New Title 1 (38 page)

“No! He lives here!” Randy yelled.

The sirens come blaring up the drive. “Ava, the ambulance … they’re here. They’re going to take care of you,” I said as she lies limp in my arms. Tears streaming down my face, I reluctantly release her to them and before I know it, they sweep her up and out of my arms. I steady myself eyeing her blood on me before running into the ambulance after her. Taking hold of her hand, I kiss her on the head and watch her eyes open and search frantically until I make sure I am in her view. “Ava,” I struggle to speak her name. “It’s okay, I’m here, and I’m not leaving. Please don’t leave me, Ava. I need you.” I pause clenching my eyes and gripping her hand tight. “I love you too much for this.” Her eyes close again, even though she is being poked and stuck by the meticulously calm EMT. Fiercely fighting the tears, I caress her face, “keep your eyes open baby.” She jerks her eyes open faintly before they fall closed again. I cannot stop my tears any longer and bury my head into her hair while holding her hand tight.
I can’t lose her now. I have so much to tell her … to ask her.
I swallow hard and feel for the little box in my jacket that is draped over her. “Ava, I love you,” I breathed softly in her ear. “I found the perfect house for us. It’s everything we’ve been looking for.” Opening the box, “I have a ring … I have your ring, sweetheart.” Warming her hand, I kiss it gently and place the ring on her finger. “Marry me Ava. I love you.” Her eyes close and I kiss her lips, quietly praying. We reach the hospital and they rush Ava in, stopping me at the last door. I watch her disappear in silence, as the door shuts in front of me.

“Mr. Grant can I get you anything?” The nurse asks, approaching me with tender hands and a concerned look.

“No, I’m fine,” I said with no feeling or idea of what to do next. I sit fidgeting and becoming more impatient with each passing second, when the nurse comes back pushing water and some aspirin at me. “I said I’m fine,” I snapped as she raises her eyebrows and holds strong in her persistence of the aspirin. “I guess I will take the aspirin, thank you.” It does not take long before my entire family and all of our friends show up to our little personal hospital living room. Waiting for me to break, they all stare at me with their concerned and worried faces.
If I have to wait much longer, they may get their wish.
With a sharp creak and an abrupt slam against the walls, the doors open and my head jerks up to see the doctor coming in. Stepping to him quickly, I meet him more than halfway.

“Looks good. I think she’s going to be fine, we’ll know more over the next few hours but I don’t think there is anything to be concerned about.” He smiles reassuringly. There is a collective sigh within the little room.

“Can I see her?” I asked determined.

He nods, “sure, I will let her nurse, Pamela know.” He nods again before exiting to somewhere unknown.

I take the time to say good-bye to everyone, promising to call with any news. After everyone leaves, my pill-pushing nurse enters with nothing close to a smile, Pamela I assume. “We have her settled in a room but if you don’t do exactly as I ask at all times,” she said pointing her finger at me sternly. “I will throw you out, do you understand me?” She emphasized with extreme clarity. Too scared to speak, I simply nod. “Okay then, follow me.” Once we reach Ava’s room, Pamela turns to me again, “you better behave. I am only going to warn you this once,” she said with her angry finger nearly taking out my eye. Pamela leads me in and I find Ava attached to every machine possible. Taking her hand that now holds my promise to her, I make myself comfortable near her. “I am going home for the night but I will have them bring in some food for you.”

“I’m not hungry,” I said ignoring her huffing.

“I said I am sending in some food for you and you’re going to eat it, my rule. Are you breaking my rules already?”

“No, I will eat every bite.”

“The sofa pulls out into a bed. I laid some sheets on it for you to make it up, I will be back in the morning,” she said as I force a smile at her. “I better not hear that you caused any trouble.” She eyes me sternly before leaving. Someone does bring some food and I do eat, not a lot but enough that I think it will satisfy. I try to stay near Ava but manage to be in the way every time they come in to check on her. Eventually the sofa becomes more inviting than the hard, awkward chair and that is where I wake up the next morning, with the sun shining brightly in my eyes. I jump up worried about the time, when Pamela comes walking through the door and looking at me disapprovingly, again. “Oh so you decided to wake up. They said you were being stubborn about sleeping. You know if you would have gone to bed at a reasonable time, you wouldn’t have missed most of the day.”

“It’s not that late,” I said wishing I hadn’t when I see the fire shoot out of her eyes at me. I make my way back over to Ava reaching for her hand. “How is she doing?”

“She is going to be fine,” she said confidently. “We cut down on her pain medicine, so she should be waking up here shortly. She will be groggy though. Do not let her talk too much, she needs rest. I will be back to check on you two a little later and make sure you are still following my rules.”

“Pamela, she is going to be okay?”

“She’s going to be fine and back to keeping you in line real soon.” She forms a weak grin before walking out with authority and chastising some other poor soul that happens to cross in front of her.

Pamela sent in food for Ava, and me.
She is so sure of herself.
I turn the TV on to check out the media craziness over our drama the day before but luckily Ethan has managed to keep that reporter’s video out of their hands. I am not sure how he managed it but I am extremely grateful. With a sigh, I flip through channels trying to find something a little less dramatic.

“I like that show,” she said, so softly I barely heard her.

I jump up with a mouthful of food and spit out nothing but indiscernible words that make her laugh. Swallowing and laughing myself, “hi beautiful, how are you feeling?”

“Fine,” she answered roughly.

“You’re not fine, you will be though. Right now you need to rest.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Especially now that I know you are going to be okay.”

“Lillah?”

“She’s perfectly fine. She is at home with everyone we know and the boys too. All waiting for you to come home.”

“Can I go home today?”

“No,” I laughed at her.

“Sean, I think it will be …”

“Don’t you say it will be fine, the answer is no. Besides your nurse will have my head if I even consider it.”

“She’s scary huh?” She asked as I nod with a frightened look that makes her laugh again. “Sean?” She says looking up into my eyes. “Will you hold me?” She asked scooting over in her bed.

“You’re going to get me in so much trouble.”

“You know you want to.” She teased.

“I will as long as you stop talking and rest and eat some when you can.” She nods and I move in carefully beside her, sighing happily, as she curls up into my arms.

“Oh hell no! You get out of that bed and mind your own business.” Pamela comes in yelling and pointing her angry finger all over the room. Ava pouts and gives Pamela a harsh stare of her own. “Oh, so she is the real stubborn one. Well I am going to tell you what I told him, there are rules here and then there are my rules, and those are the only rules that matter. Do as I say and we will all get along and live happy lives. You can do all that nasty stuff once you are out of my hospital.” Pamela pushes Ava’s food to her, insisting until Ava agrees, giving us her angry finger one last time before leaving.

“Umm Sean,” Ava asked, staring at her ring on her hand. “Did we get … engaged and I don’t remember?”

“Not exactly, I mean yes, but that’s not how I planned to do it, it was in-the-moment type of thing.” I said shaking my head, hoping that she will understand. “I do have a plan to do it better, so ignore it for now, if you will.”

“Do you want it back?”

“No it’s yours, unless you want to give it back?” I said smirking at her sparkling eyes.

Turning her hand in the light and smiling enormously at the large brilliance on her finger. “No, I think I’ll hold onto it, I don’t want you to think I don’t want it or anything.”

“You like it?” She bites her bottom lip, nodding with a shy happiness. “I knew you would. Okay, now eat so you can get out of here and I can propose to you properly,” I said brushing my lips gently against hers. I know I should calm down but it is nearly impossible to keep myself from crawling back into the bed with her again.

A
fter being released from the hospital, I find out Sean has moved us all into his mother’s house until we can find another place. He is afraid the white fortress memories will be too much for me to handle, but I think the memories are too much for him but I am not going to complain. As far as the other participants in the nightmare interview, they are dealing with their own ordeals. The cameraman is still recovering but is suing the reporter and his studio for forcing him into the situation. Ethan found somebody in the police station to accidently lose the video of my interview. Cole confessed to helping Spencer get bailed out and to helping him get to me. He said he thought Spencer was going to apologize and try to make amends, never imagining he was crazy enough to do what he did. However, the judge was not sympathetic to his pleas and convicted him of assisting Spencer in his crimes. A minor roll but he still got more than enough time to please Sean and that is good enough for me. The media ate up Sean’s hero status, which the police have repeated continuously in interviews but because he still blames himself for not seeing it coming, Sean has refused any interviews to discuss it.

I am suppose to take it easy for a few weeks but I understood that to mean, do whatever you want until you can’t, that is until Sean caught me running and playing with the boys. Thankfully, he corrected me on my misunderstanding right away. When the doctor finally gave me the okay to return to life as usual, I made him put it in writing because I know Sean will not believe me and as expected his suspicious eyes do not disappoint. “Here,” I said pulling out my doctor’s note for him.

“What’s this?” He asked taking it from my hand and gazing over my posture with distrust. “What did you do, steal this from his desk and write it yourself?”

“No smartass. I let him feel me up and look at me naked. Then he was more than happy to do whatever I asked.”

“Funny,” he said with a soured expression.

“I think so,” I said happily.

“So I guess this means we can get a little closer and …” Sean takes hold of me and trails his mouth up my neck.

“Sean I can’t do this in your mother’s house, it’s too uncomfortable.”

“I promise you, it won’t be the first time I have had sex in my mother’s house.”

“Is that supposed to encourage me?” I huffed pushing him away.

“So what I am supposed to do, wait until we have our own place?”

“Yes, how much longer can that take anyway?”

“Hmmm, actually I do have a place I wanted to show you when you felt ready. I’m not sure if it’s the right place but ....”

Eagerly jumping into his arms, “where? Can I see it now, or tomorrow? When can we move in?”

“Whoa, hold up. Tonight no, tomorrow maybe, I will make a call and then let you know. Let’s look at it first, then we will go from there … okay?” Sighing I reluctantly agree. “Baby, it’s only one day, surely you can wait one day.”

I
wait the one day at work, trying to not think about it but only managing to drive Kyle and Anna crazy until Sean calls. He rambles on about how he cannot be there because of an important party for charity. For that reason, Ethan is going to take me on his way back from a meeting of his and we will meet up with Sean and Abbey at the party, after I see the house. I do not remember Sean telling me anything about a party but when I arrive home, I find a beautiful jade green dress waiting for me with a note:

Wear this dress tonight for me and I will be sure to find you.

I love you
–
Sean

The dress is sleek and simple as it falls down my body, showing every curve under it. Deciding to keep it simple, I let the dress be the focus and add the jade combs to my hair that Sean had gotten for me in Ireland.

Ethan arrives right on time as always, and like a perfect gentleman he takes my hand and leads me to his car. The ride to the house though is strangely uncomfortable. Ethan is unusually quiet even for him, luckily, my mind is so filled with anticipation that I can barely concentrate on anything else. We drive into the quiet area of trees and I edge to my seat as a house appears delicately lit up on its edges and the setting sun begins to highlight the grounds surrounding it. Within an instant, I feel at home. Ethan pulls to the front, helps me out of the car, and escorts me through the unlocked door. “The door is unlocked? Is someone here?” Ethan smiles without another word and guides me in until we see candles and hear music. I turn to him in shock and he hands me a key. “What’s this?”

“You look beautiful Ava, I can’t wait to call you my sister,” he said taking my hand and pressing his lips respectively against the back of my hand before exiting.

Stunned and confused, I turn my attention to the music outside and follow the sensuous vocals until I come to a trail of rose petals leading out the backdoor. The backyard is lit up with more candles, while gentle sounds of a pouring waterfall flow into a nature driven organic pool of more floating candles and petals. Butterflies begin flying through my body as I take notice of someone coming over the arched wooden bridge. The darken shadow approaches and stops short under the light, leaning against the bridge with one perfect rose in his hand and a devilish smile fighting to take form.
I am
not sure if I should run to him or wait.
My body is so overwhelmed with emotions that I am speechless.
I watch him in his perfect debonair tux, one hand in his pocket and the other grasping the rose’s stem gently while he focuses his attention entirely on me.
Perfect,
I think as a tingly sensation begins to work its magic through my body.