Chapter Forty-Five
Ria
I have always considered myself to be a dreamer. I spent my childhood dreaming of having a happy home and a mom who chose her kids instead of men. I spent my late teens dreaming of finding the type of love you read in romance novels and secretly wishing it would be Jack. I spent my marriage to Alex dreaming of the day he would change and that he would choose me instead of random women, or a bottle of bourbon, and I’m someone who dreams every night of the life I want for my girls.
But right now, I sense I’m waking, but my mind is blank. Did I dream? I flutter my eyes open, but bright lights burn.
I begin to panic as a pain like no other shoots through my head. I swallow, my tongue feeling dry and stuck to the roof of my mouth. I blink and take in my surroundings. I”m hit with a sterile smell of chlorine and hand sanitizer. Everything is white, the faint beeping of a machine is in the distance. I look down to see a hospital band on my right wrist and a blue blanket covering me.
Where the hell am I?
I try to twist my head, another shooting pain goes through me. I lift my hand to touch my head but I can’t because of the sling keeping my arm close to my body.
As my senses slowly come back to me one by one, I feel warm air blowing on my other hand. I avert my gaze to the other side of the room and see Jack, hunched over, head on the edge of the bed, holding my hand, resting it against his face.
I wiggle my fingers to see if I can move them, and he jolts awake.
Wide blue eyes with dark circles meet mine and I’ve never seen him look so broken, so tired.
“Hey, you,” I rasp.
“Hey, sweetheart,” he whispers back. Lifting my hand to his mouth, he presses a kiss to the back of it. He closes his eyes; a tear rolls down his cheek.
“I’m okay.” I have no idea that I am. I don’t even know what’s happened to me, but I sense he needs to know I am okay.
“I thought I lost you when I saw you laying there…” he croaks. “It was like my world had ended, Ri.”
“What happened?” My voice sounds a little clearer and louder now.
He lays my hand back down on the bed, holding on like he’s never letting go. “You don”t remember?” he asks.
I shake my head slowly, pain coursing through my head, and I wince.
”Be careful, you”ve got a broken collarbone and a nasty concussion and cut to the head.”
I blink, trying to process his words.
”Lexi said Alex came over and he was shouting.” He swallows hard, eyes glassy. ”I found you when I came home, but he was gone.”
Then it all rushes back to me and my heart near stops.
”Jack, the girls where—” I try to sit up, moving my sheets so I can go to them, but Jack gestures for me to lie back down.
”The girls are safe. They”re here. Nothing happened to them.”
My breathing slows, the anxiety leaving my body at the sound of his words.
”I need to see them, Jack.”
He nods and stands just as I think to ask another question first.
”Is Alex... I mean where is he?”
“He was found about a mile from the house. He’s been arrested and he’s being questioned. They are going to need to speak to you, but when you are ready, okay?”
I nod slowly, careful not to cause that shooting pain in my head.
“You’re always saving me,” I say shakily.
He smiles. “I told you, sweetheart, you’re worth saving and if you let me, I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that to you.”
I sniff back the tears that have started falling down my cheeks. “I”d like that”. He leans in and presses his lips to mine, it”s tender and gentle and my body relaxes under his touch.
“There is a waiting room of people wanting to know you are okay and some doctors that need to check in on you. I’m gonna go get them okay?”
I smile, excited to see my girls. Jack opens the door and calls down the hospital corridor, “She’s awake.”
I hear the chaos before I see it. “Mommy,” Lexi calls and my heart flutters. No words have sounded better. She runs through the door and Jack scoops her up into his arms, kissing the top of her head, and my heart melts.
“Mommy, are you feeling better? You got an ouchy on your head.”
“I’m okay, baby. Come here.” Raising my good arm, Jack sits her on the bed, and she snuggles into me. I nuzzle my nose into her hair and inhale her strawberry scent. The smell of my babies has always been my comfort. On my hardest days, I’ve taken them in my arms and simply breathed them in, knowing that as long as I have that smell surrounding me, I know that I’m okay.
I hear more of a commotion in the hall and Ali walks holding Elle, Harry carrying the diaper bag and toys followed by Brad and then Gabby, her usually clear porcelain skin-tinged red from crying.
Ali walks to the other side of my bed, puffy eyes and scratch marks mar her long neck, something she does when she’s upset or anxious. She gives me a small smile, doing her best to keep it together. “Ri, if you ever do that to me again…” She sniffs, blinking fast, fighting back the tears.
“I know… I’m not going anywhere,” I say gently, reassuring her I am not leaving her.
“Good, because I can’t do life without you, you hear me,” she says sternly, eyes glazed, clutching Elle tightly like a security blanket.
“I hear you, and I couldn”t do it without you”. We stare at one another, wrinkling our noses and blinking back tears. My sister from another mister, the one who held me up more times than I can count. She sits on the edge of the bed and brings Elle to my face so I can kiss her.
“Hey baby girl,” I whisper.
“It’s good to see you smiling, Ri. You okay, yeah?” Harry says, clearing his throat.
I give him a smile. “I’m okay. Better.”
“Glad you’re okay, Ri.” Brad nods and I mouth, “Thank you.”
“Ri… I… Ugh, I thought we were going to lose you,” Gabby sobs, walking to my bed, wrapping an arm around me.
“Oh, Gabs, I’m okay, I promise.”
I look round the hospital room at this mix of people who have come together for me without forcing it, without begging, without dreaming. They have become my family and while it may not have been the way I dreamed it as a child, this, right here, is far better than anything I could have wished for me and my girls.