Chapter 4
ECHO
Beep. Beep. Echo squeezed his eyes shut at the damned beeping noise. And what was in his nose? He twitched his nose as best he could, but the intrusive object didn't move.
Wait. Where was he again?
His limbs felt heavy as he tried to move. He hadn't been drinking, had he?
“Good morning, Echo,” a feminine voice called to him. He knew that voice.
“Josephine?” his eyes blinked open against the bright lights.
“Yes. It's just me. I kicked everyone out.”
“Why do I feel funny?”
“You passed out as Axis gave you a sedative. Do you remember what happened?”
“I'm at the clinic,” he said out loud. Then Echo tried to recall why he ended up there. A headache. He had gotten another headache but it was bad enough Rider and Crow had brought him here.
Then he woke up with his room full of brothers. Data had information on his missing years.
His missing years.
Stacy.
Oh, fuck, how had he forgotten Stacy.
“Stacy,” he groaned. “My wife. Where is she?”
“What do you remember?”
Echo scanned his memory bank. His trip to California. He had stopped in Vegas on his way back. And fallen head over heels for Stacy. And her sexy curvy body in bright purple and teal sequin covered costume gowns as she danced on stage.
He had wooed her and made her his.
Their trip back home had been filled with tourist stops, laughter, and so much sex.
“Fuck,” he groaned again as he regaled Josephine with his tale, his vision blurring. “What have I done?”
“I think it was one of those shit happens situations.”
“I left her when she showed me the pregnancy test. I just left. I didn't say anything. Just left.”
“And then you were in your accident.”
Echo tried once again to lift his arm. He needed to clear his tears, rub his face, something.
“But I purposely kept her from my family.” He glanced at Josephine through a haze.
“Do I need to ask why you did that?”
Why had he kept her from his family?
“I think I wanted to keep her to myself. Prove to her that I had a steady job, that I was all she'd ever need. We had only been back maybe two weeks when I left.”
“So, do you remember everything now?”
“Yes.” Echo almost wished he didn't. He felt like a scumbag worse than shit. “How did I forget her? I love her, Josephine. Even now, as I think about her. And how I just fucking left. Why did she never call? It's been years now. Years. And I abandoned her.”
“That may be a slightly strong word–” he stopped her with a growl.
“I left. Therefore I abandoned her. Regardless of the circumstances. I should have done better. I have a wife out there that thinks I don't love her.” He gulped, ignoring the fandom pain in his chest. “I have kids who think I don't love them.” Granted he didn't know them. Nor his wife anymore if he were to think about all the years away.
“Do you want to know her?”
“I still love her. Yes, the woman I fell for may not want me back. It's been six fucking years. And no wonder I have an odd obsession with Vegas showgirls,” he mumbled offhandedly.
“Are you stable enough right now to hear more?”
Echo shifted around in the bed once his limbs came back online. It was a strange sensation as the feeling had come back.
“What more is there?”
“That brunette waitress, that caused this episode?” Josephine hinted.
“That's Stacy,” he breathed out. Fuck a duck. Not really, but the expression fit. She was that close. This whole time?
“Yes. It is. It seems her,” Josephine tilted her head back and forth, “adoptive dad more or less, asked Data to find you.”
“Small world,” Echo surmised. “But why now? After all this time?”
“Your son is sick.”
Echo sat up straight, as if to bolt from the bed.
“Wait,” Echo scanned his earlier conversation, “Data said children. Right?” At Josephine's nod he felt panic begin to rise. “Twins?” Dumb question.
“Harry and Helen,” she provided.
“What's wrong with him? Where are they?”
“I was informed a little bit before you woke that Harry has leukemia. Helen is being tested today. And Harry will soon start treatments.”
“What the fuck? No. You're joking, right?”
Josephine shook her head, a mournful expression on her face. “I'm not joking. And Tank has already taken care of any financial obligations that would arise. Therefore the only thing Stacy, and you if you choose, would need to worry about is Harry and Helen.”
“When can I get out of here?”
Josephine gave him a reassuring grin. “Let me go get Axis.”
Echo felt like it was taking forever to get through the discharge, shower, and clean up and everything else he needed to do before his trip to Indy.
He had a wife to find, apologize to, and woo, and children to meet.
What the hell could possibly go wrong?
STACY
Stacy stretched and rubbed the kink out of her neck. While she knew there would be different sleeping arrangements from now on, she had wanted to hold Harry as best she could.
She checked her phone, and saw Eleanor had already left with Helen and would be there in about thirty minutes.
Harry stirred, drawing Stacy's attention. “Morning, baby, how'd you sleep?”
“Good,” he answered, considering he had been woken by the nurses a few times throughout the night as nurses checked his vitals, good was good.
“Your sister and grandma should be here soon.”
Harry nodded and stretched, then rolled into the fetal position. “I'm scared,” he spoke barely above a whisper.
Stacy was at his side, kissing his brow, rubbing his back and reassuring him the only way she knew how.
“I am too, baby. The doctors will walk us through this journey and we'll come out stronger.”
“I wish daddy came back.”
It wasn't the first time either of them had asked about him or wanted him. She had shared photos of him, but photos weren't the same. Stacy never had a good answer when they asked why he left. She didn't know the answer herself.
“If I can find him, I'll tell him to come meet you. That's the best I can do buddy.”
Stacy was saved from more on that topic when a nurse entered asking about breakfast. Their doctor team were apprised of the situation with Helen coming, therefore they said they would wait for treatment.
Once Helen and Eleanor showed up, breakfast was served, tests were run. And the not so good news turned to good news. Helen's tests came back negative and her blood would be sent off to make certain her blood didn't contain the potential for leukemia; or however the doctor had described it. Stacy was just so happy that Helen was healthy.
And that feeling made her feel guilty over Harry being sick. It didn't work that way with a mom of twins, or even multiple children. She loved them both equally and wanted them both to be happy. Stacy was just all over the place mentally that she was selfishly glad she only had one battle to fight. She had no idea how she would have coped had they both been positive.
Helen was allowed to stay for Harry's treatment. Their team of doctors and nurses said that at times splitting twins made it harder on the one doing the treatment.
Luckily they were just in preschool, and it was easy to cancel their schooling for the time being. Eleanor had suggested homeschooling, but how would that work when Stacy had to go back to work.
How was she– no. She shook her head at herself as she paced the hallway. Their team was prepping Harry and Helen. Not that Helen was getting the medicine or IV, but she had asked to dress like her brother and they accommodated her without argument.
Eleanor had left to go grab food, even though Stacy knew she was welcome in the family area, but at the moment she couldn't seem to make herself walk too far from her children.
An advisor had made an appointment with her for later the next day, for financial, lodging, and any amenities she might need.
Both Harry and Helen would be sharing a room, obviously, and their beds would be right next to each other. Stacy paced the halls, passing the parent lounge for their floor, and back to their door again and again.
Her mind wandered to Travis and how their life would have turned out had he stayed. Her heart called out to the man she once loved, still loved. To be able to touch and hold him, have him wrap his strong arms around her and take away her pain?
But it wasn't meant to be. He left. He didn't want her. She didn't matter to him. Not even enough to ask for a divorce.
Stop it , she chided herself as she wiped her cheeks in angry motions to remove the damned tears that had escaped. There was no point in crying over the past. It was what it was and that was it.
Inhaling, Stacy shook herself off. Wavering back and forth, foot to foot, she jiggled her arms, releasing any tension that had built up.
She had this. As hard as it was going to be, she had this. Stacy carried the twins, birthed them, and cared for them all by herself. She had this.
Her breath stalled in her chest as she turned back toward the twin's room and the man from her dreams stood in the path just staring at her.
He still looked the same: same scruffy beard, sandy hair, gray eyes. Older, yes, but the same man she still loved. No, she couldn't go there. His arms and legs looked sturdy, his chest filled out. He looked good.
What. The. Fuck.
Stacy blinked, she had to be dreaming. But no, Travis, the man that was her husband stood feet from her. And she had no idea how to react.