In a few more minutes, they had Gray situated on a makeshift stretcher.
With a deputy carrying either end, they started to pick their way back toward the farm.
19
With the word that Gray had been found alive and mostly unharmed, Tessa let loose with tears that had been building for hours.
“I’m going down there,” she told anyone paying any attention to her. It took less effort than she expected to get her boots and jacket on, but likely the adrenaline helped.
By the time she made it out the door, Mama Beach was waiting with a car. It wasn’t as easy to get in and out of as the SUV, but Tessa didn’t care.
It only took a couple of minutes to get down to the Beach House. It was easy to find the gate because the cars were all parked near it, though Tessa noticed they left plenty of room for an emergency vehicle like an ambulance to get to the gate. Mama Beach did, too.
“How are you feeling, sweetheart?” Mama Beach covered Tessa’s hand with her own.
“Better now that I know he’s been found.” Tessa leaned her head against the seat back.
“I mean your back. I know you’re still on the good meds at least sometimes.”
“Adrenaline is getting me through right now.”
“You’re going to crash and hard, sooner rather than later, I’m afraid. I think you should see Gray when they load him into the ambulance, go home, take your meds, and lay down.”
Tessa shook her head. “No. I’m going to the hospital with him. If they’re taking him, I’m going.”
More lights swept across the yard as the ambulance turned into it. One of the paramedics jumped out and helped direct the driver as he backed up to the gate.
Mama Beach’s lights were pointed toward the field where Tessa could barely make out a group of people walking toward them.
“There they are.” She opened the door and struggled to stand. It took far more effort than she would have liked. Maybe Mama Beach wasn’t wrong about staying home rather than going to the hospital. Just the tension from the evening was likely enough to make her take two or three steps backward in her recovery and that didn’t include wrestling with the shelter door.
She stopped at the paramedic’s side. “Can I ride with you?”
“Are you family?” he asked.
“His wife.”
The paramedic turned. “Tess?”
Tessa looked up to see a high school classmate. “Hey, Martinez. Take good care of him.”
“I heard you were hurt pretty badly not too long ago.” Worry colored his face. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She brushed off his concern. “I’m just worried about Gray.”
“I heard you two eloped, too. I always wondered when you two would realize you belonged together.”
She didn’t answer as the crowd in the field moved closer. Were they carrying something? Gray? Was he hurt worse than they let on or was it to be cautious?
Two of the men with the search party hurried ahead to open the gate.
“Papa Beach!” Tessa called when he was close enough to hear. “How is he?”
They worked to get the gate open then Papa Beach made a beeline for her. In seconds, she was enveloped in a hug almost as good as one of Mama Beach’s, but gentle enough it didn’t hurt.
“He’s okay, honey. Hurt his leg or ankle. I’m not sure, so they had to carry him out, but he’s all right.”
The weight continued to lift off her shoulders. “Thank you.” She let go of him as the rest of the search party came through the gate. “Gray!”
“Tess?” His voice sounded weaker than normal but not as bad as she feared.
“I’m right here.” She hurried to his side, taking his outstretched hand.
He gripped it with nearly superhuman strength. “Are you all right?” Of course he was most worried about her.
“Fine. I made it to the shelter in time. Just worried about you.”
“I’m okay.”
He had to let go of her hand so the deputies could help him move from the makeshift stretcher to the real one and then into the ambulance where the paramedics looked him over.
He spent the whole time joking with Martinez about high school band, so he couldn’t be hurt too badly. Most of the non-family search party members left while the assessment took place. Sheriff Turner waited to hear what the prognosis was.
Martinez finally looked out at Tessa. “We’re going to take him to Springfield to get checked out. I think they’ll keep him overnight for observation, but that’s up the doctors. Are you riding with us?”
Tessa nodded. “Up front or back here?”
“Front passenger seat.”
Tessa turned to see Madi standing there with her purse and a bag. “Let me take you, Tess,” Madi urged. “I can take Sean’s SUV. It’ll be much easier for you to get in and out of.”
Tessa hesitated then nodded. Her sister-in-law was right. “Where is Sean?”
“He already left,” Sheriff Turner told her. “Said he had something to get back to.”
Weird.
“Go with Madi,” Gray called from the back of the ambulance. “I’ll see you there.”
Madi had already driven the SUV to the Beach House, so it only took a few minutes to get on the road even before the ambulance did.
“What’s going on with Sean?” Madi asked her. “Do you know?”
Tessa shook her head and pulled out her phone. “No idea. If Gray knows, he hasn’t told me.”
“Interesting. Your cousin was at the house, too. I’m not sure they arrived together, but I think they did.”
“They did,” Tessa said absentmindedly.
She wasn’t paying attention. She needed to send out messages to everyone who’d been in contact about Gray. She finally settled for a single post on social media then a copied-and-pasted text with limited information that said she wouldn’t be responding until the next day at the earliest.
She let her head fall back against the seat and closed her eyes, continuing to pray. Now, she thanked God that Gray had been found fairly quickly and that he seemed to be all right, but also that there wasn’t anything unseen wrong with him.
Before she knew it, she’d dozed off.
As much as he wanted to sleep on the way to the hospital, the ride wasn’t nearly smooth enough and the lights in the back of the ambulance made it impossible.
“You scared everyone, Beach.” Martinez had been a member of the Trumanville Tiger Pride Band with them. “Word made it through the grapevine pretty quickly, though Tessa tried to keep it quiet.”
“I didn’t mean to. Just trying to ride out the storm.”
“You weren’t even on Pop Pop’s property,” Martinez pointed out. “You’re lucky Sean remembered there was another building not too far over the property line.”
“I didn’t even realize I’d crossed it. I thought I was still on our land. How bad is it?”
“Unofficially?”
Gray nodded.
“I don’t think you broke anything. I think it’s just a sprain, but you do have a bump on the head. I think you’ll end up spending the night, just to be safe, but nothing lasting.”
“Good, but I’d rather not stay the night.”
Martinez chuckled. “It’s already halfway through the wee hours of the morning. They’ll probably keep you most of the day.”
He groaned. “Better than being stuck out there all day.”
Eventually, they made it to the hospital, and Gray was taken to a room. A few minutes later, Tessa and Madi joined him.
Tessa looked more worn out than he’d seen her in a while. “Mads, why don’t you take Tessa home to get some rest?”
“We just got here. I want to see what the doctors say.” Tessa lowered herself into one of the chairs. “I’m not going anywhere.”
They stayed for several hours. X-rays revealed he didn’t have a broken leg or ankle, but he would need to follow up with the sports medicine clinic and probably do
physical therapy on it.
It was mid-afternoon before they were able to leave.
Madi drove them back to the farmhouse. Gray sported a boot and crutches. Tessa was exhausted but refused to leave sooner to rest.
As he made his way slowly upstairs, Madi headed into the kitchen to make something for them to eat.
“I’m going to take a shower,” he told his wife and sister.
“No, you’re not,” Madi called after him. “Take a bath and keep your leg propped up. Then get in bed, and I’ll bring you something to eat.”
“Yes, Mom,” Gray called back.
“Hush. Mom wouldn’t make you anything to eat, and you know it. You, too, Tess. Change into something more comfortable, and I’ll bring you something to eat.”
“Thanks, Madi.” Tessa started slowly up the stairs behind him.
A minute later, they were both in the master suite.
“You know she expects us both to be in here, right?” Gray asked before heading into the bathroom.
“I know. It’s the best place for both of us. It’s fine.”
“Do you want to grab anything from the closet before I take a bath?”
“I’m going to change into some pajamas.” She went into the closet and emerged a few minutes later wearing a pair of plaid flannel pants and an old Tiger Band shirt.
By then, he’d filled the tub up enough he could get in as soon as the door to the bedroom closed behind her.
The warm water felt good on his sore muscles, and Gray soaked far longer than he originally intended to.
Once in pajama pants of his own, Gray grabbed a t-shirt and headed for the bedroom. Madi was walking in with a tray of food.
“Put your shirt on, Gray, and get on the bed.”
Gray had to walk around the bed to the other side since Tessa had to be on the close side to roll out of bed the best way possible.
The controller that had come with the bed given them by Harrison’s family rested on the side table. He raised both the head and the foot before getting on it, then adjusted a bit so he was sitting upright to eat but his leg wasn’t so high as to be annoying. Then he had to lower it down farther for the bed tray to sit over his legs.
“Thanks, Mads.” He often gave his oldest sister a hard time, but Gray appreciated her help.
“I’m going to stay for the next day or two until you’re feeling better.”
“That’s not necessary,” he and Tessa said at the same time.
Madi waved them off. “It’s no trouble. It’s either this or go back above the bookstore. Mom and Dad are always asking me to work for free. I don’t have time for that. I’m on deadline, but I can work here while you two convalesce. I can also get you something to eat or drink. You’re both on your own in the bathroom.”
He and Tessa shared a look, gave an internal shrug, and started to eat.
Madi sat on the end of the bed and ate off of her own plate. “How’d you end up over there anyway, Gray?”
She’d asked him several times during the day, but every time they were interrupted by medical personnel.
He told the story of the wayward cattle and the one who’d somehow managed to get a rope around his neck and had gotten stuck. “I need to tell the sheriff. If there are teens being stupid, he needs to know.”
“Lucky that other shed was there.” Madi took her empty plate. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’m going to clean up some downstairs, then I’ll come get your dishes and make sure you’re all set.”
“Thanks, Mads.”
A minute later, it was just the two of them again. “How are you feeling?” Gray asked Tessa.
“Tired and sore. Ready for a nap. Probably set myself back a few days or even a week because I pushed too hard with you missing. How about you?”
“About the same. The bath helped.” Most of the actual mud had been washed off at the hospital, but he felt significantly cleaner now. “I could probably go to bed for the night right now.” Even though it wasn’t even dinner time yet.
Tessa’s head rotated a bit until she was looking straight at him. “You know we’re grown-ups right?”
“I’ve heard.” Gray’s wry tone made her smile.
“Not only does that mean we have to do grown up things like go to school and work and pay bills and stuff, but we can have cake when it’s no one’s birthday, and we can go to bed whenever we want.”
Gray laughed and reached over to hold her hand, linking their fingers together and closing his eyes.
It was the middle of the night when Tessa woke up to an unfamiliar movement and noise.
“Gray?” she called softly.
He walked out of the bathroom. “Sorry. I tried not to wake you.”
“It’s all right.” She needed to answer the call of nature, too.
When she returned, he was adjusting the angle of both ends of his side of the bed. When he was done lowering his head and raising his leg a bit, she sat down on her side.
“How are you feeling?” he asked before she had the chance.
“Okay.” She looked at her phone to see it was a little after three in the morning. “Not great. Not ready to be up for the day, but I’ve already had about nine or ten hours of sleep.”
Gray patted her hand. “Then let’s talk for a bit and see if we doze back off.” He yawned. “I’m pretty sure I will. I bet you will, too.” He yawned again, and this time Tessa joined him. “See?”
“Probably right.” She snuggled down under the covers. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Making sure you’re all right.”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I’m not the one who was outside under a collapsed building all night. How are you?”
Gray chuckled. “All I could think about while I was lying there, at least while I was awake because I did doze off some, was that you were probably freaking out, and I hated that I was the one causing it.”
“You didn’t cause it. No one did. It was a freak weather thing, though if you could let the cows fend for themselves next time, that would be great.”
He laughed again. “That’s a promise.”
“Good.”
Gray rolled over onto his side, and she could see him much better in the dim light from the hall. “There’s something we should talk about.”
“What’s that?”
He reached out and brushed a bit of her hair off her face. “Us.”
She’d figured it was something like that. “What about us?”
“Is this all you want from our marriage, Tess? Friends, but barely that sometimes because we’re not sure what we are to each other, even though we’re married.”
She blew out a deep breath. “I’m not sure, Gray. I mean, I’ve been in so much pain and focused on just getting through each day most of the time. I haven’t really thought a ton about it because I’ve been too focused on rolling over or standing up or whatever.”
“That makes sense.”
Tessa bit her lip, not sure he really meant it. He’d been thinking about them, about moving their relationship out of the friend zone, and she’d been focused on rolling over.
“Tess, I understand. You haven’t been able to focus on anything but getting better. That’s all you should have been focused on, but now that you’re feeling better, what if we talked about our future?”
He cradled the side of her face in his hand, his thumb brushing along her cheek. “I love you, Tess. I’ve loved you as my best friend for half of forever, but this is different. I’m falling in love with you. I’m already your husband, and you’re my wife, but I want to actually be your husband. I want to spend my life with you, having children with you. Love you.”
Tessa felt hot tears run from one eye across the bridge of her nose and into the other then down the temple into her ear.
“Oh, Gray,” she whispered. “I’ve seen you in such a different light the last few weeks. I’m falling in love with you, too. I want everything you said. I want a marriage to you for the rest of my life
.”
Gray shifted closer to her and leaned in, brushing his lips against hers then rested his forehead on hers. “I’m pretty sure that’s all either one of us has the energy for tonight, but someday, when we’re both feeling better...”
Tessa nodded. “You’re right. That’s big and scary, but it feels like it will feel right when the time’s right.”
“I would imagine so.” He kissed her again. “I think I’m going to want to do that all the time now.”
“I think I’m going to want you to.” This time she reached out to kiss him. “Stay close to me as we fall back asleep?”
“Of course, but I think I need to roll over on my back. I don’t think I can sleep on my side with my head and feet both raised.”
Tessa kissed him one more time, emotions roiling through her as he rolled onto his back. At least their heads were raised about the same.
Their shoulders were right next to each other as Gray linked his fingers with hers. Tessa laid her head on his shoulder.
Very quickly, her eyes grew heavy, and she slipped off to sleep.
When her eyes blinked back open, Gray was still next to her, though not as close, and propped up on his elbow watching her.
“Good morning, beautiful.” And then he kissed her.
“It wasn’t a dream?” she asked him.
“Nope. It’s you and me from here on out, Tess.” Another kiss.
“I’ll be right back.” She gave him a kiss then managed to get up in less than ten minutes, go to the bathroom then climb back into bed.
Once settled back under the covers, she took Gray’s hand again. “So how is this going to work?”
“Well, we’re going to let Madi wait on us for the next couple of days. We’ll binge watch whatever we want on the television in here. Then once we’re feeling better, we’ll figure it out.”
“I have to do some schoolwork while we lay here. My professors have been great about working with me, but I really need to be at school next week.”
Small Town Girls Don't Marry Their Best Friends: Contemporary Christian Romance (Beaches of Trumanville Book 3) Page 14