He shook his head pitifully, eyes shutting again. “Y-you’re n-n-not selfish K-Katelynn… y-you’re nothing e-e-even near s-selfish…” Jack forced his eyes open and drew back, looking at her with tear streaked cheeks and red eyes. “I’m n-not going to l-l-let you do this a-alone. I’m g-going to be here f-for you. I, I promised you that. I, I promise,” he actually reaches down and presses his hand against her stomach. “I-I promise…”
She reached up to caress his cheeks, using her thumb to rub away any streaks and clean up his face gently, feeling her heart flutter at his hand on her stomach. If there really was life growing in there, then hopefully someday their baby could feel their conviction and, dare she hoped, love.
“Shhh,” she said softly, smiling for him, hoping to calm his stutter. “It’s all right..It’s all right..” She leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to his lips before pulling back, fingers still caressing his face. “I know now..I know you won’t leave me…I’m so grateful to have you by my side…”
She hated to break up the moment but she didn’t want him to starve either so she picked up a menu and shared it with him. “But for now..let’s get you fed, okay?”
He smiles weakly, and just nods his head, finding words now hard to process. He leans into her, though, shutting his eyes and mumbles as the hand on her stomach shifts to her side, just holding onto her.
What an odd place to have an emotional break down… Denny’s… but at least the people had been kind enough to leave them alone. If he had to explain himself, like this, right now…? He’d be a mess. A worse mess than before.
He thought of Gail, quietly, sitting here with Katelynn. Her little hands, how they’d grasped at his blue ones. How the doctors said she couldn’t really see, but he had sworn she could. She had smiled, but they called it gas. Pain. But she’d smiled at him so many times in those four days when he would be able to hold her, whilst his father would hold his mother instead.
Jack wondered if, maybe, if this is a baby Katelynn has or in the far, distant future… if just maybe if it’s a girl they have, if they could name her Gail.
Jack Maple 