His Shadow

2

His voice was the same as I remembered. Confident and powerful. 

I took a deep breath and mumbled, "God, please... let this all go by well." 

And I walked in.

My breathing was irregular and my heart sped up for a second before it just stopped. I couldn't think, couldn't move. There he was... my husband. Alexander. Sitting at his large wooden desk, staring at me, like I was staring at him.

It was hard to say what he was feeling. His face was emotionless, but at the same time, it seemed like there were a million emotions going through him and he just couldn't find one to feel yet. Shock, excitement, anger, fear, discomfort, guilt, happiness, and shock.

He slowly stood and up and looked me over and I did the same. 

Finally, he whispered, "Maria..." and the strange barrier between us fell. 

I smiled as relief flooded through me and I realized that I did, in fact, miss him. I realized that I still loved him and no matter what happened, or could have happened, I was glad that I was back. 

He smiled as well and we both ran up to each other. I can't describe the feeling of being back in his arms, his strong arms wrapped tightly around me, never wanting to let me go.

"Oh, Maria, how I've missed you!" He whispered into my hair, and I hugged him tighter.

"I've missed you too, Alexander," I whispered back, holding back a few tears. 

It comforted me that no matter what had happed with my stupid emotions while I was gone, deep inside me, I still kept a few of my feelings for him. I still missed him and loved him. 

He broke away from me and looked at my large belly. Then he looked back up into my eyes. He smiled and took my face in his hand. 

"You've got a lot to tell me." 

I laughed. "Yes, yes I do."

Immediately, he turned around and then grabbed his jacket that was laying on the chair, and then took my hand. 

I stopped before he had a chance to pull me out of the office. 

He stopped as well, with a frown on his face. "What is it?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You're just going to leave from work? It's pretty busy right now."

"Of course!" Alexander said, "Let this whole building burn, I don't care. Do you know how long I have waited for you to return?"

His words pierced my heart right away, causing guilt to flood every inch of my body. I had known he was in an awful place in his life and I was so horribly selfish that I didn't care. I only cared about what I wanted and felt at the moment. Oh, that was so awfully wrong of me. 

"I'm sorry." I said, "I re-"

"Maria. Not now. I don't want to hear any of that. I just want to know how you've been and what went on with you. And I need to tell you what's been going on, if, of course, you'd want to hear."

I smiled and squeezed his hand. "Yes. Yes, I do."

He smiled back and pulled me closer to him. "Then let's go."

He pulled me to the door once more but I stopped him again. 

He turned back to me. "What is it this time?"

I frowned. "I just don't want to go through the lobby so everyone will see me. God was gracious enough to let me slip by everyone on the way here, but there's definitely no way that'll happen on the way back, especially with you next to me."