The Journey Home

by Kelly Elliott

  “The um…the babies were really kicking,” I said, facing her.

  She smiled slightly as she nodded and set Lily down.

  “Look,” she whispered as she let go of Lily’s hands.

  Lily wobbled for a few seconds before she started walking toward me. I dropped to the ground and held out my hands as she walked right into my arms. I held her as Maddie clapped and praised Lily. I glanced back up and saw tears in Maddie’s eyes. Monica and Jack started clapping as Lily clapped and, yelled out, “Bird!”

  I WALKED OUT of the bathroom to find Maddie already asleep in bed. I’d wanted to talk to her all evening. I wasn’t sure if she’d been happy about Lily walking, or upset about Monica and the babies. I couldn’t read her, but I knew something was off. Monica had told me that Maddie was starting to worry because she hadn’t gotten pregnant yet. As much as I reassured her, she still seemed to be falling deeper into a depression.

  I crawled under the covers and pulled her body into mine. She mumbled something as I kissed her shoulder. “I love you, Maddie,” I said. “I’ll love you and Lily for as long as I live.”

  When she rolled over, her green eyes looked so sad. “What if I never get pregnant?” she asked.

  “Maddie, you have to stop stressing. Please. It will happen when it’s meant to. Let’s get through Lily’s birthday and the wedding. Then we’ll have our honeymoon. A week alone. We’ll do nothing but relax and try to make a baby.”

  She gave me a weak smile. “What if—”

  I placed my finger to her lips. “Shh. Stop thinking that way. Now, I need you to do me a favor.”

  She nodded. “Anything.”

  “Let me make love to you.”

  She sat up and pulled her T-shirt over her head as she crawled on top of me and rocked against my dick. I rolled her over and placed her hands over her head as I pushed myself into her and began to slowly make love to her. We didn’t need to say anything. Just gentle kisses and one whispered I love you as we both came together. My body was overcome with so much love. Soon I would be marrying the woman of my dreams.

  LILY’S BIRTHDAY HAD finally arrived. I laughed as I watched my father and Mitchel, Cale’s father argue over whose turn it was to take Lily back into the bouncy house. I called to them both, “She’s going to get sick if you guys keep bouncing her around like that!”

  My father turned and waved, like I didn’t know what I was talking about. I laughed and turned my attention to Cale. Biting my lip, I placed my hand on my stomach. I couldn’t wait to be alone with him. I’d wanted to talk to him as soon as I got home from my doctor’s appointment this morning, but everyone was around.

  I closed my eyes and thought back to when I received the best news of my life.

  MY DOCTOR HAD just walked into the room and given me a sweet smile. Internally, I’d rolled my eyes, thinking she was about to tell me I had the flu. I didn’t have time to have the flu. I had a birthday party today and a wedding next week.

  “I knew it, I have the flu. Shit. Can you give me something to make me feel better? Oh, God. What if Lily gets sick before the wedding? We won’t be able to go on the honeymoon.”

  Doctor Jacobs laughed, as she sat down and shook her head. “I don’t think you have to worry about any of that, Maddie. You don’t have the flu.”

  I looked at her, confused. “What’s wrong then? Can you give me something to make me feel better?”

  She inhaled quickly and let the breath out just as fast. “I’m afraid not.”

  The nurse had walked in and smiled, setting down a plastic bin that had a needle and two vials in it. “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Taking your blood,” she replied.

  I turned my head quickly and looked at Doctor Jacobs. “Oh, God. Do you think something is wrong with me? Why is she taking blood?”

  Doctor Jacobs stood up and walked over to me and placed her hand on my arm. “Calm down, Maddie. Everything is fine. I’m having her drawn blood to double-check the results from your urine sample.”

  My heart dropped. “What kind of results?”

  She smiled bigger and tilted her head as she looked at me like I had just said the sweetest thing ever. “A positive pregnancy result.”

  I let out a breath. “Oh…that’s it.” I closed my eyes and then snapped them open again. “Wait, what?”

  “Congratulations, Maddie. You’re pregnant.”

  I JUMPED WHEN I felt someone touch the side of my face. I looked up and was greeted by the most beautiful green eyes.

  “Jack and I are headed out on the boat with a few others. We’re gonna get in some knee-boarding and skiing. You wanna come?”

  I looked back at my father and Cale’s father. They were taking turns bouncing with Lily. I smiled and shook my head. “Nah, y’all have fun. But don’t stay out there too long. We’re going to be singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Lily soon, and cutting the cake. She’s going to be really tired, and I don’t want her staying up too late especially since she’s missing a nap today.”

  Cale leaned down and kissed me on the lips. I loved how gentle his kisses were. At the same time, they were so powerful.

  “Okay,” he said. “We’ll just do a few rounds. I love you, Maddie. You look so beautiful and happy today, baby.”

  I placed my hand on his cheek. “I love you, too. When we get a moment to be alone, I have something important to tell you.”

  He stood up, concerned. “Do you want to talk now?”

  I chuckled. “No, it can wait until after everyone leaves and we’re alone.”

  He tilted his head and asked, “Are you sure?”

  I stood and placed my hand on his chest. “I’m positive. Go have fun, but be careful.”

  He took my face gently and gave me a quick kiss. “Always, baby. Always.”

  He turned and jogged down to the dock. The way our house sat on the lake, we had a flat area just above the dock where we were having the party. The bouncy house was set up next to the new swing set that Jack and Cale had put up last week. We had a walkway that led from the deck down to the yard area, and another crushed granite walkway that led to the dock. I looked across the lake to what use to be my house. What are the odds of Cale and me buying houses so close to each other? I turned to my best friend. Monica was now seven months pregnant—and huge. Poor thing. I couldn’t imagine being pregnant with twins. Monica and Jack had ended up buying my house, and they had just finished building an addition. They added a guest bedroom with a private bathroom and one other bedroom. With Jack and Monica both able to work from home, they wanted to have two designated offices for each of them.

  “You’re the one who made her throw up, James.”

  I turned to see Mitchel and my father approaching me with Lily. She had something all over her shirt. “What happened?” I asked.

  “She spit up a little.” My father said with an innocent smile.

  I looked at Lily’s shirt. It was covered in what looked like the carrots and noodles she’d had for lunch.

  “Gross, Dad,” I said. “Here, let me have her. I’ll go change the princess and get her dressed in something new.” I was making my way up to the house when I called over my shoulder. “We’re going to be singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and cutting the cake soon!”

  “Do you need help, sweetheart?” My father called out.

  I held up my hand and waved it. “I got this, Dad.”

  I stopped in the living room for a few minutes to talk to Mary and Michelle. Michelle was Daddy’s girlfriend, and I adored her. She’d had no clue for the first two months they dated that my father owned one of the biggest communications company in the U.S. She liked my father for who he was. They’d just gotten back from a weeklong camping trip. I smiled as I looked at her. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and she had on capris and a T-shirt that said, “I stop at all fishing holes.”

  As I changed Lily, I started talking to her. “Mommy has a big surprise for Daddy.”

  Lily smiled. “Dada
.”

  I laughed. “Yep, Daddy is going to be over the moon. If I tell you something, can you keep it a secret?” I whispered as I kissed her nose. She giggled and kicked like crazy. “Mommy is going to be giving you a baby brother or sister.”

  Lily smiled bigger. Almost as if she knew what I was saying.

  “Oh Lily, Daddy is going to be so happy.”

  “Daddy.”

  My jaw dropped. “Yes! Daddy! Can you say Mommy now, big girl? Mommy.”

  “Daddy…bird…moon.”

  “Oh my gosh. When did you start saying moon? Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh, Lily. Daddy is going to freak!”

  I helped Lily sit up as she started clapping her hands. “Yes! Yay! Lily said Daddy. Now say Mommy.”

  Lily grinned at me. “Mama.”

  I laughed and picked her up, hugging her. I glanced out the window to the lake. Lily had the best view of the lake from her bedroom. I saw that Jack was driving the boat and Cale was knee-boarding. There were an unusual amount of boats on the lake today. It was a crazy-hot July day, so I wasn’t too surprised to see that many boats.

  Jack’s cousin Tim was in the boat with him. He’d just moved here for a job with Mercy Hospital. I was about to turn and leave when I saw another boat heading toward ours. The driver was looking back at a bunch of girls.

  “Hey, how is the little birthday girl doing?” Mary asked as she walked up and took Lily from me.

  As Mary took Lily from my arms, I whispered, “Oh God.”

  Jack quickly jerked the wheel, just barely missing the other boat, but Cale was still moving toward it. The moment I saw Cale hit the side of the other boat, my world felt like was moving in slow motion. I screamed, spun around, and ran out of the bedroom.

  “Maddie, what’s wrong?” Mary called out after me.

  I ran so fast that I almost fell down the stairs. Michelle stood up as I ran by her toward the back sliding door. I pushed it open as she yelled out, “Maddie! My God, Maddie…what’s wrong?”

  I screamed out Cale’s name as I saw Tim in the water with him, pulling him back to the boat. Jack was bringing the boat back around to where Tim and Cale were in the water. I ran onto the dock and was about to jump into the water when my father grabbed me.

  “Daddy!” I shouted. “Daddy, let me go!”

  I watched Cale’s father swimming out. Cale looked like he was passed out. He was limp and…oh God…oh God. Please don’t take him from me.

  “Cale!” I screamed out as my father held me closer. I could barely see him through my blurred vision. “Daddy…please do something. Let me go. Please.”

  “Baby, it’s okay. Tim is out there, and he’s a trauma doctor. Just take a deep breath.”

  I kept staring out over the water. They were now scrambling around the boat. “What are they doing? Why is he not moving? What…”

  I tried to suck in a deep breath. “He hit the side of the boat. He hit the side of the boat!” I screamed out.

  I barely heard Monica talking on the phone. She was saying something about what had happened. For them to please hurry. I watched as Jack ran back to the steering wheel and began to bring the boat to shore.

  I grabbed onto my father. “Is he okay? Dad, can you see him?”

  “I can’t see him, honey. I can’t see anything. I need you to calm down.”

  Everything started to fade away. All the voices sounded like they were in tunnels. I heard crying. Lily was crying. Sirens. Monica was crying. The boat’s motor as it grew closer to us. More sirens, closer.

  As Jack brought the boat up to the dock I could see Tim doing CPR on Cale. I threw my hands up to my mouth. “No! No! Cale!”

  I tried to run to the boat, but my father held me back. “Maddison,” he said. I need you to calm down. Please.”

  I pulled on his arms. I needed to get to Cale. I needed to be there for him. “He needs me,” I shouted. “Daddy, let me go.”

  Two men in uniforms ran by me. Everything was happening so fast. I looked around and saw Monica crying as she stood next to Mary. Mary didn’t have Lily. I panicked at not knowing where my daughter was.

  I spun around and saw Michelle pacing back and forth trying to soothe Lily, who was crying. When I turned back to the boat, I saw that they had Cale’s head turned the side. He had blood all over his face. I could barely recognize him. My father held onto me tightly as I tried to make my way over to him.

  “Baby, let Tim and the paramedics do what they have to do,” he said.

  I stood there helplessly as they worked on Cale. I glanced over to Jack who seemed stunned. Out on the lake, two police boats flanked the boat that had hit Cale.

  “He’s breathing. Let’s move,” the paramedic shouted as they carefully lifted Cale onto a stretcher.

  Another man walked by quickly talking on a radio. “Dispatch we’re going to need StarFlight to go ahead and land.”

  StarFlight? I grabbed onto my father’s arm. “Daddy?”

  “Roger that. There’s a cul-de-sac in front of the home. Roger. We’ll be transporting the patient in less than a minute.”

  That’s when I saw the helicopter. I looked at my father. “Please let me go,” I said. “I’m calm, but I need to know what is going on. Dad. Please.”

  He nodded and let me go as I approached the paramedic. “Please tell me what’s happening. I’m his fiancée. Please.”

  He took my arm and led me up to the house. I turned back to see them carefully carrying Cale. Jack and Tim were helping the other two paramedics.

  “Ms.…”

  “Powers,” I whispered.

  “Ms. Powers, your fiancé has sustained a head trauma. He has a compound fracture of his leg and possibly some broken ribs. The doctor who was out on the lake with your fiancé said he passed out on impact. He wasn’t wearing a life jacket.”

  I closed my eyes and held back my sobs as best I could.

  “Your friend got to him rather quickly and began CPR in the boat. He’s breathing now and, since there could possibly be internal bleeding, it’s best to transport him to Mercy by helicopter.”

  “Can I go, too?” I asked.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am I can’t let you ride with him in the helicopter. But you can ride with me in my vehicle and I’ll get you there as fast as possible.

  I nodded as I looked up to see a helicopter landing in front of our house. The wind blew leaves and small branches around, and people were ducking.

  As the paramedics walked by, I ran over to Cale. “Cale! I love you!” I shouted. “I love you!”

  Three other people jumped out of the helicopter and helped to get Cale in. Jack stepped back as Tim jumped in. Jack came over and held me close to his side.

  “Tim! Please don’t let…don’t…” I covered my mouth and began crying.

  Tim nodded. “I won’t leave his side, Maddie. I promise.”

  I SAT CURLED up in the chair as Mary gently played with my hair. Cale had been in surgery for three hours. Tim was in the operating room with the surgeons. No one could really tell us anything. When StarFlight landed, they took Cale in for a CT scan and then immediately into surgery.

  I looked across the waiting room and saw Mitchel. He was leaning with his elbows on his legs. My father was on one side of him and Michelle was on the other. He was crying. My heart broke as I closed my eyes. I didn’t have any tears left to cry.

  Mary gasped as I looked up to find Zoey’s mother standing in front of us. She had a smile on her face as she stared at me.

  “Looks like I’ll be getting custody of the child after all,” she said with an evil grin.

  I stood and looked her in the eye.

  “You will never, ever, with God as my witness, get custody of my daughter. You won’t be allowed within fifty feet near her.”

  She gave me a once-over. “If he dies, she’s mine.”

  I wasn’t sure how I found the strength, but I pulled my arm back and punched her as hard as I could. Michelle and Mary both screamed as my father and ran to m
e.

  Mrs. Jones stumbled backward and grabbed a chair to keep from falling.

  “How dare you! I’m going to sue your ass for hitting me.”

  Monica came and stood between us, holding up a video on her phone.

  “I suggest you leave now,” Monica said. “Once a judge sees you saying that you want your granddaughter’s father to die, you’ll never be allowed anywhere near Lily.”

  Jack walked up to Mrs. Jones. “I also think the judge would be very interested in knowing that Zoey took out a life insurance policy while she was pregnant. When she died, Lily became the sole beneficiary. It’s a pretty big number I might add.”

  Mrs. Jones’ jaw dropped and she stared at Jack, incredulous. “How did you…?”

  Jack shook his head and took another step toward her. “How did we find out about the insurance policy? It was rather simple, really. Oh, one more thing.” Jack smiled as he said, “Cale and Maddie’s lawyers should be alerting your lawyers of Maddie’s adoption of Lily any day now.”

  Zoey’s mother straightened up and squared her shoulders. Security came rushing in and surveyed the situation. “What’s the problem here?”

  I shook my head. “There’s no problem. Mrs. Jones was just leaving.”

  Zoey’s mom glared at me, then turned and left. I watched as she walked to the elevator, escorted by a security guard. The moment the elevator doors closed, I hit the ground and began crying. Jack picked me up and carried me back to the chairs.

  “Why is she doing this?” I sobbed “Why?”

  Mary sat back down with me and Jack squatted on the floor in front of me.

  “Don’t worry about her,” Jack said. “She’ll never be able to take Lily away. Ever.”

  I looked into Jack’s eyes. All I saw was fear. Fear of the unknown. I shook my head. “He can’t leave me, Jack. I can’t breathe without him. I don’t want to be without him. He’s my entire life.” I cried as Jack placed his head in my lap and cried with me.

  Pain that shot through my abdomen caused me to immediately stop crying. Oh God, I thought. The baby.