The day Tyler left I stood in the front yard waving goodbye, Greyson attached to my hip, Ty kissed every inch of my face, both of Greysons cheeks and placed two kisses on my belly,
"I'll see you guys soon, I'll try and get some time off for baby Archer" he kissed me again, a full Tyler kiss filled with passion, love and sadness.
"I love you Ty" My eyes were closed, forehead pressed against him,
"I love you angel" I watched until the car was no longer visible, clinging to my precious boy, taking a deep breath I returned inside. I had two options here, I could wallow away in self pity, sad that my husband would miss our wedding anniversary and new years or I could be the version of Skye that Tyler saw me as, strong and independent, good mother and his amazing wife, this was my choice to make, of course I knew which way I was going to go as hard as it might be and as much as my heart ached for him everyday it was what I needed to do.
I spent my New Years with Jackson after he told me that Harper was doing her own thing - man I swear I could get whiplash from all the back and forwards in their relationship, We took Greyson to the 8:30pm fireworks, Jackson has placed a pair of noise cancelling headphones on him to protect his ears - he was going to make a really good Dad one day, after fireworks we put Greyson to bed and curled up on the lounge watching the celebrations on TV - of course I fell asleep,
"Happy New Year beautiful" I heard Jackson whisper in my ear before I drifted off again.
My 19th birthday came and went, Jackson packed a picnic lunch and the three of us headed out to our spot on the beach where we spent most of the day. Jackson took Grey swimming, we talked, played with my darling little man, laying together on the blanket we watched in amusement as Greysons face became fascinated with butterflies and a couple of dogs chasing a ball. We returned home exhausted from the day, Jackson set to making dinner while I fed and bathed Greyson, once he was down for the night I checked my phone. I hadn't heard from my parents since Christmas and I thought they might reach out to me today, as if on cue my phone started ringing, 'out of area' I couldn't help but smile,
"Hello"
"Happy Birthday Baby"
"Hey Ty, I miss you"
"God I miss you to baby, how are you? how are my boys?" I laughed running my hand over my belly,
"Your boys are doing good, they are both growing beautifully - Greyson gets more and more like you everyday" Tyler laughed,
"Lucky kid" he answered, I could hear the smile in his voice, I smiled,
"I've gotten pretty big these past two weeks, the Dr's think he's going to be a big boy"
"God I bet you look fucking sexy Skye, my son growing inside you making you body expand, your skin glowing - fuck! it make me hard just thinking about it" He took a few deep breaths to calm down, I knew Ty well enough to know if he could have continued than he damn well would have meaning he must have someone in earshot. "How was your day baby?" I told him about the picnic, Jax and Grey going swimming and Greysons developing fascination with anything outdoors.
"How are you doing Ty?" he sighed,
"It's really tough here at the moment Skye, god I am missing you, all of you.
"Archer" I heard a gruff voice call out in the background
"I gotta go baby" Tyler whispered "I love you"
"I love you Ty" we held the line for a moment in complete silence, hearing him sigh deeply before the line disconnected.
On Greysons first birthday we had a party of course, I invited a couple of people from playgroup, Cara, Mason and Jayden of course, Sophia and Harper - I had given up trying to figure out what was going on so I just told her to come.
We filled the living room with balloons for the kids and party food for the adults, Sophia snapped a few photos of Greyson going fist first into his cake before wiping it all over his face, when Jackson bent down to clean him up Greyson grabbed a handful of cake and smashed it over his face - I could not help the hysterical laughter that came out of me, although I did stop when my eyes met Jacksons evil grin,
"No" I squealed, but by the time my pregnant ass had turned around he was caging me in his arms, spinning me to face him and rubbing his face against mine spreading the light blue icing across my nose and cheeks "I hate you" I whispered,
"Keep telling yourself that love" he kissed my forehead before letting me go.
A week after Greysons birthday, 2 weeks before baby 2.0 was due, Cara invited me for lunch with a few of the Mums from playgroup for a mothers only lunch, Sophia was more than happy to babysit telling me it would be good for me to get out and I have to admit I had a lot of fun, each Mum had their own funny stories to share as well as some horrors most of which involved vomit or poo, but they were pretty easy to talk to and Sophia was right, it really was good to get out of the house.
I stopped at the supermarket on the way home craving a chicken stir-fry, not thinking about the strange car parked in the driveway when I got home I made my way inside and placed the bags down in the lounge room looking at Sophia, her gaze was transfixed on Greyson who was sitting on the floor playing, I could hear the sound of muffled voices coming from the dining room enough to know one of them belonged to Jackson.
"Soph, whats going on?"
"Um, I don't really know Skye" her voice was quivering "this guy showed up wanting to talk to you and I couldn't get a hold of you, I rang Jackson and he came straight home, they have been in there for over an hour"
"Ok" I said confused, "Why would they want me" Sophia's voice was low as she replied,
"Skye, he is military" My blood ran cold, my mind focused on the one thing this guy was here for - Tyler.
37 minutes and 16 seconds I waited, seated next to Sophia her hand clutched in mine waiting for Jackson to emerge from the dining room, there was no way I was going in there, when he came out his hair was messy from running his hand through it too many times, his eyes bloodshot
"I'm sorry Mr. Archer, Please let us know if there is anything we can do, We will be in touch" He shook Jacksons hand and left, Jackson leant on the door as it closed, curling up his fist he punched it hard,
"FUCK!" I jumped in my seat as Jacksons word echoed through the house, Sophia speaking calmly to him
"Jax, what is going on?" He moved to the armchair, head in his hands he remained silent, breathing deeply. "Jax" her voice was louder this time "Please, whats happening?" he lifted his head, looking directly at me, then his mother and back to me again.
"Theres been an accident" my world started shaking "there was some sort of explosion, an attack on Tylers base camp" he took a deep breath "Tyler made it out, apparently he got a few other guys out and got them to the hospital" I breathed a sigh of relief, Sophia squeezed my hand her own fears leaving her body, Jackson stood from his seat and came to me, kneeling in front of me he started rubbing his hands up and down my legs"
"Tyler collapsed at the hospital, they got him into surgery, but" his eyes filled with tears and he struggled to keep it together "they were too late, he ummm, fuck - he didn't make it"
37 minutes and 16 seconds, my world shattered to the ground, My face was fixed to Jacksons, his eyes red and tears fell from his cheeks, I was searching his face waiting for him to tell me there was more to the story, but there was no more. My hands went to my stomach, my eyes shot over to Greyson who was staring intently at Sophia who was sobbing on the lounge next to me, his concerned little eyes coming to meet mine, those beautiful emeralds were my undoing, the tears came, my heart was pounding, aching in my chest as nausea crept through my body. My husband, my babies Daddy gone. My Tyler - he was actually gone.
YOU ARE READING
Falling - COMPLETED
RomanceHe shapes my entire world, everything I was was a reflection of the two of us. There wasn't an entire memory I had that he wasn't apart of, he had always been a part of my life, my best friend - for 15 years. My first friend, my first crush, my fir...
