Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Colton Aaron Davis was born just 8 months ago. He was eight pounds and five ounces with the curliest locks of hair I’d ever seen.
He started rolling over when he was four weeks old.
Crawling when he was six months old. And pulling up when he was seven months old.
He loved to hear me read Goodnight Moon to him.
He loved to watch Mickey Mouse.
He loved to eat Goldfish in his high chair right next to me while I ate my dinner, and then fed him his.
Dogs and firefighters were his favorite things in the world.
I’d point out an ambulance or a fire truck going down the road and he’d go shrill with excitement.
A very special man gave him a firefighter bear when he was in the hospital, and not once, in the short time that he had it, did he ever let it go for more than five seconds.
Tai’s hands convulsed around mine.
I never got to watch him walk.
I never got to watch him hit his first baseball at his first little league game.
I never got to kiss his first skinned knee.
I’ll never teach him how to drive, or take him to his first day of school. And I’ll never watch him walk across the stage at graduation or dance with him at his wedding.
But it also means that he won’t suffer anymore. I won’t have to watch him wither away, or try to defeat a cancer that shouldn’t have been inside him in the first place.
He’ll never cry because it hurts anymore, and I’ll never have to wonder if he’s in pain.
Because he’ll be in heaven, and he’ll never hurt again.
He’ll be able to run and play with his grandfather. He’ll be able to look down on me and I’ll know that he’s in a better place.
I thank you all for being here to celebrate Colton’s life, because he was the most special little boy in the world.
Run fast, my boy. Bask in the rainbows and sunshine. Say hi to Pawpaw, and hug him tight for me. Think of me, because there won’t be one second that passes that I won’t be thinking of you.
I collapsed.
Tai caught me and turned me.
I buried my face into his neck and cried.
“Now, I ask you to let the family leave first once the pallbearers make their way down the aisle. Thank you,” Preacher Mike said.
I was passed to Tai’s brother, Jack, as Tai walked to the casket with four of the six men that’d come to visit with Colton while he was in the hospital.
Oh, how he would’ve loved to see Tai in his uniformed glory.
All the shiny buttons and brass was beautiful on him.
They said some words that I couldn’t quite make out, and then they easily picked up my baby’s casket.
My hands dug into Jack’s strong forearm, and his arm around my back tightened as I watched them walk away with my baby.
I followed, gathering strength now from the man at my side, only holding him slightly as he walked with me down the aisle.
I stopped at the top of the church’s steps, the one I attended when I could, and gasped when I saw the gleaming red fire truck they set Colt into.
It was fitting.
Soul wrenching music started to play, and I gasped when I saw Allen, the fire chief, start to play on bagpipes directly behind the truck.
I cried harder, my hand covering my mouth as I watched my little boys’ dreams come true.
I love you, baby.
Chapter 5
You know those memories that sneak out of your eye and roll down your cheek? Yeah, fucking tears. That’s what I’m talking about. Those suck.
-Text from Tai to Mia
Mia
Two months later
“Are you sure you want to work with this one, Mia?” Chuck asked.
It was sweet the way he was acting.
He’d been sweet ever since Colt had passed away.
In fact, the whole staff had.
The labor and delivery ward had been a life saver for me, giving me the courage to move on with life when I was on a floor that specialized in just that…life.
Each and every day, children were born.
Beautiful little babies that I got to hold, clean and care for.
They were the highlight of my days.
But there were two things that were missing from my life that would never heal.
My baby boy…and the man that’d taken care of me the month before Colt had passed, and the short time after before I’d pushed him away so rudely.
“Yes, Chuck. I’ll be fine, I promise. They asked for me, right?” I asked.
I’d taken care of the couple when they’d come in for false labor pains over two weeks ago. When I’d sent them home, they’d been in high spirits, charged to wait just a few more weeks before they came back to have their baby.
But when they did come back, it wasn’t with the same excitement as their first visit.