Free SCARRED - Part 4 (The SCARRED Series - Book 4) by Kylie Walker

your father’s and mine. Taking care of her those first few months was all that got us through the pain of losing you. The routine of diapers and feedings and baths...it taught us how to go through the motions until our hearts began to beat again. But, I meant what I said Chloe. You and Sarah are completely different people and I can guarantee you that none of us are going to confuse the two...nor would we want to.”
    “One last question?” Chloe looked at Samantha with apprehension.
    “Anything.”
    “What did you name me?”
    Samantha’s eyes began to brim with tears as she whispered the word. “Sophia.”
    Chloe felt new tears spill onto her cheeks and surprised herself then by initiating a hug. The women held onto each other for a long time and by the time they walked out of that room, they had already forged a strong bond. They’d managed to repair the damage that was done to the one they should have had all along...through no fault of either of them. 
    Chloe thought her emotional day was winding down, but she was wrong. The women finally returned out to the front room where Derek and Trevor were at and Samantha said, “I’m not feeling up to going out this evening. Is anyone else?”
    They all agreed with her. It had been an excruciatingly long day and they were all spent from it, even Derek.
    “Good then, I have some spaghetti sauce, I’ll just defrost it and make some pasta and a salad and we’ll be set for dinner.”
    “Would you like some help?” Chloe asked her.
    Before Samantha answered her Trevor said, “Chloe, I know that you’ve been through way too much for one day but there’s something I’d like to give you. You can look at it on your own time; it’s for you to keep.”
    Samantha looked at her husband with soft, sad eyes and said, “Derek, maybe you wouldn’t mind helping me in the kitchen?”
    “I’d love to,” Derek said. When he got up, he gave Chloe a kiss on the cheek and whispered, “Are you doing okay?” She smiled and nodded.
    When Derek left the room Trevor handed Chloe a leather bound journal.
    “I didn’t know how to deal with what I was feeling after you...after we lost you. So, I wrote you a letter in my journal. After that, I wrote one to you every year on your birthday just to describe life and things that I thought you would never get to see or do. Mostly, I just hoped in a strange way that as long as I kept writing about you, you’d continue to live on and somehow you would know how much we loved and missed you.”
    He had a tear sliding down his cheek. As hard as it was for Chloe to watch Samantha breakdown, the simple tear on her father’s face was almost even more heart-wrenching. It was obvious how hard he was trying to hold himself together, but yet he was still falling apart.
    “Thank you,” she said, sitting down with the journal. She looked up at him and said, “I keep a journal too. I have since I was a little girl.”
    Trevor sat down next to her and said, “I started keeping one when I was twelve years old. It always helped me to organize my thoughts, and it was cathartic. Sarah kept one too. After she died, Samantha and I found a whole box full of them from when she was younger. Neither of us has been able to read them yet, but if it would help you to get to know your sister someday, you’d be more than welcome to them.”
    “Thank you,” she said again. One of the tears spilled over and began to roll slowly down her cheek. Trevor reached over with his thumb and wiped it away. She opened the book in her lap and read the first letter.
    Dear Sophia,
    I wish that heaven had a mailbox so that I could send you a letter every day and let you know how much you are missed here on earth. Today you would have been three weeks old. Today your mother and I are still trying to find a way to cope with the ache we feel in our hearts. Some people have told us that it was better to lose you before we got to know you...but they are wrong. What would have been