35. Kennedy
CHAPTER 35
KENNEDY
“ I really am okay,” I insist as Bradyn carries me up to the porch of his parents’ house. He’s insisted on waiting on me, hand and foot, from the time we left the hospital this morning to our arrival back here tonight.
Staying by my side the entire time the hospital kept me for observation. His brothers went home, taking Bravo with them, but he stayed there. Right at my side.
Bradyn Hunt has been my rock while the world cascaded around me, a rushing river that might sweep me away.
“I know you are,” he says with a smile. “Maybe I like feeling you in my arms.”
“Maybe I like being in your arms.”
His smile spreads, and he leans down, capturing my lips with his. Then he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine. “You have my heart, Kennedy Smith.”
Lord, how will I ever thank You enough for bringing this man to me?
“That’s good, because you have mine, too.”
He smiles and pulls away then reaches for the handle, but his mom pulls it open first. She beams at me.
“Kennedy!” Rushing out, she wraps her arms around me and pulls me in for a hug. “Let me look at you. You look good. Are you good?”
“I am,” I reply, appreciating her lie. I know I don’t look good. I’m bruised head to toe, and I look like I’ve been hit by a truck which then had the courtesy to back over me.
But I’m alive. And that’s all that matters. Everything else will heal.
“Thank God for that, darling. Come in, come in.” She ushers me inside. “We have some guests, too. And I think you’re going to want to see them.”
“Who’s here?” I ask, noting that all of the brothers, Lani, and Mr. Hunt are lingering at the edge of the living room, smiling softly at me. “Bradyn? What is it?”
He lifts my hand and presses a kiss to it then releases me and steps away, joining his family.
I eye him nervously, trying to figure out just who would be here, but then a man comes into view. I stare, unsure if what I’m seeing is real. Surely it’s not. It can’t be real. Can it?
And then a second person comes around the corner, a worn Bible in her hands, and my chest feels ready to explode. “Mom?” I choke out, my eyes filling with tears. “Dad?”
“Dee.” My mom rushes forward and wraps her arms around me. My dad joins the hug while I stand there, completely stunned and so absolutely overwhelmed with love that I’m not entirely sure what to do with it.
How is this possible?
“I don’t understand.” I choke on the words, tears streaming down my face. “I don’t understand. You were dead. I?—”
“We thought we were, too,” my dad says as they release me. He cups my face, thumbs stroking my cheeks. “But thanks to God, we somehow survived. Even the doctors didn’t know how we were still breathing.” Tears slip from his eyes. “My baby girl. We’ve been so worried about you, but they wouldn’t tell us where you were. They said it was for the best, that if we were separate, you had a chance at surviving.”
“Who?” I ask.
“The marshals. We were taken in again, and they wouldn’t let us have contact with anyone outside of this tiny house in Florida we’ve been living in for the last two years. We prayed for you. Every night. Prayed you would find someone to help you.”
“Oh, baby,” my mom coos. “Your face. Are you okay? They hurt you.”
“I’m okay, Mom. I’ll be okay. You’re alive. You’re really here? This is really happening?” I look back at Bradyn.
“Frank Loyotta,” he replies. “He made a call to find out what happened that night and discovered that you weren’t the only one who walked out of there. Elliot and Riley flew out to Florida and picked them up once the marshals released them. They got here about an hour before we did.”
I’m speechless.
My heart’s so full that I feel like it might burst. “God,” I choke out. “He did this. He brought you back to me.”
“He brought you back to us,” my mother says then pulls me back into her embrace. My dad wraps his arms around both of us, and I breathe in the scent of his familiar aftershave, letting it absorb into my memory because I have him back.
I have them both back.
Thank You, God.
“I love you both so much,” I manage even as my throat burns while I try to keep myself at least partially together.
“We love you too, Dee.”
The chill in the air can’t cool the warmth radiating through me.
I sit on the porch in the early hours of the morning, swinging softly as I wait for the sun to rise over the ranch.
Bradyn had left for his house two hours before my parents called it a night around three in the morning. They’re currently sleeping in a guest room in the house behind me. Sleeping. I’ll get to see them in the morning. I’ll get to laugh with my mom and tell jokes with my dad.
They’re alive.
A tear slips from my eye. I still can’t believe it.
We’d talked about everything. About how my dad taught the marshals guarding them how to play chess and how my mom started knitting blankets for the local children’s hospital there, and the marshals delivered them for her.
I told them about Cillian, and they’ve asked to meet him one day. Something I’m incredibly excited about. I haven’t even had the chance to call him yet, but I’ll be doing just that tomorrow.
This huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders, the demons clinging to me over the past two years defeated.
I feel free.
Unburdened.
“God,” I say aloud, closing my eyes and tilting my face to the sky. “I don’t have the words to describe to You how grateful I am. How I know that I didn’t deserve any of this. Especially after not placing my trust in You when I should have. But You blessed me anyway. You brought me to Bradyn. You brought my parents back and delivered me from hell on this earth. Thank You, God. Thank You for everything.” I keep my eyes closed, my face tilted up, as I imagine what it will feel like one day to meet the One who created everything.
Who delivered me.
“So are you an early riser too?”
I open my eyes to see Bradyn leaning against one of the cedar posts, looking far too handsome for his own good. The familiar phrase brings that memory to life in my mind, and I grin. “I like to get the day started early. Helps the day go by smoother.”
He smiles and steps closer. “Leave anything for anyone else?”
“I like to be busy.”
He closes the distance between us, so I stand. His hands go to my hips. “Something I relate to all too well. It’s Kennedy, right?”
“That’s right,” I reply, wrapping my arms around his neck and stretching up to press my lips to his. It feels like lifetimes ago I was desperate to hear him say my real name.
I know that I’ve only known Bradyn Hunt for the span of a few weeks, but it feels like we were made for each other. Like there’s been something missing from my life until the moment he walked into it . “Why are you up this early?”
“I don’t mind the dark,” he whispers against my lips then kisses me again before pulling back. “I like to catch the sunrise.”
“Sounds peaceful.”
“It is,” he replies. “Feel like joining me this morning?”
I smile against his lips. “It doesn’t sound like a two-person job.”
“No, but the company would be nice. And the view is just breathtaking.” He kisses me again, passionately stealing my breath here on his mother’s porch. I lose the ability to think, to breathe, when his mouth is on mine.
Desire hums in my veins. This man undoes me. And now that we have forever ahead of us, I can’t wait to see where God leads us.
“See, breathtaking,” he says, tone low and husky.
I pull back and stare up into his gorgeous hazel eyes. “I couldn’t agree more.”