It was meant as a joke, but it felt like daggers were being stabbed in my heart.
“Daddy, why are you crying?” she asked. “Where’s Mommy?” she whispered, looking around.
“She… the accident, baby,” I whispered. “She got hurt real bad in the accident…”
I stopped talking, seeing her eyes drifting shut as the nurse smiled over to me. How was I going to tell her what happened?
A soft tapping turned my attention towards the door, where I could see Julie standing. She was wearing jeans and a jacket, not looking so much like a detective anymore.
I pushed up out of my seat, stepping out into the hallway with her.
“Merry Christmas,” Julie said, keeping her voice down and placing a hand on my arm. “How’s she doing?”
“She just woke up,” I said, realizing that I was grinning like an idiot. “She talked to me. I’d say that’s progress, right?”
“Absolutely,” Julie replied. “A Christmas miracle. We just came by to see how you were doing, and well, since it was Christmas, we thought it was a good idea to bring a present.”
“You didn’t have to,” I said. “Thank you so much.”
“Well, it’s for Celia,” she said as I took the wrapped gift from her hands. “We didn’t know what you would want.”
“We?”
I realized that someone was standing behind her, hugging the back of her leg and peeking out to look at me. I dropped down into a squat, looking at the kid at his eye level, groaning a bit as I could feel my wrapped ribs being pressed together.
“Tim, this is Jake,” she said, nudging the little boy forward a step. He was small with light blonde hair. His big blue eyes looked away from me and he had a shy smile on his face that gave him dimples.
I extended my hand in greeting, and, after a moment, he took it. He wrapped his little hand around two of my fingers and shook enthusiastically. H smiled a wide grin, exposing a couple of missing teeth at the front. He must be a year or two younger than Celia, I thought.
“Nice to meet you, Jake,” I said with a small smile. “You know, your mom is a hero. She saved my life.”
“She’s pretty cool, yeah,” Jake said, looking up at Julie.
I stood back up to face Julie, my aching joints protesting.
“We won’t stay long. We have a Christmas party to get to,” Julie said. “But… I’ll see you later?”
I nodded, wiping a couple of stray tears from my cheek roughly. “Yes. I’d like that.”
“Me too,” she replied, smiling. She took Jake’s hand and led him away.
Epilogue
Recovery was slow, but Celia was exceeding everyone's expectations, making it quicker than everyone thought. Three months after the accident, and she was already in physical therapy, making the people helping her laugh as she talked about how I didn’t like it when she stole my fries.
It broke my heart to tell her that Suzy was gone, but she took the news well. Better than I had.
We got back to our own house, which felt terribly empty now that it was just the two of us, but we had each other, and since we were both recovering, it helped quite a bit.
Besides, it wasn’t like we were in it alone either.
The doorbell rang, and Celia jumped up and ran to the window.
“Jake’s here!” she shouted, her voice ringing through the whole of the house, wheeling herself around and towards the front door as I was quick to join her.
I wasn’t as quick or nimble as I used to be, letting Celia reach the front door first. I still had to unlock it and pull it open.
Julie shrieked as Jake jumped into the house in front of his mother.
“Wait, Jake, take off-” Julie started to call, but paused, shaking her head, as he ran to greet Celia, shoes still on and leaving dirty footprints across the kitchen. The two of them had hit it off quickly, which was great for Celia. “Sorry,” she said to me, but I was already embracing her. The two of us had hit it off, too.
“I’ll mop the floor after dinner,” Julie said, holding me tight. We stood for a moment, embracing, listening to the thudding of tiny footsteps upstairs. “How was the checkup?”
“Healing well. The doctor still wants her to ‘take it easy’ for a little while longer,” I replied, shaking my head. “He obviously doesn’t have kids. There’s not much I can do to slow her down. I’m not as young as I used to be.”
“Have you told Jake yet?” I asked.
“I thought it was news best shared with both of them, at the same time, by the both of us,” Julie said with a small grin. “Does Celia know?”
“Not yet,” I replied, and we paused to listen to Celia and Jake shouting and giggling. “She really likes you, and she loves Jake, but she cried again for Suzy last night. I know it’s only been a couple of months and people will say it’s too soon, but they haven’t been through what we have. I think the sooner we sell this place and move into yours, the better for her.” I looked into her eyes. “And me too.”
“Are you sure you’re ready?” Julie said and looked at me seriously.
“Too many memories here,” I said, tears threatening to come at the thought. “Binghamton will be a good fresh start. And we’ll be closer to my parents. They are too old to keep driving down here.”
“Have you thought about the job offer?” she said with a wry expression.
“I don’t know if I could serve under a woman sheriff,” I teased, smiling. “Police work might be good for me, and not as dangerous as the NYPD was. I’m leaning toward accepting. But for starters, I can do my accounting remotely and drive up here once a week to meet clients while Cee Cee is in school.”
“Let’s tell them after dinner then,” Julie said, taking my arm in hers. “Speaking of, what are we having for dinner? It smells delicious!”
“Well, it’s already February and we still haven’t had Christmas dinner,” I said as we reached the kitchen, showing off what Celia and I had been working on before she arrived. “Ham, spuds, stove-top stuffing, steamed veggies and salad.”
“My mouth is watering,” Julie said, picking up the potato masher. “I’ll help you finish up.”
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Twelve Days of Trauma Page 6