Later that night I get the okay to go see Abigail, not that anyone was going to be able to hold me from her much longer anyway. Max gets a wheelchair and wheels me into her room. She’s sleeping, so I watch her for a little while but when I turn to go I hear her call for me. “Sissy?” “Hey Abigail,” and my eyes get watery and my nose turns red. “How are you feeling?” I ask, and I turn back to her. “Like a madman stabbed me in my leg. Where’s Nick?” she responds, and I go to her. “I’m so, so sorry. I can never say I’m sorry enough, Abigail. Please forgi…” she turns to me, cutting me off mid-sentence. “Sissy, I was joking,” and she reaches for me. “I don’t ever want to hear you say you’re sorry again. Ask for forgiveness for things you need forgiving for, but this isn’t one of them. You saved my life so please, don’t. He’s dead. Now, it’s time for us to wake up from this nightmare. He can’t control us anymore. Time to move on. Understand?” This is my little sister?
“I understand, Abigail. Um, Nick wasn’t here when we came in.” I say and watch a little frown form on her mouth as she leans back and takes my hand and turns her attention to the TV. We watch TV for a little while and when Max sees me getting tired and that Abigail has already fallen back to sleep, he begins to take me back to my room. As we’re leaving, Nick comes running down the hallway towards Abigail’s room. At first I’m worried something has happened but when he looks to Abigail’s door and releases a deep breath, I tell him, “She asked for you,” and I see a flash of pain cross his face. “She’s fine. We stayed till she fell back asleep.” Max says. When Nick acknowledges it by a head jerk and walks around us to go to her, we start back for the elevators. “Well, that was interesting,” I say to Max and I hear a soft chuckle.
When we get back to my room, Max lays me in bed and lies down next to me. I’m falling back to sleep when I hear him whisper, “Jaycee, I’m going to build our house in the middle of a field of blue bonnets for you, for us, and our kids.” I turn my head to him and it goes into his neck. I take in his smell and relax. “I’ll play the guitar and sing for you all you want. Just please don’t ever leave me again.” “Okay, Max,” I promise, and I push myself as close as possible. “Of course that’s after we get married. And you have to meet my parents and family,” he says. I smile into his neck. “Okay, Max,” and on that we fall asleep.
Epilogue
Three months later
It’s dark as I’m leaving work, when I take my phone out to call Max and let him know I’m on my way. As I swipe the screen, I notice a text from his mom asking me to go with her to pick out a pig at the pig farm when it’s time. The same one she plans on roasting at our wedding reception that we’ve set for next June. I find myself shuddering at the thought and quickly call Max for help.
“Max, if your mom wants to roast a pig at the reception, that’s fine. But you have to go with her to pick out the pig, not me. I draw the line there,” I say in a plea and he laughs. “Okay, Jayc, I get it. When it’s time to do the dirty deed, I’ll take care of it,” he says through his chuckles.
I shudder at the thought of looking a pig in the eye and then roasting it. “Okay, well, I’m leaving work, do we need anything?” I ask. I hear him ask my grandma if she needs anything. Then he replies, “No, we’re good. Oh, and don’t forget we’re meeting your dad in the morning to go over the plans for the house.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
A couple of months after I was released from the hospital, Max took me for a ride on his bike in the Hill Country and we stopped next to a field full of blue bonnets. He had us hop off and I was standing quietly taking in the beauty when he called my name. When I turned around he was down on one knee holding a ring with the most beautiful blue sapphire in the middle surrounded by tiny diamonds and he asked me to marry him. Of course I said yes and then started crying. But that wasn’t the only surprise.
He turned to look at the field of blue bonnets and pointed to the highest hill and said, “There’s where I think we should build our house. Your dad came out and inspected the property and said it would be a good sight to build so when he gave me the okay, I bought it. It’s yours. It’s ours.”
”Maxwell ‘Blue’ Bradshaw, how did I get so blessed? I love you,” I said and when I kissed him, it turned too heavy to turn back. So, we ducked into some trees. After making quick work of my boots and jeans and panties, he had me turn and face the tree. “Put your hands on the tree trunk,” he said as I felt his hands on my hips lifting me to find me. He slowly entered me and then placed one hand around my waist and the other on the tree. He took me like that for a while before he sat down and pulled me on top of him and I took him until we exploded and I laid my head on his shoulder. After we caught our breath I heard him say, “Well, it’s officially ours now that we christened it,” and I could only giggle while he chuckled.
“I’m so excited Max,” I say as I’m jumping up and down with excitement in my head. “Okay, I’m leaving now. See you in about ten minutes. Love you.” I hear the smile in his voice, “Love you too, Jayc. See you in a few.”
As I walk to the car I see a figure approaching me so I stop and back up to where I’m under the lights from the store and I reach for my car keys.
“Hi, Jaycee, can you help me?” I hear a man’s voice ask. “Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you know who this belongs to?”
I start to relax a little because it’s Jed, a customer I’ve seen in the store a couple of times. I step forward to see what he’s holding in his hand and I pick it up to get a closer look. Recognizing it, I start to panic and my heart starts racing. “Where did you get this?” I whisper, my voice full of fear.
He takes it back from me, and slowly closes his hand around it while putting it back in his pocket. “So you do remember,” he says darkly. Suddenly, he grabs me and tries to pull me into the dark of the parking lot, but I fight as hard as I can to get away. At one point, I break free from the struggle, but he overpowers me and throws me to the ground. My head hits the blacktop and I find myself dazed, my vision is blurry and my head starts pounding as he grabs my wrists and drags me into the darkness of the parking lot. He drops my hands and stands above me and hisses, “Bitch! That fucker led me right to you. Had me watching you. Reporting back to him. Now, you pay. A life for a life.”
I look in the direction of the voice and only see a figure staring down at me. I raise one hand to my head to stop the pounding and the other I lift to keep away the blurry image I see getting closer and closer. All of a sudden there are two images.
“What the fuck? You!?” I hear my attacker say. I’m trying to look at what’s going on but everything is blurry.
“Yes, me. Hand it over!” I hear. The voice is familiar but my head is pounding and I can’t think. I let out a loud moan. I hear a scuffle and then footsteps running away. “Yeah, behind Dan’s Grocer, a woman has been attacked and is hurt,” the familiar voice says as I feel a hand swipe hair from my face and touch my cheek gently. He’s kneeling next to me.
“Thank you,” I say, but he doesn’t speak. I hear sirens getting closer when I get the shock of my life.
“Gotta go, baby,” he says, and I hear footsteps walking away and then I see the lights from police cars and an ambulance. After the sirens turn off, I hear the faint sound of a motorcycle leaving in the distance.
Falling Into Blue
Playlist
Run—George Strait
Folsom Prison Blues—Johnny Cash
Crazy—Patsy Cline
Military Taps
You Shook Me All Night Long—AC/DC
Sweet Home Alabama—Lynyrd Skynyrd
A Man Who Was Going To Die Young—Eric Church
See You When I See You—Jason Aldean
Me and Bobby McGee—Janis Joplin
Time Warp—Rocky Horror Picture Show
Sugar—Adam Levine
Beyond The
Realms Of Death—Judas Priest
When The Stars Go Blue—Tim McGraw
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You—Lady Antebellum
Burning House—Cam
About the Author
Donalyn Maurer was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She spent most of her childhood summers with her family up in Marble Falls, Texas, running through the hill country with her five siblings and cousins.
She currently resides in the northern Virginia area with her daughter and husband of 31 years but hopes to move back to Texas soon, where her two oldest children live, along with her three grandchildren and family.
With the encouragement of her husband and children, she decided to begin writing and sharing bits and pieces of her life through her words. Although her books are fiction, some stories are inspired by parts of her life, both good and bad. She hopes you enjoy Falling Into Blue.
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