by C. D. Taylor
Be With Me
Be With Me
Prologue
Midpoint
Be With Me
C.D. Taylor
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
This book is dedicated to the readers.
Prologue
Tyler Bradford lay in his hospital bed in Germany, wondering how the hell he ended up there. He was devoted to his country and did his duty but all it had gotten him was a bullet lodged in his thigh. He considered himself lucky though, a few millimeters and it would have hit his femoral artery, and then things would have ended differently. Namely a representative of the government showing up at his parents’ door in Texas to inform his parents that their son had died in battle. He should be thankful but wasn’t, he wanted to get out of this hell hole and return to somewhat of a normal life.
How normal would it be? Returning home after being deployed for eight years. Things would undoubtedly change, and things had changed. His brother Jake was happily married and a kid to go along with it all. Tyler had seen pictures of the little angel, but he had yet to be able to hold her and coddle her like a loving uncle should. He was not happy about missing his brother’s wedding, but they couldn’t wait for him, they had to do their own thing.
Had everyone forgot about him? Did they just go about their normal lives like he wasn’t a part of it, like he didn’t exist anymore? The thoughts sent fear through his veins. Jake seemed happy, and his wife Emily was a beautiful woman, and damn if he wished he hadn’t stayed home to experience a life like that of his own.
Tyler never regretted the choice he made to join the Marines, he was proud the day he signed on. But he always wondered what would have been had he not lay his name on those enlistment papers. It was too late to worry about the “what if’s”, this was the hand he was dealt and he needed to roll with the punches, even if those so called punches landed him here in a damn hospital bed.
He knew the drill though, had seen it too many times before with his comrades. He would get his walking papers soon, and it would be time to ship out back to the U.S. Setting foot on his home soil would be bittersweet, he wanted to see his family but he also felt a duty to stand by his brothers in combat. The fact of the matter was he didn’t have a choice. This was the end of the line, and sure he would receive the Medal of Honor at some point, but he had to ask himself “Was it all worth it?”
One
“No, I’m in the middle of bum fucking Egypt right now! Okay, well I know it was last minute Richard, but I had to come down here and do this.” I shouted over my cell phone.
“I wish you would have told me, I could have come with you.” Richard replied.
“Yeah well, I’m sorry. Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad, just disappointed that you won’t be coming to Bermuda with my family and I.”
“Yeah well I would rather be basking in the sun with you then driving through God’s country. This isn’t how I planned on using my vacation time either.”
“I know, look just keep in contact okay?”
“I will, although I’m not sure what kind of cell reception I’ll get out here, there might be too many cows standing in the way.”
Richard laughed. “Love you baby can’t wait to see you again.”
“You too.” I hung up and threw my phone in the passenger seat.
This was the fucking pits, my entire vacation ruined because of my Mothers last will and testament. Why did I have to be an only child?
I wasn’t over the moon at the idea of spending two weeks in Texas, it was the place I grew up, but fortunately had the balls to get out of when I wanted too. There were just too many memories of the place that scarred my soul. I had them buried so deep it would have taken some miracle to dredge them up again. I was happy in Chicago, I had made a place and a name for myself, and damn if this didn’t piss me off to have to travel here. Richard was not happy, obviously, but I didn’t want him tagging along to see the unhappy place I called home for eighteen years. He didn’t need to see the skeletons rattling around in my damn closet; he would have jumped ship and not even walked the fucking plank.
He was a good man, successful, attentive, everything I wanted in a future husband. He kept crazy working hours just like I did, and he understood my schedule. It was a match well suited for my lifestyle. Richard never prodded me about my past, and I sure wanted to keep it that way.
I shouldn’t have been so damn scared at the age of thirty, to come back, but it all terrified me to the core. I wanted to portray this badass, take no prisoners façade, but at that moment in my rental car I was shaking like an animal left out on a frosty winter’s night. I told myself I wouldn’t cry, no, I was not going to shed a tear for the person who wouldn’t protect me in my innocence. My Mother never let a tear fall for me, and so I’d return the favor of no empathy whatsoever.
My thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of my phone once again. “Hello?” I answered.
“Hey where the hell are you?”
Just great my best friend Hayley. “Oh you know, driving through the Lone star state.”
“And why are you doing that instead of flying to Bermuda with your gorgeous fiancée? I swear sometimes I wonder if you have lost your marbles.” Haley sighed.
“No marbles lost here Hay, just taking care of some unfinished business.”
“Well don’t stay too long Maggie, I miss you already!”
“Trust me five minutes in this damn state is too long. Have you spoken to Richard?”
“Yeah he called earlier, he was pretty pissed. I had to talk him down; honestly I’ve never seen that man blow a gasket like that.”
“He can get fairly irate at times; guess it comes with the territory though.”
“Yeah okay, well I gotta go; I have a date tonight with a drummer.”
“Haven’t you come out of your groupie phase yet?”
“Not quite, love you Mags.”
“Love you too Hay.”
Hayley had been there from the time I set my feet on the streets of Chicago, she always had my back no matter what. It was always me telling her the guys she dated were no good, and she needed someone like Richard to be with. She preferred to take a walk on the wild side though, the more piercings and tattoos a guy had the better in her eyes. The thoughts made me shiver; I could never see myself tied to someone who didn’t have a decent pedigree. What was the point? Every woman needed to understand that even though a man was nice to look at, he might not be “keeper” material.
Richard was a keeper. We were introduced at a party three years ago, and we held the same interests. He liked tennis, I liked tennis. He hated baseball, I hated baseball. Although I did have a secret obsession with the sport, but it wasn’t likely I would divulge that information. He would probably fly off the handle and freak out.
He was calm in the storm of my life, and he just…fit. When he proposed to me at the top of the Sears Tower, I nearly fell in the floor. It was a surprise, and sure I was happy, but shouldn’t I have been elated? I remember repeating “are you sure?” several times while he was on one knee. Why was I questioning my relationship at this point? Our wedding day was four months away and I was ready.
I had my perfect career as a fashion editor, my condo was great, I drove the sweetest black mustang, but something was missing. Maybe it was just pre wedding jitters, all brides had them right?
I had to stop questioning my motives for everything and just let things be, but being back in my home state brought back shit that I didn’t need on my mind. I had to stop the bullshit, get this task out of the way, and fly back to Chicago. The goal was in front of me and my sights were set f
irmly on it.
While driving my phone had managed to slide off the seat beside me and fall to the floor of the car. Damn. I looked forward to the road to make sure no one was coming and I leaned over to try and grab at it. My fingers kept grazing the outer case but I couldn’t quite get it. I took another look at the road, and unbuckled my seat belt to get a better hand on my phone. The next few seconds were a blur.
I heard honking, and jolted back in my seat. “Oh shit!” I screamed out. Not like anyone would hear me but I needed the effect. My car was all of the way in the other lane and I was headed straight for someone’s front bumper. I jerked the steering wheel to the right, and felt a huge bump when I hit a ditch. The car kept going because I didn’t have the common sense to hit the brakes. I sped into a pasture and finally pushed down on the pedal. When I did, my head flew back and forth, and it smacked on the steering wheel. “Fuck!” I yelled out.
I shook off my first reactions and laid my hand on my head, when I pulled my fingers down they were streaked with blood. Oh. My. God. I felt faint, I knew this trip was sucking terribly, but now it had fled off the charts into totally fucked up territory.
I tried to focus my vision, but couldn’t, I knew I was fading, and I could hear a man’s voice and knocking on the window. I didn’t have the energy to turn my head, and that was it, everything went black.
Two
Tyler didn’t know what to think of the car careening toward his pickup truck, he honked, and waved, but that didn’t seem to deter the driver from getting back on their side of the damn road. He’d been home, less than a week and someone was already trying to take him out. Just his luck.
When the offending car, jumped the ditch, took out a row of fence, and landed in a pasture, he became worried. Hopefully they weren’t hurt but who knew. His background of being the hero bombarded him; he couldn’t just walk away and hope for the best, he had to see if they were alright.
Tyler parked his truck at the side of the road and turned on his warning flashers. He wondered how he always managed to get himself into crazy situations like these. He hopped down from the vehicle, jumped across the ditch and trekked out to the wrecked car. To him it didn’t look like anything major was wrong, but he couldn’t hear the driver either. He made his way toward the driver’s door and peered in. It was a woman, and damn she was a beautiful woman at that. Chocolate brown hair with sun kissed highlights, a tan and flawless complexion, and damn if she didn’t have sexy legs peeking out from under a business like skirt.
Tyler panicked when he noticed she wasn’t moving, he tapped on her window and spoke. “Excuse me, are you okay?” No response. Damn.
He decided to look through the front windshield to see if she had any injuries. “Fuck” He bit out. Her forehead was bleeding, and he assumed she smacked her head on the steering wheel. Damn. Damn.
Tyler reached over to open the door of the car, only to find it was locked. He contemplated banging harder to wake her up, but she was out cold, so he did what any red blooded Texan would do. He reared back with his elbow and hit the glass just right. It shattered on impact. He was glad he wore a long sleeve shirt today that could have ended up really bad.
He reached through the busted window and unlocked the door. The woman was slumped over, but she was still breathing. Thank God. Tyler cursed when he realized she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, and it made him want to shake the living daylights out of her. He slid his arms under her limp body and hoisted her from the car. She whimpered and snuggled into his chest closer. Quadruple damn.
Her eyes began to flutter open. “Where am I?” She groaned.
“Don’t worry I’ve got you.” He replied.
She looked up at him and he saw her eyes roll back in her head. She was out again. He debated whether he should take her to the hospital that was a good hour away or up the road to his brother Jakes home. She didn’t seem to be in dire straits, so Jakes house it was. Emily would know what to do; she was the mother hen type thank God.
He lifted her body into the cab of his truck and laid her on the bench seat. He then closed the door, and went back to her car. He popped the trunk and found luggage in it with the initials LV all over it. Was that her initials? Tyler grabbed the bags, and fished out her other belongings in the front of the car. When he returned to his truck he slung them in the bed and hopped in behind the wheel. The mystery woman was still passed out, but still breathing which was a relief. He put the vehicle in drive and took off for Jake and Emily’s.
Tyler pulled up in front of his brothers two story log home and parked. He went to the door and gave a hard couple of knocks before he heard someone coming to the door.
Emily swung it open. “Hey Ty, what’s going on?”
“Uh, I have an uh…situation.”
“Oh?” She raised her eyebrows.
“Yeah um.” He pointed to his truck. “In there.”
“Okay, well let me go grab Maisy, hold on okay.”
“Okay.” He ran his hands over the short spikey hair on his head.
When Emily came back out, she had Maisy, his niece perched on her hip. She was honestly the most beautiful baby he’d ever seen. Her eyes were bright blue, and her hair was golden just like her mommy. He didn’t see any resemblance to his brother in her features, but knew she would probably have his personality someday.
Tyler led her to his truck and opened the passenger door. “See.”
“Oh my God! Is she dead?” Emily let out a horrified gasp.
“No she’s not dead; she tried to run me off the damn road and lodged her car in a pasture.”
“Ty she’s bleeding.”
“Yeah I thought you could help…maybe?”
“Ty, I’m used to slapping a band aid on a boo boo and kissing it, this looks a lot worse than a minor scrape.”
“Maybe if I bring her inside? We could take a closer look?”
Emily bounced Maisy higher on her hip. “Okay, take her up to one of the spare rooms.”
“Thanks Em.”
Tyler situated the beauty on a plush bed in a spare room. She looked almost peaceful laying there among the beige blanket and throw pillows.
“Hey.” He heard Emily behind him. “Hold her and I’ll run to the garage to grab first aid supplies.” She shoved his niece in his arms.
Tyler wasn’t used to holding little ones, in fact having Maisy in his arms made him feel like he might break her somehow. Looking into her blue irises though made him feel better, this little girl trusted him, even though she just met him a few days ago. He tickled her pudgy tummy and she let out a giggle.
“Oh my God!” Emily gasped.
“What? Shit. Did I do something wrong?” He panicked.
“No. She’s usually so quiet, I haven’t heard her giggle like that…ever.”
Tyler smiled. “She just needed uncle Ty to loosen her up. She had a stick up her butt like her daddy.”
Emily let out a cackle. “If she grows up saying that I’m gonna tell Jake it was your influence.”
“I’m a big boy, I can take the heat.” He looked at the blonde angel in his arms. “Isn’t that right? Daddy will just have to deal with it.” She grinned from ear to ear.
“She really likes you, ever think about having a family?”
“In order to do that, I have to find someone to procreate with Em, and as far as I know my hand can’t reproduce.” He snickered.
“Yuck! I don’t want to hear it.” She put her hands over her ears.
“Anything you want me to do?” He asked
Emily stood by the bed with the stranger laying there. “Um, if you want to take Maisy downstairs and keep her busy, I’ll tend to Miss car accident.”
“Deal. Thanks, I owe you one.”
“Free babysitting maybe?” She laughed.
“Anytime.”
Tyler took his sweet niece back downstairs and sat her on a blanket. She had a plethora of toys waiting, and she didn’t hesitate to grab one and shove into her tiny mouth.
Three
Waking up in a strange bed was not part of the plan when I traveled to Texas. It was my own fault though for putting too much attention toward an electronic device. I knew that damn phone would get me into trouble someday.