Chapter 2: Choosing Sides
Sirens echoed in the distance.
Neighbors had heard the shouting. Or maybe it was fate finally stepping in.
He didn’t care.
All that mattered was Emily.
“I’ve got you,” he murmured, carefully lifting her into his arms. She winced, clutching his uniform, tears slipping silently down her cheeks.
“I thought you were gone,” she whispered.
“I’m here,” he said firmly. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
As he carried her toward the door, his mother’s voice cut through the air.
“If you walk out that door, don’t come back.”
He stopped.
For a brief second, the little boy in him—the one who had spent years trying to earn her approval—hesitated.
Then he looked down at Emily.
At the life they had created.
At the family standing right in front of him.
“I already lost you,” he said quietly. “I’m not losing them too.”
And with that, he walked out.
---
The hospital room was quiet, filled only with the soft rhythm of monitors.
Hours passed like years.
Finally, a doctor stepped in.
“She’s going to be okay,” he said. “And the baby is stable.”
The soldier exhaled for what felt like the first time since he walked into that house.
When he sat beside Emily, she reached for his hand.
“We’ll figure this out,” she said weakly.
May you like
He squeezed her hand gently. “We already did.”
For the first time, there was hope.
