Chapter 797
He watched as she carefully sorted her clothes, folding each item and packing them into separate bags.
“I’ve separated the lighter and heavier clothes for you,” he explained, his tone gentle but precise. “You catch colds so easily, and I don’t want you getting sick while you’re away. There’s a pillbox here with different kinds of medicine, just in case, and your daily vitamins are all in this clear container.” He shook the pillbox for emphasis before tucking it into her suitcase.
Each time he packed something, he looked up at her, explaining exactly what he was doing, making sure she understood.
Elodie simply stood there, watching him in silence.
A tide of emotions welled up inside her-so many, she couldn’t even name them all.
Above all, she felt safe. It struck her how Jarrod thought of everything, every little detail she never would have considered.
As he continued, Elodie took a moment to message Esmeralda, asking if she was free to go on the business trip with her.
Esmeralda replied almost immediately: “Of course! Think of it as a little vacation. Honestly, I’ll feel better if I’m there with you.”
Elodie remembered Esmeralda had gone to celebrate Fleming’s birthday and asked, “How did the birthday go?”
There was a pause before Esmeralda answered, “It was nice~”
That was enough to put Elodie at ease. She knew Esmeralda was worried about how slowly she’d been recovering, which was probably why she agreed to join the trip without hesitation.
Elodie reminded her to start packing.
As she closed out of her chat with Esmeralda, she noticed a few unread
messages from Jarrod, sent a while ago.
She clicked on them.
Suddenly, she froze.
Her eyes filled with tears.
There were several photos and a video.
In the images, she could clearly see the inside of a high-tech artificial incubator- quiet, complex, and softly lit-a tiny fetus curled up, sleeping peacefully.
Her hands started to sweat. Trembling, she tapped on the video.
Jarrod’s voice came through: “Today is our baby’s five months and twenty-seven days. Everything’s looking great. Maybe, one day, I’ll show up with the baby in my arms and give you quite a surprise.”
He had recorded it last month, when he was in New York.
Elodie could
watcharely breathe as she
screen
tiny life on the
so clear, every movement
visible, technology capturing each
delicate gesture.
A small life, thousands of miles away, yet so deeply, intimately connected to her.
This was her salvation.
All the feelings she’d kept
suppressed now threatened to spill over, intensifying until she could hardly stand it. She wanted to fly to New York that very moment her heart aching with longing.
This was her child.
Her and Jarrod’s child.
She traced the screen with her fingertip, as if she could stroke the baby’s cheek
from afar.
A happiness she’d never known filled her chest.
This-this was the miracle Jarrod had worked so hard to give her.
He’d pulled her out of the darkest place.
She watched the video over and over again.
Later, when Jarrod finished packing and came out of the other room, he found Elodie curled up on the edge of the bed, fast asleep, still holding her phone.
The video was still playing.
He walked over, knelt quietly beside the bed, and gently brushed a strand of hair
from her face before easing the phone out of her hand.
He set it to charge, then climbed into bed, carefully drawing her into his arms and covering her with the blanket.
The next morning, Elodie woke up early.
Their flight was at eleven, and they needed to be at the airport before nine.
Jarrod hated to say goodbye, but he knew how much this work meant to her, and he supported her completely.
He insisted on driving her to the airport.
This time, there was a sizable group traveling-besides the engineers, a few
pilots who would help with the training program.
As Jarrod and Elodie walked up to the departure hall, they saw the others gathering nearby.
Esmeralda had arrived with Fleming.