Ghost of You

Eight

Stevie spent most of the night carefully rearranging the kitchen, checking the doors and securing latches. The lock clicked on the front door and now being on high alert, she ran to the foyer to see what was going on. She heard a jingle then a force pushed the door from the outside. She backed away, her hands once again protecting the baby within her from whatever was behind that door.

"Steph!" Lindsey said, dropping his luggage on the floor at the sight of her. She began to cry and he took her into his arms. "Oh, sweet girl!"

"I don't want you to ever go anywhere again...I'm so scared..." she sobbed, he could feel her shaking

"Baby, what's going on? I knew I shouldn't have left you alone!" He held her as tightly as he could, trying to almost make her absorb the safety that he came with

"I...I can't talk..." She couldn't stop her crying, making herself heave she was working herself up so much.

"Calm down, angel. I'm sure if we could feel the baby, it would be going crazy right now."

"I know" she said.

"Have you been sleeping? Maybe you need rest."

"I can't, I can't go up there, or down here. There is something here, Linds. Last night I was going to swim and something pushed me into the pool and I know you think I'm crazy" She spoke quickly, hiccuping from her tears and Lindsey struggled to make sense of what she said.

"You fell into the pool?"

"No, Lindsey, pushed, I was..."

"Stevie, you need to be more careful!" he scolded. "I understand you want to be independent but we have worked so hard and so long to have a child and we can't risk anything happening."

"But I..."

"Let's go to bed. You look so tired." She was about to protest, to tell him all that happened but his eyes were so piercing and his decision was unwavering. She nodded, that was all she could do.

She'd got into bed and laid there, the persona that was coming from Lindsey was that he was almost angry with her, she scooted over to him and rested her hand on his chest

"Are you mad at me?" She asked and heard him sigh

"I'm mad that you aren't more careful, you make a silly decision, then when it back fires you blame it on fucking ghosts! I won't lose this child because you can't be sensible!" She was afraid of his tone so she backed away, curling over her own side of the bed, she'd hoped he'd comfort her and wrap his arms around her, but he never did.

She drifted off in tears, only to have him wake her up some time in the afternoon. The sun was streaming through the windows and her face felt tight from dried tears.

"Baby, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am. I shouldn't have said such hurtful things to you" Lindsey said, stroking her shoulder and giving her a gentle kiss on the exposed skin there. She turned over to look into his eyes. His eyes were sincere and she sat up. "I was just worried and I lost my temper..."

"It's okay." she said. "You're right. I'm being crazy and I need to be more careful. This baby means a lot to both of us and I need to protect them more."

"No honey, I'm not right." Lindsey sat up as well, looking into her red rimmed eyes. "If you believe something push you, I...I can't say that I won't believe you. If you think it happened, maybe it did. I worry about both of you and I love both of you so much. I know you're doing your best. I left you alone when I should have been caring for you. I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. She closed her eyes and soaked in the sensation. "So you're not mad at me?"

"I had no right. I should have asked you if you were okay instead of yelling at you. I know you would never do anything to jeopardize the pregnancy."