CeCee

I'm a Rare Dime

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@josiahjdp Beautiful!!!

[Josiah @josiahjdp]

The first time April got a fever, I almost went crazy. I took her to the ER with a blanket, three bottles, two changes of clothes, and the complete terror of a first-time father. The doctor told me it was a mild infection. I cried in front of her. “I’m sorry,” I said. “It’s just that her mom died in a hospital.”

The doctor put down her pen. She didn’t say “calm down,” because that word is useless when you’re afraid. She just said: “Then let’s explain everything to you step by step.” And she did.

That night, while April slept on my chest, I understood something. I hadn’t hated my daughter. I had hated that she needed me when I wanted to disappear. I had hated that her life forced me to keep going. I had hated that Marina left in my arms the most beautiful proof that love isn’t buried completely.

We had April’s first birthday at home. Everyone brought food. We put yellow balloons in the living room because Marina loved that color. April swiped at the cake with the seriousness of a judge. Everyone laughed. I did too.

In the evening, when the guests had left, I sat on the floor with my daughter. She had frosting in her hair and sleep in her eyes. I turned on Marina’s phone. The battery barely lasted at all now, but it still turned on. I opened the last video, the one I had learned to watch without completely breaking.

April crawled toward the screen. Marina appeared. “Hi, April,” she said. My daughter went still. She touched the screen with a sticky hand. “Mama,” she babbled.

The world stopped. I don’t know if it was a word. I don’t know if it was a coincidence. I don’t know if the dead are allowed to enter for a second through the mouths of children. I only know I hugged April so tight she let out a whimper and I had to apologize through laughter and tears. “Yes, sweetheart,” I told her. “That’s Mama.”

That night, when I put her to bed, April raised her hand again like she did that first dawn. The red bracelet was tight now. I’d have to change it soon. I kissed her wrist. “Thanks for staying,” I whispered.

April looked at me with Marina’s eyes. Then she closed her eyelids. There was no music. No strange lights. No voice from the dead. Just my daughter breathing. And for the first time since that hospital, that sound didn’t seem unfair to me. It seemed like a miracle.

I turned off the lamp and sat by the crib. Not because I was afraid of losing her, but because I wanted to watch her live.

At 3:12 AM, Marina’s phone rang again. I hadn’t programmed anything. I got up slowly, my heart thumping against my ribs. The phone was on the dresser, glowing like an old firefly.

There was no new audio. No message. Only a photo appeared that I had never seen. Marina in the hospital, in a blue gown with her hair tied back. She was pale, tired, but she was smiling. In her arms, she held newborn April.

On the digital back of the image, as a caption, there was a sentence written by her: “So you never forget that I didn’t go away losing. I went away loving.”

I pressed the phone to my chest. I watched April sleep. Then I looked at the dark sky outside the window. “I understand now, Marina,” I said softly. “Late. But I understand.”

April sighed. The whole house seemed to rest.

Since then, every 3:12 I wake up. Sometimes out of habit. Sometimes because April calls me. Sometimes because pain still knows how to knock on the door. But I no longer enter the room in a rage. I enter barefoot, yes. Tired, yes. With dark circles, with fear, with life all tangled up.

But I enter as a father. I lean over the crib, tuck in her blanket, check her little red bracelet, and say to her what I should have said since her very first cry: “I’m right here, April. Daddy is here.”

THE END.

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Scorpiovenus30 🙏🏽💜

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Scorpiovenus30 Omg I thought it was just me! Like I was extremely tired this risings. I said nope my body is telling me something listen to it. I also am anemic but I don’t get tired in the way they say you should as a suffer with it so I totally understand you. Take a daily dose of vitamin D

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Scorpiovenus30 Yes you are!!

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Scorpiovenus30 🙏🏽💜 Receiving this with an open heart and mind

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Spiritualrealm0 555 Affirm and receiving with an open heart and mind🙏🏽

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Jayecane Me

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Jayecane 333

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Jayecane THANK YOU IM NEXT JAYE CANE 🙏🏽💜

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@esssdabest 😂😂😝

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Scorpiovenus30 Happy Earthstrong Queen!! You’re amazing and never forget that! 🙏🏽💜

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Scorpiovenus30 Thank you! I think I needed this as confirmation. I knew it!💜

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@iamannapepe 🙏🏽🙌🏽

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@Spiritualrealm0 Q

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[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@MoreStonersRUs That’s a 3.5

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@indicatorfn Mate at this point £100 would make a great difference. Evers ca not be choosers

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@indicatorfn £7886 currently

[CeCee @CeCee00905400]

@iamannapepe 🙏🏽💜