Chapter 21 #4
She had truly almost destroyed her family, all in an attempt to maintain control, and it was for nothing. They both made their way down the foyer to the front door, and Lana and Kayden followed. Maureen turned to Lana.
“For what it’s worth, you have changed my son for the better, and I’ll always thank you for doing what I couldn’t. For saving him,” she said.
“You’re only partly right, Maureen. Kayden also saved me,” Lana replied.
Maureen smiled and nodded her head at her, then got in the car with Heathcliff.
Lana and Kayden closed and locked the door.
She took a deep, long breath and turned around, where Kayden stood right in front of her.
He gathered her into his arms, hugging her, then kissed her passionately and fiercely, then finally pried away.
“Is it over?” she asked, her eyes welling with more tears.
“It’s over, my love,” he replied.
He picked her up, carried her to the living room, and kissed her again. He rested her down as Taylor walked up to them, holding his hand out to Kayden, and they shook.
“Thanks for that, man. I have to get back to the hotel and get ready to head home.”
“Oh,” Lana said, “I need to run back there as well. I forgot to get my suitcase from the hotel.”
“I can take her,” Paula offered from the living room, sipping more champagne.
“No, it’s ok, I don’t want to spend another minute away from her,” Kayden responded, and Paula rolled her eyes playfully. “Gosh, you guys make me sick,” then winked at them.
They all walked outside where the snow had begun to fall more steadily and piled into Paula’s car.
She backed out of the driveway, and within minutes, they were behind Heathcliff’s squad car, where they both pulled into the hotel at the same time.
Maureen and Heathcliff got out, but Kim remained inside.
“Kimberly, aren’t you coming in?” Maureen asked, leaning into the car window. Kim looked up at her and then to Heathcliff.
“You mind leaving the car on for a few minutes so I can compose myself? I just need a couple of minutes,” she asked.
He looked at Maureen, not sure of what to say, and Maureen winked at him.
“Sure,” he replied after her nonverbal approval.
“I’ll be back in about ten minutes,” he continued, then he and Maureen walked towards the hotel entrance.
Kim took a few labored breaths as she watched them go inside and smiled.
It was good to see Maureen find love again, she thought as he put his hand on the small of her back and disappeared inside.
A car door slammed, breaking her train of thought, then another one slammed after.
Kim turned her head and saw it was Kayden and Lana behind her.
A scowl crossed her face as they rushed past the car, holding hands. The same way he used to hold mine, she thought, but I’m always left behind. Just like her dad left her mom, or every guy she ever dated. She started sobbing again, thinking of the ridicule she’d get when she got home.
OFF THE HALLWAY of Spence Hotel, Maureen and Heathcliff had just walked into her room and closed the door when Lana and Kayden got off the elevator.
Everything was finally feeling the way it did a month ago, now that the worst of everything had passed.
She could start to enjoy Kayden and Hamby again.
When they got to the room, she handed Kayden the key, and he opened the door.
“Let’s get you home,” Kayden said as he pulled the suitcase off the bed.
“Wait a minute, I have to pee,” she replied and ran into the bathroom.
When she closed the door, the pregnancy test was on the counter, and she decided now was as good as any to take it and get it over with.
She ripped the foil package open and proceeded.
As she sat on the porcelain and wet the stick, she thought about how different her life had become in a few short months.
She removed the stick and placed it on the counter to wait the required two minutes.
They had a wedding to plan, a new nursing license to apply for since she’d be moving, a new house to build, and all with someone who became the love of her life, in the blink of an eye.
She picked up the stick and stared at it for a moment. The plus sign was a deep pink, and suddenly her heart raced and she felt dizzy. The usual questions about how this happened were foolish. She knew very well how, but why now? Why now, was all she could repeat in her head for a few moments.
She had to tell Kayden, but had no idea what his reaction would be.
After everything that they just went through, a baby may not be something he wanted to have on his plate, too.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted a baby at this point in her life either.
Lana shook the thoughts from her mind and stood up from the toilet.
She’d tell him back at Paula’s, no more secrets between them.
It did neither of them any good the last time.
Her hands shook as she buttoned her pants, then washed her hands in the sink. She took a deep breath and walked back into the room where Kayden lay sprawled over the bed.
“Ready?” He asked, popping up.
She beamed a smile at him, “Ready.”
It would be weird, sleeping at Paula’s with her there, but it was a far cry better than Spence Hotel. They could use a serious upgrade to the twenty-first century, she thought as Kayden walked out of the room with her bags in tow.
“Hey, I just had an idea,” Lana said.
“Really, what about?” he asked, grinning,
“Want to just sleep here instead?” he asked, winking at her as they walked down the hallway.
“No. But I was thinking, maybe your next project could be the hotel,” she replied, an excited grin on her face.
“Not a bad idea, Mrs. Capshaw,” he said and kissed her on the forehead.
MAUREEN PERCHED ON the vanity chair, staring out the window onto the street below her, without really seeing it.
She couldn’t feel sorry for herself as she had literally brought everything that happened down on herself.
She was just glad her eyes were really opened this time and had the opportunity to try to make things right with her children.
Heathcliff stood behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.
She leaned her face into it. He really was a sweet man, even if easily swayed by her.
She wouldn’t leave him behind, though; there was actually something there between them she had never seen before, and she wanted to explore it. He leaned over and kissed her on the lips, and she let him. Things were definitely going to change in her life from now on—it was time.
OUTSIDE, KAYDEN AND Lana looked down the street toward the diner, where the last few customers were still trickling out.
The grand re-opening was a significant success, and Kayden had never been happier in his life.
The snow had stopped again, leaving a lovely blanket.
Perhaps they could go snowmobiling one last time before everything started to melt, he thought.
Lana looked up at him.
“Hey, I have something to tell you when we get back to the house,” she said.
“Really?” He asked curiously. “Give me a hint.”
“Nope,” she teased.
They started walking back towards Paula’s car when Kayden lost his footing in the snow, and she helped to steady him before he fell on his face. As he stood straight, he frowned.
“Who’s that?” He asked, pointing to someone behind her.
She turned, and there stood Sam, holding a bouquet of roses on the sidewalk.
“Sam?” She asked, perplexed.
Before she could get another word out, she was blinded by the headlights of the car careening towards them.
AS HEATHCLIFF CLOSED the bathroom door behind him, Maureen watched the horror unfold before her eyes. Heathcliff’s squad car was driving straight towards her son and his fiancée.
“Kayden!” She shrieked.
The next few minutes in Maureen’s mind happened in a fog.
Kim, in the driver’s seat, rammed the car into them, sending them sailing into the air.
The squad car swerved in the snow and crashed into a light pole, causing the transformer to explode.
The lights on Patterson, including every building, went dark.
People were screaming, but Maureen didn’t realize right away that they were her own shrieks until Heathcliff ran in from the bathroom into the room and startled her.
WHERE WAS KAYDEN? The question pounded through Lana’s mind as she lay sprawled in the middle of the street, the world tilting in and out of focus. She tried lifting her head, and pain detonated through her leg, sharp enough to rip a cry from her throat.
But then she saw him.
Kayden lay face down in the snow only a few feet away, terrifyingly still, his body half-buried in crimson-streaked drifts.
“Kayden…” The word broke from her, frayed and trembling.
She dragged herself toward him, her palms slipping against the icy pavement. Each inch forward set fire through her body, the agony so intense she tasted copper on her tongue. Just get to him. Just check his pulse. Just make sure he’s alive.
But just inches from reaching him, her strength simply evaporated. Her arms buckled beneath her, and she collapsed, gasping. White sparks flared across her vision—pinpricks bursting like stars only to fade into spreading darkness. The world narrowed into a tunnel of blurred light and distant sound.
Still, she reached for him.
Her hand trembled as she stretched toward his mangled fingers.
Someone was screaming—far away, or maybe right beside her?
Echoes of voices, real or imagined, the sound of footsteps, running.
Nothing felt real. The wind howled down the street, carrying the metallic smell of blood, so much blood.
The snow beneath her palms was slick and cold, stained red.
She couldn’t tell whose it was. Maybe both of them.
Her vision flickered. The edges collapsed inward, shadows swallowing what little light remained.
She stretched one final time.
Her fingertips brushed his.
Ice.
Blood.
Stillness.
Please… stay alive, she thought, the words barely forming in her mind.
Cold.
So much blood.
Then everything went black.