CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
Christmas night, all of us adults, were lounging around the fire on the couches. The kids had already gone upstairs to bed but if I knew Grayson and Gideon they were probably playing the many new games that they got for their Xbox. Cash and Olivia had returned from putting Eden and the twins down so it was just the five of us.
All of the parents had already left for the day and had gone home and Josie has been staying at The Plaza in her room since she started working there. The five of us all seemed to be in a somber mood after all of the festivities and were relieved to have gotten through Christmas after the tragic ordeal from a couple of days ago.
I leaned in next to Caleb to cuddle on his good side. The doctors managed to get the bullet out of his arm and he received a few stitches and had it up in a sling for a couple of weeks until he fully healed. Every time I think about how close I came to losing him I well up with tears. He gently squeezed my arm and pulled me tighter into his arms.
"Cru... Baby.... I'm okay Sweetheart. Please quit crying." Mattie was looking into his wine glass dealing with his own thoughts and Olivia had snuggled in closer to Cash. Both she and I have had our moments of reliving what happened only to bawl at how our lives could have changed for the worse. Olivia was finally past the remembrance of the last traumatic event in her life and was very withdrawn at how it had almost happened again.
"Caleb, it's hard to get the sounds and images out of our minds. Let us deal with it in our own way okay." I believe that's the first time that I've ever heard Olivia get trite with Caleb and I felt his body tense up.
"Olivia, Listen... I know that this might have brought up some old stuff with you.” He looked down into my eyes. "With you both obviously, but the bottom line is that the four of us are fine. If it hadn't have been for Trevor and-" I finished his sentence and shook my head.
"Jason? I can't talk about him. It was bad enough when I had to talk to Grayson about him."
Big tears fell down my cheeks at the mention of Jason. When we left the office and were on our way to the hospital Grayson was devastated that the "stranger" had died and wondered why he was there in the first place. The why of it all we will never know but the fact that he had evidently been stalking my office to try to talk to me had been a blessing in disguise.
When Cash and Caleb walked into the office, Jason had the boys standing behind him and he was barely standing up from the beating Roger and his friend Matt gave him after he walked in and realized that the two guys had kidnapped the boys. Cash and Caleb tried to offer the men money to let them all go but Roger wasn't having it until Caleb and I were dead. He knew the only way that he could get our attention was to take Grayson and Gideon was just an added bonus.
When Gideon panicked and ran to Cash unexpectedly it made Grayson run to Caleb and that was when Jason jumped in front of them as Roger drew his gun and pulled the trigger but Jason took the brunt of the gun fire. Trevor came out of hiding and took his chance and shot Roger and Matt down quicker than it had all started. Caleb made Cash hold onto Grayson while he checked to see if Jason was alive and couldn't believe what he heard come out of his mouth.
"I've been waiting... for Claudia... to tell her how sorry I was. He's mine isn't he?" Caleb made sure that Grayson couldn't hear and only nodded at him. "I need to tell her.... How sorry I am... before it's too late. Please Caleb." He agreed to get me and it was when he picked Grayson up and carried him outside that he realized that he had been shot in the crossfire.
"Claudia? Are you ever going to tell him who Jason was?" Mattie pulled me out of my thoughts and I shrugged my shoulders at him.
"I don't know Mattie. He's only 10 years old. Do you not think that he's gone through enough already at his young age? Does he HAVE to know that the stranger that helped him and died to save him turned out to be his father? The same father that never wanted him to be born? How exactly am I supposed to word it all correctly?" We all sat in silence for a few seconds and it was Caleb that tried to change the mood.
"I think that's something that we can talk about some other time. There's no need to rush into sharing that news right now. Maybe down the road after everyone has gotten past this but not right now. That's what I think anyway."
Caleb raised his glass and made a toast. "To Jason, I will never forget the debt that he paid to save our sons." We all raised our glasses and the sweet gesture put a tear in my eye. Mine and Olivia's glasses had apple juice of course but I was vicariously drinking through Caleb. If I ever needed a drink, right now would be the time. Cash finally decided to join the discussion.
"I need the name and number of the therapist you've been sending Grayson to if you don't mind. I think it would help Gideon out. He's woken up the past couple of nights with nightmares and he won't really say much to me or Olivia. I figured someone that is used to this kind of thing could really help." Gideon had been withdrawn since everything went down and my stomach lurched at the realization that we could have lost him and Grayson for good.
"Alright Cash. She'll get you the number but let's try to change the subject okay. What should we talk about?" Caleb, always my protector and I loved that about him. I looked up into his face and he leaned down and gave me a sweet kiss.
I swear you could have heard the jeopardy theme song in the background it got so quiet. Olivia and I started grinning at each other because no one seemed to be able to come up with anything to talk about. Her big blue eyes lit up though when they fell on Mattie.
"Oh I know what we can talk about! Mattie! I have a question." Oh no! I know where she's going with this and I'm not sure that it's a good idea or not. I looked over at Mattie and he tried to pretend that she was asking an invisible person behind him. He chuckled and grinned at her.
"Well Olivia... I'm not quite sure if I'll have an answer for you. What seems to be your question?" She looked like she was about to jump out of her seat she was that excited.
"Well... At the party the other night, Claudia and I noticed that you and Josie had quite the exchange." He got an ‘oh shit’ look on his face and I had to put my hand over my mouth to keep from grinning. "What was it that you said to her that made her slap you AND throw a drink in your face? I thought those kinds of things only happened to me." His face turned blood red and he started squirming in his seat. Cash and Caleb rose up in their seats at the mention of the slap and Cash seemed pissed.
"She slapped you? Did you make an inappropriate move on her or something?" Mattie sat his wine glass down and rose up in his seat.
"Really Cash? You're thinking that I an inappropriate move? Haha. Oh that's funny!" He looked between the two brothers and shook his head. "I'll tell you two this. Get to know your cousin a little better and THEN come ask me that question again." He grabbed his glass and downed it and stood up. "I'm going to retire to my room. It's been a long couple of days so if you all will excuse me I bid you all a goodnight." He didn't wait for anyone to reply as he proceeded to walk out of the room without ever looking back. We were all sitting there even more confused than we were when Olivia asked the question. Well, they were because I knew a little of what was going on but I wasn’t about to mention that since I was sworn to secrecy.
"Oooookay. Did anyone else think that he just pretty much called our cousin a slut?" I elbowed him in the rib which made him jerk and then he grabbed his good arm and I felt bad for about a second.
"Caleb! I honestly wasn't thinking that! Cash, is that what you thought?" He nodded his head and Olivia elbowed him which had both of us laughing.
"I swear. What is it about of you men thinking all women are sluts?" I rolled my eyes at both of them.
"Well she's always had a boyfriend and she always went for the bad boys that had a lot of money and I heard one of them was a pimp.”
"He's right. Maybe she offered to have sex with Mattie for money?" He seemed so serious with his accusation and I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she was a prostitute but I couldn’t see it. There had to be a
reason for everything she’s done.
"Oh whatever Caleb, I don't see that happening." I yawned and leaned back against him. "I don't know about you three but all I want to do is sleep for a couple of days. I'm so tired."
"Well let's go to bed sweetheart. You are sleeping for three after all." Ugh! Enough with the twin’s comments. I looked over at Olivia and grinned.
"I haven't told you this but evidently Derek bombarded Caleb's dream one night and told him I was having twins. Doesn't that sound like it could be a prank to you?" She had a twinkle in her eye and looked at Caleb.
"Well of course it was a prank. Surely you don't still believe that Caleb after both you AND Cash made us both get a full check up at the emergency room? I didn't see two babies on the ultrasound and thank God there was only one on mine as well." Cash let it be known that he was just as happy about Olivia only carrying one child by letting out a big sigh.
The brothers wouldn't leave us alone about getting checked out in the emergency room after everything happened. They were so worried at how stressed out we were and especially for me after dealing with Jason's death right before my eyes. Olivia and I were both relieved that we were only carrying one baby. Of course Olivia is hoping that since we are only 3 weeks apart according to our due dates that we will have them on the same day. It would be pretty cool though if I'm honest but I've been pretending that it wouldn't be.
"Okay, okay. I guess it was a prank but brother? If I were you I'd take the elevator instead of the stairs from now on and try not to walk too close to pictures on the walls because I could tell that he's still jealous of you." Cash's eyes lit up and I sat up in my seat.
"What? Did something already happen?" I know this ghost thing was new to me but after witnessing it firsthand you never know.
"Well. The big portrait behind my desk.... Well. It seemed like somehow it was thrown off the wall and it almost hit me in the head the other day." I saw a little twinkle in his eye and then he laughed so hard he couldn't stop until he saw Olivia's shocked reaction. "I'm kidding of course. Ouch! Liv! That hurt!" She punched him really hard in the arm and he was still rubbing it.
"That wasn't funny! Not at all! I was beginning to think that we needed to have a séance or something." She looked at me with a paranoid look on her face. "What do you do when you have ghosts trying to scare you?" I laughed my head off at the hilarity of it all and stood up out of my seat and yawned.
"I don't know O. Call a priest maybe? I'm pretty sure we don't have anything to worry about guys, haha." I looked down at Caleb and arched my brows at him. "I'm so tired I don't know if I can walk up the stairs. Care to walk me to the elevator?" He looked up at me mischievously.
"But I was ready to get out some candles so that we could start a séance." Cash busted out laughing again followed by Olivia but I didn't think it was funny one bit.
"Whatever Nerd Boy. I'm going to my room. You three have fun with that and I hope you all have nightmares tonight." I walked away and he caught up with me before I reached the elevator.
"Sorry. I wasn't meaning anything by what I said. I was just trying to be funny. Want me to rub your back when we get in bed?" I started to tell him no because I was THAT tired but I nodded my head and leaned into him for support. "Ah baby. You really are tired aren't you?"
"Yeah, aside from the pregnancy I'm emotionally and so physically wore out I can barely stand- Caleb!! What are you doing?" He had picked me up and that's the last thing I wanted him to do especially with his stitches and the sling that he was wearing. He shut me up with his lips and pulled away breathlessly.
"Nothing will ever keep me from carrying you when you need to be carried. NOTHING!" I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my head against his good shoulder and said a silent prayer of thanks that I still had him in my life. When we got to our room he laid me gently on the bed and started undressing me. I was beginning to think that he was planning on going back on his offer of a back rub by the heated look in his eyes until he brought me my tank top and silk shorts that I usually sleep in.
"I love you! So much that it hurts some times. If I would have lost-" He silenced me with his fingers.
"But you didn't Cru." He let out a big sigh and continued dressing me. "We have gone through too much to get to where we are right now. Yes what happened was terrible and it was devastating but we made it through it alive Cru." I remembered Jason and started shaking my head crying. "I know Jason didn't make it and it's sad and God awful what happened to him but he's the reason Grayson and I am alive. Don't tarnish his greatest shining moment by mourning him too long and missing out on what you should be thankful for having."
"I just... I feel that maybe I had misjudged him and maybe he had truly changed and maybe if I was honest with him about-"
"About what? Do you not remember the way that he talked to me on the phone when we were at Mattie's? He acted like I meant nothing and that all he had to do was twist his little finger at you and he could have you anytime he felt like it." He was right and that was only a few weeks ago. I now realize that the only reason that Jason was driving around my office was because he was probably going to try to pry his way into my life again because he knew of Grayson's existence.
"I don't want you to make me think badly of him. Not after what he did but you're right. You're right. It doesn't make me feel any better though. All that I keep thinking about is his wife, widow I guess, and how is she going to be able to support her kids. I don't even know if he had a life insurance policy. She's lost everything and I keep thanking God that it wasn't me." He pulled me into his arms and I cried for all of them. Oh I hate crying and I know it's mainly because of the extra hormones running through my body but I just can't seem to get it all out of my head.
"Will it make you feel better if you knew that Cash and I have already established a trust fund in Jason's honor? It'll be more than enough for his wife to continue paying her bills and we have already paid off her house and we also started college funds for all of the children."
"Are you serious? You both really did that?" I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders realizing that his widow didn't have to worry about how to support her children.
"Yes Cru. Cash already took care of everything this morning and I hope that it helped them to have a better Christmas in knowing that they would be alright." I started kissing him all over and stopped when I reached his hurt arm.
"Thank you. I was trying to figure out a way to do that myself but I don't have that much cash lying around in such short notice. I was going to sell the house and donate whatever I received from the sell to them." He nuzzled my neck and kissed me behind my ear.
"We had to do something baby to pay the debt that he paid to save us. Now are you going to let me give you that back rub or not?" I hadn't forgotten about it but wasn't so sure how he was going to manage it.
"How are you going to be able to do that with only one hand?" He chuckled under his breath.
"You let me worry about that. Here... Crawl up and lay down on your belly while I grab some lotion. I want you relaxed and if you fall asleep that's fine because it means I did my job." I did as I was told and shook my head to lie down and stretched out on the bed.
"I really don't deserve you ya know that?" I closed my eyes waiting for him to work his magic hoping that he started at my shoulders that have been so tense.
Oh no! I remembered something that I hadn't shown him yet and started to panic because I wanted to show him last night for Christmas Eve but had forgotten after everything that happened. I felt him sit down next to me in the bed and he raised my hair out of the way and I heard him sigh.
"Um Cru? When exactly did you go get a tattoo? I mean. That is a tattoo right? I thought you said you were afraid of needles?" I started to turn around but he pushed my head down and started reading it.
‘Found myself by his love for me... NB' …. Other than you, I believe that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. It's beautiful an
d definitely not as corny as the one I put on my chest. Hmmm." I hesitated and turned around and looked at him after he let go of my back.
"You really like it? I mean REALLY like it?" He grinned at me and nodded his head.
"Yeah, now I see how come you haven't been wearing your sexy pony tails lately like you normally do when we are just lazing around the house." I shook my head at him and laughed because he does think it's sexy when I wear one.
"Yeah... I was going to have the guy put 'with his love for me' and have him write out 'nerd boy' but I was about to pass out so I had him shorten it. Did you know that it really hurts to have a tattoo drawn on the nape of your neck? Oh my God it hurt!" He chuckled and put the lotion down and reached over and turned the lights off and crawled into bed. I turned towards him and rolled over into his arms.
"Forget the back rub. All I want to do tonight is hold the woman of my dreams and never let you go. God I love you, you crazy woman. Other than the life growing inside your belly and Grayson you couldn't have given me a better gift." I rose up and kissed him tenderly and whispered.
"I was going to show it to you last night but I honestly forgot about it after what all went down. I got it before I found out I was pregnant and I about broke Olivia's hand because it hurt so bad. Derek was the one that gave me the idea when he told me that I had finally found myself because of your love for me." He pondered what I said and then grinned really big.
"I guess this only means one thing then." He reached down and kissed me with so much heat that woke me up and definitely made me want to do more than fall asleep. When he pulled away he pulled me on top of him. "When are you going to become my bride since you've obviously branded yourself with my name?" I realized that he came to bed naked so I hurried up and tugged my shorts off.
Found by Love Page 38