Salvation

Chapter 14: How I watched the snow falling (NEW)

Chapter Fourteen: How I watched the snow falling

Newly added chapter (2021)

Watching the snowfall, sitting on the window seat in the living room. I look out the bay window, as the snowdrifts by, I glance around the empty house and I feel cold and alone. I found the house empty, and David nowhere to be seen when I came back from visiting my parents grave as I do every Christmas morning. I hug my arms around myself, as tears fog my eyes. I jump at the sound of a text coming through, and I sigh upon reading it: 'I won't be back until tomorrow. At the bar with friends. Sort yourself out.'

Things have been incredibly strained between David and I ever since I went to lunch with Nathan's family over a month ago. He has been worse to temper, and I have been walking on eggshells as the slightest thing is setting him off. I wipe away the tears that had fallen as I think about David. I glance around the living room at the sad, already dying tree, and I am reminded of my relationship, which saddens me to the core.

I hear the sound of happy laughter from outside, and I watch as two little boys run into the arms of their elderly grandparents. They embrace, and I can feel the love that radiates from them across the road as I sit watching in my cold living room. The Swanson's are a lovely old couple, and Shelley brought me a homemade apple pie this morning as a Christmas present.

I pick up Jane Eyre from beside me as I had borrowed it yet again from Nathan, and as soon as I think of him, my heart flutters. It was awkward going to work after, I ran away from lunch with his family, but I came up with a good excuse on the drive to work, and he put at ease any nerves I had with a simple smile and the offer for lunch with them again.

I force all of my thoughts out of my head, and I focus on the words written on the book's yellowing pages. I feel my heart swelling as I read the words of Mr Rochester — "The world may laugh—may call me absurd, selfish—but it does not signify. My very soul demands you." I selfishly wish that David was as romantic with me as the characters I read about in books, but I know that I am not worth more than what David already gives me. He is right about me being so unbelievably ungrateful. David loves me all that he can and more than I deserve - I need to remember that I will find no-one else that will love me the way he does.

I jump at the sound of someone knocking on the front door, and my eyes drift to the black BMW sitting at the pavement. I frown before strolling to the door, and I am surprised to see Nathan standing with a Santa hat on his head, wearing a Christmas jumper and a big childlike grin on his face.

"What are you doing here shouldn't you be at your parents' house?" I ask him, confused.

"Well, I'm on my way there, and I thought that I would drop off my presents for you," He tells me, and that is when I notice the two perfectly wrapped present boxes in his arms. I smile at him as I lean my head against the front door.

"I can't take them, as I don't have anything for you," I reply shyly, and he smiles, shaking his head. I smile to myself as I watch the bobble of his Santa hat shaking along with his head.

"Grace, it's Christmas. It is about giving, not about giving to receive," Nathan tells me softly, but his voice is full of passion and zest for the message he was telling me. I grin, thousands of butterflies rampage my stomach as his eyes sparkle in the December winter sun.

"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day," Nathan asks me, his eyes shining with interest.

"Oh, um. I don't have anything planned. David's friends invited him out for the weekend, so I'm just here reading," I say to him in reply timidly.

I watch as sadness falls over Nathan's face for a few seconds until he smiles brightly back at me, and I am reminded of a golden retriever again. "Why don't you come to Christmas dinner with my family?"