Last chapter for this one. Sorry for any mistakes you find. This chapter was supposed to be something else entirely, however I ended up going a different direction. I do suggest that if you are emotional you should have some tissues nearby, I about came to tears a few times while writing this.
To the guest reviewer yes, Candice and Ethan were there, for one reason or another it slipped my mind to have them in a scene but they were there being civil with Harley and dancing with Wade and Zoe, sorry for that.
Thank you to everyone that has followed along with this story and thank you to those of you that have simply read it and thank you to everyone that has left reviews along the way.
"Momma can we go see Daddy?" A 4-year-old Jessica asked, climbing onto the porch swing her dolly in hand. While naming their daughter, they did not take anything in, they simply found a name, they both liked, despite Jesse having a field day with it.
"We can go see Daddy after lunch, first we gotta go met Uncle Jesse and Aunt Willow to find you the perfect little dress," she reminded her daughter. After 3 years of being together, they got engaged and now after being engaged for a little over a year they were ready for the ceremony itself. There had been multiple setbacks along the way, making Jesse question, whether getting married was something he still wanted after all the bad things he was dealt. For a while, marriage was no longer a top priority for him. Nevertheless, they couldn't wait forever, and they had to move on with their lives.
"I miss him, Momma. Can we bring Daddy home?" She asked with a little tremble of her lower lip.
"I miss, Daddy too, sweetie," Zoe replied, putting her cup of tea to the side, moving her daughter to her lap. Jessica curling up to her mom, as Zoe gentle pushed the swing back and forth. "I wish everyday we could bring Daddy home, but we can't do that," she sadly told her daughter.
"Will he ever be able to come home?" Jessica questioned quietly a soft sob escaping.
Zoe went to answer, rubbing her daughters back, when there was a soft wail coming from inside the house. Kissing her daughter's head, she asked her daughter, "Want to help Mommy get Colin ready to go?"
Jessica's little green eyes lit up, scurrying off her mom's lap to help with her baby brother. Zoe smiled following behind her daughter. Days were hard to get through when both of your children looked like your husband. Giving up was so easy and within her reach, seeing the smiles on her kids faces each day was worth living for.
"There's Mommy's sweet boy," Zoe cooed picking her four month-old son up, kissing his head and gently bouncing him to get his cries to let up.
"Here Momma," Jessica said, holding a little outfit up for her mom to put on her baby brother. "Kiss Momma, kiss," she pleaded. Smiling Zoe bent down so Jessica could kiss her little brother on the head. "Momma loves you and I love you and Daddy loves you lots, though he not here," she told her baby brother.
"Your sister is right, buddy; we love you, all three of us, don't forget that," Zoe smiled, laying him down to change him. "Jessica can you find your shoes and put them on please?" Zoe asked, tickling her son's tummy, getting his little chubby legs to kick and his little chubby arms to move.
"Momma, this the right foot?" She asked, holding her foot up for Zoe to see.
"No sweetie, that shoe goes on your left foot," she informed her daughter.
"Uncle Jesse is here to help," he said, easily finding the little family. With it being just the three of them, he helped out as much as he could when he could, which was most days, but yet, not enough to him. "Can sweet little Jessica tell Uncle Jesse which foot is her left foot?" He asked, tickling her socked covered feet.
"I thought we were meeting you in Mobile?" Zoe questioned, finishing getting her baby boy ready to go.
"Willow had something she needed to do in Fairhope; I wasn't allowed to go along, considering I am the groom," he replied, switching from his conversation with Zoe to the one he was having with his niece. "Good job, munchkin," he smiled, tying the shoe for her. "You in a hurry to get rid of me?" He questioned with a smirk.
"Never," Zoe replied. "We are going to see Wade today; she misses him and…" She trailed off, her eyes burning with tears.
"Hey now, Zo," he said softly, hugging her, Colin between them safely. "We all miss him and if I could bring him back, I would do that, I would gladly take his place, so he could be here with his family," he told her for what he thought was the hundredth time in the past two weeks.
"Jessie hug too," Jessica stated, squirming her way into the hug.
"I can stay when you go visit him, if you need me to," he suggested.
"Thanks for the offer," she smiled, breaking the hug. "We will be fine, afterwards we have a dinner with Grandpa, don't we sweetie?"
"Uh huh, Momma says I can stay the night," she beamed at her Uncle.
"Your Grandpa will like that," Jesse replied, picking us niece up. "We ready to go?" He questioned.
"Just about," Zoe said, buckling Colin into his car seat. She had made sure the diaper bag didn't need anything added to it when her baby boy was sound asleep, and she was left awake to watch the sunrise on her own. She found sleep was hard to come by these days.
"Daddy's picture," Jessica said getting her uncle to walk to the kitchen where the drawing was laying on the counter. "When can my Daddy come home?" She quietly asked Jesse.
Not knowing how to answer that question he went with the best answer he could give her. "Your daddy is home; he is right here," he said pointing to her heart. "Your Daddy will always remain in your heart. His love will stay with you forever. Daddy is never far away, sweet pea. He is everywhere you look; you are part of your Daddy."
Jessica buried her face into her Uncle's neck, her tears wetting his skin and dampening his shirt collar; he didn't care. He rubbed his niece's back gently rocking her, letting her cry. Zoe peeked around the corner to see what was going on, she let them be, having a feeling that not only did Jessica need the comfort of her Uncle, but her Uncle needed the comfort as well.
"Momma, I princess," Jessica beamed, twirling around in her light orange dress with glitter and rhinestones. A tiara now lopsided on her little head.
"You are a beautiful princess, love," Zoe smiled at her daughter, remembering to take a few pictures. Orange was her favorite color, and Jesse had insisted that they have orange a color in their wedding so his niece could wear an orange dress instead of a yucky pink one as she kindly referred to it as. To see his niece so happy after the events of the morning it was the least he could do.
"Come sweetheart, let's find you a pair of shoes," Willow suggested holding her hand out to the little girl.
"I no shoes," she stated shaking her head, her light-brown hair flying around her. Zoe was worried the tiara was going to go flying off, but it stayed put. Ever since she could pull her shoes off by herself, she refused to wear shoes if she didn't have to. She would much rather run around in bare feet.
"Sweetie you need to find a pair of shoes," Zoe told her daughter.
"Tell you what, mini me, you will only have to wear them while outside; I will let you walk down the aisle bare foot, and you can run around at the reception without them on, but you have to wear them outside, deal?" Jesse asked, holding his hand out to his niece.
"Deal," she smiled, knowing she had just won that battle, shaking her uncle's hand.
"Thank you for that," Zoe smiled at Jesse. "I don't get where she gets the no shoes' thing from. Sometimes she is so good and puts them on no problem and other times it's a fight to put them on. I wasn't like that, Wade wasn't like that, was he?" She questioned.
"He was for a while," Jesse shared with her. "You were lucky you missed his diva fits. You were the prize if he put them on. I don't know how many times I heard if you don't put your shoes on you won't be seeing Zoe today," he chuckled. "That might be why I didn't like you so much back then, that and the fact that he always had you, and I didn't have a friend like you guys had," he told her.
"I should inform you that I didn't like you because you always looked grumpy," she laughed.
"I was not grumpy," he retorted, feeling offended at that, making Zoe laugh harder.
"Looked like it," she retorted, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You have a friend like that now, Jesse. I won't leave you behind; I do need you in my life," she told him, looking down at her son, gently rocking him in his car seat. "It has been four months, and he didn't even get to see his son," she sadly told him. "He was happy he was getting a boy too."
"I know, Zoe," Jesse replied, putting his arm around her. "It goes without saying that I need you as much as you need me. He will meet his son one day, Zoe, don't lose that faith; we need to be strong and keep believing," he told her, his words hard for him to do at times.
"I try, Jesse," she sighed, wiping at her eyes. "It is harder some days than others."
"Momma we see Daddy now?" Jessica asked, running up to her mom in her normal clothes, now that she found shoes for her dress. Putting a stop to the adult conversation.
"After we eat," she promised her oldest.
"I not hungry," the little girl protested, crossing her arms over her chest, her stomach grumbling.
"Is that so?" Zoe asked with an amused look on her face. Jessica nodded her head. "Not even for your favorite deli sandwich and yogurt?" The little girl shrugged, wanting just that, but refusing to back down from going to see her father. "What if we got the food to go and ate it with Daddy? Would you be hungry then?"
"I think so," she answered casually, her eyes lightening up at the very idea of it. "We get flowers for Daddy too?" She asked, picking up her brother's diaper bag to carry it out to the car.
"Daddy would like that, very much," Zoe said. "Say bye to your Aunt and Uncle." Jessica nodded, going to hug Willow first.
"You need anything afterwards, don't hesitate to call; I'll be there," he told Zoe, hugging her tightly. She nodded against his shoulder.
With their lunch in hand, they made their way to where Wade was at. Zoe helped Jessica get situated next to him on the bed. She kissed her father's cheek, the beeping noise music to her little ears.
"I promise to tell you things once I eat, Daddy," she said, waiting for her mom to get her food ready for her to eat off the little table. "I drew a picture for you, and Momma helped pick flowers out," she stated, taking a bite of her sandwich.
With her daughter taken care of she went to feed her baby boy who was starting to fuss in his seat. "Mommy will feed you sweet one, and then you can lay down in Daddy's arms for a little nap," she promised her son sitting down in the only chair in the room.
She smiled listening to her daughter talk between bites of food of all the things that had gone on since the last time she had visited her father a week ago. Once a week for the past four months, Zoe would bring her kids in to see their father. She tried to do it more than that, but it was too hard on all of them. Between family and friends, they had come up with a schedule as not to leave Wade alone. On the days, Zoe worked in Mobile, she would stop in and visit her husband. Seeing him in a coma never got any easier on her.
He didn't even get the chance to see his son being born, as he was in Fairhope that day helping out with a music class when she had gone into labor, and he was going faster than he should have been going, swerving from hitting a dog that ran out into the road, causing him to flip the car and ended up in the coma, looking better each day. If he was to wake up that was on him now.
Keep an eye out for the sequel Waiting on You.