When I woke up on day three in the hospital, I was much more clearheaded. When I looked over, Lincoln was asleep in the uncomfortable-looking hospital chair, the same chair he’d kept himself glued to for days. His elbow was on the arm, his cheek in his hand and his booted feet propped up on the edge of my bed.
From the shadows under his eyes, I knew he hadn’t been sleeping, and I didn’t want to disturb him, but I really had to pee.
I sat up slowly, testing my limits, and discovered the ache in my stomach and ribs was feeling marginally better. I tossed the covers off and gingerly threw my legs over the edge of the bed, prepared to use my IV pole as a cane on the way to the bathroom.
Lincoln’s raspy voice came to me before my feet could hit the cold floor. “What’re you doin’ baby?”
I looked back over my shoulder and offered him an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Then you should’ve stayed in bed. Where you off to?”
I chewed on my bottom lip as my eyes darted to the bathroom. As embarrassing as it was, I knew the trip would be so much easier with his help.
“I have to pee,” I finally admitted.
With a dimpled smile, Lincoln rose to his feet and rounded the bed. With his help, I made quick work of my bathroom trip and was back in bed in record time.
“How are you feeling?” he asked, pulling the chair closer to the bed before resuming his seat and taking my hand in his.
“I’m better today than yesterday. I think I’m good enough to walk down to Cord’s room so I can check on him.”
He gave me a look and muttered, “Nice try.” For two days I’d tried getting him to let me see Cord, and for two days he’d shot me down, saying I needed to stay in bed and rest up.
“Please, Lincoln,” I begged quietly, tears brimming in my eyes. “I need to see him. I have to see for myself that he’s okay.”
He watched me for a few seconds. When he spoke next, that weight I’d been carrying around on my chest for days finally lifted. “Fine, but you’re not walkin’. It’s a wheelchair or nothing.”
“Deal!” I readily agreed.
Lincoln pushed the call button on the side of my bed and requested a wheelchair from the nurse who came in to check on me. She gave him a nod and a giddy smile, then muttered, “Right away,” before scurrying back out.
It was the same song and dance with all the nurses, and I couldn’t fault a single one of them for their reaction to my man. Hell, most times I looked at him, I felt the exact same way. There was no jealousy or self-consciousness as they swooned over him. I simply laughed good-naturedly and shook my head, knowing I was the one who’d be going home with him when all was said and done.
“Before we see Cord, there’s something I’ve been wantin’ to talk to you about.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“The fact that you love me.”
My lungs deflated. When I’d finally woken up enough and the dosage of my pain meds had been lowered to a level that didn’t zonk me out, I’d convinced myself that it had all been a hallucination, that I hadn’t told Lincoln I loved him when I thought I’d been knocking on death’s door.
Sure, it was totally and completely a hundred percent true, but I really wished it had come during something way more romantic than me passing out from blood loss.
“Honey, I—”
“Good to know you feel that way, since I love you too.”
“I—wait.” My heart flipped about a million times as my face split into a goofy smile. “You do?”
“I do, baby. And I’m really fuckin’ glad that’s all out in the open now.”
“You don’t think it’s too soon?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Well, no. I mean, if you really think about it, we haven’t been together that long. It takes most people months to get to this point.”
“Darlin’, since we’ve met, your brother’s broken into your house twice, the cops have pulled you in for questioning on a string of robberies, you were kidnapped by some really not good guys, and you’ve been shot. Most relationships never reach that kind of intensity, and we weathered through it fuckin’ brilliantly. As far as I’m concerned, what we’ve been through equals at least three years of serious commitment. So no, I don’t think it’s too soon.”
“Well okay then,” I replied with a giddy giggle. “Then it’s official. I love you, and you love me.”
He gave me that dimple, and I swear to god, at the sight of it, everything in my world was set to rights. “That pretty much covers it. Oh, and while you were sleepin’ like a log up here, I went ahead and moved all my shit to your place. Figured I’d go ahead and get that out of the way. That work for you?”
Oh yeah. That most definitely worked for me.
Epilogue
Lincoln
One week later
I stood at the window of Cord’s hospital room, giving him and my girl their privacy while still keeping her in my sight.
I knew the threat was gone—I’d seen to that by taking out Vlad Ivanov while Marco and Hayes took out his enforcers, and with everything on that flashdrive Shep Brenner provided, police in three states were dismateling his operation piece by piece. But it would be a good long while before the sight of Eden’s limp body stopped waking me up in cold sweats in the middle of the night. Until that happened, I was going to be vigilant. I’d almost lost her once, and I wasn’t keen on experiencing that feeling ever again.
While she was healing beautifully, there would be scars from what those men had done to her for the rest of her life. She had to walk on crutches thanks to the bullet in her leg, and while the bruises riddled on her face and ribs were lighter, they were still very much visible.
But where I was still struggling with the events of that night, my woman proved once again just how fucking strong she was by going about her life like nothing had happened.
Shep had turned himself in in order to save his sister, so he was currently locked up, awaiting a court date on all the robberies he’d committed in our town, not to mention the ones he was wanted for all over the country. Needless to say, he was going away for a very, very long time. His running days were done, but he’d purposefully made that choice, knowing it would be the result of saving Eden’s life, showing for the first time that he knew how to be a good brother by handing over his freedom to ensure hers.
The act didn’t instantly repair a lifetime’s worth of damage to their relationship, but it went a long way in providing Eden with the closure she needed to move on from the pain of the past, and she’d always appreciate what he’d done for her.
He led cops to the abandoned house he’d been squatting in for weeks, and they’d uncovered everything he’d stolen from the residents of Hope Valley. The only thing they didn’t find was proof that Shepley Brenner had a hand in the break-in and murder of one of our residents. As Eden had said, he hadn’t done it, so for now, that case was still open. But everyone was doing what they could to move on.
She’d been out of the hospital for a few days now, but Cord would be in for a while longer. Eden’s gut shot went through clean and hadn’t hit anything major, but he hadn’t been so lucky. The four shots he took to the chest and stomach had done some serious damage. He was on the mend, and for as long as he was holed up in the hospital, Eden was determined to come see him every day.
Each time she walked through that door, his face would light up. I’d stand aside and give them their time together, watching, pride swelling my chest, as she worked her magic and made him laugh as they talked together in hushed voices, their heads huddled close.
She had the same effect on him that she had on everyone, and Cord adored her. I was thankful to have a woman who could give him that.
Cord’s loud laugh pulled me from my musings, and I turned my head away from the window to watch as Eden giggled through a story she was telling, and he held his gut as he cracked up.
My woman had a gift for mak
ing people laugh, even when they thought they had nothing to laugh about. I knew that for a fact, because she’d done that very thing for me.
It was one of the millions of reasons why I loved her.
* * *
“Swear to god, if I ever see that woman, I’m gonna rip her hair out,” Eden seethed from the passenger seat of my truck. I couldn’t blame her, but that didn’t mean I didn’t find her mama bear reaction adorable, so I kept my mouth shut.
Cord’s now ex-girlfriend hadn’t stepped one foot through those hospital doors the whole time Cord was laid up there fighting for his life, and Eden was mad enough to spit nails. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that what she said was the truth, so for Laurie’s sake, I hope she never crossed paths with my woman, or me and my guys for that matter.
As far as every one of my men was concerned, that bitch needed to be run out of Hope Valley, and as soon as my caseload lightened, I was going to make sure that happened personally.
“I mean, what kind of bitch doesn’t come see her boyfriend in the hospital after he’s been shot! What a fucking bitch!”
“Calm, baby,” I ordered gently as I turned the truck. “Doc said you shouldn’t get riled up.”
“Well then you need to get riled up on my behalf. You’re being way too calm about this.”
“Oh I’m pissed, believe me. I just don’t always show it on the outside. But me and my guys are gonna get off on making life very, very uncomfortable for as long as it takes for her to pack her shit and hit the road.”
I caught her smile from the corner of my eye as I made another turn and pointed my truck toward our destination. “Have I told you yet today that I love you?”
“Yeah, but I’ll never get tired of hearin’ it, so feel free to say it whenever the spirit moves you.” I hit the brake and threw the truck in park a minute later, announcing, “We’re here.”
Eden bent to look through the windshield at the woods surrounding us. “And where is here, exactly?” she asked in confusion.
“Hold on a sec and I’ll come around to get you.” I hopped out of the truck and jogged around the hood to her side. Pulling the back door open, I let Rocky out so he could do a bit of exploring, then grabbed her crutches, propping them against the truck bed. I gently lifted her out and placed her on her feet before giving the crutches to her so she could hold herself up.
“So?” I asked, stepping back so she could take it all in. “What do you think?”
“Of what, honey? I’m still not sure what I’m looking at.”
Going behind her, I lowered my chin to her shoulder and pointed in front of us as I explained, “We can put a barn over there at the edge of the property, maybe a paddock for a couple horses. Then a couple buildings to keep the ATVs and snowmobiles. But right here I was thinkin’ we’d clear about five acres. No more than that or it’d ruin the effect.”
“The effect of what?” she asked, turning her head to look at me.
“Of the cabin I’m gonna build you, tucked in right here at the base of a mountain.”
Her eyes went big, and her head whipped back around at the land I’d purchased just a couple weeks ago, having found it not long after our date at The Groves.
Like I’d told her before, it might’ve taken me longer to admit it, but I’d known from the beginning she was it for me, and the moment I shelled out for that parcel of land, I knew exactly what I intended on using it for.
“Oh my god,” she breathed, whirling around on her crutches to face me. “You’re gonna build me a cabin tucked into the base of a mountain?”
I smiled so wide I felt the dimple press deep into my cheek. “Absolutely, baby. Complete with diamond-paned windows and everything. I love you, and I want to give you your forever home in your forever town.”
“Oh my god!” She dropped her crutches and launched herself into my arms. I caught her easily and pressed my mouth to hers.
“I love you so much, Lincoln Sheppard,” she breathed against my lips. “And I’m so happy I moved here.”
That made two of us.
The End.
Thank you for reading joining me on this first trip to Hope Valley.
Keep reading for a sneak peek of Hayes and Temperance’s story
Come Back Home Again
Sneak Peek of Come Back Home Again
Chapter 1
Temperance
The sun had broken through the hazy gray clouds, shining down like a spotlight on everyone. But the warmth from the rays couldn’t penetrate the intense cold that had seeped deep under my skin and into my bones. It was so deep, so frigid, that I felt I’d never be warm again.
As the pastor spoke, it sounded like his voice was coming from the end of a long tunnel. I was so lost in thought, tied up in my own head, that I wasn’t paying attention to a single word he was saying.
I’d expected this day to come. I’d been anticipating it for months, fearing it, really. But that didn’t mean I’d been prepared. I most certainly hadn’t. After all the loss I’d suffered through in my lifetime, this one should have come as a relief. After all, my beloved aunt Maureen, the only blood I had left, the only person I’d been able to count on in the past two decades, had been suffering for far too long.
I should have been grateful that her pain was finally gone.
And part of me was. But the other part of me, the part that lived in darkness and was consumed by loss wasn’t.
People say that God never gives you more than you can handle. Well, sometimes I wish He didn’t trust me so much because this was all becoming way too damn hard.
As I stared, unseeing at the casket, at the humongous spray of vibrantly colored flowers that were spread across the entire top, the sensation of being watched pricked across my skin, making the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
I lifted my eyes, covered by my dark sunglasses, and scanned the mass of people gathered all around the gravesite until they landed on another pair of shades. Shades that covered eyes I’d know anywhere. They were the color of deliciously rich melted chocolate, the most beautiful eyes I’d seen in my whole life, eyes that haunted my dreams every single night for more than twenty years, eyes that belonged to a man I’d tried for years to convince my heart it hated.
Thanks to the stylish aviators covering that gaze, I couldn’t see them, but I knew they were pinned right on me, I felt them like a physical touch along my skin. And I knew to my bones that they were just as stunning as ever.
It was like we were locked in a silent standoff that everyone around us was oblivious to. Who was going to look away first? Who was going to break contact?
Back in the day, I used to love going toe to toe with Hayes Walker in a battle of wills. We were perfectly matched, both stubborn and equally persistent. We’d enter into childish staring contests that usually ended in me giggling like a loon when he lunged and began tickling the hell out of me in an effort to win. The tickling would eventually turn into a full-blown make out session, and, once we got a bit older, sometimes more.
But this wasn’t one of those times.
There would never be another one of those times.
This time, I closed my eyes beneath my sunglasses, pulled in a painful breath that didn’t quite fill my lungs, and turned away, focusing once more on the casket.
Today I was saying goodbye to the woman who’d been the closest thing I’d had to a mother for more than half my life. Today I was putting my aunt to rest in the ground only feet away from where my parents had laid for so many years. It was bad enough being back in this town, around these familiar faces. The moment I’d stepped foot back in Hope Valley a few months ago after being gone for so long, the memories bombarded me, slamming into me like a wrecking ball, and causing nearly as much damage. The last thing I needed just then was to revert to old games with the boy who’d broken my heart only days before my entire world had been shattered beyond repair.
“May the road rise to greet you. May the wind be always at your back…
”
I mindfully tuned back out during Pastor Matthew’s benediction, preferring to say a silent goodbye of my own to my aunt.
The service finally came to a close, and I didn’t have it in me to stay and watch them lower Aunt Maureen’s casket into the ground. I just couldn’t. Guilt crawled up my throat like acid at the thought of leaving her, making it impossible to swallow, but seeing that glossy wood sink beneath the earth was too hard, too final.
I just loved her too much to watch. She’d given up so much for me, practically her whole life.
I’d only been eighteen, a senior in high school, when I discovered my parents’ bodies. I’d snuck out of the house at Hayes’ insistence and went to meet him at our place in the woods. We’d been together for four years. He’d been my first everything, and while my heart was shattered, I felt I owed it to what we used to have to hear him out. So, after finding the note from him laying on my bed, I’d bundled up and made the trek in the dark of night to see him.
He never showed. And when I finally gave up on him and went back home my life was changed forever.
Those moments in the woods, waiting for the boy I’d loved for as long as I could remember were the last moments of my childhood. After that, I was forced to grow up whether I wanted to or not.
While most girls my age were thinking about high school football games and pop quizzes, I was burying my parents. While my classmates were getting excited about prom, and what colleges they were going to attend the following year, I was packing my life and all the memories it contained into cardboard boxes.
After witnessing what I had, I couldn’t stay in that house, in that town, any longer. I had to get out of there. And Aunt Maureen didn’t even blink when I told her as much. She packed her belongings without hesitation and, together, we loaded up her beat-up station wagon and left the only home either of us had ever known.
That was twenty-one years ago, and I’d never gone back. At least, not until a few months ago when my aunt called me and gave me the news.
Out of My League: a Hope Valley novel Page 26