Mirrors

Jacobs thick black hair fell into his face as he held his bleeding love in his arms. Why would she do this to herself? How could she endanger both herself and their baby like this? His heart raced and sweat trickled down the back of his neck as both anger and anxiety filled him down to his very soul. This is all my fault. Questions plagued him as he waited for the ambulance to arrive.

"Katie, open your eyes. Look at me," Jacob begged her to stay with him but his pleas fell on deaf ears. His words echoed in the cold sterile room, a room that on any other day felt warm and welcoming.

There was no way to tell how much damage she had inflicted upon herself. It had only been a few hours since he had been forced to placed that fateful call and delivered the heart-shattering news that he couldn't be with her. Since that moment he had been arguing with his mother and decided that he couldn't do it. He loved her with every ounce of his being. Jacob was convinced that Katie was his soul mate and all that all he needed was her by his side, forever. He would give up everything his mother was threatening to take from him just to keep her, just to fill her life with all the love and joy that she had given freely to him. He in turn proceeded to shatter her life.

"I'm gonna fix this Katie. I'm gonna make this up to you every day for the rest of our lives together." This was a promise that he fully intended to keep. "All you have to do is heal and say you forgive me. You don't even need to forgive me; I'll still do whatever it takes."

Something on the floor caught Jacob's eye. A deadly unease filled him and caused nausea to creep over him. The mirror had broken into several large pieces and dozens of smaller shards. She had loved that damn mirror. It once had belonged to her grandmother. Before she killed herself, while Katie was away at college, she had made Katie promise to care for it. The elderly woman had been Katies pillar of strength her whole life, however with Katie away she lost grip on reality and had shot herself in the face. The scene was so horrific that the police wouldn't even release the photos to her.

Jacob had come over the day after Halloween, he was supposed to be there for Halloween night but being a new associate at a big law firm was demanding. That night he had brought over the fixings to prepare Riso Patate e Cozze for them. A delicate Italian dish taught to him by their family cook when he was twelve. It took hm over a year to finally perfect the dish, and it was his most proud moment. Until that night he hadn't made it for her. Mostly because he was worried that he'd screw it up and then he wouldn't live it down.

"Hey, after dinner would you help me bring something up from the basement?" Katie had asked, knowing he would never say no to her. "I found the mirror that use to be in my grandmother's bedroom, and I'd like to hang it in the foyer."

"Carry a mirror up and hang it, shouldn't be that difficult," Jacob laughed, not yet realizing that mirror was almost six feet long and over seventy-five pounds.

After dinner the two of them struggled to maneuver the massive mirror up the skinny basement stairs. It hadn't been an easy task but neither of them was willing to give up.

"That is the most hideous thing I've ever seen!" Jacob commented before they but any holes in the wall to hang it. "Are you sure you want it displayed as the first thing people see when they enter your home?"

"It's beautiful," Katie laughed. "It's an antique and it was my grandmothers. Yes, I want it to be the first thing people see when they enter my home."

It was at that moment that Jacob realized that Katie would see the beauty in anything, no matter how old and ugly it was. It was at that moment he knew he wanted this woman to be his wife, to be his forever.

"James, please take these bags of groceries into the kitchen and put them away and clean up this broken mirror." His mother's voice jarred Jacob out of his thoughts.

"No!" James, his mother's driver stopped short, stepped back, and waited for further clarification. "I mean yes, please take care of the food, but leave the mirror. I'll take care of the myself."

"Jacob, that is ridiculous. Why would you want to bother with this?" Both bewilderment and disgust were evident in her eyes.

"The mirror belonged to her grandmother. She'll be despondent when she realizes it ended up in the trash. I want to... I don't know, something with the larger pieces. In the meantime, I don't want anyone else to touch it."

"Then you better put her down and pick them up because I already hear the sirens coming up the street and they are not going to step around broken glass to get to her."

Jacob could hear the sirens in the distance. He didn't want to let her go but knew that the mirror would be trampled and destroyed.

"I'll be right back Katie," he whispered as he gingerly laid her back onto the floor then proceeded to gather up the three larger pieces and five smaller pieces of the shattered mirror. Once they had been placed safely on the table Jacob went back to hold Katie.

"Oh Fuck! What the hell happened!" The shrill female voice screamed from the doorway.

Jacob turned to see Cheri standing in the doorway.

"I'm not sure. When I got here, she was slamming her face into the mirror. I had to grab her to make her stop, and she just passed out."

"This is all your fault, you asshole!"

Before Jacob could response two uniformed police officers stepped into the door and started asking questions and the EMT's entered to take Katie to the hospital. It was all so quick, yet Jacob felt like it took forever. All he wanted to do was follow Katie to the hospital.

"Excuse me," Officer Blake interjected himself. "EMT's are right behind me so if you all can please step aside.

Officer Blake ushered the group into the living room as the EMT's entered pushing a shiny hospital gurney with several bags on them. They immediately started caring for the injured women while talking to each other. Cheri stood there in awe as she watched the two men and one woman work in perfect unison to assess, apply a neck brace, then leave. It took all of three minutes from beginning to end.

"Officer, someone should inform them that she's six weeks pregnant," Cheri said with urgency. If anything happened to that baby Katie would never forgive herself.

The three of them stood in Katies living room for the next 30 minutes answering question, until the officer was convinced there was no foul play. Cheri was the first one he allowed to leave. He had seen her park her car and enter the house moments before he did so she was the first to be cleared of any wrongdoing. The others needed a little more questioning.

The second the cop informed Cheri she could leave she sprinted to the door and headed to the hospital. Her little VW Bug was a blur of pink down the road before Officer Blake could change his mind and call her back in.

"Ok Mr. Mantles, can you please explain to me again what made you decide to come over after you admitted you broke off your engagement just this morning."

"I didn't want to break up, my mother forced it. She threatened to cut me out of everything if I married her. This morning I was weak, living without everything I had become accustomed to felt daunting. So, I made that call, but after about half an hour I knew that all I needed to be happy was Katie. She is my ride or die partner for life. And I wasn't gonna give that up. Nothing my mother can say or do will ever change that."

"Ok, but by your own statement that was a little over six hours ago. Why the delay?"

"Well, first off I had to get past my mother. Who continued to brow beat me about my decision. Then on the way over I got stopped for speeding," Jacob produced the yellow ticket out of his pocket to prove it. "Then I went to the jewelers to pick up the ring I had ordered last month so that I could give it to Katie. Only to find out she," Jacob shot his mother a glaring glance "had canceled the order. So, I picked out a simple diamond band to give her. I figured that we could come down and shop together for a better one." Jacob handed the officer the ring and the receipt. This proved his timeline, and apparently satisfied the Officer. "When I got here my mother was sitting in the car waiting for me."

"Very well, you can leave."

"Thank you, Officer," Jacob grabbed Katies house keys and bolted towards the front door. Officer Blake was just beginning to question Josephine as Jacob slammed the door behind him.