Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
He didn’t try to console me or downplay my fears. Didn’t try to give me false platitudes.
And we stayed like that for what felt like a long time, when Tai’s phone vibrated.
He leaned to the side, not letting me go completely, and withdrew his phone from his pocket.
Then he laughed and pressed the play button on the video he received from Winter.
Jack was in the hospital bed with his arms straining the hospital gown they had on him.
His eyes were barely open slits, and he was looking at Winter with his heart in his eyes.
“I’ve hit the jackpot with you, you know,” he said to the camera and Winter. “I can’t wait to take you to my place and get you under me. I bet you taste sweeter than sugar, don’t you?”
On and on the pickup lines went, and each one getting cheesier than the one before it.
“Did you know that I’m married to you?” Winter asked Jack.
His eyes widened comically.
“You’re married to me?” He asked in clear surprise. “Why?”
Winter giggled.
“I ask myself that same question often,” she admitted. “But then I see you with our kids, and I forget everything you do to piss me off.”
“I don’t think I would intentionally piss someone like you off,” he admitted. “And how many kids do we have? And can we make more?”
Winter grinned. “We have two kids, and you got snipped a couple of months ago so we didn’t have anymore. You said you wanted to focus on the family you have.”
“I’m stupid. Obviously,” he slurred, his eyes getting heavy.
“You’re not stupid,” Winter defended him.
I giggled as I watched him raise his arm.
Winter took his hand.
“What do you want, big man?” She asked him.
“Get in bed with me.” He ordered.
“Even drugged up on the good stuff, you’re bossy,” she said, leaning down and kissing his forehead.
The video cut off, as I took in a deep, relieved breath and let it out.
I hadn’t realized how worried I’d been about him.
But knowing that he was okay really took a large weight off my chest.
One down, one to go.
“Did they say how long they expected this surgery to take?” Tai asked.
I opened my mouth to reply when a soft, hesitant knock sounded at the door.
I looked up and smiled at the nurse who’d promised she’d take care of Colt while he was away from me. The doctor was right behind her, but the nurse was the one I had connected with pre-surgery.
The smile, however, dropped from my face the instant I saw the look on hers.
I stood, dislodging Tai’s hand from mine and clenching my fists.
“What’s wrong?” I asked worriedly.
She bit her lip, and I saw her eyes fill with tears.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
***
Two days later
Tai’s hand felt like a solid weight in mine.
He was being as solid as a rock, which was exactly what I needed.
He hadn’t left my side since I’d gotten the news.
News I still hadn’t been able to comprehend.
How?
How could he leave me?
How could this have happened?
These questions flew through my brain, hitting me over and over again like physical blows.
I’d known about the complications.
I was a nurse, after all.
I knew, just like most everyone did, that there was always a possibility of complications with any surgery.
Always.
But I never thought that there would’ve been a complication in Colt’s surgery.
“I’m so sorry,” the doctor said. “Colt had a reaction to the anesthesia that caused him to go into cardiac distress. We weren’t able to get his heart re-started.”
Those words haunted my dreams.
We weren’t able to get his heart re-started.
More was said after that, but I’d shut down.
No, it couldn’t be.
Not my baby.
Not that beautiful bundle of life.
Tai’s hand found its way into mine, and I squeezed for all I was worth, which was pathetically not much.
I hadn’t found it in me to eat since Colt had passed.
Right at that very moment, I was so nauseous from hunger that I could barely stand up on my own two feet.
Something that Tai must’ve realized because both of his arms wrapped around my body to help hold me up.
“It’s not often that God calls such a young soul home,” the preacher said at the closing point of Colt’s funeral. “But there are times, when God feels that it’s a person’s time. Everybody has a certain time, and nobody knows just how much time we’re promised on this earth.”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“I had the privilege of baptizing Colton Aaron Davis when he was a little over three months old,” Preacher Mike said. A man who’d held Colton the day after he was born and cooed over his tiny form. “And it breaks my heart,” the preachers voice cracked. “That I had to tell him goodbye so early.”
Another tear pooled in my eye.
“His mother asked me to read this note to you. She wanted you all to know her son like she did. And since she doesn’t think she can make it through the reading of the letter, I’m going to do that for you now.”