Chapter 10 #2
We listened to classic Christmas songs as we cruised past the retro neon lights on the downtown shops.
The drive-thru of the local coffee place was our first stop.
I enjoyed my peppermint milkshake and Titus scarfed down his cup of whipped cream as I slowly drove around the neon-soaked town square, letting the Christmas lights sparkle in Titus’s dark eyes.
He joined me in the grocery store as I filled the cart with wired ribbon, greenery, beaded garland, candy canes, ornaments, and a small Christmas tree.
I even grabbed a Christmas present for Beau, since he was the one paying for it all.
Once we were back at the manor, I set up the Christmas tree in the media room.
The media room was offensively decorated in Lindsay University pennants and jerseys, so Titus and I spent all of Christmas Eve covering the snooty-school paraphernalia with holiday cheer.
I even made a salt-dough ornament with Titus’s paw print.
When Christmas morning came, I arranged boxes of treats and toys beneath the tree and “surprised” Titus with the haul. With a lot of bribing, I got him to wear a Santa hat and sit perfectly in front of the small tree for a picture.
I smiled wide and called him a good boy, the best boy, as I snapped photo after photo. When Titus had enough and wanted to lie down in front of the fireplace, my heart was so full.
I couldn’t help but picture my babies in Santa hats in front of the same tree a year from now, surrounded by all their beautiful, but educational, toys. Maybe they would sit with Titus for a picture. Maybe I would let them try a taste of a candy cane.
I chose the best of the photo of Titus and texted it to Beau. He responded with nothing more than a thumbs-up emoji.
I spent the rest of the day in the media room flopped on the leather couch like a rag doll, watching all the Christmas classics on the massive flat screen while Titus gnawed on his new chew toy.
Since I had spent the past two days playing Santa, I subsisted solely on milk and chocolate chip cookies.
If Beau had wanted to enforce my diet and water regimen, maybe he should have stayed home.
I sucked on the end of a candy cane as the credits rolled from the fourth movie of the day. Titus whined and nudged the edge of my slipper with his nose.
“OK, boy,” I sighed. “We can go outside.”
I hauled myself off the couch and shuffled to the back door with Titus at my side.
I stood on the patio with my hands in my pockets as Titus scampered off to do his business.
I blew out a breath as my head fogged and I swayed uneasily on my feet—maybe I should have eaten more than just sugar. At least we wouldn’t be out for long.
The weather wasn’t frosty enough for a white Christmas, but it was still so cold that I was grateful for my new fleece-lined slippers and thick maternity joggers.
Despite giving myself new comfort clothes for Christmas, I still had on my tried-and-true PSU hoodie.
Margot had washed all my clothes with scent beads that I thought were wasteful, but they made my hoodie smell delicious and feel even more cozy.
Titus ran up to the patio from the grass with his tail wagging. It was just half an hour until sunset and neither of us had really moved all day—I probably should change that before all the daylight burned out.
I spied a wire basket full of tennis balls and carefully walked over to pick one up. I rolled the fuzzy yellow ball in my hand and showed it to Titus, waving it back and forth to make sure he was tracking the movement of the ball.
When I was sure he got it, I turned and threw the ball off the patio as far as I could—which, apparently, was only a few yards. The ball rolled to a stop in the grass just before dropping off a steep hill that sloped down to the cattle pasture.
Titus, apparently uneducated in the game of fetch, had stayed put on the patio.
I rolled my eyes and slowly walked over to the ball. “OK, we’ll try this again.”
I widened my stance and bent down to pick up the ball.
“But this time, you have to—”
Blood rushed to my head and my vision swam as soon as the ball touched my fingers. My side gave out, I lost my balance, and I went down.
I hit the grass and rolled, and rolled—faster and faster until I came to a sudden stop.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. I just stared in shock at the orange sky as I gulped in dry gasps. When my lungs finally filled with air, I grabbed the swell of my belly. The twins weren’t moving, but they hadn’t moved before. Were they OK? How would I even be able to tell?
Oh God, what had happened?
I turned my head to find that I had hit the metal fencepost at the bottom of the hill that marked the beginning of the pasture. A sharp pain suddenly flared through my side where I had hit the post and I cried out.
My scream echoed, but no one was around to hear.
Titus started barking above me and I rolled my head through the grass toward the noise.
I had lost my glasses in the fall, so his large white body was little more than a blurry speck at the top of the hill.
The manor looked like a dollhouse from where I sat in the grass—I might as well have rolled down the side of a mountain.
I checked my hoodie pocket, then the pockets of my joggers. My heart dropped into my stomach as I realized I had left my phone on the couch.
Shit, shit, shit!
Titus barked again and disappeared back toward the manor, where he barked some more.
A shiver went down my arms. Light was fading and the temperature was about to plummet. I had to get up the hill.
I rolled onto my hands and knees and tried to stand, but my vision went sideways again. I pushed myself up with all my might, but my body refused to cooperate.
I gritted my teeth and crawled upward, one fistful of grass at a time. Titus ran down the hill and bit my hood, pulling me up as hard as he was able. He gave my arms a little reprieve, but I was too heavy for him to drag me to the house.
Titus dropped my hood from his mouth with a booming bark. He ran back up the hill and barked over and over at the patio.
“Beau isn’t here, boy!” I shouted. “Come here, don’t leave me alone!”
But Titus kept barking.
I groaned and slowly kept working my way up the hill. The sun disappeared behind the horizon and soon I could only see the white skin of my hands reflecting the moonlight. My arms trembled with exhaustion and my belly dragged against the ground, but I couldn’t give up. I wouldn’t give up.
My foot found a small ledge, so I stretched my leg against it to raise myself a few inches.
Instantly, my calf muscle exploded with pain and I screamed.
The muscle still throbbed with pain as I gripped the grass.
My left leg twitched, utterly useless. My arms were about to give out, but I had to be close to the patio… I had been crawling for so long.
Tears filled my eyes as I looked up, finding only the faintest yellow glow of the Christmas lights from the window of the media room. The manor was still so far away…and I couldn’t move.
“Titus…” I cried weakly. “Titus!”
Instantly, the barking stopped. Grass crunched beneath his paws as Titus bounded down the hill.
He plopped down next to me and I wrapped my shaking arms around him.
I buried my face and chest against his soft fur, taking in his body heat.
If I held him tightly, I wouldn’t freeze through the night.
Once the sun rose, I could try to make it up the rest of the hill.
Margot would come in the morning if I failed.
I might not have known any French, but everyone screams in the same language. Hopefully, she’d find me.
My back muscles shivered as I clutched Titus, but then he suddenly sprang to his feet. He ran up the hill, barking all the way.
“Come back!” I cried. “Titus, come back!”
Titus’s barking at the patio got louder. A light from within the manor brightened the night.
“Olivia?” Beau shouted. “OLIVIA?”
My heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t have been there, it wasn’t possible.
Titus ran through the grass and the silhouette of a man who could be no one else but Beau Fontaine sprinted down the hill behind him.
Beau’s large hands wrapped around my arms and flipped me onto my back. He grabbed my face and made me look at him. His face came into a soft focus and I caught his blue eyes darting around as they examined me.
His breath came out in a curl of mist as he spoke. “Breathe for me, OK?”
My heart raced, but I managed to nod.
“Where does it hurt?” he asked.
My throat shook as I answered, “E-everywhere.”
His hands slid beneath me and I wrapped my arms around his neck as he lifted me like I weighed nothing.
“Come on,” he huffed, “I’m taking you to the emergency room.”
I buried my face in his neck as he sprinted up the hill. He smelled like barbecue and cheap beer. I had no idea how he had known I fell, or how he had arrived at the manor, or even where the hell he had been.
I only cared that he was finally there.