Chapter 164 #164

Chapter 164 #164
Chapter 164
~Shailyn's POV~

I sat on the cold bathroom tile, staring down at the sleek white stick in my hand.

Two bold, dark pink lines glowed across the little glass window.

Positive.

My hands began to shake uncontrollably. A soft, gasping laugh choked out of my throat, immediately followed by a wave of hot tears that spilled over my eyelashes and ran down my cheeks.

I rested my forehead against the edge of the sink, clutching the test against my chest. My mind drifted back through the heavy fog of the last eight months, to the dark place I thought I would never escape.

For months after the night at the harbor pier, I was completely consumed by a silent desperation.

I remembered waking up every single morning at five o'clock, my heart racing before my eyes even opened. I had turned my life into a strict, suffocating routine. I took my temperature, tracked numbers on an app, swallowed handfuls of fertility vitamins, and ripped open pregnancy tests almost daily.

And every single morning ended with the exact same soul-crushing result: a single, lonely line.

I remembered sitting on this exact bathroom floor six months ago, sobbing so hard I couldn't breathe, holding a negative test while Dwayne knelt beside me, pulling me into his arms.

"Why isn't my body working, Dwayne?" I had cried into his shoulder back then. "What is wrong with me?"

"There is nothing wrong with you, my love," Dwayne had whispered gently, his own voice cracking as he wiped my cheeks. "Nothing."

He took time off work that very afternoon to drive me to my OB-GYN. I could still hear Dr. Lucinda’s kind, serious voice as she reviewed my medical charts and set her pen down on the desk.

"Physically, Shailyn, you are completely healed," Dr. Lucinda had explained, looking at both Dwayne and me. "Your body is healthy. But emotionally... you are trapped in a fight-or-flight response. You are carrying severe unprocessed trauma from the kidnapping, the gunshots, and the loss of your baby. You are forcing yourself so hard that your stress hormones are spiking every day. Your mind wants to replace what was lost, but your body doesn't feel safe yet."

Dr. Lucinda had looked me right in the eyes and given us her strongest recommendation: "Put away the tests. Stop tracking. And please, consider grief and trauma therapy."

Taking that advice felt terrifying, but Dwayne refused to let me go through it alone.

For three long months, we went to weekly therapy sessions together with Dr. Aris. Sitting on that plush couch next to Dwayne, I finally allowed myself to scream, cry, and talk about the suffocating guilt I felt for meeting Devian at the warehouse, the terror of the dock, and the deep, hollow ache of losing our baby.

Dwayne had held my hand through every single tear-filled session, weeping right alongside me as he shared his own unspoken fears.

"I thought I had to be strong for everyone," Dwayne had confessed one afternoon, his chest heaving. "I felt like I failed to protect you and our baby."

"You saved my life, Dwayne," I had reminded him, turning to hold his face in my hands. "We didn't fail. We survived."

Slowly, like winter turning into spring, the heavy weight inside our home began to lift. We threw away the calendars, the tracking apps, and the drawers full of test kits. We stopped trying to force the future and began living in the present.

We spent our weekends playing in the grass with Lily and Lucy, taking long walks by the lake, and reconnecting as husband and wife without the suffocating pressure hanging over our heads.

My body finally learned how to breathe again. My heart finally felt safe.

A sudden knock on the front door brought me crashing straight back to the present moment.

"Mama! We're home!" Lily's tiny voice echoed down the hallway.

I blinked away my tears, looking back down at the positive test in my hands. It wasn't a memory. It was real.

"Oh... thank you, God," I whispered into the quiet room, laughing through my tears as I wiped my cheeks.

I stood up on unsteady legs, my heart beating with pure, unadulterated joy. I wanted to give Dwayne a moment he would remember for the rest of his life.

I rushed into the bedroom, pulled out a tiny pair of white baby booties we had saved, and placed them inside a small velvet box right next to the positive test. Closing the lid, I walked out to the living room and sat on the edge of the couch, holding the box tightly in my lap.

Dwayne walked into the living room holding Lily on his hip, while Lucy toddled right behind him, proudly clutching a small yellow dandelion.

"Look, Mama! Flower!" Lucy babbled, holding the tiny stem up in the air.

"It's beautiful, sweetie," I said, my voice shaking slightly.

Dwayne stopped in his tracks the second he looked at me. Seeing the tears glistening on my face and my hands trembling in my lap, his smile instantly dropped into intense concern.

He set Lily down on the rug and hurried across the room, dropping to his knees right in front of me.

"Shai? What's wrong?" Dwayne asked frantically, his hands hovering over my knees. "Hey, what happened? Are you in pain?"

"I'm not in pain, Dwayne," I sobbed happily, a massive smile bursting across my face as fresh tears spilled over. "I... I thought I wouldn't be able to do this again. I thought my body was broken forever."

Dwayne’s eyes softened with deep tenderness. He reached up, gently framing my face with his large hands. "Shai, you are the strongest woman I know. You know that, right?"

Without saying another word, I lifted the small velvet box and placed it gently into his hands.

Dwayne looked down at the box, confused. He slowly lifted the lid.

Inside lay the tiny white booties, resting right beside the test displaying two bold, unmistakable pink lines.

Dwayne completely froze.

The color drained from his face for a split second, his jaw dropping open as he stared down at the test. He looked at the white booties, then at the two pink lines, and then slowly lifted his head to look into my eyes.

"Are... are you...?" Dwayne gasped out, his voice breaking terribly.

"We're having a baby, Dwayne," I sobbed, laughing through my tears as I reached out to him. "Our rainbow baby is coming."

A heavy, choked sob ripped through Dwayne's chest. He pulled me into his arms with overwhelming force, lifting me right off the couch and burying his face into the crook of my neck.

"Thank you... thank you, baby," Dwayne wept openly, his broad shoulders shaking as he held me like I was the most precious treasure on earth.

Lily and Lucy wobbled over to us, giggling softly at our tears, and wrapped their little arms around Dwayne’s legs. Dwayne dropped lower to the floor, pulling all three of us into one massive, tearful, laughing embrace.

The long night was finally over. The shadows were gone. And right here, held tightly in my husband's arms with our children around us, our family was finally whole.

Just as I left the kids with their dad. I walked out and just then a call came in.

“Mrs Belmar…this is from the rehabilitation center. We are calling you to inform you about Dante Belmar.”