The clock on the wall above the entertainment center kept ticking away; counting the minutes as Jaymes came out of the dream. For a moment, he just stared at the clock. Sometimes he would fall asleep for a short while, to only wake up, almost every hour on the hour. The whole house was quiet except for the constant repetitious ticking of the clock. Protesting, he hopped out of bed and walked down the hall quietly. Stepping into the office, he closed the door behind him.
Having not touched the desk, or even set foot in the room over the past week, Jaymes just stood there adjusting himself to the oddity of what should be familiar. Moving from the door, he crossed the room, pulling the chair out from behind the desk that was made out of solid cherry wood. Jaymes seated himself in the empty chair, fumbling through the drawers of the desk, finally locating the notebook he had hidden after he had returned from the hospital.
He could never understand why she would keep a journal – he could never could keep a journal of his daily life dealings. He always attempted to start writing in one, and then a few days later, left it untouched. Looking at the cover, he opened to the first page, taking in her eloquent handwriting. He read her title softly aloud – JOURNAL OF ELLYN MAPLE SPRAGUE. Turning the page, he found the last entry she had written prior to her death, it was the morning of their anniversary:
Jaymes left for work, left me wanting him. I wanted him to stay home, but knew he had to deal with some things at the office. I also know he has something special planned for us tonight. But still that doesn’t help the fire I need to have put out. Only thing I could say is that Jaymes is no ordinary person, and knowing that it’s our anniversary, he will go out of his way to melt me. What he doesn’t know is that just being with him, talking with him, laughing with him, even fighting with him, I always melt – especially when he gives me that look. His caramel eyes become soft, inviting and I just get lost in them. But, still, he isn’t one that allows an anniversary to be an ordinary dinner, and expecting me to submit to his needs.
The only thing I dread is that my sister, Desiree is coming to town. I haven’t seen her for a couple years, nor heard from her. I think she is still angry over me leaving Jacob for Jaymes. But I had enough of Jacob, he couldn’t be what Jaymes is, a romantic gentleman. Trust me, I had tried to make Jacob like Jaymes, but ended up me comparing Jacob to Jaymes. Don’t get me wrong, Jaymes has his quirks that irritate me, but I love Jaymes, and he allows me to be who I am, not controlling, but understanding, and though we disagree on some things, we are compatible. I just can’t wait to tell him about my…. There’s the door, will write more later. Definitely will have something to write after our anniversary date, I would do anything to make him happy, because he makes me happy.
Jaymes read more entries, some he knew about, conversations they both had, events that had transpired in their life, and some she kept to herself, not revealing to him at all. Especially the reason why she had left him to try and work things out with Jacob. He wondered if Jacob ever had read any of her journal entries. He knew she kept all his notes and letters he had written to her. Closing the journal, he leaned back in the chair, closing his eyes and cleared his mind. The door to the office creaked open slightly. Startled, he looked toward the door for a moment. Thought I had closed the door? He tried to retrace his steps. No one was there at all as he got up and closed the door. Just as he turned to take his seat back up, he heard Dakota screaming from across the hall.
Hurrying out, he entered the room, Dakota sitting up in bed looking wide eyed at the chair that usually was pushed in toward the desk, but now was facing Dakota. He felt a cold chill crawl along his spine, his whole body tingling as the hairs on his neck and arms rise. Dakota half-leaped, half-ran into her father’s arms as he held her.
“It’s okay…it’s okay,” he said as calmly as possible. Not sure what to make of what was happening here in this room. Composing herself, she wiped the tears from her eyes. Dakota then pointed to the chair.
“She was sitting right there in the chair,” Dakota spoke softly, still collecting and calming her nerves. “I swear, she was right there. I woke up because it felt like someone was brushing my hair behind my ears.” She turned from the chair, looking at her father, trying to read his face. The room warmed somewhat as Jaymes stood looking at the empty chair. Dakota broke from her father’s arms and made her way out of the room and down the hall into the living room. Jaymes stood there alone for a moment, then pushed the turned chair back into the desk and headed down the hall and into the living room. Dakota had curled up on the sleeper sofa he had pulled out, and was fast asleep. Jaymes took up a seat in the chair and just watched her, fighting the exhaustion he suddenly felt come over him as he nodded off.
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