Day 272 - Scrapbook

 SCRAPBOOK

Prompt - Scrapbook : Write about finding a scrapbook and the memories it contains

With everyone gone, and the first time to herself since his death, she got a cup of tea, a bit of cake, and sat down in her favourite chair.  Picked up the bulging volume by the side.  The cover showed her and him, on their wedding day, taking centre spot.  Black and white of course.  Over the years others had been added around it.  The kids as babies, then at school, until there was no more space.  But it gave enough of a hint as to what lay inside.  The story of their life together.  Well, a story.

She opened it up.  Pages covered in stuck on memories.  Photos, occasionally cuttings from newspapers, the odd handwritten note.  A few child's drawings, standing out from the rest for their size and impenetrability.  All in chronological order, all showing happiness and success and a gradual evolution across the decades.  She smiled at so many of the memories.  A photo of the first time Charlie walked.  The announcement of Jack's appointment to chief librarian.  Amy's swimming certificates.  The betting slip Jack won big on.  

She was in there too.  Usually holding one of the children, or working in the kitchen, or doing the ironing.  On holiday, sitting with her knitting,  guarding their belongings while the others explored.  No cuttings though.  Nothing which showed her name.  Or her time working for Jacksons, or her voluntary work, or her crying.  Nothing to show the bruises.

It showed a life she had been on the periphery of, for forty seven years.  It showed how little she mattered.

He was gone now.  There's be no more pages filled.  She'd offer it to one of the kids, for them to show to their own sons and daughters.  Except... maybe she could add a few things.  That would remind them who she was.  He'd have hated that.

She was glad the bastard was dead.  Now she had her own life to find.