Page 108 of Unbreakable
“We’re going to have so much fun together, little guy.”
A nurse nudged me. “She can hold him. It’s good for him to be on her chest, Dad.”
I shuffled forward and placed Greyson on Jeanine’s chest.
“You’re here, Grey,” she said. “Welcome home.”
We’d come so far. Just a year before, we were trying to figure out whether we were even qualified to have a baby at all. Now, Jeanine brought our son into the world.
All I could do was stare. We were a family now, my beautiful wife and my amazing son holding every piece of my heart from then on.
FORTY-ONE
DYLAN
NOW | DECEMBER
Jeannie
Make sure you bring Grey’s jammies and the rest of his dragon books
He hasn’t read 4-8
On it. Be there soon
The girlsand I walked into Greyson’s hospital room in Columbus with a “get well soon” balloon, a bag of items he and Jeannie needed from home, and stuffies from each girl for Grey. Jeannie fought for a transfer to the children’s hospital after it was determined that he’d need surgery. So there he was, two screws later, which he’d have to have changed out a few times as he grew.
I barely slept that night, a complete mess. Jeannie wouldn’t call me, just sending texts. She sent my calls to voicemail. I knew she was furious. I was furious with myself.
But I still wanted to hear from her. I knew it wasn’t alright, but I wanted to hear that it was.
Maybe she was right. Maybe I was one of the kids.
And that stirred up a whole new level of self-loathing.
Grey had a soft cast on his arm, but was sitting up playing a game with Jeanine. J was smiling at him, but she looked like hell. Bags ringed her eyes and for the first time in our marriage, she looked old. Not like I’m blaming her for aging or she wasn’t beautiful, but she usually maintained a youthful glow. She looked dried out and tapped out. Haggard.
“Hi, buddy!” I said. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” Greyson said, then winced as he accidentally slapped his arm into the bed rail.
I lowered the offending bedrail and sat on the edge of his bed, kissing the top of his head and putting my arm around him. “They treating you okay in here?”
Jeanine’s smile softened as she waited to hear his answer. “They’re really nice,” he said, his legs folded under him and picking at his ankle. “But I want to go home.”
“I know,” I said. “We want you to come home when they say you’re good and ready, though.”
Jeanine wouldn’t meet my gaze. It was heartbreaking enough that my son was sitting in this hospital bed because of me. It just added insult to actual injury that Jeannie might never forgive me.
And who could blame her?
“Stuffie!” Bella sang, holding it over her head so Greyson could see.
“Aw, thanks, Bells,” Greyson said, trying to smile for her. “A wolf too!”
My seven-year-old was trying to put on a brave face for his little sister, and that alone was enough to make me want to throw up.
“And I got you a cat so you’d think of me,” Alice said. She was going through a big cat phase, obsessed with some cat show andconstantly asking for one as a pet even though she was terribly allergic.
