Epilogue

    It was 7:30 AM on a Sunday morning. The man and wife were still asleep in their bed. This day was long coming though both of them loved each other, but their paths lay elsewhere. As they sleep in each other arms the angels were plotting their courses.

    It was around 10:30 when Howie got up and fixed breakfast. His wife Natalya was still asleep in bed, she loved to sleep and wasn't the early riser her husband was. As he was fixing his breakfast, Natalya woke up. For the first time in years she woke up before 11 AM. She was dripping wet from the shower, her newly washed hair was dripping, drenching the flannel rob she wore.
    "Good morning sunshine do you want breakfast?" Natalya gently nodded her head, drenching her rob some more and leaving tiny droplets on the floor.
    "No its too early to eat." Natalya took the towel off her head and made an effort to dry her hair with the already saturated towel.
    "Don't you want the blow dryer?"
    "Na, I'll let it drip dry, its better for your hair than using a blow dryer." Howie, starts to eat his breakfast, Natalya sipped a glass of orange juice trying not to drip in it. Their silence continued the whole morning, come noon Natalya was in the basement doing the laundry. Over the years couples grow apart, since they were from two different worlds, had two very distance personalities and two different in takes on the world; Howie, sensed the distance between them, Natalya refused to see it. They may share they same house and same bed, but its like an ocean was between them and neither one of them could really see into each other worlds. As an attempt he went down in the basement to try and talk to his wife, he couldn't stand the silence any more.
    In the basement Natalya was loading the washer and folding the laundry in the washing machine. She had to put full loads of clothes in the washer or else it not start properly. She had her Walkman on her ears, singing along to her favorite song on the radio; she didn't hear Howie call her. He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump.
    "You surprised me. Did you want to throw something in the laundry?" Natalya pointed to the open machine. "Remember it needs a full load to work." Howie only looked back at her. Natalya hated when he just would gaze at her. His mind was totally locked to her, his face was expressionless and all she saw was him looking at her a perfect mirror of all what ails their marriage. Quickly she smiled and shut the door of the washing machine and turned to go up stairs. "I think I left a pair of your socks in the bedroom, be right back." As she turned around Howie spoke; his voice like a heavy iron weight pinned Natalya's heels to the floor.
    "Natalya we have to talk" She turned around slowly, the silence was broken and she knew issues were going to be addressed.
    "Yes, what about." Natalya could sense something wasn't right, but she covered all her anxiety with a cool phizod. "When are you going to look at the washer, it nearly ate one of my kitty slippers." Howie just looked and he got on one knee and started to examine the washer. "You know we could just buy a new one."
    "You are right, but that's not what I want to talk about." Natalya tensed up. "Are you happy?" Howie's eyes were big, bright and shiny and full of compassion.
    "Yes." Natalya replied, biting her tongue.
    "Are you really?" Howie gripped his hand, twisting the wedding ring he wore proudly for 10 years. "Are you happy with how things have change?"
    Natalya's face softened her voice became higher and more genteel. "I know that I love you." Howie looked at Natalya. "That's all that really matters isn't it?"
    "Apparently that's not all we need. Is it just me or are we drifting apart?" Natalya looked at Howie, tears streaming down her face. "Are you asking me for a divorce?"
    "I don't know what I'm asking for. I love you, with all my heart I do, but I don't know where to go from this point." Natalya wiped at the tears she realized she was crying. "Which leaves me to ask you one more time are you happy?" Natalya couldn't bring herself to speak, to bring voice from her throat to say what she wanted to say. Howie seeing the pain she was in wiped some of the tears away and hugged her. "I don't ever want to hurt you, I didn't ever want to make your cry." He kissed Natalya on the head, which was now buried, in his chest crying her heart out. "I love you so much." Natalya dried her tears and looked into her husband's eyes. He stared back at her, what wasn't said at that moment meant the most. For the first time they saw into each other's worlds. No one knew what to say to the other. It wasn't till Natalya broke the silence.
    "Let's eat out tonight?"

    That night, Howie and Natalya got dressed and went to a fancy restaurant. They ate their dinner in total silence and went home in total silence. No one wanted to break the other's heart anymore than they already did. When they got home, Howie started to go to bed.
    "I know it must be said." Howie stooped in his tracks halfway up the stairs. Natalya stood tall and said in her most amicable voice hoping that the nicer she sounded the less the news would hurt. "I want a divorce." She drew back as if she had fired a rifle. Howie only stood on the stairs as if he had seen a ghost. He then sat down and put his face in his hands. Natalya walked up the stairs to the landing to console her husband who was only a few steps away.
    "Can't we just work things out." Natalya sat on the stairs to be eye level with him. "I know we have our problems, but I don't want to kill our love and forget about all that we mean to each other."
    "I wish I could say we don't need to walk away, but we must. I could sense our paths moving us farther and farther apart."
    "Can't we just work things out?"
    "How so? You are never home and I understand that is your job. I understand who you are for and for the first time in my life and I now realize love is never enough. We just aren't meant to be, no matter how much we fight for our marriage, there will always be this distance. You and me are like a wonderful dream I have to wake up from or else I'll miss out what the world has in stored for me." Natalya placed her hand on Howie's shoulder. He looked at her and kissed her wrist and looked at their wedding bands together.
    "So if not for tonight let us forget our problems. If not for tonight lets just be how we wanted it to be even though we cannot."
    "Yes, if only for tonight. Maybe in our next lives our souls will meet and travel down the same path. I feel it will be so. I feel this time we came to early, but lets not call it a curse because no one knows what is to come and to find out is a blessing."
They stared into each other's eyes. Howie then got up and extended his hand to Natalya. Natalya accepted his hand; he stepped down from the stairs and hugged her tightly. Natalya closed her eyes and let go of all the sadness she felt in her heart. She felt her feet leave the floor. Natalya found herself being carried up the stairs and in the arms of her husband for the last time.

    In the morning they made short with their long good byes. Howie left before Natalya could wake up, before she could ever say good bye. Their divorce went threw on the day after their eleventh anniversary. Despite their broken hearts, by the next years both of them moved on. Natalya published her forbidden love story inspired by them and Howie had a hit single. They all live separately, very happily ever after.