MISSING YOU; Bradley Simpson

26.

EVELYN

Three weeks have passed since Christmas and it's soon time for my wedding with Brad. It's exactly one week from now. Wow, I still can't believe we're getting married.

"Good morning," Brad comes back into our bedroom with a tray full of delicious breakfast.

"Morning," I peck his lips with a smile and begin eating right away.

"We're getting married in a week," he looks at me, his dark brown orbs lighting up. I smile widely and nod my head.

"I know. It's crazy," I joke and we both laugh. The bedroom's door opens and Faith walks inside, her ponytail a mess. She's holding the teddy bear Brad gave her and drags the stuffed animal on the floor as she makes her way to our bed.

"Morning, princess," Brad sits our daughter in his lap and gives her a kiss on the cheek. "Someone's still sleepy."

"Why aren't you sleeping?" I brush a lose strand of hair out of the small girl's eyes.

"I'm not sleepy," she tries to act like she's full of energy, making Brad and I laugh.

"Yes, you are. Go back to bed," Brad moves his leg up and down.

"I don't want to," Faith looks like she's about to cry.

"Why not? Something happened?" I put the tray down next to me and take the smaller girl into my arms, placing her on my lap. She shakes her head and burries it in the crook of my neck, sobbing lightly. "Faith, what happened?" I pull her back so I can look at her face. She snaps her head to the side, her brunette locks covering her entire face from me. "Faith!" I say more demandingly.

"I had a bad dream," she finally admits and looks back to me. "You, daddy and I were sitting in the living room and grandpa came in and did something terrible to you," she begins crying again.

"Oh, baby. That was just a bad dream. That would never happen, okay?" I pull her to my chest, wrapping my arms around her small figure tightly.

"Okay," she nods and slowly calms down. Brad rubs her back comfortingly and gives a kiss to the top of her head. We exchange sympathetic glances before Faith lets go of me and crawls off of my lap. She looks at the tray and slowly reaches for a strawberry. Before taking a bite, she looks at me for approval and I chuckle.

"Take it," I smile at her and watch as her beautiful, chocolate brown eyes light up as she takes a bite from the fruit.

We spend the rest of the morning like this, the three of us joking around. Brad even pulled out a board game and we played with it for almost two hours. We let Faith win, of course. She was so happy, it was worth it.

"I have to get ready now," Brad slowly stands up from the bed.

"You have to work?" I raise an eyebrow. It's a Sunday, how come he has to work?

"No, I'll just hang out with the boys at the frat house," he shrugs. "If that's okay with you . . ."

"Of course it is!" I nod my head with a sincere smile, but it doesn't convince him. "Brad, I'm not the type of girlfriend to get mad when you go out with your friends. Unless you don't get in any trouble or cheat on me, I'm fine with it," I blurt out and regret it immediately. "Sorry . . ."

"No, it's alright. I deserved it," Brad shrugs like he doesn't care, but I can see the hurt in his eyes. He walks into the closet and changes his clothes. Meanwhile, I pick up the already sleeping girl and carry her to her bedroom.

As I close the door to Faith's room, my father comes out of the guest room. I haven't talked to him since that night he got drunk and I would like to keep it that way. I just glare at him for a second and turn on my heels, almost bumping into Brad. He is all ready now to go.

"See you later, babe," he leans down and kisses my lips.

"See you," I smile when we pull away and let him leave.

I go back to the bedroom and change out of my pajamas into some sweats and a T-shirt. I pick up my laptop from the bedside table and go out into the living room. I turn the TV on for background noise as I continue writing my book. Suddenly, my phone starts ringing and I pick it up without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?" I continue typing on my laptop.

"Eve, I think something's really wrong," Sasha's panicked voice stops my fingers from moving around the keyboard.

"What? What happened?" I ask worriedly.

"Please come pick me up and drive me to the hospital. Tim is out of town and I don't want to freak him out just yet," she breathes heavily down the phone.

"Alright, I'll be there in five," I say before hanging up. As I slip into my sneakers and jacket, dad walks past me and stops to watch me get dressed. "I have to go out, can you watch Faith?"

"Of course," he nods, clearly confused of my rush.

"Thanks," I say, opening the front door and hurrying to the elevator.

—

I pace around the hallway of the hospital, waiting for Sasha to come out and tell me what the hell happened. When I got to their house, I found her in the bathroom, sitting on the cold tile floor and bleeding uncontrolably down there. She claims it can't be her period, because she still has three weeks until that to come, so I'm really worried right now. Sasha is like a bigger sister to me that I never had and I don't know what would happen to me if something terrible happens to her.

Finally, her and the doctor come out of the examination room and walk up to me. Sasha is in tears and the doctor has a sympathetic look on his face.

"What's up?" I hurry over to my sister-in-law and hug her tightly as she cries into my shoulder.

"Apparently, Mrs. Granaderos was four weeks pregnant and had a miscarriage," the doctor informs me.

"Did you know that?" I gasp, pulling Sasha slightly away.

"No," she stops sobbing and wipes her tears. "I was planning on taking a test, but didn't have the time," she sighs.

"Oh, babe, I'm so sorry," I whisper as I pull her back into a hug.

"You think I should tell Tim?" she asks as we walk down the hallway to leave the hospital.

"I think he needs to know," I nod.

We get into my car and I drive off to Tim's and Sasha's house. I don't know how it feels to know that you lost a baby before it could even see the light, but seeing Sasha, it's worse than I can imagine. I don't even want to think about how it would've felt like if I lost Faith.

I put my hand on her knee and give it a reassuring squeeze. Sasha forces a smile on her face and rests her head against the window. I can tell she wants to cry her heart out, but is too afraid to do that in front of me. I've known her for more than five years now and I know she hates crying in front of someone else.