by Melody Anne
He felt her pulse, breathing a sigh of relief that it was beating strong. She started to stir as he rubbed his hands along her arms and legs, checking for any other wounds.
“Ouch,” she cried when his fingers brushed over her upper arm. He moved her shirt out of the way, then swore when he saw the angry red flesh. He wanted to go over and pound on Jack a few more times. The idiot deserved it.
Instead, he cradled Kinsey’s head on his lap while he placed a quick call to the house and told his cousin to bring a blanket.
“Kinsey, are you okay? Can you talk?”
“My head hurts,” she mumbled as her eyes opened a slit.
“I’m sorry, Kinsey. I’m so sorry. What did he do to you?”
“He was really mad at your family. He thought maybe I was a part of it. I don’t know. He was very drunk,” she murmured.
“It’s okay, Kinsey. We’ll talk later. Just close your eyes and rest. The ambulance is on the way,” he reassured her.
For the first time ever, she did as he asked and closed her eyes. If he wasn’t so panicked, he may have even smiled.
“What in the hell is going on?” Lucas asked as he came skidding to a stop in front of them. He quickly placed the blanket around Kinsey before looking over at Jack.
“An ex - employee, who wasn’t happy about being fired, I don’t know much right now. Kinsey said he was drunk and looking for a fight. I think she just happened to be in his way,” Austin explained.
“You knock him out?”
“Damn right,” Austin said, feeling the rage boil up again. He didn’t think he’d ever get the image of her falling to the ground out of his head. Her terrified scream would surely haunt him for years to come.
“Good. You carry her up to the house. I’ll stay with this piece of crap.”
“Thanks, Lucas.” Austin stood, easily lifting Kinsey into his arms. He walked up the hill to the gravel service road, then followed it toward the house. He could hear the sirens in the distance, so he picked up his pace.
He reached the back door at the same time they pulled into the driveway. He quickly went through the house and met them out front. The paramedics took over, getting her on the gurney and taking her vitals. He stood back watching, overwhelmed with helplessness.
“Are you allergic to anything, ma’am.”
“No,” she mumbled. “My head hurts. My arm does, too, but my head feels like it’s going to burst, the pain is so bad.”
“We can give you a shot in just a moment. I need to ask a couple more questions first,” he reassured her.
When the police arrived, Austin reluctantly left Kinsey in the care of the paramedics and approached the deputy to explain where Jack was knocked out. After giving a brief statement, he went back to Kinsey to find her sleeping on the gurney as they loaded her in the ambulance.
“You can either ride with us or follow, but she won’t know the difference. She’ll be out for a few hours,” the man said. Austin didn’t want to be separated from her, but knew he’d need his car.
“I’ll follow, thanks,” he replied, then watched as they shut the door.
Austin didn’t waste any time in jumping in his car and catching up to the emergency vehicle. He didn’t want her out of his sight, not until he was assured she was okay. Especially, since it was his fault she was in that condition.
He’d never had an employee attack before. Yes, there were threats on his life, on all their lives, but never before had a disgruntled employee actually carried out one of those threats. He’d learned a valuable lesson that night, and it wasn’t fair that Kinsey had to pay the price.
Anger still coursed through his veins. He tried to calm himself down as he followed behind the flashing lights, their red and blue pattern somehow soothing, at least giving him something else to focus on.
Austin sat in the waiting room for hours. Not what seemed like hours, but literally hours. He was getting ready to haul a doctor against a wall if he didn’t hear anything soon. He wasn’t a patient man on a normal day, and his day so far had been anything but normal.
“Mr. Anderson?”
“Yes. That’s me,” he said as he faced the approaching doctor.
“Sorry about the wait. I understand you’re the one who came in with Ms. Shelton?”
“Yes.”
“Are you family?”
“Well, it’s complicated,” he hedged.
The doctor looked at him for a few moments as if trying to decide on what he should or shouldn’t say. Being that Austin was the one who’d come in with her, the doctor conceded, “She has deep bruising on her arm. It’s going to be sore for a while. From my understanding, her attacker hit her in the face. She has a slight crack in her cheekbone, but it will heal. Until then, she’s going to have swelling and it’s bruised pretty deep. She’s going to be sore for a few days. At this time we don’t see any brain damage or anything else wrong.”
Austin wanted to punch something, as rage boiled. He knew that piece of crap was somewhere in the hospital and he wanted nothing more than to hunt him down and do some major damage.
“Ms. Shelton has agreed to press charges, which is good. We have the cops with her attacker now. He’ll go from here to jail. I’m not supposed to say this, but you broke his jaw,” the doctor said. He didn’t look heartbroken over it.
“Thank you,” Austin told him, feeling a bit better that Jack wasn’t getting off pain free.
“She’s being moved to a room for the night. We’d like to keep an eye on her in case there was something we initially missed.”
With that, the doctor left and Austin walked to the front desk, receiving directions to her room. He walked the long hallway, then hesitated outside her door. He didn’t know what kind of reaction he was going to get from her. He knew he couldn’t go in there showing the anger he was feeling. Of course, it wasn’t projected at her, but she still didn’t need to see it.
He stepped inside to find her sitting up in bed. Her head turned when he came through the doorway, and their eyes locked together. Fury once again overwhelmed him at the bruising on her arm and the deep purple overtaking the left side of her face.
“Hey,” he lamely said.
“Thank you, Austin,” she whispered.
“I’m so sorry, Kinsey. I should’ve been there sooner.”
“I’m glad you got there when you did. I have a feeling I’d be a whole lot worse off, otherwise,” she said as a tremble racked her body. He wanted to take her pain away, to hold her.
He walked to her bed and sat down with her watching him warily.
“I can’t believe he touched you,” Austin growled.
“I’m fine, Austin. Really, I am. My face and arm are a bit sore, but I’m fine,” she promised.
“When I saw him hit you, I…”
“I know. I’m just glad you happened to be around,” she interrupted. He should be grateful she was admitting she was happy to see him, even if it had taken her getting attacked first.
His hand came up and gently caressed the uninjured side of her face. Her eyes grew wider as she took in a deep breath and watched him.
“Kinsey,” he practically begged her.
“I can’t…”
“I just… I need…”
Austin stopped trying to vocalize how he was feeling and he leaned in and gently took her lips with his. She didn’t try to stop him. He didn’t want to hurt her any further, but he needed to taste her lips, needed to reassure himself she was really okay, that she was there with him. If something worse would’ve happened, he didn’t know what he’d do. He couldn’t let himself even think about it.
He leaned closer, his hand moving to stroke the back of her neck, his touch on her lips careful as he slid his tongue along her bottom lip. It wasn’t about passion or fulfillment, it was about reassuring himself she was real, she was there, she was his.
He felt heat rush through him, a warmth that seemed to focus on his heart, and enlarge it ten times its normal size.
“Let me stay here with you, Kinsey. Let me hold you.”
She looked at him as the fog started to clear. Her eyes filled with tears - pain, need, confusion all mixed in her expression. He knew the answer before she uttered the word. He was tempted to kiss her again, to prevent her from saying it.
“No.”
“Why? Why do we have to make this complicated? It’s just one night,” he asked. He’d never before begged a woman for anything, but she was causing all kinds of firsts for him, it seemed.
“It’s just too… complicated. One night won’t fix or change anything.”
“We want each other, Kinsey. We care about each other. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that,” he said. He felt a glimmer of hope at the hesitation in her eyes.
“For you, it’s easy, Austin. You see what you want and you go for it, no questions asked. I’m not that way. I’m honestly not that girl from the wedding. I don’t know why I did what I did that night. I don’t know why I’ve continued to lose control with you since, but that’s not me. This is me, right here, right now. I’m not exciting and glamorous. I’m not a jump in the nearest closet kind of girl. As soon as the chase is over, you’ll lose interest. The girl you keep chasing, the fling you’re wanting isn’t real,” she said, her voice hoarse from what he was sure was unshed tears.
“You know what? I think you’re lying. I think you’re lying to yourself and to me. You say none of this has been real?” he questioned.
While looking into her eyes, he placed his hand over her stomach, causing her to gasp. Good. He wanted to shake her up, not much, just a little.
“This is as real as it gets. You might be carrying my child, Kinsey. The sex didn’t happen in a dream, or my imagination. The explosion between us, every time we’re within five miles of each other, isn’t fake. You can try and build your walls, that's fine, but don’t you dare insult me. Don’t you dare tell me it’s all been nothing but a dream.”
He knew he was on the edge of a cliff, barely holding on. He also knew he shouldn’t take out his anger on her, but he was mad, mad at just about everything right then.
He leaned back as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Okay.”
“What?” Austin looked up as she whispered the word.
“I’m tired, so tired of everything. I don’t want to fight any more tonight. I don’t want to think. I just want you to hold me,” she whispered, fear present in her eyes.
He didn’t say anything else, just took off his jacket and climbed in next to her. As he pulled her into his arms, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
He woke up in the early dawn hours and slipped from the room. They both needed to figure out what they wanted, but he wasn’t going to push her anymore. He’d made his intentions clear; now the ball was in her court.
◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊◊
When Kinsey woke in the morning, Austin was gone, leaving her heart aching, though she tried telling herself it was for the best. Still, she couldn’t stop the tears from falling at the sudden loneliness consuming her.
While she was trying to eat her breakfast a couple hours later, a knock sounded on her door, making her eagerly look up.
Instead of Austin, several people silently stepped inside the room with big grins on their faces, all carrying huge bouquets of flowers and balloons. By the time they were finished, her room looked like a florist shop.
One of the people handed her a card, then they left as quickly as they’d come. With shaking fingers, she opened the envelope and pulled out the note.
I’m sorry you were hurt. Get better soon.
Austin
That was it? She flipped the card around, looking to see if anything else was on the other side. Nothing.
She didn’t know what to think. He was sending her massive amounts of flowers, but he was gone, and his note was so impersonal. Was he saying goodbye?
Kinsey lay back down and cried herself to sleep, still no closer to finding any answers.
Chapter Nineteen
“You should still be resting, not coming back to work so soon,” Katherine scolded Kinsey two days later when she walked in the room to check on Joseph.
“I know this sounds silly, so please bear with me, but I’ve missed him. I’ve grown quite attached to Joseph, and being away the last couple of days, I felt… I don’t know… just - off,” Kinsey said with a shrug.
She checked his charts, reassuring herself the temp nurse had done her job well, and then she sat down beside Katherine.
“That I can understand,” Katherine said, immediately softening. “Joseph has a way of casting a spell on everyone around him, even when he’s sleeping.”
Kinsey had missed being there. She hadn’t wanted to leave Joseph in the care of anyone else. She’d been with him from the beginning, and she’d see it through to the end. She just hoped and prayed the end was him waking up.
“Go ahead and get comfortable. The rest of the family will be here any minute. They’re anxiously awaiting the conclusion of our story,” Katherine offered.
Kinsey felt like an intruder during the story, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave. She wanted to know what made a couple stay together for so many years. She was captivated by Katherine’s voice as she spoke of her love.
Soon, the room crowded with Joseph’s children, nieces and nephews, even some of the grandchildren and great nieces and nephews. The large space felt as if it quickly shrank, with the amount of people in it.
Kinsey waited to see Austin walk in, but he was absent. She refused to allow herself to watch the door, instead focusing on Katherine as she got comfortable in the chair next to her husband’s bed.
“How’s he doing today, Mom?” Alex asked.
“He’s doing good. Look at his cheeks. Being home is bringing the color back into them. I know he’s on his way back,” she replied with confidence.
“He’ll come back because we need him to,” Emily said with a hopeful smile.
“I can’t remember where I left off.”
“He’d tricked you into coming to his place. He was showing you the castle he was building just for you,” Bree said with a sigh. “So romantic.”
“Yes, that’s right. I gave up fighting him. I knew when I left that night, I’d never be the same again, but I didn’t care anymore. One minute with him was better than none. I was so tired of hurting, aching. But I knew that hurting was nothing compared to how I was going to feel once he was done with me. But still, I couldn’t refuse him anymore…”
Joseph lifted his head, his darkened eyes looking into her own frightened ones. The power he wielded over her was too great. She also knew she was powerless to stop it.
“I do want you in my bed, but that’s not all. This is for you. Since meeting you, everything I do is about you, Katherine. I can’t live without you,” he murmured.
Katherine was confused as she looked at him. He’d won. She was giving herself over to him, so why was he still talking? She couldn’t seem to grasp his words.
Her heart nearly burst when he dropped to his knee’s on the gently blowing grass. His eyes filled as he looked in her eyes.
“I’ve done a lot wrong where you’re concerned, Katherine. Before you, there’s never been a woman I wanted to be with night and day. Never before have I thought of one person so often, I can’t think of anyone or anything else. Yes, I want you in my bed, and by my side, but not for a cheap affair. I’d never dishonor you that way. I want you as my equal partner. I want to give you everything your heart desires. I want to watch your stomach grow round with my children. I want to hold you when we’re seventy-five and do nothing more than watch a sunset together off the balcony of our hom
e that I’m building for you. Please make me complete, Katherine. Please be my wife,” he said as a tear fell.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out an exquisite diamond ring, his fingers trembling slightly as he knelt before her, baring his soul.
Katherine dropped down next to him, her legs no longer able to support her, her arms needing to be around him.
She reached up and slowly wiped the tear from his cheek, awed that such a strong man was willing to make himself so vulnerable in front of her. How wrong she’d been. How many years she’d wasted. How many pointless tears she’d cried. She leaned forward and kissed him. A kiss filled with all the love she had for her larger than life man.
“Yes.”
She didn’t need to say any more than that simple word. She’d decided to give him anything he wanted, and she was so grateful he wanted it all.
Joseph’s smile lit up his face. He slipped the ring on her finger, a perfect fit, and then his arms wrapped around her, pulling her tightly against him. Neither of them said anything as she rested her head against his chest.
After minutes, or maybe hours, passed, he finally pulled back. He kissed her once more, then stood, pulling her up next to him as he wrapped his arm around her.
“Come. Let me show you your palace.”
Joseph took her hand and led her to the house. He stepped through an unfinished doorway and walked inside as she looked around in wonder.
“I can see it all, Katherine. I can see the finished house. It will be beautiful. I can already picture our children running through these halls,” he said with excitement. His enthusiasm quickly drawing her in.
“Thank you, Joseph,” she whispered in awe.
“No, it’s you I need to thank. I’ve been lost for a long time, but you’ve changed me. You made me realize I didn’t need to settle. I can have it all. Because of you, George and I spoke, really spoke for the first time in years. I knew I couldn’t waste any more time on misunderstandings. I knew I couldn’t hold onto the past. He felt the same way. It’s all because of you. You wouldn’t allow me to be half a man anymore.”