Letting Go
by Rhiannon and AJ
At the reception, Jed quietly sat in a corner of the room. All night, he
kept eyeing the members of his family, or what used to be his family. They
were all laughing, smiling, and having a good time… without him. He just sat
quietly unnoticed by them, in the corner. His only companions, Marrah and
Annie… for a little bit anyway.
Then it started…
The music started out soft, and slowly, the words began to come through.
For all I've been blessed with in this life
There was an emptiness in me
I was imprisoned by the power of gold
But one honest touch could set me free
Let the world stop turnin'
Let the sun stop burnin'
Let them tell me love's not worth going through
If it all falls apart
I will know deep in my heart
The only dream that mattered had come true
In this life, I was loved by you
Jed attentively eyed Abbey. It may be over between the two of them. But the
fact that there was a them… the many memories he was able to hold onto, of
them… that was gonna have to be enough. In his life, he loved Abbey. He
wouldn't trade those years for anything. He may have foolishly given them
up, but he wouldn't get ride of them. Those thirty some odd years were some
of the happiest times in his life.
For every mountain I have climbed
Every raging river crossed
You were the treasure that I'd longed to find
Without your love I would be lost
Let the world stop turnin'
Let the sun stop burnin'
Let them tell me love's not worth going through
If it all falls apart
I will know deep in my heart
The only dream that mattered had come true
In this life, I was loved by you
In this life, I was loved by you
If it all falls apart? If? It did. It fell apart… and it was all his
fault… But at least his one dream came true. He was able to love her.
Sure, he moronically gave it up, but that didn't change anything. Not for
him. He was authentically sorry that he had done, what he did… He would give
anything to change it… to go back in time… to change that fatal meeting four
years earlier, but he couldn't… He couldn't change it… so it was going to
have to be enough that in his life, he was loved by her.
All throughout the song, Jed's eyes delicately watched Abbey. The past two
years had been good on her. She looked the same… no, she looked better. Leo
seemed to be making her very happy… as happy as he had once made her. With
one last glance, Jed got up and began to leave the party as the song ended.
Abbey caught his departure, and graciously excused herself from the little
group that she had been conversing with.
Making his way outside, Jed stopped, as it was pouring down rain… just like
it was in his heart… in his head. As he heard the doors open up behind him,
he didn't bother to look back to see who it was, he just took a heavy breath,
and stepped out into the rain.
Waving his limo away, he just began to walk in the rain. No destination,
just forward… something that had been very difficult to do the past two
years. But at least he was able to go forward. His movements may be very
excruciatingly slow, but he was moving.
Feeling a familiar touch in the small of his back, he gradually turned his
head to the side, to see his ex-wife walking with him. She held up a large
black umbrella, and tried to use it to shield the rain from falling down on
him, but he refused to stay under it.
As she placed her hand on him one more time, he finally came to a stand
still. He turned his body so that he could see her. She gave him a very
soft glance, handed him the umbrella, then turned and left.
Once she was out of sight, Jed dropped the umbrella and sank down to the wet
ground. Leaning over, he placed his face into his hands as his tears added
to the raindrops that fell all around him.
Hearing footsteps approach him, he made an aggressive attempt to fight back
the tears, but failed miserably.
"Dad?" A weary voice called out.
Jed looked up to see his middle daughter with a surprisingly affectionate
glint in her eye. Already having changed from her wedding dress, into a
normal everyday outfit, to prepare to leave for her honeymoon, Jennifer sat
herself down onto the soaking wet ground right next to her father.
Placing an arm around his neck, she leaned her head down onto his shoulder,
as he reassigned his gaze to the river of rain and tears flowing at his feet.
TBC…