A Long Time Coming (27 page)

“It’s not fair, Mom…it’s not
fair!” That was her cue, she had to back away. The emotions, the ache, it was
all too much for her.

Pressing her fingers to her
lips, Abigail found herself in David’s chest only seconds later, sobbing there,
completely enveloped by the warmth of his arms. He simply held her whispering,
“Shh” in her ear, over and over, comforting her, even as the teardrops fell
from his own eyes onto her forehead.

Damn. This family’s glue was
no longer sticky. Everyone was broken—shredded—nothing was holding it together
this time. Life freaking sucked, always taking what it thought it deserved and
ruining them with its evil hand. She just prayed that they could come back from
this—all of them—a little bit stronger than before.

Chapter Twenty–Six

His bed was freezing,
completely bare without her tucked against his side. Abigail had been staying
with him—or he’d been staying with her—almost every night since they’d returned
from California two weeks ago. But tonight, he couldn’t ask her to stay for
anything. Not after what had gone down with his family. In fact, the first
chance she got, she wound up splitting, looking almost relieved when he’d given
her the go–ahead. The girl had done her fair share of crying, so he figured she
needed an emotional break. He couldn’t exactly blame her really, he was wishing
for the same thing himself. But admittedly he’d been a little more than sad to
see her go. It just showed how far in deep he already was with her. It would
never change, for as long as he was living on this earth, he knew that his feelings
for Abigail would always be there—squeezing his chest, tearing him apart only
to put him back together again in the end.

Something moved at the foot of
his bed, and he wiggled his five toes, trying to make out what it was. Really
though, he already knew who was there when she huffed and puffed like a
non–vicious wolf. It was his sister. “All right, spill it, Harley. I’m awake,
no point in being so nonchalant about waking me up.” He settled his arms behind
his head, blinking to try and make out her form in the early morning light of
his room.

“Why didn’t you tell me about
your head?” Who knew a simple, whispered question could make his heartbeat
thunder inside of his chest. Of course she had to go deep so early in the
morning.

“Because… I had it under control
and I didn’t want you to worry about anything else. You already felt enough
guilt as it was. There was no point in adding to it. I told you that.” It was a
simple fact, and if she didn’t get it—didn’t understand—then so be it.

“And how long have you known
about Mom?” She choked out, this time pulling the blanket down off of him so
she could cover her legs. “Has it been a while? Because I’m pissed they told
you before me, you know.”

His eyes shut as he spoke.
Christ, he didn’t want to talk about this. But he also knew he had to. Harley
needed to be clear on everything going on. “I knew the truth the night Dad
picked me up from the airport after I left California. He just sort of busted
it out, right there in the damn car on the way home. Cried his freaking eyes
out, Harley, it was terrible.” There was no point in mentioning that he did the
same. That was a night he didn’t want to remember.

“Jesus, David. Is this really
happening to us again?” She fell forward onto her belly, resting her hand upon
her chin as she stared at him in the dark. “Why do our lives have to be so…so
crappy sometimes? We’re good people, you know?”

“I know, sis. But you know
that old saying—God only gives you what he knows you can handle?” He swallowed,
fighting his emotions, wishing he could just man up, knock this emotional shit
off. “But what we need to do, is convince Mom that she can fight this thing.
She’s all but given up already!”

“Well, maybe she’s just
scared, you know? Maybe we can just, I don’t know, guilt her into it?” Her eyes
seemed to brighten—even through the darkness. “I mean, I’m terrified, I can’t
even imagine what she’s going through. I can’t lose her though, and there’s no
way in hell I’m going to go to Chicago now either.”

“She’s gonna be pissed if you
don’t.”

“Shit, David, maybe I just
needed something to keep me from going in the first place. An excuse or
something? I mean, don’t get me wrong, the opportunity is fantastic, but is it
really what I want right now? I mean, I can’t be without Mason and I
have
to be with Mom during this shit, too.”

“Then I guess you’ve already
made up your mind, haven’t you?” He fell forward, mirroring her position on the
bed. She smiled sadly at him, and he could still clearly see her tears.

“Yeah…guess I have, huh?”
Silence accompanied them in the room, other than Harley’s occasional sniffles.
He lowered his elbows, and reached for her hand, patting it with his own.

“Harley, no matter what, we’ll
always have each other. And if Mom… Fuck, I can’t even say it. But just…we’ve
just got to promise one another that we’ll be there for each other. I promise
there will no more secrets on my behalf, no matter how crappy they are. And
you’ve got to do the same.”

“I wasn’t the one keeping
secrets, D. You were.” An accusing finger was jabbed into his face and he
pushed it away, grinning at her.

Yeah, he knew that. And in a
way he was declaring the idea to himself, rather than just expecting her to say
it back in return. He was done with the secrets. Done with keeping things from
the people he loved. In that list included his parents, Harley and of course,
Abigail too.

* * *

“I’m gonna need all the help I
can get once this baby gets here, you know.”

The sound of her laughter
eased the tension draining down the moment. Breathing weirdly became easier
when his sister was happy. It’s like her moments were his—both the bad and the
good. Guess that was just a twin intuition thing they shared.

“Hah! You’re…gonna be a Dad….
Big Broody David Anderson, with his hate for life and his moody attitude, is going
to bring a little spawn into this world.” Her laugh grew louder and she pressed
her hand over her mouth, obviously trying to hold back the giggle frenzy.

Okay, so maybe they didn’t
share
all
of the same emotions after all. Wasn’t that just awesome of
his sister though, to think
so
highly of his non–parenting abilities?
The
little brat…

“You do realize how scary that
sounds, right?” She nudged him this time adding along to the tease. An answering
snarl was all he had to give in response. “I mean, you don’t even
like
kids. And kids don’t even like you—granted things will be a little bit
different now that it’s your own flesh and blood—but still. I can’t see you
being the parenting type.”

Yeah, neither could he. His
only hope was that this baby would pop out more like its mom than its dad. No
matter, he could easily see himself at least
being
there for Abigail and
this baby, even if he doubted his abilities in the end. But in a strange sort
of way he had a lot to offer a kid—especially if it was a boy. He’d school him
in sports—football mostly—even if one of his legs
happened to be
MIA. He
couldn’t do the braids, granted, or makeup thing either if it was a girl, but
he could scare the boyfriends away if they stepped too close.

He frowned at that thought,
scratching his chin. Shit…a girl… Jesus Christ, he was in a hell of a lot of
trouble here, wasn’t he?

“David, hey!” Fingers snapped
in front of his face and he blinked, coming back from his annoying thoughts.
“Get out of the place you were just in now, cuz it’s not a good location to be.
I can tell that just by your face. I know what you’re doing.”

Narrowing his eyes, he sat up,
staring down at his apparently
know–it–all–sister
. “Oh yeah, and what’s
that?”

“Easy, you’re trying to
convince yourself that you’re gonna suck as a dad.”

“So what if I am?” His tone
came off way more offensive than he meant it to. He cleared his throat, and
shrugged, trying to go carefree this time, even if he felt anything but.
“Enough about me though, I want to hear about what happened with the whole
marriage
thing.”
Good—put things in her corner—turn this around and pressure
her.

Cringing, she sat up, tucking
her knees under her chin. “Not much to tell, really. I told him no again, and
he hasn’t mentioned it since.”

“And…?”

Sighing, she shut her eyes as
she spoke. He didn’t know if she was genuinely tired, or emotionally trying to
hold it together. His guess was both, but he wasn’t going to question it.

“And I want to marry him,
badly. I just… I don’t know… I mean, I want us both to be settled with life
before we take that sort of plunge, you know?”

Yeah, he knew exactly what she
meant. But sometimes life held those unexpected surprises thrown in—like
someone losing a leg, or having cancer for example. So to him, following
through with what felt right was better than never experiencing it at all. Did
he condone an early marriage? Well, once upon a time he hadn’t, no. But now? He
wasn’t sure. One thing
was
for sure though, he loved Abigail. She made
him who he was, and in turn he could only hope she felt the same way. Two
halves made a whole and together, they’d make the perfect circle, or square, or
messed up triangle, whatever the fuck they really were. There would never be
any doubt in his mind about that again.

“And what about you? Are
you
going to make an honest woman out of my best friend, especially now that she’s
pregnant with your
child
?” Her grin was infectious, and he answered back
with an even bigger one of his own.

“Yes. I am…”

Well hell, where did that come
from? Harley’s eyes widened and her mouth gaped. His sister was in shock, there
was no doubt about that. It almost made the element of surprise worth it. He
didn’t catch Harley off guard often. “Don’t look at me with that face, Har.
I’ve known that Abigail would be my
forever
since I was a kid. You know
that as much as I do.”

Shaking her head, she stared
down at the bed, pulling on a random thread as her soft, whispered voice echoed
back. “Yeah, I know that. But…aren’t you scared?”

He blinked, there was only one
way to answer that: With the truth. “To fucking death, Harley—I’m terrified. I
mean, what if we don’t make it? What if I do something wrong and she regrets
settling with me—a guy who’s not even whole anymore? What if somewhere along
the way, she decides she wants more out of life than what she has here in
Hillsdale, with a guy like me?”

“Hah, now you sound like me.
So knock it off.”

“I’m not a hypocrite. I’ve got
better reasons for my thoughts than you do anyways. I’m physically damaged,” he
pointed down to his stump, unsuccessful at swallowing his regretful words, “I’m
never going to be good enough to be the man that Abigail deserves.”

“Oh no, don’t you
even
start with that, you dumbass. You know she loves you. And you know she doesn’t
care about your leg—or any other issues you apparently have either. You and
Abigail are the personification of two people who are just meant to be. And as
far as I’m concerned, it has taken you way too long to figure that out.”

Chuckling, he fell back on the
bed again, his thigh throbbed at the sudden movement, and he found the end,
wincing at the sudden burn under his fingers. “I’m not trying to play the
pity–me game here. I’m trying to let you know that my shit’s all coming
together—finally. I’m determined to be the guy she deserves, Harley. And for
the first time in almost three years, I’ve got a plan.”

His shoulders fell out of pure
relief. There, he’d told someone. It felt amazing to know that he’d verbally
spoken the words out loud. Now there was no way he could go back on them
without being considered a douchebag.

“Oh yeah? What’s your plan,
Stan? You make some life–altering decision or something? Have an epiphany
maybe? I’m good with epiphanies, you know. Some of the best things in life come
from epiphanies. Just call me
Harley the epiphany queen.
”

Snorting from laughter, he
threw his arm over his eyes. His sister was a rambler—and he loved the hell out
of her because of it, even if she didn’t know when to shut up sometimes. “Yes.
I had what you could call one of
your
epiphanies
. I want to get
my four year degree and become a PT.”

“
A PT
?” Plopping down
next to him, she peeled his arm from his head. Her brows pulled together—her
face held confusion and disbelief. “What the hell’s a PT?”

She was so damn dense
sometimes. “Jesus, Harley, a PT, as in a
physical therapist
?”

“Christ, David, I’m half
asleep here,” she swatted his arm, “…don’t be an ass.” Laying her head on the
pillow next to him, they sighed, almost as one. He’d missed
this
—missed
his time with his sister. The friendship they had wasn’t something he could
ever replace with some random person out there in the world. The two of them
were one of a kind.

“Sorry, but you
do
have
a lot of that density in you.” He turned his head and smiled, digging his
knuckles into her hair.

“Well, you and I did come from
the same womb, you know.” She scooted from his noogie assault and rolled over
onto her back. “I’m sure my
denseness
rubbed off on you in there too.”

“I’m serious here. I want to
do this,” he sighed again, tucking his arms behind his neck once more. “I mean,
I don’t know how or if it will work for someone like me, you know, with a
prosthetic and all. I just, man, after being around a kid yesterday with the same
issues as I have, I kind of, I don’t know…decided that it was a good option for
me—made me feel important and shit.” He sat up straight, knocking his head
against the headboard behind him. He couldn’t sit still. The excitement brewing
was way too intense to have so early in the morning. “You think I could do it?”