“No, I just know it is.”
“We’ll see, I’m still saying it’s a beautiful girl who looks like her mom.”
“I was hoping you’d like to read…to the baby.”
I close my eyes and breathe easy for the first time in days.
“Always,” I whisper, because my throat is clogged with emotion. “You got it on speaker?” I hear the button click and then her voice comes back to me.
“I do now.”
“Once upon a time in a land far, far away there was a Princess named Carolina, with long, flowing locks the color of a fall sky at sunset.”
“That doesn’t sound like a story about the moon.”
“I’ve decided to expand my horizons. Now hush, our munchkin wants to hear this story.”
“Okay.”
“Princess Carolina grew to be kind and strong, with a heart so full that she gave off a golden light full of love…”
“Golden light? Where’s my badass biker?”
“He was stupid and lost his woman,” I answer honestly.
“Jacob…”
“People would come from all across the world to gaze upon Princess Carolina’s beauty. They would bring her gifts and flowers, but most of all they would bring people to her that needed help. One day a friend of Princess Carolina’s told her of a dark and evil creature named Troll.”
“Troll?” She asks, but I hear the smile.
“Troll. Now, Troll had done some bad things and was doomed into the dark forest for years. He was all on his own, with no one to care about him.”
“Jacob…”
“Troll was mad and angry at the world, however he took one look at the Princess and wanted to be her friend…”
“Her friend?”
“It’s a children’s story Care Bear, some things munchkin will never discover until she’s a hundred and I’m dead and gone.”
That’s when I hear her laugh fully and I let go of a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. I breathe. Oh god, I breathe.
“I don’t think it works that way Jacob, but please continue.”
“Now where was I? Oh yeah, so Troll took one look at the beautiful Princess Carolina and wanted to be her friend. Still, to do so would mean bringing her deep into the forest with him and he couldn’t do that to her. If he let her into the forest, then her beauty and light would disappear and the people needed her light. She made the world better. So, he turned her away and hurt her heart.
Troll was very sad and his world just got darker and darker. One day it became so dark that Troll went to sleep. It was a deep, deep sleep and none of the Troll’s friends could wake him. When Princess Carolina heard of the news, she decided to come to the Troll one more time—in hopes of saving him.”
“Jacob….”
I hear the tears in her voice. I hope this means she understands what I’m trying to say.
“When she gets there Troll’s friends he had pushed away, are gathered around him crying. They all have given up hope. Princess Carolina looks down where the Troll is sleeping. She sees through his ugly hideous form, to the man underneath. She bends down and places a kiss on his lips. Slowly the Troll begins to warm, as Princess Carolina’s light shines through him and releases him from the darkness.
The Troll wakes, so thankful that the Princess has saved him. He vows to love her forever and ever. Then she takes him away from the dark forest, to a beautiful castle full of love and laughter. They become a family and have a little baby Princess named Jasmine.”
“Jasmine?” She’s crying now, but I can hear happiness. It’s a sound in Carrie’s voice you can’t mistake.
“Shhh…sweetheart, I’m at the most important part,” I say and this time there are tears in my eyes.
“What’s that?” She asks.
“They lived happily ever after.”
I hear her breathing hard and I lie there hoping.
“Jacob?”
“Yeah Care Bear?”
“Come get us.”
Thank fuck.
“I’ll be there in a few hours.”
*
I break every traffic law coming and going, but I make it to Carrie’s parents’ home in record time. I’ve barely turned the car off before I jump out and run up to the front door. Carrie opens it before I knock and I just drink her in. She’s lost weight. Her face is pale, but she has never been more beautiful.
“Hey Care Bear.”
“My Biker Troll.”
I smile, “I’ve missed you, sweetheart.”
I open my arms and she walks into them. I wrap them around her.
“I’ve missed you too,” she whispers against my neck. I pull away slightly, looking at her. She’s so beautiful. There are tears shining in her eyes and they slowly leak to the surface, but it is okay. I know these are happy tears and I kiss them away. I bend down to graze my lips against hers, I mean it to be just a touch, but after all this time away from her? I can’t help but make it deeper.