It’s been months since I’ve had that dream—the one where I’m back in the hospital the day that my daughter was born. The same day my wife died giving birth to her. But just like every other time the dream reappears, I take it as a sign to be prepared.
Something is going to happen today, so I need to be on high alert.
“Daddy!”
Ellis barrels into my room, slamming the door into the wall before launching herself into my arms.
I kiss the top of her head as I breathe her in, cherishing the feel of her locked in my embrace, especially after where my mind just took me. “Hey, sweetie.”
“You didn’t come kiss me goodnight like you said you would.” She leans back with a pout on her lips that she’s damn near perfected at the tender age of five.
“Yes, I did. You just don’t remember because you were sleeping.”
One of her eyebrows arches. “Are you sure?”
“Positive, Ellis. Besides, you know I wouldn’t lie to you.”Not about the important things, at least.
“You promise?” Holding out her pinky to me, she waits as I hook mine around hers.
“Pinky promise.” I shake our intertwined hands up and down and then release her. “Now, it’s time to get ready for school.”
“Are you taking me this morning?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Jumping up and down, she bounces out of my arms and out of my room screaming, “Yay!”
And just like that, my world is back to normal.
I rake a hand through my thick hair and stand from the bed, walking over to my dresser while studying my appearance in the mirror. Scratching through my chest hair, I move my hand down to the scar on my arm that looks angrier and darker than normal today.
Seems my body is trying to remind me of multiple injuries from my past all at once.
“Did I hear that right? You’re taking Ellis to school today?” Joanne, my live-in nanny, rests her hip on the door jamb and crosses her arms over her chest as I open my dresser and pull out a clean shirt.
“Yeah. I’m supposed to hit the gym with Elliot this morning anyway, so I might as well.”
Joanne nods. “Okay, just wanted to make sure. That girl is great at telling stories these days, you know?”
A soft chuckle shakes my chest. “Oh, I’m completely aware.”
“How was your shift?”
“Uneventful, thank God. Just a few traffic tickets for people speeding on the highway leading in and out of town. The usual.”
“Glad to hear it. The moment you come home from a shift and tell me there was some actual crime committed here in Blossom Peak is the day I might just have to move back to Charlotte.”
“Oh, where crime is non-existent?” I ask sarcastically. Joanne rolls her eyes before tucking her shoulder-length gray hair behind her ears. “Besides, those threats don’t mean much anymore. I know you’d miss Ellis and me too much.”
She snickers before pushing herself off of the door jamb. “There you go getting that big head of yours again.”
“Love you too, Joanne.”All I see is her back as she waves me off and retreats to the main part of the house, but I know there’s a smile on her face as she does. When you live with someone for five years, you get to know them pretty well.
I like to joke that Joanne was my angel sent to earth after I lost Sarah, but I honestly believe it. I was a new dad, a widower, and a sheriff who had to report back to work at some point, with shifts that varied between nights and days. I needed help, and that’s when my father and his friends—Henry, Anthony, and Brian—started asking around town for someone who could help me.
Luckily, when Henry’s sister-in-law, Joanne Collins, heard my story, she instantly volunteered for the job. It was supposed to be temporary, but she stayed. She’s part of our family now, and I couldn’t raise my daughter or hold my life together without her.
Still, I know she’ll leave me eventually.
