Page 99 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

Amy

Deployed time: 22 weeks

MIA: 12 weeks

From: Amy Benson [email protected]

To: Daniel Stephenson [email protected]

Date: Fri, September 9, 2016 at 2:56 PM

Subject: Long nights

Daniel,

Tomorrow, I’ll have made it another week with our baby on board. I’ll be 26 weeks! As hard as it’s been these past 5 weeks, I’m happy our baby has had the time to grow. Our countdown to make it past 28 weeks is getting so much closer I can’t help but feel so proud of him/her for hanging in there for us. Such a little fighter.

As much as I try not to think about it too much, I also can’t stop myself from counting down the time you should be coming home to us. It was 3 weeks yesterday. In my head you’re still coming. I pray every minute of every day for it to be true.

I love you more than my life. I’m still waiting. I will always wait for you.

Love Amy xxx

Settling back against the pillows, I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through the ache in my lower back. This had been the third night in a row for it to happen. I was fine during the day. No aches. No pain. Just mind

less time to pass. Then dinner would come, and so would the pain. Amber put it down to supernatural phenomenon, implying I was some kind of werewolf affected by the moon or something. I didn’t know what to attribute it to. Neither did the nurses, so it seemed.

“Here you go, sweetie,” my current nurse, Maisie, said, holding out a heat pack.

I leaned forward, allowing her to slide it in place.

She hummed a satisfied sound. “How are you feeling?”

I shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Tired.” Like, really tired. The last few nights had taken a toll on my body. Apparently, it didn’t like broken sleep too much. It was something it needed to get used to when the baby came, though.

Maisie gave me a kind smile. “Okay, well, I’ll leave you to rest. Call me if you need anything.”

“Thank you. I will.”

I watched her walk out before closing my eyes and trying to get some rest. If I was going to have the same kind of night like the last few, I was going to take whatever rest I could.

As was habit for me now, I said a silent prayer for Daniel, then let sleep take me.

It was close to midnight when I woke. In my dazed sleep-induced state, it took me a few seconds to realize what it was that had woken me. I was leaking. Of course, I’d been leaking for a while now, but this time felt different. Don’t ask me how. Call it intuition.

Pressing the button to call the nurse, I waited, nerves tingling. A minute later, she appeared, flashlight in hand. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” she said, concern etched on her face.

“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully. “I think I need to see a doctor. I feel different.”

Shifting closer, she looked me over. “Different how?”

Frustration surged. “I don’t know. I just . . . I think something’s wrong.”

With eyes narrowed thoughtfully, she gave a little nod before patting my arm. “I’ll go call her.”

I remained sitting upright while I waited. I hated the uncertainty that surrounded me. With everything. My life was overflowing with it. I didn’t understand what I’d done to have so much chaos thrown at me. Was everything that was happening to me just a lesson to see how much shit I could handle at once before I fell apart?

My husband was missing in action, many presuming him dead. My baby’s life was on the line, hanging in the balance, its survival dependent on just how long I could manage to keep it in utero. My parents had washed their hands of me, deeming me unsatisfactory as a child. I felt isolated and alone, my newly found strength being pushed closer and closer to breaking point.

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