Charlie turned then and looked up at him and Jake's heart broke. It wasn’t for the pain he saw in her eyes or the unshed tears glistening in her eyes. Jake could have born seeing that, but there was nothing in her expression of neither sorrow nor pain and it hurt him the most…that there wasn’t any part of her emotions she was willing to share with him.
The good thing was that Charlie appeared to be in impeccable health. It was odd because Charlie still had a maternal glow, even though she wasn’t pregnant anymore.
"Hello," was all Charlie said as she reached for the glass of water which was resting on the nightstand beside her, instead of reaching for him.
"Nanna called me this morning," he stated.
She didn’t speak; she simply nodded and took a sip of water from her glass.
"If only you would have let me know earlier, I would have been here sooner."
"Why?" the question was spoken softly, it was so simple, yet he was wounded by that carelessly spoken word.
Jake swallowed. "Because you shouldn’t have gone through this all alone."
She blinked. "Nanna’s here."
Her words held the same note of her recent question and he felt stung and more hurt by it. Charlie was his wife. This was their child. Didn’t she want him here with her?
"I’m surprised the doctor discharged you so early. Didn’t he think you should have stayed in the hospital a little longer?" he asked tenderly.
"He said that I was fine and that the bleeding will stop in a few days," Charlie spoke as if it were all mere facts, as she set the glass down.
Jake was sitting on the side of the bed now, brushing the back of his hand over her lovely right cheek. "I’m so sorry sweetheart." He swallowed as he felt the tears burn the back of his eyes.
Charlie nodded as Jake sat nearly choking with emotion. As the minutes passed, he sat there feeling the pain and the sting of their loss more and more.
"Our baby’s gone," Jake said softly touching her belly, leaning down he placed his head over her womb and wept. "My baby’s gone." He sobbed upon his wife as the realization hit him. It wasn’t just the baby that had died, but something else had died also.
That was six months ago