what Stacey did to you, I was too ashamed to even look at you. I mean, I went to your house and warned you but it turned out that I was barking at the wrong tree.”

“Don’t forget that I never tried to explain to you either, that’s why you are misled as well.” she said, maybe to console me.

“It’s still not right to jump to a conclusion, I should have listened to you as well.” I sighed deeply and looked at the sky. “My feeling that time was beyond what I could understand. After I refused to help you, financially, I found out about that and that made me feel even worse. I thought that I should have just given you what you wanted.” After I said that, I felt her trying to get up so I looked down at her,

“I wanted to sit down.”

“You don’t need to console me, I was already done with that feeling. I am only telling you this because I want you to know that I still care even if you didn’t know.” I had a feeling that she would sit up so she could hug me. I liked that but I wanted her to rest and, as I already told her, that past was nothing to me now.

“Jared, what you have been through was hard, very hard and no one in their right mind would want something like that to happen to them. I want you to know that I understand you and your decisions. You may say that it was because you chose me and the company, but believe it or not, I admire you for being honest with me now and I am happy that you are my husband and the father of my child.” she said and I smiled widely.

“And I am going to make sure that you will always feel proud of me. You and our baby girl. I promise you that.” Ir replied,

“Thank you,” she replied before she yawned.

“You must be sleepy. If you want, we could go inside now.”

“No, I want to sleep here just like the other nights. I like the feeling of you carrying me.” she replied, giggling.

“Then I am going to carry you,” I replied and got up to my seat with her in my arms. I like to carry her as well, because I was able to find out how her body changed. And I noticed that she started to get lighter.