by Amber Nation
Then something hit me. The vague call I had received from her the other day. Things were tense and I was distraught with thoughts of her not keeping the baby and then with Kate appearing, I never gave her question a second thought.
“Is it possible for someone to be released from jail even if they haven’t served a fraction of their sentence?”
“Logan,” I blurted out, bracing my arms on the rests and leaning forward until my back was completely off the seat. “It had to have been Logan.”
Eden shifted in her seat, “What do you know about Logan?” Her tone was accusing but I just ignored it.
“I know that he abused her. But then she called me the other day and was extremely vague asking about if people could get off early for good behavior. She must’ve had Logan put in jail.” God, how could I have been so stupid? I wanted to punch the seat in front of me for the overwhelming mix of anger and guilt I felt, but I didn’t need to land my ass in jail.
Her face instantly paled, “He abused her? She told you that? She’s never told me that…” Eden pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth as it trembled.
I nodded and my voice went soft, “I love her, Eden.” She needed to know that this wasn’t a competition to find out who knew the most about Julia.
“She must love you too. She obviously doesn’t tell just anyone about her past,” the underlying hurt in her voice was just too much and I could detect a twinge of jealousy.
Resting my head on the top of the seat, I sighed… “I thought that she did…Love me, but now I’m not really sure. I just have to know for myself that she’s all right.”
Glancing out the window into the dark of night, I prayed that both she and the baby were all right…
Everything had to be ok.
The cab came to a halt in the half-circle entrance of the Emergency Room. I threw a handful bills that equaled more than enough for our fare through the center partition at the cabbie. It was still the dead of night as Eden and I rushed in through the automatic glass doors with only our coats on our backs. We didn’t know what Julia’s condition would be but packing a bag would’ve taken up precious minutes and it wasn’t high on our list of priorities at the time.
The waiting room was fairly empty, so Eden walked straightaway to the large wooden reception desk that dominated the area. The lady behind the desk smiled politely, “May I help you?”
Eden placed her arms on top of the chest-high desk, “I’m Eden Richardt, I was notified that my friend Julia Caldwell was here.”
A few clicks on her keyboard and she was nodding in confirmation, “Yes, Ms. Richardt, I will just need to verify with some identification please.”
Eden began rummaging around her purse, pulling out her wallet. She struggled to remove her driver’s license from the plastic divider. Finally she pulled it free and handed it over to the receptionist. “Here you go, but it has my married name of Jenkins. I got married a few months ago.”
The receptionist glanced at the ID and returned it to her, smiling, “Congratulations on your marriage.”
I rolled my eyes and internally groaned at their niceties. We were here for Julia, not to become best friends.
The receptionist stood and edged towards the end of her desk. “Right this way, I’ll take you to her room.” We each began following her until she glanced back and noticed I was coming as well. She shook her head, “Sir, I’m sorry, I can’t allow you back there. Mrs. Jenkins is only authorized because she’s her emergency contact. You’ll have to wait out here.”
Say what?
My defenses were up and I was more than ready to give her a piece of my mind until Eden turned around and placed her hand on my forearm. Sympathy swimming in her eyes, she said, “I’ll come back out when I find out anything.”
As soon as she removed her hand, I was left to my own devices. I glanced around, eyeing the numerous empty chairs and I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit still. Knowing that Julia was just mere feet away and not knowing what her current condition was, I began to pace. Back and forth along the linoleum floor until an officer stopped directly in my path.
“Mr. Parker?” I looked up and nodded, acknowledging my name. “Mrs. Jenkins said that you may have some knowledge pertaining to what happened with Miss Caldwell.”
Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I explained what I knew, which ultimately wasn’t much. “Julia’s ex-husband Logan. That’s the first direction you should take. I don’t know his last name, but I do know he abused her in the past. She called me the other day asking if someone could be released from jail early.” When he gave me a quizzical expression, I replied, “I’m a lawyer, although only a divorce lawyer, but she thought I might know the answer. If she helped send him to jail and he got out, there may have been some retaliation on his end.” Bile rose up in the back of my throat with having to actually voice my thoughts out loud.
After a few more questions, the officer said he would return in the morning after Julia was able to get some rest.
I took this to be good news and to mean that Julia was actually awake.
An hour later, Eden emerged from behind the closed doors, her cheeks stained with tears and her arms wrapped around herself. Seeing her look so upset had the bottom falling out of my stomach. I flat-out sprinted across the room until I was standing right in front of her. I braced my hands on her shoulders and crouched down until I was looking directly into her sad eyes, no match for my frantic ones.
“What’s wrong?”
She managed a small smile, “It was just so hard seeing her larger-than-life persona lying in a hospital bed so fragile. She’s asking to see you, they are wanting to do an ultrasound to check on the baby.” I blanched, not yet used to being associated with a baby.
“How is she doing?” I wanted to find out for myself and I would, but first I needed to be able to brace myself for the worst.
“She’s pretty banged up.” She released a humorless laugh, “worried about her appearance.”
“Sounds like Julia to me. But I don’t care about that, I just want her and the baby to be all right.”
She stared into my eyes for a moment before saying, “You really care about her, don’t you?”
“Eden, I already told you that I love her.” I paused a moment and placed my hands on my hips. “She’s it for me. I now realize that my first two marriages were just gearing me up for the whirlwind that is Julia Caldwell. Now I need to convince that stubborn, hardheaded woman that I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
“You know she’ll fight you every step.” She didn’t pose this as a question but a statement, because we both knew it was absolutely true.
I began walking towards the doors that would hopefully lead me to my future and I stopped to look back over my shoulder to Eden. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Go on,” she mouthed then held up her cell phone, “I’m going to call Baylor, fill him in.”
I took a deep breath and made the walk down the long white corridor towards my entire life.
Chapter 21
Julia
I was finally able to open my eyelids. It was just a sliver but enough to be accosted by bright white fluorescent lights.
Where was I?
I could just faintly make out the outline of a woman hovering over me out of one eye. Moving my hands around beneath me, I felt less-than-desirable sheets beneath me. I was in a bed? Was I in the hospital? My head was pounding and I had no other choice but to flinch as the thumping continued between my ears.
“Water,” I spoke around the feeling of cotton lodged deep in my throat. It came out as more of a croak due to the hoarseness of my tone.
“Julia?”
That was Eden. I knew that voice anywhere.
My head snapped to the side, where the sound of her voice was coming from. Craning my neck caused more pain to radiate throughout my body. I winced again due to the debilitating discomfort.
I felt tentative fingers stroke my skin before her soft
hand engulfed my own, giving it a gentle squeeze. I struggled to open my eyes but could only get my right one to cooperate.
“Eden?”
Another gentle squeeze followed by a brief sob, “Yeah, Jules. I’m here, Dean too.”
A strangled cry released from my lips. “Dean’s here?”
“Oh Jules, he’s out of his mind with worry. Not to say that I’m not, but I’ve never seen him like this before. They wouldn’t let him back here with me though since he wasn’t listed on any of the paperwork. So I’m sure he’s giving them hell out in the waiting room.”
He came for me?
My hand pulled free and instinctively I reached up to feel my stomach.
Our baby.
“Jules, why didn’t you tell me? We’re best friends and I thought you told me everything.”
I felt a tear fall from my eyes and travel down my cheek at the sadness in her tone. She was hurt that I hadn’t confided in her. But how could I?
“I didn’t want to believe it myself. Everything happened so quickly. I vowed never to fall in love again but I wasn’t expecting Dean Parker to come barging in. He makes it hard to say no to him. I find myself not wanting to.”
The nurse came back up and began poking and prodding around on my arm that housed an IV line. “Julia, do you know why you’re here?” She asked in almost a condescending tone that I wasn’t really appreciating at the moment. “You were the victim of an attack. You were unconscious for quite a while.”
That one word had everything surging back to me, clear as day.
Victim.
That was the same exact word the jail had used when they notified me of Logan’s release. As the victim, it was their duty to inform me of his impending departure. Making it sound as if he was leaving the country rather than getting released early of his own recognizance.
I wasn’t a fucking victim, I was a survivor…
Victims didn’t fight back against their attacker.
Victims didn’t live to fucking tell about it.
I remembered moping around my house over the next few days after learning about the pregnancy, really thinking through all my options. I wouldn’t even answer my phone because I needed to clear my head and didn’t need the extra added distractions.
Then there was the fact that Dean’s ex-wife had re-entered the picture for some ungodly reason and it caused my jealousy to spike.
I didn’t like caring for someone so deeply that I let jealousy get the best of me.
But there I was instantly shoving Dean into the same category as Logan and Paul, when I shouldn’t have. That wasn’t fair to him when he didn’t do anything to warrant it. I didn’t even let him explain his side of the story before I began jumping to conclusions.
He wouldn’t do that do me and had shown me on numerous occasions that he genuinely cared for me. I didn’t deserve him.
My doorbell rang later in the afternoon and the thought of peeking through my side window to see who it was didn’t occur to me until after I yanked open my storm door.
Logan stood before me, my screen door opened and resting behind his back, so he was halfway into my house before I even knew what was happening. Pushing his way into my space, just like old times. Typical Logan.
I took three giant steps backwards, trying to get away from him, but his large frame continued to advance, making it difficult to proceed any further. I felt my heart rate increase but I tried to keep my breathing even so I wouldn’t let him know that he affected me in any little way.
That’s what he fed off of, fear, he lived for it.
Seeing someone else wither away in front of him out of fear from his demanding and malevolent persona. I was a completely different person than I was back then, I had developed a backbone and a ‘take no shit’ attitude. He may be able to bend me a bit, but he sure as hell wouldn’t be able to break me again.
I wasn’t stupid enough to poke a relaxed bear, but I could ruffle his feathers a bit until I could formulate a plan. The problem with creating an exit strategy on such short notice is that you can’t foresee anything that would or could happen.
“Logan,” I sneered through my clenched teeth. “Violating your parole so soon, are we?” I took a good long look at him. Back when we were married he was built like a brick shithouse, and could throw me over his shoulder like a battered and beaten ragdoll. But somehow he had gotten even bigger, if that was even possible. I could tell that he had made good use of the prison gym. His blond locks were overgrown in the way that I used to love, messy and disheveled. He could always just roll out of bed and run his fingers through his hair and look good enough to eat. He was clean-shaven, which just enhanced your focus on the cleft in his chin. I used to find it sexy and endearing, now it just left a bad taste in my mouth. I wanted to curl my lip at his entire appearance; what had I seen in him all those years ago? I wished I could blame it solely on being young and naïve, but I was also trying to find someone who would give me the love and nurturing I hadn’t had growing up. Unfortunately, since I was still a stupid little girl, I had originally misconstrued Logan’s domination as protectiveness. It took a long time and a lot of violence before I figured out that everything he did came from hate, not from love.
“Julia,” he finally spoke, his tone laced with pure venom. I guess serving thirteen years of your sixty-year sentence made for some pretty intense sessions for your imagination on how he could retaliate. He took another step towards me and I tried to take another step back, but he had cornered me up against a wall. That was never a good thing. During the time I spent in therapy, they always told me never to let your attacker corner you with nowhere to go. Yeah, of course they could say that, they weren’t up against the likes of Logan Wesson. His big hand came around me until he was grabbing my hair, tilting my face up so he could look down into my eyes. His fierce blue eyes were bloodshot and wild.
Was he on something?
“You’ve aged well, kitten,” he said as he took in the length of my entire body. I always loathed that nickname he had for me.
“Yeah, well, you haven’t.” I spit back. Wasn’t my finest moment, taunting him. But I needed to distract him. I knew that if I could make it around him by diving under one of his arms that was now caging me in, I could quickly grab my phone. Then there was the possibility of going past him on the left and darting out the front door.
“Don’t even think about it, kitten. I see the wheels turning around in your head. You may have grown a mouth on you,” he leaned in close, “but that just turns me the fuck on. The fact that you want to fight me, God, I could strip you down and fuck you right now. But you won’t escape me. I won’t allow it. The fact that you grew a backbone out of nowhere all those years ago and actually testified against me, well, you see that left a bad taste in my mouth. And now you’re going to pay.”
I wasn’t terrified until that entire spiel left his mouth. A wave of unease washed over me as my heart rate picked up, my mouth went completely dry, and I couldn’t help but to think that I wouldn’t ever get to see Dean again. Or our baby. Over the past few days I had come to the conclusion that I wanted this child more than anything and I wanted it with Dean. I wanted to start a life together with him in Oregon. Because that’s where I belonged, with him.
I had to try and fight; I couldn’t just sit there and let Logan finally achieve the goal that I was sure he wished he had done all those years ago. I couldn’t let him kill me.
Closing my eyes for just a brief moment and releasing a deep sigh, I wanted to make him think that I was succumbing to him, to do with as he wished, but then I immediately faked going left before rushing under his right arm, running as fast as I could into the kitchen. My eyes instantly honed in on my cellphone that was lying on the edge of my counter and I grabbed with one hand and frantically tried to punch in the code to unlock my phone with the other. I knew Logan was close but I wasn’t expecting him to come up from behind me, his arm squeezing around my middle cutting off my air supply so I co
uldn’t breathe.
“Little bitch,” he growled as he gritted his teeth. Trying to use my feet, I kicked with all my might trying to break free so I could run off again. My phone was my lifeline as it remained tightly grasped within my clutch. I was able to type in my passcode and immediately my contacts appeared as if it was a sign. I knew that Dean couldn’t rush here to save me, but he could call someone that could. It was hard to focus as my feet continued to thrash around and Logan’s forearm was squeezing even tighter around my midsection. I had to get him to let me go.
I ceased all movement and went completely lax, thinking that he would release his grip around my stomach, which he did. He threw me to the ground and I scrambled with my phone, my finger hovering over Dean’s name in my recently called list. The first blow landed directly square into my stomach with his foot. My breath whooshed out of me and I knew right then and there that I wouldn’t be able to save our baby. I didn’t even know if I had the option of saving myself.
My body’s reaction was to curl in a ball as I released a loud, piercing scream. I screamed so loudly that my throat grew sore. He pushed me to my back with the same foot that had connected with my stomach just moments before and the last thing I remembered before waking up in the hospital was the knuckles on his right hand surging towards my face. The pain registered behind my left eye after the velocity of impact just seconds before everything faded to black.
My hand found my stomach again and I knew that the baby would be gone. There was no way that it could’ve survived after Logan. “The baby,” I looked at Eden with tears swimming in my eyes silently conveying that I was thinking the worst and the pain that I was in was confirming it. I didn’t think that the pain was solely due to Logan and his beating. She glanced down at my hand covering my abdomen, then sympathetically back up to me.
“Nurse, can she get an ultrasound to check on the baby, she’s only a few weeks along.” I wanted to pull Eden in for the biggest hug but I was afraid that it would just increase the pain radiating throughout my body.