[Finding Emma 03.0] Megan's Hope by Steena Holmes Page A

bought Emma a large journal type book that they were writing the story in.
    “ Are you ready to start the next chapter or do you still need to finish your picture? ”
    “ Picture. ” Emma climbed down from Peter ’ s lap and pulled out a box they kept on the corner table. It had Emma ’ s crayons and book in there.
    The story was of a princess who got lost. She met a farmer in the forest who was helping her back to the castle. Emma was the princess and the farmer was her Papa.
    With Emma busy drawing, Megan reached for a magazine and sat down at the table with her, trying to ignore the increased pressure on her back from the baby while Peter went in to check on Jack and the other two girls.
    “ Megan, ” Peter called out to her minutes later. “ Megan, come here, please. ” Something in his voice filled Megan with dread.
    Oh no . She glanced at Emma, who remained oblivious of everything around her as she drew pictures of sunflowers and butterflies. Megan pushed her chair back and attempted to stand but a sharp pain laced through her body and she cried out.
    “ Megan? Are you okay? ” Peter rushed into the kitchen.
    She shook her head. She kept her gaze downwards at the puddle of water beneath her feet.
    “ Peter, it ’ s too early. ” She swallowed hard and attempted to breathe before she looked up into Peter ’ s stricken face.
    She wasn ’ t ready. Not for this. Not for the other either. They needed more time.
     

 
     
     
     
    November
    Megan rested her head against the back of the chair and let the silence engulf her. She needed this right now, needed the calm, the stillness. It could be disrupted any moment. She ignored the mess around her — the piles of clothes, the garbage bag tied tight beside the door — and just drank in the quiet.
    Little Carson Jack Taylor, barely a month old, had finally fallen asleep.
    They ’ d always known his name was going to be Jack and originally, they were going to call him Jack Carson, but Jack had made a comment to Peter one day, telling him about a man who ’ d helped save his life during the war. Private Carson Mearing had taken a bullet meant for Jack. To honor the man who had saved him, Peter suggested naming their son after the hero.
    Never had a name meant more to them than this one.
    Right now, with his bow shaped mouth and dimpled cheeks, Carson looked like a little angel. She could stare at him all day and not get enough.
    She ’ d been unsure about having another baby in the beginning but the moment she held him in her arms, with his scrunched-up face and hands waving wildly, she knew this is what she was meant for … to be his mother. The girls had fallen in love with him, even Emma, who had tried to ignore her growing belly her whole pregnancy. Now the girls couldn ’ t leave him alone … Carson was going to be one loved and spoiled little brother.
    “ Hey. ” Peter poked his head into the room and opened the door slowly.
    Megan gave her husband a soft smile.
    “ Want a break? ”
    She shook her head. She was afraid to say anything, do anything, that might wake her sleeping angel up.
    She ’ d — no, they ’ d — forgotten how hard it was to be parents of a small baby. Not just hard, but exhausting. The sleepless nights, the guilt she carried in her heart every time he cried, not knowing what she could do to help him.
    Today had been a long and hard day for them all. Jack was back in the hospital — had been since the day Carson was born — and he was slipping away, a little bit more every day. She wasn ’ t sure what held him here, whether it was his love for Emma or seeing Carson every day, but he continued to tell them he wasn ’ t ready — not yet.
    Carson gave a little sigh and turned in her arms. Megan took that opportunity to slowly rise from the chair and place him in his crib. With the little sleep Carson had all day, she hoped … no, she prayed that he would sleep through the night tonight.
    God knows, she could use the