Interception (Distraction #3)

by Angela McPherson

  God, I wanted this to turn out so differently. It felt like sharp claws had shredded my throat. In the end, I could only reiterate what I'd told him in the room. "I love you."

  Tristan nodded, his red-rimmed eyes glossing over as the double doors closed, separating us.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Rixon's voice rose over the fog from the anesthesia. My too-heavy eyelids remained closed. "I should head out now." Feet shuffled closer. Then, "If you guys need anything, let me know."

  "Thank you for taking care of her when I wasn't around." Tristan's gravelly voice boomed beside me. Machines beeped crazily, probably due to the thundering inside my chest. Finally, the voices in the room quieted.

  Tristan brushed the hair from my face before pressing his lips against my forehead. "Hey," he said with as much heartache in his voice as I felt. "Baby, wake up. Please, Spud, open your eyes." Not many times had I seen Tristan cry, but hearing him now, the agony was ten times worse. The emptiness inside didn't compare to when Heather died.

  With effort, I lifted my eyelids, and as expected, found Tristan. I ran my fingers down the five-o'clock shadow on his cheek, the bristles scratching my sensitive flesh. Tristan, he was the only assurance needed to stay awake.

  "Hey," I said.

  "I'm sorry." Tristan closed his eyes, resting his head on my lap. His shoulders shook, and I ran my fingers through his hair.

  Together we mourned.

  Tristan

  For two days, Elle barely left the bedroom. Most of the time she stayed curled in a ball on our bed with the lights out. The third day, I couldn't take the silence anymore.

  When she refused breakfast, I opened the blinds in the bedroom. I had to see her. Needed her to see me.

  "Do you think I lost the baby because… because I wasn't sure I even wanted to be pregnant at first?"

  "What? No."

  A sob escaped, but Elle didn't shut me out. She wiped her cheeks, continuing as if she hadn't heard me. "Do you think God is punishing me for leaving Heather behind?"

  Goddammit! My chest burned like she'd stabbed it with a rusty blade. "Spud, look at me."

  She shook her head. Elle's demented truth would destroy her if she continued on this path. "I can't."

  "Baby, please. Look at me."

  "Do you hate me?" The green in her eyes shone in contrast to the redness surrounding them.

  My arms fell to my sides, and I stared, shocked. What the…? At first, I swore she didn't mean what she'd asked, but the helplessness I saw proved me wrong.

  "God no, never! Do you hear me? I could never hate you." I grasped her shoulders and bent until we were at eye level. "You'll be the best mother, and we'll get through this, together, I promise."

  Elle shifted out from my hold and got out of bed, creating distance between us that was more than physical. "I'm– This is my fault." She shut her eyes. "I'm sorry. So sorry." Since coming home from the hospital, she'd repeated those words, and every time they sliced me a little deeper. "The only thing I'm good at is losing people. Maybe God thinks I'd be a terrible mom? Is that why?"

  Thirteen steps separated the space between Elle and me. I'd counted, anything to keep from shaking the senseless, irrational thoughts from her mind. When I met her, toe to toe, I didn't touch her, even though every fiber in me screamed to. Instead, I bent to one knee. Elle gasped, covering her mouth with both hands.

  "Elle Marie Richards, I love you. I love–"

  "You can't," she said while tears streamed down her puffy cheeks. "I'm a mess. I'm broken. The doctor said our chances of having kids now are lower. Only a part of me works. What… what if I never get pregnant again? I can't do that to you, Tristan."

  "I want you broken, put-together, or shattered." I stood and cupped her face, peering into her green eyes. "I want you every day, in any way you are." I paused, swallowing around the sadness. "Not having you is worse. So much more goddamn worse, Elle."

  "I–" she stammered, her chest rising and falling quickly.

  Forget this. My hands shook when I brushed my thumb over her bottom lip.

  "I'm sorr–"

  I pressed my mouth to hers. Maybe Elle needed me as much as I did her because she melded herself into the kiss. Into me–right where she belonged.

  "I love you," I said as the taste of our tears mingled together. We stood, still catching our breaths. "Marry me, Elle."

  She froze. "I don't know."

  I opened my eyes, looking into hers. "Bull-fucking-shit, you don't know."

  A small smile lifted up the corner of her lips, even brightened the dullness in her eyes. "I love you."

  I reached into my front pocket and pulled out the ring I'd carried with me for months. "Always." With the other hand, I took her left and slid the simple band over her knuckle.

  This time, the smile stretched across her entire face. "I love it." She admired the ring as I admired her. "It's perfect."

  I ran a hand through my hair. "Yeah, I asked Mom for it last year."

  Elle cocked her head to the side.

  "It was my grandmother's. She told me to use it once."

  "Did you give it to…?" Her words trailed off.

  "No, I couldn't stand the thought of any other woman wearing my grandmother's ring. Only you, Spud." I kneeled again and took her hands in mine. "Make sure you get the answer right, this time." I winked when she smiled. "Elle Marie Richards, will you do the honor of–"

  "Yes!" For the first time since being home, I saw tears that didn't belong to sorrow. Elle knelt with me, wrapping her arms around my neck, and I buried my face in her hair and inhaled her floral scent before pulling away.

  "You're a pain in the ass." Elle rolled her eyes. "I don't know any other man who'd ask a woman to marry them twice."

  "Technically, it's three times."

  Her mouth close enough to taste. "Third time's a charm, right?"

  "Three times or three thousand. It didn't matter how many. I wouldn't give up until you said yes."

  Finally, her lips fell to mine.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  As I rounded the corner from the hallway, Elle's face turned pale, and she slunk out of the chair. I ran to pick her sluggish body off the ground and held her. "Elle," I called, cradling her limp frame.

  Relief filled me when her eyes fluttered open. "Hey." Elle blinked a few times, then tried to sit up, but her body refused to fucking work right. "Sorry, must be tired."

  "You need to rest. You're overworking yourself."

  That happened last week.

  This week, Elle carefully stayed busy and worked through the physical pain of recovering from surgery. Her mom called, as did Alyssa, but per Elle's request, we hadn't told anyone about losing the baby.

  Elle sipped coffee while sitting at the bar in the kitchen. She finally changed out of the old sweats and T-shirt.

  I swallowed the last sip in my mug before bringing up her mom. "So, your mom called this morning."

  "I'm not ready, Tristan."

  I respected her wishes and wanted to help her cope when she felt ready. Enough was enough.

  A total of fourteen days passed since we'd lost the baby. She ignored my concern and reorganized the kitchen, the closets, along with the goddamn shoes. She worked to not cry, to not feel. As much as I wanted her to heal, I wanted her to recover in a healthy way.

  Later in the evening, I made up my mind. "I'm heading out for ice cream. I'll be back."

  "Sounds great, thanks." Elle continued her cleaning ritual as I closed the front door behind me.

  I dialed the first number. Two rings later and, "This better be important, Shrimp. I'm in the middle of making– Shit, hold on." A slew of curse words flew into the earpiece. I grinned, waiting for Alyssa to return.

  "Scratch dinner; I'm ordering take-out." She huffed. "What's up?"

  "We lost the baby."

  Dead silence.

  Then, "I'll be right over."

  "Alyssa." I paused because as hard as I worked to keep from showing pain,
it was there.

  "You okay?"

  "Yeah, I'm good, just worried about Elle."

  "Please don't let this go to your head, but you're a good man, Tristan."

  Shit got too real. "Thanks, Amazon."

  "She's my sister; don't thank me."

  "Ok–" the line went dead. Figured.

  The next call had my fingers shaking badly.

  "Hello," Mrs. Richards said.

  I swallowed. "Hey, Mrs. Richards. It's Tristan."

  "Tristan, hi. Everything okay?"

  I clutched the hard plastic against my ear, slowing the car to a complete stop.

  "Actually, no. Elle needs you. Do you think you could drive up?"

  After I explained what had happened, Mrs. Richards agreed to come up. "Thank you for calling, and for loving my daughter enough to–" The short pause created a burn to rise within me. Before I could console or apologize, she said, "When the time is right, you will make a great father. I'll see you tomorrow."

  The conversation ended, only to start up with another. "Hey, Mom."

  By the time I'd finished hashing out every detail, once again, to Mom, my stomach rolled. I cranked the window down letting the breeze calm the sickness. The fresh air helped some.

  When I'd made it home, our ice cream was a melted puddle in the passenger seat. I parked and noticed Alyssa's car sat behind Elle's.

  "Stay with me, Spud." I sent a silent prayer Elle wouldn't fall apart. One sack of assorted, melted flavors in hand, I headed inside, ready to face whatever conflict awaited.

  I heard, "He loves you," Alyssa encouraged, leaning against the doorjamb of our bedroom. When the front door clicked, Alyssa turned her head in my direction. "Hey." She wiggled her fingers at me. A second later, she smiled at Elle. Silent and patient, I added the pints of ice cream to the freezer before checking on them.

  Alyssa surprised me when I turned. "I'm gonna head home. I'll check on her tomorrow when Mrs. Richards is here."

  "Um, okay." I shoved my hands in my front jeans pockets. "Thanks for comin'."

  She waved a hand at me. "Like I said, Elle's family." Alyssa's expression turned serious. "You are, too, ya know." Alyssa must have read my lost look and granted mercy. "You've proven not to be a complete ass." Alyssa leaned forward. "Most of the time." She flipped her hair past her shoulder. "Besides, not everyone can be as perfect as me."

  "That so, huh?" I chuckled.

  "Yup. Okay, I'm gonna get, but call if something happens." Alyssa left, and I made my way down the hall to Elle.

  "Hey." I sat at the edge of the bed.

  "Hey." Elle lifted up to rest her head on her hand. "You forget the ice cream?" She sighed, her cheeks blotchy and nose red and swollen.

  "No. I got different flavors." The need to touch her was overwhelming, and I skimmed the tips of my fingers down the side of her face. "How you doing?"

  "Good." Elle coughed, then grimaced.

  "You take anything?"

  "Yeah, I did." She patted the space next to her on the bed.

  I stretched out next to her, face to face, and rested my head on my hand, too.

  "Thank you for calling Alyssa and Mom. You could've let me handle that conversation, though."

  "I didn't want you spooked, and if calling in reinforcements meant you'd heal, I'd call the entire family tree." I watched her carefully.

  "I lost the baby. Our baby. You're the only person I want comforting me." She shifted closer until our bodies touched. "I'm sad."

  "I'm worried."

  Tears brimmed the bottom of her lids. "I'll be okay." She reached behind her, blindly patting the comforter until she found a wad of used tissues, then wiped her nose.

  "Spud, you're overworking yourself." I sighed. "You weren't dealing, you were avoiding, which made it hard to sit back and do nothing. Especially when I'm right here and couldn't do anything to help."

  "I know." She knotted her pinky around mine.

  "You hungry?"

  Elle shook her head.

  "How about we watch TV in here for the night?"

  "Yeah, I'd like that." Before falling asleep, Elle said, "I love you." Nothing she'd not admitted before, but tonight those words meant more.

  I hovered over her, thumbing a path across her cheek to smooth over her lips. "Always," I replied. Always.

  Elle

  Over the next week, there were moments when getting up in the morning was hard. Throughout those rough patches, Tristan's presence remained solid.

  Today, I carried bags of groceries in, and was sorting through everything when I heard Tristan's car pulling into the driveway. I hurried to wipe the moisture out from under my eyes. The day started out great until I turned down the wrong aisle at the store. The shelves hosted boxes of diapers and wipes and other baby stuff.

  The front door opened and closed, then Tristan's presence filled the space around me. Some of the heaviness pressing on my heart eased from having him near.

  "Bad day?" he asked without me speaking a word.

  "Not bad," I lied, and he twisted me around, lifted my chin, and cupped my face.

  "Liar," he said, then buried the sadness with a kiss that left me breathless.

  I shook my head, recovering from his touch. "The girls are coming to dinner. Our moms are driving up, too."

  "How long should I stay gone?" He leaned against the counter.

  I tapped a finger against my lips. "Let's see. Dinner, wine, our mothers, Alyssa and Tisha…"

  "So I'll stay at Bret's for the night." He grinned, putting away the rest of the food.

  A few hours later, I hollered from the bedroom, "Tristan, did you order the pizza yet?" I followed the sound of the baseball game, finding Tristan asleep on the couch. Beside him, I bent down and swept hair from his forehead.

  Tristan smiled, peeking up at me. "Hey, beautiful."

  "You're not so bad either." The doorbell rang.

  "Must be the pizza."

  "Hurry up and open the damn door," Alyssa hollered through the wood.

  I rolled my eyes. "Guess it's not our food."

  Tristan straightened his spine, turning the TV up when Alyssa and Tisha rushed in.

  "I brought three bottles." Alyssa waggled her brows.

  "She's convinced we're here to get smashed," Tisha said, laughing.

  The doorbell rang again.

  "I've got it," Tristan said.

  "About time you do something, Shrimp."

  Tristan ignored Alyssa and opened the door.

  "Not the pizza." Tristan opened the door wider, and Rixon stepped inside.

  Tisha gasped.

  Rixon noticed.

  Shit.

  "What brings you by?" Tristan glanced at me before directing his attention back to Rixon.

  "Oh, just came to check on you two." Rixon nodded to me.

  "That's, ah, nice."

  The doorbell rang again. "I got it," Tristan answered, and this time it was the pizza guy.

  Rixon shuffled over, while Tisha and Alyssa headed to the kitchen. He said to me as he smiled at Tisha, "So who's the–?"

  "Don't even think about it."

  Rixon glared. "And why not?"

  "Because, she's my friend."

  He frowned, and I laughed.

  About then, Tisha handed me a glass of wine. "Thanks," I said, watching her.

  "No problem."

  "Well, hello, beautiful. I don't think we've met." Rixon grasped her hand, then pressed a kiss against her knuckles.

  Puke.

  "I'm–"

  "Off limits," Tristan said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

  Rixon released her, and redness filled Tisha's cheeks as she nodded to Tristan. "Sorry, he's friends with my brother, and apparently just as overprotective." Tisha shrugged, then maneuvered around us to meet Alyssa in the kitchen.

  "I've changed," Rixon said to Tristan after Tisha left, his expression serious.

  Tristan and I laughed. "It's your funeral, man." Tristan kissed the top
of my head. "I'm gonna head out."

  "Okay." I moved the hair falling near his eyes. "I'll call you when they head home."

  Tristan shook his head. "See you in the morning."

  "Slumber party?" Rixon shoved his hands in his front pockets. A smirk plastered across his lips.

  Tristan slapped a hand on Rixon's shoulder. "Okay, time for you to go."

  Rixon winced.

  "Appreciate you coming to check on us, though."

  "Yeah, I get the hint." He shrugged Tristan's grip off. "Elle, I'll see you next week."

  "Sounds good, and thanks for making sure I was doing okay."

  "See? I've changed."

  "Bye, Rixon," Tristan and I both said. Tristan glanced back, smiling at me before he closed the door.

  Alyssa leaned her hip against the doorway, eating a slice of pepperoni pizza while holding a glass of red wine in the other hand. "Rixon's gonna get his ass kicked."

  "Hey, I thought he was cute," Tisha added, coming up from behind Alyssa."

  "Your brother would kill him."

  Tisha rolled her eyes, hiding her smile by sipping her wine. "It doesn't matter who I date; he threatens to kill them all."

  "Just be careful. I mean, I like Rixon, but he has a reputation with the ladies." The doorbell rang again. "Coming," I hollered.

  "I'm not sure who's worse, you guys or my brother."

  "It's a pretty even score," Alyssa offered.

  Mom and Mrs. Daniels were giggling when I opened the door. "Looks like the party's already started," Mrs. Daniels said, tossing her purse on the floor next to the couch.

  "Pizza and wine are in the kitchen, help yourself," I said.

  When Mom and I were left in the living room by ourselves, she hugged me to her. "How are you doing?"

  "I'm hanging in there."

  Mom grasped my shoulders. "You know I'm always here."

  "I know, Mom."

  "Mrs. Richards, get in here and drink up," Alyssa hollered from the kitchen.

  "We're coming," I said.