“It’s a good thing you’re cute sometimes.” Her sass started to come out. “I meant, maybe about the police reports from Greene or something. I had a miscarriage during the first year of the so-called marriage.”
I tensed, that wasn’t in the file or anything I specifically read when I phoned Greene for previous police reports. My heart dropped. She was going to be a mother. She was carrying a baby that she would have loved until the ends of the earth. I pulled away from the canvas; my attention was back on her. I pulled her down to my level, the chain from the cuff still dragged onto the floor.
Her eyes grew heavy with sadness. This is why she was making me feel soft, why she called to my heart and woke it up. Her pain was real and it went beyond physical pain.
“Chris had come home, furious, screaming that he couldn’t hold a job and he wasn’t feeling like the man of the house. I tried to comfort him, tried to be the wife that I thought he wanted, he needed.” Her head hung low. “But you know the trouble with words, is that people misunderstand and twist them to turn them back to you. My words of comfort were to him full of pity and discouragement. When he didn’t like what I apparently said, he lashed out and to be honest, even after years of therapy, Ican’t recall what happened after the first hit. I woke up in my own hospital, my supervisor at the time at my bedside with tears in her eyes. She was the one to tell me that I had lost my baby. And Chris was nowhere to be found.”
Rage surged through me, like a new kind of spark ready to take revenge. Men like that don’t deserve women. Especially kindhearted, beautiful women like Amelia. I reached out to her, as she brought her knees to her chest, resting her head on top of her knees.
“I tried to figure out what happened, what I said, and put so much blame on myself. I thought I didn’t fight hard enough or I wasn’t going to be a good mother if I couldn’t protect my own baby. I remember Maria cradling me, Jennie and Sarah surrounding my bed, never leaving my side. And when I returned home, he said if it wasn’t for me not being a good wife and actually being there for him, the baby would have survived.”
“Amelia, it wasn’t your fault.”
She tilted her head. “Oh, I know, sugar. It still didn’t matter at the time. But I sought out therapy, grew stronger. It’s just hard some days, when I see little babies and kiddos in the ED and the daydreams start to take over. I hold on to some hope that if I find love again, actual love, maybe through that I’d have a child. But if I’m under the same roof with that man, and he can try what he tries, I can’t take the chance.”
A light bulb went off in her head. “Which reminds me, I need to put on another patch tomorrow.” She trailed off in a deep thought to remind herself to protect herself. Hopefully not for long.
“Do you know how incredible you are?” I pulled her back into our conversation. I saw those walls finally come down with no sign of rebuilding. She opened up. And for the moment, I saw a beautiful future with her, and it caused my dick to stir awake, knowing what I really wanted to do.
A smirk appeared at the corner of her mouth. “I mean, some days I’m a damn superhero, but thank you.” She reached out to cup my cheek. “You’re not too bad yourself, when you’re not dark and moody.” She pulled me closer, caressing a soft kiss to my lips. She pulled away, letting out a gentle hum, “I stopped believing in fairytales for a long time.”
“Is that why you kept me at arm’s length?” I asked, resting my forehead on hers.
“Perhaps.” She shrugs. “Hard to try again when there has been nothing but darkness every time I turn around. You just survive and take in the moments where you can feel the sun on your face.”
I held her gaze. “When I see you, I don’t see darkness. I see a bright light that just wants to be loved. You, Amelia, have been that to me. Whether you see that or not. Like a little saving grace, a beacon. Just having you near me has been like a breath of life.”
She smiled, though she tried to hide it. “Is that also a play on my name?”
“Well, Amelia Grace Brooks does have a nice ring to it.”
She blushed so beautifully as I jerked her to my lips, devouring every inch of her kiss. She didn’t fight my last name next to her name, she accepted me. If that was her dream to one day find love and grow love, then she’d already found it. I’d have her knowing that she is it,mydream. One day I’d see that belly grow with our child.
She was mine, she had been mine since day one. And I wasn’t letting her go one more day thinking otherwise.
Chapter 25
Amelia
How did I end up being the one that would end up being cuffed in the middle of a canvas with a man that would have been totally out of my league? But more importantly how did I end up being the one to open up, to be the one that would spill all her secrets to a man that simply wants to protect more than just my heart? That talked about a future that was brighter than I could imagine? One that was imagining myself.
Shooter looked at me like I was the one woman in his life that there was no other competition. The one woman that he would burn the world to make happy and for once I was okay with that, I leaned into it.
Every stroke of the brush that he painted on the canvas sent chills down my spine. If the goal was to drive me crazy and yearn for his touch, well, he was definitely winning. I kept imagining what the brush would feel like against my skin, would he paint me like I was a vision from a muse?
I hadn't told a whole lot of people about the miscarriage and for good reasons. It was one look into those whiskey colored eyes, I knew that he would do anything to make me happy, tofulfill any dream. There was pure sadness, sadness for the hope and dream that never came to be.
I thought he was kidding when he added his name onto mine, but there was no hint of laughter or joking for that matter. I could have fought, and yet I didn’t.
“You shouldn’t say things you don’t mean. It’s not nice,” I said, trying to pull away.
“Too bad that I tend to be a man of my word.” Shooter said. “Because when I say I would love to see that soft look on your face when you holdourchild one day, it just makes me want to do a lot of crazy things.”
Panic started to set in, though the sudden desire to allow him to do that was stronger. “Shooter,” I started to protest. It was crazy to think that a man that waited for me for long while pictures a life with me.
“I’m not hearing you say no.”
“You’re not hearing me say yes… just yet.” I slowly admitted the last part, flicking my eyes in his direction.
