“Hopefully you’ll never have to do it by yourself again,” I said softly, letting all my insecurities take a back seat. It made me indescribably happy that Devon called me when he had a problem and wanted me to help him fix it. It had been a long time since I’d felt like someone’s partner, or like someone needed me.
“Not if I have anything to do about it,” he replied. “I love you, baby. I’ll meet you at the baggage claim at the airport.”
“Okay, I love you too.”
When I saw Devon round the corner by the baggage claim, my face lit up. Then, from behind him, Jaxy came running toward me, arms outstretched and smile wide.
“Grace!” he exclaimed as he lunged for me. “I got to sit in the cockpit!” His arms wrapped around my waist and his face burrowed into my belly. I leaned down and squeezed him hard, thankful to be able to hug him again. He leaned back, but just his head, and looked up at me. “They said maybe next time I could help fly the plane!”
I laughed, but chose to go along with it. “Sounds amazing!”
“He kept asking them a million questions about flying so I think they just told him that to make him stop,” Ruby said, trying to sound annoyed, but I could tell otherwise when she reached out and ruffled his hair.
Ruby stepped up next to me and wrapped one arm around my back, giving me a side hug. I wrapped my one arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, pressing my cheek against the top of her head.
“Hey,” I said to her softly. “How’d it go?” I asked the question quietly, not wanting to embarrass her in front of the boys by talking about her period. “Any issues?”
She looked up at me and smiled. “Nope. It was gone by the time we went to Disney.” A smile broke out across her face and then she leaned into me again.
My eyes met Devon’s as I had both his children wrapped in my arms and he mouthed, “I love you.”
All I could do in response was pull his children closer and mouth back, “Thank you.”
With their bags loaded into my car and the kids buckled into my backseat, Devon kissed me soundly on the lips and said he’d be home as soon as he could.
The drive home was filled with story after story of their time in California, all the fun things they’d done with Evie and Nate, and how they couldn’t wait to visit again next summer. I sat quietly and listened, loving the way they were sharing everything with me, uncensored, without thinking. They trusted me and wanted to share things with me, and that made me unreasonably happy. Happier than I’d been in a very long time.
Along the way, I happened to notice a small white car make a really quick lane change behind me, squeezing in where there was hardly any room. The white car’s driving made me nervous, so I sped up to put some distance between us. For the rest of the way to Devon’s house I noticed the white car made all the same turns I did. By the time we were on the outskirts of their neighborhood, I was starting to worry.
When I pulled into Devon’s driveway, I watched as the white car drove past. I let out a breath of relief when it turned at the end of the block, but my pulse was still racing.
Jaxy and Ruby climbed out of the car, arguing about who got control over the television remote first, as I went to the trunk to unload their bags.
“Ruby, will you please go unlock the door and leave it open so we can get everything inside?” I said, handing my keys to her.
“Sure,” she said with a smile.
I opened the trunk and grabbed Jaxy’s tiny suitcase that had Ninja Turtles on it and handed it to him.
“Here, Jaxy, take this inside. And if you could, before you fight over the TV with your sister, take all your dirty clothes to the laundry room so I can start a load.”
“Okay,” he said, happily taking his Ninja Turtle suitcase from me.
Just then I saw the same white car coming back toward the house. Panicking, all I could think of was getting the kids inside.
“Jaxy,” I said, trying to keep the sudden terror from my voice but doing a horrible job. “Go inside and lock the door. Do not let your sister come out. Call your father and tell him to come home immediately.”
“What?” His eyes were round with worry and confusion.
“Jaxy, baby, you have to do as I say.” I looked over and saw the white car coming closer still. “Go inside. Now!” He ran from me, terrified, and my heart hurt for scaring him, but I had to keep him safe. The white car pulled to a stop across the street and I watched as the door opened and a man got out. Distantly, I heard the door lock behind me and Ruby yelling at Jaxy, trying to figure out what was going on, and the only thing I could think was that I was the last thing standing between whoever it was in the white car and those kids.
As the man stepped closer, I finally recognized him and my heart stopped cold.
“I only want to talk,” he said, now in the middle of the street, walking straight toward me.
“I have a restraining order against you. You’re not supposed to be within fifty feet of me. You need to leave.”
“Not until you listen to me.” His hand was in the pocket of his hoodie and the thought of what he could have in it made a huge lump form in my throat. My eyes were glued to his arm where his hand disappeared into the black fabric, but he kept talking. “Listen, this is all just one big misunderstanding. I’m not a criminal. I don’t deserve to go to jail.”
“You should have thought about that before you assaulted me behind the bar.”
“I don’t even remember that!” he screamed at me, moving even closer, his body jolting and jumping erratically. I heard more yelling from inside the house and all I could hope was that the kids would stay inside. “I was drunk! I’m not some scumbag who’d rape someone behind a bar.” One of his hands came up to run through his hair, but halfway through his fingers gripped it and he tugged. “There’s just so much pressure,” he said, coming closer still. I took a step back but he just continued forward. “I’m supposed to graduate this year, get a job, be the successful businessman my father is, but I can’t do what my father does. I can’t be my father. I hate him.”
My eyes kept glancing at his hoodie, hoping and praying he kept his hand in there, for fear of what he was holding.
“If I get charged with assault, my father will disown me,” he said as if it were explanation enough. As though at his words I should just shrug and say, “Oh, well why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
But I didn’t say anything. I just took another step back, silently cursing when the back of my legs hit the bumper of my car. I was effectively trapped.
He came closer and my breathing quickened. I had nowhere to go and I had no idea what was in his pocket. I feared the worst, scenarios running through my mind. Would he shoot me? Stab me? Would Devon get here in time? Would the kids find me dead? All thoughts caused a whirlwind in my brain. My lungs worked overtime. Suddenly, there were spots, and my vision was spinning.
The last thing I saw was the man coming closer and standing over me, pulling his hand from his pocket.
Then everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Devon
“Daddy? Please come home. Fast. There’s a man outside. He was in a white car, and he’s talking to Grace and she looks scared.” My blood chilled in my veins at the sound of Ruby’s voice, scared and worried, and my heart thumped wildly in my chest. I didn’t think. I just moved.
“Call 911. Now, Ruby. Stay in the house. Do not go outside. Do you hear me?”
“Daddy, I’m scared,” she whispered. I jumped in my SUV and drove recklessly from the parking lot.
“Ruby, listen to me. Call 911 and give them our address. Stay inside. I’m on my way. Everything will be all right.” I said the words even though I had no idea if I’d end up being right, but nothing would ever wipe away the memory of Ruby’s voice crying over the phone, telling me she was scared, and I’d do or say anything in that moment to make her feel safe. Ruby had been through a lot. Hell, both my kids had, but fear was no
t something they’d had to deal with a lot. So to hear her scared, and be miles away, was not something I’d get over easily.
The five minutes it took me to drive to my house were the scariest five minutes of my life. I had no idea if Grace was okay or if my kids were okay, but I was driving like a madman to get to them.
When I pulled up to the house, I didn’t see a white car. It could have been there, but I wasn’t looking for it. My gaze was locked on Grace, lying on the ground with a pool of blood around her head.
I threw the car in Park, not bothering to turn it off, and ran to her. As soon as I was on the ground next to her and saw her chest move up and down with a breath, I let out my own breath of relief.
“Daddy!” I heard Ruby cry from the front door.
“Are you and your brother all right?” I asked, and she nodded, tears streaming down her face. “It’s okay, sweetie. Everything’s fine. Did you call 911?”
“Yeah,” she cried. It was then I heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance.
“Stay in the house. Everything’s going to be all right.”
The ambulance and police cars showed up, sirens blaring, but the noise did nothing to rouse Grace. I sat with her until the paramedics pushed me away, but the whole time I was right there, telling her I loved her and that she wasn’t alone.
When they loaded her into the ambulance, I wanted so badly to go with them, but knew I had to stay with the kids. I watched the ambulance pull away and then ran to the house to comfort my children, who were standing at the door, watching the scene unfold with tears in their eyes.
I managed to calm them down, but explained that we had to go to the hospital to be with Grace. Neither one of them argued and they practically ran to the car, ready to go and make sure she was all right.
We sat in the waiting room—waiting being the operative word. We’d been waiting for almost two hours with no updates. My mom came to the hospital even though she still wasn’t feeling well, but my dad was in no condition. He kept calling, asking for updates, and I heard my mother whispering to him about how terrible I looked, how worried I was, and how upset the children were. My mother offered to take them back to my house to wait, but both Ruby and Jax refused—they wanted to see Grace.
Detectives hovered around us, trying to blend in with the noise and commotion of the emergency room, but looked out of place. They’d questioned the kids and myself, but none of us really had much to say. I explained what had happened at the bar, that perhaps the same man had been the one in the white car, but the weight of uselessness was heavy. I had nothing to offer them. Only Grace would be able to tell them exactly what had happened.
Every time the doors that led back to the emergency room opened, my eyes darted there and hope rushed through me, but no one had come for me yet. I’d asked the nurse working at the admin desk for information a hundred times, but she wouldn’t tell me anything because Grace and I weren’t family.
I wanted to scream at her that Grace was a part of me; that just because we didn’t have the same last name yet didn’t mean she wasn’t everything to me, but I managed to keep my cool and take a seat. It didn’t stop me from asking every ten minutes though.
Finally, the doors opened and a nurse I hadn’t seen yet called out, “Devon Roberts?”
I stood immediately and walked toward her. “I’m Devon Roberts,” I said urgently. “Is she okay?”
“Come with me” was all she said, and she turned around, heading back into the emergency room.
I grunted in frustration, but followed. We turned down a few different hallways and at each door we passed my eyes looked in, searching for Grace. Eventually, the nurse stopped at an open door and motioned for me to go in first.
When I walked in, all I saw was Grace lying in a hospital bed, an IV hooked up to her arm and a monitor beeping next to her bed. She had dark circles under her eyes, but she was breathing and her heart was beating. That was all I could ask for. Walking to the side of her bed, I picked up the hand that wasn’t hooked up to anything and kissed her palm. At the touch of my lips, her eyelids began to flutter and slowly open.
“Grace?” I asked gently.
“She’ll probably still be a little groggy, but she’s okay,” the nurse said, typing something into the computer next to Grace’s bed.
“Grace, baby?” I said again, smoothing her hair out of her face. Her eyes opened again and I’d never seen a blue I liked more than the color of them right then.
“Hey,” she whispered after she’d blinked a few times.
“Hey,” I said back to her, kissing her hand again. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay.” Her voice was quiet and I got the impression it was because she was weak and not because she was trying to keep the volume down. I leaned forward and kissed her forehead.
“You scared me,” I whispered against her skin.
“I’m sorry. I was scared too.”
“What happened?” I watched as her eyes closed and she took a breath, then she swallowed, and looked up at me.
“I thought a car was following us home. I watched it make all the same turns as me, but when I pulled in the driveway, it kept going. But after we all got out, it came back,” she said, her voice shaking. “I told the kids to lock themselves in the house. Are they okay?” Her voice filled with panic and she winced as she tried to sit up, practically climbing out of the bed with worry.
“They’re fine, I promise. They’re worried about you, but they aren’t hurt.”
“I was so scared.” She cried in earnest and nothing was going to stop me from crawling up beside her and holding her as she did. “I was so afraid something would happen to Ruby and Jax, and I don’t know what I’d do.”
I tried my best to soothe her, but I knew exactly why she was upset and knew how petrifying it could be to think about bad things happening to children, especially children you loved liked Grace loved my kids.
“They’re fine,” I said.
“But something could have happened. I don’t remember anything. They were in the house, that man was standing there begging me not to press charges, and then I was waking up in the emergency room. He didn’t go near the kids at all?” she asked, her eyes darting up to mine, looking for some reassurance.
“No, Grace, no one touched them. I promise.” She let out a sigh of relief.
“Hi, Ms. Richards, I’m Dr. Miller. I was the attending on duty when you came into the emergency room this afternoon. How are you feeling?”
“My head still hurts a little, and I’m really tired.”
He nodded, then his eyes darted over to me.
“Before we talk any further about your injuries, I want to make sure you’re comfortable with your visitor being in the room. There are privacy laws that protect you—”
“Oh, it’s fine to talk in front of Devon.”
I gave her hand a squeeze again.
“What do you remember from your accident?” the doctor asked.
“Not a lot. I remember standing in the driveway and I was really scared, and then all of a sudden I got really tired, or woozy, I guess. And then I saw dark spots, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the emergency room.”
“Hmmm. Well, the police are going to want to talk to you about what happened, but as far as we can tell, it appears you passed out and hit your head against the concrete upon impact. We didn’t have any real information when you were brought in, so we ran some tests to try and determine what was wrong. It’s a good thing we did because otherwise we would have taken you to get some X-rays, which wouldn’t be good for the baby.”
“The what?” Grace asked, her voice shaky and weak.
“The baby. You’re pregnant. Based on the hCG levels, you’re probably only about two weeks along. Congratulations.”
I looked down at Grace and her eyes flashed up to mine, wide with surprise and disbelief.
“But, I can’t…. I’ve never….” Her words were falling from her mouth quickly, but
I could tell she wasn’t able to process a full sentence.
“She’s been told before she can’t get pregnant naturally.”
“Listen, I’m no obstetrician, but I can tell when a woman is pregnant, and you definitely are.”
“This can’t be happening,” she murmured. “I don’t feel pregnant. I haven’t been sick or anything.”
“Like I said, it’s very early. It probably wouldn’t even show up on an over-the-counter test. But blood tests don’t lie. It’s too early for morning sickness. Give it about three weeks and you’ll be sick as a dog.” The doctor gave her a smile, but she just looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “However, this would explain the fainting. Some women experience fainting spells as a symptom of pregnancy. If it continues, you need to bring it up with your obstetrician. But seeing as how you were in a particularly stressful situation, the pregnancy could explain the fainting. Nothing else showed up on any of our tests to cause any concern.”
“No, there’s some mistake,” Grace stammered, blinking rapidly and looking confused. “Maybe you have someone else’s tests results mixed up with mine. Run the test again. I’m telling you I can’t get pregnant. My ovaries don’t even work. Please,” she begged, her voice wavering, “just run the test again.”
The doctor’s eyes caught mine.
“Could you please run the test again?”
He shrugged and walked to the computer, typing away, telling the nurse to run the test again.
Grace curled toward me, pulled my hand to her chest, and began to cry quietly. I ran my free hand over her hair, avoiding the area on the back of her head that was stitched up, trying to offer any kind of comfort I could.
All the while my mind was running a million miles an hour.
A baby?
Grace was pregnant?
And why was Grace not thrilled to hear she was pregnant? She seemed so upset. Obviously, it was a shock. Was she in shock? Suddenly, I was feeling weak. I looked behind me and saw a chair so I pulled it to the side of the bed, never letting go of Grace’s hand, and took a seat.
The Presence of Grace (Love and Loss #2) Page 20