Stolen Course(65)
Her eyes flash to alarm, and she begins to sit up. I quickly silence her with a kiss. I don’t need her to talk. I need her to listen.
Pulling away only an inch, I continue, “You see, every emotion I ever knew to be real just exploded around me. Love. Hate. Compassion. Peace.” I pause to give her a soft kiss. “I’ve described you as a whirlwind from the very start, but that’s not true at all. Emmy, you are a natural disaster. You stormed in and stripped me bare. Say you’re going to stay and help me rebuild. Swear to me, this is it for you. Because it sure as hell is for me.”
She doesn’t say a word. Instead, she leans forward, taking my mouth into an agonizing kiss. Showing me emotions with her mouth that her words would never be able to convey. Careful not to break the kiss, I slide inside her.
“Caleb,” she breathes with the same contentment I feel in my chest. “You’re it for me,” she finally replies.
Five years after my life was stolen from me, in a hotel room in Savannah, Georgia, I finally reclaim it.
“I CAN’T believe you’re pregnant!” Kara screams across the room. “That might possibly be the best-looking baby ever born. You should alert the Guinness Book of World Records now!”
I laugh, propping my feet up on Caleb’s new coffee table. “I don’t know. Channing Tatum’s kid might have already secured that spot.”
“Oh please. Mrs. Tatum has nothing on you.” Kara’s serious tone only serves to make me laugh more.
“I can’t believe Caleb is going to be a dad,” Jesse says, setting down a plate of cookies “When are you due?”
“February first. I’ll be fourteen weeks tomorrow.”
“How is Sarah taking this?” Jesse asks. She’s not nosy like Kara. She’s genuinely concerned. Brett is a really lucky bastard.
“Okay, I guess. She’s not all that happy about me and Caleb. I think it’s still weird for her. In her eyes, Caleb will always be Manda’s fiancé and I’ll always be her baby sister. As soon as we got back, I sat her down with her counselor and explained that this was my life and not hers. She said she understood but her attitude says otherwise. I just ignore it.” I shrug and take a sip from the virgin daiquiri Jesse made me.
It’s girls’ night at Caleb’s house. Brett and Eli came over to help Caleb with some stuff out in his workshop, so Jesse brought Kara and came over to keep me company.
“And how are you and Caleb?” Jesse questions, picking up a cookie.
“Now that is the million-dollar question.” I sigh. “Caleb and I are great. Caleb and the baby are not so great.”
“What do you mean?” Jesse asks, concerned.
They both lean in close, ready for some good gossip.
“I don’t know. He doesn’t talk about the baby at all. When I bring up decorating the room or names or even doctor’s appointments, he basically shuts down.”
“Well, you know guys don’t get all excited about the planning the way women do. It’s probably just such an abstract idea for him at this point. It’s not like you have a big pregnant belly or anything yet.”
“Hey, I’ve got a little bump.” I rub my stomach.
“Oh please. I’ve eaten hamburgers that have made my stomach bigger than that,” Kara says, causing us all to laugh.
“Just give him some time. You watch. He’ll be passing out pink or blue cigars in no time.” Jesse tries to reassure me, but I can’t help that something just seems off.
Suddenly, Kara’s phone rings and she excuses herself outside to talk. I instantly see this as my moment to ask Jesse something that I’ve been dying to know.
“What really happened the night that Sarah broke into your apartment? I mean, I know the gist of it, but I get the feeling from everyone involved that it became some sort huge, life-altering moment in y’all’s lives, including Caleb’s.”
“It really was. It was horrible at the time, but that moment was a lot like the wreck except it changed everyone’s life back to moving in a forward direction. Before that night, the whole group was living at a standstill.”
“What did Brett say to her that night? I mean, he had to have said something because she had been struggling with this for years. And no offense, Jesse. Brett loves you unlike anything I’ve ever seen, but he had this misplaced guilt and responsibility to Sarah. How did he finally just walk away?”
“He finally let her go. He told Sarah that, wherever his wife may be in the heavens, he would always love her, but he accepted that it wasn’t her anymore. He recognized that his wife died right alongside Manda.”