________________________...I sniffed as I cried into my handkerchief. The pregnancy hormones were making it impossible for me to keep in the waterworks.Zoe's wedding dress was her mother's. A gown of timeless elegance and grace with a fitted bodice and a sweetheart neck that cascade down the waistline onto a tulle skirt. The back of the dress was a work of art, with intricate lace detailing and a row of covered buttons trailing down to the hem. Completing the look was a sweeping train that trailed behind Zoe as she walked, adding a touch of drama to her ensemble.The girl said she was not going to wear a veil and let her hair out.She was the most beautiful bride in the world."You are the most beautiful bride in the world," I told her."That's what you say every time." Bianca rolled her eyes."You all keep on outdoing each other." I dabbed my eyes. Thank you for the makeup technology for the waterproof mascara."You can say whatever you want, but you remain the most beautiful br
________________________...4 months later..."Any day now." I woke up to my children doing gymnastics inside while their Dad traced their movements on my belly.This had not been the same since the wedding.And it was good. Things should not have been the way they were to begin with.It was funny how Rowan not recognizing the song was enough to put into perspective how bad it all was.I was alone in that relationship. Now, I did not want to be part of his relationship."You are up." He smiled at me. But his smile was guarded these days.The part of me who loved him missed his smile but the other part of me who hated him found solace in this newfound distance between us."I wanna stay in bed all day." I said honestly. I did not feel like doing anything today."I have a meeting at ten. I will be back after that."I didn't care."Okay." I was still polite.The door bell rang, swallowing the awkwardness. "I will see who it is." Rowan said as he made his way out.I sighed and looked d
_____________________...Rory hummed as she waddled through the pavement to the supermarket, two blocks down the road. As much as I was paranoid about her tagging along, watching her, it really seemed as though she needed this outdoor trip. Rowan was one paranoid father and he would not let her take a step out of the threshold of the house ever since she got diagnosed with preeclampsia. He was scared to death. But my sister had faired well and reached term safely. Any day now and I would become an aunt, though I already felt like one. I was going to be the fun aunt who was going to spoil my nieces and nephews rotten. My phone rang in my pocket. "Ten bucks say it is Eric Rogers the second." Rory pointed at my pocket. "Then I am not even going to bother to check it." I rolled my eyes. She gave me a flat look but Rory being Rory, did not bug me to take the call. She knew I wouldn't budge, that was one thing, but she was also the most understanding sister in the world who always t
____________________...You know how it is in the movies? Accidents occur in such slow motion, but in real life, it is not so. In real life, it happened in the blink of an eye. One second my heavily pregnant sister is waving at me and the next thing I know, she is lying ten feet away, bleeding out. "RORY!" I screamed as I dropped the bag in my hand and ran in her direction, brain-numbing fear taking over. "Rory!" I heard Eric's voice behind me as I reached my unconscious sister. "No, no, no, no!" I prayed as I cupped her face. "Rory, wake up! Please wake up!" "Someone call nine-one-one!" I screamed at the crowd. "They are on their way." Eric was at my side. God, I hated him but at this moment, I could not be more thankful that he was there. "She is going to be fine." He did not sound like he believed what he was saying. "If something happens to her, if something happens to the babies..." I cried. "Eric, Rory would die if something happened to the babies!" Eric had a hand r
____________________...Tears flowed like a river as I stared at the serene, cyanotic face of my beautiful baby girl. She was a ditto replica of her mother with her button nose and pouty lips. "I am sorry Dadda failed to protect you, my precious." I kissed her forehead as the nurse told me it was time to say goodbye. I placed another kiss on her forehead. "This one, on behalf of your Momma. She loves you so much." My voice broke as I said it, and the nurse took my dead infant away from me.I slid to the ground as grief racked through me. Tears spilled out even as I tried to be strong for my other daughter and my wife."Rowan..." Zoe sat down near me, leaning against the wall. She didn't say anything else. She knew there was nothing she could say that could fix this.Everything was over."Rory is going to wake up, you know." She finally said."The doctors say the chances are very less." I reminded her."Still, I know she is going to wake up." She decided."How am I going to tell h
_________________________...1 Month Later....One whole month and Rory still had not woken up. At least she was fully healed physically so her doctor, Dr. Rena Henkins had hopes for her to wake up any day. It was that or not at all. But I held on to the former hope that she would wake up any day now. I knocked on the door that was ajar and pushed it open. Rowan looked up from where he was feeding Ki and smiled softly.I smiled back at him and placed the package and bags I had brought on the coffee table and then moved to my sister, placing a kiss on her forehead. "You need to wake up soon, big sis, or else Ki is going to turn out to be Dadda's girl," I told her, laughing. "Oh, she is a Dadda's girl already." Rowan stuck his tongue out at me. "Not helping." I rolled my eyes at him and turned to my sister, taking her hand in mine, leaning closer to her with my elbows holding me up on the side of the bed. "Rory, Ki is turning one month old today. It would be awesome if you wou
_____________________...I had settled Ki down on her bassinet before walking over to sit on the chair beside her. "Any day man." Ashton grinned at me. "Any time. She could wake up right this moment for all we know." I nodded. My hopes were high. I was going to keep staring at her on the lookout for the slightest flutter. My girls had spent too much time apart already. It was time for them to be introduced to each other. Just this morning, I had told Gabby that Ki was a Dadda's girl. But I did not believe that. Her mother was someone who was filled with so much love and care that once Ki spent more time with Rory, she was going to be more inclined to her mother. And I had no problem with that situation. All that mattered to me was that both my girls were happy and well. I sighed. "I am scared of what is waiting for her when she wakes up." The pain was inevitable. She would have to go through it. I was just worried that my wife would not be able to handle it.When she wakes up
_________________________ . . . "Rory, do you even hear her?" Sonya yelled as she came down the stairs, stomping her thigh-high boots. I looked up from my laptop and lifted my hands, shrugging. "I didn't. What's going on?" I asked as I closed my laptop and got up from the living room couch. "She's being disgusting. That's what! I am sixteen years old. What does she take me for?" Sonya came to a stop in front of me and pointed at the stairs where I saw no glimpse of her mother. I knew better than to listen to a sixteen-year-old's one side story so I waited for her mother and my mother-in-law, Elizabeth Keller, to come down the stairs. "What's going on, Beth?" I asked her, a small smile playing on my lips. Teens and their mothers made up for some fascinating drama, and I missed that experience with my mother because I was in a boarding school on another continent, but watching Elizabeth and Sonya fight over the smallest things was very endearing. "You need to come upstairs and