CAKE

Thirty

Casey 

Kathryn shakes her head and I realize more tears falling. "She's not breathing, she's stiff." I eye the woman for a long second, not finding her joke funny or amusing. 

I chuckle softly, "You nearly gave me a heart attack with that joke. It wasn't funny," I mutter approaching the crib. The brunette could only continue crying as I peered down into the crib.

My body immediately froze as I take in the bluish-purple discoloration in my daughter's skin. My whole world seemed to stop as I reach for Hope in hopes that what Kathryn just told me wasn't true. But the moment my hand rested on her small one, my world came crashing down. 

"C—Call the police," I force from my lips as I pick up the child.

I hold her against me as tears sting my cheeks. "Call the cops, Kathryn!" I hiss at my fiance, scaring her. She quickly rushes to the phones on the nightstand, fumbling with her phone before dialing the number. 

"It's okay," I whisper to the dead child in my arms. "It's okay. Mama is here," I rock her in my arms though I knew she couldn't feel or hear me. 

I hear sniffing behind me and turn to face the brunette who was also crying. "It's okay," I mutter to her as I approach her. Wrapping my arm around her, I let her bury her head into my neck. "It's gonna be okay," I cry to my lover as I hold our dead child in my other arm. 

"It's gonna be okay," I whisper to the woman, though I knew this wasn't in the slightest bit okay.

The cops didn't take long to arrive forcing me to let go of my child. Sniffing, I wipe my face, knowing Kathryn was in a much worse state than I was. I approach the woman, wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her into me once again. 

"It's my fault," she whispered in my neck. "It's not."

She didn't say anything else as she sobbed in my arms as the police tried to find a solution to why our daughter was dead. And when the coroner exited our bedroom with Hope in a black bag, I knew the waterfalls for my fiance would only get worse. "Let's go sit down," I mutter pulling the woman to the couch. 

Once she's seated, I head back into our room, grabbing my phone from the nightstand. Turning, I frown as I watch two cops inspect the crib. I watch them for a few minutes before exiting the room, not wanting to be where my daughter died any longer. "I'm gonna call my dad, I'll be a minute, okay?" I whisper to the brunette sitting on the couch.

She doesn't speak or acknowledge me so I take that as my cue to step out. Once outside, I take in a deep breath and force myself not to break down now that I wasn't in Kathryn's line of sight. 

Sighing, I dial my father's number, hoping he wasn't asleep because I knew we could really use an anchor at this moment. 

"Hello?" his deep voice puts me at ease. Letting out a shaky breath, I part my lips but no words come out. "Casey?" 

"We need you," is all I can mutter, feeling my tears slip. I lean against the wall and slide down into a sitting position, "I... we really need you," I cry to the man, hoping he could hear the urgency in my shaky voice.

I could hear shuffling in the background before I heard his car. "We're on the way. What happened?" my mom questions. Biting my lip, I try not to sob out loud but I fail miserably. My bottom lip quivered as I tried to tell them the terrible news to no avail. I didn't want to believe it let alone say it. 

Shaking my head, I continue to break down, "Casey, baby you got to tell us something."

"Hope," I manage to spit out in between sobs. My mouth wouldn't let me say anything else as my heart broke into a million pieces. My daughter was dead. She's gone and there's nothing I can do about it. I lift my knees to my chest, waiting for this nightmare to be over.