Even with the shadows of their pasts hovering behind them, it didn't mean the future couldn’t be bright and sunny. In fact, she was determined to make sure it was just that.
Sirens started to fill the air, and she felt Matthew shift, his muscles bunching, then he stood with her in his arms. It was only when she heard his muffled grunt of pain that she remembered he’d been shot.
“Are you okay? Put me down. Jason shot you, I was so scared you were dead,” she babbled, trying to wriggle out of his arms. How could she have forgotten that Matthew had been hurt? She shouldn’t have been lying all over him.
“I think you're fighting a losing battle, Gracie,” Elijah said, amusement in his tone.
“Your brother’s right, sweetheart, I'm not putting you down, not for anything. I'm alive, I'm okay, in a bit of pain, but there is nothing in this world that would make me let go of you right now. So put that pretty little head of yours back on my shoulder, close your eyes, and get some rest. You're the one who almost died, Grace, not me. So you're going to stay right here in my arms, I’m going to sit on the stretcher with you in the ambulance, and I might let go of you long enough for a doctor to examine you when we get to the hospital. I want to hold you, Grace, I need to, so stop fighting me.”
She stopped.
What was the point?
Matthew needed to hold her, and she needed to be held.
Grace rested her head on his shoulder, and let Matthew carry her away from her would be grave.
July 15th
11:12 A.M.
“I think you should have stayed in the hospital at least another day,” Matthew said, casting a glance at Grace, who was sitting in the passenger seat of his car.
“You weren’t staying,” she remined him.
“I wasn’t the one who stopped breathing.” For as long as he lived, he didn't think he would completely get over the image of Grace lying on the dirt while he kneeled above her forcing air into her lungs and willing her to take a breath.
“No, you were just the one who got shot.” There was the same stark fear in Grace’s eyes that he knew was in his own. They’d almost lost one another before they even had a chance to let this thing between them grow into something amazing. “There was so much blood, I thought for sure I was going to lose you.”
The pain in her soft voice tore at him. He wanted to make it better, take that pain from her, but he knew there was no way he could do that. Just like there was no way she could take away from him the pain of knowing he’d been literally a minute away from losing her.
One minute.
That was all that it would have taken and his efforts to revive her might not have worked. Or if he had managed to get her breathing again, she might have sustained brain damage.
She was his miracle, and he was going to be grateful every day that she was still with him.
“I agree,” Grace said.
“About what? I didn't say anything.”
“I know that look on your face, you're thinking how lucky we both were, and how we should focus on being grateful rather than obsessing over what could have happened, and I agree. Neither of us are going to forget, both of us will have scars. There will be moments when we cry and rage over what Jason put us through, but you're right, we need to keep focusing on the good. We’re alive and Jason is dead. He can't come after me again, and he can't hurt anyone who he feels is in his way. I’d say we are both pretty lucky.”
“Amen.” He reached out and Grace took his hand, lacing their fingers together. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to have her there beside him.
“My brothers didn't want me to come home with you,” Grace said after they’d driven in silence for a few minutes.
After getting to the hospital last night, she’d been checked out and admitted. She’d insisted he sleep in the bed with her, and he hadn't been about to pass up that opportunity. They’d both crashed for a solid eight hours sleep, and this morning she’d announced that if he would have her she’d like to stay with him.
Of course, he’d wanted nothing more than to have her in his home. Heidi had ordered him to take a month off to recover from the gunshot wound, and what better way to spend that time than with Grace? Her brothers had tried to pitch the idea of her staying with them for a while longer, but he hadn't said anything, wanting it to be Grace’s decision.
“They support us, but they’re worried that someone is going to get hurt,” Grace added.
“Of course they worry about you and things between us have happened pretty quickly, much quicker than either of us were anticipating.”
“I think they’re more worried about you getting hurt then me.”
“Really? Why?”