Chapter 22
Lacey
The past two weeks have passed, and every day I have been back and forth between work, home, and my dad's house. I’m tired. The kind of tired that settles deep in your bones. Your muscles feel heavy, and your eyes seem to have grit inside of them. That’s how exhausted I feel.
Cole has been busy at both worksites, and I know he’s just as tired as I am. Today, I’m supposed to have another yoga session with Daisy, Emmy, and Hayleigh, and that’s the part of the week I look forward to most. I get to relax with my girls and de-stress.
That’s one of the reasons I decide to walk to Emmy’s house to meet them there; I want the walk to clear my head, as well as get in some steps, although my poor feet are paying the price for it now.
I’m too busy, lost in my own thoughts, to hear the footsteps behind me.
I don’t realise I’m being followed until two big hands grab the tops of my arms and spin me around.
A voice, low and deep, and not one I recognise, grumbles in my ear.
“Are you Lacey?”
My breathing picks up, my heart starts to race as dread fills my stomach.
When I turn to face the man, the first thing I notice is his height; this guy is huge. His features would be handsome if he weren’t grabbing me, but it’s edged with a roughness, and his eyes are hard.
Tears well in my eyes as I move my hands to cover my bump, and I nod.
His eyes widen when he looks down, and immediately he lets go of me.
His brow creasing, he mutters, “That fucker.” He looks back up, and he softens his face, holding his hands out in front of him.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know. Just forget this ever happened.
I’m truly sorry.” No quicker does he arrive, he’s leaving, running off in the opposite direction.
I stand there, shaking and unable to move.
What the hell was that about? As the nerves start to subside, the hormones rear up and show their ugly face.
Now I’m pissed. That guy knew who I was, and he what?
Was going to rob me? Worse? Who the hell did he think he was?
My mind is swimming when my phone rings and I see it’s Emmy.
“Hey, Em, I’m around the corner. I…can you meet me?” I can’t help the shake in my voice.
“Sure, two minutes.” She clicks off and I will my feet to move, but they don’t.
Not even thirty seconds later, Cas comes running around the corner.
I don’t know if it’s relief that I’m not alone or because the Petersons save me at every turn, but I fall to pieces, the what-ifs catching up with me and hitting me in my chest full force.
My hands start to tingle, and I open and close them, trying to stop the sensation, but as always, the numbness spreads outward from my palms. Sweat beads on my brow and runs down my face and back, and my heart feels like it’s going to beat right out of my chest.
Cas is in front of me. He’s talking, but I can’t hear him.
My arms are heavy as the numbness spreads.
What if it spreads to my heart and it stops?
Stop it, Lacey, just breathe. But what if I can’t breathe?
Are my lungs filling with numbness? Why can’t I breathe?
Why can I see spots in my eyes? How is everything closing in on me?
I open my mouth to take a deep breath, but nothing comes out. Why is Cas flapping his arms about? Why can’t I hear him? Why am I on the floor?
“Lacey!” Suddenly, Emmy’s face fills my vision, her hands on either side of my cheeks.
“We’re going to look around. I need you to sit up.” She speaks slowly, or is that my brain processing in slow motion? Why can’t I still breathe? Am I going to die?
“Okay, that’s good,” She coaches me like I’m about to break.
Maybe I am. My breathing is too choppy, too fast. I can’t get the air inside of my lungs because they’re burning. Why are my lungs burning?
“Focus!” She snaps her fingers. “Tell me five things you can see.”
Is she on something?
She snaps her fingers again. “Look, it’s Scruff. That’s one, you next.” I look around and notice my bag on the floor.
“Bag,” I manage to croak out.
She nods. “That’s good, now another. I want five, Lacey.”
“Bus, flowers, clouds.”
“Great. Now what five things can you smell?”
I look at her like she’s completely lost it, but I oblige. “Flowers again, your perfume, trees, sea breeze, the bakery across the road.”
“Okay, now what five things can you touch from where you’re sitting?”
This girl must have been drinking her shitty box wine this morning.
I chuckle to myself but carry on. “Scruff.” I give him a loving stroke as I say it. “The floor, my bump, the trees behind me and my bag.”
“Now take a deep breath.”
I shake my head. “Emmy, I can’t.”
“Yes, you can, because for the past” – she looks at her watch – “minute and a half, you’ve been breathing fine.” She smiles at me as the realisation hits. The feelings of numbness and the burning in my chest are gone. Now I feel more tired than ever.
“What? How? Are you a witch?”
Cas starts laughing and helps me to my feet.
“I suffered pretty badly with panic attacks after everything that happened. Cas helped me through them.” She smiles softly at her husband, and I throw my arms around her.
“Thank you.” I have no other words; none of them come close to how grateful I feel.
“Come on, let’s get back to ours, and we can talk about what caused that.” There’s no room for argument in Cas’s voice.
When we get back to their house, Emmy guides me to the sofa, and Cas goes into the kitchen to make a drink. He comes back a few minutes later with a sweet tea. I’m so thankful for it because now I have the shakes, as well as feeling even more tired than before the attack.
Handing it to me, he says, “I’ve put a bit of sugar in there, should help with the shakiness.
” I nod my thanks, and he sits on the coffee table in front of me.
Emmy plops to the side of me, her arm threaded through mine, like she’s worried I’m going to bolt.
Cas gives me a pointed look. “So, what happened?”
I blow out a breath, because what did happen?
I shake my head. “To be honest, I have no idea what happened or why. It’s so…
odd. I was walking to your house and in my own world, and the next thing I know, this guy grabs my arms, asking if I’m Lacey, then he spins me around and genuinely looks shocked and…
stricken when he sees I’m pregnant. Then he’s telling me how sorry he is, and he runs off. That was it.”
The two of them share a look before Emmy says, “We aren’t strangers to weird things, especially after everything that happened to us. Is that everything? He didn’t say anything else?”
I think back and remember. “Wait…there was something! When he saw I was pregnant, he muttered ‘the fucker’ or ‘that fucker’, one of the two, but yeah, that was it. I’m okay now, probably just a weird coincidence he knew my name.” I try to shake it off, but I can’t deny I’m a little scared.
“Lacey, sweetie, there are no weird coincidences. How many of those did I have? I’m not saying this is the same situation, but we have to be careful and on top of this.”
I look in Emmy’s eyes and see strength swimming in them. For all she has been through, she hasn’t let it change her. She’s grown. So I take her advice and nod.
“I’m gonna give Vik a call. Be back shortly. You two drink up, and I’ll take you to the yoga studio.” Cas gets up, phone already to his ear, dialling Vik.
I turn to Emmy. “What about Hayleigh?”
She blushes and laughs. “Erm…that’s not my story to tell, but she’s going to meet us there.”
My phone starts to ring. I reach into my bag to fish it out and see Cole’s name. I look at Emmy, and she shrugs. Rolling my eyes, I answer, “Hi.”
“Don’t. Under no circumstances do you brush this off. Are you okay? Is Peanut okay?” Hearing the concern in his voice tears a hole through me, and I start to cry again. Emmy gets up and walks out of the room as Scruff jumps up and takes her spot, cuddling into me and resting his head on my bump.
“I’m okay.” My voice is a horse whisper. “Peanut is fine, she’s moving about like she’s doing an Irish jig in there.”
Cole starts to chuckle, but then he sighs. “I’m so fucking sorry I’m not there, baby.” He trails off, and I know he’s beating himself up for working away.
“Stop it, don’t do that to yourself. It isn’t your fault, and you’ll be back tomorrow. If it makes you feel better, I’ll see if I can stay over here with Cas and Emmy for tonight. How’s that?”
“I may have already told Cas that’s what was going to happen…just to save my sanity.”
Rolling my eyes, I bask in the feeling of love. “I love you so much, Cole.”
“I love you too, baby. Tell Peanut I love her too, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow.” We end the call just as Emmy comes back in, smiling from ear to ear.
“Sleepover?” She clasps her hands together and starts dancing when I nod in confirmation.
I genuinely have the best people around me.
**********
I convince Cas and Emmy that I am fine to go to yoga, but Cas doesn’t trust that we would be safe. So now, here we are again, at our mats, with Ethan and Daisy giving each other the side eye as she walks us through the motions of each pose.
Rafe, in child’s pose, his head facing downwards, mumbles, “I’d wish they’d just bang already.”
Ethan gets his revenge on him when he stands in tree pose and kicks the back of his knee, causing Rafe to fall forward, arms circling like a cartoon character.
I burst out laughing, and even Daisy’s lips twitched before she threw daggers with her eyes at Ethan.
The session does exactly what I wanted it to do, and by the time we finish, my bones no longer feel too tight inside my body, and my muscles are relaxed. As the guys start helping clear away everything, because they can’t help being gentlemen, Daisy floats over towards me.
“How are you feeling now?” Her concern for me makes me want to cry – stupid hormones.
“I’m okay now, that was just what I needed.” I smile at her, and she hands me a box.
“I got you one of these.” She smiles back.
I turn it over and see that it’s an inflatable ball. “Uhm…thank you?”
When she sees the look on my face, she bursts out laughing. “It’s a birthing ball. It’s to help you keep active. You can sit on it to ease back pain, which you’re going to get even more of the further along you are. Towards the end of your pregnancy, it can help position the baby.”
I throw my arms around her. “Thank you, Daisy.” When I stand back, I notice her staring almost longingly at my bump.
“Hey, are you okay?” She stands up tall, puts on that beautiful smile, and nods.
Her smile, however, doesn’t hide the haunted look in her eyes, and I decide not to pry; instead, I ask, “Could you help show me how to use it?”
“Of course! When is best?” I look over at Emmy and wave at her and Hayleigh.
“Ladies, do you think Cas will mind if we have an impromptu girls' night?”
Archie scares the life out of me by popping his head over my shoulder. “Did you say girls' night? Can I join?”
I smack the side of his head. “Do you want to send me into premature labour, Archibald? Yes, you can join if you wish.” He gives me a one-armed hug.
Emmy looks at Archie and says, “Sure, Archie, we loved our last girls’ night. Remember when you–” She trails off when he reaches over and covers her mouth with his hand.
He says, “We said we shall never speak of that moment!” He gives her a pointed look, and she laughs before nodding in agreement.
Hayleigh shouts over to Cas, “Cas, girls’ night at yours tonight with Archie. Anyone else fancy it?”
Cas stands with his hands on his hips and looks up to the ceiling as if silently begging someone, anyone, to save him.
Rafe, Nate and Ethan each nod and Cas shrugs, clearly beaten. They start discussing what food we’re going to have and what film we're going to watch when something, or should I say someone, catches my eye outside the yoga studio.
“I’ll be back in a minute…” I say to no one in particular as I make my way outside.
I stand facing Ted with my arms crossed. The first thing I notice is how dishevelled he looks. His sandy blond hair looks dull and dirty. He has dark rings underneath his eyes, and his whole body seems to twitch. He doesn’t take a step towards me; he stands rooted to the spot.
“What do you want, Ted?”
He looks around. “No boyfriend today?” He spits out the word boyfriend as if it personally offends him.
“Again, what do you want?”
“I already told you what I want. If you don’t give me some money to go away for good, then I’ll take from you what belongs to me as well.” He nods towards my stomach, but this time I’m prepared, because I already sought help from Clive, the family’s lawyer.
“Good luck with that. It’s illegal for you to try to ‘sell’ your parental rights away, and, because we aren’t married, I don’t have to put you on the birth certificate.
The only way you can claim your parental rights is through the courts…
so.” I shrug and feel like I have the upper hand with this sleazeball for once.
He laughs, not a kind or funny laugh, but the type of laugh that has goosebumps skittering across your skin. He takes a step towards me. “Do you honestly think I meant that I would take away that kid legally?” Another step.
Move, Lacey, run!
My body finally listens. As I take a step back, he moves one closer. Just as his hand flies out, I’m lifted into the air. When I look back, four huge, furious brothers are staring at the scene in front of them while the other brother hauls me away.