Shattered Dreams

Shattered Dreams

Book One of the Freedom
Trilogy

By Brenda Kennedy

•••

Copyright 2014 by Brenda Kennedy

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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of this author.

Dedicated to Doris and LeRoy and to Karen and
Bob

•••

Chapter One: Combat Boots and Baby
Shoes

Emma

“
Push, Emma, I can see him!”
Max says excitedly, as he stands at the head of the hospital bed,
holding my hand.  

“
Emma, one more big push
should do it. When I tell you, I want you to give it all you have,”
the doctor says as he looks at me.  

I only nod; I am exhausted. I don’t know how
I am going to push any more. I have been in labor for nearly 19
hours.  

“
Ok, Emma, here we go. Take
a deep breath, tuck your chin into your chest, and on the count of
three… push,” the doctor says. 

Max whispers into my ear. “Come on, Em, in
just a few minutes we get to meet our son. I love you and I am so
proud of you.” Max lightly touches my earlobe and I open my eyes. I
look into his piercing blue eyes. I can see his smile in his
eyes.  

Max lifts my head for me and I tuck my chin
into my chest, as I have done many times before. I take a deep
breath, close my eyes, and push with all the strength I have left
in me. Max bends downs and counts softly into my ear. When he says
ten, I open my eyes.  

“
Em, look in the mirror. Do
you see him? That’s our boy, Em, our son: mine and yours.” Max says
sweetly without raising up and away from me. He lowers my head back
down to the bed. He wipes the tear away from the corner of my eye
before it trickles down. 

“
Emma, you’re doing great.
Rest until the next contraction and then I want you to push just
like you did this time.” 

“
I can’t,” I whisper, so
only Max can hear me. 

Max rubs his thumb back and forth over my
earlobe. He has done that since our first date in high school. He
kisses me and says, “Em, I know you can do it once more. Our son is
right there waiting to meet us.” He kisses me
again.  

“
This is it, Emma,” the
doctor says, scooting his stool closer to me. 

Max lifts my head and I don’t open my eyes.
“On the count of three.” I wait for Max to count before taking a
deep breath. I push then I feel a tug. “Open your eyes, Em, you’re
going to miss it.”  

I open my eyes and the doctor is suctioning
the nose and mouth of a blond-haired baby. I smile and watch. Max
leans in closer and whispers into my ear. “God, he’s beautiful. He
looks just like you.”  

We watch intently as the
doctor gently pulls our baby the rest of the way out. I think I
hold my breath until our son fills his lungs with air and
cries.
I turn my head towards Max; he is
also crying.  

“
God, Em, I swear I didn’t
think I could love you anymore, but I was wrong.” I smile and he
kisses me. “Thank you, thank you so much for giving me my son, a
family.” 

Max takes the camera and snaps several
pictures of our son.  

The doctor places our crying son on my belly
and asks Max if he wants to cut the umbilical cord. Max stands tall
and proud, then nods. I watch as the nurse hands him a pair of
medical scissors and Max cuts in the area she
instructs.  

My eyes fill with tears. Max is still wearing
his Army fatigues, boots, and a camouflage shirt. He was in the
field for a training day when I went into labor. I am three weeks
early so none of our parents is here. Just Max, me, and our
military family.  

Once the umbilical cord is cut, the nurse
removes our son from my belly and carries him over to another table
on the other side of the room. I keep my eyes focused on our baby.
The nurse is rubbing him vigorously with a towel and he continues
to cry.  

“
Just a few more minutes,
Emma, and I’ll be done here,” the doctor
says.  

I begin to shiver and someone covers me with
a warm blanket. Max leans down next to me and kisses me. “I think
we need a name for our little soldier.”  

I turn my head and smile, “I want to name him
Maxwell James Greyson Jr.” Max and I have already had this talk and
Max doesn’t think he is worthy enough to have his son named after
him. He said he didn’t want his son walking in his
shadow.  

“
Em, look at him. He’s
strong and beautiful, a true soldier. He deserves to be named after
a hero.” 

Max takes even more photos of our
son. 

“
Max, you are a hero, you’re
my hero.” 

They wrap our baby up and the nurse carries
him over to us. I sit up and the nurse hands him to me. He is
swaddled in a light blue blanket and a white cap that covers his
hair. He is awake and looking at me. Max sits closely and lightly
touches our son’s face with the backs of his fingers. “God, Em,
he’s beautiful.” 

“
He’s handsome like his
daddy.” I look over my shoulder so I can see
Max.  

“
Dad. I’m a dad. I’m going
to be the best dad I can be. I’m going to make you and him proud of
me,” Max says seriously. 

“
Max, I am already proud of
you and I love you so much.” 

Max looks away from the baby and looks at me
with a sad smile. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you and
him. You know that, right?” 

I nod. My nose begins to tingle; this is a
clear sign that I’m about to cry. Max lightly touches my earlobe
and I smile. I lean my head into his hand and close my eye. He
leans into me and kisses my forehead. The baby fusses and Max
laughs. “He’s already starting to interfere with my alone time with
you.” 

Max stands up and takes the baby from my
arms. He holds him with confidence and pride. Max cuddles him
before removing his hat. “Blond hair like his mother,” he says,
smiling. “What can we name him other than Maxwell? He deserves
something strong, powerful, and authoritative.”  

“
Max, if you won’t agree
with Maxwell James, let’s name him James Maxwell. He won’t be a
Jr., but he’ll still be named after you.” 

Max looks at his son, “James Maxwell Greyson.
No Jimmy, or Jimbo or Jim?”  

“
No, we’ll call him
James.”  

“
James Maxwell Greyson, your
mother is very persistent.” Max looks over at me with a
smile. 

“
Is that a yes? We can name
him after you?” I ask, hopefully.  

Max kisses his son and smiles. “I think James
suits him, James Greyson. Yes, Emma, I think it’s a perfect name
for our little soldier.” 

“
I’m sorry, Sergeant. But,
there is a waiting room full of unruly soldiers waiting to hear
some news about the mom and baby. Would you mind going out there
and telling them something?” the nurse asks,
smiling. 

“
Oh, yeah, I should do that.
Most of them have been out there since your labor started.” Max
kisses the baby and hands him to me. “I’ll be right back, I love
you both so much.” 

“
We love you, too. Go tell
them to go home and please thank them for me.” 

“
They are going to want to
see you and the baby, you know.” 

“
I know, just tell them
we’ll see them once we get home. It’s been a long several hours of
labor. They’ll understand.” I am suddenly feeling
exhausted.  

“
I will.” Max kisses me,
then the baby, and heads for the door.  

“
Oh,
Max?”  

He turns around to look at me, “Yes,
Em?” 

“
Don’t come in here smelling
of cheap cigars. I know how you and your boys
are.” 

“
Wouldn’t think of it; be
right back.” 

Max

I walk out into the waiting room, which is
full of our military family. I stand at the doorway bearing an
all-American smile. Looking around the room, I see my platoon
standing around waiting for an update. Wilson, Lanford, Wagner,
Snider, Jamison, Poland, and even Mahoney are here with their
wives. They have been a part of our family for the past year, ever
since we have been stationed in Fort Drum, New York. I clear my
throat and everyone looks up. “We have a beautiful, healthy, baby
boy,” I announce proudly. 

The room erupts with cheers. I take a step
further into the room and close the door securely behind me, to
mute the noise from the room.  

“
Sarg, please tells us he
looks like Emma?” Mahoney shouts from across the room. His wife,
who is standing beside him, nudges him in his ribs, and
smiles.  

“
Yeah, Mahoney, thank the
good lord, he looks just like Em.” 

Lanford and his wife walk towards me. “Does
the little soldier have a name?” 

“
He does, we decided to name
him James Maxwell,” I beam. I clear my throat. “James, no
shortening it, no nicknames, just James.” 

Wilson’s wife walks up to me and hugs me. “I
think James is a wonderful name, Max. How is Emma doing?” 

“
She’s great. I am so proud
of her and the baby is perfect.” I raise my voice a little louder
so everyone can hear. “Em and I want to thank you all for being
here with us and for sharing in the birth of our son.” I clear my
throat again. “It really means a lot to us
both.”  

“
Does this mean we can light
up these cigars now?” Wilson says, as he passes them out to each of
the guys. The girls crinkle up their noses and I
laugh.  

“
Party on, but I need to get
back in there. But, seriously, thank you all.” 

I open the door and turn to leave before
someone calls me by name. “Greyson?” I turn around and Snyder walks
up to me with an envelope and a package in his hands. “Here, it
isn’t much, but we wanted to get the newest member of our squad
something. Tell Emma we are proud of her and can’t wait to see her
and the baby.” 

I take the gift and the envelope from Snider.
“Thank you, this means a lot to Emma and me.” I turn and walk out
the room.  

I walk into Em’s room and she and James are
fast asleep. She is holding him to her chest and has her hand
resting on his back. The room is dim and no one else is in there. I
quietly walk over and stand at the edge of the bed. Emma wakes up
and smiles. “Hi.” 

“
Hi, I didn’t mean to wake
you. You look so beautiful, I couldn’t help but
stare.” 

Emma scoots over and lifts the blanket up for
me to get under. “You can stare at me all day long, if you
want.” 

I sit on the edge of the bed and kiss her
head. “The guys got us something,” I say, raising the gift for her
to see.  

“
They didn’t have to do
that.” 

“
They know that, but they
wanted to.” 

“
Go ahead and open it.” She
repositions James in her arms so she can get a better
look. 

I open the card and see a
picture of a little boy playing with a train set. Inside are two
crisp $100 bills. The card reads,
A little
something to help with his first train set. Love, Uncle Mahoney,
Poland, Snider, Wilson, Jamison, Lanford, and Wagner.
I smile and look up at Emma. 

“
A train
set?” 

“
Yeah, it’s a guy thing,” I
say, laughing.  

She laughs, too. “Boys and their
toys.” 

I open up the gift and hold it up for Emma to
see. It’s a camouflage onesie and matching pants. “Well, I guess I
know what he’ll be coming home in,” she says, picking up the small
outfit.  

“
Like father, like son,” I
beam. 

I pick up the baby and hold him. “Thank God,
he looks like you. The guys also send their love and they said
they’ll see you soon. I thought some of the guys would have left,
but they all stayed. Even their wives were out there waiting on the
news of the birth.”  

“
We are very blessed to be
stationed here with such wonderful people.” 

“
I think so, too, Em. It
makes it a lot easier being away from our home and family. Some
great people are stationed here with us.” 

The nurse walks in, and I stand up from the
bed with James. The nurse checks Emma and pushes on her belly and
checks her vital signs. Emma grimaces and I move over to stand near
her. She reaches her hand up to me and I take it in mine. She
squeezes my hand and I know she is in pain. Once the nurse is done
examining Emma, she asks, “Do you want to try to feed your
son?”