Page 100 of A First Sight

I kissed the top of her head. “Aye, ain’t that the truth?”

“Do you want to talk about it?” She placed a kiss on my chest. “Whatever you need, I’m here.”

“Thank you.” I let the silence drift between us as my mind re-acclimated to the real world.

Another flash of white light penetrated the darkness, followed by a loud bang.

“I remember it like yesterday. A storm like tonight, a blizzard actually.” I didn’t look down at Maggie, but I knew she listened. “Belle and I were staying after the Holidays at my family’s country house. The baby was due next month, and it would be our last ‘alone’ vacation for a while.”

I sat up straight.

“The storm knocked out the power, phone lines, and the already weak cell service. Then late that night Belle realized that the back pain she’d felt all day was contractions. The baby was coming early. She said we could stay, that I could deliver the baby. People did it all the time. But I worried that something would go wrong. I got scared.” I rubbed my free hand over my face.

“The roads were slick, so I couldn’t go as fast as I wanted. Still, we would have made it on time if only…” My voice broke, and I paused for a second.

“Suddenly, just after a curve, a giant Scottish red deer stood in the middle of the road.” My hands tightened convulsively, as if I was still gripping the steering wheel. “I swerved, and we slid off the icy road straight into a large tree…everything became…flashes until things went black.”

“I couldn’t have been out for long,” I continued, “because when I woke up, there was still steam coming from the snow hitting the hot metal. I turned to check on Belle, but she wasn't in the passenger seat. She hadn’t been wearing her seatbelt,” I said. “She’d been struggling to get it on with her pregnancy. I should have made her wear it. I always blame myself for that.”

Maggie’s arms went around me, but she didn’t say a word.

“The force from hitting the tree had thrown her out the window.” The picture was as clear in my head as the day it happened.

“Oh, Drake.” Maggie’s voice broke.

“I tried to get out of the car, go to her, but I was trapped. The doctor later said she’d likely passed away instantly, and there was nothing I could have done to save Belle, or our baby girl inside of her.”

Hot liquid dripped onto my bare chest, and I realized Maggie was crying.

“We were about ten miles from the city, and I had no way to call for help. I could only sit and wait.”

Although my physical injuries had long since healed, my leg gave a painful throb.

“It was about an hour before another car came by.”

Maggie moved from under my arm to my lap, knees on either side as she put her hands on my shoulders. Tears streamed down her cheeks, but she didn’t wipe them away. Instead, she leaned forward and brushed her lips across mine. I tasted salt but didn’t know if it was from her tears or mine.

“I am so sorry that happened to you. To them.” She rested her forehead on mine. “That’s awful.”

She ran her fingers through my hair, a soothing gesture. Even her sitting on my lap, wearing only my t-shirts, felt comfortable. I needed to be close to her right now.

“What do you need from me?” she asked, her touch tender as she traced my jaw. “How can I help?”

“Just this,” I said, wrapping my arms around her. Pulling her to my chest, I pressed my face against the top of her head, drinking in the scent of her. “Just be with me like this.”

“For as long as you’ll have me,” she promised.

Forever.

That was as long as I wanted to have her. Soon, I’d tell her.

SEVENTY-THREE

MAGGIE

If we’d come up herefor a romantic getaway, I would’ve been disappointed in Friday’s weather. The storm that came in overnight had weakened but still made for a dark and gloomy day.

I didn’t mind, though.

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