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“I’ll try to be in touch with you every day. And at the first sign that anything is not as expected, I will make sure and let you know. Please don’t worry. I am in good hands. This is work I was meant to do.”
Brady pulled her into him. He brushed back her hair from her forehead and around the side of her neck.
“I’m not good at waiting, Maggie. You might just find me gracing the church doorstep one of these days. You know how I am, sort of a control freak, just like you. But nothing would please me more than to help you accomplish your mission. Just know that.”
“I promise. I’ll think about it. And thank you.”
She stood on her tiptoes giving him a chaste kiss. Thinking she was released, she headed for the doorway to grab her bags. Brady grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.
“I didn’t say I was done. That’s not the kind of kiss you and I make when we’re going to be separated for a few weeks. I want you to kiss me so that it counts. That one didn’t count.”
She delivered him a wide smile, again stepped up onto her tiptoes pulled her arms up over his shoulders locking her fingers behind his neck. Pressing her full body against his, she began a deep sensual kiss that lasted several seconds. It was going to lead to a clothing malfunction rather quickly, when all of a sudden they heard the honking of her driver out front.
“Oops. I better let him in quickly or the alarms will go off and all hell will break loose,” Brady said, reaching for his phone.
He punched in the gate code, and they both watched as the white van crossed the bridge, snaked through the front of the property, and then pulled up to the house.
Brady carried her bags, handing them to the driver.
“I’m going to go get Emma. Be back in a flash.”
He entered the kitchen and knelt in front of his daughter. “Sweetheart, Mom’s ready to leave. She’d like to say goodbye.”
Emma looked startled at first, but then he noticed how her eyes filled with tears as she bravely inhaled, blinked several times, and turned off the iPad. Brady took her hand and followed behind as she skipped all the way to the white van and into the arms of her mother.
“Emma, I want you to be a good girl. I want you to do everything Daddy asks you to do, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy. I will try to be very, very good.”
“Good, now I want you to say your prayers at night, and when you’re looking up at the stars, I want you to think about me looking up at the same stars that you see here, except I’m going to be in a different country. But I’m going to help children like you, and women—some of them very young—and I’m going to help deliver some babies. Someday, maybe you can come with me, and both you and Daddy can help out too. What would you say about that?”
Emma’s eyes got huge as she nodded her head profusely. She was at a loss for words. Brady knew exactly how she felt.
As Maggie stood, she sighed, clasped her hands together, and then embraced both Emma and Brady. “I’m going to miss this place, but I promise I’ll be back very soon.”
“Sooner than a month, right?” Brady reminded her.
“Yes, that’s the goal. Now Emma, if Daddy tells me you’ve been a bad girl, then I might have to get angry with you when I get back. But I don’t think that will happen, do you?”
Emma shook her head from side to side, no.
Brady removed Maggie’s tears with his thumbs as he gave her one last kiss. “Godspeed, and come back. Remember, you promised that.”
“And I keep my promises.”
“So do I. But you call me if you need anything.”
In a matter of seconds, she was seated in the second seat of the van, the door slid closed, and the driver sped off, retracing the path up to the gate which automatically opened for him, across the bridge, and up over the hill, disappearing into the green foliage and the sky beyond. Brady knew that Emma was trying to get strength from his face, but he also knew if he looked back at her, he’d break out in tears. He shook his head, “I’m going to be a mess today, Emma.”
“I’ll take care of you, Daddy. Tate and I both will take care of you. Don’t worry. I know Mommy’s coming back soon. And she promised me that if she did, she would never leave this place without us.”
That little bit of encouragement was a welcome pleasure on a day that was going to be tough as nails.
“I’m glad you have my six, Emma,” he said to his daughter, while Tate looked on.
