Every Breath (29 page)

“Mak?” Callie whispers. “You sleeping?”

I force my heavy eyes open and see her, Wes, and Sawyer standing over me. “Not anymore,” I snicker, even though it hurts a little. “You’re all kinda creeping me out, standing over me and staring like that.”

Sawyer leans over and kisses me. “I’m going to get some coffee and let you all talk.”

“Talk? About what?” This sounds serious. I’m tired of serious.

He grins. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

I look up at Callie when he walks away, and she and Wes are both grinning from ear to ear. “Now you’re
really
creeping me out. What’s going on?”

“I’m
pregnant
.”

I try to sit up, but Wes chuckles and nudges me back down. “What?! I thought . . .”

“We did, too,” Wes says. “I guess that one percent chance was all I needed.”

Callie’s eyes glisten with unshed tears. “I’m a couple weeks late, but I just chalked it up to all the stress I’ve been under and how depressed I’ve been. Then, for the last few days, I’ve been feeling really tired and a little nauseated. Wes came home with a pregnancy test last night, and even though I swore I wouldn’t take another because I couldn’t bear to see the negative test again, he convinced me. Before I could even set it on the counter, the little plus sign appeared.”

“Then she made me go buy five more.” Wes nudges her with his elbow. “All positive.”

“
And
I went to my doctor for a blood test this morning,” Callie laughs softly. “I still can’t believe it.”

I hold my arms out, and they both lean in to hug me. “I’m so happy for you both.” I pull Callie back to me when she tries to stand. “Cal, you’re going to be a mom!”

She nods, absolutely beaming. “And you’re going to be Aunt Makenna.”

“I love how that sounds.”

“One more thing,” Wes begins. “We talked about it last night, and we’ve already decided on a name. We want your blessing first, of course.”

“Why would you need my permission to name your child, silly?”

He squeezes my hand. “We want to name the baby after my brother. No matter if it’s a boy or girl, the baby’s name will be Shane.”

The image of a little golden-haired girl with the Baxter blue eyes pops into my mind. The name Shane will be perfect. “I love it so much. He would love it.”

Callie wraps her arms around her husband’s waist and rests her head on his chest. “I know he would.”

“Hey, uh, can I talk to Makenna for a minute?” Sawyer steps back into the room with a strange look on his face.

“Oh, sure,” Callie agrees. “We were just going to grab a bite to eat anyway.” She leans in to kiss me, and Wes does the same.

“Congratulations. I love you both.”

“We love you, too, kiddo.” Wes’s gaze lingers on the injuries on my face. “Get some rest.”

They walk out and Sawyer approaches my bed. “Are you up for one more visitor?”

“Who is it?”

“Andrew Pierce, Drew’s dad.”

The name is like a punch in the gut. “No. I don’t want to see him.”

Sawyer sits at the edge of my bed and takes my hand. “I’ve been talking to him out in the waiting room. I really think you’ll want to hear what he has to say. You know I wouldn’t let him in here, if I thought it would be hurtful to you.”

I sigh and close my eyes. “Okay. But stay close.”

He shakes his head up and down and goes back out in the hall. Even though I know he’s coming in, nothing could prepare me for seeing the man that Sawyer ushers into the room.

“I’ll be right outside the door if you need me.” Sawyer says, pulling the door closed.

“Hi, Makenna.” Drew’s father steps forward to the side of my bed. His eyes are dark and have bags under them. He doesn’t look like he’s slept in weeks. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”

“Hello, Mr. Pierce. I’m sorry, too. I know this must be hard for you.”

He shakes his head emphatically as his eyes scan over my injuries. “Don’t apologize. I should’ve warned you about his past. I could’ve saved you from all of this, but I had hope that he was finally better. I wanted to believe that we finally had our boy back.”

“What are you talking about? Do you mean Amy? I heard you and your wife out on the deck that night at his house, you know, but I never really understood what you meant.”

“I wish I had known that.” He sinks into the recliner by my bed. “I would’ve made sure you knew the whole story. Drew told you about his head injury, right?”

“Yeah, it took a while, but he finally did.”

“Right after that, he started having explosive mood swings. Poor Amy was at the receiving end of most of them, but she stuck by his side, determined to help him get better. She went to therapy with him and took care of his every need. My wife portrays her to be a gold digger, but Amy didn’t care about any of that. She loved Drew, more than he even deserved. He was having a particularly bad episode one evening and ended up shoving her down the stairs. My wife convinced her not to file any charges, and Amy knew it would only make him worse, so she agreed. After that, she left him. She’d already done everything she could, and she just gave up on him. I don’t blame her.”

“Wow. I’m glad she got out when she did.”

He sighs and hangs his head. “That’s not all. We didn’t know it for a while, but he became obsessed. He followed her everywhere, called her constantly, and even showed up at her house at all hours of the night. She finally called me, saying that she was getting ready to press charges if we didn’t convince him to leave her alone. I didn’t realize until then just how much his injury changed him. We confronted him about it, and he swore he’d stop. And as far as I know, he did. I convinced him to get a job, so he’d keep his mind busy. I was a little concerned when he told us about the coaching job, but he was so excited. He seemed like himself for the first time in many months. All this time, I thought he was better. I fell right into his web of lies, especially when it came to the Indianapolis job. Until yesterday, we didn’t even know about his addiction to pain killers.”

“Don’t feel bad. I was with him every day, and I didn’t know until he told me he was asked to resign. I don’t know if he ever told me the truth about anything.”

Mr. Pierce is wringing his hands and looks absolutely distraught. “I wish I could’ve stopped it somehow. My wife convinced me to stay out of it, and I regret it. You see, Drew’s grandparents left him a considerable sum of money; they left my wife absolutely nothing. He didn’t need the professional football job, but he loved it. He didn’t care at all about the trust fund, but he knew his mom did. He felt bad about it, so he’s been giving her money all this time. I didn’t even know until yesterday. That’s why she’s been hell bent on supporting him, no matter what he does. That’s why she didn’t like you; she thought he’d start spending it on you instead of her.”

Well, that explains a lot. “I wish I knew what to say. I’m glad you told me all of this though. I hope he can finally get some help.”

“I appreciate that.” He stands and places his hand on my arm. “I hope that, too. I really am sorry, Makenna. I talked to your fella out there for a while and apologized to him, too. He’s a true gentleman. Hang onto him.”

Even though it hurts, I smile. “Thank you, Mr. Pierce. I plan on it.”

“Where are we going? You really need to stay home and rest.”

It’s been three days since I got out of the hospital, and he’s been doting on me every second, even though he still has a cast on one arm. Callie and Wes came by yesterday to check on me, and he didn’t even let them stay longer than an hour. I can tell that he and Wes are really going to hit it off though. I swear they were having a contest to see who could tease me most.

“We’re going out to dinner. I’m sick of being in this house. It won’t hurt me to get out for a little while. I have bruises, Sawyer. Nothing fatal.”

He furrows his brows and huffs. “Fine. But we’re not staying out long. Where do you want to go?”

“I’m dying for Giano’s spinach ravioli.”

He gives a single nod. “Okay, I’ll call and let him know we’re coming.”

Oh, but he already knows. When Giano found out everything that happened, he took over my quest to find people that Sawyer saved. He even planned a little reception for him and invited them. I’m hoping that if Sawyer can see a few of those faces, he’ll be reminded of how much good he does. I think tonight will be special for him. We haven’t talked any more about his little hole in the wall, but I have a feeling he took it all down for my sake.

The ride to the restaurant is fairly quiet, but Sawyer is happy. I’m happy. He keeps looking over at me and smiling, as if it’s just too good to be true. Believe me, I know the feeling. After thinking I’d lost him, there’s nothing that could tear me away from him now.

“He didn’t tell me they were so busy when I called.” Sawyer says as we’re walking up to the restaurant. The parking lot is completely full, plus there are cars parked along the side of the road. I thought he was going to close the restaurant down for the party, but I guess he changed his mind.

“I’m not in any hurry to get back home, so we have plenty of time.”

He pushes the door open and the noise spills outside. There’s definitely quite a crowd in there. The butterflies decide to invade my stomach at that very moment, and I hope Sawyer doesn’t get mad at us for this. We just want him to feel special, to understand how much good he does.

“There’s my boy!” Giano boasts when we walk through the door. He motions to his cast. “You lookin’ a little rough these days.” He leans in to whisper. “Happens when you get old.”

Just then, Sawyer notices a familiar face stepping into the lobby. “Dalton? What are you doing here?”

“I’m here with a date. A very opinionated and kinda smelly date.”

Sawyer looks over his shoulder at me with one eyebrow raised.

Dalton elbows him. “Well, here’s my date now.” An attractive nurse backs into the room, and Sawyer is about to introduce himself until he sees the wheelchair she’s maneuvering into the room.

“William?” He’s getting really confused now.

“Hey there, boy. Looks like you caught me paintin’ the town red with this sweet, young thing.”

“What are you doing out of the nursing home?” A rise of laughter has him peering into the dining room. “What? Lancaster? Dominguez? What the hell are you doing here?” Sawyer greets Lancaster first who meets him halfway in a bear hug, but Dominguez is a little slower since he’s on two prosthetic legs.

“We’re here for
you
, brother.” Dominguez says with tears in his eyes.

“All of them?” I whisper to Giano, who is beaming with pride when he nods. The entire restaurant is full of people.

Slowly the realization dawns on him as he looks around the room at all the familiar faces. Many of them are soldiers, but there are also men and women of all ages, and even some children. Also, standing by Giano, is Anthony, his grandson. “What’s going on, Makenna? Why are all these people here?”

Giano steps forward with a wine glass and taps it with a fork. When the room goes silent, all eyes turn to me, and Giano motions to the easel against the wall behind me that’s covered in a dark tablecloth. We’ve been working on it for the last few days behind Sawyer’s back. I even had to slip Callie some pictures when they were at my house yesterday.

I clear my throat and turn to Sawyer, who is beyond bewildered at this point. “Sawyer, we’re all here tonight because we want you to know how dear you are to us. We all come with a different story, but we all share one thing. You. Without you, the majority of these people in this room wouldn’t be here. They wouldn’t be able to kiss their spouse, hug their children, spoil their grandchildren, and some of them wouldn’t ever have the opportunity to grow up to have any of that.”

Sawyer’s eyes are welling up with tears, but he stays quiet.

“You saved my life twice. You saved nearly every person in this room. I know that sometimes it’s easy for you to dwell on those you couldn’t save, but I want you to look around this room right now. At every face. These are the faces I want you to think of every day. It’s these faces that should push you to continue to do your best to help others. We brought you here tonight to thank you, even though those two words could never be enough. And . . .” I stop to slip the tablecloth from the easel to reveal a large board, every square inch covered by pictures. “if you have trouble thinking of these faces, you can look at this and know that they live because of you.”

He has silent tears streaming down his face as he steps up to inspect the pictures. His fingers skim across the two in the middle. Both of them are of me. One that was taken two years ago, and one that was taken a few months ago with Darcy. He saved her, too, after all. “I don’t know what to say. I really didn’t do much. I just did my job. I did what I was supposed to do.”

“A life is more precious than anything on this planet, son.” William croaks, getting quite emotional himself. “You gave these people their most valuable possession.”

I hold up my glass of wine and hold it to the crowd. “Thank you, Sawyer Harris.” The crowd repeats after me, and we all take a sip of wine. Everyone in the room stands and erupts in cheers, even William. For the first time, I think Sawyer finally realizes what he’s done. He finally, even if for one second, feels like he’s good enough, like he’s made a big difference in someone’s life. Lots of lives.