A stranger sat at her table, claiming to be her soulmate.

 

"Well, hello there," she said. She couldn't help but smile at him. She knew nothing about him, but this little boy seemed so full of life. He just looked at her for a few moments saying nothing. He kept staring into her eyes. There was a gentleness to him that made her feel calm.

 

You could hear the train as it moved over the tracks and the chatter of the other passengers, but time seemed to stay still.

 

The boy raised his hand from under the table and placed a pink carnation in front of her.

 

"This is for you. I know you like them. I hear you tell daddy that a lot, even though he still gets you red roses."

 

There was a card attached to the stem that read, "To my mommy, my forever soulmate."

 

Confused, but with an understanding, she asked, "Where are your parents, honey? Who are you here with?" He just looked at her and giggled and said, "You're so pretty." The way he said it was so sweet and innocent, her eyes filled with tears as she smiled.

 

He continued to talk. "I see you with my brothers. You're such a good mom. I'm sorry I couldn't be here with you all. Something went wrong while I was growing in your belly. I sure loved being there. I know I was a bit of a surprise, and I know how sad and worried you were after all the tests you had to have done. I couldn't leave you. I didn't want to go. Even after my soul left, I stayed. I'm sorry you had to go to the hospital to have that procedure done. I just really wanted to stay with you.

 

But then I realized that I was still with you. I'm with you all the time.

 

I saw how sad you were after I left your body. I saw how frustrated you were and how determined you were when you were trying to have another baby. I saw you crying and I heard you and daddy arguing a lot. When it finally happened, you were so excited. And so was I. I was so happy for you. And then I saw you struggling when my baby brother came along. You were so hard on yourself, never thinking you were good enough. Now I get to watch my big and little brother play together. I'm there too, Mom. I want you to know that I'm there.

 

There's something else you need to know.

 

She's there too.

 

She's just as happy as the rest of us. She loves you so much. She knows no difference in whatever choices were made.

 

She couldn't be here. You wouldn't have been able to learn all that you needed to if she was.

 

She is in awe of you.

 

She picked out this flower for you.

 

You are soulmates, mama.

 

She let me come but only if she could choose the flower.

 

You are loved more than you will ever know.

 

Now please, let yourself know it. Feel it and hold on to it forever.

 

I must go now, mama.”

 

The boy got up from the chair and walked past her down the aisle of the train. She didn't look back for him.

 

The woman sat there and wept quietly to herself. She wept for the grief and sorrow and shame that she finally felt that she could release after all these years. All thanks to her precious little soulmates that have been with her all this time.

 

She was finally able to listen.

 

But it almost seems too easy, doesn’t it?

 

The woman thought back to it all. She wondered what it all meant. How could this all be happening. It felt like a dream.

 

She was pulled away from her thoughts when she heard a distant cry from a baby. She looked around but couldn’t locate it. It must not be in the same cabin as hers, she thought. Something was drawing her to it. She had to find the baby.

 

Everything seemed a bit peculiar as she walked down the aisles of the train. There were other passengers around her. They seemed to be talking with each other, but she couldn’t understand the words they were saying. It seemed like no one was noticing her as she passed by them all.

 

She kept walking towards the cries. She was getting closer.

 

She entered the last cabin, and she couldn’t believe her eyes. The little boy that she was speaking with a few moments ago was standing at the very end of the aisle. But that wasn’t what stopped her in her tracks.

 

The boy was standing next to her father. In her father’s arms was the baby.

 

She walked slowly towards them all in complete disbelief.

 

“Hi honey,” her father said causally but happily. “He was missing you,” he said as he looked down at the baby in his arms. “I told him you would be here as soon as you could.” He handed the baby over to his daughter.

 

“Look at you,” he said. “Look at everything you’ve done. I’m so proud of you. I’ve always been. You know that don’t you?”

 

The woman looked from her father to the baby in her arms, to the young boy standing next to her father.

 

“What are you doing here?” she asked. “What is happening?”

 

He answered, “We all just wanted to remind you that you are never alone. Even when you feel like the loneliest little girl in the world. We are here. Always with you.

 

I am so sorry for all your losses. That little one there is your arms was a real heartbreaker. After everything, it was like a miracle of a gift that was given to you. Then so harshly taken away like that.”

 

“I am so sorry I wasn’t there for you through it all,” he finished.

 

“Dad, I don’t understand what is happening.”

 

“No one is going to save you, honey,” her dad stated in a matter-of-fact way.

 

“You keep searching and searching and waiting. But no one is coming. You will never get the answers you’re searching for from someone else. I have watched you for years slowly betraying yourself and losing yourself along the way.”

 

“We are here to remind you of this. Of the choices you have made and will make. Do not ever allow another to make those decisions for you. Ever.”

 

The woman, his daughter, smiled with a sense understanding. She handed back her baby to her father and paused as she looked at each of her soulmates one last time. She turned around and walked away without any tears in her eyes.

 

And it no longer mattered whether it was all a dream.