What the Heart Wants (Sequel to Pixie Dust Never Lies)

Chapter 20

I woke up slowly, the sunlight streaming into my room. Finally, the weekend. I took a deep breath, arching my back, stretching my arms above my head, and lifting my chest towards the sky. This week had been incredibly stressful, so I was excited to have a day that I didn't have to go into work.

I finally slid out of bed, the silky sheets clinging desperately to my  sweaty body. Ultimately, however, they loosened their hold on me, stroking my skin as I stood. The cool morning air sent a shiver down my body, goosebumps rising on my arms and legs. I walked over to my closet and reached for my robe. As I did, my hand brushed against something soft and fluffy, contrasting with the silky material of my own robe. Curious, I shifted my focus and pulled out the garment. It was another robe, made of fleece instead of satin. It's light purple shade was calming, and reminded me of a Sunday morning. I stroked the the arm, feeling the soft material glide past my hands. I decided that this was probably a better option to ward off the cold than my satin robe, and put it on. As I wrapped the robe around myself a pleasant smell was wafted towards my nose. I took a deep breath, taking it in. It was clean, faintly smelling of soap, and it was subtlely sweet and fruity, but not like a perfume. There was something...earthy about it. It was difficult to describe, but I couldn't get enough of it. On top of that, I felt like the smell was familiar for some reason. Then again, that had been happening all week.

Finally, I left my room and walked to Henry's room. When I made it to his closed door, I knocked softly.

"Come in," I heard him say in a muffled voice. I opened the door slowly and saw him laying on his bed in his checkered pajamas.

"Good morning," I said in a quiet, cheerful voice. "How did you sleep?"

He shrugged. "Okay. What about you?"

"Pretty good, actually," I said. I was lying just a little bit; it had taken me a while to fall asleep after my visit to Emma, and when I did I dreamt of the memory I saw over and over again, but in the vision I never saw her face, and I only ever heard her say, "Good morning." But Henry didn't have to know that.

"Good," he said.

"Hey, I don't have work and you don't have school today: did you want to do anything? Just the two of us." Henry shrugged again. I realized that something was troubling him. "Henry, what's wrong?"

"It's just, today...today's supposed to be a big day."

"What's that, Henry?"

"It's yours and Mom- I mean..." he panicked when he realized that he'd called Emma "Mom" again.

"Henry, it's okay. I don't mind anymore," I reassured him. "Really."

"Okay. Well, it's your guys' anniversary  today."

"Oh." Well, that would explain it.

"Yeah," he said. "Mom and I had this huge plan for you. You two were going to go out and do stuff, and I was going to surprise you both with this huge meal..."

"Oh, Henry, I'm sorry," I said. "I can't imagine how hard this is for you."

"Yeah. Thanks, Mom." Then Henry reached down behind his bed and pulled out a small package wrapped in paper and tied with thread. He fingered the twine, deliberating, and then held the package out to me. "This is what she was going to give you. She gave it to me for safekeeping."

I took the present hesitantly, examining the outside. It was a large, thin rectanglular shape. I looked at Henry questioningly.

"You can open it," he assured me. "It is your present, after all."

Slowly, carefully, I pulled the end of the string, unraveling the bow in the middle. I pulled the twine and paper off to reveal a journal. It was made from beautiful, rich brown leather, with gold accents. In the center, in elegant gold lettering, it read "For My Wife."