AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Elias,” Samara whined.“I feel sick.”
“Shit,” he groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face in frustration.“Jack, go with the girls.”
“But Elias, I want to go with you.”
He grasped her face gently in his hands and dropped a tender kiss on her mouth.“You need to go with Jack and Nishia, baby girl.Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.I won’t take my eyes off the ambulance the entire way to the hospital, I swear.”
Not waiting, I placed Nishia inside on the gurney.Once I was sure she was comfortable, I kissed her quickly and then climbed out.By then, Elias had convinced Samara to go with us, and he’d helped her in beside Nishia so the EMT could monitor her while putting a bandage on Nishia’s head during the drive to the hospital.
The ambulance had a little window that I was able to use to keep an eye on both girls during the trip.Even though I had my eyes on Nishia the entire time, I could barely breathe because I couldn’t touch her.
It was a long night.She ended up with six stitches, but the CT scan showed that other than a mild concussion, it was safe for her to be released.Samara wasn’t as lucky and had to spend the night for observation.
After Nishia said her goodbyes to her friend, I carried her out to the car, where my parents were waiting.I barely paid attention on the drive back to Sanctuary, too caught up in the relief of having my little fairy where she belonged.Resting her head on my chest, she drifted off to sleep, and the realization that Morgan was gone and she was finally safe once and for all hit me.
A calmness flooded through me, and I closed my eyes, able to take solace in the fact that I didn’t have to worry about anyone trying to take Nishia from me ever again.
“Bear?”she mumbled sleepily.
“I’m here, baby.”
She sighed contentedly.“Love you.”
“Love you, little fairy.”
epilogue
NISHIA
“Dessert and then Hannigans’?”Delaney asked as we walked into Aggie’s.
My brows rose like she’d lost her mind and didn’t remember that this was our typical Friday BFF night out.
Laughing, she shrugged.“Just checking to make sure you don’t want to get wild and maybe eat a slice of that pie Marcy made today and watch a movie in our pajamas.”
“Is that what you want to do?”I asked even as I opened the door to the diner.
“Heck no!I’m craving a piece of Kingston’s Death by Chocolate cake, followed by people watching at the bar.But I thought I’d be nice enough to offer an alternative.”
Inside, the restaurant was as crowded as it always was every Friday night.Glancing around, I tried to find an empty place for us to sit, but there were only two open seats at the counter.Taking my bestie’s hand, we walked over to where a new waitress stood filling another customer’s cup with coffee.
“What can I get you?”she asked, giving us a smile.
“Two slices of cake and the tallest glasses of milk you have,” Delaney requested.
“This pregnancy is going to cause a shortage of milk,” I told her when the girl walked away to get our drinks.
“It wasn’t like this with Ronan.I could barely eat my first trimester.Now I can’t stop eating sweets and guzzling ice-cold milk.”
“Have you told Ronan yet?”I picked up my own glass of milk as soon as the waitress set them in front of us.
“Girl, we’ve told everyone.You just happened to be the first to know because I can’t keep anything from my bestie.”She downed half her glass in two gulps before letting out a contented sigh.“Mm, that’s the good stuff.”
Our desserts were placed in front of us moments later, and I dug in just as hungrily as my pregnant friend did.It had been a long week at work, but I loved working at Barker & Reid.I enjoyed my job so much that I’d only taken enough college courses to get my office management certification so I could help Jos out with more than just answering the phones.Since then, she’d given me a set salary, and I got a raise every year.
Jack insisted we didn’t need the money, and I believed him, but I liked working.He got all growly about it every now and then, usually when I had to leave our bed on Mondays, but he knew my job made me happy.It had just been a little harder getting out of bed this past week.
“I thought we were going to be a one and done,” Delaney said as she continued to eat her cake.“I didn’t have a set number of kids in mind when we decided to get pregnant the first time, but after I had Ronan, the postpartum was horrible.Yeah, I had a great support team, but I couldn’t hear my own child cry or laugh.I felt useless as a mother.Max saved me by convincing me to get the cochlear implants.”
