When the final tests had been completed and it was clear that whatever had afflicted Mrs. Hale would not continue to shrink her, she was released into the care of her loving husband. Theodore held Gabriella close to his chest. She stroked the hairs on his chest reassuringly. They embraced each other for a few minutes that felt to them like their entire lifetime. Teddy was unwilling to let go of his wife after coming so close to losing her. But life must go on, and Teddy signed the paperwork to bring his beautiful Gabby gal back home.
Even taking the car to and fro was an immeasurably harder challenge for Gabby. The seatbelt was too big to keep her safe, and she didn’t want to splat against the console in case of a sudden stop. Teddy placed her inside the chest pocket of his polo shirt, and used a loose thread along the seam and a pen to fashion a makeshift like the ones you would see at an amusement park attraction.
Gabby wanted to discuss her future now that things looked very bleak for the both of them. She was the main provider for the household, and Teddy was a stay-at-home husband. Without her income, it was unlikely that they would be able to maintain anywhere even close to the standard of living they had before.
But before she could broach the topic, Teddy had a number of bombshells to drop on her already fragile sense of normalcy. Apparently, she had been out for a while. Her company had now gone to new management in her absence. The personal lawyer she held on retainer had filed a lawsuit for workplace compensation for her injury, but the case would be expensive and could drag on for years potentially.
When they finally reached home, Gabby had Teddy go onto her computer and check on their current financial situation. Gabby and Teddy signed a prenuptial agreement before their marriage to protect Gabriella’s fortune and company in case the marriage didn’t work out. There was no distrust between the two, but SHC was very important to her and she didn’t want her control of the company endangered by having to split the value of her share of the company. Teddy was very understanding and was more than willing to oblige for his fiance. However, now things had changed, and it was clear that a number of bank accounts and portfolios that had been exclusively Gabby’s would now need to be managed by Teddy, so he needed all the passwords to access them.
The first password shared was the one to her stock holdings in SHC. Teddy was mildly amused that the password was ‘W!nt3rSn0ww3’. Winter had been her mother’s maiden name, and Snowwe had been Teddy’s last name before he married. Unfortunately, because Gabriella had issued stock in SHC to fund her new project, and had gone into a coma before she could secure her share, she now didn’t have enough sway to get her position reinstated. It looked like between this and the ongoing lawsuit that the company her dad had brought up by his own hand had slipped through her grasp.
The password to her personal savings account was the next to get shared. ‘Ten24/201Nine’. This would be an easy one to remember. He still recalled how sweaty his hands were as Gabby made her way down the aisle to exchange those eternal vows. He could even vividly relive in his mind the scent of pumpkin and squash coming from the fields as they exited the chapel to start his new life as part of a new fulfilling whole. He could even feel the tender grip of his new partner for life as she placed her hands in his to keep them warm in the strong autumn breeze. But in that moment, although her hands were chilly, he felt a warmth that would rival the hottest desert summer.
Gabby had a lot less in that account than she remembered. She had poured so much of her resources and wealth into making her father’s company a success, that her own financial well being suffered. While her account certainly had enough that if they sold their mansion and moved to a far cheaper home in an okay neighborhood, they could reasonably keep themselves afloat for about six years. But it didn’t seem like her affliction would just magically go away in this timeframe. What guarantee was there that Teddy would be able to find work that would adequately care for both of them, especially since most of her stuff would need to be custom made to serve her particularly unique disability? That wasn’t even taking into account that most household chores would be beyond her capabilities at this size, and Teddy would have to do the work of providing and work of home maintenance.
Gabby began to hyperventilate. The magnitude of the situation was settling in and freaking her out. As she whimpered to herself, she felt a gentle poke to the top of her head. Looking up, she saw Teddy gently patting her on the head. She felt a bit embarrassed for making Teddy worry about her, especially after everything that’s been going on recently. She was glad to have him as her rock.
“Don’t worry, Gabby gal! I’ve promised to always be at your side in sickness and in health, and that’s what I’m going to do!”
After a long round of discussions, we came to the agreement that Teddy would try to find work he could do from home so that if anything happened to Gabby, he would be readily available. Gabby would be given minor cleaning roles, like for tile bathroom floors, while Teddy would be in charge of most of the big ones.
They also listed the mansion for sale as they searched around for a new home. There were several fantastic memories in these walls, but they would just have to create even more for the next place.
For the first time since she had returned to the world at large, Gabby felt like things were going to be okay.