The Baby Package

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “I’m sorry love, I have to.” I could hear the emotion in his voice. “You are going to go on and live your life. Pretty soon, in a month or so, you’ll be able to climb again, well nothing too big… ever. Maybe bunny hills if you feel up to it, or better yet ant hills,” this made me laugh despite myself.

  “I’m not climbing an ant hill,” I pouted, trying to take my mind of the horror unfolding before me.

  Just then I heard the rumble of a large truck coming up the road below.

  “I have to go,” Dash said, in a panic. “I love you.” He set me down on a hard surface covered in knee-deep snow.

  “Please, Dash, don’t do this,” I wailed.

  “Don’t forget me,” was all he said as he turned around and sprinted back up to the cabin.

  “Please, Dash…” I tried to follow him, but with the deep snow and my bad ankle, I couldn’t do it, so I just watched him leave and cried.

  By the time the truck had reached the slab, Dash was gone.

  “Woah, what are doing here, Miss?” a burly man in a blue jumpsuit asked as he exited the truck.

  “I got caught in the storm and the nice elderly man who lives in that house gave me shelter for the night,” I managed to get out between the sobs.

  The delivery man was unexpectedly kind and gentle. A second man exited the driver’s seat and pulled out a huge box from the back of the vehicle.

  “Well, don’t cry anymore, Ma’am,” the big man said, offering me a handkerchief.

  I was surprised to see so many people had them, but it made me remember, I had Dash’s still in my pocket.

  “Thank you, I have one,” I said, pulling his handkerchief out of my pants, which were also his.

  I felt the soft fabric in my fingers and was glad he left me a few items of his to hold onto; they gave me a little comfort.

  “Okay, well let’s get you into the truck before you freeze to death,” he offered, hoisting me up to the chassis and into the space between them on the bench seat as the driver was returning to his spot. “So, you say, it’s an old guy that lives up there? He’s the one who orders all this stuff?” The man seemed very confused by the idea of Dash being an old hermit.

  “Yeah, nice guy, but he’s a recluse,” I confirmed for him.

  “Hell, this crazy guy paid us a thousand dollars each to tell him the name on the packages we deliver,” he laughed to himself. “Name Sheldon L. Grill ring a bell to you?”

  I laughed inward Dashell… Sheldon. It was a stretch, but it was almost Dash’s name backward. “Yeah, that’s the guy. Nice weird little old fella.”

  “Yeah, what’s strange was, the guy totally thought that old man up there was Dashell Frye, the billionaire guy who got iced with his wife last year. Nasty accident: both went up in flames on Highway 69. Dude was like the first guy to find a cure for cancer too… such a tragedy. But me and Wynn are a grand richer so what do we care, eh, Wynn?” He looked over at his partner.

  “What do we care?” Wynn responded, looking at me strangely. “And this is?”

  “This chick here,” the delivery man looked at me and immediately backtracked. “Excuse me, this young lady was caught in the storm. We’re taking her down the mountain,” he said with confidence.

  “Fine,” was Wynn’s only response.

  And that was it… I left Dash forever. I felt numb.

  Chapter 21

  Dash

  I watched the deliveryman drive her down the road on the surveillance cameras. I was transfixed to the screen as the truck turned down the road and became a tiny dot and then disappeared. They took my life with them. I’d only known her three days and yet, it was a lifetime of potential happiness which vanished as they drove her away.

  I could barely summon enough energy to pick up the box they had left for me. Nothing inside, not even the delights I’d ordered held any happiness for me this time. None of it offered me any kind of solace from the pain.

  I looked around the cabin and I felt like the four walls were closing in on me, trapping me here for eternity. All I wanted was freedom with Imogen in a world where we would be safe, but since such a world didn’t exist, the only thing I had left to do was find who those men were and how they knew I was here.

  In addition to sleuthing the men to confirm it was Mark chasing his tail, trying to find a “dead” man, I also dove into my work. I made work my lover. Without it, I wouldn’t have had anything and most likely, after losing two loves in one lifetime, I probably wouldn’t have survived.

  As soon as Imogen was gone, I contemplated calling my sister. For the first time in a year, I’d be the one to reach out to her. I almost pressed “call” but withdrew my finger because there was no way to explain the pain. I had to endure it and endure it I did. The second storm front did come and after that storm turned to sun, I still stayed indoors, having no reason to revel in the light.

  For two months I holed myself up in the cabin. I found, through the dark web, that the drug cartel had suspected I was living in the cabin. They were tipped off my delivery men, however, thanks to Imogen who threw them off my trail, they were looking elsewhere for me, and it seemed like they were almost conceding to the fact that I was truly dead. I was just an old recluse named Sheldon Grill.

  I admit the name was a stupid moniker, but it was the best I could come up with. I needed something similar to my own name, just in case I had to justify it one day. Life went on as usual, but without anything to enthrall me other than my work. The loneliness was almost unbearable.

  The formulas I’d sent Gloria were being tested in the lab and the results returned to me showed small inaccuracies I had to fix, but all in all, they were almost ready for testing.

  Since I had a little care for life since Imogen left, I obsessed over her loss. I missed her beautiful voice, her funny laugh, and her great sense of humor and adventure. I tried playing Resident Evil by myself, but it was only scary and sad without her.

  There were days I didn’t even want to get out of bed. I didn’t shower for weeks, I certainly didn’t trim my hair and I started drinking more and more of the fine wine just to obliterate the feelings that were crippling me. It was like losing my wife all over again.

  I kicked myself for falling so in love with a woman who’d only spent three nights by my side. After a while, my sister started to notice the difference in my appearance and my demeanor. “Dash,” she started out on one of our FaceTime calls, “I’m worried about you.”

  “Don’t, sis. I’m good, just a little under the weather,” I lied.

  “If you’re feeling that badly, Dash, you need a doctor,” she protested.

  “I am a doctor, Gloria. I’m okay.” I wasn’t really sure if I was okay, but I certainly didn’t want to worry her.

  “I’ve been thinking,” her voice was quiet and a little apprehensive.

  “Yes?” I didn’t want to go where she was inevitably going, but I didn’t really have a choice.

  “Why don’t you come down from the mountain and fight these guys? The police have a lot of dirt on Mark and all they really need to nail him is a confession from you. You have to come out of hiding and let the world know you’re alive.” She was more emphatic than I’d ever known her to be.

  “No Gloria, it’s not safe.” She had to stop talking nonsense.

  “Your kids need you. I need you. I can’t do this Dash, I’ve tried. For a year, I’ve given this all I have. I’ve been a soccer mom, a stage mom, and a regular mom, as well as pretending I’m a scientist and I’m none of those things. I’m an auntie and a graphic designer and… I’ve met someone. I really want it to work out. I know I’m being selfish, but so are you. Trust the police to do their job. You’re not any better at it than they are. Come out of the mountains and claim your space in the world. Your kids need you and so do your patients. Fight for the cure you’ve devoted your life to and get out of the clouds. Come down and face life. I understood your leaving when Michelle died, but you can’t just write the rest of us
off. Be here, be human, and come back.” Her voice tapered off at the end of her speech, knowing she’d said too much.

  “I got to go, Gloria. Sorry.” I couldn’t face it all, I just couldn’t, so I hung up on her.

  She immediately texted me after I shut her down. “Asshole!”

  I deserved it, so I let it just sit there. I was being an asshole. Of course, she didn’t want to live my life, it was natural for her to want her own existence and it was selfish of me to make her live for me. And my kids… what was I doing to them? My heart was in pieces. I looked at my phone and thought about FaceTiming her again.

  I noticed the date; it had been two months and six days since Imogen left, but it felt like a lifetime. I didn’t know how much more of this I could stand.

  Chapter 22

  Jeni

  The delivery men took me into town and I was able to call an Uber to my apartment. The city was covered in snow, but life was slowly starting again. There was another storm predicted, but people looked like they needed to get out and stretch their legs before the next bout. Soon, I was back home in my cozy apartment. Before Dash, the apartment was my sanctuary; now it was a cold shell of a life I didn’t really want to lead anymore.

  In order to ward off the sadness, the first thing I did after I set my things down was call Lydia and Gramps. Both of them had weathered the storm well and were worried about me. I alleviated their fears and tried to sound as cheerful as I could despite the circumstances. I promised I would be up the following weekend to see them and swore I wouldn’t attempt any more mountain climbing for a very long time. Lydia let out a great sigh of relief.

  “Ah, the crazy nut’ll be on the hill the minute the snow melts,” my Gramps hollered out from the background.

  “You better not be,” Lydia cautioned.

  “I promise, I’m done climbing for a while.” I didn’t tell them about the fall and of course, I said nothing about Dash, but Lydia noticed I had a limp and looked at me suspiciously when I visited them.

  I liked seeing them as it brought some normalcy back to my life, and since their house was so close, visiting them brought me back to Dash’s mountain. We were less than a mile from one another. When I visited, I was so tempted to drive to his cabin and just be where he was, but I knew even driving there would bring unwanted attention, so I basked in the thought of being near him, without ever… being near him.

  Lydia and Gramps had their speculations about my injury and the time during the storm when I was mysteriously housed in an Airbnb on the hill. If they’d done their investigative work, which I didn’t put it past Lydia to do, they would have found the only Airbnb on the hill was booked that weekend, but we never spoke of that time and it was for the best.

  I could hardly get through a day without crying. It wasn’t like I’d known Dash all that long, but there was a deep connection between us as if we were always destined to be together, like soul mates. What kind of God gave you a soul mate for only three days? The very thought of it usually had me weeping again. I wasn’t one to be so emotional and yet I was crying all the time.

  It had been just over two months since my time with Dash, and I visited Gramps and Lydia every weekend. During that time, I did my research and discovered the deliverymen were right. Dash was, in fact, Dashell Frye the famous scientist and billionaire who’d discovered a drug to slow the effects of many cancers and was working hard on a cure. He was supposedly killed in a horrible car accident with his wife a year ago. I felt like a jerk for doubting him, and sadly, learning about his life made me love him even more. Now he was a hero trapped in the mountains having to live his life in solitude because he was being pursued by monsters fueled by greed and corruption.

  I was obsessed with learning about the drug cartel. They were the organization behind the Halo epidemic and there was a lot of speculation around Dash’s childhood friend Mark Leviathan and his misuse of his big pharma company, which was rumored to be pressuring doctors to use a generic drug which was just Halo masked as a generic on their patients, causing widespread addiction both inside and outside of legitimate medicine.

  I had a friend whose sister was addicted to Halo and several of my client’s parents used it, which was the reason why some of my clients were in foster care. It was a nasty epidemic that had to be stopped.

  I wondered why they’d gone after Dash, but after doing my research it seemed that Dash knew Mark was involved with Halo, and at the time of Dash’s accident, Mark was trying to buy Dash’s company Rainseed out from under him and failed. From the looks of it, both of them were on the path to finding a cancer cure, but Mark got derailed into organized crime and Dash was the only one who could prove Mark’s involvement.

  All the information just made me hurt more for Dash. This man who was supposed to be his friend was ruining both of our lives and countless others. In addition to my discovering Dash’s story, he gave me ten million dollars. It was too generous, but he insisted I take the money. Everything was arranged through his accountant. On top of that, Rainseed donated a million dollars to the Center where I worked. There was a huge ceremony to honor Rainseed’s contribution to the Center.

  Our center helped both the rich and the very poorest of the city. In fact, most of our clients were homeless kids, kids in foster care, or kids whose parents were struggling. Only a very small percentage of my clients even had enough money for basic necessities, so Rainseed’s contribution and their commitment to an annual donation would greatly help those families who were struggling with poverty and children who needed therapeutic services, making Dash a hero, yet again. His legacy made me work even harder at my job, knowing the good my efforts would do for the community we served.

  At the ceremony, I met Gloria Frye, Dash’s sister. I wanted to reach out to her so badly and get to know her. She seemed like someone who I’d get along with, but I had to keep Dash’s secret safe, so I shook her hand and listened to her speech while my insides crumbled to pieces.

  The worst thing about leaving Dash was I was very sick every day. Since coming down from the mountain I was vomiting every morning. I’d get to lunch, have something light as I wasn’t really interested in eating anything and get home and vomit again. I assumed all the vomiting was because I was depressed, however, when I visited Lydia and Gramps that weekend, Lydia pulled me aside for a private conversation while Gramps napped.

  “Honey,” she said as she sat me down with a plate full of fresh banana bread she’d just baked, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. Now, I don’t want you to get offended or troubled by the question. You’re a grown woman with a good job and you’re a wonderful person who we’re very proud of, even though Gramps has a hard time showing it.” My heart raced, and I was feeling sick again. What on earth was she going to ask me? It sounded so serious.

  I tried to play it all off like whatever she was going to ask wasn’t a big deal. “Sure, Lydia. What do you want to know?” I asked, taking a big bite of bread even though I wasn’t hungry, just so my mouth would be busy and I’d have time to think of an answer.

  “Well, I’ve noticed you’ve been sick a lot since you’ve been up here, and I was just wondering if there was any chance you were with child?”

  I nearly spit out the bread onto the counter.

  I don’t know why I didn’t even think of it, but yes, there was a good chance I could be pregnant. I’d taken a birth control pill the day of the climb and I was with Dash for three days after that. The pill was probably effective for only one day.. Oh my god, was I carrying Dash’s child?

  I’d had so many weird and unexpected changes to my body, I just assumed it was grief. I didn’t like Lydia’s pie anymore, which I always loved, however, I had a craving for sardines which I hated. She noticed those telltale signs and just put two and two together.

  “Honestly, Lydia, I don’t know. I might be,” I lowered my head in shame.

  Part of me was thrilled I could be pregnant with Dash’s child and the other part of me flooded
with dread. I would have to be a single mother raising our child alone without a father. Not only would the baby not have a father physically present, but I wouldn’t even be able to tell him or her who the father was. I couldn’t even tell Dash.

  All of it felt overwhelming and so, thanks to hormones, I collapsed into Lydia’s arms and cried.

  “Good heavens, child! I was hoping this would be a good thing.” She was much more liberal and open-minded than I expected.

  “What if I am pregnant, Lydia, what do I do?” I was being silly, I knew exactly what I’d do.

  I’d raise the child. Certainly, Dash left me plenty of money; it was just too much for my poor brain to handle at the time.

  “Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” was Lydia’s sensible answer.

  After crying on her shoulder for a while, she offered me some warm apple cider and I retired early for the night. The next day I went home. On my way home from work on Monday, I stopped by the drug store and picked up three pregnancy tests. I don’t know why I got three exactly, but I figured three times yes or no was pretty much all I needed either way.

  That night I took all three tests and all three showed two tiny blue lines. I was definitely pregnant. The final proof was an enthusiastic “Congratulations!” from the nurse after I went to the doctor that week to confirm my pregnancy.

  Again I cried… mostly happy tears. When I visited Lydia and Gramps again that weekend, I did the craziest thing I’d ever done in my life.

  Chapter 23

  Dash

  The nightmares had returned. This time, instead of Michelle being the one who was killed in the accident it’s Imogen. Every night it was the same thing: a horrific chase followed by a blazing crash.

  Last night my dream was a little different. Instead of going up in an explosion of fire, I was being beaten with a rock over and over again. The sound and feelings that accompanied the beating were so horrific I finally woke up to discover someone was pounding on the door.