Saved

by Lee Heaven

  Chapter 5

  I’m sitting in a hotel room somewhere in Pennsylvania. Two days ago I packed my house and kids up and left Jeremy. He has yet to call, which means he has yet to go home. I’ve been dragging my ass on getting home. A ride that should have taken me twelve hours, I’m now about to stretch into three days. Friday I only drove a few hours, stopping at the Ohio-Indiana border where we spent the night. Yesterday I drove across Ohio, stopping somewhere just over the Pennsylvania border. I’m sitting in the hotel room watching the Yankee game on the TV as the kids are playing in the swimming pool in the center of the court yard. I had the door propped open so I could keep an eye on them. I still had a good six hours left to drive till I got home and I just didn’t want to do it today. In fact I had pretty much made up my mind I wasn’t doing it right now. Maybe tomorrow? Maybe tonight? After the game? I did really want to be there for Sarah when she went to court tomorrow. I wanted to be there for her as she had to face the demons she had coming her way.

  It was heartbreaking to watch her on TV Thursday as I packed the house, stand on the edge of that building. Sarah’s ex-boyfriend Kevin, had decided after close to fourteen years of being apart that he wanted her back. Only she didn’t feel the same way. So he went beyond wacko and held her hostage for a week. She was able to trick him and escape. However in court on Thursday during his trial, he had pulled a dirty trick, he had his lawyer question her about an attack that happened to her as a minor and it sent her over the edge. Standing on the edge of the courthouse roof, it all played out on live TV as news vans on the street covering the trial caught wind of the action on the roof and showed the world the turmoil she was going through.

  But right now is a different story. I’m watching Decker on TV, down on one knee as he holds a major fucking diamond up to her. The whole fucking stadium is quiet. Hell, I’m sure the millions watching this game are fucking quiet. I’m sure half are silently screaming because this just means that sexy as fuck Decker Jensen is going to be off the market.

  I watched as tears rolled down her face. I watched as she smiled and looked around at her family and friends that surrounded her. I couldn’t be any happier for her then I was in that moment. I watched as her head shook and even though I couldn’t hear her, the smile on her face, the head bobbing and Decker scooping her into his arms just said it all. She said yes. The stadium was suddenly so loud as they cheered on Decker and Sarah, I’m sure the Richter Scale was shaking.

  I need to call her. Holy fuck, I need to talk to her. Where the hell is my phone? It took me five minutes to locate the thing under the bed, but it was finally in my hand and I pressed the picture of her smiling face and listen to the ringing.

  It went to voicemail. I could see on the TV, that any time she was shown, she was surrounded by people talking and looking at the glistening rock on her finger. I’ll just keep calling her and when she has a chance and can hear the phone she’ll pick up.

  Finally as I was cleaning the room and putting dirty clothes into a suitcase my phone rang. I walked across the room and smiled as I saw her face looking back at me.

  “Holy Fuck! I can’t believe he asked you on national television!” I screamed into the phone when I picked it up not even letting her say a word.

  “Wait, what do you mean national television? Those messages show during the commercial,” she squealed back at me.

  “Sarah, they showed the whole fucking thing on television. I saw everything. From the moment the message appeared on the board, to when you saw it, when you said yes and he kissed you. It was all on live television. Hell, the millions of people watching saw it. The whole fucking world knew as it happened,” I squealed barely taking a breath between each word.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” she gasped.

  “Oh my God, imagine what would have happened if you had said no. Oh the humiliation he would have felt.” I knew he wouldn’t have to worry about her saying no, Sarah was so in love with Decker that if she said no I would have had to beat her.

  “Nothing in the world would have made me say no. He never would have felt that in a million years.”

  “So you’re happy? You’re really happy?”

  “Chrissy, I have never been happier in my life. After Ely died I thought I would never feel that love again. But Decker, he gave that back to me. He loves me for me. He lets me be me. He could care less about the scars and the shitty past I have. He wants me to live for the future. He’s talked me off one ledge already and would do it again in a heartbeat, but would go through hell to make sure I never felt the need to stand on that ledge to begin with.”

  That ledge! She never should have been on it in the first place. That fucking dirty move that Kevin pulled pissed me off and he better hope that when I do see him in that courtroom tomorrow there was enough guards to keep me from killing the motherfucker. And oh yeah, I was going to be in that court room. As soon as I was off the phone with her I was getting the kids out of the pool and we were leaving. I could be back in Jersey by midnight and then I was going to be at that court house first thing in the morning to stand by her.

  “Speaking about that ledge, remind me to smack the shit out of you when I see you tomorrow. I can’t believe you were gonna do that.”

  “Chrissy, he knew which stick to snap to break me down and he succeeded. He was hoping I would lose it and let him off so I wouldn’t have to have the embarrassment of that becoming public knowledge during trial. And then when it didn’t work he had to be a bigger dickless ass whole and release it to the press.”

  “Well, we’ll stand together tomorrow and we will get through this together. Not only that but now you got that big shiny ring to shove in his face. What is it like three or four carats?”

  “Decker said it was 5.67 carats. It’s heavy as fuck.” I watched as the camera panned to her and she held her hand up and smiled brightly at her ring. I had to smile along with her.

  “Good, even bigger to punch Kevin in the face with,” I laughed.

  “Chrissy?” She whispered in a serious tone.

  “What, Sarah?” I asked all concerned.

  In the most shocked voice I think I’ve ever heard come out of her mouth she said, “I’m gonna marry Decker Jensen. I mean I’m actually gonna marry him. This isn’t one of our little fantasies we have. I’m actually marrying him. Me! ”

  “I know. And I will be there every step of the way helping you plan this. This will be your dream wedding. Everything you ever wanted.” I’m sure she could hear the smile on my face that stretched from one side of my face to the other.

  “No, my dream wedding cost ten grand. This is going to be beyond my dream wedding and cost more than I could ever imagine.”

  “We’ll do it together. I’ll be there for all of it.” And I meant that. I was going to be there for it all. I was going to do it all with her. From picking out dresses to flowers to even wearing an ugly pink marshmallow dress if she wanted me to. We were going to do it right this time. We were both going to be happy finally.

  “I’m so glad you’re home. I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. You know how to get to the apartment right?”

  “Yup, I’ll be there by eight that way we can be to the courthouse on time.”

  “Good. I love you, Chrissy. I’m so glad you’re back here. I think I’d go nuts planning this wedding without you.”

  “You’d never have to worry about it. I’m here to help and then get my life back.”

  “Maybe I can help you with that, I do know some pretty hot baseball players,” she said laughing.

  Yeah right, me with one of those boys, not likely to happen. As much as I would like that dream to come true I just don’t think that it would happen. Besides any of those single men would want a baby of their own and that is just something I couldn’t offer them. No one would want to be with me especially since there was one hundred percent chance there was no way I could give them a baby.

  “Maybe, but first lets plan your wedding. I love
you and I’ll see you tomorrow. Have fun at the rest of the game, Mrs. Jensen!”

  We both hang up laughing. I was quickly yelling for the kids to get out of the pool and dressed so we could hit the road. I was met with the typical attitude and ‘do we have to?’ or ‘but we want to swim more, I thought we were leaving tomorrow?’ I couldn’t fault them I did say we were probably going to leave tomorrow, but everything changed the second Decker put that ring on her finger. I didn’t want to wait another day to be with her and celebrate with her.

  ~~~

  I can’t say I’m in the best of shape this morning. I didn’t get to my parent’s house till close to midnight, and then I had to listen to my step-father gloat about how he was right all along. Then this morning I had to listen to him bitch and bitch about how I wasn’t even back for twelve hours and I was dumping my kids on them so I could go out and screw up my life some more.

  When I was finally able to get a word in and told him that I was really going to see Sarah and go to court with her, he shut his mouth and told me to give her a hug and kiss from him. My step-father had always loved Sarah and sometimes growing up I thought that he had rather had her as a step-daughter instead of me. In his eyes Sarah could do no wrong. I couldn’t fault her for how he felt. But I could just never measure up in his eyes.

  I forgot what traffic was like around here and getting into the city took longer than expected. I was pretty sure that if I spent one more minute fighting to get my car through that traffic road rage was going to happen and someone’s car was going to get rammed. I pulled into the carport of the building where Sarah and Decker lived and was met by a young kid, who didn’t even look old enough to drive, but was handing me a valet ticket and helping me out of the car.

  I walked into the lobby and my mouth dropped at the pure elegance this place held. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a place that was so fucking elegant. Look, that just proved it; my swearing would never fit in, in this place. I wonder how Sarah did it because god knows her mouth is a million times worse than mine. I felt so out of place.

  I walked up to the security booth and the man behind the counter looked up at me and gave me a crooked smile. “Hi, I’m Chrissy McAllen, I’m here to see Sarah Starr.”

  His crooked smile got a little bigger. “I have to say it’s about time you got here. She’s called down three times wondering if you were standing here looking at the ceiling.”

  I laughed and looked up. Instantly I knew what she was talking about. The ceiling was painted to look like you were looking out a glass atrium. Beyond the painted window planes were fluffy white clouds and birds flying high. Different types of vines and flowers crawled up the wooden trellises that were holding the glass window panes. It was really something I could get lost staring at. She knew me to well.

  The security guard was chuckling as I realized I had been staring at the ceiling for a few minutes. “Take the third elevator up to the eighty-eighth floor apartment one.”

  I stared at the elegant wooden front door. When we grew up together it was this type of building, this type of door that we had always dreamed about living in. It was what we colored when we drew pictures of our dream houses, everything from the sleek chrome metal handle to the fancy numbers nailed to the door. Even to the little metal Elephant that was nailed to the door frame. She always hated the fact that Shawn would never let her hang it on the house. She always believed that they stood for luck, strength, honor, stability and patience. When Shawn wouldn’t allow her to nail the elephant to the door frame or put her little knick knacks around the house, she felt that she lost all that symbolic meaning. I had agreed over the years that her elephants held magic powers for her since none of those things were there for her, but now with her elephants back she had all that.

  I knocked on the door and heard feet walking towards it. “No motherfucker, that’s my door to answer,” I heard Sarah laugh from behind the door. “Go back to sucking on Maggie’s face.”

  Tobias Charles, Yankees centerfielder, must have been headed toward the door. He had recently started dating Maggie Hemsworth, she was the night aid who was taking care of Decker when his leg was broken and then hired full time after Sarah and Josie moved in. To do what exactly no one knew. Maggie and Sarah spent more time shopping than doing anything else.

  The door flew open and Sarah and I were embraced in a hug before either one of us could get a word out. We may have talked just about every day but it had been probably close to two years since we had seen each other last. I was just as emotional as she was, not just from seeing each other again, but for finally being free of the nightmare of a life we had both been living for years.

  We didn’t need to say anything to each other. Even after we were done hugging we didn’t need to talk. She ushered me into the apartment and I was floored, the place was so much more than I had ever expected. She started giving me a tour of the place and introducing everyone to me. Decker was the first one I met and just like Sarah had said, he was so much more gorgeous in person then what he appeared on TV. Then there was Maggie and Tobias, Jimmy, who was Sarah’s bodyguard and his girlfriend Chelsea, Decker’s parent’s Jonathan and Nancy, Roman Emmerson, who played first base and his wife Laura, of course Sarah’s parents who I already know and Liam, Maggie’s bodyguard.

  “The kitchen,” Sarah said as we walked into the gleaming white room. “And the pouty man by the window is Tyler James.”

  Holy fuck, I think I forgot how to breathe. Standing before me was six feet two inches of pure bad mood male. His chiseled face and strong jaw were stunning. He filled out a three piece suit and I knew he was covered in muscles that made me want to climb him like a tree. His thick black hair was just long enough that it had that ‘I ran my fingers through my hair’ look.

  Which also meant it was just long enough to grab and hold onto as he plowed into me.

  Holy Fuck that thought came out of nowhere.

  But it was his eyes. His eyes were blue. Crystal blue. Bright blue. So blue I can’t even describe what color blue they are. I knew that second, that very second, as I looked into his eyes that I would give my last dying breath to look into those eyes for the rest of my life. I had never believed in the love at first sight crap and wasn’t sure if this was even love that I was feeling but all I knew was that someway, somehow this man was going to be involved in the rest of my life if I had a say.

  Someone called Sarah’s name and she turned to Tyler, “Be nice,” she huffed at him as she walked away.

  I hadn’t been able to talk. Hell I’d barely been able to breathe. He stared at me and I couldn’t decide what he was thinking. I wanted to run. Run from him, run to him.

  “You must be the best friend,” his deep voice rasped out and even though he was across the room I felt it all over my skin.

  “Chrissy,” my voice was small as I responded to him.

  He grunted and turned to look out the window again. Alright, mind changed, what a jerk. Maybe I wouldn’t need to spend the rest of my life looking into his eyes. Not if he’s going to be an ass like that. I didn’t have long to consider it because my phone was ringing in my purse. I pulled it out looking at the screen seeing Jeremy’s name. I really didn’t want to deal with this now but he had no idea how long I’d been gone, where I’d gone or about the kids. Maybe now was the time.

  “Hello,” I said into the phone.

  “Where the fuck are you? Where the fuck is all our belongings?”

  I sighed loud and long before answering him. “I moved out. If you had bothered to come home at all over the past couple of months you would have realized that the kids and I were leaving. That the house had once again been foreclosed on, because once again you weren’t paying for it. Did you know I moved out four days ago? Four days! Is this the first time you put down the beer and pulled your dick out of that whore in weeks?”

  I watched as Tyler spun from the window and looked at me wide eyed.

  When Jeremy didn’t say anything I continued.
“Did you know Decker has been sending me money since Christmas because I had nothing to buy food for the kids, because you were too busy paying the rent for your whore? The legal separation papers are on the counter, they should be easy to find as they are the only thing left in the house and that’s as long as the sheriffs haven’t changed the locks yet.”

  Tyler was standing a foot in front of me. When the fuck did he move?

  “Where the fuck are you?” he sneered at me.

  “I’m in Jersey. You got anything else to say to me, get in the car and come say it to my face. I’m not going to play these games with you. You’ve put your hands on me one too many times before I finally stood up and hit you back. I’ve spent too many days trying to figure out how to keep a roof over your kids head and food in their mouths. I’m done. Don’t fight me on this matter there are too many things that I have to take you down. Go move in with your whore. Your clothes and shit are in the storage locker in town. The office has the key for you. I paid it for a year, after that it’s up to you and if you take your shit before the year is up the money is returned to me not you, so don’t even bother trying to steal my money.”

  “You fucking bitch. You’ll be back here begging me to take you back soon. Then I’ll really beat the fucking shit out of you.”

  I knew from the way Tyler’s eyes got bigger he heard that last line Jeremy had just spat at me.

  “Bye, Jeremy,” I hung up the phone.

  I looked into bright blue eyes. Blues eyes that seethed with anger. At me? At Jeremy? What was he so angry at? He had no idea who I was or what I’ve been through. He had no reason to be mad, I only met him less than five minutes ago.

  “Did he hit you?” Tyler asked.

  I nodded and he took a step forward.

  “Did he cheat on you?”

  I nodded again and he took another step toward me.

  “Did he really starve you and your kids?”

  I finally found my voice, “If it wasn’t for Decker and Sarah we wouldn’t have eaten since before Christmas.” I could feel the tears try to burn my eyes. I was not going to let Jeremy try and get the best of me and break down today.