Chapter 15 #2
“Are you okay, sir?” The officer asked him and removed his arm from around Mitch. “An ambulance is on the way. Once here the paramedics will check you out.”
“I’m fine. I don’t need looking at.”
“You can tell the paramedics that when they get here. Now can you tell me what happened to you and your partner?”
In his peripheral vision he could see the group of men who’d attacked him and Nadia were all face down on the ground. Their arms cuffed behind their backs. Mitch had no idea who contacted the police, if it was Nadia or a passerby, but he was glad that help had arrived when it had.
Turning his back so he didn’t have to look at the assholes who’d almost taken his girl away, he told the officer everything that had happened. He left out how he’d fallen into a PTSD episode, that information wasn’t necessary.
As he spoke to the officer, Mitch kept glancing in Nadia’s direction. The need to be with her becoming more and more urgent.
“We’ve just about finished and you can get to your girl.” The officer said with a smile on his face.
Mitch attempted a smile, but the dried blood on his face cracked. “Thanks.”
The officer canted his head. “Maybe you want to get cleaned up first.”
“Yeah, probably a good idea.”
“How about we get you checked out while I finish questioning you?”
Getting checked out was probably a good idea. Even though he was a physician, and was pretty sure that all he was suffering from was bruised ribs and a contusion on his kidney, it was never a good idea to self-diagnose. “That’ll work.”
While the paramedic checked him out and Mitch finished giving his statement to the officer, he was aware of where Nadia was and every time, she looked over at him.
Fuck, how he wanted to tell her he loved her too.
She’d called it out to him, but he’d been lost and hadn’t answered.
Mitch stood and shook off the blanket and the paramedics hands.
They wanted him to go to the hospital to be checked out, even though they agreed with his self-diagnosis that he was okay.
Going to the hospital was the last thing on his mind.
He just wanted Nadia. “Are we done?” he asked the officer.
As if he could tell asking Mitch further questions was pointless the officer nodded. “If I need anything else I’ll be in touch. I’ve got your contact information.”
Mitch nodded and began to walk away. He’d only gone a couple of steps when he stopped and turned to the officer.
“Thanks for being here. I’m not sure I could’ve held them off and,” he canted his head in Nadia’s direction.
“I don’t want to think about what they would’ve done to Nadia if you hadn’t have come when you did. ”
“Just doing our job, but thank you Mr. Alexander.” He held out his hand and Mitch gave it a brief shake before returning to his mission—holding Nadia.
As he limped over to where she stood, Nadia moved away from the woman she was talking to and ran toward him.
He picked up his pace. Nadia slammed into him and he winced at the contact but he didn’t care.
He closed his arms around her, as hers bandied around his neck.
Having her close soothed all his aches. Everything was better when he had Nadia close.
“I’ve got you, Boston,” Mitch whispered. “I’m never letting you go. You’re stuck with me. I will always, always, do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
“Mitch, thank God, I was so scared.” She buried her face in his neck and he relished having her close again.
They stood there for endless moments. Mitch’s mind turning over and over at how close they’d come to losing each other and, possibly, their lives.
“Are you okay?” She asked, her words muffled because her face was still pressed against him.
Mitch pulled away and looked into her eyes, brushing strands of hair off her face. “Just some bumps and bruises. I’ll be fine. What about you? Did they hurt you?”
“No. But I wanted to …” She looked away and he knew what she wanted to ask but seemed afraid to.
“I heard you. I heard you calling to me when I was lost.” Mitch hooked a finger under her chin, lifting it until she was looking back at him.
What he was about to say was the most important thing he’d ever said to anyone in his life.
“You pulled me back from those demons once again. Your voice reached out to me and I grasped the lifeline you threw.” He lowered his head until his forehead rested against hers.
“I heard you say you loved me, Boston. Did you mean it?”
She shuddered in his arms. “Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I did. I do. I love you, Mitch.”
Mitch closed his eyes and breathed deeply, letting her words sink in—she loved him. They were standing on a sidewalk on a street in San Antonio, not the ideal place to have this conversation, but he didn’t care. There were things he needed to say and he was going to say them.
Opening his eyes he framed her face. “When I returned from my last tour, I knew my life was in turmoil. I had no direction and denied I had issues. As time went on and my demons threatened to overtake me, I didn’t believe I was worthy of love.
Didn’t think I deserved it because I’d walked away when I was still needed by the Army.
I believed I was better off by myself, that no one could love me when I was so unpredictable.
“But then one evening in April, when I was in the grips of an attack an angel came to my rescue. Someone who didn’t know me, but didn’t judge me either.
Time and time again this angel rescued me when I needed it.
She showed me that I was worthy of being loved.
More importantly that I was capable of loving as well.
” He kissed her softly with the corner of his mouth so that he didn’t get her with the cut on his lips.
“I love you, Nadia. You bring light to my life and I don’t ever want it extinguished.
If you want to take that job in Boston then take it and I’ll go with you. ”
“What?” She lifted her head from his chest. “What did you say?”
He smiled at the confusion on her face. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised by it, he’d unloaded a lot of information on her. “Which part do you want me to repeat? This bit—I love you, Nadia Fletcher. Or is it this—take the job and I’ll follow you. If you want me to, of course.”
Her mouth opened and closed and nerves began to swell in his stomach.
Had he read her wrong? She said she loved him, but had he started to make assumptions when he shouldn’t have?
His love for Nadia was so encompassing that he was prepared to do whatever it took to be with her.
It wasn’t like he was that attached to Texas.
He’d been in the Army for years. Done plenty of tours and had been based in other parts of the country.
He could move anywhere. He would move anywhere for Nadia.
“I don’t know what to say.” She eventually said.
“I’m sorry I’ve put it all out there and not given you any warning, but after what happened just now and the thought of losing you, well, that’s worse than anything I could imagine.
Even worse than my PTSD attacks. I need you in my life, Boston.
I want to create a life with you. One that includes, if it’s what you want, children.
I want it all. I love you. I don’t know what else to say. ”
Nadia reached out and touched his face. He laid his palm over her hand.
“I want all that too, Mitch. Family. You. Everything. Good and bad. When we were being attacked, I could see you were lost in your mind. I wanted so badly to pull you out of it. I wasn’t sure if you would be able to hear me or not, but I needed you to know I loved you.
That no matter what happened, at least I’d said it. ”
Mitch released the breath he’d been holding, the tension seeping out of him at the same time. “Whatever you want to do, just know I’ll support you.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, Mitch.
I need to think about it. I wasn’t expecting this call and to be honest.” She looked up at him and the love for him shone brightly in her eyes along with a hint of confusion.
“I really like working at Kerrville, but I know if I take the job in Boston my parents will be ecstatic.”
“But will you be?” he asked. They hadn’t talked in detail about her parents, but she had mentioned to him that they hadn’t been happy with her decision to move to Kerrville.
“As I said, the decision is yours and I’ll follow you. If you want to know the truth, during my sessions with my therapist I’ve been working toward trying to get back in the medical field.”
“Oh, Mitch that’s wonderful. We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”
“Yeah, Boston, we do. But we can do it together.”
“Together. I like the sound of that,” she said smiling up at him.
“Me too.”