Jaxson (18 page)

“Baby, I’m fine,” I tell her honestly. My heart is still pumping with adrenaline, but other than that I’m fine. Wrapping my arms around her, I kiss the top of her head and ask, “You okay, Lynnie?”
 

She doesn’t say anything, but she does nod and bury her face into my chest. When I look over her head at Tate, I see him holding a shaken Amie to him as well. I need a damn drink. Walking Lynnie towards the bar, I order us both another drink and just hold her until the bartender comes back with them.
 

Instead of making our way towards the table again, we just sit at the bar and slowly drink our new ones. “Baby, I won’t let him take you away from me. I already told you I’m never letting you go and I meant that.” I wink at her and give her a kiss on the forehead before I turn my attention on scanning the room.
 

Lynnie doesn’t drink her drink very fast and I know that she is still on edge. To take my head off of what happened, I talk to Tate about the basketball game that is playing on the T.V.’s above our heads. We make a few bets on the next shots and who would win. Every time I look at Lynnie, I can tell that she is still tense. Her and Amie both don’t say anything and it makes me worry.
 

She absently runs her hand up and down my thigh for almost an hour before she says that she’s ready to go. Getting up for the barstool, I pay our tab and leave a nice tip before helping her up and off of her stool. Making our way towards the door, I hear Tate and Amie talking not far behind us. We walk outside and when I look back, I see Tate and Amie talking to a few of the guys we went to high school with. I can hear them laughing as I lead Lyndley to the truck.
 

Turning towards my girl, I tell her, “I love you, babe.” She gets a small grin on her face, but before she can even say anything back to me, I feel the pain. My whole body stiffens and I feel my eyes go wide at the pain. She looks panicked and then I start to fall to my knees on the ground. Her screams are the only thing I can hear anymore, my body starts to get cold. Her hands grip my side where the knife entered me and she starts to cry more.
 

“Please, Jax. You’re going to be fine. You have to be. I need you.” I want to tell her that everything will be fine, but I can’t breathe. She presses harder on my wound and keeps saying over and over that she loves me.

I hear a commotion around me, but I can’t focus on anything other than my girl and her cries.
 
It seems like forever before I hear her say anything other than I love you. “Please, help him!” Her voice breaks as she yells and hands are now checking my pulse and god knows what else. “Please,” she whispers before her voice is gone and all I hear is unknown voices before I pass out from the blood loss.

Feeling a hand on my thigh, I wake up feeling groggily. When I try to move, a sharp pain radiates through my side and I wince at the pain. A dark brown head of hair pops up and when I see her tear stained face, a smile appears on my lips. “Lynnie.” I whisper hoarsely.
 

“Oh my God Jaxson.” She whispers, covering her mouth with her hand. Fresh tears start to fall down her cheeks and she closes her eyes. Reaching towards her, I run the tips of my fingers over her jaw and just wait for her to look at me again. “I thought that you were going to die.” She breaks down and starts to cry harder. My hand catches in her hair and I give a tug so that she looks at me.
 

“I told you a long time ago that I wouldn’t leave you. I meant that baby.” She has no fucking idea how good it feels to see her face.
 

“I…” She pauses and looks up at me again. I motion for her to come and sit on the bed, but she looks hesitant. “I don’t want to hurt you.” she whispers.
 

“You won’t hurt me. I’ll be fine.” I pat the bed again and this time she slowly sits next to me. When she leans her body onto mine, I feel the twinge of pain from moving my arm around her body. She rests her head on my shoulder and puts her face into my neck.
 

“I was so scared.” she whispers. Her hand goes to my stomach and she gently fists her hand in the hospital gown that I’m wearing.
 

“I’ll be fine babe.” I whisper against her hair. The door opens and she doesn’t move from her spot.
 

“Hey hunny.” my mom whispers. She’s on the verge of tears and I hate to see her hurting. I watched her slowly start to die inside the day my father died. I can’t imagine what it was like for her knowing that she probably could have lost her son as well.
 

“Hey momma.” I rasp out. She comes over to the bed where Lynnie is still at and places a kiss on the back of her head and then she places a kiss on my forehead.
 

“I’m so glad you’re awake.” Her voice catches and she looks down at the ground. I watch her as she takes a few deep breathes before looking back up at me. “I haven’t been that scared since your daddy.” She slowly takes a seat in the chair that Lyndley was sleeping in before.
 

“I’m sorry momma.” I whisper. Lyndley’s head turns towards my momma and she reaches her hand out to grab my momma’s.
 

“I should have warned you Jax. I should have done something to prevent this from happening.” She sniffs and wipes at the tears that are pooling under her eyes.
 

“Darlin’ there is nothing that you could have done to prevent him from coming here. You did nothing wrong and I don’t blame you for anything that happened.” She buries her face back into my neck and her hand grips my shirt tighter.
 

My momma just watches us. I can see the tears pooling in her eyes and I wish that I could do something to take away the pain and hurt from them both. “Jaxson, I’m so glad you are okay. I don’t know what I would have done if I lost you too.” She leans forward and grabs my free hand.
 

“You won’t lose me Momma. It’s gonna take a whole lot more than a stab wound to get rid of me. I finally got my girl back and there is no way I’m missing out on my life with her again.” They both giggle at my words and a comfortable silence fills the room. I hate knowing that I’m the reason for their pain, but what I said was true. There is no way I’d die on her now that I have her back. I waited ten years to have her back in my arms and nothing will keep me from that.
 

After a week of being monitored by the doctors in the hospital, I finally get to go home. Scrolling through my phone, I find the picture that Lyndley sent me. Looking at the photo, I can’t even imagine how hard it was for her to deliver Gracilyn alone. Before I can think about it anymore, the door opens and I see that beautiful wife of mine standing in the door way.
 

“Come give me a kiss.” My voice drops an octave and it causes her to grin. I watch as she walks over to me and she leans forward to give me a peck on the lips.
 

“Are you ready to break free of this place?” She asks with a huge grin. I nod my head and pull her in for one more kiss.
 

Once the doctor discharges me, we make our way home. Watching as Lyndley drives my truck, I can’t help but smile. The windows are down and the sun is shining. Her hair is blowing all around her and she has a huge smile on her face. “I have a surprise for you.” She says looking over at me.
 

I grin at her and thank God that I still have some time left with her. I will take all I can get. “Oh yeah? What kind of surprise?” I reach over the center console and put my hand on her knee.
 
When she doesn’t answer me, I look out the window and see that we are coming to the cemetery.
 

“Did…” I start, but I can’t get the rest of the words out. How the fuck do I even get those words out? She puts my truck in park and turns to face me. “Yes. The paperwork is all finalized and we get our little girl home.” Her body is leaning over the center console now and I reach up to cup her face.
 

“Is she moved yet?” I ask. She shakes her head no and the smile slips from her lips.
 

“Yes. I know I should have let you deal with it all, but since you were in the hospital when Mike stopped by the house to see you. He had all the paperwork ready for signatures and he said I could sign it while you were in the hospital since we are still married.” She looks almost like she doesn’t know if this is a good news or not.
 

“Darlin’ thank you. You have no idea who fucking happy this makes me. We are that much closer to having our girl home.” She gives me a small smile in return. I kiss her lips once more before I pull away and get out of the truck. Getting down off the seat I feel a twinge of pain at the pull on my stitches.
 

“Jax, you’re not supposed to be really moving around too much.” She chastises me.
 

“You brought me here.” I say grabbing her hand. “I want to see where they laid her to rest.” She sighs and all but drags me towards where my father was buried. I’m actually surprised she knows. I never brought her here when she came back.
 

“You’ve been here before?” I ask, reading the headstones as we walk past them. Each name and date of a person who left this earth. Every grave is home to someone’s child. When we finally stop at my father’s headstone, I see the new one that is right next to his.
 

Gracilyn Marie Harper - January 25, 2006

A tear falls down my cheek as I wrap my arms around her gently. I feel her body tremble as she looks at the headstone. I had everything picked out for when the paperwork would be approved and I’m glad that she is finally coming home.
 

Lynnie turns in my arms and buries her face into my chest. She wraps her arms around my waist and I run my hands up and down back of her back. “Everything will be okay darlin’.” I whisper against the top of her head. She nods her head, but doesn’t say anything in return.

Pulling her face up so I can look at her, I kiss her nose. “We have our little girl back. You don’t know how happy I am.” I press my lips to her forehead and close my eyes.

Epilogue

While I was still in the hospital, Gracilyn was moved to her new resting place next to my pops.
 
A few weeks after I got out, the whole family showed up to help us commemorate the occasion. We all went down to the cemetery and our parents got to meet the granddaughter that they recently found out about.
 

As emotional of a day it was, it was healing too. We all needed some closure even if we didn’t want to admit it.