by Abby Brooks
Between her tears and the rain, Ellie couldn’t see a thing. She knew she should pull over and wait out the storm, but she needed as much distance separating her from James as she could possibly manage. She dreaded seeing her apartment again. So small and cold. Fear tucked into the corners, little memories of Ben lurking in the dark, pointing and laughing at her.
Ellie swerved around a corner, her hands slick on the steering wheel and her foot heavy on the gas. She looked in the mirror and saw a pair of headlights in the distance. They seemed to be gaining on her a little too fast. She tapped her breaks and turned on her emergency blinkers and still the car barreled toward her. As the lights grew larger in the mirror, she panicked and stepped on the gas, electricity shooting through her veins.
And still the car gained on her.
Ellie was spending more time looking in the rearview than she did out the windshield. More time trying to understand what was happening behind her than she did paying attention to what was in front of her. She rocketed through a stop sign, but when she glanced in the mirror she saw her pursuer do the same.
Still gaining.
She passed her apartment and flew down the road leading away from Bliss. The car behind her closed the gap. And then, as if in slow motion, she watched it get too close. Realized it still wasn’t slowing down. And then, in a screeching howl of metal against metal, the car slammed into her. Ellie fishtailed out of control.
And the world on the other side of her windshield veered and then spun and flipped itself head over tails…
…over head…
…over tails.
Something hard slammed into her face, and something even harder hit the side of her head.
She screamed as light flared.
And then darkness.
Chapter Thirty-Four
James
The front door slammed, and James knew Ellie was gone. He watched through the window as she ran from Ian’s house. Betrayal and disappointment surged in his chest while a hollow ache settled into his stomach.
Just like that, she was gone.
And he had a feeling he’d never see her again.
The woman carrying his unborn child—the family he’d always wanted was slipping through his fingers.
He dropped his beer onto the table and ran after her, pushing through the crowd that had gathered behind him to watch the show. He burst through the front door in time to see Ellie drop her keys.
He called after her, but the wind ate his words. And before he could reach her car, she pulled away, her tires struggling for traction in the deluge.
As he turned to go back inside, the headlights from a car parked at the end of the drive flared to life, then pulled onto the road and squealed off after her. James’ blood ran cold. Nothing was wrong with what happened and yet, it seemed more than ominous.
Ellie was in danger and James knew it, every instinct in his body on fire.
He had to find her.
Had to save her.
“Ian!” James burst through the door, screaming for his brother. “I need your keys!” James held out his hand, water rolling down his face.
“What happened?”
“There’s no time! Give me your damn keys!” James shook his hand in exasperation while Ian grabbed his keys off the table near the door.
Ellie would likely go to her apartment. She’d need to pack her things before she could disappear, and she’d probably chalk up the stuff she had at his house as a loss.
And as angry as he was, he couldn’t let her do that. He couldn’t go back to his empty life, without purpose or necessity. He wanted Ellie with him. At his side for the rest of his years, and if she had his baby in her belly…?
If there was a chance they could be a family…?
His need to protect her surged, churning with the adrenaline flowing through his veins. He climbed in his brother’s truck and barreled through the rain toward Ellie’s apartment. He finally caught up to a pair of tail lights gleaming red through the storm. If he squinted, he thought he saw Ellie’s car in the distance, recklessly blowing through stop signs. Worry clenched his heart, but when the car between them didn’t stop either, anger joined the fray.
Ellie was in danger.
If only he’d been more understanding when she told him. If only he’d pulled her into his arms and told her how much he’d always wanted to have a family instead of losing control and letting his emotions rule. But there was no time for regret. As he watched Ellie fly past her apartment, he knew she’d realized she was in trouble.
James slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. His brother’s supercharged engine growled in agreement, sending the truck surging forward, a predator toward prey.
His heart froze when he saw the car in front of him slam into Ellie. She swerved, and in a moment of absolute horror, lost control. It spun sideways on the road then rolled onto its top, skidding off the pavement and down an embankment where it came to rest on its hood.
James screeched to a halt, the truck’s brakes squealing in protest. He leaped out of the vehicle into the rain, his heart beating a frantic rhythm, a tribal drum of fear.
The man in the car that hit Ellie was slumped over the steering wheel, the deflated airbag hanging like a blanket in his lap. One look at the car told James that guy wasn’t going anywhere. Fishing his cellphone out of his pocket, he dialed 911 and raced toward Ellie.
She hung suspended by her seatbelt, unconscious, blood dripping from her head. Her arms dangled, and she remained unresponsive as James counted his heartbeats until the paramedics arrived.
One arm was clearly fractured. She had a minor gash on the back of her head and a pretty major gash at her temple. James rode in the ambulance with her to the hospital and answered every question the paramedics asked.
“She’s pregnant,” he said when they asked for pertinent medical history.
“Does she plan on keeping the baby?” The EMT paused, a hypodermic needle millimeters from piercing her skin.
James didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
The EMT sighed and put the needle away. “We should be thankful she’s unconscious right now. She’s gonna be in a lot of pain when she wakes up.”
“Why? Can’t she have anything for the pain?”
He shook his head. “Nothing stronger than ibuprofen.”
When they arrived at the hospital, they rolled Ellie away on a stretcher, rattling off her vital signs amidst a flurry of medical jargon that had James’ heart in his throat.
Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay, he prayed as he settled into an uncomfortable chair, readying himself for the wait.
However long it took.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Ellie
Ellie woke in blips of consciousness, but every time her eyes blinked open, they felt like sandpaper, harsh and gritty. She tried to swallow, to wet her dry tongue so she could speak, but the effort felt monumental and the world spun until her eyes invariably fluttered closed again.
There were so many questions.
And so much pain.
She remembered the storm. She remembered running to her car. She remembered the hollow feeling of despair in her chest as she drove away. Her heart had been broken—but she couldn’t remember why.
Her memories were there—just out of reach—but trying to access them was like holding water in her hand, the more she struggled, the faster they slipped away.
She needed time.
Time to rest and time to heal.
Someone came to her bedside, their gentle hands on her face, smoothing back her hair. “It’s okay, sweet Ellie,” said a voice. “It’s all going to be okay.”
She tried to murmur her agreement but slipped back into the dark waters of unconsciousness before her lips could form the words.
When Ellie woke again the next afternoon, she found James asleep in the chair beside her, his head resting on the edge of her hospital bed, his fingers twining hers on the arm that wasn’t throbbing in pa
in. Seeing him brought that hollow feeling back to her chest, but without the fog of confusion she had before.
She’d told him about the baby. And he hadn’t taken it well.
Yet there he was, by her side.
Why?
Ellie struggled to sit up, desperate to understand where she was and get her bearings on what happened. But she couldn’t bring herself to let go of James’ hand.
With one arm occupied and the other in traction and aching, the raspy sound of her groans as she squirmed herself up in bed woke James from his dream.
Through bleary eyes he smiled wide when he saw her awake. “Oh, my sweet Ellie, I thought I’d lost you.”
Her mind raced with questions. “What are you…? How did I…?
“Shh.” James carefully placed his finger to her lips. “There’s no need to worry about any of that. The only thing you need to focus on now is healing, my love.”
The next few days were hell. She couldn’t have anything stronger than ibuprofen because of the baby and she writhed in pain as a result. Her arm and head were an agony she wasn’t sure she could endure. She couldn’t think over the pain. Couldn’t hear the well-wishes people stopped in to offer.
Through it all, James sat at her side. He didn’t speak—other than to ask what she needed. He didn’t expect anything of her; he just wiped the sweat from her brow and reminded her that it would all be okay. And eventually it was. The pain receded, finally subsiding enough that she could think in a straight line again.
But that brought a different kind of pain, because she didn’t know what it meant that he was there with her. Didn’t know if it was guilt that had kept him in her corner. And most importantly, she didn’t know if she’d been forgiven for her lie.
Fear that his presence was still part of the fairy tale crept up until she couldn’t take a full breath.
James slept in a cot they wheeled into her room. He ate at the cafeteria and always brought back treats that he fed to Ellie with the patience of a saint. He brought a brush for her hair and laughed at himself when he realized you didn’t brush curly hair. He brushed her teeth. He helped her to the bathroom. He was everything she needed. Still. And more.
When he was confident Ellie was ready, he explained what happened that fateful night. How regret had taken hold almost immediately and drove him to follow her. His teeth clenched as he described watching Ben ram her. And how the cops pulled him from his car, raving and wild, a frenzied animal spewing threats on Ellie’s life. He explained how Ben went to the hospital in handcuffs while he rode in the ambulance with her.
On the day Ellie was released, James helped her into his truck and leaned across her to buckle her seatbelt. “There you go, sweet Ellie,” he said with a smile.
She watched him walk around the front of the truck, his powerful body moving with confidence. His handsome face so welcome and familiar. They still hadn’t spoken about the great big what now hanging between them and her stomach seethed with worry.
James pulled himself up into the driver’s seat and closed the door gently, careful not to rock the truck out of worry it might cause her pain. “I bet you’re ready to get home.” He turned the keys in the ignition and the engine came to life.
She wasn’t at all ready to see her apartment again. Wasn’t at all ready to go back to surviving instead of living. Ellie shrugged then groaned, the movement hurting her arm.
“James?”
He turned to her, a question on his face.
Ellie stared into her lap. “What now?”
He refocused on the road and swallowed. “We get you home and into bed. Get you set up with the things you need. And you rest until you’re healed.”
“That’s not what I meant. What about us?” Anxiety fluttered in her stomach and she leaned her head against the headrest, the movement of the truck making her dizzy after so much time spent lying still.
“I think that’s pretty obvious. Don’t you?”
“Clearly, I’m still feeling unsure about it, or I wouldn’t ask.” The filter between Ellie’s head and mouth was nowhere to be found.
James sighed and kept his eyes on the road. “I love you, Ellie Charles. When you ran away from me at Ian’s house, when that door slammed between us, I knew without a doubt that I couldn’t face my life without you. And then, when I watched your car flip, and I thought I’d wasted my last moments with you yelling and being childish, my whole…I don’t know...my entire being rejected the idea.” He turned to her, his eyes wide and misty with unshed tears. “I am yours, and you are mine, and I want to cherish every last minute with you as if it were truly the last time I’ll see you.”
A surge of emotion stole Ellie’s voice. She swallowed hard and smiled at James, as the tears in her eyes made him wobble and glimmer. “And the baby?” she finally choked out.
“Yes, and the baby.” He smiled as if that clarified everything.
“What does that mean? I need you to be clear because I need to be sure. I can’t live in vague spaces right now. I can’t handle wondering and not knowing. I need you to tell me exactly what you mean so I don’t have that tiny voice in my head telling me I’m an idiot for believing in the fairy tale.”
“What fairy tale?”
“The one where you swoop into my life and give me everything I need. The one where I used to be scared and alone and barely able to take care of myself and then you show up and rescue me. The one where I love you and you love me and we get to live happily ever after. Like a family.” Her throat constricted on the rest of her words. Her need for the fairy tale too powerful to contain.
James slowed the truck as he flipped on his turn signal and Ellie realized he wasn’t turning into the parking lot of her apartment complex. The broad expanse of his driveway stretched out before her. The windows of his house glittered in the morning sun while the ocean reached out to meet the sky.
James pulled up to the house and turned off the truck, twisted in his seat to place a gentle hand on her cheek. “Welcome home, sweet Ellie,” he said, then kissed her lips. “If this is a fairy tale, then welcome to your happily ever after.”
Epilogue
James
The next two months flew by for James and Ellie. He doted over her every need (and want) whenever he was home—which, because of the work needed at the café—wasn’t as often as he wanted. But when he wasn’t able to be with her, James made certain someone was. Normally, one of his brothers volunteered—or his mother. She gladly offered her time as well. While that kind of attention was foreign to Ellie, she adapted quickly. For the first time in her life she finally felt the kind of love she’d always imagined other families shared.
It had taken about seven times longer than she wanted, but a week before Good Beginnings was scheduled to reopen, Ellie’s doctor finally agreed she was sufficiently recovered to go back to work. Though he did make her promise to do a lot less than before. She was pregnant, after all.
Through everything, the only point of contention between James and Ellie had been about the café. Broken arm and all, she wanted to pitch in and help with the repair work as soon as she stopped getting dizzy when she stood—an idea James firmly rejected each and every time the topic came up.
As she opened the door of James’ truck after leaving the doctor’s office, Ellie paused. “You know where we have to go before you can take me anywhere else, don’t you?”
James rubbed his chin as he pretended to think it over. “You hungry? We can swing by Harry’s on the way home.”
Ellie shook her head, clearly unimpressed by the suggestion. “Nope. I need to see the café.”
James smiled, conceding the argument before it began. “All right, I expected as much. Hop in.”
A few blocks before they reached the café, he handed her a bandana. “There is one stipulation. You have to put this on before we arrive.”
“What for?” Ellie asked with a raised brow.
“It’s a surprise. Now put it on, before I pull this truc
k over.” James tried his best to look stern, but the smile he was fighting mostly gave it away.
See, what Ellie didn’t know, at least not fully, was that James hadn’t been to the gym since her accident. Instead, he’d been working at the café in the mornings before going to train at The Pit. He’d been burning the candle from both ends for the better part of a month trying to get the place ready in time. He’d even enlisted his MMA buddies to help him finish.
When they pulled up in front of the building, James double checked the blindfold before helping Ellie out of the truck and carefully guiding her across the street.
“You don’t think this feels a little over the top?” Ellie groaned, anxious to finally see the place for herself. Other than the window being replaced, and the mess inside being cleaned up, she didn’t really know what to expect, but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when James removed the bandana. She stood on the sidewalk, looking at the same space she’d seen a thousand times before, completely stunned.
What had once been a simple plate glass window with the words ‘Good Beginnings’ painted in block lettering, had become beautifully etched glass with an ornate sunrise peeking over a gentle sea. Then, hanging above the door in bright blue neon lettering, was a brand-new sign that read, ‘Good Beginnings.’ Below the name, written in warm yellow, were the words, ‘start here.’
Emotion overwhelmed Ellie. “James, I…” She stumbled to find the words. “I don’t know what to say. It’s…unbelievable.”
James cleared his throat and dug in his pocket for the key. “You may want to hold that thought. You haven’t seen the inside yet,” he said as he unlocked the door and pulled it open for Ellie to enter.
She cautiously stepped inside, flipping on the lights out of habit. Once again, while she didn’t know what to expect, she wasn’t prepared for what she saw. From floor to ceiling the place had been completely revamped. The harsh, overhead fluorescent lighting was gone, replaced with warm recessed lights above, and cozy pendant lights over each booth.
