I felt whole for the first time in my life. The weight of those monsters that had been eating away at me for so long—gone. I didn’t think there was one thing I could feel wrong.
That is until I looked over at Emmy and saw fear in her eyes. At first, I didn’t know what was happening. Then I saw the blood on her hands. My confusion turned into a fear as cold as ice filling my veins.
We were taken right back and she was immediately checked out. My world was rocked an hour later.
Emmy. Pregnant.
I look over at her as she rests peacefully in the hospital bed. They gave her intravenous fluids to help rehydrate her and an antibiotic. According to the doctor, she—and the baby—are fine for the moment. He couldn’t see any sign of a miscarriage. After we briefly explained that she had been in a physical altercation, he said that it was most likely a threatened miscarriage and that she would need to stay off her feet then follow up with her doctor when we get home.
“Hey,” she sighs, turning in the bed and curling on her side to look at me. “You okay?”
I can’t help it. I throw my head back and laugh. The tension that was rolling off my body and all the stress of the day evaporates with just the sound of her voice.
“I should probably be concerned that you’re losing it.” Her lips are curled in a beautiful smile, and even though she looks tired, I can see that she’s happy.
“You took years off my life earlier, Emmy.”
“I’m sorry,” she says honestly.
“You’re okay?” I search her eyes for any signs that she might not be happy about this news.
“I’m perfect.”
As simple as that.
Perfect.
“This is a blessing, Maddox,” she sighs, her gorgeous, honey eyes hopeful that I’ll see it that way.
Blessing.
There’s that word again. One that I never thought I could attach to my life. But now, looking at her curled in front of me—carrying our child—our love wrapped around us like a tight embrace… Yeah, it damn sure is a blessing.
“That it is, angel. That. It. Is.” I lean over and kiss her softly before I grab her hand, and try to figure out how to tell her how much this means to me. “I love you.” It really is just as simple as that. Her love started it all, and she never gave up until I believed her. “You made me whole again, Emmy. You drove those monsters and nightmares from my soul and replaced them with something so unbelievable that I’m not even sure if I understand the enormity of its power. I’ll never stop fighting to make sure that I continue to be worthy of that love, baby.”
“I love you back, my big, strong man.”
“One thing, Em?” I wait until her eyes come back to mine. “Future wife, huh?” I laugh lightly when she blushes one hell of a hot shade of pink.
When she said that earlier, the only thing I could think of was how fast I could drag her ass to the courthouse. We hadn’t even discussed it before, but now that she’s said it out loud, I can’t stop the visions of her with my rings around her finger and my name.
“Yeah…about that. It just kind of came out. I don’t want you to freak out or anything about it. I understand that kind of step takes time.”
“Says fucking who?” I interrupt.
“Uh…I don’t know? Everyone?”
“Jesus, Em. I think it’s safe to say we aren’t just like everyone. Everything about the road we’ve had to travel to get to this point has been pretty off the tracks of normal. Who says we need to go in a certain order?” I place my hand against her stomach before continuing. “Pretty sure we proved that point over and over.”
“Yeah,” she laughs. “I guess we did.”
“Just you wait, Emersyn Keeze. You’re going to marry me as soon as we get home, and then I’m going to spend every day blessing you with everything I have.”
“You’re going to marry me? Don’t you think you should actually ask?”
God, I love that sass.
“Keep it up, Em. I’m going to start adding up all that sass again.”
Her eyes widen at my low growl before she laughs in my face. “I’m going to look forward to it, Mad.”
“You do that, angel.”
I take her lips in a slow, sweet, and intoxicating kiss. By the time I pull back, her eyes are glossy, her cheeks are red, and her lips are swollen. I lean forward, pull her plump bottom lip in my mouth, and nibble lightly, earning a moan from Emmy.
“Blessed,” I whisper against her lips.
We didn’t spend long in the hospital. After she was monitored overnight and her bleeding stopped with fluids, we were released with the referral to follow up with her home obstetrics physician. We got a prescription for the urinary tract infection she had, another factor that the doctor said had caused her bleeding. She needs to keep herself hydrated, and as long as everything looks good at her doctor appointment, he doesn’t see us having any lasting issues.
We took our time getting home. Instead of flying, we kept our rental car and decided to make a two-week road trip out of our drive home, stopping in a different hotel each night and spending time together.
Axel called three days into our trip and said that there was some man named Jefferson calling the office nonstop. Judging by the fact that he yelled it over the line before hanging up, I’m guessing that Jefferson has been quite persistent. I figured it would happen, but I didn’t think she would rally that quickly.
“Do you want me to sit with you when you call him back?” Emmy asks later that night when we check into our hotel somewhere in the middle of Mississippi.
“Yeah. It shouldn’t take that long. He’s most likely feeling me out and seeing just what I want out of that bitch.”
“And? What do you want?”
“Honestly, Em…I’m not really sure. I don’t want a part of Locke Oil. I don’t even want their blood money. I just… I just want to be done with them. But then I think about everything they played a part in and all of the years of pain before more years of fear. When I think about all of that, I want to be done with it, but I also want to take their hurt and turn it into something good.”
