“Daddy!” Kieran, his five-year old son shouted, running to greet him, “Mommy shopping. Gramma says Mommy shops too much.”
Nick laughed as his little boy jumped into his father’s waiting arms, “Sometimes, but don’t you like it when she brings you new stuff?”
“Like it more when Mommy’s home.”
Nick sighed as he walked into the living room and sat Kieran down, “I know, but she works too.”
“Kieran, don’t start that again,” Kyra, Anya’s mother said as she walked in the living room, “He’s been saying that since she left. He threw an absolute fit because she wouldn’t take him with her. She’s shopping for his b-i-r-t-h-d-a-y p-a-r-t-y stuff.”
“Oh, I see. Kieran, Mommy needs her time to shop alone. Why don’t we ambush her tonight and make her go to the park with us when you go to play with Jason.”
Kieran’s eyes lit up, “Really? Mommy will go with us?”
“We’ll see honey. Nick, Kieran, dinner is ready.”
Kieran jumped off his father’s lap and took his hand. He pulled Nick into the dining room and pointed to the table, “Look daddy, we made your fravrite.”
Nick smiled at his young son, “Thank you so much Kieran, I’ve been craving this all day. You must have read my mind.”
Kieran sat down at his place, pleased with himself. As Nick as Kyra sat down, the front door opened and slammed shut, “I’m home!”
“Mommy!” Kieran shouted as he rushed to the door, “I missed you!”
“I missed you too baby. What did you do while I was gone?”
“I hepped Gramma cook Daddy’s fravrite dinner.”
“Oh really, that’s great! Where’s Daddy and Gramma now?”
“At tha table. We’re eatin’ now. Come on, you just gotta try my masha-tatoes. They’re sooo good!”
Anya smiled as Kieran pulled her into the dining room. She kissed her mom and husband before sitting down.
“Hi-low time,” Nick said, “Anya, why don’t you go first?”
“Low, finding out exactly how much I spent today and being without my baby boy. High… coming home and having my beautiful son jump into my arms as soon as I walked in.”
Kieran smiled at his mother, “Gramma next.”
“My low would have to be cleaning up the flour mess that Kieran made while we were making the chicken fried steak. But my high was making it with him. I haven’t had that much fun making dinner in a long time.”
“Daddy?”
“I can’t think of a low right now, today was pretty good. My high is right now, eating dinner with my family. What about you Kieran?”
“My bad part was when Tommy threw sand in my face. That hurted. But my best part is when Mommy and Daddy tuck my in tonight.”
After dinner, Anya and Kyra washed the dishes while Nick bathed a very dirty Kieran. Kyra went home after kissing her grandson goodnight.
“Do you want a story or a movie tonight?” Anya asked.
“Um… story! Can Daddy tell me about bein’ a Backstreet Boy? It’s so funny!”
Nick smiled at him, “Which story do you want to hear?”
“How ‘bout when Uncle Rok made you dye your hair green wif your champoo?”
“Oh yeah, I remember that. It took you a month to get the smell out, plus you had to get that awful color out,” Anya said laughing.
Nick proceeded to tell Kieran the story, for what seemed like the 30th time. But the little boy still laughed when he was told what the dye was made out of. Soon Kieran was asleep and Anya and Nick crept out of his room. They walked to their own bedroom and Nick suddenly remembered his promise to Kieran.
“Anya, Kieran wants you to go with us to the park on Saturday when he goes to play with Jason to make up for not taking him to the store with you today.”
“You know, I wish I had more time to spend with him, I’m missing out on so much. Of course I’ll go with you to the park, I love watching him play.”
Nick turned off the light and put his arm around Anya, “I love you.”
“I love you too Nick, good night.”
The next morning, Anya took Kieran to school and left for work. Nick had a meeting with a director about his latest script at Joe’s Crab Shack, so he stayed home to work on the next script.
At 11:15, Nick left the house and arrived at Joe’s promptly at 11:30. As soon as he walked in the door, he began looking for Jim Travers, the director he was meeting with, but didn’t see him anywhere. He sat down at the table he was shown to and ordered water while he waited.
“Nick, is that you?” a female voice asked from behind him.
He turned around to face the voice, “Jenna?”
“Yeah, how are you?”
“I’m good, what about you? It’s been a while.”
“I’m doing great. I’m engaged now, and pregnant. I hear that you’re married and you’ve got a child.”
“Yeah, his name is Kieran and he’s five. He’ll be six on Thursday.”
“Gina would’ve turned seven in a few weeks,” Jenna said dejectedly, “But we can’t dwell on that, can we? We’ve moved on and we have other people in our lives now.”
Nick cleared his throat uncomfortably, “So what brings you here today?”
“I’ve got a meeting with my boss. He wants to discuss a new project, but he’s a little late. What about you?”
“I’m meeting a director about the actors in the new movie and changes to the script.”
“Well that’s good to hear. I’m glad you got back on top after the Backstreet Boys split… Do you still go to the church on her birthday?”
“Yes, it’s hard during that time, but Anya helps a lot.”
“Gina was so special. If only…” Jenna let herself drift off.
“Let’s not talk about it. Today’s supposed to be a good day, right? Let’s focus on the present.”
“You always knew how to lighten the mood. Thanks Nick.”
“It’s no problem. Look, Jim is here now, so I’ll talk to you later. Congratulations on the engagement and the baby.”
“Alright. See you around Nick.”
Jenna walked away as Jim approached the table, “Sorry I’m late Nick, traffic is unbelievable! So, what’s good here?”
“I usually get the Alaskan crab legs,” Nick said, watching Jenna go sit down at a table with a man he presumed to be her boss.
Nick went home from the meeting feeling sick. He climbed in bed and tried to sleep. His head was pounding and he felt nauseous. He finally drifted off to sleep, only to have troubled dreams.
In his dream, he and Jenna were fighting and Gina was trying to get their attention. She kept crying, but Nick and Jenna were too involved in the yelling that they didn’t notice their little girl screaming. Jenna stormed out of the house and Nick went to the basement to work. When he went upstairs to check on Gina, he found that she’d fallen out of her crib and hit her head on the bedside table. Blood pooled around the little girl’s body from her head. Nick called 911 and rushed her to the hospital but it was too late, she was already dead.
Nick woke up drenched in a cold sweat. Tears were pouring from his eyes.
'I haven’t thought about Gina in so long. Seeing Jenna must have triggered it,' he thought.
Nick got up from the bed and walked to the bathroom. He turned on the shower and removed his clothes. Checking the water, he climbed in. He let the water spray onto his back, thinking about Gina again. He remembered how blue her lips were when he found her. His beautiful baby girl, his first child.
“She’s not supposed to be gone, it’s all my fault. I should’ve gone to check on her earlier, maybe I would’ve gotten to her in time.”
Nick sighed and leaned against the wall, just thinking, until the hot water ran out. As he got dressed, he heard the front door slam and a pair of feet running up the stairs.
“DADDY! I’M HOME!” Kieran yelled.
Nick smiled to himself as he prepared for Kieran to jump into his waiting arms.
“Daddy, I had the bestest day. Miss Kaplan said that I was the goodest kid today, I didn’t move my bad clip one time!”
“That’s good to hear, I don’t like it when you move your clip. What did you do today?”
“Sure, pull it out.”
Kieran unzipped his backpack and showed his father his painting of them. There was a tall blue stick figure with yellow hair sticking up. Next to the blue man was a pink stick figure with bright red hair. Standing by her was a short green stick figure with red hair.
“You see us Daddy? The blue one is you, the pink one is Mommy, and the green one is me.”
“I see that, you did very good. Can I frame this and put it on my desk in the office?”
“Woudja?”
“Yeah, this is the best painting I’ve ever seen.”
“Goody, do ya have a fwame for it?”
“I think I do, it might be in the closet, let me go check.”
Nick walked to the closet and searched for the frame that he’d put there last week when he took out the picture of Kieran’s dog, who had died.
“Here we are, right where I left it. Could you hand me the picture Kieran?”
“Here you go Daddy.”
“Thank you so much,” Nick said as he placed the painting in the frame, “How does it look?”
“Perfect,” Kieran said happily, “You’re such a good Daddy.”
Nick smiled, “And you’re such a good son. I’m glad I have you.”
Kieran wrapped his little arms around Nick’s neck, “I love you Daddy.”
“I love you too baby.”
~*~*~*~ 2 days later (Wednesday) ~*~*~*~
“Aren’t you asleep yet Jenna?” Austin asked groggily.
“No, I can’t sleep. I keep wondering if we’re going to have a girl or a boy, and what we’re going to name it.”
“Jenna, you can think about that all day tomorrow. You need to get some rest, it’s after midnight. Try and go to sleep honey.”
Jenna rolled over into Austin’s arms and shut her eyes. Mentally counting sheep, she slowly drifted off to sleep.
A noise in the house woke her up. She managed to get out of bed without waking Austin and crept down the hall to investigate.
She spotted a silhouette of a man in the kitchen so she grabbed the baseball bat from the closet. She quietly moved towards the figure.
Squinting her eyes, she tried to focus in the dark kitchen. Suddenly, she felt someone’s hand clamp over her mouth. Trying to scream, he covered her mouth tighter, making it almost impossible to breathe.
Jenna felt the attacker’s hand as he brushed her arm with his hand and moved slowly down to her stomach.
Her entire body shuddered as he whispered in her ear, “Don’t make a sound or I’ll kill you.”
She silently nodded, not wanting to risk her baby’s life. He pushed her into the living room, picking up expensive-looking items along the way.
“Can you breathe?” he hissed.
She shook her head no.
“Don’t make a sound or you’re dead, understand?
She nodded, tears streaming down her face.
He slowly moved his hand off her mouth, “You don’t have to be afraid pretty lady, I won’t hurt you, unless you make me.”
“What do you want?” she whispered.
“I only wanted your stuff, but you made a noise, so now I’m gonna have to hurt you.”
Jenna’s eyes widened in fear, “Please don’t hurt me,” she whispered, “I’m pregnant.”
“Too late pretty lady,” he said, as he picked up the bat and brought it over his head.
She closed her eyes and prayed to God that some magical force would make him stop. No such luck. He swung the bat and hit her in the stomach, making her cry out in pain.
“Jenna, wake up!” Austin said, “You’re having a bad dream honey, wake up!”
Jenna’s eyes flew open as she screamed again, “My baby! He hurt my baby!”
“Relax sweetheart, it was just a dream.”
Jenna sat up and looked at her fiancé, but it felt so real.”
“Sometimes they do. Do you want some water?”
“Yeah, but I’ll go get it.”
Jenna started to get out of bed, but Austin stopped her, “Let me. You need to stay here and rest.”
She laid back down on the pillows, thankful she had him. When he returned with the water, she drank some of it and laid it down on the nightstand.
“Thanks honey,” she said, trying to get out of bed again.
“Where are you going?”
“To the bathroom. And no, you can’t do that for me,” she said, laughing.
Austin laid back down and closed his eyes, “Hurry up baby.”
Jenna walked into the bathroom and turned on the light. As she made her way to the toilet, she glanced in the mirror, and stopped dead in her tracks.
“AUSTIN!” she screamed.
He jumped out of bed and raced to the bathroom, “What’s wrong Jenna?”
“Take me to the hospital, quick!”
He looked at her as he entered the bathroom and gasped at her blood-soaked nightgown.
At the ER, the doctor told her that she had, in fact, lost her baby.
“No! I can’t lose another one!” she screamed, in agony.
Austin tried to console her, “Shh… it’s okay Jenna, we can try for another baby when the time is right.”
“Don’t you see? The time will never be right. God is punishing me for killing her.”
“Killing who?” Austin asked.
“My little girl, I killed my baby girl…” she sobbed.
Austin held onto Jenna as sobs racked her body. He figured that she was talking about the baby she’d just lost, thinking that she was hysterical.
After she’d quieted down some, the doctor came in to speak with her.
“Ma’am, I need to ask you some questions.”
“Okay.”
“I need to know if this was your first pregnancy.”
“No.”
Austin looked at her, speechless.
“I’ve had three miscarriages before this, and I had a child, but she died.”
‘Oh my God, she had a kid?’ Austin thought as the doctor continued to drill Jenna.
When they finally released her, Austin brought her home. He wanted to ask her about the baby she claimed that she killed, but she was too exhausted to speak. She climbed into bed and fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of Gina.
“Uncle Brian!” Kieran shouted as Brian came into view.
Nick and Anya waved as Kieran took off towards the sandbox where Brian’s son Jason was playing.
The boys played for most of the day and Brian and Jason joined them for lunch.
“Daddy, I want to eat at Jack in the blocks.”
Nick smiled, “You want Jack in the box honey?”
“That’s what I said, Jack in the blocks.”
After a big lunch, Kieran and Jason asked to go back to Kieran’s to play.
“After your naps.”
“But Mommy-“
“Kieran, you heard your mother. Brian and I are going to the store, so you two listen to her while we’re gone.”
“K Daddy.”
After the boys’ nap, they played on Nick’s old Playstation until it was time for Brian and Jason to go home.
Nick ordered pizza and they all ate quickly because it was so late. Anya hastily bathed Kieran and put him to bed.
“Can I have a story Daddy?”
“What kind of story?”
“You pick.”
“How about your favorite story ‘The Lorax?’”
“Goody!”
Nick and Anya read the book to their son and kissed him goodnight before going to their own room.
“I love you Nick,” Anya said as she climbed into bed.
“I love you too Anya, good night.”
Nick turned off the light as he slid under the covers next to his wife. Nick fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Anya woke him up around 3:30 saying that she’d been hearing strange noises. He crawled out of bed and put on his robe to check the house.
He made a mental checklist as he walked through the rooms of their home. He came to his last stop with a sigh.
“Anya’s imagining things again,” he muttered as he opened his son’s door.
His eyes quickly adjusted to the dark room and he made a hasty check of the room. His eyes stopped on his son’s bed. It was empty.
“Kieran?” he asked thinking Kieran had gotten out of bed for something.
No answer.
“Kieran?” he asked, more loudly this time.
Still no answer.
“KIERAN!” he shouted.
Anya ran down the hallway, “Nick, what’s wrong?”
“Kieran’s gone.”
Chapter 2
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