Another Life

36

He nods and goes for it, taking the letter out and throwing the envelope on to the kitchen island. I walk over quickly, my curiosity getting the better of me and I stand beside him as his eyes skim the paper. Finally he looks up to meets my gaze, a smile threatening to pull up the corner of his lips. "I passed."

My eyes widen. "You passed?" I ask, asking him to repeat it because it was still sinking in.

"I passed!"

I lunge forward, wrapping my arms around his neck and I hug him, a grin growing on my own face. Jay quickly picks me up off the floor and my legs wrap around his waist. "I knew you would." I whisper into his ear, tightening the hug.

************

As Macie goes down the slide for the dozenth time I look over my shoulder to find Jay using the swing. He wasn't going high but it was clear he wasn't just aimlessly moving from side to side. I draw my bottom lip between my teeth to hide my smirk and call his name. "You having fun?" I ask, my hand brushing over the top of Macie's hair as she runs past me and starts climbing back up the ladder to go back on the slide again.

It was early on a Sunday morning, with the weather still on the warmer side for late September we knew this afternoon the park would become full so we got the kids up early to come here before it got busy. Apparently it was too early for Alfie, who was currently still snoozing in his stroller, but the sudden burst of energy had hit Mae the moment we had entered the gate. We had been here fifteen minutes and all she had done was go up and down the slide.

Jay's swinging comes to a slow halt and he looks to me, trying to hide his own amused smile. "Actually, yes."

I then nod toward the stroller. "Can you fix his neck?" I ask, noticing how Alfie had just leaned his head forward. Jay quickly jumped up from the swing and stepped over, tilting Alfie's head back against the seat of the stroller.

I had my back turned for a further second when a piercing scream came from behind. It made both Jay and I jump out of our skin and we leaped into worry as we both went over to Macie, who was now lying on the floor, her hand rested on her forehead. I picked her up and tried prying her hand away so I could assess the damage.

My blood went cold when I saw how her hand was covering a spot very close to the small scar she had following the incident involving the coffee table in the living room on her birthday. This made me even more desperate to take her hand away but she seemed adamant on keeping it there. Jay got her to bring her hand down and my heart stopped at the bruise or bump already growing large inches away from the scar.

"Oh my god." Jay breathes when he catches sight of it.

I meet Jay's gaze with wide eyes. "Do we take her to Med?"

Jay shrugs, glancing around the park before putting his attention on Macie, who had her head buried into the bend of my neck and was quietly sobbing. "I don't know, it's only a bruise but it came up so quick and that's so close to her last one."

I nod quickly. "We need to take her."

Jay agrees with me an instant after and he taps at my opposite shoulder. "I'll go get the truck, I'll be back in five."

We had walked up here but it was only a few blocks from the house. Jay took off, leaving the park and disappearing around the corner in seconds and I put my attention fully on Macie, trying to calm her down. I walk over to the swing Jay had been sat on moments before and pull her on to my lap but she insists on keeping her face hidden. I rest my hand on the back of her head and run my fingers through her hair, whispering words to her.

It feels like an eternity before Jay gets back but in reality it was probably only a few minutes. He jumps out of the truck and collects the stroller, putting Alfie in his car seat miraculously without waking him and I sat in the back with Mae. We got to Med shortly after and we're taken in almost instantly, Natalie following right beside us.