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Audible rattling could be heard as he shoved the thick white door open. Charging into the tiny kitchen, he screamed with eyes bulging, “What about the cat?”

Barely glancing up from her laptop, she noticed the yellow tabby cat lumbering towards his food dish. Preoccupied with creating a logo for her business department today, she had forgotten to give the cat his lunch. Under a deadline to present her creation to the executive, and excited about new opportunities at work, shame slowly radiated through her like heavy led.

Meowing in anticipation of his food, the yellow cat perched itself beside of his dish as her husband angrily placed the strong-smelling morsels in the plastic bowl. Glaring at her with, what could only be described as a blank stare, he charged over to the sofa and lifted the damp towel where she had just dried her hair only seconds before he came barging in.

“You can’t do anything right,” came his accusation. “You can’t even hang up a fucking towel,” he bellowed as he gestured toward the grey and white towel laying in a heap on the worn beige sofa.

“I’m sorry. I just finished washing my hair. I was going into the bathroom to place the towel in the clothes hamper when you came home,” she meekly mumbled as her brown eyes filled with tears. The knot in her stomach grew tighter as a nauseated feeling surged through her body.

Closing her eyes and breathing deeply in an attempt to calm her racing heart, she let her mind drift to the carousel in the middle of the busy Welsh city. She recalled spinning around happily in the teacup. She giggled as the ride and all of the brightly colored metal animals appeared to speed up. The merry-go-round continuously whirled as she enjoyed the feel of the cold and crisp winter air. Hearing the music come to an abrupt halt, she felt him fold her tiny hand into his as he led her from the platform.

“You look like you had fun, My Little One,” Raven said as he protectively kissed her on the forehead, proudly beaming at her as his jet-black eyes plunged into her very soul.

Giggling, she responded enthusiastically, “Yes, I did!”

Her husband’s voice interrupted her thoughts as he towered over her in his uniform, “Why do you never do what you are supposed to do?” he accusingly and angrily asked her. She tried to ignore his relentless comments as the sounds of his XBox filled the tiny apartment.

Smiling, she remembered Raven kneeling to gently slip her tiny feet into her black leather boots before standing up to wrap the warm scarf around her neck. Why did Wales have to be so far away? she silently mused, knowing that her very soul belonged to her beautiful dark-eyed Raven.

Memories flooded her mind as she recalled whirling around on the metal teacup. She glimpsed his dark black eyes as the inviting December wind hit her face. Elephant eyes, he once called them, and they had the talent for peering through to her very soul. He was looking at her as if her smile somehow contained the very universe itself. It was such a look of complete adoration that she now could not get that image out of her mind.

That was over a month ago, however, and those same intense black eyes that regarded her with all of the love in the world now appeared exhausted. They had plans to see each other in April, and how she had looked forward to hugging him once again, but he suddenly delayed her departure.

“Have faith in me this year, Little One. My life went downhill when you left, and I am scrambling to rebuild it.” He softly admitted. He continued, “I hated saying goodbye to you.” His voice grew dark and intense, muttering as if stating a curse while focusing on a faded memory, “I hate Heathrow.”

“I trust you,” she replied in a soft tone that somehow conveyed the tenacity of her very nature. “I love you,” she stated.

“You are my world and always will be,” he promised, “but I need to save myself this year.”

She thought that, perhaps, she was simply too much to deal with, too much responsibility, and too much in general. Like a complex and strange puzzle, she could not seem to find the missing piece to this conundrum.

“We push away those we love the most.” That statement reverberated in her mind like a never-ending curse. All she wanted to do was pull him into an embrace and ensure him that they both could handle anything that life threw their way.

“I love you, My Raven, and that’s all that matters,” she muttered to her empty apartment.