The Story of A Button: Epilogue

I swallowed past the lump that formed in my throat at the mention of my fling with the girls. Was this the end of the road for us?

"So what do we do now?"

I barely recognised my own voice.

Willa pinned me with that serious, unwavering gaze never failed to make me squirm.

"We take it one day at a time. We... we pick up the pieces and try to put them back together."

"What if it's never the same again?"

I held my breath when my wife paused hearing my question. I wanted to shoot myself, what was wrong with me?

"We may never be perfect, heck, we may never be the way we used to be. So are you still game for this?"

******

Three Months Later

I decided to answer the question Willa had posed months earlier. I had nodded despite my misgivings at the time. Did we have a chance? I honestly hadn't a clue. The road back to normality was one littered with guilt, shame and the shattered lives of our neighbours and erstwhile friends. I took a long, deep breath, aware that Willa was looking intently at me. I'd managed to get her sister to babysit the kids who were slowly getting back to their "ignore the parents" mode after the uncharacteristic clingy mode they adopted after the incident.

Paved with broken glass as it may be, I wanted a chance to put the pieces back together again. We'd, both of us, broken and wrecked our marriage and relationship.

"I—"

"We—"

We'd spoken simultaneously and now looked at the other expectantly. There was what looked like hope mixed in with wariness in Willa's eyes.

"We, we've both broken our vows. We've wrecked our marriage," I said solemnly.

Willa's shoulders drooped and the glimmers of hope faded into a dull blankness that dimmed those beautiful blues I'd loved from the start. She jumped a little as my hands clasped hers.

"But Willa," I whispered past the lump that rose in my throat. "Can we, can we try again?"

"Yes!"

She managed to get out between sobs.

"Don't cry."

"These are happy tears, silly!"

I gathered my wife in my arms, revelling in the joy of holding someone I'd come so close to losing forever. When I reluctantly pushed away slightly, she looked at me questioningly.

"I have something for you. It's... it's something I thought we should both have to remind us what we have between us. "

Her eyes widened as I presented her with reinvented versions of the couple bracelet she'd bought for our anniversary three years ago. I had a friend who worked with metal designs melt down the thin gold bracelets and some of the brass buttons from the jacket Willa had bought so long ago. The two metal strips were then weaved into Irish Sailor Knots. It was to remind us of the loyalty, friendship and love we had forgotten along the way. And where the clasp for the bracelet was to be was one of the original brass buttons from the jacket. Willa hugged me tightly after I'd fastened our bracelets.

It was unbelievable that all that chaos had unravelled with something as small as a button. Yet, never will I forget what that button could also do for us. It was a reminder of all we had to lose and what we needed to tread that glass-strewn path that led to possible happiness.

The End

*****

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