Page 115 of Moto
“Take it with you on your adventures.” She grabs my hand. “If there’s one thing your father loved, it was an adventure.”
“I will.” I hug the book, vowing to take it wherever I go. After I graduate high school, I’m studying abroad in Australia. And I’m leaving with a bucket list a mile long. I definitely inherited more than just his handwriting. There are photos all over my room of me skydiving, and racecar driving, and of my beloved black and purple Yamaha. It feels like I’ve been riding since the minute I could walk.
“You’re going to make a mark, just like him.” My mom stands, the emotional weight of the morning evident in her every feature. We look alike, heart-shaped faces and dark-brown hair, except I have blue eyes.His eyes.
“I hope so.”
“I know so.” She kisses my forehead. “Come down when you’re ready.”
“I’ll be right there,” I assure her as she leaves the room. I gather up my birthday presents and lay back down on the bed, securing them against my chest, an outpour of emotion flooding my heart.
I may not have had a pretty dress or a cake or even a party, but I can honestly say, this by far, is the best birthday I’ve ever had.
Kayla
Isuppose you think I ran straight back into Dev’s arms the minute we laid Reese to rest. But that isn’t how it happened. Not in the least bit...
Three years after Reese’s death
I clean off the cake plates and messy plastic forks from the dining room table as Sam pulls down the purple streamers hanging from the ceiling.
Entertaining eight rambunctious three-year-olds can really take it out of you. We stuff everything in the black garbage bag and exchange a relieved expression. We made it.
It doesn’t matter how trying the afternoon was, though. I would do anything for that busy little girl who’s wearing her favorite lavender party dress, making a new mess of the toys I just picked up.
“Good job, sweetheart.” Sam places an arm around me as we spy on Dev putting together Cici’s new Power Wheel in the family room. It doesn’t look like it’s being cooperative. He has the screwdriver in his mouth and a puzzled expression on his face.
“C’mon, Dev. You made it through medical school. A child’s toy should be no problem,” Sam teases him. He looks up at us with only his eyes, not amused by her sarcasm in the least bit.
“It’s a good thing you carry a gun.” I nudge her. “If looks could kill.” I move toward the entryway to carry out the trash.
“He doesn’t scare me.” She laughs, just as I exit the front door.
Once outside, I inhale sharply. The crisp January air stinging my lungs. It snowed last night, so a blanket of white dust covers the trees and front lawn. I revel in the prickly sensation of the cold. Sometimes I need the painful reminder. The painful reminder I’m not the one who died. I drop the bag in the can and prolong my return inside.
My entire life changed in a blink of an eye.
For a second time, a motorcycle claimed the life of someone I loved, and for a second time, I watched helplessly as they died in my arms. No amount of CPR could stop the impending end. I watched Reese take his last breath as I tried desperately to give him mine. My worst fear had materialized. The father of my child was taken way too soon. I became a widow at twenty-seven and lost all direction. For eight months I drifted, trying to come to terms, trying to find my way.
I didn’t find clarity until the fateful day Cici came into my life, a small, determined little bundle who decided to make her grand appearance in the middle of a major snowstorm.That was fun.But the minute they placed her in my arms, she became my sole purpose. My brave new world.
Reese in his infinite wisdom (or paranoia, take your pick) drafted a will shortly after we were married. He divided his fortune evenly between Dev and me. I never bothered to ask him about the bottom line of his bank account because it didn’t really matter, but when the lawyer handed over the documentation, I was steamrolled. The collective years of racing and endorsements proved obscenely profitable. And although I felt guilty accepting the money because we had only been married a few short months, I knew he would want his daughter taken care of. So besides buying a house for her to grow up in and a new, reliable car, I put the majority of the money in a trust fund. We have enough, and we’re happy.
For the most part.
I walk back into the house with a chill running down my spine. Everything seems to have fallen into place except one burdensome, unaddressed issue.
I find Reese, or as we affectionately call her, Cici, crawling all over Dev as he persistently tries to tackle the plastic motorcycle.
“Maybe you need to go back to medical school.” It’s my turn to poke fun as I peel Cici from his lap.
“Not funny. I will figure this out.”
“It looks like Fisher Price threw up in here.” I allude to all the plastic pieces spread out over the rug.
“Everything has its place,” Dev muses, -knee-deep in concentration. It actually makes me laugh. He’s not even this focused at work.
“Well, while you wrestle with the Power Wheel, I’m going to give the birthday girl a bath and put her to bed.”
