Of course, Gramps and dad laughed their asses off when Gramps retold the story of me passing out and hitting my eye on the table.

I tried to explain many times that I’d tripped and got knocked out when I hit the table, but it didn’t matter. Gramps changed the story every time he told it, and he’d already told three nurses, a doctor, and one intern.

A young guy walked into the room with one of the nurses. I smiled at both of them while they walked up to Ellie and looked at me.

“Mr. Mathews, Mrs. Mathews.”

“Please call me Ellie.”

“Ellie, it is,” The young guy said.

He couldn’t have been but a few years older than me.

“Gunner,” I said as I reached out and shook his hand.

“I’m Dr. Johnson.”

Ellie let out a laugh. “Hey, that’s my maiden name!”

I took a step back. “You’re the doctor? Like as in the doctor who’s going to deliver little bear?”

“Little bear? Is that what we call the baby?” Dr. Johnson asked.

“How old are you, dude? Have you ever even delivered a baby before? Are you even out of medical school?”

“Gunner!” Ellie said as she gave me a dirty look.

Dr. Johnson let out a laugh. “Well, Gunner, I’m thirty-three years old with three kids of my own. Yes, I’ve delivered my fair share of babies. And I’ve been out of medical school for five years now.”

Ellie shot me another look.

I sat down in the chair and just stared at the doctor.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. You just look really young. Please forgive me.”

He let out a laugh and looked at the monitor.

“Ellie, can you feel the contractions at all?”

“I can feel pressure.”

“Okay. Well I’m going to take a look to see how you’re coming along, okay?”

Ellie nodded her head.

After a few minutes he stood back up and smiled.

“Ellie, are you ready to get this show on the road?”

Ellie smiled. “Yes.”

“Then, let’s get little bear out and into the big world, so he can meet his mommy and daddy.”

I jumped up. “What? Now? We’re going now?”

Dr. Johnson looked at me as he took a few steps toward me. “Dude, it’s going to be alright. Take deep breaths and just be there for your wife. I’ve got the baby part down. I wouldn’t want you to pass out again.” He winked at me before he turned to the nurse and started talking to her.

Damn it, Gramps. What? Is he just walking around telling everyone?

***

For the next three hours, I stood next to Ellie while she exhausted herself from pushing. Finally, at two minutes after four, I heard the first cries from our baby.

“Well, your little bear is a girl. Congratulations, y’all.” Dr. Johnson said as he held up our baby for us to see.

When I looked at Ellie, she was crying. I felt the tears rolling down my face as I looked over at little bear. She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life.

Dr. Johnson asked, “Mr. Mathews, would you like to cut the umbilical cord?”

Speechless, I just nodded my head with a smile.

***

A nurse took the baby over to a table to clean her up. While the doctor was fixing up Ellie, she kept looking around him to watch the nurse was doing.

After the doctor was done with Ellie, he helped her to sit up.

The nurse came over, holding my sweet baby girl.

“Dad, your daughter would like to meet you face to face.”

I held out my arms as the nurse placed my little bear gently in them. She looked up at me and yawned. My heart was pounding hard in my chest. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Her beautiful blue eyes embraced me heart and soul. She was just staring up at me. In that moment, I knew that she would always trust me to take care of her and to love her unconditionally. I’d die before I’d ever let anyone or anything hurt her.

Ellie was now sitting up all the way, and I looked over at her. She had tears running down her face. I turned and slowly put our baby girl in her arms.

They just stared at each other, like they knew what the other was thinking. I was in awe of the exchange. The baby didn’t even cry. She just stared up Ellie.

“Hello, Alexandra Eryn Mathews. I’ve waited a long to time meet you, baby girl,” Ellie said.

Ellie looked up at me and smiled.

Then, she turned to the nurse. “When can we all go home?”

“We want you to stay at least overnight. If all is going well and she’s eating enough, y’all can go home tomorrow.”

***

Later that night after everyone had finally left, Ellie and I sat on the sofa with Alex sound asleep in my arms.

“I didn’t think they would ever leave!” Ellie said with a laugh. “I’m exhausted.”

“Are you hungry, sweetheart?” I asked.

I continued stroking Alex between her eyes and down her nose. She must have liked it because it put her to sleep fast.

“I’m starved, but you’re not going to find anything open in Fredericksburg this late at night. Oh wait! McDonald’s! I could really go for a Big Mac…and large fries…oh, and a giant-ass sweet tea.”

I laughed and leaned over to kiss her. I stood up and gently put Alex down in the bassinet. Then, I turned and helped Ellie up and back into bed.

“You got it, baby. One Big Mac and large french fries coming up.”

I turned toward the door to leave, Ellie called out,

“Sweet tea! Don’t forget the sweet tea, Gunner!”

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

HEATHER

By the time we left the hospital, it was well after midnight.

Ari called Jenny to let her know we were on our way back. Jenny begged Ari to let her and Aaron keep Luke all night.

“I don’t know. I’ve never had him gone overnight before. You promise to bring him home first thing tomorrow morning? Okay, I guess it’ll be kind of nice to sleep in a little in the morning for once.”

When Ari hung up, Jeff expressed his happiness. “Hells yeah baby, we’re having sex all night long. Don’t worry, Heather, I’ll find some ear-plugs for you.”

Ari and I both laughed.

I pulled up, and Jeff jumped out of my car.

“Jeff, can you give me and Heather a few minutes, please?” Ari asked.

“Sure, baby, y’all take your time.”

Ari and I got out of the car and headed toward the house. We walked up to the porch and sat down.

“What happened?” Ari asked.

Heather sat back and let out a sigh. “Josh and I had a fight.”

“About?”

“Lynda. What else? Ugh, Ari, she is something else. She won’t leave him alone, and he feels like he owes her something. It drives me crazy.”

“Have you talked to him at all since you got here?”

“No. When everything happened with Ellie, I forgot about it. He was supposed to go to some Christmas party at his mother’s law firm. I was supposed to go with him, but then we started fighting, so I came here instead. I tried to call him from the hospital, but it went straight to voicemail. I sent him a text telling him about Ellie and the baby, but I guess he’s pissed. He must have turned off his cell phone. Every time I try to call, it goes straight to voicemail.”

“It has to be hard for him. Baby, you know he loves you. He told Jeff that he’s moving to Fredericksburg next month.”

I looked over at Ari and smiled. “Yeah, I still can’t believe he’s going to move his whole business just to be with me. He’s doing so well. I hope this doesn’t cause him to lose any business.”

“It won’t, Heather. Don’t worry. He loves you and wants to be with you. Don’t worry about Lynda either. After Josh is out of Austin, she’ll see that he’s truly yours, and she’ll move on.”

“God, I hope so.”

Just then, Jeff walked out onto the porch and looked at Ari and me with concern etched on his face.

Ari jumped up.

“What’s wrong? Luke! Is Luke okay?”

I slowly stood up. Jeff was looking at me. Something was wrong.

“Ari, Luke is fine, baby. He’s fine.”

“Jesus, Jeff. What’s wrong then?”

“I just got a phone call from Josh’s mother Elizabeth…”

My heart started pounding.

Just then, my cell phone went off, I must have gotten a signal right then. I pulled it out of my pocket to see I had three missed calls…from Elizabeth. She must have called when I had no signal, and they just now all came through.

I looked up at Jeff.

“Heather, Josh has been in a car accident.”

I took a step back and fell into the chair. All the memories of my parents’ accident came flooding back to me.

“Baby girl, I’m going to drive you into Austin, okay?” Jeff said.

I nodded my head and looked at Ari, who was kneeling down next to me.

She looked up to Jeff.

“How is he, Jeff?”

Jeff cleared his throat.

“He’s in critical condition, and, um…he’s in surgery right now.”

I jumped and ran to my car. I had to get to Josh right now.

Jeff came up behind me and grabbed me.

“Let me go, Jeff!” I screamed, kicking and pushing for him to let me go.

“Heather, calm down. Let me drive you to Austin.”

“Let me go! Oh my god!” I fell to the ground and started crying.

Jeff held on to me as I cried hysterically.

Ari dropped to the ground next to me and put her hands on my face. “Heather, look at me, sweets. Let us take you to Austin. It’s going to be okay.”

“I can’t lose him. Oh god Ari… I can’t lose him, too.”

Jeff picked me up and put me in the backseat of his truck.

Ari jumped in next to me and held on to me. She just kept repeating herself. “Baby girl, everything’s going to be okay. It’ll be okay.”

It was my parents’ car accident all over again. Images of me in the backseat of my uncle’s car while Ari held me flashed through my mind. Even then, she did the same thing, telling me everything was going to be okay.

But it hadn’t been okay. My parents had left me.

If I lose Josh…I’ll lose my whole world.

EPILOGUE

HEATHER

It was just supposed to be another day at the lake. I knew he was bringing her. Ari told me. I watched as they laughed and kissed each other.

Each moment that passed, I died a little more inside. Every now and then, he would look at me. I tried to smile when he did, but it took every ounce of energy I had to smile at him and act like I was happy that he was with her. When I did manage a forced smile, he would give me a weak smile in return.

***

As the day went on, I hated her more and more. She did this. She knew that he was mine, but she went after him with everything she had.

She won.

When I walked up to the bon-fire, Ari reached out and grabbed my arm.

“Maybe you and I should take a walk, Heather.”

“Why? It’s getting cold, and I just want to sit by the fire.”

Ari looked back over at the fire. I followed her eyes and saw Josh and Victoria hugging. My stomach turned, and I wanted to throw up.