It has been two days now since our little baby boy was born, and I can still not get enough of staring at him while he sleeps so peacefully. Never have I seen something so precious and yet so fragile.
These past two days have been very challenging, not only for our boy but for Isabella and me, as we go through the ups and downs of him being born so early.
If I say that the things that the Doctor mention does not scare the living shit out of me, then I would be lying. Talking about survival rates and complications is near enough to drive any man beyond the fear that only nightmares should be made of.
As things stand at the very present, we are patiently waiting for his blood pressure and heart rate to start stabilizing. He is hooked up to so many tubes and wires that my heart breaks every time that I look at him.
My only desire is to hold him, and I can see that it burns deep within Isabella as well, but at this stage, the Doctor wants to move him as littl
…Isabella POV…They say that you can't push back a wave.Well, I am standing on the beach about to be pummelled.If I had known that day that I was going to break, I would have chosen differently. I could have prevented it all together; I would have. Through everything, I did the best that I could to stay alive.It was lurking in the darkness, just waiting to strike and make itself known.It took my dreams and left my life in pieces.It was like a shadow that clung to me every day. A companion that I have had for years now.I fell so hard and so fast that I had to be hospitalized for a week.Type one, rapid cycling with moods congruent psychosis, which apparently is a devastating and severe form of Bipolar Disorder.They told me that I had a mixed episode, which is dangerous. It has a tremendously high suicide risk, higher than a major depressive episode, which did explain a lot. Because when I decided to h
Isabella is hiding something from me.She has not been herself, acting rather over-stressed and if I dare to even say it, but she is more edgy and moody than what she normally is.We are taking Braydon home tomorrow and I can honestly not wait. Though the enthusiasm with Isabella seems to be lacking. I am putting it down to her only being nervous.But there is definitely something up with her.But putting that aside, we both have not had a decent night's rest for the past two weeks and from here on end it is not going to get any better.So while Betty and my mom are looking after Braydon, Isabella and me are going home for a much anticipated rest.With that, I lace my fingers in hers, and we make our way out of the room. Passing by my father, I only give him one nod, and we make our way down the stairs to the outside of the Hospital. It is with a slight bit of urgency that we find ourselves getting into the car and making the trip home in fa
…Isabella POV…I watch him as he is busy getting dressed. He is one of the sexiest men I have ever seen and probably the only one that I will ever be with.Clayton Jackson is definitely a price that any woman would love to have.So it is with nothing but that fucking gorgeous smile on his face that he leans over and places his lips softly against mine, "I need to go, boo."As I take his lips for mine to taste, I only softly whisper, "What time will you be back later?"He fumbles a bit, looking for the right words, "I am going to be a bit busy with Harrison, but I will come home as soon as I can."I nibble at his bottom lip for the last time, "Then I will see you later."And with that, he takes that goddamn tight ass out the door, leaving me rather frustrated.Well, I can… Let us rather think about this one.I will make my own appearance at Harrison later, he just does not know that
…Isabella POV…As my entire world comes crashing down in one ball of fire, I make my way bursting through the crowds that seem to have only but grown in the past five minutes. It feels like I am suffocating; I am slowly choking on the very breath that is supposed to keep me alive.I am dying inside, and god, it fucking hurts.I let my guard down for only one second.I am drowning in a pool of my own tears that is making their way down cheeks that are still burning from the rage that took over my body only but moments ago. I have never lost it like that before, I don't know what the fuck happened, but all I can say for sure is that not only did I scare the shit out of myself, but I did out of Clayton too.And it is that very Clayton that I hear short on my heels call out for me, "Isabella, wait!"But there is no waiting; it is not that I don't want to hear what he has got to say; I am so scared of what I might do to him. Until t
I guess at some stage in every marriage, the honeymoon phase becomes over. Well, that has now officially happened with Isabella and me. Now, if I say that we want to kill each other, then that is a slight understatement. We cannot be in the same room for longer than a few minutes before heading out into an argument. Isabella has become completely unbearable to be around. And after her stunt at Harrison, her behavior is completely irrational.This morning I am trying to sneak out of the guest room, which has now been my new room for what is now the second night in a row.We brought Braydon home yesterday, and I can tell you that I have never been so happy in my life to have him finally where he belongs. Although I have had to sneak in moments to spend time with him, Isabella has been doing her level best to keep him from me. I am writing it off to her wanting to spend time with him and rather not think that she is trying to keep him from me.So this morning, I am
I have moved out into the guest room permanently.Things in the Jackson household have gone from tense to nothing at all. Isabella and I barely talk to each other, and when we do, we find ourselves in an argument. I have stopped counting the number of stupid things that we fight over.Isabella has gone completely insane, and I mean that in the nicest of ways.She is working herself up to a frenzy every day. She is going on like a complete lunatic.I have found any and every reason to be at Harrison these days, and of course, I am having an affair with Galland's ex-girlfriend. Well, if I wanted to have an affair, I would have had it with Harrison's wife long ago. What is going through Isabella's head that I do not know? At this stage, I do not want to be around her anymore. If it were not for Braydon, I would…ya, let us not go there yet.So this morning, as I am trying to sneak in a quick coffee before I leave, I hear her coming from Braydon'
Driving home in dead silence with the rain pounding down on the car, my thoughts are taken back to what happened earlier tonight. She can make up any excuse no matter how goddamn lame; it will still not make up for the way I broke her heart.I can honestly say that at this very present moment, I feel what is probably my heart being sliced open and ripped to shreds. The pain is suffocating; it squeezes every breath of air from my lungs. There is nothing else I want to do now but cry.Isabella has brought me down.But in all of my time as a Marine, I have never seen anyone crash and burn the way she did. It is not Isabella; it is not who she is. Let alone lose her temper the way that she has been doing.Is this what I have done to her?Did I completely break her?What have I done?What the fuck have I done to her?But in the same breath.What the fuck has she done to me!Maybe I am not the man that she n
…Isabella POV…By now, the hurt in his heart must be raging.As for the hurt in my heart, it is still burning out of control. I have not for one second let go of how angry I am at him. It has consumed every single fiber in me, and it still has not let go. I am growing closer and closer to the edge, and god, when I get there, I am going to crash and burn.My emotions are out of sync, and my mind is playing tricks on me. I have surrendered control over my demons the moment he had dropped that call on me, and it still has a firm grip on me. If I don't find myself between all the darkness soon, then I fear that I am going to be lost.And lost is what I feel. I will be very honest with myself; I am not as happy as I thought I would be. My emotions are mixed. There are moments when I feel guilt and then get those moments where the hints of joy are far greater than regret.Yes, I feel regret.What else do I feel…I feel
"Dear Clayton…I know that if you are reading this, it must have taken you days to get to that decision. I really do not blame you for hating me as much as you are hating me right now. And if it has taken you the time that I think it must have, then I know that you are somewhere near Baghdad and that you will be heading off into the unknown.Now I know that no part of you are going to believe this, but I really wish you good luck and for your safe return. Braydon needs you more than ever, for god knows he does not need his mother, not after the stunt that she has pulled.But if you give me just five minutes, then I want to tell you what and however stupid it might be, but I need for you to understand why I had to walk away and perhaps that you will understand. But before I lay my misery upon you, I want to say that I really did not intend for any of this to happen. I did not want to leave you or Braydon, but I had to; I had to give you two boys a better f
"I told you to stop phoning me, Clayton."With nothing but a huff, I clench the phone tighter, and without trying to sound too annoyed, I speak once again, "But, I just wanted…""No buts, Clayton. You have phoned six times already, and it is only 10:00 am. Do you not have something better to do?""Not at this very pressing moment. So please can I…?""No, I said no. You are not waking him up again just to say hello.""But mom, come on…""I said no!"With the vibration of her voice still ringing in my ear, my mom drops what would be the fifth call I have made unnecessary down in my ear. The phone finds its way very firmly to the other side of the ops tent, only but barely missing the head of Galland."Hey! What the fuck, man? Do you want to kill me?"I only but grunt at him as I catch the returning phone, "My mom does not want me to speak to Braydon.""Well, perhaps because you have phoned her l
07:30I have just watched two Humvees from our group swerve off the road and crash as they attempted to avoid the incoming fire from the enemy. Galland is desperately trying to make contact to confirm if all is alive.Right now, everything looks bleak as we are surrounded by more enemy than what we can handle.But as I look past Clark to the other side of the road, I can see a truck that has been crushed by one of the enemy's tanks. There I can sadly say, if they were not fast enough to get out and avoid enemy fire as well, then they are all gone.There seems by the radio that does come in and from what we can see between the chaos around us, only three remaining vehicles.We are sitting ducks.And this pond is far too big for us to navigate around in.Is this how it is going to end for this small group of Marines?Were we, in fact, too arrogant and too at ease when we set on this mission?This is not how I w
As I slowly flutter open my eyes, I can hear the distinct sound of chatter of excited Marines outside of my tent. Today is the day; for the past few days, we have been building up to this moment. These are the days that all Marines train and most definitely live for.It is the 23rd of March.04:45I have chosen to sleep in just for fifteen minutes. Just the fifteen minutes that I need to get my head into the game. Harrison has begged me not to go out with the squad this morning, but he knows that it is futile to even argue.This will be my last deployment for a while, and god knows I want to make it count. That means sitting on the sidelines and listening to the action coming through on radio is definitely not an option. I want, when I tell my son why I was not there in the early stages of his life, I want to tell him that I was out there making a difference. I need to do this not only for me but for him.Though, definitely not for his
Days seem to be moving faster than we have anticipated, with the imminent mission lying around the corner. We will be moving out tomorrow just before the crack of dawn as we will make our way up to Baghdad. Now to say that I am shit scared for what might happen is clearly evident in the pacing I have done in the past half hour. Much to Harrison's annoyance, he has sent me out of the ops tent to find something else to keep my mind occupied.I am fucking scared that I am not going to make this one home this time. I have come so close to death these past two missions that I am now asking myself what the fuck am I doing here. My son needs me, and I am here in the middle of goddamn no man's desert going off my head.My mom has even told me to stop phoning her more than four times a day, for I am driving her right there insane with my constant checking on Braydon. I never knew that there would come a day that I would rather be anywhere else than the place I used to love bein
It is early morning on a rather miserable Thursday that we are heading towards camp south of Nasiriya on this 20th March. To say that we are anxious and rather unsettled would be a blatant lie. We are nearing the end of what will be the major of our attempt to take over the forces in the City.I have been looking forward to this mission for a great number of days, but since the departure of Isabella, there is no other place that I would rather be than home at this present moment.We have been told this should be a quick in and out and should not last beyond two weeks, but we are preparing ourselves for a month as things never seem to go as planned when it comes to the forces in this Country.But I am set to get this mission over as fast as I possibly can with as few casualties as we had in Fallujah. My only true mission is that little bundle of smiles that is waiting for me when I get back home. This will, but I am not going to say that rather adaman
I remember the day when I was about to leave the Hospital when my dad just woke up from that horrible nightmare that he was facing. That day when we all knew that our love and faith had been tested. A time that we will never forget that should have taught us all a valuable lesson.Now, if I can recall almost exactly, I told myself that the next years would be difficult for me. I would stumble. I would fall. There would be heartbreak and failure. I would pick myself back up and start again. That there would be more heartbreak to follow.Well, if I now remember back to that day, I wish I could have kicked my own ass for predicting my future in such a bleak way.Yes.That night, that was the last time that I saw Isabella walk away, for the next morning when I went to go wake her after she had a very much-needed rest, I only but found the bed cold and empty, nearly like she had never been in it at all.So it has been a week.A week since Isabell
If my mind thought it was deceiving it, my eyes are telling me that I surely am not.Isabella has just arrived on our doorstep again. Why she has not entered the room, that I do not know. There is a slight hesitation about her which I am sure anyone would feel after what we have been through these past few days. I will not question her, for right now, I do not know what her intention is, and I damn well do not want another argument either.So it is with a tiny jolt of energy back into my bones that I can barely stop myself from smiling. As my eyes leave hers, I find the only thing that really matters in this world. Yes, I know that I need to say that Isabella is along there somewhere. But right now, I am reluctant to open myself to that possibility again.Yet, I do have to admit, "You have no idea I am happy to see you and Braydon." I pause for a brief moment as I rush over and place a tiny peck on the little man's forehead, then I continue again, "Isabella&hell
…Isabella POV…To say that I have not hit a new depth of stupidity in these past few days would be a total understatement. From bursting into Harrison's home and attacking Galland's girlfriend to taking Clayton's child away from him and sacking up in some small hotel room. That can easily be described as the most insane thing that any woman can set her mind to, regardless of which world it is that she finds herself in.Now, should I want to try and find the most logical answer for doing any of them, I cannot come to one single one.Why do I hate Clayton so much?Even more important…why is my Bipolar back with such a great force?Why do I want to hurt Clayton so bad?Well, I guess there is only the truth that needs to be told.And as I try to bear the pain that is consuming my body, try to make sense of this fucking crazy that is brewing inside of me.I've run out of reasons to run away from Clayton. I've tr