Soulmate

If you had asked her years ago, what her opinion of soulmates was, Madeline Munroe would not have known how to answer the question. She believed in love, both at first sight and growing into it. She believed that you could fall in love more than once, and mean it just as well. She'd never given much credence at all to the notion of someone who could complete you so thoroughly, who could be so important in your life that you could no longer imagine life without them.

But that had been years ago, and reccently Madeline had been learning much about love, and about the soul. Motherhood was the purest love that anyone could ever experience, and Maddie loved all four of her children above anyone in the world. Well...except perhaps for one. Madeline had, in fact, found her opinion of what a soulmate was. It was explained to her in the looks that Jonathan would give to her over the heads of her children, and the little smiles that she knew were just for her.

It was in that feeling that she had, as she curled in bed every night, feeling his presence behind her back, and his breath on her neck. It was in the small spats, and the warm making up sessions. Every touch, every kiss, and every thought. It was true- Jonathan Stewart was her soulmate. It was in his warm brown eyes, those eyes that could convince her to do absolutely anything. It was in the way he treated her, gently, and with great romance. It was in her attempts to buy the right Sci-fi, in her attempts to Cosplay his favorite characters for Halloween, the way that her eyes followed him across the room, and even she she didn't see him, she knew where he was.

Madeline Stewart knew what Madeline Munroe could not possibly have guessed or surmised. Soulmates didn't lie in physical attraction, or how 'passionate' a relationship was, or how long you had been with them. While these things all played a large role in what a soulmate was, it wasn't the key. A soulmate knows you. Knows how to hold you, how to love you, how you are when you're happy, and when you're not so thrilled. Someone who can love you through whatever mood you're in, or however annoying you can be.

That was how Madeline Stewart knew for a fact that Jonathan Stewart was, indeed, her soulmate. His breath was just as vital to her as her own, and she knew that should anything happen to her husband, she would be utterly lost. She would just be....dead inside. Her soul would be gone.

The night that Madeline realized this, she crawled into bed with her husband, one hand on her stomach. She was in her first trimester with Jonathan's first child, and his hand came to rest on her abdoment, and he leaned over, pressing his lips to her stomach. It was a routine that he'd picked up on, and Maddie found it quite endearing. Once Madeline was tucked into bed, and ready, Jonathan turned out the lights, lightly pulled Madeline into his arms.
"Night, Mads."
"Night, Jon; I love you, you know."

A small chuckle greeted her statement from the dark, and Madeline knew he understood what she'd really meant.
"I love you too."