Like routine she went into her jewelry box to get her little cufflinks when she looked over her shoulder at Rick’s. There they were, sitting on the dresser almost beckoning her over towards them. She picked them up and the cool gold sprung life into her hands. She easily fastened them to her cuffs and she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. The feeling was a bit overwhelming, this was the first time in a long time she allowed herself to see herself for the beauty that she was. Every compliment Rick had given her was fluttered to her mind tenfold, and she wanted to cry but her body held it in and replaced it with a glowing soft laughter.  Soon the car horn outside got her attention and she gave herself one final look and a whispered, “I love you too Babe.”

…………………………………

Tasha was in the driver’s seat as Alice was talking her head off about work and how she didn’t want to go into work later on today. When she noticed that Tasha was not listening to her, instead she had her eyes glued to Tina’s front door.

“What? Why are…” Alice’s thought was cut short as she saw a figure from her past approaching the car. This Tina was someone she’d known long before the pain and  long before their lives were flipped over. She strutted to the car with her designer shades, and carefully placed jewelry accentuating her look perfectly, and lengthy legs designed to carry that suit unmercifully so, like she hadn’t a care in the world. Her body exuded the epitome of confidence and beauty.  She opened the door and smiled at the stuck faces glaring at her.

“Hello Ladies.” she smiled back.

“Hello Ms. Tina. I thought we were going to the doctor’s office today?” Tasha asked and Alice nodded in unison.

“We are, but I figured that soon I won’t be able to fit into these clothes anymore and there’s no sense in waiting until next year or whenever I lose my baby fat to wear them again. So I decided to wear them until I’m practically busting out of them.” She smiled at her answer and Alice was blown away by the bright cheerfulness that returned to Tina in that answer. Like any one else Tina still had her good and bad days with this whole situation, but somehow she made it through another and then another. But something about today was different, she was happy, not genuinely happy, but enough so as to see the little things for what they were, and that alone made Alice ecstatic.