by Sara Marion
If she were really Ella, it would be a miracle. They were waiting on DNA results. They put a rush in at the lab. Duke looked over at the clock, two hours since they brought her here and she still hadn’t woken up yet. Paxton seemed to think it was because of the sudden resurgence of her memory that made her pass out but they couldn’t be sure. They ran a sleuth of tests on her. If she really were Ella, why did she not come home sooner and who was the person buried in Ella’s grave? Who had he been grieving for these past two years?
“Duke?” Paxton’s voice filled the quiet room.
“Did you get the results?”
“I did,” she looked down at her chart.
“And?” Duke couldn’t be patient with her any longer.
“It’s her. It’s Ella,” Paxton looked over at the still figure in the bed.
“How?”
“I don’t know.” Paxton looked lost in her own thoughts. That meant they misidentified someone. Someone’s family who didn’t know their loved one passed away in the accident. “We’ll need some answers from her when she wakes up. I’m removing myself from her case and giving it to Steve for now.”
Duke nodded. He sat in the chair beside Ella’s bed. He grabbed her hand. He flipped it over to place a kiss on it when he saw the jagged scar under her left thumb. It was like the vision he saw of her in his dream the night before he went to see Dr. Keeler. Ella was alive. She’s alive and he spent the last week falling in love with her all over again and Dobry as well. Duke stared up at Ella’s face. Dobry was the child she was carrying.
“Paxton? What are the chances of her child surviving that accident?” He looked Paxton square in the eye. Hope that his child survived filled his head, but if Dobry wasn’t his, then who’s was she?
“I don’t know. I don’t know what her injuries were in the accident. Like I said, the answers we want, we have to wait for her to wake up but we can’t push her right away.”
Duke nodded understanding that this had to be overwhelming for Ella. She lived the past two years as Jennah Carsten. She had a life as Jennah, but what would she do when she woke up? Duke couldn’t live on what-ifs. There was no use in driving himself crazy with them. For now, he told Paxton to go let everyone else know. He was going to sit here until she woke up.
THIRTY-ONE
Jennah opened her eyes slowly. The light above her was turned off but she heard a beeping noise in the room. She turned her head towards the sound and saw it was the heart monitor. She looked down at her body and saw tubes and wires hooked up to her. She looked over to the other side and saw Duke sitting there sleeping in the chair. She tried to remember how she got here.
She grimaced as she tried to sit up. Her body was sore and stiff. She didn’t know how long she had been here. “Duke?” her voice cracked. Her throat was dry but she saw a pitcher of water sitting at her bedside. She reached over with her free hand and poured a little. Duke stirred by her side. He quickly sat up when he saw she was awake, “Jennah?”
“Hey there.”
“Hey,” he looked down. Suddenly she remembered what happened at the gallery. “What do you remember?”
She didn’t know how to answer. Did she just say that she was his wife, that she had been missing for two years due to memory loss? How do they go forward from here? How does she explain this to Dobry? “Dobry! Where is she?”
She heard her heart rate increase, “Calm down, Jennah, Ella, I mean…Dobry’s fine. Audra has her.”
Jennah calmed down a bit. Audra had her baby. She was safe. It brought back the question of how long she had been there. “How long have I been out?”
“A day. No worries, the doc thinks you went into shock.”
“You could say that.”
“Yeah,” Duke agreed. They both fell into silence.
“Where do we go from here?” She asked. She didn’t know if anything had changed between them.
“I don’t know, but I do know that I love you. I loved you when you were Ella and I fell in love with you as Jennah. I’m going to be here for you and we will figure this out as we go. First, we need to get you out of here and back to Dobry. She misses her Mama,” Duke smiled. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “If it’s not too much right now, I want to move in with you. I know it sounds silly but I love you and I don’t want you to leave my sight right now.”
“You don’t even know where I live.”
“I do actually. Pike took me to get some clothes for you and Audra wanted to sit with you a bit.”
Jennah realized while searching her memory, she had moved into the house that she and Duke once owned. It was like they were picking up where they left off, only they had two years to catch up on and a child now, but she still had to explain what happened. The memories surrounding the accident hadn’t come back quite yet, but she was sure they would fill in. Now they just had to figure out where to go from here. What would everyone call her? Duke and her old family knew her as Ella. Everyone else knew her as Jennah. She sighed as she thought about all the intricacies of her life and how she would blend her lives before and after together. How she would blend the moments in her life together, how she would move on from here with Duke and Dobry?
EPILOGUE
It had been about five months since Ella returned home from the hospital. She still hadn’t remembered the day of the accident, but her life seemed to be getting better day-by-day. She and Duke had moved back into their old place. Duke had talked to the owner of it and bought the house for a very good deal. Of course it did help that Greg was Audra’s boyfriend.
Ella had quit her job at the bar and grill and started part-time at the gallery with Ryan’s blessing. After all it was named after her so she should get to work there right? She enjoyed the time out of the house even though Duke begged her to stay home and raise Dobry. For some reason that Ella couldn’t explain, she just couldn’t do it. She knew that she needed to have her own source of income for her own rainy day fund.
The person they buried finally had a proper identification done and laid to rest under their proper name. It was hard going to see the family that missed their child for so long, but Ella felt the need to do it. Ella still couldn’t understand how their identities got mixed up but only time would tell, she had to finish regaining her memories. They never pushed as to what really happened around the accident and she was grateful. They were letting her heal on her own time.
Sliding her t-shirt on, Ella looked in the mirror knowing that the ladies were downstairs waiting on her. She was amazed how Duke accepted Audra and Pike into his life. It only made her love Duke that much more for it.
“Jennah, come on! The rest of us our already out here,” Audra called up the stairs. Ella smiled as her sister and Pike still called her Jennah. They felt weird calling her Ella but nobody seemed to mind. They said maybe one day they could call her by her real name, but it was hard because they have only known and seen her as Jennah.
Ella stepped out in her Manhattan High sweats and an old jersey Duke gave her. She felt silly dressing up like a high school student again but with Paxton about six months pregnant and very moody if she has to dress up, everyone decided to dress in sweats to make her feel more comfortable. Sighing she finally headed downstairs, so they can head to the rival game with Junction City.
They were almost there when a horn sounded in front of them. Ella looked up from the back seat and headlights flashed in her eyes. She gasped as she reached for her belt. Images of her finding out she was pregnant, going to Texas with Duke and the semi flashed through her mind. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. She pulled on her belt but it was locked up. She saw herself bloodied and wandering, cursing herself, cursing Duke. She then remembered Duke being thrown from the car. She remembered everything.
“Ella, you okay?” a voice came from a distance. Ella felt herself breathless, searching for air. The truth surrounding everything seemed too much to bear. She looked up and saw they were at the stadium, the game was going to start in about fift
een minutes but she could barely inhale. It felt like her chest was collapsing, crushing her lungs.
“Someone go get Duke!” a voice shouted. Everything was muffled around her. She could only hear her own heartbeat, her own shallow breaths. The truth finally caught up to her. She looked up and saw Duke running over. She tried to calm herself but she only panicked as Duke got closer. She couldn’t face him not now. Not after everything she’s done.
“Ella, baby, what’s wrong?” his voice was muffled. She felt his hand rub along her back. “Ella?”
The air was not entering her lungs as she tried to answer. She heard one of them explain about the car that was starting to come into their lane but swerved at the last second. Ella stopped listening, she didn’t know how to face the truth she uncovered, how is she going to explain.
“Ella, sweetheart, come on talk to me,” Duke rubbed her back some more, pulling her in close to him.
She closed her eyes, her body giving up in the struggle for air. She felt herself fall to her knees, the gravel from the parking lot cutting into her skin. Her memories were crushing her. Jack came around into view with Pike. As Ella looked up at Jack who had a worried look on his face, the last missing piece of her memory settle back into place. She couldn’t do anything but stare at Jack. She was afraid the memory might get lost if she looked elsewhere. Regret and sorrow filled her as she was finally able to breathe. Filling her lungs with air, she could feel it circulating in her body now. Her focused turned to Duke. Slowly, she looked over at him. Tears were dangerously close to spilling down her cheeks as she stared into his deep brown eyes. Moments of happiness with Duke, which were her reasons for breathing at one point, seemed to be something she would never be able to obtain again. How was she supposed to tell him that she fell in love with someone else and that Dobry was not his?
To be continued…
Be on the lookout for Confessions, the final installment of the Breath of Life series.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank you as my reader. Without your support, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy what I do. This book was the first book I delayed the release date. I had a family emergency come up and I cannot believe the support I have received from my fans. You all are wonderful and it’s because of you that I keep writing.
Next, I would like to thank my husband who so willingly went out for boy’s nights (not that he complained about it, haha), dealt with my lack of socialization, and suffered through my grumpy spells when I spent long nights writing, editing and formatting. I love you and everything you do to help me along my journey as a writer.
I MUST thank my father, George, who passed away before this book was out. He was one of my biggest supporters as well. He believed that I could do anything and I can because he was the one that taught me to dream, to imagine, and to create. I love him and I know he would be so proud for continuing this journey I am on with my writing.
To lighten it up a bit, I have to thank my editors! Oh my goodness, I don’t know where I would be without them as well. Erica Cope, Andrea Lauppe, Julie Bailes, and Amanda Dean, you ladies rock my socks off! Each one of you catches different things and helps me put together this amazing story. Thank you, thank you!
Last but certainly not least, my street team, the FireBreathers! You ladies help me out so much I have no way to thank you enough. You are my promoters when I am locked away in my writing cave. You just amaze me at you willingness to drop everything and help spread my work. A lifetime of thank you-s to you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sara Marion now resides in Anchorage, Alaska with her husband and two dogs. She is originally from Manhattan, KS where she draws most of her inspiration.
Sara is a graduate of Oklahoma State University and currently has a full-time job in the Oil & Gas industry as an IT person. In her off time, you can find her reading or writing if she is not out exploring the many beautiful places in Alaska.
Be sure to connect with her, as she loves hearing from her readers and fans:
www.saramarion.com
www.facebook.com/saramarionauthor
www.twitter.com/sara_marion
www.goodreads.com/saramarion
Instagram: captmarios