Stronger By Your Side (Great Love Book 2) (23 page)

I sat in Sawyer’s hospital room like I had been for the past two days. Chelsea took over for my night shift at the Jitter Bug for a little longer and I got a sub for the week. I went home each night and stayed with Charlotte, but her days were normal at school and I tried to make everything at home seem normal too. I wouldn’t cry in front of her and forced myself to smile a normal amount. Emerson only worked two shifts a week, and they were in the emergency room, but this was her hospital and she had friends here. I was grateful for that, because they were taking good care of Sawyer. I hated that he was alone every night, but I needed to be home with my daughter. However, a sleepover one night wasn’t too abnormal, so I agreed to allow Jules to have Charlotte stay at her house tonight. I was grateful.

It wasn’t like I was actually sleeping at home anyway. I laid awake thinking about the last few months, about running into Sawyer, about Stew coming back into my life, about finally allowing myself to love Sawyer, and then Sawyer almost dying. And when I finally closed my eyes, it was no longer Stew haunting my dreams, but images of Sawyer burning in fire that woke me screaming. Tonight I had the luxury of opening my eyes and seeing for myself that Sawyer was in front of me, and although he was still unconscious, for now he was okay. I rubbed his hand lightly and then I froze.

I could have sworn his finger had twitched, but I was running on no sleep, so it was possible I was delirious. I took a deep breath and told myself to calm down. Then, as I continued to rub his hand, it happened again. “SJ?”
Please please please
. Nothing. I laid my head down on his hand and shook it lightly as I took another deep breath.

“Pumpkin?”

I sat up quicker than I think I had ever moved in my life. I searched the room, and then my eyes landed on Sawyer’s tube-covered face to see his eyes were still shut and he still appeared to be unconscious.

“I’m losing my freaking mind.” I grunted to myself.

Sawyer’s hand stirred lightly, and my eyes flew to it in disbelief, then back to his mouth as he softly spoke in a raspy voice, “Stop talking to yourself, weirdo.”

I leapt up to my feet and pushed the call button for the nurse. Then I grabbed his hand and got closer. “SJ! Oh my God, SJ.” He laughed lightly and then groaned in pain. “I’m sorry, I’ll talk quieter.” I whispered. “I just can’t believe it. Thank you, God.” A slow stream of tears began to flow down my face as Sawyer opened his eyes and slowly looked over at me.

“Shh . . . don’t do that. You know I hate it.” I sniffed and nodded, then he groaned. “No one should be that cute when they cry.” I laughed lightly, glad to see he was still himself, then the door opened and a nurse came in.

“Well, well, well, look who decided to join the world.” I smiled wide, excited that he had.
 

Sawyer

The doctor had come and gone, telling me that everything looked good. I had second degree burns on my arms and back, along with a severe head wound, a deep gash. Due to shock, I couldn’t feel it, and because it was dark, neither Cal nor I saw it until it was too late. I had lost so much blood that they had to give me a blood transfusion when I got to the hospital. I must have hit my head when the fire blew me off my feet and away from Cal. I also had a severe concussion and very minimal bleeding of the brain. He said everything was looking good now and I should be able to go home in a few days. That was music to my ears. Uncle Tom, my aunt and cousins had all come by already, along with almost everyone from my station. It was humbling but overwhelming to have so many people come in and out. But I felt blessed, to have people who cared, to be alive to see them, and to have Megan by my side the entire time. Sarah and Travis had just come by and left when Cal and Emerson arrived. I didn’t have the energy to ask anyone if something was finally going on between Travis and Sarah, but the fact that they seemed to always be together lately didn’t slip my mind.
Later
, I told myself.

Megan sat next to me, holding my hand, just as she had been since I’d woken up. I looked down at our intertwined hands and up at her gray eyes. She caught my glance and her cheeks blushed. I smiled at the way she was reacting to me and then looked over at Cal. “So tell me—” I started. I had a lot of questions. “Is Harry okay? Lucy? Was Margo happy?”

Cal laughed. “He gained consciousness right as I started to run towards the trucks to get you help, I startled him awake I guess.” He shrugged and I laughed lightly. He continued, “Lucy stayed by your side until they carried you off, then she was reunited with Harry and Margo. Harry started crying and Margo did, too. They hugged and kissed and it was a good ending.”

I smiled. “I’m glad. Hey, how are you? You hurt?”

Cal shrugged. “I have some burns on my arms and back, but I’m okay.”

I nodded. “Glad to hear it, man.”

Cal nodded back. “Thanks, man. Hey, you know how you got the head wound? I’m sorry I didn’t catch it, I never saw you hit your head and then it was so dark—”

I cut him off, raising my hand. “It’s alright, and I’m not sure. I can’t remember much. That guy pushed me out the way of that tree, but I hurt my arm, not my head, but later when the fire blew us out . . . I think I tried to jump forward and hit my head on a rock. I’m not sure. I remember the guy carrying me and then standing over me, then you came up, so it had to happen then.” Cal nodded, looking like he was thinking.

Megan squeezed my hand and I looked down at her. “Someone saved you?”

I nodded and adjusted my shoulders. “Local guy, I think. He said his friends called him Max.” Everyone in the room stilled and then seemed to shake it off like there was some coincidence “What?” I looked around.

Cal shook his head. “I was thinking I was crazy, but let’s try something.” Megan smiled weakly and Emerson did too. Cal pulled out something from his back pocket and looked at it for a second, sighing and shaking his head. “You said he was wearing a blue flannel shirt, camo cap and jeans?”

I nodded. What was going on? Cal put his hand out, extending what seemed to be a picture to me. With the hand that didn’t have an IV in it, I grabbed it lightly and brought it up to my face. My heart stopped beating and my lungs begged for air. The guy who saved me was staring back at me, in the exact outfit he had worn that night. And suddenly I knew why his green eyes and blonde hair seemed familiar . . . I had seen them reflected in a little girl, a little girl I loved and missed. I swallowed hard and looked over at Cal, in disbelief at what he was trying to say.

“You don’t think . . . ?” Cal shrugged his shoulders and took the picture from me and slowly handed it Megan, who began to cry silent tears.

“Was it him?” Cal asked. I just stilled. Was I going to sound crazy if I told the truth? Maybe I did hit my head really hard. I just nodded and looked over at Megan, who was rubbing her thumb over her late husband’s face. Cal’s voice spoke low, as I continued to watch Megan with concern. “I told you we had gone to that creek to fish. That picture was taken the last time we did.” I rolled in my lips and watched Megan slowly hand the picture back to Cal. Emerson wiped a single tear off of her cheek and held onto Cal’s arm. I reached up with the hand that didn’t have tubes hanging out of it and wiped Megan’s cheeks.

She smiled up at me sweetly. “He believed in miracles, angels . . . this is his way of telling me ‘I told you so’.” She smiled up at Cal, and they both laughed.

“Stubborn bastard,” Cal said under his breath, and the two of them laughed louder.

After a little longer of a much lighter conversation, Emerson and Cal left to go pick up the twins. To my surprise, Megan was able to stay the night with me. After we ate dinner and laid in my hospital bed watching The Nature Channel for a little while, I decided to get some answers.

“Pumpkin.” I whispered into Megan’s ear.

She placed a hand lightly on my chest and turned up so her eyes met mine. “Yeah?”

I rubbed her back with my hand. “When I was out, I heard something. Something that kept playing over in my mind, and I need to know . . . ” She swallowed hard, and her eyes met mine with a magnetic pulse. I held her gaze for a moment and fought the urge to claim her mouth.

She licked her lips, and her eyes traced my face until they landed back on my eyes. With a look of confidence, she sighed and said, “I love you.”

I felt my lips curl up into a smile and I nodded. “That’s it.”

She smiled back at me. “SJ, I have loved you my whole life, and I thought because I loved Charles too, that meant that I didn’t truly love one of you, but I was wrong. My love for him doesn’t mean I love you any less, and vice versa. I love you, Sawyer James Prescott . . . so very much.” She swallowed hard and I smiled wider. I sat up, pulling her up with me and pressing her into me in a tighter hug, pulling at my IVs slightly, but it was worth it. I kissed the top of her head and then looked down into her gray eyes.

“Megan, I knew I loved you when I was eight, when you showed me so much compassion. You were so selfless, and I could see that you loved me.”

Her cheeks blushed. “I did.”

I smiled wider, happy at the way this conversation was going. “I love you, Pumpkin. I will never stop loving you—not if you run away, hide, leave me, stop loving me—I will never stop loving you.”

The tears came back into her eyes. “I understand that now, but SJ?” I brushed the hair out of her face and looked at her in response. “I will never stop loving you either, I never did, and now I understand that I wasn’t supposed to.” I licked my lips and smiled wider than I think I ever had. Then I did what my lips had been begging me to do for weeks. I bent down and claimed her mouth with mine. Her lips parted, and our tongues danced in a swirl of emotion that almost made me cry. Almost.
 

Megan

It had been a week since Sawyer had gotten out of the hospital, and after he talked me into it, Charlotte and I moved in with him. Jules wasn’t upset. In fact, it worked out well, because Chelsea had been covering my shift and really wanted out of her parents’ house. Charlotte was more than happy to move into the large house that came with a dog and a horse and plenty of room to play. I had gone back to work two days after Sawyer woke up and everything was seemingly back to normal. Sawyer’s house worked well for us. Although it was technically in the next town over, because it was in the country, it was only twelve miles from my work and eight from his, almost in the middle.

Sawyer was off of work, on temporary medical leave, until next week, and he insisted on picking up Charlotte from preschool today. I thought it was a little strange but didn’t argue. I was loving the fact that they naturally loved one another and seemed to get along so well. The fact that Sawyer wanted to spend time with Charlotte touched my heart. I trusted him more than I trusted myself, so the two of them being alone together didn’t bother me, although the trouble they could get into together worried me.

I pulled up to Sawyer’s . . . our house—I was still getting used to that—and saw something strange. I pulled into where I always parked and noticed rose petals going from my parking spot to the front door. I furrowed my brows in confusion and grabbed my work bag. I slowly followed the trail of flowers inside the house and looked around at the sun going down. Then I stopped and listened to Dierks Bentley singing
Riser
over speakers and stilled. I slowly opened the already parted door to see Charlotte dressed in a light pink party dress. I dropped my bag by the front door and looked around to see the lights dimmed, with candles flickering all around.

“Hey baby. What are you doing? Where’s SJ?” Charlotte looked into the hallway and I saw Sarah’s head bob away.

I arched my brow, then Charlotte looked up at me with a wide smile and reached for my hand. “Baby, what’s going on?” Charlotte just pulled me behind her along the continued path of petals out the back doors and onto the deck. There, standing surrounded by roses and candles, was Sawyer in a full tux. My hand flew to my mouth at the realization of what this was, and Sawyer smiled.

As the sun receded behind the mountain, he got on one knee in front of Charlotte and me. “Megan, I have loved you since I was five years old, and not a day since then has gone by that I haven’t loved you. I promise to love you forever. Will you please make my life complete? Will you please marry me?”

A tear rolled down my cheek and I nodded. “Yes!” He placed the beautiful silver ring with a sapphire in the middle on my finger, and my heart stopped. “Oh my God, SJ . . . ”

He smiled wider. “It was—”

I nodded. “Beth’s. I know. Thank you.” I smiled at him as he rose and gently placed his hands on my cheeks and kissed me until I was dizzy. My concentration was broken with clapping and cheers. My cheeks turned bright red at the realization that we were not alone. I turned to see Travis, Sarah, Cal, Emerson and the twins all behind us.

I laughed, but Sawyer interrupted the congratulations. “Hold on, guys, not done.” I looked up at him, confused. He quickly looked down at Charlotte and back at me. “I would like to ask another pretty girl a special question. I didn’t talk to you about it sooner because I wanted it to be surprise . . . just tell me if you . . . ”

I smiled wide and then kissed him with a quick peck, followed by a nod. “Please do.” He smiled and then got down on one knee in front of Charlotte.