Chapter 25
Iwake up shaking. My eyes strain to focus and the more the lids open, my head pounds.
Something’s pushing tightly on my chest, making it hard to breathe.
The interior of the car becomes clear. I’m draped over the airbag, my seatbelt digging into the side of my neck and between my breasts. My back is exposed and cold. Winter wind whips in through a broken window.
What happened?
The girls! Who picked the girls up from school? Everly must be so scared.
The windshield is obscured completely by snow. Turning my head to the right, I confirm that the passenger window is shattered. A small snowdrift is forming inside the car.
My neck is stiff, but I feel like I can move it safely, so I turn to the left. Out the driver’s side window is more snow.
I have no idea how far down the road I am, what time it is, or how long I’ve been unconscious.
What do I do? Do I stay in the car and wait for help? The car could be unstable and fall further, or if something leaked, could explode. If I try to get out, my weight could shift the car, and it could roll and land on me. But if I stay, I could freeze to death.
Nothing else matters but my daughter. I have to get to Everly, no matter the risk. She can’t grow up without a mom, and she can never fall back under Carter’s control.
Just the thought of him spurs me to action.
I’m able to unbuckle my seatbelt, and my weight falls onto the airbag. The car nose must be pointed straight down.
Shifting to the right, I get my knee up far enough to kneel on the radio controls. Knobs stab into my leg as I readjust to brace my right elbow on the center console. The car creaks and my heart stops.
Every movement is a risk, but I have to keep going for Everly.
After strenuous effort, I’m awkwardly positioned at the open, broken passenger window.
I’m in leggings and a T-shirt beneath my coat. The broken glass will shred through the thin layers and slice me open. Drawing my hand into the sleeve, I use my arm to brush away as much broken glass as I can.
The best I can do is kneel on the window frame and try to somersault from the opening and pray I don’t get cut too deeply, and that the snowpack will catch my fall.
Protecting my hands inside my coat sleeves, I position my knees as carefully as I can, bits of glass digging through the thin material of my pants. It’s going to hurt no matter what, and I’m tremoring from the cold, fear, and adrenaline.
I push off the window frame.
Frozen crystals envelop my face. My hands reach to brace my fall but push through the snow as if it’s a cloud.
My legs crack against the car and then I’m a heap, buried in the snowdrift.
I’m at serious risk of hypothermia and I need to keep moving. Wading through the snow is like walking in a pool with weights on my ankles. Looking back, the car is totaled, and the gravity of my situation clouds my vision with tears.
The hillside I crashed down isn’t terribly steep or high but navigating exhausted and injured makes it feel like Mount Everest.
Finally up on solid ground, I look up to find the sky painted with watercolors. Time didn’t wait for me while I was unconscious, and the day has dipped into early evening. It’ll be dark sooner than I can get to safety.
I know I’m on the road between the highway and Lucky Spurs Ranch, but I don’t know how far I am in either direction, or which way is which. Rooted to the spot, I don’t know how long I ponder the probability of freezing to death.
Tears sting as they drip down my wind-burnt cheeks but the floodgates open and I’m left sobbing on the side of the backroad. The crying sends daggers through my already aching head.
I may never hold my sweet child again. Kiss her tiny lips or run my fingers through her wild hair. I waited too long to divorce Carter, and now he’ll poison her with his lack of human compassion and need for control.
Why couldn’t Everly have a man like Greyson for a father? Why couldn’t Greyson be her father?
I’ve been slowly falling for him since the day he took us in. How could I not? He’s everything in a man I’ve never had. Protective. Kind. Empathetic. Reliable.
It’s been nearly impossible these past weeks to resist acting on my feelings for Greyson. After he kissed me, a flame lit inside me that’s been snuffed out far too long.
I want to rush into his arms when he comes home from work. I want lazy nights on the couch. I want to wake up in his arms, nestled between his sheets. I want him to make love to me on his lunch breaks.
But I waited too long. I let fear control me. And now it’s too late.
I’ll never be able to tell Greyson I love him.
My legs burn from pacing, but I’ve been desperately trying to generate body heat. I’m so tired and cold a gust of wind could blow me over.
Should I have picked a direction and started walking? It would’ve been miles in either direction. If I have a concussion, I could’ve gotten more disoriented.
My eyelids are so heavy, and my head bobs as I try to stay awake on my feet.
I’m startled by tires crunching against the snow. Headlights stab my sensitive eyes, even in the remaining daylight.
“Mia?” a male voice shouts. “Holy shit.”
I’m being carried like a small child and placed in the backseat of a vehicle. It’s warm. Something’s draped across my torso.
“You’ve gotta stay awake, Mia.” I’m gently jostled by a large hand on my shoulder.
My attention fades in and out, but the voice sounds kind.
“I’ve got her.” “I need to get her to the hospital.” “Fuck.” “Yea, I’ll wait.”
The hand jostles my shoulder again. I open my eyes long enough to recognize James before they grow heavy and close again.
“Mia. Open your eyes, Mia.” James waits until I do. “Try to stay awake.”
As I slip back into my warm slumber, Charlie whispers, “Hold on just a little bit longer. He’s coming.
Cold air seeps into my cocoon.
“Mia. Sweetheart.” A hand touches my forehead and cheeks. “Mia, wake up, honey.”
I hear him through a tunnel, but I’m so sleepy and warm…
“We need to get her to the hospital,” Greyson snaps at James.
“I fucking told you, but you wanted me to wait,” James counters.
“I know. Thank you for finding her, I owe you my life.”
“No thanks needed. Let’s just get her to the emergency room,” James says.
“Help me move her to my truck.”
“No, just take mine. I don’t want to move her. She’s been really out of it, I think she might have a concussion,” James adds.
“Fuck. You’re right. I’m not thinking straight.”
“How about you leave your truck, and Reid can come get it. I’ll drive—you won’t be able to focus if you do.”
“Yea. Okay,” Greyson relents.
My head is gently lifted from the seat, and I groan, being shifted to lay on Greyson’s lap.
“Sorry, honey. I’m so fucking sorry,” Greyson repeats while stroking my hair. His touch feels so good, but my head hurts so badly. Sleep. I need sleep.
“She’s at school, you need to rest,” Greyson insists.
“I need to hold her.” My lower lip wobbles, tears imminent.
“Don’t cry, honey. Please.” Greyson wraps me in a hug, and I can’t help but sink into him. We just got home from the hospital—home—Greyson is my home.
He wanted to carry me up the long flight of stairs, but they’re too narrow, so he insisted on helping me with every step.
“The doctor said to rest. You need sleep to heal from the concussion and hypothermia. Until I say otherwise, your job is to sleep, rest, stay warm, and do whatever I tell you to do,” Greyson says, leaving no room for argument.
I was moderately hypothermic, and I don’t remember half of the things they did to bring me back safely. I was tested for everything under the sun, and after an overnight stay for monitoring, I was discharged mid-morning.
All I could think about, and ask about, was my daughter. I need to hold her, feel her little heartbeat. I nearly lost my chance to be her mama.
“Bossy.”
“Damn straight. Until further notice, I’m the boss of making sure you eat, hydrate, rest, and recover.”
His grumpy disposition makes me smile, because I know beneath the rough exterior, he was worried sick, and he needs to feel like he’s taking care of me. Such a mother hen.
“Yes, sir.”
Greyson’s nostrils flare and his eyes flare with heat.
“Let’s get you to bed.” He leads me by the small of my back, slowly down the hall.
But we pass my bedroom. He guides me into his room and turns on a lamp for low lighting. Greyson points at his bed, making it clear where he expects me to go.
“My room is perfectly fine,” I implore. “There’s no reason for me to invade your space.”
He huffs a laugh. “There’s every reason. Invade my space. Take anything you want. I’ll provide anything you could ever need. I’m not losing you.” His voice cracks.
“The doctor said I’ll be fine,” I try to soothe, but he’s having none of it. He backs me up and helps me sit on his mattress.
Slowly, Greyson gets down on his knees at my feet and takes both of my hands in his.
“No. I almost lost you and I would’ve done anything to get you back. You’re mine, Mia. And I take care of what’s mine.” His sincerity is jarring, my eyes unable to stay steady on his.
“Wh-what are you saying?”
I refuse to give my heart any hope until I’m sure of what he means. I’m in love with him, and it sounds like he might love me too, but I need to know.
His hands grip mine tighter, his thumbs softly rubbing over my knuckles.
“I’m saying I’m desperately in love with you and I’ll do anything to keep you.”
My heart skips a beat at his confession. Is it possible he truly feels the same way I do?
“Be mine, Mia. Because I’m already irrevocably yours. Let me love you and take care of you. Give me a chance to be a dad to Everly. I’ll give anything, be anything, you two need.”
Greyson’s large hands cup my face, brushing tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.
“Don’t cry, honey. I can’t fuckin’ take it.”
My chin quivers and I’m washed away by a wave of gratitude for this man. He already is everything we need.
“I love you, Greyson.”
“What?” he asks, eyes wide and frantic.
“I’m so in love with you. I’ve wanted to tell you but if you didn’t feel the same I didn’t want to ruin what we have,” I admit.
“Mia, honey, my heart’s been yours since I saw you on Cecelia’s back patio.”
I break. Tears pour from the depths of my battered soul.
“I was so scared, Greyson. I thought I’d never see you again, and Everly wouldn’t have a mom. Carter would take her. I could’ve died without telling you how much I love you.”
Greyson rises from his knees and crawls onto the bed behind me. He guides me to lay back on his pillows and pulls my back into his chest.
I’ve never been spooned. Even when things were good in the early days with Carter, he hated cuddling. His heart beats rhythmically, constant, soothing the ache in mine.
“I would’ve done anything to find you and thank god James found you when he did.” His fingers sweep the hair from my face tucking it aside.
He places the sweetest kiss behind my ear.
“Be mine, I’m begging you. I can’t live this life without you.” His soft kisses continue down my neck, sending the best kind of chills down my spine.
“I’m yours.”