“This is where my feelings for Kyle began to change. Shortly after we decided to tell people we were together, we had a little surprise of our own. Kyle and I found out I was pregnant.”
‘Amber, you need to listen to me. You need to stay in the car.’ I opened his phone and saw the message. ‘Truck is down.’ That was their name for my husband. ‘Get Kyle!,’ I screamed.’
‘It was playtime on the playground. My student looked anxious. I climbed to get closer to him, placed my foot on the rail and tumbled, hitting my head on a metal pole. I fell to the ground.’
“That’s it. That’s all it took. Five minutes to change my entire life.”
‘Shonna, someone was in an accident. It looks like his motorcycle.’ I was holding our daughter. ‘I’M GOING TO DROP HER.’ I tumbled outside, listening for sirens.’
“He gave us forehead kisses. ‘Byeee Charlotte, daddy loves you,’ and backed out of the driveway. My phone rang. I remember answering to hear concern on the other end. ‘What’s Brandon doing?,’ they asked. ‘Oh, he’s out on a bike ride!’ There was a long pause.”
‘At this point, even if we get him back, his brain…,’ the doctor trailed off. I pulled his mom into me to hide her from this. ‘I won’t tell you to stop,’ I told the doctor. ‘I won’t ever tell you to stop.’
“We sat on her porch in the sun – and my phone rang. It was my husband. I answered, but something was different. He was panicked. That wasn’t like him. When I got there, I saw it. A work boot. Cut open, stained with blood.”
‘My girlfriend and I were scuba diving. There was an accident. I went too deep for too long. She held her breath, and stopped breathing shortly after. She was declared dead.’
“She came to introduce herself, but I was avoiding any contact. The moment my eye caught a glimpse of her though, I knew she would be trouble for me. She was so elegant, but I wanted nothing to do with women. I was rebuilding myself after a life changing accident.”
‘Did you hit something?’ ‘No.’ He crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. ‘No, because you don’t know, or no, because you don’t want to tell me?’ There was no way I was admitting to it.’
“He walked in and had that look on his face. Where you know you’re in trouble, but you don’t know why. He’s waiting for you to say something and you’re racking your brain about what you should admit to. He found the evidence. ‘A-ha!’ My jaw dropped when I saw it.”
‘The water began to freeze and searching seized. A fisherman drilled his hole, dropped his camera, and landed on a foot – my husband’s foot. Andy was finally found.’
“I was married to my college sweetheart. We had 2.5 children, a beautiful home, even a white picket fence in the backyard. Unfortunately, that chapter of my story would come to an abrupt end.”
‘I had a possessed uterus. I’m not kidding. P-o-s-s-e-s-s-e-d. I’m sure the devil himself placed his creepy monster hands upon my womb and cursed me. Test after test showed nothing. NOTHING.’
“My husband gently tried to convince me everything would be alright. After six or seven ‘let’s just go’ statements, with me standing at the door, arms crossed, shaking my head in defiance, he finally lost it. ‘Will somebody just get this woman a tampon and a cracker?’”
‘His phone rang. It was my mom in hysterics. My dad wasn’t breathing, and paramedics were doing CPR. Through all the emotional abuse, I was still a ‘Daddy’s Girl.’
“I was happier than I’d ever been. My dad was happy and healthy, I was getting married, and my dad talked about walking me down the aisle. My heart starts racing, and that night rushes back to me.”
‘Hours began to pass, and still no Andy. I decided to call him. No answer. The calls started going directly to voicemail. Anxiety started to go in overdrive. Then, I saw it.’
“I was pregnant with our third child, and my hormones had gotten the best of me. I grabbed my phone and called 9-1-1. I started screaming his name, ‘ANDY, ANDY, ANDY,’ as I frantically looked on the shore line that was covered in trees. I hear the sirens roaring, coming in my direction.”
