A small guilty smile creeps across my lips. “Oops!”
Ben cocks his brow. “Oops?”
I chuckle. “I’m an idiot. I think I may have slightly misjudged something I saw.”
“And what was that?” He asks.
I let out a breath. “That morning. That exact morning, I went to talk to you. When I pulled into the driveway, I saw Alex standing in the front window of the apartment in just a t-shirt...your t-shirt. Then I saw you come up behind her and hand her a mug. I just assumed that...well, you know.”
Ben lets out a laugh. “You assumed that I was sleeping with her.”
“Yes. I’m such an idiot.”
He reaches to take hold of my hand but hesitates. I hate that he hesitates, but can’t blame that he may be a little gun-shy. I reach for him, taking hold of his hand in mine, and he looks to me and smiles.
“Ati, you’re not an idiot. I can see how that would have been construed as something else, especially with what was going on with the fight, then me not returning calls, which I will apologize for, because it was a dick thing to do.”
“No, but I feel bad for how I treated you and Alex. Oh, God, Alex. She must think I’m absolutely insane.”
He lets out a laugh. “Nah, she’s got a pretty thick skin. I think after she hears what happened, she’ll completely understand.”
“You’ll have to tell her I’m so sorry,” I plead.
“You can tell her when you get home. I know she would love to hear from you. She was really worried.”
I let out a sigh. “I feel like such an ass. She’s probably going to hate me.”
“Doubtful. It’s hard to stay mad at you.”
The door to the room opens, and Ginny walks in. Her eyes move from me to ben then back to me in horror. “Oh, please don’t tell your sister I let him get passed me.” She walks over, placing the tray of coffee on the table, then grabs Ben by his arm. “Come on, Mister, out you go.” Ben and I laugh at her attempt to pull Ben’s six-two frame from the chair. “Well, someone’s been eating their Wheaties.”
I let out another laugh, “Gin, it’s okay, I want him here.”
She stops mid-grunt, still trying to pull him out of the chair. “You do?”
I nod. “Yeah, I do.”
Ginny stares at me for a moment then to Ben. “Well, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
Ben turns to her. “Actually, Ginny, if you want, you can get heading home. My dad is looking after things for me at work, and I’ve cleared the rest of my schedule until Ati’s back home so that I could stay with her.”
“You have?” I ask.
Ben turns to me and smiles. “There is no other place I need to be other than right here.”
“Well, okay. Um, I guess I can start to head out. But wait, Thea will be here in the next hour or so,” Ginny replies.
Ben shakes his head. “No, I told her that I was coming up and that she didn’t have to.”
“What if I didn’t want to talk to you?” I ask.
He lets out a laugh. “I wasn’t taking no for an answer.”
“Okay, then I’ll leave you two lovebirds alone. Ben, there’s a coffee there, I can grab another on my way out. I’ll talk to you guys later. Ati, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”
“Thank you for everything, Ginny.”
She smiles at me. “Anything, anytime. Truly. Love you guys.” We wave her goodbye, and she heads out.
“So, you really cleared your schedule for me?”
Ben nods. “Yep, I was actually kind of useless anyway. You were the only thing I could think about. Angel, you have no idea. I was falling apart, first not knowing if you were okay, then not knowing what I did wrong.”
“I think we both did a lot of things wrong recently. Ben, I know not telling you about Brock and me was wrong. And in a way, I knew it would have been an issue and chose not to tell you.”
His fingers weave with mine as he brings my hand to his lips. “No, it was none of my business. I was jealous, plain, and simple. I hated knowing that he had one up on me and that you two were so close.”
“Brock and I are close, but not in that way. Sure, that happened—once, and only once. Trust me, there was no way either of us was going there again. We knew immediately we would only ever be friends. The best of friends and I need you to understand that, Ben. I can’t turn away from him.”
“I’m not going to ask you to. I see that now. I see a lot of things more clearly now. I’m so sorry any of this ever happened.”
I let out a sigh of relief but also start thinking now of Brock and the others. “Ben, do you know what’s going on with the others? No one has been able to tell me, or rather, they have been able to, but choose not to.”
“I do.”
“And?”
He reaches for the tray of coffee, handing mine to me and taking one for himself. “Okay, well, as far as I know, both Abe and Brock survived, but Abe is still in a coma. I believe he suffered severe head trauma, but I haven’t heard any updates on him other than that his parents are with him. Brock has been in and out of surgery, also with some head injuries. They had to go in and release pressure off the brain. They also had to fuse some discs in his spine. I don’t know that he’s been all that coherent, or even if he’s come to.”
“Who’s with him? He has no family.”
“Maia and Grace. They haven’t left him alone, much like Gwen and Gin did for you.”
I nod. “And Quinn—how’s Quinn?”
“Angel, Quinn didn’t make it.”
“No. That’s what Ginny told me, but Ben, he was up there with me the whole time. He was fine. Like I told Ginny, he may have fractured his spine. Ben, at most, he won’t be able to walk, but he's alive. Ben, he’s alive.”
“Ati, neither the pilot or Quinn made it. I’m sorry.”
I’m so confused. None of this makes sense. How could he have died, he was fine. He was talking with me the whole time. “Ben, I’m getting tired.”
He stands beside me, taking the untouched coffee cup from my hand. “Get some sleep, Angel.”
“Don’t leave.”
He looks to me and smiles, then leaves a kiss to my lips. “I just got you back, I’m not
letting you out of my sight ever again.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
-Ben-
-Eight Months Later-
“Your mother is going to kill me.”
I look to Ati as I lift her from my truck, sitting her in the chair and give her a shrug. “At least you know you’re safe for a little while. She would never think of taking you out while you were defenseless in this wheelchair.”
“Oh geez, well, that’s good to know. Seriously, Ben, she’s going to be pissed. I took her last child to be married, and ran off with him to elope.”
I shut the truck door and start to make our way to the door. “Technically, we only ran to the courthouse in town.”
“That’s irrelevant.” Ati pauses a moment, then asks, “Do you think we did the right thing?”
By her tone, I can tell that she has concerns about our decision to rush off and get married, with no one other than Judge Anders around to be there with us. I stop halfway up the path to my parents’ house and step in front of Ati bending down and taking her hands in mine. “Listen, if my mom is pissed, she’ll get over it. What matters is that this is what we wanted. Ati, I’ve made many mistakes when it came to you...to us; we both have. This is not one of those mistakes—this is right. It felt right when we decided to do it. It felt right standing there saying our vows. It felt right when I said I do, and you repeated those same words. Angel, nothing has felt more right to me, then looking at you there and hearing the words I now pronounce you husband and wife. That there was our infinite promise to each other that we will always be just as we were at that moment...in love and devoted to building a life together.”
Ati takes my face into her hands, leaving soft kisses on my lips. “I love you. I have always l
oved you, and I will continue to love you because you were made for me to love.”
I give her a smile, returning the kiss. “Good, because I won’t accept anything less.”
Moving around her, I take hold of her wheelchair and start back up the path to the house, then add, “Besides, I’d be more concerned about what Gwen is going to do to me—you may end up a widow before the end of the night.”
She reaches over her shoulder, patting my hand. “Oh, babe, don’t be silly, it’s Gwen. She’ll just make your life a living hell until she feels you’ve paid back what you stole from her...the chance to see her only sister get married.”
I take in a deep breath as we reach the door and push it open. “Here we go.”
As we enter the hallway, the house is eerily quiet.
“Are you sure they’re here?” Ati asks.
I let out a breath. “I called this morning and told my mother that we were going to stop by. She even mentioned coming for dinner.”
“Well, maybe they ran out to grab some last-minute stuff.”
I look around. “Yeah, that could be. Well, let’s wait in the living room. Maybe I can catch the last part of the game.”
“Oy,” Ati groans.
“What? It’s the last twenty minutes. It’s not like I made you sit through the whole thing like last week.”
She lets out another groan. “Oh my god, that was torture. How do you even find that remotely entertaining?”
“I just do. It’s a man thing.”
“Pfft, well, that explains it perfectly.”
“Hey, no complaining from you, Angel. Remember, I asked if I could turn the spare room into my man den, you said no.”
She looks over her shoulder at me. “That’s because I would never see you.”
“Yes, but on the bright side, you would always know where I was.”
When we reach the doorway to the living room, the doors are closed.
“Oh, is your mom redecorating?”
I Shrug. “Possibly. She’s always got some project on the go.”
“Ooo, can we take a peek? Oh, which reminds me. We should have her come and take a look at the master en suite. I still have no idea what I want in there.”
I park Ati’s chair then open the doors. It’s pitch-black. I move around to find the switch, but before I do, the light comes on, and a roaring cheer erupts. I look over to Ati, whose eyes are almost out of her head.
“Congratulations!”
What the— “Did you tell them?” I ask my wife.
Ati shakes her head. “No.”
My mother and Gwen walk over, their arms crossed. My mom is the first to start. “Did you honestly think you could get off without us finding out until now?”
Then Gwen jumps in. “You are aware that although I no longer own the salon, I still have my dependable sources, right? They spilled the beans without me even asking.”
“We, uh, we, um.” I turn and point to Ati. “It was all her idea.”
She looks to me with an arched brow and pursed lip. “Nice. Thanks for throwing me under the bus there, partner.”
I offer her my sincerest look of apology, then whisper through the side of my mouth. “Play the wheelchair card.” I turn back to Gwen and my mother with a forced smile of innocence.
The death stare they had both been giving us quickly changes to one of complete elation. My mother comes over, taking me into a hug as does Gwen to Ati. After a few moments, they both step back.
“We had you two pegged as a flight risk,” Gwen says, as chuckles emerge from behind her.
“What do you mean?” Ati lets out.
My mother looks to her. “She means that we prepared for this months ago.”
Thea hollers from behind, “Which reminds me—pay up suckers. I had an even fifty on eight to ten months and the local courthouse.”
Ginny groans and gives us both the stink eye. “You couldn’t have held out for Vegas and a drive-thru Elvis in the spring?”
I look to Ati, her expression priceless as she scolds. “Did you guys place bets on when we would get married?”
“If it makes you feel any better, I was June on the beach with all of your family and friends. But that was before I learned you would so easily shun us like that,” Grace adds with a playful dig at the end.
I turn to Ati, both of us breaking out in laughter. The whole way here, all we did was go back and forth on how we would break the news, and the entire time, they already knew.
Everyone moves up, taking their turn to congratulate us. When I looked at Ati, the concern that we may have done the wrong thing was gone and replaced with happiness and love.
“Can we eat now?”
We turn to Knox, who is standing with the other boys, and my father says in reply, “I agree, let's eat.”
When we make our way into the dining area, Liam lets out a groan at the sight before us. “Sammy, bud. Daddy told you no touch.”
All of us are silent as we take in Sammy, happily sitting on the edge of the buffet, full-size turkey leg in one hand, and a spoon full of mashed potato in the other.
Knowing there’s no way out of this one, he simply shrugs and says, “It’s otay, Daddy, I share.”
We try, we really do, but there is no stopping the outburst of laughter. Kai walks over, lifting Sammy into his arms, then turns to us. “You all heard the boy, he’s sharing, and by the looks of his satisfied smile, it’s good eats. Time to dig in.”
As we all sit at the table, I look around and smile. This is it. This is how life is meant to be lived…surrounded by family. When I look down at Ati, I can see that she feels the same, but a part of her is still saddened. There are some significant people missing. People she has, and will always consider family, but with the loss of one, another is dealing with new adjustments in his life, and the third is still in the hospital, working every day to get back to where he was.
“You’re thinking about them, aren’t you?” I say, leaning into her ear. She looks up to me, offering only a nod, and I reply the same as always when I know she just needs a minute…with a simple kiss to her forehead.
The ringing of a call coming through sounds in the background, and Thea pulls out her tablet, swiping it open. “Hey, perfect timing.”
She lifts it up and turns it to Ati and I. On the screen in all his glory, laying back on his hospital bed, a nurse on each side, is Brock.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” he lets out.
Ati brings her hand to her mouth, doing her best to hold back the tears. She hasn't been able to see him since the accident. He was transferred out of state to a facility that specializes in the type of rehabilitation he requires.
She raises her hand and gives him a wave. “Hey, how are you?”
“Well, I’ve seen better days, but Linda and Rose here, do their best to cater to my every whim and ensure that I want for nothing.” He gives the two ladies, both in their late sixties, a tight squeeze—you can see by their expression they have fallen for his supposed charm. “But enough about me. So, I see you finally grew some balls and put a ring on it?”
I’m guessing by the ‘balls’ reference, the question was directed at me.
“I did.”
We hold each other’s stare, then Brock leans into the camera and says, “Good, I was afraid I was going to have to come there and knock some sense into that head of yours. There are no two people a better fit for each other than the two of you. I couldn’t be happier, and I wish you both all the happiness.”
I give him a nod. “Thank you, and we have a room for you whenever you want to come for a really short visit.”
Ati elbows me in the side, but I can hear a snicker from the men around the table.
“Well, funny, you should mention that. It so happens that you will be seeing a lot more of me in the near future.”
“What do you mean?” Ati asks.
“The Board of Directors for Emerson’s new hospital offered me the Chief of Staff position. M
y PT is progressing well, and I should be good by the time the hospital is up and running—we’re going to be neighbors, folks.”
Ati looks to me, her eyes holding a hint of sparkle. She won’t say it, but I know she misses him, all of them. I give her squeeze, letting her know that I am as happy as she is. Anything that makes her happy makes me happy. Long gone are the days of insecurity and jealousy. I know she loves me as fiercely as I love her, and nothing will ever change that.
Brock leans back into the camera. “Well, I hate to cut this short, but Rose is giving me the signal…it’s my bath time. Rub-a-dub-dub. Miss you all. Take care, and again—Ben and Ati, congratulations.”
The connection ends, and I pull Ati into my side. “Are you happy?”
“I am. It was good seeing him.”
I sense she’s still off. “But?”
She shakes her head. “It’s nothing. I’m not going to think about it right now. We’re celebrating our wedding with all our family around us, I want to remember this as a happy moment. There’s time for everything else later. I just want this one moment.”
I look to her and smile. “Then, happy is what you get.”
***
After dinner, Ati was feeling a little tired, so we went to rest in the living room. She’s sitting with her legs across my lap, doing her stretches.
“How are you feeling?”
She nods. “I’m good. Every day is a little better. I just wish it wasn’t taking so long.”
I give her leg a rub. “Angel, the doctors are saying you’re doing better than they had anticipated and in record time. Stop being so hard on yourself. All in good time, remember.”
“I know. I just hate having to rely on everyone so much. Gwen and the others have to be getting tired of having to take care of me.”
“No, they’re not. They do it because they love you.”
“I guess.” She looks down at the phone in her hand again, and I know exactly what she’s looking at—Abe’s contact info.
“Call him.”
She looks up to me. “I don’t know what to say, Ben. He’s lost so much. On top of losing the love of his life, he also lost his sight, and can never practice medicine again. Ben, his life was stripped from under him in the blink of an eye, and all I suffered was two broken legs. God, I feel like a bad person, because even so, I’m still here complaining.”
Ben & Matilda- Infinite Promise Page 25