Chapter 27
twenty-seven
Everything hurts. My bones ache to the very core and every twitch feels like I’m scraping against shards of glass. My mind feels completely blank, yet full of a thousand different thoughts all at once.
Where am I?
Where is Dalton?
Is he okay?
How the hell do I get out of this abyss of nothingness I’m trapped in?
Faintly, the sound of beeping echoes behind the fog. Am I in a hospital?
I was shot. By my own fucking mother . I’ve always known she was a monster, but this? I couldn’t have ever imagined this.
I can hear voices surrounding me, but they aren’t loud enough to place. Dalton? I have no doubt he’s here. He probably hasn’t left since the moment I was brought in. Probably my friends, too. But another voice rings though. It sounds so familiar, but it’s not clear enough for me to really say.
Someone squeezes my hand, and Dalton’s scent assaults my senses. The familiar smell of cedar and leather, mixed with sweat and grief, surrounds me and I breathe deeply. A small groan escapes my lips, and I feel him squeeze my hand tighter.
“Angel? Magnolia, baby, come back to me.” He says, his voice ragged and tired.
I want to reach out to him, to collapse in his arms and never leave, but I can’t move. Something keeps me stuck in place, like I’m wading through cement.
“Magpie, we’re here. We’re all here” There it is.
The voice I couldn’t quite place is my dad.
I want to grab onto him, to hug him tighter than I ever have before, and tell him how glad I am to hear his voice.
I try to force a smile and the exertion is completely exhausting.
His hand wraps around my other hand and he swipes my hair across my face. “I’m right here, honey.”
“Why can’t she open her eyes? I know she’s gonna be in pain, doc. But she can’t even wake up?” Dalton asks someone, and I have to say, I’m wondering the same thing.
“We sedated her last night after surgery. She needs to rest as much as possible, guys. Her body has been through a lot, and I don’t want any unnecessary stress put on her.
You’re already pushing it having all these visitors in here, Mr. Murphy.
” The doctor scolds. That sounds like my man, always pushing the limits.
“We’ll be super good, doc. Quiet as church mice, and all that shi…uhhhh stuff.” Everett’s voice says somewhere in the room, and I want to laugh. I know Kelsea is giving him a look that says behave right now, and I wish I could see it.
“We turned off the sedation about an hour ago, so she should start coming around pretty soon. Take it easy on her. I mean it, or you’ll all be gone.” The doctor says.
I want to thank them all for being here.
There’s so many things I wish I could tell them right now.
I’m so grateful to have them all here to support me today, and almost every day since we’ve all met.
I love them so much, and I can’t imagine being where I am or who I am without each one of them.
But before I can open my eyes, exhaustion takes me under again.
Over the next few days, I’m in and out. I catch bits and pieces of conversations I’m not sure I’m supposed to be hearing, but I do.
I hear Breaker tell Dalton that he found hundreds of conversations between Aaron and my mother detailing the plans they concocted.
Aaron told my mother all he cared about was making sure he had a virgin bride.
After our wedding night, he planned to sell my body to the highest bidder and my mother encouraged him to use his property any way he saw fit.
I wish I could say I’m surprised by any of that, but I’m not.
The only thing I found myself wishing is that my mother suffered more before she died.
I want to ask what happened with Aaron, but no one seems to mention him, so I let it go for now.
A physical therapist comes in to teach me a bunch of different ways to get in and out of bed, and Dalton actually takes notes on everything she says. That man loves me with a devotion I never thought I’d be worthy of.
“You’re getting stronger and stronger every day, Magpie,” my dad comments on my third day living in this bed. Whatever it takes to get me out of this place, that’s what I’m gonna do.
“I really am. Now if I could just get the warden to let me out of here,” I say, knowing the doctor is just outside the door talking with Dalton.
“We hear you, angel. Be nice. After all, Doctor Sinclair was just giving me the rundown of all your discharge instructions.” Dalton says, walking into the room with his normal swag. Fuck, that man is sexy. And completely mine.
“Thank God! You’ve really been lovely, doc. But I’m ready to go home.” I say, and he laughs.
“I just want to make sure you will have the best care outside of this hospital, Ms. Monroe. It’s a serious wound you’re recovering from. You’re very lucky the bullet didn’t pierce any major organs or arteries,” the doctor scolds, and I see my dad wince.
I know he feels guilty that I ended up here.
But if I’m being honest, I don’t regret anything that happened.
My friends are safe, my father is safe, and Dalton is safe.
I may live the rest of my life with a nasty scar across my chest. But it will serve as a reminder to me every single day that tomorrow isn’t promised.
We have to live and love as much as we can today, and I won’t waste another day being held back by my mother’s opinion of me.
Dalton worships the ground I walk on, even if my steps are unsteady sometimes. He loves me in a way I never thought possible. And I won’t waste another day without being all in with him.
IRIS
It’s been two weeks since Magnolia came home. The doctor stressed how difficult it would be for her to get up and down the stairs at her apartment and mine, so while she helped direct her friends what things needed to be packed for a “long-term” stay at my place, I found us a new place.
It’s not a mansion like she grew up in, but the green farmhouse just outside of Grovewood suited our lifestyle.
I know ideally Magnolia would’ve wanted to shop around and get a feel for the bones of a place before we dove in.
Hell, she probably would’ve loved to have a conversation to really solidify our relationship before I bought a house.
But I’m a man who knows what I want, and all I will ever want is her.
When I saw this white farmhouse with sage green shutters, almost matching her eyes, and a wrap-around porch with a swing already hanging on one side, I knew this would be ours.
In the blink of an eye, I saw Magnolia turning this place into a home.
She’ll paint the walls and build a beautiful library where all of our books can live on the shelves together.
She’ll find the perfect mix of her colorful boho style and my minimalist black and white, and meld them into something I can’t wait to come home to at the end of a long day.
She doesn’t know yet that under the hundred-year-old Magnolia tree in the backyard is where I will ask her to be my wife.
I want to watch her rock our babies on that front porch and teach our grandchildren how to fish in the creek running through the back of the property.
Just five miles down the road is Ember and Eli’s house, and our kids will grow up together. I love this family we’ve created, and I can’t wait to make Magnolia Monroe mine forever.
No matter where we live, no matter how, wherever Magnolia is will always be my home.