Chapter 77
It was late by the time Sean returned to the sheriff’s station. Rivers was already there after bringing Emily back from the hotel.
Sean had to return to The Bonnie after his trip to the hospital with Karla. Stephen had told Rivers that he stored Karla’s backpack and the bride’s phone in the vent in his room. He learned the trick from Roger and Luke after he discovered their drug trade.
Stephen never confronted them about it, but he had decided to use some of the heroin to drug Karla. That’s what kept her unconscious for so long under the dirt. The doctors had said she was practically in a coma due to the amount of drugs Stephen had injected into her.
Stephen had found the bride’s phone in the hallway leading to the guestrooms the night he abducted Karla after meeting her in the rose atrium for her special viewing of the Angel’s Kiss.
He had planned on using his own phone for the proof of life video before she was buried, but after he found the dropped phone in the hallway he thought it might help keep suspicion off of him.
Sean stood at the sheriff station’s entrance. The moment Jennie noticed him, she rushed over and wrapped him in a hug. The pair held one another for a long moment, and when Sean finally loosened his grip, he kissed her.
“I need to follow up with Rivers for a minute,” Sean said.
“Okay,” Jennie said. “I’ll be here.”
Sean kissed her again and walked over to Rivers, who was sitting at one of the deputy stations typing at the computer. Everybody from the hotel was still there. When Sean approached, Rivers informed him the FBI was ten minutes away.
“Once they get here, we’ll be able to start letting people go, but that is only after the hotel is swept for more evidence,” Rivers said. “I’m sure people want to grab their things and get the hell out of here.”
Sean nodded. “Thanks for coming.”
“Yeah,” Rivers said, and then she took a closer look at Sean. “You all right?”
“I will be,” Sean answered.
Sean and Rivers went through a few things, making sure that all their Ts were crossed and Is dotted. She had managed to get the formal statements about the murders of both the bride and Frank Maynard. Now, all they had to do was fill out the paperwork and hand the case over to the FBI.
The only people who weren’t at the sheriff’s station were the Graysons, who had already been escorted to the hospital. It was there Sean had met them when he arrived with Karla in the ambulance.
Sean went back over to Jennie and held her hand as they walked outside into the cool, crisp, frigid night air. Sean looked up to see the clear night sky. A full moon hung overhead, and plenty of stars dotted the sky; it was quiet and calm.
“This was the kind of peace I had hoped we’d find all weekend,” Sean said.
Jennie only squeezed Sean’s hand in reassurance. It was strange to him how intuitively she knew what to do to help ease his anxiety. He believed he did the same for her.
“Karla was unresponsive when I found her,” Sean said, recalling the moments between then and now. “And all I could think about during that time was when we were trying to listen for our baby’s heartbeat. Waiting to hear that reassuring pattern of pumping.”
“It was hard,” Jennie said. “For both of us.”
“Harder for you,” Sean said, and then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring he had been wanting to give her for the past several months. When Jennie saw it, she covered her mouth with her hand.
“I’ve been wanting to give this to you for a while,” Sean said. “That’s why I planned this weekend so far in advance.”
Sean opened the box and exposed the ring; he took it from its pillowed perch and held it in his hand.
“When I was performing CPR on Karla, I kept thinking that if I could just keep this girl alive, then maybe I could make up for the life that we lost at that doctor’s office,” Sean said.
“I know it’s not the same, but I think it was my mind’s way of trying to make sense of all the grief we experienced.
I had never wanted anything so badly in my life.
I kept talking to her about the future she still had and all the life in front of her.
I told her she would have so many wonderful experiences and that every moment in this life was to be treasured, to soak it in and never take it for granted.
” He held up the ring and then cleared his throat.
“Somewhere between saying those things and the ride to the hospital, I realized that life is more than just good or bad. It’s the entire spectrum of experience. ”
Jennie squeezed his arm, looking up at him. “We don’t have to do this now, if you’re not?—”
“Karla’s alive,” Sean said abruptly. “The doctors are doing tests on her, but she was alive and awake and talking when we arrived at the hospital.”
“Oh my God,” Jennie said, smiling. “That’s great news!”
“It is,” Sean said. “But then it got me thinking about what I had told her and how I feel like I have taken my life for granted. I never thought I would meet anybody like you. You are the love of my life, Jennie. I had wanted this moment to be perfect, but life isn’t about perfection.
And, good or bad, I never want to miss another moment without you.
Life is about holding on to what you love for as long as you can and remembering how precious it is to be afraid to lose something because you loved it.
I think that’s what that grief was telling me about the little girl we lost. How lucky we are to have loved something that much to feel such grief after she was gone. ”
Jennie was crying now, and so was Sean, but they held each other tightly, each anchoring the other and giving strength.
“I feel the same way about you,” Sean said. “You are the person I want to hold on to. You are the person I want by my side, reminding me every day how lucky I am. And I don’t want to wait any longer.” He held up the ring again, holding Jennie’s left hand. “Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” Jennie answered, and Sean slipped on the ring.
Once it was secure, Jennie wrapped her arms around Sean’s neck, standing on her tiptoes as she pulled Sean down to kiss him.
The pair lingered like that in the parking lot of the sheriff’s station under the twinkling lights of a billion stars above them. As the snow began to fall, blanketing the world with fresh powder, they couldn’t see it yet, but it would be a moment they remembered for the rest of their lives.
And it would be a moment their children spoke of often when they remembered their parents, how they had built their life on a foundation of love, even though the world wanted nothing more for them than to be fearful and angry.
It was their love that endured. And it would last them until the end of their days.