A Silent Goodbye

Lily was drained from exhaustion as she lay in her bed, grabbing her husband’s pillow. She brought it closer to her chest and face hoping she could still smell his scent. Tears began to fill her eyes. His scent was so faint now. She was wishing and hoping all this was all just a dream. Even though so many days had passed, every time she slept she would wake up looking for her husband. She just now was beginning to take it in. The realization hit her that this was no dream. Lily whispered, "He's really gone." More tears fall down her face, "He's really gone!" She longed for him to grab her and hold her tight and tell her everything was alright. Lily's mind went back to the day when it all happened, a week ago…

Lily's phone rang and she looked to see who it was, but didn't recognize the number. She answered anyway, "Hello?"

"Is this Mrs. Stevens?" A man asked.

"Yes, this is Mrs. Stevens. Who may this be?"

"This is Sheriff Christopher calling. Your husband has been in an accident. The building he was in collapsed. Our team found him under some rubble. We have identified him as your husband, Mr. Jacob Stevens. He is being rushed to the nearest hospital at this very moment. He’s in serious condition ma’am…” The man’s voice trailed off as the phone slipped out of her sweaty hands…

Lily remembered dropping her phone in shock as her adrenalin went sky high. She rushed out to her car and got to the hospital as soon as she could. She didn't even remember picking her phone up and saying goodbye.

When she got to the hospital she paced the hallway. She called her family, his family, and anyone who she could think of that she thought should know. After a long and hard night he was finally out of surgery, but he wasn’t waking up. The very next day he passed away.

The days just blurred by as Lily tried her best to keep going. She was in such shock, the days just blended together with her not knowing what to do next. Every bill she needed to pay in order to survive was about due. Her whole world was crashing down on her. She was longing for a break, to catch her breath and breathe. All she could do at that moment was lie in bed and curl into a ball, hugging her husband’s pillow.

Lily finally got the courage to call her best friend, Courtney. “Hey, Courtney”

“Hey girl, how are you holding up?” Courtney said, with so much compassion.

“Holding up as best as I can. I was wondering if you could come over and help me pack up my husband’s things. Well, really, I need you to do it for me. I can’t do it. I just can’t wrap my mind around all this!” Lily’s voice cracked, tears fell down her face and felt like she couldn’t breathe from the lump in her throat. She barely could say another word, but she tried her best. “I want all his things gone. I can’t stand to look at them without crying my eyes out, but yet I want to surround myself with every piece of clothing he had.”

“I will be over as soon as I can, Lily.” Courtney said with all the compassion she could muster.

Courtney arrived within minutes. When Lily halfheartedly opened the door, she fell into her friends arms, crying her heart out. Courtney brought her inside and sat her on the couch. “Is there anything I can get you, dear? Some water perhaps?”

“And maybe one of my husband’s shirts and his pillow?” Lily answered, and just zoned out as tears slowly fell on her face.

Courtney got Lily some water, a shirt, and pillow. Then she began to go through some of Lily’s husbands things. About an hour went by when Courtney came across a beautiful little box that said “For My Dearest Lily” Courtney got up to give the precious box to Lily. Courtney brought the box to her and quickly left the room, to give Lily space and time to open the box.

At first, Lily was scared to open it but soon she got the courage to finally open the beautiful box. When the box was opened all she saw was a little black book that read, “Priceless Memories”. She opened the book and began reading the first page.

“If you find or receive this little book, I suppose that means I have passed away. I know how you must be feeling. I sure hope you are doing alright. This little black book contains most of our happy memories, from my perspective. I love you sweetheart, and I know that losing me will make it hard for you to move on. You must move on with your life, I will always be with you in spirit. I hope this little black book will help you smile. We had many good memories. Since I was your provider, I saved money for you in case this would happen. It should be enough for your needs till you can get back on track. There should be a card in this book with the account information. I love you darling and I am very sorry you are going through this. Just remember, God will be with you. I know there will be many people willing to help you move on. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You will overcome this trial, dear. You will get stronger. It will still hurt, but you will be able to live your life again. I Love you dearly. Always, your Jacob.”

After Lily read the first page she felt some relief. She began reading the stories he wrote about their life together. Her heart ached but smiled at the memories they shared together. Tears still fell from her eyes, but they were tears of thankfulness. She was so thankful that he thought to do this for her, just in case something did happen. It was like she was getting a silent goodbye from him through his stories. He repeatedly wrote that she was a wonderful wife, and was happy to have her every single day of his life.

Once Lily got done reading through her Priceless Memories, she began to look for the bank card. The bank card wasn’t in the book so she thought to look in the box. She grabbed the box and there was the information for her husband’s life savings. She looked up the account and was stunned. There was Thousands of dollars in that account, plenty enough to pay off all their debt!

As the days passed, Lily paid all her and her husband’s debt. She was so thankful to be able to be debt free as she didn’t have a job at the moment. Her heart still ached from her husband’s death; but she felt much better after the Priceless Memories her husband wrote down. After she paid everything off, she had a leftover of twenty thousand dollars. She decided to get a job and save the twenty thousand for special needs or emergencies. A couple days later she found out she was with child.

Nine months later Lily had a baby boy, and she was doing much better. She named him Jacob Jr., and she continued writing in the black book for her precious boy.

The End