by K. S. Thomas
Thirty minutes and a serious leg cramp later, we emerge from the car with disheveled hair, a missing sock and a backwards petticoat I’m glad no one can see, but which is definitely twisted and uncomfortable. While Carter still has a noticeable limp, we are both still too delusional to realize it’s clear as day to everyone there where we were and what we’d been doing. Or maybe we just don’t care.
The reception goes on until late into the evening, and even after the last of our friends and family leaves, Carter and I stand out in that field, slow dancing to the sounds of quiet wind rustling the leaves and brushing across the overgrown grass.
“I don’t want tonight to ever end,” I whisper into the curve of his neck. It’s my favorite place because it fits my face perfectly and I can inhale his amazing scent to my heart’s desire. Carter always smells of Irish Spring soap, citrus and, because he’s a chronic gum chewer, fresh mint. I can’t imagine anything else ever being a more enticing combination of scents.
He chuckles softly, and the rumble in his throat vibrates against my cheek. “You do realize we’ll still be married in the morning, don’t you?” But he makes no efforts to break the hold he has on me, or to stop our bodies from swaying back and forth ever so gently.
“I do. But it won’t be our wedding day anymore. I won’t be a bride. You won’t be a groom. And most importantly, once I take off this dress, I won’t ever get a chance to wear again.” My head pops up involuntarily when I’m hit by a stroke of genius. “Oh, unless we agree right now to renew our vows every year. I’m not saying we have to have a whole wedding, just as long as I can wear this dress and listen to you make your vows again. That’s really all I’d need.”
He grins. “That’s all, huh?”
“Too much? Too crazy?” I muse.
Carter kisses my forehead, then the tip of my nose. He’s aiming for my lips when he answers, “No such thing.”
Both arms wrap securely around his neck and I lean back, letting the sensation of Carter’s lips on mine take over my entire physical being. He has the kind of kiss a girl could drown in, and I can’t help but think how lucky I am, to never be kissed by any other man for as long as I live.
“Think anyone else is as happy as we are?” I mumble, his mouth still on mine.
“I hope so.” His hazel eyes open and he gazes down at me. I’ve never once been able to say no to them in seven years. “You ready to get out of here?”
I lock my arms tighter, securing him in my hold a moment longer. “I don’t know. Do you promise to marry me all over again next year?”
His expression is serious as he comes in closer again, but his eyes are smiling, lights from the stars reflecting in them, dancing wildly. “I already said I would.” He runs his tongue over my lips, and I try to catch it with my mouth.
“Yeah. Let’s get out of here so I can have my way with you again, Mr. Husband. I hope you’re ready.”
He laughs, already leading me from the open green, back to the now abandoned lot area where our car is sadly parked in solitary. “More than ready. The question is, are you? Because what I have in mind, will likely keep you awake until morning. You’re not tired after all that dancing, are you?” He turns back, the glow of the moon revealing a wicked grin which promises naughty things to come.
“Not tired. Not one little bit.” Just to prove it, I speed up a bit.
Still giggling, I climb into the passenger seat of his 1975 Mercedes-Benz 280. It’s yellow and reminds me of a taxicab, and if I am being entirely honest, it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with him. Because I drive a 1975 VW Beetle in the exact same color. I mean really. What are the odds? Clearly, we are soul mates.
We have quite a drive to get back home. Even though our place is on the outskirts of town and nowhere near the actual city, it’s still not even remotely as country as this place is. So, we take the nearly abandoned highway, traveling alongside little else but endless pastures filled with cattle (I saw them on the drive up) and the occasional farmhouse sitting off in the distance.
A half hour into our drive, we wind up on the least pleasant stretch of the highway. A curvy, winding patch of road, accommodating the enormous lake that lies beyond the railing to the left. With the limited light streaming only from our own vehicle, Carter almost runs right into a load of massive tree trunks which have apparently fallen from a loaded tractor-trailer and rolled smack in the center of our lane.
Startled, I scream. Carter’s arm reaches out across my chest as he slams onto the brakes, then, unable to come to a total stop in time, he makes a split-second decision to go around it, taking us into oncoming traffic, just as we are coming up around another turn. Switching gears, he presses down on the gas hard to get past the tree trunks and back into our lane.
My heart is in my throat, pounding away, making it hard to breathe and seconds seem to last for an eternity. Then it happens.
“Holy shit!”
Carter’s outburst jerks my eyes from the trees to my right and back to the road ahead where there’s a set of headlights coming right at us. With the logs still beside us on one side and the lake on the other, Carter has nowhere to go. He slams on the brakes again, harder this time, and I hope against all hope that the vehicle coming straight at us will be able to stop in time.
I hear myself cry out, but I don’t remember doing it. Somewhere in the midst of panic, I feel like I am having an outer body experience. Disconnected from myself and what is happening, I barely registered when Carter shouts for me to hold on, right before he yanks the steering wheel to the right, whipping the whole car to its side where it slides with a frightening amount of force until it collides with the semi coming toward us, finally bringing everything to a crashing halt.
WHEN I COME TO, I HEAR voices all around me, yelling things to one another I can’t quite make out. My head is throbbing and the whole side of my dress feels soaking wet. For a moment I think we’ve landed in the lake.
“Carter.” I feel my mouth open, but not a sound comes out. I attempt to lift my hand to my head, instinctively wanting to numb the pounding in my skull with the pressure of my own touch so I can somehow pry open my eyes, which seem to be sealed shut against my will.
Desperate to know that Carter is alright, I fight my own body, willing it to move in some way.
“Ma’am. Ma’am! Can you hear me? Ma’am, you’ve been in an accident. Help is here, but I need you to remain completely still until we can get you out of the car. Okay?” It’s a man, and under other circumstances I might have found the sound of his deep voice calming. Except these aren’t other circumstances, and given my suddenly horrifying reality, the only voice that can keep me sane at this very moment is noticeably, and terrifyingly, absent.
I hear the agonizing noise of crunching metal as they attempt to pry the door open. Minutes pass, and slowly but surely, I can feel my body coming back to me and with it a new kind of pain I’ve never felt before.
When I finally manage to open my eyes far enough to get a look around, I glimpse at my own palm lying turned up in my other hand. Bright red covers it from the tips of my fingers to the edge of my wrist and I realize I am nowhere near the lake, and what I thought was water drenching my wedding gown, is in reality my own blood.
“Oh my God,” I gasp at the sight. The man I heard talking to me earlier, is still beside me, holding my head in place to try and keep me from making any sudden moves. I don’t have the strength to fight him, but I manage to stretch out my left hand to search the driver’s side. “Carter.” This time my voice is stronger.
“Ma’am, I need you to stop moving please. Your husband is no longer in the vehicle. My partner and I were able to get him out first. The paramedics are working on him as we speak. Right now, I need you to remain as still as possible so I can get you out as well.”
My eyes travel to my right, seeking out the face that goes with the voice, but he’s moved out of sight, the sound of a saw coming to life replacing the smooth darkness of his voice. Befor
e I can begin to panic about having been left alone, a woman shows up at the window. She isn’t much older than me. Bright blue eyes and a kind smile I know I’ll remember for the rest of my life. “Is he okay? My husband? Please, you have to make sure he’s okay,” I plead.
“That’s someone else’s job right now. My job is to make sure you’re okay. Which I have a feeling he would appreciate.”
Continuing to busy my mind, I start to study this woman who is here to save me. Her blonde hair is pulled back into a tight bun and she is dressed in a heavy work coat. She‘s a paramedic. A red sort of star with a snake curling a staff is pinned to her collar, I need to look up what that means as soon as I get home. And I am going home. This will not be the end of my trip. Carter and I have not waited seven years to be married only to spend a few lost hours as husband and wife. We have pledged lifetimes to one another, and lifetimes we will have.
“Ma’am. Ma’am!” she calls, demanding my attention. “Very good. You’re alert. My name is Rachel, what’s yours?”
“Es-si” I stutter in between short breaths, and it is then that I notice I’ve started hyperventilating.
“Esi. Alright, Esi, we need to try and get your breathing to calm down a bit, so I want you to take some slow, deep breaths for me. Think you can do that? Very nice. So, Esi. Is that short for something?” She continues making conversation and I know it’s just to keep me from paying too close attention to the two men who are still trying to cut me out of the vehicle, and the part where none of us really know what they will find when they do. For all I know, my body has been severed in half and is merely being held together by the smashed in metal frame of Carter’s car. It would certainly explain all the blood. But I can’t think about that now. I need to stay focused. Focused on staying alive. So, I shut out the thoughts about severed bodies and pools of blood and try to remember the last thing Rachel asked me. My name. That’s what it was. I want to laugh because it’s so typical, but my body reminds me it may be severed in half and so laughing is physically impossible.
“Esi...do...ra. My mother...is nuts.”
Rachel grins and I appreciate this more than anything. “Whose mother isn’t, right?”
There is one final screech of metal and then, it’s over. I am free. And miraculously, still in one piece.
Both men drop the car door and immediately come for me. I can’t see either of their faces because Rachel is already wrapping my head in one of those neck stabilizer things I’ve seen on TV a million times, and I instinctively wiggle my toes, just to be sure.
“I don’t think I need this.” I reach up to try and stop her. “If you could just help me to my feet so I can go and see my husband.”
Rachel grips my hand. “Esi. You’re in extreme shock right now and that can sometimes lead to your body sending you some mixed signals. So, let me be clear with you. You are in no condition to walk. You have a very serious wound on your abdomen in addition to a deep gash on your head from where you made impact with the windshield. And, until we get you out of here and on a gurney to properly examine you, there’s no telling what other injuries you might have. Therefore, we need you to please not fight us and just let us take care of everything. It’s a miracle you survived and we’re not taking this miracle lightly.”
Rachel is good. Really good. By the time she’s done talking me down, I am already being laid out on the gurney and rolled toward an inferno of bright lights.
With my head in this horrible box, I can’t see much of anything. There is shouting and the sound of blaring sirens in addition to who knows how many running engines, making it completely impossible to get any proper bearings on my situation or where Carter fits into any of it.
“Are you taking me to him? Are you taking me to Carter?” I look up at Rachel, who is walking alongside me, pushing the gurney and tightly gripping my hand in hers. She’s the only thing I can see clearly.
“He’ll be in the ambulance right beside us. As soon as I know you’re settled, I promise I’ll go check on him and get you an update.” She never has a chance.
Just as we are coming to a stop, I hear a man yell, “We’re losing him! Give me another dose of Epinephrine. Now!”
I can’t speak. My nails claw into Rachel’s arm desperately as tears pour from my eyes instantly. She understands. Her head turns toward one of the guys who helped cut me out of the car. “Evan, go. We can handle this.”
“Do not let anything happen to her, Rachel. She’s breathing and conscious. I want her this way when I get back,” he barks at her and I immediately recognize his voice. It’s the first one I heard when I woke up after the crash. I release my iron grip on Rachel and she glances down at me, attempting a reassuring smile, but it’s weak and I know she’s in no position to reassure me of anything right now.
Squeezing my eyes shut, drowning out everything else, I zero in on Evan’s voice.
“I’ve got extra hands. What do you need?”
“We need to get him to the fucking hospital.” The man from before.
“He’s bleeding out. It’s no use. He’ll be dead before we even get there.” Another male voice. I don’t recognize it. But I hate it. I hate it with a passion.
“Clear!” And I know they’re shocking him. With every part of my being I am willing Carter’s heartbeat back into existence. Don’t leave me. Carter, you can’t leave me. You PROMISED!
“Nothing.”
“You can’t stop. It’s his wedding day. It’s supposed to be the happiest day of his life. Not his last!” Evan’s words pierce through me, eradicating the pain I feel from my injuries by replacing it with a wound no surgeon can ever repair.
“Hold on. I’ve got something. That’s it. We’ve got a heartbeat. Load him up. Now. Go! Go!”
Then. Everything goes black.
Continue reading HERE
Acknowledgements
First of all, I’d like to thank my mother for the banana bread which she baked, and I just ate. It was delicious.
Second, and possibly more relevant here, I’d like to thank my wonderful beta readers – Stephanie, Deb, Rachel, Jayme and Paula. Your feedback, eyes for typos and brainstorming sessions were amazing as always!
I’m sure there are more people to thank, but sadly, I have to pee and then leave to take my kid to dance and time, well, it’s running out, and frankly, I can’t think under all this pressure.
So, thank you. All of you who played a part in bringing this story to ‘the end’ and me here, to the moment I get to share another story with the world.
You feed my soul, my heart thanks you.
~ K.
Did you love One Moment at a Time? Then you should read Bittersweet by K.S. Thomas!
Esi is young, beautiful and smart. She's got it all...and then some, but it's not what you'd expect.
Seven years after fate has her colliding - literally - with the man of her dreams, the two finally find themselves walking down the aisle. The day couldn't be more perfect. For one shining moment in time, she has it all.
Then a tragic accident changes everything.
Getting married was supposed to be the final touch on their already blissful relationship, but after the car crash, nothing seems right anymore. Soon after they get home from the hospital, Esi discovers she's pregnant. However, after the extensive damages her heart has endured from the night of the traumatic wreck, this miracle of life brings with it the reality of death.
Now Esi and Carter both have to face facts. Someone might not survive.
While ever after may not be as happy as Esi has always hoped, she's learning to appreciate the beauty in strength and surviving, and finding that love, no matter how true or how complete, sometimes is simply bittersweet.
Read more at K.S. Thomas’s site.
Also by K.S. Thomas
A Finding Nolan Novel
Lost Avalon
Secret Hudson
Fallen Angel
Forever Francis
A Once Upon a Wedding Story
Save The Date
With Whom We Spend Our Lives
The Men Write in the Sugar
Fruit Punch Kisses
#MeetCute Books
EverAfter
PINK
Nine (A Pink Novel, #1)
Eight (A pINK Novel, #2)
Standalone
Unhurt
I Call Him Brady
It's Kinda My Thing
I Think about You
Bittersweet
Tin
Last Girl
One More Chapter
Ten (A pINK Novelette)
Eleven (A pINK novelette)
Forget Me Not
Don't Fall
The Finding Nolan Series
Love At First Sight
Sometimes It Happens Here
One Moment at a Time
Watch for more at K.S. Thomas’s site.
About the Author
Well, I’m a mommy of one.
A drinker of #coffee (lots and lots of coffee).
And a #Writer of #bookboyfriends and #happyeverafters.
Usually. Sometimes I write other shit too. Children’s books. Crime Thrillers. Blogs, apparently. I’m not one to stifle creativity, I find it only feeds the insanity I’m trying to soothe.
The stereotypical writer through and through,
I find hiding out alone in my office or garden, cut off from society
where I can pursue my obsessive compulsions in peace
& carry on uninterrupted conversations with my imaginary friends
while I sip coffee, to be all the rage.
I like people too.
The real ones.
But I’m shy and often awkward, and I’m told intimidating (trust me, no one is more surprised by this than I am), so I don’t show it well.