“No, I’m not getting out, just sit your ass back in the car and let’s go, we can go. Please Ransom, let’s just go…”
I clasped my hands together, praying for it all to be just a horrible nightmare. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that when I opened them again everything would have disappeared.
It didn’t.
Instead I felt Ransom’s gentle tug on my sweater. He scooped me into his arms, and we were moving away from the safety of the car, away from our future together, away from nights and days making love…away…just away…
I kept my eyes closed, refusing to see, to accept that it was happening with or without my permission, it was all happening.
“Ransom, I’m begging you,” I murmured.
My throat was raw with emotion and grief. But he didn’t stop, I wondered if he even could.
“I do love you Lexie, only you,” he whispered into my ear. I felt his large hand reach under my sweater. He placed his warm hand against the bare flesh of my stomach. The act sliced me into little pieces.
“No matter where I am Lexie,” he murmured, stretching his fingers wide. I wanted the ground to open beneath me and suck me into its depths, so I wouldn’t have to feel the emotions that were ripping me into a million pieces of sorrow.
I finally relented and allowed my eyelids to flutter open. I gazed at him, the amazing man that had turned my life on its axis, who had made me feel that I was beautiful even if I didn’t believe it. Who had shown me that wounds could be healed. Mistakes could be forgotten and love was real…
“Well, well Ransom, it’s so great to see you again.”
The voice that came from behind him was smooth as satin, but the malice was crystal clear.
“Pa,” Ransom said, then my whole world tilted.
EPILOGUE
They say that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, I disagree, because the unrelenting ache that eats at my every waking moment is worse than anything I could have ever felt if I had never met Ransom Sanders. But if I say that it would have been better not to have loved him at all, I would be lying too.
They also say, though I have no idea who they are, don’t wish for something that you’re not absolutely sure you really want, because you just might get it. No words more sage were ever spoken because I got the wish to meet Gabriel Sanders all right, and it will be something that will go down in my life as one of my worse days ever.
I still can’t believe that Ransom did it, brought me to the rehab facility to see Gabriel, knowing that there was no way he was going to leave other than in handcuffs. But I guess he knew that he couldn’t run forever, no matter how much I hate the consequences of his decision.
Now he’s in jail and all fingers point to him not getting out anytime soon, but I can’t allow myself to believe that. I won’t believe that. If I do, then I will have to admit that evil has won, and I won’t let that be the case. No matter what happens in the future, I plan to make it my lifelong goal to undo everything that I started. I will get Ransom out, one way or another we will be together again, that’s a promise.
Ransom says love is about sacrificing for the people you care about, I don’t agree, for me love is about never giving up, fighting for what matters and despite how horrible the odds, knowing there is always a chance for a better tomorrow.
Lexie
This is dedicated to all the people who think they are imperfect, and can never be loved, and for those that have forgotten what it means to love unconditionally. Remember, and love will find you…
Denise
Ransom (Holding Ransom # 1) Page 33