The Green Rising

Chapter Nineteen

Part Three

“You sure you don’t want to go with us to West Virginia?” Luc pulled me into an awkward embrace. “I don’t like the idea of leaving you alone.”

“I’ll be fine here, and it will give me a chance to do some shopping.” And search for my backpack that had been hidden inside a box since that fateful day fifteen years ago. As bad as it sounded, going to the cottage ranked somewhere between Rebirth and all hell breaking loose.

“If you need anything, call me. I’ll tell Edgar you said hello.” His eyes twinkled as he said it, knowing full well that it would get a rise out of me.

“I love you, too, Luc.” I waggled my eyebrows at him. He bent to kiss me before he walked to the van, asking me once again if I wanted to join them.

As the van wheeled away, Rosabel and Maggie blew kisses to me while Jessa sat in the front seat with her bottom lip protruding. She didn’t want to go and would probably make life difficult for Luc this weekend. But at least I would have a much-needed reprieve from her antics.

I waddled to the garage and unlocked it. Packed boxes lined the walls and cluttered the walkway. My shoulders sank and my head bowed as I let out a sigh. He’d barely unpacked a single box. This was going to be much harder than I’d anticipated.

I started with the stack closest to me, trying to read the magic marker labeling for the boxes’ contents. Of course, some of the labels were on the other side and required turning the behemoths around in their spot. After an hour of sliding and lifting the heavy boxes, and coming up empty-handed, a sharp pain brought my hand to my abdomen. I plopped myself onto a box marked “Beach Toys” and winced as the baby’s stabbing kicks retaliated against my overexertion. From my perch, I looked around the garage wondering if I’d missed a box, and fretted that the backpack had been lost in one of the moves.

I’d have to open each one individually. My stomach rumbled and I knew that combing through the garage would have to wait until tomorrow.

Green tea with ginger warmed my lips as I hovered over the stove waiting for the water to boil. I set the teacup onto the counter and poured noodles into the pot, not caring that the bubbles had just begun to rise from the bottom. So what if they came out clumped together. With the way I was feeling, they probably wouldn't reside in my stomach for long.

As I waited for my dinner to cook, I wondered if the backpack be inside the house, It was a possibility, but I’d finished my portion of the work over a month ago. Perhaps he’d brought it in from the garage.   

When the last plain noodle was being chewed, I walked downstairs to the utility closet. There were about seven boxes in here and they were taped. I repeated the process of turning them to look at their labels until the phone interrupted me.

“Hey, Carrie,” I said, continuing my foolhardy search.

“I’m so glad you answered.” Her voice cracked and she sounded like she’d been crying. “Is there any way you can come to Norfolk? I…I think I’m miscarrying the baby.”

“Omigod! Are you okay?” Where was Mike? And then it dawned on me. He was still overseas and she had no one to help her. “Have you been able to contact Mike?”

“The soonest he can get back is Monday morning. I’m in the hospital and afraid they’re going to put my kids in foster care until I’m discharged or he arrives.”

“I am so sorry, Carrie. Give me half an hour to make arrangements, and I’ll be on my way.”

What a nightmare. Deployment was difficult enough on a family, but the thought of the kids going into foster care while she was going through this made me tremble. And my sweet baby was fine. I couldn't imagine how traumatic this was for Carrie. I did know that she was going to be devastated if she actually lost her baby.