“Look at her hair, Keith! It’ll be a crime to name her anything else,” she says as I join her on the hospital bed, perching next to her.
I help her sit and place our daughter in her arms before adjusting her pillows. I look at my beautiful wife smelling our daughter’s hair. Her eyes close as she cherishes the newborn baby smell.
“Merida it is,” I whisper in wonder. My heart stills for a beat as I say her name and then pounds back again.
God! Is this how it feels to be a dad? This is beyond anything I have experienced in my life.
My wife looks from me to our daughter and smiles. “Welcome to this beautiful world, Merida.”
“It is indeed a beautiful world.” I hold Melanie, keeping both my girls covered. “Thank you so much, Mel.”
Her eyes fill with tears. “We’re going to make so many memories together, Keith. When we are old, walking our daughter down that aisle, we’ll look back to this very moment.”
I clear my throat. “Okay, let’s not talk about that. Let’s not talk about her leaving home, before she’s even seen it.” I keep my own emotions at bay, though I have already decided my daughter is never leaving us. Whoever she wants to marry will have to move in.
“Yes, you’re right. Stupid hormones,” Melanie whispers, wiping her tears with her soft palms. And then she gives me that smile, which had me from day one.
My dream is broken by a loud cracking sound followed by a shriek. I jerk out of bed, my heart beating wildly from the dream and the disturbance.
“Mere!” I grab my gun, running toward my daughter’s room. When I yank her door open, I find her slipping out of bed.
“Dad, what was that noise?” Her eyes widen in alarm as she skids to me.
My hurried, panicked hands run over her head, face, and down to her arms. “You all right?”
She nods and then looks up to the staircase. “It’s Clementine.”
“Fuck!”
6
CLEMENTINE
I screech under the blankets as something shatters. My brain runs wild, taking several minutes to register that I’m not in my bedroom but in St. Peppers.
Why is it so damn cold? I pat around my bed to find the blankets soaking wet.
Holy crap! What the hell happened?
There is a knock on the door and then somebody turns the knob, eliciting another shriek out of my already confused brain.
“Clementine?” It’s Keith and then the lights in the room turn on. “What was that noise?”
“I…don’t know.” I cup a hand over my eyes to stop the light from blinding me and find him standing near the light switch.
“Dad?” Mere softly whispers from outside.
“Wait right there. Let me sweep the room.” Keith’s stern voice sounds like a command.
“Sweep?” My teeth chatter in the cold.
“Why is it so cold in here? Did you leave the window open? It’s fucking raining.” His annoyed gaze bores into me.
Crap!
I got so excited to see the sofa bed placed just under the tall window, which opens to the backyard. The smell of wet earth, the sound of falling rain, everything was so inviting that I left the window open for a while. I’d planned to close it before falling asleep, but I guess I was too exhausted.
“I… I was listening to the music of raindrops,” I blurt.