Chapter 16 The Family Part 5

After Ben got off the phone with Michaela he went into the garage and thought about how painful this must be for both Zeke and Michaela. He was especially worried for Michaela cause he knew how much she wanted to build a family. He stayed in the garage when finally Grace came in and looked at Ben and asked, "Whats going on with you?"

"I just off the phone with Mick!"

"Oh yeah how are they up there? Hopefully they are doing their best to enjoy the time they have."

Ben looked at Grace and shook his head, "Mick had a miscarriage. They just found out they were pregnant and didn't even enjoy the news for 24 hours before they lost it."

"Oh my God Ben! Mick. God Zeke!"

"Yeah!"

"Did she go to the hospital?"

"Yeah Zeke drove her there. I'm so glad he was with her when it happened."

Grace gave Ben a hug and said, "I'm glad Zeke was there! What can we do?"

"I don't know Grace. Maybe we can try and track down Saanvi! Mick said they are driving back tomorrow but I texted her and told her there was a storm coming in and that maybe they should wait it out if they weren't going to drive tonight. But I hadn't heard back from her. Anyways, I called Saanvi's parents and they told me they hadn't heard or seen her in a few days. They figured she was working on the project she was working on."

At the moment they heard the door bell.

"I wonder who that could be!" Ben looks at Grace and says, "Are you expecting anyone?"

"No."

"Ok. I'll go check to see who it is."

Ben approaches the door and notices its one of Vance's security guys.

"Hey! Whats going on? Is Vance ok?"

"I have a message from Vance." Ben gets handed a piece of paper with the location to where to meet Vance.

"Come on in!" Ben looks at the piece of paper and there's an address and it says come alone.

"Meet Vance in an hour!" The security guy leaves and Ben looks at Grace.

"Whats wrong Ben?"

"Vance wants me to meet him at this address. Maybe he knows where Saanvi is?"

"When do you need to go?"

"In an hour!"

(listen to Not Alone by Olafur Arnalds)

The sun was coming down and the temperature was starting to drop.

So Zeke made a fire, and sat down at the couch with a cup of hot tea, a piece of paper, and pen.

Michaela woke up from her nap and wrapped herself in Zeke's flannel shirt, which was her favorite, and put on his sweatpants since she packed almost all her clothes not thinking about the fact she would be there for another night. She came out of their bedroom and saw Zeke on the couch. The place was warm and cozy. The fire lite up the living room and Zeke had lit a few candles that were out from the other night. As she walked up to him, he reached out his arm and she nestled herself close to him on the couch.

"Hi!" Michaela says.

"Hey"

"Shall we come up with some names for our daughter?"

Zeke looked at Michaela and said, "I'm not really good at this but how about Chloe Grace or Karen Grace?"

Michaela just smiled at him.

Zeke says, "What?"

"You want to name our daughter after your sister or my mom?"

"And you! Yeah, why not? She'd be named after some of the strongest, most courageous women in our family."

Michaela holds back the tears and shakes her head and agrees.

"I wish I would have met Chloe!"

"And I wish I would've met your mom. I would've enjoyed that very much!"

"Yeah I think she would have liked you a lot!"

"If she's anything like her daughter I would have absolutely enjoyed getting to know her."

"Is that all the names you came up with?"

"Well I have one more."

"Oh yeah? What is it?"

"Zoe! It's different I know but I like it."

Michaela with eyes wide open said, "Are you serious?"

"What?"

"Zeke, I had Zoe on my list!"

"Really?"

"YES!"

"I've always loved that name."

"Well let's put it on the list!"

"Zeke, what made you think of that name?"

"I like that it sounds like my sisters name Chloe but with a Z instead!"

"I love it!" Michaela paused for a few seconds, "You know that name means life." Michaela thinking about how short hers was. The pain in her chest was still there. It was like she was suffocating.

"No I didn't know that." Zeke said.

Michaela thought about it some more and told Zeke, "You know, when I saw her on the field, she was dancing and singing and she was so full of life. Remembering that, I thought Zoe was appropriate for her. Although she lived a very short life, she was full of it!"

"Zoe." Zeke sat there, allowing the name fill the gapping hole in his heart. "Yeah, its meaning is pretty intense. What middle name did you think of for her?"

Michaela thought about it, and said, "I love James! Zoe James Landon."

Zeke was floored. "Really?"

"Yeah. She's a part of you Zeke and I want her to have a piece of your name. She had your eyes and your smile. I will never forget her face. Never." Michaela lets the tears flow once again.

Zeke didn't know what to say, instead he placed the pen and paper down on the coffee table and grabbed a blanket, wrapped himself and Michaela in it and held her.

"What do you think?"

"I love it. I love her! Zoe James Landon. It's perfect."

"Yeah. She was so perfect!"