Baby Steps

Chapter 1: Two Pink Lines

On a rainy Friday morning, Rosie is loading up the car and preparing to take her 4 year old daughter to school. With every passing moment as Rosie studies the child's features, she marvels at how much she looks like Marco but with her curly chocolate brown hair.

Mother and daughter have been in the car for no less than five minutes and throughout the rushing downpour of rain, Atlanta traffic is just unbearable and there have been a number of reported accidents on the news. However, Rosie's daughter remains oblivious to the chaos of the roads, due to being preoccupied with watching Finding Dory for the hundredth time on the iPad.

"Are we almost there, mommy?" The young girl asks as she momentarily transfers her gaze onto the back of her mother's seat, attempting to see passed it but she knows she can't.

"We'll be there soon, baby. I promise" Rosie assures her daughter as she adjusts her rearview mirror to get a better view of the little one who holds her and Marco's hearts.

As Rosie prepares to make a U-turn onto the street just before the school, her silver Audi A3 Sport hatchback collides with a royal blue pick-up truck and it seems as if Rosie's world has just come to a standstill. Then, when seems that she couldn't possibly have any more reason to worry, there is her daughter; lying still and lifeless in her car seat, having let go of the iPad as it lays on the floor beneath her little feet.

Rosie's heart begins to palpitate and a waterfall of tears starts to flow from her ocean blue eyes as she tries to revive her daughter. Seeing her struggle from the corner of his eye, a tall dark cop calls for his partner and they do their best to help Rosie. But to no avail. The men offer their sincerest condolences as pronounce the little girl's time off death.

The next time Rosie blinks, she is at her own daughter's funeral. As the casket is being lowered into the ground, Rosie buries her face into Marco's shoulder as she tearfully and repeatedly apologizes to Marco, herself and their innocent, young daughter for letting such a tragedy happen.

A couple of seconds later she is back to running the food truck with Marco and a familiar little voice calls out to her and says "It's okay, mommy. You can let go now. I'm okay".

Rosie is at a loss for a way in which to process how she is feeling with the tragedy still fresh in her mind. All she can really think to do is continue to express how sorry she is.

"I'm so sorry..."

"I'm so sorry" Rosie whispered as she gazed longingly at the group of young children running around and rolling in the grass during the beautiful spring day in Atlanta, Georgia; all the while failing to notice that Marco had been attempting to snap her out of her daydream state of mind because someone just ordered a cheese and bacon Panini.

"You okay, honey? What's gotten into you?" Marco asks as he assures the customer that the order has been taken care of and then brings his attention back to his worried, long-term girlfriend who looks like she had just seen a ghost.

"Nothing. I'm fine" Rosie answered glumly.

"It's definitely something, I know you better than that. Come on, you can tell me" Marco insists as he takes his hand in hers and rubs circles around the surface with his thumb.

"Look, I'm fine. Can we just talk when we get home?" Rosie asked, growing defensive. Since they had been together for nearly 5 years, Marco knew when to let Rosie have some space. The last thing he would ever want to do was aggravate her even more than she already was; no matter how cute she may have looked when she was upset.