Stolen Lullaby

Don't Shut Me Out

Once the press conference went to press the media immediately had a field day. There was wall to wall coverage on television on a breathless loop. Professional and amateur crime experts offered their opinions and commentary. Looking for attention and clickbait some social media outlets even began to accuse Taylor and Joe of staging all of this for publicity. Even worse some think pieces callously accused them of hurting Louise themselves and staging the kidnapping as a coverup. Through it all Taylor and Joe secluded themselves in their house now that the investigation of the premises was complete. Joe's parents flew in as soon as they had called as did Taylor's parents. Flowers, cards and letters of support from friends and well-wishers crowded the sitting rooms to the point where it felt suffocating. It was only mere months earlier that the flowers and notes were in congratulations for Louise's birth.

As the days turned to months without any leads on Louise's whereabouts, swallowed by grief and helplessness, Joe and Taylor began to turn on each other. Taylor stopped eating, no matter how hard family begged her to at least try she refused or would eat the bare minimum before retreating upstairs to lock herself in Louise's nursery where she'd cry her heart out until she fell asleep on the floor. Joe emotionally withdrew completely. He had started to take long drives alone at night and would be gone for hours. Going nowhere in particular, just driving aimlessly. When the two of them did interact it too often it resulted in a screaming fight where both of them would verbally go for blood. They accused each other of not caring about Louise, who fault it was that was a lapse in security that night. Joe would fight with Taylor about her refusal to eat while Taylor would counter about his constant disappearances. Things were so out of control that they began accusing each other of having affairs no matter how far from reality that concept could be.

Andrea, Scott, Elizabeth and Richard sat at the kitchen table together emotionally drained. Taylor and Joe just had a fight so brutal that all four of them had to intervene and tell their respective adult child to back down and walk away before something drastic was said or done. Taylor went upstairs while Joe took off for another drive.

"Something needs to change, they can't go on like this." Richard said quietly.

"I know they still love each other but this is tearing them apart when they should be leaning on each other." Andrea said, her eyes downcast into her tea cup. "I just wish will every fiber of my being that some kind of healing can begin."

When Joe returned home hours later he found Taylor sitting on the couch waiting for him. She looked so vulnerable sitting with her knees pulled to her chest.

"Come sit with me for a bit" she said softly, patting the seat next to her. Joe tiredly walked over slumping into the couch cushions.

"Where did you go?" Taylor asked softy.

"I just went for a drive to clear my head"

"You need to clear your head for hours every night?"

"Maybe I do, is there a problem with that?"

"You need to stop shutting me out"

"I'm shutting you out? Every time I ask how you're feeling, you run away and lock yourself upstairs!" Joe said beginning to raise his voice in frustration.

"Well at least I still go into my child's room instead of running away like a coward!" Taylor replied sarcastically.

"You have got to me kidding me-" Joe started forming another cutting remark but stopped himself. He sat forward his head in his hands, he was just so tired. What was happening to them? Why did everything have to turn into a fight? The anger just drained out of his body and at once he felt defeated and just tired. For the first time since Louise was taken he let the dam of emotion break through. Taylor instantly softened, wrapping her arms around his heaving shoulders.

"It's okay, I'm sorry for saying that. I didn't mean it"

"I miss her so much" he cried

"I miss her too" Taylor said through tears of her own. They sat in the quiet for a long while until Joe's sobs subsided.

"Where do we go from here? We can't keep fighting and pushing each other away like this."

"When things get hard and we feel like we're drowning we have to remind ourselves that we are not alone in this. Whenever you feel like you're slipping into a dark place let me know and I will pull you back, just like I know you'd do the same for me. There's no need to keep hurting each other like this... we're on the same team." Taylor placed her hands on Joe's cheeks lifting his face up to look in his eyes.

"Promise me you won't let this darkness win, I can't do this alone."

"You need to make the same promise to me, please don't let this destroy what we have" he whispered.

"I promise" she said softly kissing his bringing his lips to hers. She stood holding her hand out to him leading him upstairs to their bedroom where they slowly made love to one another, desperately needing the intimacy and connection that had been lost. They fell asleep in each other's arms with the unspoken understanding that they would always be each other's soft place to fall and they couldn't never forget or take that for granted.