Page 183 of Unspoken Words
Promise five: Read books. Everything you need to know is in a book, somewhere.
Promise six: Barrack for your Uncle’s football team, The Bombers. But if you insist on following another team, it CANNOT be Collingwood.
Promise seven: Don’t dye your pretty red hair. I know you’ll want to—at one point, Mummy wanted to dye hers to —but be strong. Embrace the fire. It’s a gift.
Promise eight: Make a mud pie, jump waves at the beach, dance in the rain, and wish upon a shooting star. Enjoy the little things in life because, believe it or not, you’ll remember them most.
Promise nine: Never suppress your emotions. Let them out, you’re supposed to feel them. Cry. Laugh. Shout. Kick and scream. And afterwards, take a deep breath then read Fox in Socks.
Promise ten: Always remember I’m there with you. When the breeze blows, that’s me. When the sun shines, that’s me. And when the stars come out, I do too. You might not feel it, but I’ll hold your hand every day. And I’ll kiss your head every night.
I love you, my precious daughter. For ever and after.
I closed the notebook, the words a blur to my soaked eyes, my heart full but unbearably aching.
“You said, ‘I love you’.”
My eyes shot to Ellie, her eyes bright green andawake,her warm, soft hand covering mine.
She was awake. My Ellie was finally awake.
Chapter Forty-Six
Ellie
Iopened my eyes tofind Connor crying by the side of my hospital bed as he read my notebook, his head bowed, his shoulders shaking. My mouth and nose were covered with a breathing mask, the room bright with daylight, both of us alone. The last thing I remembered was him shouting, ‘I love you’ right before I was whisked away to have an emergency caesarean, to give birth to Christina. My baby! CHRISTINA!
Wrestling the oxygen mask from my face, I pulled it down below my chin, my heart heavy, my chest incredibly sore. “Where is she?” I tried to sit up, to search for my daughter, but I was too weak, too fragile, too breathless.
Connor stared at me, his eyes searching my face like a Where’s Wally book, both of them shining with tears before his mouth slowly morphed into the biggest dimpled smile I’d even seen.
“You’re awake!” He reached for my face and pressed his lips to mine, his kiss warm, damp, and full of relief. “Welcome back, baby.”
“Christina,” I mumbled against his lips. “Where’s our daughter?”
He pulled away and pointed to the other side of my bed, to the plastic crib I hadn’t realised my hand was resting on. “Right there. Right next to her mummy.”
I inhaled and my existence stopped, as if an invisible meteor of love soared into the atmosphere and hit me right in the chest. She was so small and dainty, delicate and … perfect. And for the first time in my life, not one single word could convey what I felt. Not. One.
“She’s growing stronger every day,” he said, gently squeezing my hand.
My jaw fell open, and I peeled my stare from my daughter to my husband. “Oh my God! She’s … she’s immaculate.”
He nodded, as if this wasn’t news to him, which, of course, it wasn’t.
“How long have I been out?” I asked.
“Five days.”
“FIVE DAYS! I’ve missed five days of her life already?”
My pulse quickened, and an alarm sounded on the machine beside me.
“Shit!” Connor shot out of his seat. “I should’ve called for the nurse.”
“It’s okay. I feel fine. A little breathless but fine.”
He launched for the emergency button just as Nurse Tracy entered the room. “She’s awake,” he said, pointing to me. “She just woke up.”
