Finding My Way Home

by Green, Vicki

  I slide out of her arms, walk into the bathroom and clean up. Checking on her again, I find her still sleeping so I walk quietly out of the room and run right into Doc Marrow, literally.

  “Ompfh! Oh, sorry, Doc.” He cautiously pushes me back from his chest, chuckling under his breath.

  “Hutch. And a good morning to you. Where are you off to in such a hurry?” He laughs.

  “I was actually coming to see you, to see when Zoey can go home. She’s really getting anxious. I also needed to call Kathryn for her.”

  Doc rubs his chin and grumbles as he’s thinking. “Well, actually, we need to take one more x-ray of your head and while you do that, I’ll check out Zoey to see if I feel she’s ready to go home to finish recuperating. How’s that sound?”

  “Great! Um, why do you need another x-ray of my head? I feel wonderful. I’m more worried about Zoey.” He chuckles again. Always such a happy fellow. And such a kind man.

  He puts a hand on my shoulder and gives me his concerned look. “Hutch, you have a pretty bad concussion. I just want to make sure that’s all that’s wrong, just to be sure. And Zoey, she will need some recoup time. She’s still very weak, bruised and needs to be careful with that shoulder,” he says in his best doctor, but fatherly voice.

  Bowing my head, I laugh. When I look back up, he’s smiling but still very serious. “Ok, Doc. You’ve got a deal. Can we do it all fast? She really wants to go home.” I give him my best smile, raising my brows, pleadingly.

  I get a smack on my shoulder for that. “Ok, my boy. I’ll make the arrangements and will be right back.” And with that, he leaves me.

  I spend the next twenty minutes on the phone with Kathryn promising I will call her as soon as we get home, so she can come over and talk with Zoey. She sounds really worried and concerned. By the time I get off the phone, Doc has returned to check Zoey and a nurse and an orderly are there to wheel me down to x-ray.

  “Wait! I need to see Zoey before you take me down.” I rush into the room, lean over the bed and brush some of her hair from her face. “Zoey. Baby?” I whisper loudly. She stirs and gives me a look of confusion. “Hey, Sunshine. I’m going down to take an x-ray and Doc is here to check you out to see if I can take you home, ok?” She smiles and tries to sit up but struggles so I help her. I kiss her on the mouth and look into her sleepy eyes. “I won’t be long, ok?” She smiles again, kisses me back and nods. She’s so fucking tired. Poor baby. I need to get her home and in our new bed and let her sleep. I kiss her one more time. “Be right back. I promise.” I have a really hard time leaving her but Doc turns and winks at me and tells me he’ll be here when I get back. Good. I really don’t want to leave her all alone.

  It takes about forty five minutes for the x-ray but Doc is still in Zoey’s room when I return, just like he promised. I get out of the wheelchair and sit next to my girl on the bed. “Well, Doc. Can I take my girl home?”

  He rubs his chin and looks at us both. “Zoey, yes. She’s healing rather nicely.” He looks at Zoey sternly. “You have to do what Hutch says and rest, no talking him out of it. Rest.” As I smile wider and chuckle, he turns to me. “You. You have to wait about another half an hour until I get the x-ray results. I have to make sure you’re ready to leave as well.” My mouth closed tight, and I huff. “You can’t expect to take care of Zoey, if you’re not in shape to do it properly. I know Simon and Chris will be there but I know you. You’ll want to do everything. Am I correct?” I nod slowly and feel Zoey’s arm wrap around my waist. I turn my head to her and smile. “Good. I’ll be back as soon as I have your results. Looks like Zoey could use some more rest while you wait,” he chuckles to himself while walking out the door.

  She sighs and rests her head on my shoulder, and then we wait the longest half an hour of our lives.

  Chapter Fifteen

  We are finally heading home. Simon and Chris had brought my Jeep up yesterday so it was already in the parking lot. As I turn onto our street, I glance over at Zoey who is looking out her window. Instead of pulling into the boarding house’s driveway, I take a left into the driveway across the street.

  “Wha?” Zoey looks out the front window in confusion. She looks around and a sad frown appears on her face. “It’s sold. Someone bought it.” Poor baby, she looks depressed. She looks back out of her window and sighs. “Can we go home now?”

  I put the Jeep in park, hop out and run around to her side. When I open the door, she almost falls out since she had been leaning on it. I bow and reach my hand out to her. “My lady. Your home.” Her smile is priceless as she takes my hand, and I help her down. I put my arm around her waist and turn her to face our new home. “Hutch. Wha?” Her head turns to me, brows creased and smiles. “Why are we here and what do you mean we’re home?”

  She gasps as I bend down, put an arm under her legs and lift her up into my arms. I kiss her lips, grabbing her bottom one in my teeth and pull it from hers. “I told you what that does to me,” I laugh. I start walking to the front door and stop right at the bottom of the porch steps. “This, baby, is our new home. Come on, I’ll tell you all about it as you rest on the new couch.” I’m careful with her as I dig for the door key and finally open the front door. Her hand covers her mouth as I carry her inside and into the homey family room, setting her on the couch. Covering her with the afghan that’s resting on the back, I take the two pillows and fluff them up behind her. The fireplace is already set with a roaring fire, the TV in the corner already on one of her favorite movies. There’s a big bowl of popcorn on the new coffee table and a glass of diet coke sitting next to her on the end table.

  She looks up at me, tears in her eyes, one rolling down her flushed cheek, and she gives me her sweet smile. “Hutch. Who did all this? You’ve been with me the whole time.”

  I sit down next to her. She instantly cuddles into me, and I take her hand. “There’s a will that will be read when you’re up to it, but Betty insisted the Judge give you this now. This was Bailey’s house that she’s had up for sale for several years now. People would give her offers but she’d always refuse. Betty said that she told her that it was waiting for the right couple and the night before everything happened she told Betty we were the right couple and she wanted us to have it. Said, ‘I won’t take a dime for it, either. I saw them living there.’

  She shivers and cries into my shoulder. I smooth over her hair and whisper that it was meant to be, just like us being together. Fuck! Way to go! That just made her cry harder, idiot! When she finally calms down just to sniffles, her sweet and wet eyes look at me, she leans up and kisses me. Her tongue moves into my mouth, and I moan. When our kissing becomes rather heated, I pull back, cup her beautiful face in my hands and kiss her nose. “Ok, we better stop. You’re not healed enough for that yet.” I kiss her pouty lips again. “But when you are, we aren’t leaving our bed for days.” She laughs and kisses me again.

  She rests her head on my shoulder again. “But who did all this? Everything looks new, well most of it.” She looks around, and I follow her eyes. Bailey’s rocking chair sits in the corner. The big screen TV is new as well as the couch and tables. Her eyes move up to the wall to the right, and I see them widen when they fall on Bailey’s family pictures. “I love this place.” She turns to me and smiles. “It’s part us and part Bailey.”

  I pull her closer and squeeze her arm. “Simon, Chris, Betty, and Chuck came over and fixed it up. Simon had brought up my laptop and I picked out everything. Well, almost everything.” She looks at me questioningly. “I told them to leave the room next to ours empty, for the baby. I think you should decorate it.” The tears start again, and she hugs me.

  Sitting up, she reaches for her drink and takes a big gulp. “Wow, I didn’t know anyone could cry this much,” she laughs wiping away her tears. “Thank you, babe. I love you.”

  I lean over and kiss her full mouth. “Best. Words. Ever.”

  We watch her movie and eat popcorn, until towards the end I look over, and she i
s fast asleep. Her arm crooked under her head and propped up against the couch arm. I quickly clean up the mess and then pick up my girl and carry her upstairs. It’s a shame she didn’t get to see our new room. The new king sized bed and bedding but she’ll see it all tomorrow. I get her undressed, remove her hurt arm from the sling, gently, and pull one of my long sleeved t-shirts over her. She grumbles a little as I place her arm back in the sling but sighs when I get in bed and pull her into my arms. By the time I relax, my eyes close.

  “Mmmmm,” I groan as soft lips kiss all over my face. I peek with one eye to see Zoey leaning over me, her bad arm resting on my stomach. As she continues her kissing, my mouth reaches out as she passes by it. “Mmmmm. You taste so good.”

  “I love you. I love you. I love you,” she says between pecking my lips. I press my mouth against hers and elicit a moan from deep inside her.

  She finally moves into a sitting position, and I follow suit. “Good morning, baby.” I lean over and kiss her mouth again and when I release it, she lays her head on my shoulder and yawns. “Ha, well it’s apparent you need more sleep.”

  She laughs, and looks up at me. “I know and I’m sorry. But I couldn’t wait to thank you. I love our new room. It’s beautiful!”

  I look into her eyes. “You’re beautiful.” Her smile is contagious, and I can’t help but smile too. “You deserve the best, baby. And I intend to make that happen. Now, the first order of business, make you breakfast. You, my lady, sleep some more. I’ll wake you when it’s ready.” I flick her nose with my finger, kiss it and then get out of bed. Throwing on some jeans and one of my long sleeved t-shirts, I lean over the bed and kiss her mouth again and head downstairs.

  When I reach the kitchen, I see everyone is already hard at work. Chuck is cooking while Simon and Chris set the table and Betty is pouring the orange juice and making lattes with our new latte machine. The kitchen smells heavenly with all the wonderful aromas.

  “How’s our girl,” Simon asks, walking my way. “I hope she’s hungry.” He looks over his shoulder at Chuck. “I think he thought he was going to be feeding the entire town,” he laughs.

  I look over at the breakfast bar and see what he means. Big silver trays are sitting over open flames, each full of bacon, sausage, cinnamon rolls, biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs. Damn, I could eat all that. I’m fucking starving! Rubbing my hands together I look at Simon, who’s smirking at me. “Well, I’m hungry. Damn, that smells great!” Laughter ensues throughout the kitchen until Chuck yells over that I might want to go get my sleeping beauty.

  When I enter our room, my baby’s curled up in a ball and hugging my pillow. Even with her pale and bruised skin, she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. I can’t stop staring at her until I jump to the sound of a clanging coming from inside the kitchen. I smile and walk over to her, lean down and kiss her cheek. Like a fairy tale, her eyes open, her smile wide and she rolls onto her back and stretches. “Oh, did I sleep very long?”

  “No, not really. You hungry?” She nods rapidly. “Well, come on. Let’s get you something to eat.” I go to our walk-in closet and grab her robe, bring it out to her, help her put her arm through the sleeve and drape the other side over her bad shoulder. I tie the belt around her waist and look at her smiling at me. “What?” I laugh.

  “Oh, nothing. Just you’re already taking such great care of me. Bailey would be proud of you,” she says grinning.

  “Oh, yeah?”

  She yells out as I pick her up and proceed to carry her down the stairs. She gives me a light smack on my chest and giggles. Fucking music to my ears. When I get her into the kitchen she screams as everyone yells ‘surprise’, her face plants immediately into my chest and her hand covers her mouth. She looks up over at our friends and then squirms a little, so I set her down. One by one she walks to them, hugging and kissing them, and thanking them for everything. Finally, Simon takes her hand and leads her to the table, pulls out a chair and pushes her in. He takes her napkin, unfolds it and lays it on her lap. The whole time I watch her beautiful, smiling face all lit up like it was Christmas. She’s almost like a child herself, seeing and feeling things for the first time. And I get to be there for every one of them. Damn, I’m one fucking lucky man.

  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

  We sit around the table, laughing, talking, eating, and I’m having the best time. I look over at Hutch and watch him talking with Chris. My heart soars with the love I feel. Then I stop. I set down my fork and look down at my hands in my lap.

  “What’s wrong, honey?” Betty says as she places her hand on mine. I look up, not sure why she isn’t crying, not sure why no one is. I’m confused.

  I look around at each person. “I love you all. So much. It just seems… it just feels weird talking, laughing, having a great time, and… I don’t know it just feels different without Bailey.” Betty immediately wraps her arms around me and kisses the side of my head.

  She moves back and looks me in my eyes. “You know, honey. Not that it’s any easier but we’ve all had some time to get used to Bailey being gone but you haven’t. Not really. It’s so natural to feel the way you’re feeling right now and believe me, we’ve all felt it. It won’t ever go away but honey, it will get easier. Trust me.”

  Staring at her, I nod, but still don’t feel quite right. “You don’t hate me?” I whisper, my voice shaking. Her eyes go wide. Her brows raise high and then her features relax.

  She hugs me again. “Oh, my heavens honey! No! I don’t hate you.” She moves back and looks at me. “No one hates you. You survived. You were meant to survive.” She places her hand over my stomach. “You were meant to protect your son. A life for a life, honey. A life for a life. Bailey wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.”

  Just when I thought there were no more tears to shed, they came flooding out of my eyes and down my face. I wipe them away quickly and sit up straight. “Thank you. That means the world to me.” She pats my hand, smiles brightly and goes back to eating.

  Hutch is by my side as soon as he notices my tears. He squats down next to me and whispers, “Do you need me to call Kathryn, baby? She is ready and willing as soon as you need her.”

  I finish wiping my eyes and put my best smile on. “Nope. I’m good.” I look over to see Betty smiling at me. “I’m really good.”

  Once everyone has helped clean up the kitchen, I’m exhausted and Hutch really wouldn’t let me do anything. So, he fixed up the couch, pillows and blankets and placed me on it. He takes such good care of me. How did I ever get so lucky? I feel so loved, cherished. I feel just like a fairy princess.

  He turned on a football game, and I laid next to him, all snuggled up into his side. It was perfect! When I awoke, the lights were off, the TV down low, and he was asleep. I propped my hand on my chin, resting on his chest and just watched him. He’s gorgeous.

  The next day was spent on my laptop ordering furniture, pictures and baby accessories for the baby’s room. Sigh. How do I know what color to get? I don’t know for sure, yet, if it’s a boy or a girl. Bailey has been right on everything so far. Maybe I should just order blue stuff? I guess if it turns out to be a girl, then I will just send everything back and reorder pink. UGH! Hutch said to ‘Go for broke’, his words, so, I did! I ordered everything I needed for the room and more. Diapers, bottles, toys, I went freakin’ crazy. Once I was satisfied I had everything ordered I went downstairs and told Hutch.

  “Baby, that’s great! I can’t wait to see it all put together. You. Are. Amazing,” he said holding me and flicking my nose. He really has a thing for my nose. Cute!

  “But what if he turns out to be a she?”

  I sigh. “I’ll have to take everything back and reorder again. I hate that. I want everything to be perfect from the start.”

  He kisses my lips, his tongue invading my mouth. Damn, my man can kiss. “Everything will be perfect. I trust Bailey’s instincts and I know we’re having a son,” he says against my lips. He moves his head ba
ck a bit and gives me his gorgeous dimpled smile. “You won’t need to take everything back. We’ll just use it for our daughter when she comes.”

  My heart beats rapidly. Oh, my God! He’s the sweetest and most romantic man I’ve ever known. My mouth finds his, and I give him all my love. I reach down and squeeze his thick cock through his sweatpants. He moans loudly, and my body’s flame begins heating. I continue to stroke him and whisper, “Take me upstairs. Please. Please, please make love to me. It’s been too long. I… I need you. Now.”

  I whimper when his mouth leaves mine. He presses his forehead against mine. “But baby. You’ve been hurt and I can’t… I don’t want to do anything that will hurt you more. I won’t. I won’t ever hurt you.”

  UGH! I can’t take it! I need him! “I know you’ll be careful. And I’ll be careful. I won’t move my bad arm. I promise.”

  His eyes search mine and in one fell swoop, he lifts me, plants his mouth on mine and carries me upstairs to our room. After he lays me gently on the bed, I sit up, and he helps me remove my shirt, pants and panties. He presses his lips against mine and helps me to lay back then climbs over me. My legs stretch out as his body moves in between them. He begins kissing down my throat, my collarbone, my chest and takes a nipple in his mouth. My back arches, and my hips buck searching for my prize. His full cock slides up and down my folds as my body moves up and down hoping it will enter me soon. One of his hands finds my swollen and aching clit as his mouth does marvelous things to my nipple. “Ungh!” I moan as his thumb rubs circles on my tender clit. My climax is reaching its peak, and the all familiar dots begin forming over my eyes when I cry out his name and start soaring.

  As I am high in my climax, his cock slides into me fast and deep into my core, making my climax take me even higher. His thrusts are quick and deep, over and over until I think I’ll be lost in the heavens forever. I clench my fist into his thick hair and pull causing him to let out a loud guttural moan, which urges me on more. Next thing I knew, he was screaming my name, and then I was in his arms.