Chapter 15
Georgia
The place where I am is bright white—so bright that it’s all I can see.
I don’t know how I got here. All I know is that the pain from before is gone. Now, all that’s left is blissful numbness.
It’s peaceful here, and I think I could stay here forever.
They are waiting for you.
The thought niggles at the back of my mind, but I can’t quite grasp it.
Who is waiting on me?
I can’t remember, but there’s a weight in my mind telling me that whoever the “they” are is important.
The brightness starts to change, a dark shadow forming right before my eyes, and when I blink, Nate stands there, looking happy and healthy.
The numbness changes, joy pushing through its depths.
“Nate,” I call, trying to run to him, but I can’t get my legs to work. I’m stuck where I am, unable to move any closer.
“Hi, Georgia.” He smiles. “I’ve missed you.”
My mind is disconnected from my body, but I think if I could feel it, I would have tears streaming down my face.
“I missed you, too, Nate.”
He smiles, but it’s his sad smile—the one he wore towards the end.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
He shakes his head. “You can’t stay here, sweetheart. It’s not your time.”
“I don’t want to leave you,” I cry.
“I know, but they need you.”
I can’t comprehend what he’s saying—he needs me. I can’t leave him.
“Who are they, Nate? I can’t remember.”
Nate smiles again. The sadness still lingers, but this time, there’s something more—something better—in that smile. “The loves of your new life.”
I open my mouth to ask him what he means by that, but then I hear my name called from behind me. This new voice sounds familiar. Though, I can’t place it. But I still feel my heart tugging me toward it like it knows that’s where I’m meant to be.
Turning back to Nate, I find him dipping his head toward the voice calling my name again. “Go. He needs you.”
Then, just as suddenly as he appeared, he’s gone again, and with him the light. I’m left in the dark, wandering toward the place my heart wants to be.
I close my eyes, listening to the voice that sounds like home, and when I open them again, I find my husband standing over me, tears streaming down his face and our sweet baby in his arms.
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“Peach, don’t you ever scare me like that again,” Grayson cries, sitting on the bed and gently stroking my face as he holds our baby in his other arm.
His throat works as if he is trying not to cry, and I soak him in while I try to piece together what happened. Grayson’s clothes are wrinkled. There’s spit up on his shoulder, and his beard has started growing in.
“How long?” My throat is sore from the tubes that were down it when I woke up. It hurts to talk, but Grayson understands what I’m asking.
“A week.”
A week.
My husband and baby had to survive without me for a week.
Pain lodges itself into my ribs, causing my whole body to ache.
I almost left them behind, and even though I know it was just a dream, I don’t know if I would have fought to get back here if it hadn’t been for Nate.
It’s another thing I owe him for—the first one is understanding me enough to know what I needed after he was gone, now this.
Tears well in my eyes and slip down my cheeks. Grayson’s eyes track them as they slide down my neck, and he lifts his hand, brushing them away with his thumb.
“I was so scared, Georgia,” he whispers.
And I can still hear that broken fear lingering there beneath his bravery.
Grabbing his hand, I hold it in mine, reassuring him that I’m here.
Then my eyes drop to the baby in his arms.
After I woke up, my hospital room became a frenzy of doctors and nurses flooding in. There was no time to meet him before, but now there’s silence—blissful silence.
“Do you want to hold him?” Grayson asks.
My eyes flick to his, and I nod–just once.
Grayson stands, switching our baby around until he’s snuggled in my arms, and my eyes trace over the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen. He has his daddy’s dark hair and my button nose. His lips are a soft pink, and there is a dimple on one cheek. He’s the perfect mixture of both of us.
“Hi, baby boy. I’m your mommy.”