“Send me that video. I want to see how I looked,” Batta said excitedly.
Bronze pulled his phone from his pocket and dropped back down into the chair. He wiggled the mouse and made a few clicks. “Let’s watch it on a bigger screen.”
We watched it at least four times. “Oh, fuck, man. It gets better each time,” Bronze laughed. “I can’t wait to show this to Copper.”
“Thanks, brothers,” I said seriously.
“Any time, man. She’s not the first crazy bitch we’ve dealt with and I’m sure she won’t be the last,” Batta said and clapped me on the shoulder.
22
Savior
It was still dark outside when I arrived at Avery’s house. Instead of knocking on the front door, I sent her a text message to let her know I was outside. Not even thirty seconds later, Claire opened the front door.
“Good morning, Kellan,” she said quietly. “Avery’s still getting ready. Would you like some coffee?”
“Yes, please,” I said almost desperately.
She laughed. “Come on in the kitchen. She should be ready in just a few minutes.”
She brought two cups of coffee over to the kitchen table. “Listen, Kellan, I’m going to tell you something about my Avery,” she said and lowered her voice. “She’s a strong woman, and most of the time, that’s a good thing, but it’s not such a good thing today. She’s scared and she’s got it hidden so well you’d think she was getting ready to go to the grocery store, not headed to the hospital to have surgery. Please try to reassure her, even if you don’t think she needs it.”
I reached over and clasped her hand. “I can do that.”
“Thank you. I hate that I can’t be there when they take her back,” she confessed.
“Would you rather I take the kids to school and you go with her to the hospital?” I offered.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’d rather do, but Avery prefers the plan we have now. I’ll be there as soon as I drop the kids off.”
Avery walked into the kitchen with a smile on her face. “Good morning. Are we ready to go?”
“I’m ready when you are,” I said and glanced at Claire.
“See,” she mouthed.
I nodded and took my mug to the sink. Avery hugged and kissed her mother before turning to me. “Ready,” she said with a wide smile.
“After you,” I said and gestured for her to lead the way.
I opened the passenger door for her and helped her up into my truck before going around to the driver’s side. Reaching over, I pulled her into my arms. “Cut the shit, Avery. No one is as happy as you are to be having surgery. It’s okay to be nervous. Quite frankly, it’s not okay to not be nervous.”
She inhaled deeply and fisted my shirt. “I’m scared,” she admitted. “I’ve never had surgery before, and if something happens to me, my babies will be all alone,” she confessed.
“They won’t be all alone. They’ll have your parents, and you know I’ll always watch over them, but that’s not going to be an issue because you’re going to be okay.”
“What if something happens to the baby?”
“The doctor assured us the baby would be just fine. Actually, I believe they said there was more risk to the baby if you didn’t have the surgery,” I reminded her and kissed the top of her head. “You ready to go?”
“No, I wasn’t earlier, and I’m definitely not now,” she said.
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but if we don’t leave now, we’re going to be late.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “Let’s get this over with.”
When Claire arrived at the hospital, Avery was out of surgery and being moved to recovery. “You just missed the doctor. He said the surgery went according to plan and Avery and the baby are doing fine.”
