AllFreeNovel
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“I’m scared.” That was all she said at first, her hold on me tightening. Then she spoke again.
“We can’t forget her, Landon. Hannah isn’t being replaced. And what if I hurt this baby too? What if I lose it? I can’t go through that again!”
She was throwing out one question and comment after another, her voice rising octave by octave as she did, her tone sounding almost hysterical. Her breathing was coming so fast, panic in her voice, and she couldn’t catch her breath again.
“Alley, baby, shh,” I whispered, trying to sooth her. “You didn’t hurt her, it was not your fault, and you can’t control what happened.”
Eventually getting her to slow the breaths that had been coming rapidly from her lungs, and calm down, I pulled back a little. I think it was time to show her something else I was working on that had to do with my sweet Hannah. We were doing the book together we planned to dedicate to our girl, but I had also been designing something else.
“Can I show you something?” I asked her. I hadn’t said anything to her about forgetting our baby, but I would answer that by letting her see what I had done.
Looking at me with her eyes shining with the tears that sat at the edges but not spilling over, she nodded her head yes. Hating to move her but needing to get up to go get what it was I wanted to share with her, I moved her off my lap and placed her on the couch beside me.
“Be right back.” I ran to the bedroom to retrieve my sketchbook from out of the closet.
I’d been using it to draw the pictures for our book, but there was something else dear to my heart inside as well. Grabbing it, I rushed back to Alley’s side.
I fanned through the pages until I got to the one I needed. Looking up, Alley’s eyes were on me, a nervous look in them, and when I glanced back down at the page I needed to show her, her gaze followed mine. A gasp broke from her lips as she covered her mouth with her hand.
What does her reaction mean?
I sat waiting, nervously, as Alley’s eyes stayed glued to the page.
“It’s beautiful, Landon. I can’t believe you designed this.” She got quiet for a minute and then continued. “Actually, I have always known how talented and artistic you are so I shouldn’t be surprised at the tattoo you designed, but what it represents and the emotion it captures is more than words can describe.”
We both looked back up into each other's eyes and I felt a small little crack in our broken hearts heal in that second. There was a long way to go, but it felt damn good to think we just might get there, even if it was a little at a time.
Letting the book sit on my lap, I reached out and touched Alley’s face, caressing her cheek softly with one hand.
“Baby, we will never forget Hannah and though I don’t need this tattoo to remind me of her every day, it is something I want to get because she is so special to me.” I had to close my eyes for a minute as grief swamped me. When I opened them to say more, Alley broke in and my heart leaped at her words.
“I want to get it too. I can’t right now as I won’t ever take the risk while I am pregnant, but later I am asking you to share this with me. Can you do that?”
Her voice, sounding so unsure, which was not Alley, and her eyes that were filled with longing, made the moment so vulnerable. But this is exactly what I was hoping for, and I designed the whole thing accordingly. Sure, I could have done it on my own, but that wasn’t what I had wanted.
“You don’t know how much I want that honey and drew this so we could share it.”
Her face registered confusion, so I set out to explain.
“I made the double hearts, coming together in the center as a puzzle piece so when we split it in half each of us has a part, and when we put our inner arms together, it’ll be complete. As one.”
Another gasp slipped from Alley’s lips, her eyes were huge and wondrous.
“Landon,” she said softly and paused, clearly overcome by what I just said. “You are amazing and so damn talented. I don’t have words.” Then she threw herself into my arms.
Another crack started to stitch together.
* * *
ALLEY
There were not enough words.
What Landon had designed for Hannah and us, was remarkable. The tattoo to honor our precious baby and have her with us always, brought a sense of peace to my soul. And to say Landon was talented was an understatement, but this was something I always knew.
Two hearts that linked together at the perfect spot, with a puzzle piece opening on one heart, and the perfect fit on the other, shadowed in grey and pink tones were stunning. But it didn’t stop there. Captivating and exquisite angel wings spanned each side of the heart. Inside one heart on the left scrolled in black lettering it said,Hannah,and on the right inside of the heart, it said,Nicole. Then at the top of the hearts, it saidForever in our Hearts.Those words also split on each side.
It was magical.
