Their Unfinished Love

It was a cold day on May 12th, 1915 as Sadie Carson sat down in the well loved, but freshly padded rocking chair that her grandfather had carved over sixty years ago. The young woman had just finished her chores for the evening and was waiting on her husband. Five minutes later Sadie’s husband, Paul came into the light blue sitting room from plowing the fields and kissed her forehead before noticing the letter on his wife’s lap, yet to be opened. Paul knew all too well who had written it even without the faint scent of rose perfume that wafted through the air, the person who had taken the time to write the letter always used it before mailing anything to his wife, for that was her favorite scent. He patted his wife’s hand lovingly as he took the hot cup of coffee from his usual mug on the table beside Sadie, she always made coffee right before Paul came inside each evening. Sadie’s curly, long, light red hair started to fall from its neat braided bun

Meanwhile at the station, Sylvia smiles as the train comes to a stop before she stands to stretch her sore muscles from the long journey. The elderly conductor removes his hat before he offers his hand to her a moment later as Sylvia carefully makes her way down the steps, her bright long sleeve, wool yellow dress flowing around her in the late spring air. She takes a deep breath as her lungs once again fill with the crisp air after her time away from her former home. It’s been a long time since she’s been at peace and the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Sylvia looks around the train station to see if her best friend from childhood is somewhere in the sea of loved ones, but she’s nowhere to be found. The young woman sighs before picking up her two worn suitcases, one is filled with memories of what seems like a lifetime ago and the other is filled with her traveling clothes, before going to a nearby bed and breakfast to wait. 

Meanwhile back at the house, Sadie is finishing up in the guest room when a pale yellow box with a grey ribbon under the bed catches her eye. The young woman chooses to ignore it for the time being as she pushes it back under the bed, it’s contents still too painful to go through for the grieving woman. Sadie is thankfully soon pulled from her thoughts when the team of horses can be heard making their way to the front of the small country home. She takes a deep breath while looking around to make sure that everything is in order before making her way out to the huge wraparound porch. Paul smiles at his wife as he puts the suitcases on the steps then goes to help Sylvia out of the wagon before going to take care of the horses. Soon, Sylvia is embracing her best friend. It has been a long four months away, but she’s back and has no intentions of leaving her newfound home. Sadie helps get Sylvia settled into the large guest room before the women head to the living room where Pa

Two days had passed and Sylvia knew that she couldn’t keep her secret to herself for very much longer, so she went out to the barn where her best friend was reading the latest medical journal in the hay loft and asked if they could talk when Sadie was free. The young woman took her grey reading glasses off and put them in its case before looking down at Sylvia. The poor woman had looked like she had just had an unfortunate encounter with a ghost as Sadie chuckled softly at her expression before slowly climbing down the steep ladder and joining Sylvia on the ground. A few minutes later Sylvia finally sat down on the hay barrel after much prompting from Sadie as she took her best friend’s hands in her own before saying “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen and I wanted to tell you sooner, but I couldn’t find the right words to tell you, especially with everything you’ve gone through. I didn’t want to add to your pain, but you need to know.” Sadie pats her knee as Sylvi

It was now September 20th, 1915 and the weather was definitely getting cooler, but not too cold yet. It has been five months since Sylvia moved back to Maine, a whole eight months since she last saw Phillip and three months since she wrote to her former fiancé about the baby. Little did Sylvia know that Phillip was no longer in Colorado and would never be able to learn about his child. School had been let out for the day and it wasn’t a moment too soon as the young teacher had a prenatal appointment, so she walked over to the clinic that Sadie purchased to expand her medical practice three months ago. Sylvia was now eight months pregnant and looked forward to the day that she would finally meet her child. Once at the clinic the bell above the door let out a chime to signal that Sylvia had indeed arrived for her appointment as Lucy, the Carson’s cocker spaniel ran upstairs to the newly furnished  operating theater from her usual spot by the fireplace to alert Sadie that