The Distance Between Us (MAC Security 3)

“Wouldn’t you like that?” She turns to face me, a soft smile lifting her lips. “Imagine what you could see from up there.”

“The whole world?” I smirk.

“Exactly!” She sits up excitedly, her face being taken over by the massive grin that lifts up her lips.

“I miss you,” I choke out, dropping to the ground and picking out a blade of grass. “Why did you have to go? Why did you leave?”

I don’t bother to wipe the tears from my face as they stream down my cheeks like a river flowing freely.

“Why!” I shout, closing my hands into fists and banging them on the ground.

I press my lips against Charlie’s as he places his coffee cup in the sink. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” he whispers, cupping the side of my face and then he crouches down, kissing my bump and looking back up at me.

His eyes bore into mine and it makes my stomach bottom out. Even after all of these years, he still makes me feel like he did that first day we met as teenagers. Me in a bad foster home and starting another new school, and him the popular guy on the football team.

We were never meant to be together, at least not by the school clique system. I was the poor one, the one who wore clothes that were too big and dirty. The hand-me-downs given to me from the last group home.

The first day I saw him in the hallway and his eyes connected with mine, I’ll never forget it. The connection I felt with him was instant and I knew he felt the same from the way he looked at me.

For six months, we danced around each other until he finally kissed me and I can say with genuine honesty that it was the best day of my life.

“Doctor’s office at eleven!” I shout just before he walks out of the front door.

“See you there, Mama!” He chuckles and the sound of the door vibrates through the house as he closes it.

My hand flutters down to my stomach and I rub it, looking down and whispering, “Love you, little bubba.”

The kick to the ribs I get in response brings a huge smile to my face. Never in a million years did I think this would be me. Sitting at home, seven months pregnant and married to the love of my life.

Ours is a love that only comes once in a lifetime, at least for me anyway.

“Time to get ready,” I say to the baby girl inside my stomach. I know it sounds stupid but I do it all the time. It’s something that I started when I first found out I was pregnant and I haven’t st

opped. They say that babies can hear things in the womb and I now know that they can because I always get a response from her.

It takes me twice as long to get ready, you know with there being a huge bump in the way and a baby sitting on my bladder making me need to pee what feels like every five minutes.

My first stop is the store for some groceries. I stop and talk to all of the people behind the counters, asking how they are and any recommendations for fresh meat and fish. I end up coming out of there with twice as much food as I originally went in for, but it doesn’t matter because I’m in nesting mode and I want to make sure that we have enough food.

Growing up not knowing when I would get my next meal, I tend to store food like a chipmunk stores nuts. I snort at that thought.

Once I’m back in my car I tap my fingers on the steering wheel to the country music playing over the speakers, waiting for the light to turn green. My eyes flick down to the watch on my wrist, 10:40 a.m.

I have twenty minutes to make it over to the other side of town for my appointment and the heavy feeling in my stomach tells me that it won’t be long before I need to pee… again.

The light finally turns green and I press my foot down on the gas pedal, driving across the intersection.

There’s a loud bang and the sound of crunching metal. I don’t realize what’s happened at first, I just feel the impact on my side and shut my eyes as my head hits the airbag then whips to the side, smacking off the window as I see the dump truck that has slammed into me. My arms wrap around my stomach on instinct, trying to protect my baby girl.

I breathe a sigh of relief when my car screeches to a stop, my head hurts and I can feel blood dripping down my face, but I’m okay. We’re okay.

That is until something hits me from behind and I know it’s going to happen before it actually does. I can see it playing out in my mind in slow motion before my car jolts forward with such force that we’re jammed straight under the dump truck and I feel something slice through my arms as the steering wheel crushes my stomach at the same time. My baby girl stops kicking and I know, I know that she’s gone and I wish, just for one second, for God to take me with her.

My head lolls to the side as I fight to stay awake, but I can’t find the energy to lift it toward the flames that start licking the hood of the car. Then a couple of seconds later an explosion goes off and everything turns to black.

“I’m heading out,” I tell everyone, a grin on my face and a spring in my step. I’m gonna see my baby girl again today.